Posts Tagged ‘Mar-2009’

Zero to 62 miles per hour in four seconds? Not in a truck. Well…David Vrsecky, a champion truck racer in Europe recently set the world speed record for a big truck. Driving one kilometer (0.62 miles), he clocked in at an average 171.878 kph — or about 106 miles per hour. The previous record, set in 2007, was 158.828 kph (almost 99 mph).The 9,920-lb. Buggyra Freightliner truck he drove is a big rig with modifications. The engine was adjusted to accelerate quickly and the tires had to ha…

Seventy years ago, a logger named T.A. Peterman, in need of a way of transporting logs and wood products, turned to military vehicles, rebuilding them to handle the tough job of hauling timber out of the woods. At the same time, a truck building company, unable to survive the economic battering of the Great Depression, needed somebody to buy the business.The two came together. Peterman applied his experience of reworking those military vehicles to the truck building company and the result was …

Horsepower can be so overrated. At least that’s what the developers from HumanCar, an industrial design firm, are betting on with the Imagine_PS, or Power Station, vehicle. The vehicle uses electric motors and regenerative braking along with human power to keep it moving at a decent clip. “The human part is a patented bi-directional human-power interface, which is like a rowing action that uses your entire body,” says Chuck Greenwood, CEO. “One to four people can operate…

Electric football, that classic sports simulation game from a generation ago, is making a comeback. Originally relegated to attics and basements after their “coaches” grew up, those same coaches are bringing the game back, participating in national electric football tournaments, and even craft-painting those tiny running backs and wide receivers to look like current NFL and college football squads. “Electric football has seen a renaissance of attention today,” says Ira …

In the beautifully detailed opening chapter, a young Babe Ruth happens on a pickup baseball game played by a group of black men. Just beginning to make a name for himself with the Boston Red Sox and filled with an irrepressible love of the game, he is wowed by the skill of the players and asks if he can play too. When his Red Sox teammates show up, the game becomes one of black vs. white, rich vs. poor, privileged vs. do…