NAPIER-RAILTON, PART 1
AUTOMOTIVE SPORTSMAN John Cobb’s directive to Thompson & Taylor Ltd. was clear: Build a car to set records at the 2 3/4-mile Brooklands circuit. Chief engineer Reid Railton responded with … Continue reading
LISTENING TO VINYL
ARE YOU back into vinyl yet? Or were you ever into vinyl? B.C.D., Before Compact Discs, the vibrations of sound that we call music were shared by a wiggly spiral … Continue reading
ABOUT ENGLAND
A BOOK is a wonderful gift, often because of unexpected things to which it leads. Georgina, a dear English friend, gifted us with a book that, according to its cover … Continue reading
MRS. THORNE AND ORSON WELLES
AN ODD synergy exists between a wealthy Chicago woman, Mrs. James Ward Thorne, and the theater/film/radio great, Orson Welles. It’s all the more curious in that Welles has been called … Continue reading
HONDA “SMART IMA”
THINK OF Honda’s recently announced hybrid One-Motor Intelligent Dual Clutch Drive as “Smart IMA.” I’ve admired the engineering elegance of the earlier Integrated Motor Assist hybrid except for one aspect: … Continue reading
TYPE CASTING
TYPOGRAPHY IS an art form, the design of letters, numerals, punctuation marks and other characters and how they fit together. And to paraphrase an old chestnut, “I don’t know much … Continue reading
東京ディズニーシー
TRAVELING INTO Tokyo from Narita International Airport, when the train or bus ran along Tokyo Bay, I passed an active volcano on the left. It’s no cause for concern because … Continue reading
OWLS HEAD TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM
WHAT A perfect time to visit Owls Head, Maine, and its Transportation Museum (http://www.ohtm.org)! The museum offers a real variety for enthusiasts of motion, with 50 cars, 28 aircraft, 14 bicycles, … Continue reading
SCIENCE TIME TRAVEL
SUPPOSE YOU could travel back in time and share some 21st Century knowledge with someone of an earlier era. Whom to choose? What knowledge to share? In its “NextGenVoices,” 5 … Continue reading
TRANNY TALK
HOW COME electric vehicles don’t have transmissions whereas traditional vehicles need gears, seemingly the more, the better? The answer is surprisingly straightforward—it’s all a matter of torque. Torque, or twisting … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 