Driving & Motorsports

Question of the Day: What Brand of Snow Tires Do You Use?

Seyth Miersma — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:03:22 -0600

With the weather turning rather cold, rather quickly up around our way, we’re getting ready to kit out our long-term Volkswagen Jetta TDI with a fine new set of snow shoes. We had a good experience with the Bridgestone Blizzaks we used for our Scion xB long-termer, and we thought we’d ask which sort of foul weather tires our readers prefer. Are you planning on a set of snows this year—and if so, which brand do you prefer? Give us your picks, in comments.

Video: 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 PDK – Secret Two-Wheel Drive Mode?

Seyth Miersma — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:01:35 -0600

Track time, launch control, and a secret way to turn your all-wheel drive Porsche PDK into a rear-wheel drive car (seriously, watch for this juicy tidbit at around the 2:00 minute mark)? The hoons of Garage419 are on the case with Porsche’s newest 911 and a video camera at Miller Motorsports Park, in Salt Lake, Utah…just don’t ask them where the cool bars are.

+ YouTube: The New Porsche 911 with PDK - Garage419

Question of the Day: What is the Scariest Car You’ve Driven?

Seyth Miersma — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:37:41 -0500

No matter how good a driver one is, there is always a time when a certain car will give you a scare; sometimes it’s the type of scare that makes you laugh it off and try all over again (good), while other times might make you want to swear off driving all together (bad). Which car has scared you the very most while you were behind the wheel? What exactly happened? Tell us about your most chilling drive, in comments.

Question of the Day: What is the Worst Piece of Driving You’ve Seen?

Seyth Miersma — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:04:13 -0500

The horrifically stupid Mercedes-Benz driver caught out in this video has us asking a very simple question today; what’s the very worst example of driving you’ve ever seen. In some cases, honest parties may admit to being the perpetrators of the worst driving they’ve witnessed—everyone has their off days, after all. Tell us about the most flagrantly awful helmsmanship you’ve witnessed, in comments.

Mother Allows Child to ‘Car Surf’ with Disastrous Results

Seyth Miersma — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:47:58 -0500

A West Jordan, Utah woman was responsible for critical injuries to her 10-year-old son (not pictured) recently, after allowing the boy to “car surf” on the running board of her Ford Expedition while driving a circuit around her mobile home park. The child sustained critical injuries after he lost his grip on the side-view mirror and door handle while traveling at approximately five miles per hour. The boy is currently in stable condition at Primary Children’s Medical Center.

The woman’s 8-year-old daughter was also surfing at the time; a practice which the mother reportedly thought wouldn’t lead to any problems. Said West Jordan Police Department’s Sgt. Greg Butler, "Apparently mom thought that was OK, and it's a hard lesson that she's going to learn."

Though clearly not imaginative enough regarding potential risks to her family’s well being, the woman has owned up to the fact that allowing her Ford to be surfed wasn’t a particularly good idea. "I was really stupid in what I did," she said, "We're lucky, we're so lucky right now."

We were unsurprised to learn that police cited the woman with child abuse, though we have to admit that the simultaneous charges of driving with a suspended license, and driving without insurance seemed a bit over the top. Someone should really check in to that.

+ KSL.com

Video: Hip-Hop, Assimilation, and the Channel 12 Traffic Report

Seyth Miersma — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:14:14 -0500

Americans may be getting traffic information increasingly from sources like the internet or personal GPS devices, but there is still something to be said for the personal touch found with your local news broadcast. This flowing traffic reporter is fairly hilarious but we feel duty-bound to warn you that there is a considerable “cringe factor” here as well. Watch with caution.

+ TMBLG

Escaping A Hurricane Made Easy

Seyth Miersma — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:04:21 -0500

Taking what is shaping up to be a sadly busy hurricane season to heart; the civic-minded Jalopnik crew has compiled a remarkably thorough and surprisingly snark-free agenda for those people who may be faced with evacuation by automobile.

The how-to piece helps guide potential evacuees through steps from assessing potential risk factor, to preparing one’s vehicle and family for a quick departure, to planning both effective and safe routes of passage and return to the homestead. The list may not provide brand new insights to those coastal U.S. residents who’ve seen it all before, but it could prove a valuable resource for those new to the threat posed by hurricanes, and may be able to get some started on the path to a more composed retreat from nature’s potential furry. Give it a read through the link below.

+ Jalopnik: How To Escape A Hurricane By Car

OnStar Helps Drivers Escape Hurricane Gustav

Hardy Shen — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:06:17 -0500

Thousands of drivers relied on General Motors’ OnStar service this past weekend, for getting out of Hurricane Gustav's way. The callers, who were mostly calm, patiently asked the operators for the best path out of New Orleans, Louisiana and other Gulf Coast cities.

