Yeah I know, it's not officially the end of February yet but I couldn't come up with a snappy title to this post and I didn't want to leave it blank like I've been doing lately.
Anyway, February is almost over. It's taken the cold weather with it apparently and just dumping snow on us now. I would guess we've received about 25 cm in total over the last week or so. I don't mind though as I'll take some snow and a slower drive to work over the extreme cold... or would I? It's a bit of catch 22. Either it's cold and clear or warmer and snowing. Canadian weather at it's finest I do believe.
On the Automotive front there are credible rumors that GM is looking to purchase Chrysler (including Dodge and Jeep) from Daimler. Given the dollar amount needed to seperate the companies (rough estimate of $70 billion which includes legacy costs associated with UAW workers) I figured it was just that - a rumor. Now however the talk is that Daimler will get a share of GM in lieu of the exchange of cash. Great, another company Daimler can try to suck dry. I believe Dave at Allpar.com says it best:
"Any merger would be fraught with problems as Mercedes relies heavily on Chrysler for its revenue. There’s the consulting fees, the royalties, Chrysler Financial, and the engineering work done in Auburn Hills (presumably at no cost) for Mercedes. Daimler would collapse without Chrysler, regardless of what the Germans and analysts like to say, because it survives by sucking cash out of its American industries, and Freightliner is drying up fast. Mercedes’ thirst for ill-gotten dollars could be quenched pretty quickly, though, with another “merger,” and a deal could include some provision for a cash flow to Stuttgart via royalties for a certain number of years, as well as the use of DAIMLERchrysler Financial for a certain number of years, to allow the Daimler parasite time to find another host. "
On another topic I gave Live for Speed another go online yesterday and was pleased to finish 8th out of 23 racers in a 6 lap race. The first lap was spent avoiding other collisions and even getting spun out by an overzealous fellow racer. I could make a report to a race steward but I figured that it didn't actually cost me anything in the end and I only have 40 miles logged online. I'll take some of the rough stuff to start just so I can handle the learning curve of racing online. I almost squeaked out a 7th place but didn't have the right gearing on the car for the track I was on. The track had a very long banked turn and my car topped out at 150km/h. The guy who took 7th place from me on the last lap could get up to about 160km/h, which in racing - even over a short distance - is hard to make up. Even harder when he can take turns as fast as you as well.
I guess I should show the car I've been racing. Live for Speed has no real production cars (there is a BMW Sauber F1 car and a two other one off cars) but the cars are based on real world counterparts. I'll give you a guess at what the UF1000 is based on. Hint - Mini ;-)
It's quite fun to drive and handles very well. My online forays have been to the STCC servers (Sim Touring Car Cup) where you earn licenses for racing. Racing clean, fast and finishing on the podium helps you obtain advanced licenses a bit quicker. They start at copper and go up to titanium. I've raced on the "New and Bronze" server and have to work my way up to the Silver and Gold server through clean racing. Poor and/or aggressive driving is no tolerated and if you do not follow the rules you can get suspensions or even banned.
Here's my little graphic I can use on forums and whatnot:
Now that I've bored you all to tears I figure I'll sign off ;-)
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