Categories
mashup

GeoRSS maker

I’ve had some time over the weekend and decided to put some finishing touches on a couple of mashups that I started a few months ago but never completed. The first of these is the GeoRSS Maker which is something I dreamed up when I was making a GeoRSS file for my F1 circuit guide. At that time the process I uses was to first make a GeoRSS template file with a bunch of empty item elements before manually looking up the geographical coordinates of each individual racetrack(usually available on wikipedia) and entering the data into the template. This process was painful enough that I decided to build an automated way to extract coordinates from Wikipedia and insert them into a GeoRSS file.… Read the rest

Categories
cars track days

Spinning out at 95 mph

Reno-Fernley course map

I was at the NCRC trackday at Reno-Fernley Raceway last weekend when I got some first hand experience of what happens in a high speed spin. I was coming down the front straight at well over 100 mph and slowed slightly to take the esses that make up turn 1. Now on the track map they may look like fairly severe turns but in actual fact you just lift a little bit to settle the car at the end of the straight before flooring it though S bends. On this particular lap I came in a little hotter than on my previous runs and just after i made it though turn 1 (but before 1A) the back end came around and I flew off the track at 95 mph.… Read the rest

Categories
personal

My Precious

My precious
A big thanks to my friend Sowmya for getting me a Nintendo Wii from the EA store. If you are still looking for one just ask your friendly neighborhood EA employee to pick one up from their company store – they apparently get 5-10 units every day.

Unfortunately I haven’t yet played with it yet because after I hooked it up to the TV I couldn’t find the damn TV remote wall bashwall bashwall bash.… Read the rest

Categories
media motorsport thoughts videos work

Media from the Green Hell

The following is a post I wrote for the YRB blog. My readers get the bonus YouTube footage directly embedded on the page 🙂


A few weeks ago when the research community was looking at CHI, Formula 1 racing fans were looking at Germany to watch a very different event. Nick Heidfeld was driving a F1 car around the famed Nürburgring-Nordschleife circuit in Germany. “The Green Hell” as it is popularly known is one of the toughest race tracks on the planet and last hosted an F1 race back in 1976 when Niki Lauda’ near fatal crash put an end to F1 at the track.… Read the rest

Categories
personal

Lotus without wheels

A Lotus without wheels
Of the 500+ photos I have tagged Lotus – this is the first photo without any wheels in it 🙂… Read the rest