OnStar stepped up its staff to around 500 operators and set up emergency plans at the Pontiac, Michigan, Oshawa, Ontario, and Charlotte, North Carolina call centers. Calls concerning the storm were transferred to specially trained OnStar advisors, many of whom had been on duty during Hurricane Katrina.

Unsurprisingly, people were much more prepared for Gustav than Katrina. In fact, the advisors reported that callers were generally leaving well in advance of Hurricane Gustav.

"There's a lot of people that are stranded on the evacuation routes," said Brad Williams, a service manager for OnStar at the command center in Downtown Detroit. "They're more prepared. They know what questions have been asked," he said.

Because the service had expanded from around 3 million to 5 million subscribers since Katrina, the managers expected Sunday's calls to reach 75,000 due to the hurricane –almost double the normal amount. As it turns out, calls reached into the thousands early Saturday, and were pouring in at over 3,000 per hour on Sunday.

+ The Detroit News: Drivers rely on OnStar to evade Hurricane Gustav

Are Heated Seats Bad for your Boys?

Seyth Miersma — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:35:39 -0500

What do bikini style swimming trunks, a pair of Levi’s fresh from the dryer, marijuana seeds, and a Mercedes-Benz driver’s seat all have in common? If you answered that all are a good way to keep your Kix budget to a bare minimum, then you’re on the right track.

A new study of indiscriminate origin purports that car seat heaters may have an adverse effect on male fertility, charging that the ass-warmers raise scrotal temperatures to unseemly highs. Sperm production we’re told, occurs most readily at the normal scrotal temperature of 95.9 degrees (just below the average temp for the rest of the man’s body). Heated car seats were found to raise that temperature to an unseasonal average of 99.14 degrees, with a massive 103.46 recorded in one specific case.

There wasn’t enough information available about the legitimacy of the study for us to worry too much about driving frosty yet, but guys looking to jumpstart their family life should consider this fair warning.

+ Channel 4.com: News: Heated seats damage male fertility

Nine Very-Volvo Summer Road Trips, from the Man Who Would Know

Seyth Miersma — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:13:24 -0500

Irv Gordon claims a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most miles ever recorded on a single-owner, non-commercial vehicle. He’s racked up 2.7 million miles (and quickly counting) on his 1966 Volvo P1800 and has made quite a study of the American countryside in the process.

Drawing on his vast firsthand knowledge and a desire to see people out and enjoying summer vacations on the country’s highways and byways, Gordon has compiled a list of some of his very favorite small town destinations from coast to coast. Being, of course, a die-hard Volvo fanatic, he’s also imbued his list with a certain Swedishness that’s impossible to miss. Read it below.

•    Newburyport, Mass. "This small town, birthplace of the U.S. Coast Guard, is just a few miles north of Boston and has a rich maritime history heritage. You can still find shipyards, as well as New England style saltbox homes and rather large federal and colonial style homes all over town. Be sure to visit Lowell's Boat Shop, the country's oldest boat building business still in operation."

•    Shelburne, Vt. "This beautiful area is nestled between the mountains and Lake Champlain. It's home to the Shelburne Museum, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, Shelburne Farms and the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream factory."

•    Lindsborg, Kan. (a.k.a. Little Sweden) "Lindsborg is a real taste of Sweden hidden 150 miles west of Kansas City. The town is beautiful, neat as a pin and the townsfolk are just as friendly as can be. Swedish pancakes and other specialties are served in almost every restaurant in town. Swedish Midsommer celebrations with Swedish folk dancing take place in June each year. Don't forget to stop by the bison ranch nearby and check out the wildlife."

•    Mitchell, S.D. "Home of the Corn Palace. It's a building like you have never seen before. Approximately 275,000 ears of corn, as well as other grains, stalks and grasses cover the building's exterior, forming elaborate murals designed by local artists. The murals are changed periodically, but always depict local history. If you want to get the feel of a real, old western town this is a terrific place to start."

•    Wamego, Kan. "This small town's claim to fame is the Oz Museum. The attraction contains more than 2,000 Oz artifacts dating back to 1900. If you loved the story of Dorothy and Toto, you will love spending time here. Wamego is another friendly, Midwest town with welcoming residents."

•    New Sweden, Stockholm and Westmanland, Maine "These three tiny towns, first settled by 51 immigrants from Sweden, boast a rich Swedish heritage and easily allow you to ‘get away from it all.' If you live in the Northeast and feel a drive to Lindsborg, Kan. (Little Sweden) is a bit far, this will give you a bit of Swedish hospitality closer to home."

