Scion FR-S 10 Year Anniversary

10 years ago today (16 March 2016) I bought a new, 2015 Scion FR-S from the dealership in Urbana.  Today that car has 249,320 miles on it.  It continues to serve me well as a daily driver.

Early on I used it for autocross and commuting to work at the University of Illinois.  Commuting put 30,000 miles a year on it up until the pandemic.  Annual mileage is around half that now.

In all that time it's been pretty well behaved, needing only regular maintenance plus a new clutch at around 180,000 miles.

My previous car, a 1998 Saturn SC2, made it to 421,000 miles before giving up the ghost.  I don't expect to get that far in the Scion, but here's hoping.

Traffic Theory

The person who invented the stop sign, the pedestrian crosswalk, the traffic circle, the one-way street, the taxi stand, and the pedestrian safety islands, William Phelps Eno, never learned to drive.

-- Summary of the life of William Phelps Eno (1858 - 1945) by Midnight Fact on Facebook [Fact-checked for accuracy]

Zero Emissions

By 2035 all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs sold in California will be zero emissions.  The proposed Advanced Clean Cars II proposal would take the state's already growing zero-emission vehicle market and robust motor vehicle emission control rules and augment them to meet more aggressive tailpipe emissions standards and ramp up to 100% zero-emission vehicles.  The proposal was presented to the Board on June 9, 2022 with a second hearing planned for August 25, 2022 when the Board will vote on the item.

-- Website of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which today voted to adopt the proposed standard described above, 25 August 2022

Those Who Achieve Great Things

It may seem a little crazy to walk directly into the line of fire... those who are willing, are those who achieve great things.

People say I’m crazy. I say thank you ;)

#fastestwomanonearth

-- Jessi Combs, Race Car Driver and "Mythbusters" Host, writing on Twitter as @TheJessiCombs, 6:07pm 24 August 2019; Combs died Tuesday 27 August while attempting to break her own 2013 land speed record of 398 mph

Memorial Rock

Colorado has a new Instagram-worthy landmark.  An 8.5-million-pound boulder that rolled off a cliff and demolished a section of mountain highway has been renamed "Memorial Rock," Governor Jared Polis said.

It would have cost the Colorado Department of Transportation $200,000 to blow up the boulder with dynamite and haul it away, but instead the department will rebuild Highway 145 to wind around the giant rock described as "the size of a house" between Cortez and Telluride in southwestern Colorado, Polis said.

"We expect that for generations to come, people will have the opportunity to observe this geological masterpiece that we're calling Memorial Rock," Polis said at a news conference earlier this week.

-- United Press International, 5 June 2019

Fixed Stick

In the same way that a stick shift is a theft control device for a car, being fixed gear is a theft control device for a bicycle.

Inversely

The intelligence of the driver is inversely proportional to the height of the vehicle.

-- Appleman's Law of Driver Intelligence, ca 1982

Part Animal, Part Angel

You just never know.  You drift along, year after year, presuming certain values to be fixed; like being able to drive on a public thoroughfare without somebody trying to murder you.  You came to depend on that sort of thing.  Then something occurs and all bets are off.  One shocking incident and all the years of logic and acceptance are displaced and, suddenly, the jungle is in front of you again.  Man, part animal, part angel.

--Richard Matheson (1926-2013), American author and screenwriter of horror and science fiction, "Duel" (1971), a short story, which he later adapted into a screenplay for Duel (1971), Steven Spielberg's first feature-length film

Starman

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful launch system on Earth, roared into the sky on Tuesday afternoon atop a pillar of smoke.

The rocket's three reusable boosters lifted the vehicle skyward, ultimately helping send Elon Musk's personal Tesla Roadster on a journey toward Mars orbit.

"It looks so ridiculous and impossible.  You can tell it's real because it looks so fake, honestly," Musk said at the post-launch press conference.

But he added: "The imagery of it is something that's going to get people excited around the world, and it's still tripping me out.  I'm tripping balls here."

