The US Is About to Waste $305 Billion On Roads We Don't Need
The Backwards Way We Build Infrastructure
The House bill, nicknamed FAST Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation), will help pump much-needed funds into subways, light-rail lines, and other transit projects, including $4 billion per year for biking infrastructure.
This is good news. But the FAST Act will also allocate lots of money to expanding or building new highways—an ongoing, outdated attempt by transportation departments to “fix” congestion. This is the big problem with bills like FAST: For any kind of transportation bill to be effective in this country, highway projects need to be uncoupled from transit projects. Why? Because they’re two different things with two very different final outcomes.
Widening roads is not a solution for alleviating gridlock, as so many cities have spent billions of dollars over the past few decades learning. Investments in transit on the other hand, including walking and biking infrastructure, have been proven to help traffic flow and save cities money over time—not only due to decreased costs for construction and maintenance, but also from a public health perspective. A truly transformative transportation bill would require that states spend the money on forward-thinking sustainable transit solutions, not backwards car-focused policies.
(Jalopnik.com)
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Torque Is Your Car's Side Chick
A Brief Lesson On Torque And How It Affects Performance
Every petrolhead knows about horsepower and torque, but many people don’t understand how they’re connected. Here’s a quick lesson to understand the basics of torque and how it applies to performance
Why 5252? Because that’s the RPM where horsepower and torque cross on a normally scaled dyno plot. Seriously, Google “engine dyno plot” and look at the images. Now, there are some fairly technical reasons why 5252 is the magic number, and if you really want to get that deep into it, there are plenty of technical colleges that offer great engineering programs. Or Google can give you the two-page overview. For our purposes, just know that this is how engines do what they do.
It’s also how dynos do what they do. When you pull onto a rolling road to see how much horsepower you gained (or lost) from your spanking-new cold air induction kit, the dyno isn’t actually measuring horsepower. It measures torque, engine speed, then uses the above equation to calculate horsepower as measured at the wheels.
(CarThrottle.com)
Every petrolhead knows about horsepower and torque, but many people don’t understand how they’re connected. Here’s a quick lesson to understand the basics of torque and how it applies to performance
Why 5252? Because that’s the RPM where horsepower and torque cross on a normally scaled dyno plot. Seriously, Google “engine dyno plot” and look at the images. Now, there are some fairly technical reasons why 5252 is the magic number, and if you really want to get that deep into it, there are plenty of technical colleges that offer great engineering programs. Or Google can give you the two-page overview. For our purposes, just know that this is how engines do what they do.
It’s also how dynos do what they do. When you pull onto a rolling road to see how much horsepower you gained (or lost) from your spanking-new cold air induction kit, the dyno isn’t actually measuring horsepower. It measures torque, engine speed, then uses the above equation to calculate horsepower as measured at the wheels.
(CarThrottle.com)
I'll Take The Enzo Please
Incredible $12 million Ferrari collection up for auction
Ferraris come up for auction all the time, but in Scottsdale next month Gooding & Company will be auctioning off an entire collection of Maranello's finest projected to fetch around $12 million.
The collection belongs to one Tony Shooshani, described as "a widely published and renowned Ferrari collector." He's the proprietor of a 599XX Evo, a LaFerrari, and one of only six Pininfarina Sergio roadsters made. They'll remain in his collection, along with his prized 288 GTO and his thoroughbred Arabian stallion named Enzo. But he's liquidating some other notables from his garage, giving other collectors a chance to bring them home instead.
(AutoBlog.com)
Ferraris come up for auction all the time, but in Scottsdale next month Gooding & Company will be auctioning off an entire collection of Maranello's finest projected to fetch around $12 million.
The collection belongs to one Tony Shooshani, described as "a widely published and renowned Ferrari collector." He's the proprietor of a 599XX Evo, a LaFerrari, and one of only six Pininfarina Sergio roadsters made. They'll remain in his collection, along with his prized 288 GTO and his thoroughbred Arabian stallion named Enzo. But he's liquidating some other notables from his garage, giving other collectors a chance to bring them home instead.
(AutoBlog.com)
I'm Never Surprised By A Rigged Contest
From 1995 to 2000, the winner of the McDonald’s Monopoly grand prize was an insider tasked with producing the game pieces.
Jacobson oversaw a security process that began at a printing plant where pieces were made, separated by value and stored in a vault. He was responsible for transporting those pieces in sealed envelopes to plants that manufactured McDonald’s food cartons and cups, where the pieces were supposed to be attached.
But Jacobson would slip into airport bathrooms, lock himself in stalls and carefully open the envelopes to steal the pieces. He received cash kickbacks for stealing 50 to 60 pieces and bought homes, cars and other property. Jacobson couldn’t redeem the pieces himself, nor could his family without attracting attention. Instead he sold the pieces to people he recruited through friends and family. Some of the recruits mortgaged their house to pay a mysterious figure they knew only as “Uncle Jerry.” The prizes included $10,000 cash prizes, cars, and even the rare $1 million prizes awarded with much fanfare.
(CavemanCircus.com)
Jacobson oversaw a security process that began at a printing plant where pieces were made, separated by value and stored in a vault. He was responsible for transporting those pieces in sealed envelopes to plants that manufactured McDonald’s food cartons and cups, where the pieces were supposed to be attached.
But Jacobson would slip into airport bathrooms, lock himself in stalls and carefully open the envelopes to steal the pieces. He received cash kickbacks for stealing 50 to 60 pieces and bought homes, cars and other property. Jacobson couldn’t redeem the pieces himself, nor could his family without attracting attention. Instead he sold the pieces to people he recruited through friends and family. Some of the recruits mortgaged their house to pay a mysterious figure they knew only as “Uncle Jerry.” The prizes included $10,000 cash prizes, cars, and even the rare $1 million prizes awarded with much fanfare.
(CavemanCircus.com)
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