IDENTIFYING NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS
A GOAL of the B612 Foundation is to save the world. Named for asteroid B-612 in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 book The Little Prince, the B612 Foundation plans to do … Continue reading
MERCEDES-BENZ W196 EX-FANGIO
A FABULOUS car, the 1954 Ex-Juan Manuel Fangio Mercedes-Benz W196 Grand Prix machine, recently changed hands for a fabulous price—$29.7 million. This Bonhams sale, at Goodwood Festival of Speed on … Continue reading
ENGLISH MAGIC
BETTY WALKER, wife of motorsports great Rob Walker, rest both their souls, taught wife Dottie and me about ancient Glastonbury, a revered site in southwestern England that’s been inhabited since … Continue reading
MASSON’S MEXICAN MELEE
FRENCH AVIATOR Didier Masson competed in the Dominguez Air Meet, held January 10 to 20, 1910, near Los Angeles and the first international flying competition in the U.S. What with … Continue reading
VENEZIA
ROBERT BENCHLEY had a good line: “Streets filled with water. Advise.” As a car enthusiast, I cannot fathom why this Italian city with flooded streets should hold my attraction. Yet … Continue reading
CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANS
THE CONCEPT of a continuously variable transmission, CVT, for short, has been around for years. There have been several variations on the theme and a good number of applications. In … Continue reading
EURO/BENZ HASSLE
THE EUROPEAN Union in Brussels, the Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest court, and Germany’s Daimler-Benz are arguing about keeping cool. At the core of this are the EU’s stringent CO2 regulations … Continue reading
TOUR DE FRANCE AUTO
BRUCE MALE, car collector extraordinaire, vintage race driver and fellow Arizona Copperstate participant (www.wp.me/p2ETap-VS), offered me the codriver role in his Maserati A6G Zagato for the Tour de France Auto, … Continue reading
NEW ARTISANS
LUDDITES FEARED technology would destroy their livelihoods 200 years ago. Today, some researchers claim that we may be losing the “race against the machine” yet again. However, others foresee a … Continue reading
VOUGHT XF5U
THE XF5U “Flying Flapjack” was one of the might-have-beens of aviation history. Its designer, Charles H. Zimmerman, was a talented aerodynamicist and member of NACA, the National Advisory Committee for … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 