•    Groveland, Calif. "This former gold-mining town of the 1840s is home to the oldest continually operating saloon in California and sits 30 miles from the entrance to Yosemite National Park. Amidst beautiful woods and lakes, the town is at the top of Priest Grade, a road once used to haul gold down the mountain and one of the steepest inclined roads in the U.S. Just the ride up the mountain is worth the trip."

•    Vermilion, Ohio "Here you'll find New England charm on the shores of Lake Erie and the Vermilion River. Lighthouse and sailboat enthusiasts will be right at home. Stores, shops and the Inland Seas Maritime Museum remind you of decades past. During the summer months, you can hear concerts and sample hand dipped ice cream cones in the town square. Don't forget to visit Thomas Edison's birthplace in Milan, just a few miles away."

•    East Sweden, Texas "This is another Swedish heritage spot, now considered a ghost town. If you like getting a bit off the beaten path and seeing things as they used to be, this would be a great choice. It's easy to reach on U.S. Route 190 in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. The town remains show what happened when the railroad by-passed the settlement almost 100 years ago."

Running On Regular: Do Premium Vehicles Really Need Premium Gasoline?

Stan Baldwin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:42:46 -0500

Long before gasoline rocketed through $4 a gallon many people were dismayed to see a significant percentage of their income disappearing into the tank of their car. Today, a wobbly economic outlook, increases in the cost of most other forms of energy, as well as the cost of life’s staples, have prompted folks to look for every possible way to cut back on spending. “Can I save money by running my car on Regular?” “Will it hurt the engine?” my friends ask. More than one person driving a car the manufacturer has spec’d for Premium has told me “I use Regular and my car runs fine.” Are there consequences of “down grading” your fuel? It is definitely a timely question, so we sent e-mail inquiries off to a half dozen manufacturers asking about their technology and their policy on the matter.

While waiting for their reply let’s review some internal combustion engine characteristics. Fuel does not truly explode in a cylinder, at least it isn’t supposed to. It burns smoothly, albeit very rapidly, across the cylinder. The octane rating is a measure of the propensity a given fuel has to burning, rather than exploding. Gasoline “exploding” in the cylinder is frequently called “detonation” or more colloquially, “knocking” or “pinging”. These explosions, because they happen as the piston is rising during the compression stroke and try to shove the piston back down the bore, can do damage over time. In the case of severely stressed motors, such as in race cars, a few seconds of serious detonation can destroy the engine. Two of the mechanical considerations affecting how smoothly a fuel burns are compression and cylinder head configuration. Two variable considerations of great importance are the temperature in the cylinder and the ignition timing. Every manufacturer designs and builds their engines to operate most efficiently for the application intended with a gasoline of a particular octane rating.

Not all that long ago, before the advent of engine management systems, the result of tanking up a high compression vehicle with standard grade fuel was immediately obvious. Providing the stereo wasn’t cranked up past 100 decibels, the pinging or knocking from the engine compartment let you know something was not right. Driving up a hill, towing a load or simply accelerating quickly produced an unnerving rattle from under the hood. It sounded very much like your carbureted V-8 had morphed into a diesel. Until the age of microprocessors enabled the creation of engine management systems, the consequence of a steady diet of low octane fuel could be fatal for a high performance engine.

General Motors, Honda, Toyota and BMW responded to our inquiry. Honda’s public relations representative declined to comment on the issue. Toyota noted that essentially all their current models are designed to run on 87 octane. I asked about using 85 octane, available in some markets, and Bill Kwong of Toyota corporate PR told me they would run fine, with maybe only a slight 2-3 percent decline in horsepower and fuel mileage. But 85 octane is usually only offered in markets at altitude (i.e. Denver, Colorado) where the reduced oxygen doesn’t allow an engine to reach full designed power in any event. If you drive a modern Toyota, the octane rating of your fuel isn’t much of an issue. But what about a brand aimed squarely at the performance market? What about BMW?

Thomas Plucinsky, BMW Product and Technology Communications Manager told us all BMW engines are designed to run on 91 octane. All performance testing, including EPA emissions and fuel mileage, is done with 91 octane. However, though BMW is all about performance, their motors will run on 89 or 87 octane without damage. The knock sensors pull the ignition timing back and eliminate detonation. There will be a loss of power and a decrease in fuel mileage, but the size of the horsepower loss and the increase in fuel consumption depends upon many factors, such as ambient temperature, exact formulation of the fuel and driving technique, so BMW does not offer any estimates for operation on lower grade fuels. One not so obvious concern, Mr. Plucinsky noted, is the type and quality of additives the gasoline companies include in the fuel. Premium gasolines may have better additive packages which are more effective keeping fuel systems (particularly injectors) clean and working efficiently, than those in regular grade fuels or off-brand products. Using lower octane or off-brand fuel could be degrading the fuel system over time, setting you up for a repair bill down the line.

