We hope that everyone is enjoying the holidays, looking forward to the new year coming up, and maybe reflecting on good memories of the past too. I think it's important to try and balance how much we live in the past, present, and future, which brings...
Senin, 30 Desember 2013
Jumat, 27 Desember 2013
Going Pro
For the 2014 season, the #86 car will boast an upgrade to the video capture system. This week we're putting the new GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition through it's paces and experimenting with the capabilities of GoPro's video editing software.
Major improvements over the outgoing Nikon-based system is a significant increase in resolution and clarity, a far wider angle of view, and a significant increase in frame rates.
Here's a quick sample of a few different angles during a quick drive around the neighborhood. All shot at 720p resolution and 120 frames per second, which allows the slow-mo sections to still show up nice and clear.
Major improvements over the outgoing Nikon-based system is a significant increase in resolution and clarity, a far wider angle of view, and a significant increase in frame rates.
Here's a quick sample of a few different angles during a quick drive around the neighborhood. All shot at 720p resolution and 120 frames per second, which allows the slow-mo sections to still show up nice and clear.
Cars and Coffee Update
Well SHAZAM! After listing that Cars and Coffee was coming to Columbia, and telling you the location yesterday, the location apparently has changed, so it will be at the Columbia Quaker Steak and Lube! Refer to the Cars and Coffee Facebook page for further details since I have no direct connection to them.
In other exciting automotive news, today was tire rotation day on my better half's Toyota Camry! With the tires I bought from Firestone we get free rotations, so after looking forward to some great free car service and reading my latest car magazine (EVO) and reading about all the expensive cars that I can't afford, it was a real treat to find out that the tires weren't wearing evenly and that it was time for an alignment.
Good news, the rotation part was free, but the alignment involved some money changing hands.
As for the magazine, well, BMW and McLaren, Porsche, and Ferrari continue to build more cars I can't afford, so some things never change!
Today's picture comes from last summer, my photo of the Italian 2013 Fiat 500 Abarth at the American fine dining establishment Sonic drive-in. Even the Fiat USA folks liked the international flavor of this one, and let me put it on their Facebook page too!
In other exciting automotive news, today was tire rotation day on my better half's Toyota Camry! With the tires I bought from Firestone we get free rotations, so after looking forward to some great free car service and reading my latest car magazine (EVO) and reading about all the expensive cars that I can't afford, it was a real treat to find out that the tires weren't wearing evenly and that it was time for an alignment.
Good news, the rotation part was free, but the alignment involved some money changing hands.
As for the magazine, well, BMW and McLaren, Porsche, and Ferrari continue to build more cars I can't afford, so some things never change!
Today's picture comes from last summer, my photo of the Italian 2013 Fiat 500 Abarth at the American fine dining establishment Sonic drive-in. Even the Fiat USA folks liked the international flavor of this one, and let me put it on their Facebook page too!
Kamis, 26 Desember 2013
Cars and Coffee Comes to Columbia!
It's hard to keep up with all the wide wide world of sports, much less every page of the internet, but today brings news that the monthly car folk get together is now coming to Columbia! Cars and Coffee is an informal get together-hangout-coffee drinkin'-car-fans event. NMS has attended C&C in Charlotte NC a few times and always enjoyed seeing cars from hot rods to Mustangs/Camaros, Italian exotics, British, a new electric Tesla, and etc.
Scheduled for the last Saturday of each month starting in January 2014, the Columbia Cars and Coffee will take place on Garners Ferry Road just west of I-77, in the big parking lot in between the Starbucks, Panera Bread, and Target store. If you're counting at home and you like the Panera Hazelnut coffee like I do, that sounds more like they should name it Coffee and Cars and Coffee to me.
Here's the link to the Cars and Coffee Facebook page, we'll see you there Saturday January 25th starting at 8am for the informal fun! https://www.facebook.com/events/522864564475562/
Scheduled for the last Saturday of each month starting in January 2014, the Columbia Cars and Coffee will take place on Garners Ferry Road just west of I-77, in the big parking lot in between the Starbucks, Panera Bread, and Target store. If you're counting at home and you like the Panera Hazelnut coffee like I do, that sounds more like they should name it Coffee and Cars and Coffee to me.
Here's the link to the Cars and Coffee Facebook page, we'll see you there Saturday January 25th starting at 8am for the informal fun! https://www.facebook.com/events/522864564475562/
Cars and Coffee Charlotte NC, July 2013
Sunbeam Alpine
Selasa, 24 Desember 2013
2013 Season Report

Thanks to everyone who's supported and followed along with our progress this season!
For a digital copy of the 2013 season report, please contact Brian.
Keep an eye on this site to catch calendar updates, results and all the other action coming from Nixon Motor Sports!
Rabu, 18 Desember 2013
Octane Rating or Octane Number
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picture: wikimedia |
Octane is a hydrocarbon liquid that is used as a reference standard to describe the tendency of gasoline, petrol, or benzin fuels to self ignite during compression prior to the desired position of the piston in the cylinder as appropriate for valve and ignition timing. The problem of premature ignition is referred to as pre-ignition and also as engine knock, which is a sound that is made when the fuel ignites too early in the compression stroke.
