What do the Formula One race cars at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix and a Chevy Colorado ZR2 pickup have in common
off-road Colorado hit dealerships this spring sporting the same sophisticated “spool-valve” shock absorbers developed for high-performance racing
Made by Toronto-based auto supplier Multimatic
spool-valve shocks are just the latest evidence of track-to-production-car trickle-down
Or “track-to-trail,” as Multimatic likes to say
auto manufacturers have used the race track to raise their public profiles
But racing also has played a significant role in accelerating the development of vehicle technology
Examples abound: The fuel injection now found on the most common $20,000 family sedan debuted on exotic Mercedes-Benz Formula One greyhounds in the 1950s before migrating to the German brand’s 300SL road car
carbon-fiber construction and sticky tire compounds were first developed for racing
the amount of information you can gather very quickly about how something performs is worth weeks and weeks of testing,” says Stephanie Brinley
“A 24-hour endurance race is a great way to gather information — especially in changing weather and track conditions
Sometimes it’s about finding different solutions that turn out to be a good solutions for street cars as well.”
Spool-valve shock technology — the formal term is Dynamic Suspension Spool Valve — took a winding dirt road to get to Chevy trucks
Like the Mercedes-to-family sedan fuel-injection odyssey
Multimatic’s spool valves first found favor with an expensive luxury car: the $2 million Aston Martin One-77
stacked discs covering ports that control the flow of hydraulic oil to “damp” movement and keep the car from pogo-ing on bumpy roads
the discs are replaced with nesting cylindrical sleeves held apart by a spring
The newer shocks are easier to “tune” for their expected use
And when the oil in the DSSV shock gets hot and thin from repeated pounding on a race track or from off-road punishment
they don’t lose their damping ability like traditional shock absorbers
“The DSSV has been known in racing circles for at least 20 years beginning with IndyCar and then Formula One,” says Murray White
Multimatic technical director of vehicle development
“The first application was in the Aston Martin
Then GM came to us and said (they) would like to do a technology demonstration project with the 2014 Camaro Z28 Camaro
we have the next application for the spool-valve dampers: a truck
The same technology that precisely controls hydraulic flow through a shock absorber tube under extreme race conditions could also tune a pickup to be as smooth on-road as it is durable off
The tiny F1 shocks — parts miniaturization drives racing costs sky high — are barely recognizable next to the pickup’s giant struts
“When you stop and think about ride and handling requirements
it’s all about the precise control of the suspension,” says White
a race car — precision control of the way the suspension moves is what you want.”
targeted at buyers with a taste for Baja-style adventure
has won raves from media for its versatility in conquering the outback — and then negotiating asphalt roads with nimble aplomb
The shock has given Chevy a leg up in the off-road pickup wars against formidable adversaries like Toyota’s Tacom TRD Pro and the Ford F-150 Raptor
Multimatic’s success has raised its profile alongside other suppliers like Brembo (brakes) and Michelin (tires)
whose extensive work in racing has made them household names in production cars
“The trickle-down effect from racing can be circuitous — but that’s the magic of it,” says IHS’ Brinley
“It can be really hard to draw a straight line to it — but you are learning so much more about vehicle dynamics in racing.”
Sometimes production cars influence racing
“What’s more interesting is when street technology transfers to the track
such as the hybrid drivetrain systems that are now used in many race cars but started out as fuel-efficiency designs for street cars,” says Karl Brauer
with fuel consumption regulations in Formula One paralleling government mpg rules for production cars
the hybrid-electric powertrains currently used in F1 cars derive much of their know-how from production engineering
F1’s goals were aligned with the wider automotive industry,” reports the technology site
teams would have to push for efficiency — exactly what we want from our road cars.”