Dave Muscaro, Director of Engine Development/Calibration for GM power trains explained GM has “three flavors” of fuel specification for their offerings: Regular (87 octane) Recommended, Premium (91) Recommended, and Premium Required. Again, we are more concerned with the last two categories where regular could be substituted for the specified Premium. All the engines have a knock sensing ability that retards the spark when detonation occurs. For the premium recommended vehicles the spark advance will be pulled back enough to eliminate the detected knocking. The typical driver will not notice a performance decrease, except under load, and mileage will decline slightly. The engines intended for performance, such as the LS7 or the supercharged small block V-8, are Premium Required powertrains. The customers clearly were not primarily concerned with economy when they chose a performance vehicle and GM optimizes the engine management system to deliver the highest possible power output at all times. To this end the detonation control system does not retard the spark to the point required to prevent all knocking. It would seem a determined deranged drag racer could run Regular in his Corvette and, over time, he might manage to melt a piston or two.

If burning 87 octane in your car, when 91 octane is specified, will not harm the engine, and the performance degradation is not noticeable in typical driving, how much money can you save? The Energy Information Administration, U.S. Government Department of Energy, offers some figures for US gasoline retail prices (these are averages, all areas, all formulations). A year ago Regular was going for $2.982 a gallon and Premium was commanding $3.196 a gallon. The 21.4 cent difference delivered a 6.7 percent saving over Premium. This June 23, 2008, Regular extracted $4.079 from your wallet while Premium sucked up $4.312 for every gallon. The differential (23.3 cents) has grown slightly since 2007 but buying Regular is now only 5.4 percent cheaper than Premium. Since 5 percent is roughly the typical percentage of mileage decrease to be expected with the 87 octane fuel in a 91 octane engine, is there any savings at all?

Bottom Line: Most modern engines are fuel injected and controlled by sophisticated engine management systems which can rapidly and accurately compensate for lower octane fuel by retarding the ignition. Running these cars on 87 octane will not hurt them. However, the immediate savings at the pump may be wiped out by the subsequent drop in fuel mileage and performance, not to mention the possibility of damage over time.

How to Read Timeslips

Chris Paukert — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:01:32 -0500

We admit it. With a name like Winding Road, our office is essentially devoid of drag racers. That said, the handful of times we’ve been to the ‘strip, we’ve had a surprisingly good time, even if we weren’t terribly adept at getting the proper jump on the Christmas tree.

Having said all that, we can read ourselves a mean timeslip, but understand that these important pieces of paper may be daunting to the first-timer that hasn’t had previous dragging experience. Not only are ‘slips receipts of your car’s accomplishments, with a bit of analysis, they can also tell you where you need to improve, both as a driver and in terms of vehicle preparation.

The guys over at Car Craft have the full skinny on how to decipher a timeslip, as well as the art of deep versus shallow staging, and so on. If you’re contemplating taking your ride to the local ‘strip, it’s a worthwhile read.

+ Car Craft: How to Read a Timeslip

Buying Gas Like the Big Boys: MyGallons Offers A Hedge Against Fuel Prices

Seyth Miersma — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:08:01 -0500

While airlines, commercial vehicle fleets, and other large-scale users of fuel have been purchasing in bulk to lock in savings for years, the average American driver hasn’t ever really had that option. A new company called MyGallons is looking to change all that, giving spendthrift motorists a hedge against quickly escalating gas prices.

The MyGallons concept is quite simple. Users are able to buy fuel in whatever quantity they wish at a rate that gets locked in at a typical market rate (plus a yearly subscription fee of $29.95-$39.95) at the time of purchase, and at over 200,000 locations. When the price at the pump rises, users can then use their MyGallons card to fill-up using the cheaper gas that they’ve already banked. Prices for fuel are based on regular unleaded, but users can choose any grade or type of fuel (diesel, marine) and expect to pay an adjusted premium in the gallons available to their account.

MyGallons seems to be a pretty straight deal, promising to let users redeem fuel at the purchase price no matter how high prices go (though there is a “home market” clause), and offering a money back guarantee should one change their mind about the offer. Of course, the system only works if gas prices continue to rise; a condition we doubt many readers would be surprised to encounter.

+ MyGallons

Driving Over Fish: BMW Winter Training

Winding Road Administrator — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:30:57 -0600

Sure, we can go to winter tire testing facilities in the great forty-eight, and we have done so, had fun, and learned a lot. But such experiences pale in comparison to the BMW Winter Training in the Varmland region of central Sweden. BMW’s official winter testing facility is located farther north in Arjeplog, but the masses of small lakes around Nyskoga are a more beautiful location for the school. Both places are buried in snow and ice, but that would never prevent real Swedes from driving around at the speed limit.

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