In October of 2008, Mazda shipped a fleet of Mazda Hydrogen-powered RX-8’s to Norway under a program called "HyNor". That was the first time that the HE RX-8's were shipped outside Japan and is part of what Mazda Program Manager Ashihiro Kashiwagi calls “the next stage” in the development of the hydrogen program. This agreement will provide Mazda with valuable information and practical experience that they will utilize to develop the program.
That got us thinking. What if we can get a hold of some of those used engines to use for racing at the Lemons? After thinking real hard, we decided that Mr. Kashiwagi will be receiving a well-crafted piece of correspondence from us in the future. We are working on a spiel right now that includes borrowing the engine because we have a $500 spending limit on the car. While doing that, we'll also have to distract him long enough so he doesn't notice that the engine will be running around a track full of jalopies and road unworthy machines driven by second rate drivers - and that his engine may accidentally morph into useless scrap metal.
Well, as you may have already discerned, we at “Hydrolac” are the best at what we do. Right guys?
READ THE NORWAY ARTICLE
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
HONDA FC HYDROGEN CONCEPT
There are currently two ways to power cars using hydrogen. One approach uses hydrogen as the fuel in a combustion engine. Mazda took this direction and is currently developing the rotary engine to burn both gasoline and hydrogen. The other approach uses hydrogen to power fuel-cells. Recent pictures taken at the LA Auto Show gives us a glimpse of a new Honda Supercar that is powered by hydrogen fuel-cells called the FC Sport Concept. Since it is a concept car, neither economy nor performance claims were made. But I suspect that will be just a matter of time as the engineers and designers continue to work on this car and dial it in. Honda has a very long and proud heritage of developing cars for use on and off the race track.
CLICK TO VIEW ARTICLE OF THE HONDA FC CONCEPT
CLICK TO VIEW ARTICLE OF THE HONDA FC CONCEPT
Saturday, January 10, 2009
LEMONS SLIDESHOW
Here's a slideshow that was featured on the Lemons Facebook site. It gives a good flavor of the different kinds of cars that are represented in the series. Enjoy!
CLICK TO VIEW SLIDESHOW
CLICK TO VIEW SLIDESHOW
Monday, January 5, 2009
THE MAN, THE MYTH ...
On a previous blog, I wrote about a friend of mine, Benedict Jones, who will spearhead the efforts to assemble the equipment and the team of four handicapped drivers for the races we have committed in 2009. We met last night at the Café at Barnes & Noble in Aliso Viejo in what turned out to be a very short and productive meeting of the minds. We’ve established a task list that we will try to pick off one at a time leading up to the races. As a guideline, the following tasks were included on our to do list:
- Source the equipment
- Build the equipment
- Select Drivers
- Select Mechanics
- Practice and Train
- Develop the logistics for the events
- Source sponsors (Ongoing activity)
There was another decision that was made at the meeting. Since Benedict is a certified gear head and someone who hailed originally from Indianapolis with just the right connections, an invitation was personally extended to me to join him and his family to be a spectator of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” - the Indianapolis 500 – scheduled for the 24th of May 2009. The answer was a qualified yes as I saw it as yet another opportunity to polish my sports-casting chops.
Moreover, to liven up our web blog, future posts will also feature Benedict as a contributor. He is a passionate motorsports enthusiast and an all around great guy. We welcome his thoughts and contributions to our web blog and to our future endeavors.
PICTURE OF ROBERT & BENEDICT
WEBSITE OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500
Monday, December 29, 2008
'08 LEMONS RACE COVERAGE
2008 - 24 HOURS OF LEMONS AT THUNDERHILL RACEWAY
DECEMBER 27-28, 2009 WILLOWS, CA
It wasn’t even an option for me. I just had to make the “24 Hours of Lemons” at Thunderhill Raceway Park this last weekend. So, I drove on Christmas Day (Thursday) leaving OC at 7PM. I couldn’t stay awake so I decided to sleep at a Rest Area overnight knowing that the raceway wasn't open until the morning. I finally arrived at the Thunderhill Raceway in the City of Willows at about 9AM and had a chance to walk around the facility. I took the trip of over 1000+ miles round trip with one goal in mind - to engage all my senses and understand what it takes to compete in an endurance race. I was on a mission and employed the discerning eye of a Race Director/Manager tasked with learning how to manage team logistics.