What might be the next big thing that migrates from track to street
Multimatic’s White points to carbon-fiber construction that was once exclusive to race car chassis, but is now being applied in production cars. The Ford GT supercar experiments with low-cost carbon fiber
And the Alfa Romeo 4C is the first production sports car under $100,000 to feature a full carbon-fiber chassis
“Carbon fiber is a very appropriate material to use in some places
People will figure out the most appropriate use of it — there is a lot of emphasis on light-weighting these days and carbon fiber lends itself to those uses,” says Multimatic’s suspension wizard
Find Detroit News auto critic Henry Payne at hpayne@detroitnews.com
to look at the movies released into theatres on July 26th
and how the box office top eleven looked that week
two new moderate to wide releases (plus one new film opening the previous Wednesday) would join several New York City exclusives in opening in theatres:
This Italian-made sci-fi film from 1983 would finally make it to New York two years later
Twenty years after a nuclear war has rendered all survivors infertile
a one-time soldier is given the chance to rescue the last fertile woman from behind enemy lines in the one-time Big Apple
so he can head off-world to humanity’s new homeworld
After the Fall of New York would gross a measly $82,521 (compared to
which had opened four weeks earlier and still was able to gross $115k from 44 NYC theatres)
and would be completely gone from New York theatres after one week
Fun fact: not two weeks after the end of its theatrical run
one could rent After the Fall of New York from the video stores inside the Federated Home Entertainment Electronics Superstores for just 49¢
It would take four years for this 1981 Israeli drama to get any kind of theatrical release in America
After one week at the Film Forum in New York City
Walt Disney Animation’s 25th full-length feature film was supposed to launch animated feature films into a whole other level
One where animated movies from Disney could be more for teenagers and adults than kids
One that could open a whole new world of storytelling possibilities
the film would be such a bomb that its failure almost put the Disney Animation department out of business
It would be the last animated film to be made in the original Animation Building on the Disney lot in Burbank
But despite its lack of success at the box office
there are many things to admire about the film
It was the first animated Disney film to be specifically recorded in Dolby Stereo
the first to use computer-generated imagery
and it features some of the best animation to come out of the hand-drawn cel era
But it would take decades for the film to finally find an audience
Between the end of the film’s theatrical run in September 1985 and its VHS release in August 1998
The Black Cauldron was not available in any format
Today’ one can watch it in 4K on the Disney+ streaming service
but the only way to buy it on physical media is a Blu-ray that is only available from the Disney Movie Club
The Black Cauldron would open to $4.18m from 1276 theatres in its first weekend ($5.4m after five days)
The Heavenly Kid was one of those movies that might have been able to work
The story is simple: wannabe John Travolta in Grease-type dies in a fiery car crash racing his rival a la Rebel Without a Cause
wannabe John Travolta in Grease-type must earn his wings to get into heaven by becoming a mentor and friend to a high school kid in need of some help
only to discover the young man is really his kid
and his girlfriend at the time of his death is now married to the guy he was racing when he died
Did I mention the young man he’s helping so he can get into heaven is his son
even though he died more than twenty years previous
This was writer/director Cary Medoway’s second movie of 1985
and he would never write or direct a movie again
The Heavenly Kid would gross $1.61m from 1019 theatres in its opening weekend
the film would be nominated for four Academy Awards
but this movie is a good example of how weird the 1980s were for movie distribution
An independently financed American/Brazilian co-production about two very different men who share a prison cell in Brazil during the Brazilian military dictatorship (one imprisoned and tortured for his activities on behalf of a leftist revolutionary group
the other an effeminate homosexual imprisoned for “corrupting an underage youth”)
filmed in Brazil in four different languages (English
German and Portuguese) was released into theatres deep in the heart of the summer movie season
and would end up becoming one of the most successful non-studio theatrical releases of the year
I’m not going to get into what kind of person William Hurt was off-screen
if I were a member of the Academy back in 1985
my vote for Best Actor would have gone to Raul Julia
who has the less flashy role but is the true heart and soul of the film
In its first weekend of release at the Cinema I in New York City
Kiss of the Spider Woman would break the theatre’s house record for an opening weekend
The film would continue to play in theatres for nearly a year and a half
and finish its theatrical run with $17m worth of tickets sold
Fans of 1980s French cinema might have noticed this film is being touted as being from the comedy team behind Les Compères
even though Les Compères was actually made and released
which had been a success upon its December 1981 release in France
would not get an American theatrical release until Les Compères
which had been made and released in France in November 1983
became a surprise art-house hit in America in the spring of 1984
Director Francis Veber and his movies would become a veritable goldmine for Hollywood remakes
as no less than nine Hollywood movies (The Birdcage
The Valet) would be based off films Veber wrote
produced and/or directed during his fifty-plus year career
La Chèvre would gross $26k during its first three days playing at the 315-seat Embassy 72nd Street Twin in New York City
on its way to grossing just over $1m during its three-month America run
one of the many screenplays John Hughes kinda wrote due to contractual and/or personal obligations while he was concentrating on growing his own directing career
After the misfire that was Johnny Dangerously in December 1984
Fast Times at Ridgemont High director Amy Heckerling needed a hit
when the film became the #1 movie its opening weekend
my roommate and I lived across the hall from Jason Lively and his girlfriend in a Hollywood apartment building
Nice guy.) The film would go on to gross $49.3m through its theatrical run
And there was one additional movie in theatres on this day
Fright Night would open in theatres the following Friday
grossing more than $24.9m during its three-month theatrical run
It would be the highest-grossing horror film during the 1985 calendar year
although November’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge would eventually become the highest grossing horror film released in 1985
when it hit $30m thanks to a run that extended until April 1986
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LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Anthony Michael Hall and Chevy Chase
co-stars of the Hollywood comedy "Vacation," are to reunite on an episode of the sit-com "Community," NBC said
who also starred in the iconic 1980s teen flick "The Breakfast Club," is to be a guest star on the Dec
10 episode of "Community," on which Chase is a regular cast member
"Hall will haunt the halls of Greendale Community College as a campus bully who ultimately challenges Jeff -- played by Joel McHale -- to a fight," NBC said in a news release
"'Community' is a smart comedy series about a band of misfits who form a study group and
like in the classic film 'Breakfast Club,' end up learning a lot more about themselves than they do about their course work."
