When most people think of upgrades for their car, they think modifying the suspenion or drivetrain. But I would assert that anything that helps the driver manipulate the controls better is as if not more important. To this end, something as a basic as a good, well bolstered seat and harnesses and GREATLY improve the ability to drive a car.

The reason for this is twofold: 1) if you are not held in place securely, you must expend additional effort bracing yourself and 2) you can pickup finer points of the car’s feedback when you strapped in securely.

The Need to Brace Yourself
This can actually be far more detrimental to good driving than most people realize. Every time you make an input, YOU become a living example of Newton’s First Law of Motion - a body in motion tends to stay in motion. When you hit the brakes, you body flies forward. When you corner to the left, your body flies to the right. And the harder you drive, the harder you get thrown about, and the greater the need becomes to adequately brace yourself.

This has actually been a major concern for Clint when he drives the Protege. The stock seats and seat belts are decidedly subpar, and part of his body of technique to drive that car involves bracing his leg against the door to keep him from bouncing around inside the car. Which brings us to our next issue: picking up feedback

Picking Up More Feedback
It is truly amazing how much more responsive a car feels when you are strapped in securely. You notice so much more of what the car is doing and the feedback it is giving you because everything the car does impacts you directly, without the normal slop afforded by stock seats and belts. Many drivers can shave 1/2 to 1 second off of lap times just making the transition to a harness for precisely this reason. They are able to cue in on the car more, and push the car and themselves further.

I was leaving a shopping center in northern Virginia a few hours ago and encountered this situation:

Apologies for the low-quality cell-phone picture; it was all I had at the time. It looks like there was relatively little damage to both cars (considering that one car was under the other. And I don’t believe that either driver was seriously injured. the Mustang’s airbags deployed, but there was no damage to the passenger compartment.

One thing is clear though: If you hit a pickup truck in the side with your Mustang, you will bump it right up in the air.

You’ll find a lot of articles on driving technique here because refining it is something we promote with enthusiasm. It occurred to me during recent snowstorms that while Noah has written many good articles on race driving technique and I have a few on handling a car on snow covered roads in situations a flight instructor would call “unusual attitudes”, not one of us has written about how to get a stuck car out of the snow.

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The Northeast is getting sacked with snow and we’re out enjoying it.  If you’re in Massachussetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, or Connecticut, get in your car and get driving. 12″ are forecast for many areas.

If you forgot to get snow tires, enjoy your living room for me. :p

Frank Gilberti from Nutley, New Jersey recently attempted to pay a $56 traffic fine all in pennies. He got the requisite 112 rolls of pennies from his bank, but was rebuffed when he went to court to pay the fine. Despite signs in the courthouse stating that cash was accepted, the clerk refused to take the rolls of pennies and then a warrant was issued for his arrest! Gilberti posted a $90 bond and has a court date set.

What exactly the warrant was for was not stated, but I for one am curious as to how paying a fine with U.S. money could possibly get you arrested. Seems kind of ironic that a branch of the government - the judiciary branch no less - would not accept as legal tender the money which the other branches of the government produces…

I’ve been going back and forth about selling my VR-4 for over six months now, and tonight I’ve finally come to a decision: I’m selling it. It’s expensive, it’s got a host of quirky and annoying problems, and it’s never going to be a real track or race car. I realize now that I’ve put 5 years and probably over $20,000 dollars into a car that’s the antithesis of my attitude towards cars. It’s a sentimental object, plain and simple, and I don’t want to be one of those car guys that just hangs on to ridiculous project cars because they can’t bear to see their hours and years of work drive away.

You would think that mechanics and tinkerers would be hard and objective by nature. We work with tools and metal after all, not books and fairy dust. We turn wrenches, use torches, cut things with saws, and shower with Fast Orange. How would we ever hold on to a car as if it was some heartfelt trinket?
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A number of websites are reporting that Ford has threatened legal action against one of its fan websites, therangerstation.com. Initial speculation has fed a wave of outrage, as it seems suicidal to attack your biggest base of support right when you teeter on the brink of bankruptcy. As with most internet speculation, some of it is true, and much of it just hasn’t been put into the appropriate context. Initial claims that michiganmustang.com and mustangrevolution.com also received legal notices have now been discredited.