The race was broken up into two separate races on Saturday and Sunday. I had planned to stay for the entire race not knowing the truncated format. The organizers, with their wisdom, decided not to have the race continue through the night because when night descends the dangers of speed are increased by multiples. The Lemons Series make motorsports affordable and conceivably inexperienced drivers of unknown quality can walk on and be a part of any race team. Get a lineup of experienced and inexperienced drivers and throw in the dangers of night driving and a heap of jalopy-nous rolling metal and you could have the entire recipe for disaster.
I had to be at work at my beloved pizza parlor on Sunday and had to leave after the first part of the race was concluded. I brought my Nikon Coolpix 5600 with the intention of taking a ton of pictures. Eventually, I was able to muster enough courage to use the video feature and took a number of clips accompanied by some amateurish commentating. (I discovered an unconscious tendency to say the words terrific and wonderful repetitiously.) After watching the end product and getting a sense for the pre and post production that goes behind news reporting, I could say with grudging respect that Brian William’s job is safe and secure. Nevertheless, if you can look past the quality of my first attempt at video reporting, I think you might find that special intangible that I found in the “Lemons” - that inexplicable something that inspired me to try to get a team together and join the ranks of other junk heap driving loonies.
TRACK CLIPS
FRIDAY MORNING TESTING
FRIDAY AFTERNOON TESTING
RACER INTERVIEWS
VOLVO SKELETON CREW
BMW #101
JORDACHE CAR
MASKED RACER
OTHER CLIPS
CHICKEN TEAM
MISSILE CAR
PHOTO ALBUM
'08 24 HRS OF LEMONS (THUNDERHILL)
It wasn’t even an option for me. I just had to make the “24 Hours of Lemons” at Thunderhill Raceway Park this last weekend. So, I drove on Christmas Day (Thursday) leaving OC at 7PM. I couldn’t stay awake so I decided to sleep at a Rest Area overnight knowing that the raceway wasn't open until the morning. I finally arrived at the Thunderhill Raceway in the City of Willows at about 9AM and had a chance to walk around the facility. I took the trip of over 1000+ miles round trip with one goal in mind - to engage all my senses and understand what it takes to compete in an endurance race. I was on a mission and employed the discerning eye of a Race Director/Manager tasked with learning how to manage team logistics.
The race was broken up into two separate races on Saturday and Sunday. I had planned to stay for the entire race not knowing the truncated format. The organizers, with their wisdom, decided not to have the race continue through the night because when night descends the dangers of speed are increased by multiples. The Lemons Series make motorsports affordable and conceivably inexperienced drivers of unknown quality can walk on and be a part of any race team. Get a lineup of experienced and inexperienced drivers and throw in the dangers of night driving and a heap of jalopy-nous rolling metal and you could have the entire recipe for disaster.
I had to be at work at my beloved pizza parlor on Sunday and had to leave after the first part of the race was concluded. I brought my Nikon Coolpix 5600 with the intention of taking a ton of pictures. Eventually, I was able to muster enough courage to use the video feature and took a number of clips accompanied by some amateurish commentating. (I discovered an unconscious tendency to say the words terrific and wonderful repetitiously.) After watching the end product and getting a sense for the pre and post production that goes behind news reporting, I could say with grudging respect that Brian William’s job is safe and secure. Nevertheless, if you can look past the quality of my first attempt at video reporting, I think you might find that special intangible that I found in the “Lemons” - that inexplicable something that inspired me to try to get a team together and join the ranks of other junk heap driving loonies.