-- Elon Musk, as quoted in Business Insider, 6 February 2018

Pizza, Funnel Cake, And Fries

The only thing you could argue is that New Jerseyans are more flammable than people in the other 49 states.  Because we eat so much oily pizza, funnel cake and fries, maybe you could make that argument.  Otherwise, it's simply ridiculous.

-- Declan J. O'Scanlon Jr., a Republican assemblyman from Monmouth County, on New Jersey's distinction as the last state in the nation where drivers are not allowed to pump their own gasoline, New York Times, 6 January 2018

We Live In The Future

We live in the future: car features being brainstormed in real time on a global social network, over Christmas, to be implemented the next quarter.

-- Jason Calacanis (1970-), American Internet entrepreneur, angel investor, and blogger, posting as @Jason on Twitter at 13:46 on 26 December 2017, in a thread in which Tesla owner Dustin Moskovitz tweeted a feature request to Elon Musk at 12:36, and Musk replied "Done" at 12:45, just 9 minutes later

Bike Totaled

Just got rammed on purpose by an impatient driver who followed me onto the pavement!  Thankfully I'm okay -- Bike totaled.  Driver kept going!

-- Cyclist Chris Froome, 2013, 2015, and 2016 Tour de France winner, Olympic medalist London 2012 and Rio 2016, on Twitter, 8 May 2017


https://twitter.com/chrisfroome/status/861860980430696448

Top Three Killers

Drivers in cars, trucks, minivans and SUVs put a record 3.22 trillion miles on the nation's roads last year, up 2.8 percent from 3.1 trillion miles in 2015.

It's the fifth consecutive year of increased miles driven on public roads and highways, reflecting a strengthening economy, but it also "underscores the demands facing American's roads and bridges," according to a statement from the Federal Highway Administration, "and reaffirms calls for greater investment in surface transportation infrastructure." ....

Another downside to more traffic is more crashes. The National Safety Council says traffic fatalities increased 6 percent last year and topped 40,000 for the first time since 2007, but only part of that sharp increase can be attributed to the less than 3 percent growth in vehicle miles traveled. What's even more troubling is that the rate of fatal crashes is increasing at a time when vehicles mechanically are becoming safer. Experts cite speed, distracted driving, and alcohol as the top three killers on the road.

-- David Schaper of National Public Radio, "Record Number Of Miles Driven In U.S. Last Year" (21 February 2017)

Unacceptable

The really sad part is that in the United States we accept 35,092 people dying on the roadways and thinking that's okay.  It should be unacceptable.

-- Mark Rosekind, the head of NHTSA, NPR, 5 October 2016

Tesla

On April Fool's Day I reserved my place in line.  Apparently I'm in the front half of the queue.


-- Tweet relating the pace of madness:

276k Model 3 orders by end of Sat
-- Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk on Twitter, 3 April 2016


-- Confirmation email:

Thank You. Your reservation is confirmed

Model 3 production is scheduled to begin in late 2017. North American deliveries will be first, followed by Europe, Asia and Pacific countries then countries with right-hand drive configurations. Those who own Model S or Model X cars will be  offered priority production slots as a special thanks for supporting the Tesla mission.

Tesla Motors | 3500 Deer Creek Road | Palo Alto, CA 94304

Where Are The Eyes?

Where are the eyes in an autonomous vehicle?

-- John Lee, a University of Wisconsin professor  and expert in driver safety on the Google  self-driving car and concerns that it can't  interact with other drivers by making eye contact, New York Times, 2 September 2015

Use The Redline

We tuned the car to preserve the engine and increase longevity. Use the redline when you feel it's necessary for win. Good luck

-- Scion Forums senior member Teseo, aka Scion FR-S Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada, in the thread "How often can I reach red line ?", 20 April 2015

Oversteer Vs Understeer

Oversteer is the back of the car hitting the wall.  Understeer is the front of the car hitting the wall.  Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall. Torque is how much of the wall you take with you.

-- Unknown stockcar driver