Flat Blown

I dont think I need to add much commentary to this, except to say that this is a fine, fine vehicle. Seen at a local hot rod show.

1 Human Power

Velocars, not something you hear on a day to day basis. Believe it or not there is a whole movement dedicated to being "car free". Following with my "I really like wood" theme there is a group of people out there who take that movement to another level by making their velocars out of wood. The 2 displayed in this post are the only ones I found that were truly striking examples of some fine craftsmanship. These specific v-cars were built for speed, and boy do they look fast.

What a beauty this little ride is.

I know thats a bicycle, but its all wood and it goes with the theme, beautiful.

GP-5

The GP-5 is an experimental race aircraft designed by renowned designer George Pereira. Known for his popular GP-4 wood and fiberglass composite home built aircraft, George turned his sights towards Reno's unlimited class in the early 90's. Following the design of the GP-4, George built the GP-5 by designing a wooden fuselage and then gluing and sanding foam to the desired sexy sleek shape. Powered my a NASCAR style v8, the GP-5 possesses over 500 horsepower. The GP-5 made its debut at the 2010 Reno air race but suffered a failure of its belly mounted cooling intake that forced them to bow out. I look forward to seeing the GP-5 on the flight line at future air races.

My goodness she is a fine creature.

Everybody Loves Strippers

I know this has nothing to do with speed in any way but I cant help but marvel at the beauty of hand made strip kayaks. Constructed by gluing strips of wood over formers to enclose the hull, strip kayaks get their beauty from the wood used to construct them. One of the things that, in my opinion makes them so attractive is that they are most often not 1 solid color. The use of strips allows one to get a plethora of different shade into a finished hull. Oft times you will see a builder shape different designs or inlays into the "deck" of a kayak and it has a stunning effect. Witnessing one of these creations gliding across a mountain lake reflecting off of the glass surface is a fine sight indeed.

These are just a few of the more striking examples that I have come across. There are many different sites online where you can buy plans and and instruction manuals to build one yourself. I have even found a few that have plans/kits for surfboards. I neither surf, nor boat, but either project is something I would consider building myself, and be proud to own.

Pick A Door

Unbeknownst to many, In WWII the Vincent motorcycle company attempted a foray into aviation with its ill-fated Picador. Vincent designed the Picador project as a bid to provide the power plants for ML aviation target drones.The Picador was basically a Vincent v-twin but there were a few details that set it apart from the regular production crop. The Picador had to be made to withstand prolonged high altitude at high RPM. Vincents solution for the problems provided by this performance envelope were simple... stout crank, fuel injection,  Badass oil pump. With these upgrades the Picador could basically handle anything. In any case, Vincent did not get the contract, which has turned out to be a good thing for the owners of Vincent motorcycles. Had they actually got the contract none of those beefy parts would have trickled down to the hand of high performance Vincent owners.