TRACK CLIPS
FRIDAY MORNING TESTING
FRIDAY AFTERNOON TESTING
RACER INTERVIEWS
VOLVO SKELETON CREW
BMW #101
JORDACHE CAR
MASKED RACER
OTHER CLIPS
CHICKEN TEAM
MISSILE CAR
PHOTO ALBUM
'08 24 HRS OF LEMONS (THUNDERHILL)
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
SEASON'S GREETINGS
I wanted to pass on a note of appreciation to all our readers and team members for their support in the last year. Next year will bring some very exciting things into the fold. We've already committed to at least two "24 Hours of Lemons" races for 2009 - the Buttonwillow and Thunderhill race, which are both in California. That gives us an opportunity to start the ground work on developing equipment that support hydrogen fuel, from which all efforts will eventually lead to an assault on Le Mans.
After the holidays, we'll schedule a team meeting. This will give me a chance to take pictures and post it on to the blog. Watch for it early next year. In the meantime, I wish everyone a safe and a happy holiday season. Never lift early and always hit your braking points.
Pedal to the metal,
Robert Lacambra
After the holidays, we'll schedule a team meeting. This will give me a chance to take pictures and post it on to the blog. Watch for it early next year. In the meantime, I wish everyone a safe and a happy holiday season. Never lift early and always hit your braking points.
Pedal to the metal,
Robert Lacambra
Thursday, December 18, 2008
LISTEN HERE, DETROIT BOYS
The Big Three Car Manufacturers are obviously out of touch with their consumers. After watching a prolonged and painful slide of their stock prices coupled with poor financial results that pre-date this recession, they should know by now that Americans don’t necessarily buy American. Americans buy what they perceive to be the best at a given budget. Holding on to the old flag waving appeal of "Buy American" that has kept them from utter failure for much of their history no longer works the way that it has. It has been many years now since Wal-Mart has abandoned the old tagline of “Made in America” after discovering that manufacturing in other countries meet or exceed the quality expectations of the American consumer. The one and only way to turn the tide is to produce the very best using the same benchmarks that their competitors use – price, quality, cost of maintenance, cost of operation and aesthetic appeal.
To advance the argument of Detroit’s detractors, we’ve now learned that there is nothing wrong with the American autoworker. Some of the best manufacturing in the world is now being done in the USA, albeit under foreign brands such as Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The business of going to Capitol Hill and asking for bailout money will not save their company. What management should do is get the union bosses in a room, lock the door and tell them nobody is leaving until a fair agreement is reached. The life of their respective companies are at stake and together with that are the livelihood of all the employees – management and labor. If an agreement is not reached, it wouldn’t be inappropriate at all if the Big Three were to close down and re-emerge as a new entity, this time unimpeded by all the badly negotiated agreements that have conceded the company to their competition. The word we are looking for is “compromise”. The companies need to be more profitable.
If that could not be done, an amalgamated company may be the next best option. This is nothing new. In 1932, while in the throes of the Depression, four companies in Germany joined forces to be called Auto Union, which eventually morphed into the present day Audi. It is true that national interest considerations demand that America retain a manufacturing capacity in the event of a war. Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, BMW and Mercedes Benz that all employ American workers can meet this capacity. In the event of an outbreak of hostilities against Japan, South Korea or Germany all these factories will certainly be confiscated anyway. That is why the argument that we need the Big Three so we have the capacity is devoid of reason. If the enemy is a country other than the three nations just mentioned, the services of any of these manufacturers could be employed at a fair price. Based on the quality of the finished products rolling out of those factories, we are probably assured that the military will get superior products to protect our liberties with.
It may not be obvious but being recipients of taxpayer money will have dire consequences. There are pitfalls and unforeseen landmines when you have governments participate in the day-to-day decisions of a company. Politicians have different motives and are engaged by a different set of questions that may detract from a company’s mission such as, “What do I need to do to get re-elected?” That question over-rides other relevant and complicated questions faced by company executives like ‘What markets should we be pursuing?” – the very questions that in turn create and keep jobs and make a company competitive. If the career politicians knew how to do that, they would be in the private sector.