The problem stems from therangerstation.com selling what Ford’s legal department claim are counterfeit Ford products. Legally, this puts Ford in a bit of a predicament. Ford clearly owns the trademark “Ford” blue oval, but in trademark law, the owner of a trademark must enforce his rights to that trademark. That means that if Ford lets 3rd party sellers sell counterfeit Ford products, it can dilute Ford’s trademark to the point that it no longer has any legal force or protection. Unfortunately, this need to police the Ford trademark comes at a critical point in Ford’s life, and may add a few thorns in its side that it doesn’t need.

So what is Ford looking to get out of this situation? As you can see from the letter by Scott Monty over at voltagecreative.com (scroll down to the comments), Ford wants therangerstation.com and other such fansites to keep their names and stay in operation. BUT, he/ford is asking that said sites contact Ford for licensing of the name. As I mention above, this is probably just Ford trying to prevent it’s trademark from becoming diluted to the point of unenforceability. The real question will be how much Ford is demanding in licensing fees. If they demand nothing or close to nothing, than yes, they are just working the law to protect their trademark. If they start demanding more compensation then, well, let’s just say a house cannot stand of you blow up its foundation…

A couple of months ago, Clint put up an article on what you should actually do to winterize your car. He concluded all you needed to do was put on snow tires. I might add that when you change your oil, use a lower cold viscosity oil if your manual calls for it. And, as predicted, various publications have started to explain what we all “should” be doing to prepare ourselves and our cars for the treacherous drive 1 mile up the road with 1 inch of snow on the ground.

Take a gander at this fancy piece by The Boston Globe. It even has fancy diagrams. Everything under the “check it out” section are things that you should be doing routinely anyways. The exception to that is putting in lower viscosity motor oil and a mix of coolant and water for your engine coolant. But any car sold above the Mason-Dixon Line should come that way from the factory standard, making this point moot. The “add ons” are hilarious. They recommend a heated ice scraper as well as a heated blanket. Since we all scrape ice by placing the scraper on the ice in the same spot for 1 minute at a time, I’m sure this device works great. A heated blanket would be great if your car’s heater doesn’t work. For all regular cars, just drive around in a lower gear and floor it if you really get cold.

So what about snow tires? You know, the ONLY thing that has any impact whatsoever on your ability to drive in the snow? To its credit, the article does recommend getting snow tires. But to say it places minimal emphasis on them would be an understatement. So where is their recommendation for snow tires? Tidbit #4 out of 10, sandwiched between sheepskin seat covers and an electric engine block heater (seriously, who comes up with these things???). For some ACTUAL information how snow tires and how to get your car ready for winter, check out Chris’ recent post on which snow tires to buy.

As reported by theindychannel.com, the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles will be upping the restrictions on new driver’s license photos. You won’t be able to wear sunglasses, any hair hanging in your face must be swept to the side, and you cannot smile! This goes to codifying the long-standing practice of no one ever smiling in license photographs.

The justification is that they need a clear picture of the applicant to use in their facial recognition software designed to detect and stop fraudulent applications. That means that as long as you are smiling anytime you are not getting your license photo taken, there should be no photos of you out there that the IBMV system can detect. I guess a smile all day keeps the BMV away!?

Michelin is reportedly putting the finishing touches on its Active Wheel technology. In short, Active Wheel technology moves the entire drivetrain to the driving wheel, rather than keeping the engine central and then routing power via axles to the driving wheels. The system relies on an electric motor at each, rather than 2 or 4 separate internal combustion engines. The power source for the motors is the only thing not at each wheel (well, and the steering rack, to be fair), which means that the battery can be relocated elsewhere in the car.

The technology is very intriguing, although it likely will have better applications in commuter cars than in sports cars, at least in the immediate future. The power of cars using this technology, like the soon-to-be-released Heuliez Will, output in the 40-80 hp range, which won’t get anything with 4 wheels going all that fast. Additionally, cars tend to handle better with less unsprung weight, although the Will claims to have less unsprung weight on its front axle than the Renault Clio. The best feature of this technology is that it will make for much more useful internal space, and give car designers more leeway in where to put things in the car. The battery will be the heaviest item by far in cars equipped with this technology, and since it just needs a wire to connect it to the motors, it can be placed where most convenient in terms of weight distrubution or luggage space. Were it me, I’d place it square in the middle of the car for optimum handling, but I’m sure many car designers will keep the interior clear and spacious.