Simanaitis Says

On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff

PITTSBURGH VINTAGE GRAND PRIX 1996

WHEN WE last saw our intrepid vintage racer (yesterday; http://wp.me/p2ETap-298), he and his patron, Jake Jacobson of the Old Spokes Vintage Racing Team, were chasing each other in 1930s sprint … Continue reading →

May 21, 2014 · 1 Comment

JAKE JACOBSON AND HIS MILLER-FORD

MY VINTAGE racing career, a spirited though brief one, owed a great deal to Jake Jacobson. A fellow member of the Vintage Sports Car Club of America, Jake was the … Continue reading →

May 20, 2014 · Leave a comment

THE WEST INDIES—COLONIAL EDITION

THANKS TO Englishman Algernon E. Aspinall, I offer compelling information here on the Montserrat brogue, John Teach (aka Blackbeard the pirate), a Caribbean counterpart of Forty-Niner’s sourdough, and how to … Continue reading →

May 19, 2014 · Leave a comment

MONOSPAR WINS 1934 KING’S CUP

IT MAY have been only a handicap race appealing to club pilots flying any old aircraft, but the King’s Cup originated by His Majesty George V in 1922 brought forth … Continue reading →

May 18, 2014 · Leave a comment

TASTY TIME TRIPPIN’

COOKBOOKS FROM other eras can be fun—and real adventures in the modern kitchen. Needless to say, I have several examples; here are three of my favorites. This isn’t a cookbook … Continue reading →

May 17, 2014 · Leave a comment

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

THE CONTROLLED fury of Formula 1 racing has been affected this season by discontent over the sound of the cars’ exhaust. To me, this is misguided acoustics, much ado about nothing, and in … Continue reading →

May 15, 2014 · 1 Comment

JAPAN—IN 1950

MY COLLECTION of guidebooks on Japan goes back to the turn of the century (that earlier turn, not our recent one). Two of my favorite books, however, are rather more … Continue reading →

May 14, 2014 · Leave a comment

JOKING AROUND, MUSICALLY, WITH GERARD HOFFNUNG

A WAGNER opera begins at 7 p.m. Three hours later, you look down at your watch and it’s 7:25. What’s the difference between a viola and an onion? Nobody cries … Continue reading →

May 12, 2014 · Leave a comment

ZÉCAR AND THE MIL FOLHAS PROJECT

IT’S TURNABOUT of the best kind: A charming little toy car is helping to reforest an area destroyed by highway expansion. The toy is Zécar. The reforestation is Mil Folhas … Continue reading →

May 11, 2014 · Leave a comment

TOYOTA LINEAR GENERATOR

RESEARCHERS AT Toyota’s Central R&D Labs in Japan have shared details of generating electricity with an unorthodox internal combustion engine. The engine is a two-stroke design, but with a piston … Continue reading →

May 9, 2014 · 2 Comments