Two legitimate solutions to this quandary are, either merge or close the company and start over. They can liquidate assets to fund retirements and pay back investors. That would probably be better than losing everything, which is certainly a possibility. These difficulties are the result of bad choices they made in the past that have come back to haunt them. In the meantime, they should consider adding cars with engines that burn both hydrogen and gasoline to their product line. It will be painful in the beginning but they will have first to market advantages that may just keep them competitive. Just as an example, ask anyone to name a hybrid car. More likely than not, the answer will be the Toyota Prius. That place in the consumer’s mind came into being because they are perceived to be the first. The lack of a competitor in that segment makes them the only player and by default the best. That is the power of the “First to Market” concept. Everyone else that follows is viewed as imitators until other differentiators come into play such as quality and price. If they execute on that, not only will they see their cars exported to and/or built in other countries but we’ll also see barrels of Hydrogen with “Made in the USA” stickers on it shipped around the globe.
It’s time for the Detroit Boys to get with the program.
To advance the argument of Detroit’s detractors, we’ve now learned that there is nothing wrong with the American autoworker. Some of the best manufacturing in the world is now being done in the USA, albeit under foreign brands such as Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The business of going to Capitol Hill and asking for bailout money will not save their company. What management should do is get the union bosses in a room, lock the door and tell them nobody is leaving until a fair agreement is reached. The life of their respective companies are at stake and together with that are the livelihood of all the employees – management and labor. If an agreement is not reached, it wouldn’t be inappropriate at all if the Big Three were to close down and re-emerge as a new entity, this time unimpeded by all the badly negotiated agreements that have conceded the company to their competition. The word we are looking for is “compromise”. The companies need to be more profitable.
If that could not be done, an amalgamated company may be the next best option. This is nothing new. In 1932, while in the throes of the Depression, four companies in Germany joined forces to be called Auto Union, which eventually morphed into the present day Audi. It is true that national interest considerations demand that America retain a manufacturing capacity in the event of a war. Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, BMW and Mercedes Benz that all employ American workers can meet this capacity. In the event of an outbreak of hostilities against Japan, South Korea or Germany all these factories will certainly be confiscated anyway. That is why the argument that we need the Big Three so we have the capacity is devoid of reason. If the enemy is a country other than the three nations just mentioned, the services of any of these manufacturers could be employed at a fair price. Based on the quality of the finished products rolling out of those factories, we are probably assured that the military will get superior products to protect our liberties with.
It may not be obvious but being recipients of taxpayer money will have dire consequences. There are pitfalls and unforeseen landmines when you have governments participate in the day-to-day decisions of a company. Politicians have different motives and are engaged by a different set of questions that may detract from a company’s mission such as, “What do I need to do to get re-elected?” That question over-rides other relevant and complicated questions faced by company executives like ‘What markets should we be pursuing?” – the very questions that in turn create and keep jobs and make a company competitive. If the career politicians knew how to do that, they would be in the private sector.
Two legitimate solutions to this quandary are, either merge or close the company and start over. They can liquidate assets to fund retirements and pay back investors. That would probably be better than losing everything, which is certainly a possibility. These difficulties are the result of bad choices they made in the past that have come back to haunt them. In the meantime, they should consider adding cars with engines that burn both hydrogen and gasoline to their product line. It will be painful in the beginning but they will have first to market advantages that may just keep them competitive. Just as an example, ask anyone to name a hybrid car. More likely than not, the answer will be the Toyota Prius. That place in the consumer’s mind came into being because they are perceived to be the first. The lack of a competitor in that segment makes them the only player and by default the best. That is the power of the “First to Market” concept. Everyone else that follows is viewed as imitators until other differentiators come into play such as quality and price. If they execute on that, not only will they see their cars exported to and/or built in other countries but we’ll also see barrels of Hydrogen with “Made in the USA” stickers on it shipped around the globe.
It’s time for the Detroit Boys to get with the program.
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