THE ATENEO Women’s Chess Team concluded the twelfth round of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 86 with a triumph against archrivals De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Woodpushers
This victory puts the Blue Eagles’ standing to a 5-2-3 (win-draw-loss) card with two matches left this season
The match between the two rivals took place earlier today at the Far Eastern University (FEU) Technology Building in the City of Manila.
Today’s lineup for the Katipunan-based squad consisted of Jiessel Marino
The nail-biting clash between Blue Eagle Elayza Villa and DLSU’s Francois Magpily ultimately ended in a draw by agreement from both Women National Masters on the second board
Alphecca Gonzales secured the team’s first win of the day against Lady Woodpusher and Woman National Master Rinoa Sadey as the latter resigned with one move away from a checkmate on the fourth board
Continuing the Loyola Heights-based squad’s unblemished day
Team Captain Kristine Flores’s match against Woman National Master Sara Olendo ended in a hard-fought draw on the third board
Jiessel Marino showed prowess as DLSU’s Checy Telesforo resigned from the match with Marino’s pawn promotion.
When asked about the team’s goal as the season comes to an end
Coach Yves Rañola emphasized that their eyes are on securing the overall third-place position
kaya kailangan namin ma-secure ‘yung third place,” asserted the Ateneo mentor
the team no longer has a chance to finish second overall
so we have to secure the third-place finish)
The Ateneo Women’s Chess Team has its sights on winning against reigning champions
the National University Lady Bulldogs this Saturday
the Men’s Team is eyeing to win against next-door-neighbors University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons
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That’s according to Yorkshire Live
who report that Wednesday have now made their move to sign Storey on loan
The Owls are allegedly desperate to add new centre back options this month with Dominic Iorfa
Checy Dunkley and Lewis Gibson all out injured
Storey is now seen as one potential option to come in
with Wednesday now waiting for Preston’s response
North End are considering allowing Storey to go out on loan
just months after giving him a new contract in September
but he has dropped out of the North End starting XI of late
Ryan Lowe is preferring to go with Sepp van den Berg
Patrick Bauer and Andrew Hughes as his back three
That means Storey has been left out of the side and hasn’t played a single minute since Frankie McAvoy’s axe in December
You also have to factor in Preston’s upcoming decision over Bambo Diaby in relation to Storey’s future
Diaby has been on trial with Preston in recent weeks as he looks to earn a deal with North End
meaning he can now sign for Preston and play Championship games for the first time in two years
Ryan Lowe has admitted that he may be overstocked in certain areas
but sending Storey out on loan could free up room for Diaby to come in
That’s something for Preston to now consider
AFTER A thrilling decider match which saw both team captains battling it out
the Ateneo Women’s Chess Team ended their University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 86 round five run with a draw
versus the De La Salle University Lady Woodpushers
The match was held at the Far Eastern University Technology Building yesterday
Ateneo Team Captain Kristine Flores drew strength from the rest of the squad’s commendable performance
but was unable to hurdle through Arena International Chess Federation (Fide) Master Sara Olendo
The Blue and White’s lone win came when Jiessel Marino earned a full point over Checy Telesforo on Board One
Elayza Villa managed to spark a draw against Francois Magpily
Alphecca Gonzales fell short in mirroring her teammates’ success
Although the Blue Eagles performed well against a formidable squad
Team Captain Flores believes she could have done better with the leverage her team offered her
“Nakaka-disappoint [‘yung performance ko] kasi ‘yung efforts ng ibang teammates ko nawala
pero sayang ‘yung opportunity,” said Flores
(I was disappointed with my performance because I felt like I wasted my teammates efforts
Flores also emphasized how much she had better positioning and had the pawn advantage over Olendo
thinking back on how she could have beat the green-clad woodpusher by taking better advantage of the upper hand
she believes that the match-up only serves as a lesson for her to use her time wisely and strategically
[Dapat] lagi kong titingnan ‘yung gagamiting oras ko,” emphasized the Laguna-based athlete
I should be more conscious of my time usage.)
the Women’s Team will face off against National University on Saturday at 1 PM
the Men’s Team aims to bounce back as they go head-to-head against the Adamson Falcon Woodpushers on Sunday