Le Mans!

ON-car Camera lap around le Circuit de la Sarthe

Turn-by-turn description of the Circuit

In just over 8 hours, the 24 hours of Le Mans begins. It is arguably THE definitive motorsport event. A grueling test of man and machine.

This year the prototype class will be a titanic battle between last year’s champ Audi, and their R10 racers, vs. Peugeot and their Diesel powered prototype 908 HDi cars. Audi will have 3 R10s and Peugeot is bringing 2 908s.

The pole is distributed between the five cars:

1. Lamy/Sarrazin/Bourdais (No. 8 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP), 3m 26.344s
2. Capello/Kristensen/McNish (Audi R10), +0.572s
3. Gene/Minassian/Villeneuve (No. 7 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP), +1.380s
4. Biela/Pirro/Werner (Audi R10), +1.957s
5. Luhr/Rockenfeller/Premat (Audi R10), +3.392s

Should be a fascinating weekend. I’ll be keeping an eye on the race in the moments that Speed TV can break themselves away from 24 hours of NASCAR coverage (yawn).

Datacenter Density Illustrated

I was in a meeting with what was a potential client, and now will be a new colocation client starting later this week. They came to us asking for three racks. We asked them about their equipment and it totalled up to about 40U worth of gear. So logically, we asked them “why would you want to pay for two empty racks?”

They then related a story about asking their current provider for more power, and being that not only could they not have it, that they’d have to remove servers from their racks. They had one rack’s worth of gear spread out over three racks. They were paying for full racks but only being allowed to use on-third of each rack due to power restrictions.

Needless to say, I was amazed.

I won’t name the other provider (though the initials of their facility here in Seattle are “F.P.”) but I do find it odd that a service provider would put a client into such an odd position. If you pay for a full rack, you ought to be able to utilize every rack unit, right? That is just part of the digital.forest difference. You need it? We got it. We can do custom power. We can do high density. We can help you succeed.

Mind you we are not giving this stuff away. We are not the least expensive option for Seattle area colocation. BUT, if you examine our offerings closely, you will find the BEST VALUE FOR YOUR DOLLAR, precisely because we can accommodate most every infrastructure need, at a very reasonable price. We will not tell you what you CAN’T do, we help you accomplish what you need to do. Don’t let your colocation provider hold you back. Choose digital.forest.

2007 Classic Motorcar Rally, Day One. Photos and Story.

The first day of rallying was clear and pleasant… well, the weather that is… the rallying was unclear and unpleasant for Dad & I. We were very rusty on TSD rallying, and messed up several times… including the very first odometer-calibration segment where we missed a turn! That put us completely off the rest of the day. Oh well. We enjoyed ourselves though, as we can never take ourselves too seriously. The story follows…

BMW 3.0cs

BMW 3.0cs

Continue reading “2007 Classic Motorcar Rally, Day One. Photos and Story.”

A little linkwhoring.

Link Whore

Autoblog is giving away a car. Mind you, it is sort of ugly, lacks a Diesel engine, or a convertible top, but hey… it is FREE. If getting something for nothing turns your crank, go enter. I’m pretty sure it is only open to US residents, so some of you are out of luck.

Autoblog is in my list of daily reads via RSS. My URL is embedded in my comments and they send me a lot of traffic that way. My car was even voted a “Reader Ride of the Day” (and week) and almost made “Reader Ride of the Year” last year. I figured I’d give them a link. 😉

2007 Classic Motorcar Rally, Arrival. Photos and Story.

benz

This is the best photograph I took on Friday, day one of the 2007 Classic Motorcar Rally. It is a pair of Mercedes-Benz 300sl cars reflected in the coachwork of a Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster undergoing “recreation” (more on that later.) First, I’ll fill you in on the events of Thursday and our arrival…

panorama

We arrive at the Majestic Inn in Anacortes, WA around 3:30 PM Thursday, check in, attend the Rally orientation, and put the car through tech inspection. Of course, my brake lights had failed. This is an annoying issue with E-type Jaguars. Thankfully it is an easy fix. I zip over to NAPA, where I have three models to choose from (Part #s: SL143, SL145, & SL147) They have the SL143 in stock, so I purchase it and install it later, after the car cools down enough for me to thread my arm under the frame and have my face next to the exhaust headers:

Napa Parts

Top photo: NAPA part# SL143’s box lying in a strategic spot as I prepare to install it.
Bottom photo: Looking down between the headers and frame at the brake light switch installed.

Feeling confident, we amble across the street for dinner at the Star Bar which turns out to be VERY good. Dad has a salad and short rib, I enjoy the tuna and a beef tenderloin. We drink a bottle of Chilean wine and really enjoy a great meal. If your travels take you to Anacortes, I highly suggest a dinner there. I’ll probably take Sue there sometime as it is pretty close to home. After dinner, we head back over to the hotel bar for a drink and run into the rally mechanics Craig & Dave:

Great guys. I share the news with them that my brake lights are working again, and after the malts are down, wander off to bed.