Severe knock causes severe engine damage, such as broken connecting rods, melted pistons, melted or broken valves and other components. The octane rating is a measure of how likely a gasoline or liquid petroleum fuel is to self ignite. The higher the number, the less likely an engine is to pre-ignite and suffer damage.
The most typically used engine management systems found in automobiles today monitor the level of knock that is being produced by the fuel being used. In modern computer controlled engines, the timing of the ignition will be automatically altered by the fuel management system to reduce the pre-ignition to an acceptable level.
The octane rating of gasoline is measured in a test engine and is defined by comparison with the mixture of 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (iso-octane) and heptane that would have the same anti-knocking capacity as the fuel under test: the percentage, by volume, of 2,2,4-trimethylpentane in that mixture is the octane number of the fuel. For example, petrol with the same knocking characteristics as a mixture of 90% iso-octane and 10% heptane would have an octane rating of 90.[1] A rating of 90 does not mean that the petrol contains just iso-octane and heptane in these proportions, but that it has the same detonation resistance properties. Because some fuels are more knock-resistant than iso-octane, the definition has been extended to allow for octane numbers higher than 100.
Octane rating does not relate to the energy content of the fuel (see heating value). It is only a measure of the fuel's tendency to burn in a controlled manner, rather than exploding in an uncontrolled manner. Where the octane number is raised by blending in ethanol, energy content per volume is reduced.
It is possible for a fuel to have a Research Octane Number (RON) greater than 100, because iso-octane is not the most knock-resistant substance available. Racing fuels, avgas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and alcohol fuels such as methanol may have octane ratings of 110 or significantly higher. Typical "octane booster" gasoline additives include MTBE, ETBE, isooctane and toluene. Lead in the form of tetra-ethyl lead was once a common additive, but since the 1970s, its use in most of the industrialised world has been restricted, and its use is currently limited mostly to aviation gasoline.
Research Octane Number (RON)
The most common type of octane rating worldwide is the Research Octane Number (RON). RON is determined by running the fuel in a test engine with a variable compression ratio under controlled conditions, and comparing the results with those for mixtures of iso-octane and n-heptane.Effects of Octane Rating
Higher octane ratings correlate to higher activation energies: This being the amount of applied energy required to initiate combustion. Since higher octane fuels have higher activation energy requirements, it is less likely that a given compression will cause uncontrolled ignition, otherwise known as autoignition or detonation.It might seem odd that fuels with higher octane ratings are used in more powerful engines, since such fuels ignite less easily. However, detonation is undesirable in a spark ignition engine, and is signified by audible "pinging" or in more extreme cases "knock".
A fuel with a higher octane rating can be burnt in an engine with a high compression ratio without causing detonation, as such fuels are less prone to detonation. Compression is directly related to power and to thermodynamic efficiency (see engine tuning), so engines that require a higher octane fuel usually develop more motive power and therefore do more work in relation to the calorific value of the fuel (BTU) being used. Power output is a function of the properties of the fuel used, as well as the design of the engine itself, and is related to octane rating of the fuel. Power is limited by the maximum amount of fuel-air mixture that can be brought into the combustion chamber. When the throttle is partly open, only a small fraction of the total available power is produced because the manifold is operating at pressures far below that of the external atmosphere (depression). In this case, the octane requirement is far lower than when the throttle is opened fully and the manifold pressure increases to almost that of the external atmosphere, or higher in the case of forced induction engines (See supercharged or turbocharged engines).
Many high-performance engines are designed to operate with a high maximum compression, and thus demand fuels of higher octane. A common misconception is that power output or fuel efficiency can be improved by burning fuel of higher octane than that specified by the engine manufacturer. The power output of an engine depends in part on the energy density of the fuel being burnt. Fuels of different octane ratings may have similar densities, but because switching to a higher octane fuel does not add more hydrocarbon content or oxygen, the engine cannot develop more power.
However, burning fuel with a lower octane rating than that for which the engine is designed often results in a reduction of power output and efficiency. Many modern engines are equipped with a knock sensor (a small piezoelectric microphone), which sends a signal to the engine control unit, which in turn retards the ignition timing when detonation is detected. Retarding the ignition timing reduces the tendency of the fuel-air mixture to detonate, but also reduces power output and fuel efficiency. Because of this, under conditions of high load and high temperature, a given engine may have a more consistent power output with a higher octane fuel, as such fuels are less prone to detonation. Some modern high performance engines are actually optimized for higher than pump premium (93 AKI in the US). The 2001 - 2007 BMW M3 with the S54 engine is one such car. Car and Driver magazine tested a car using a dynamometer, and found that the power output increased as the AKI was increased up to approximately 96 AKI.
Most fuel filling stations have two storage tanks (even those offering 3 or 4 octane levels): those motorists who purchase intermediate grade fuels are given a mixture of higher and lower octane fuels. "Premium" grade is fuel of higher octane, and the minimum grade sold is fuel of lower octane. Purchasing 91 octane fuel (where offered) simply means that more fuel of higher octane is blended with commensurately less fuel of lower octane, than when purchasing a lower grade. The detergents and other additives in the fuel are often, but not always, identical.
The octane rating was developed by chemist Russell Marker at the Ethyl Corporation in 1926. The selection of n-heptane as the zero point of the scale was due to its availability in high purity. Other isomers of heptane produced from crude oil have greatly different ratings.
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