piece of cake

We support the use of colorful analogies, but we even stopped and stratched our heads when we read this one: engine oil is like cake mix. The mental picture of an oily cake just doesn’t sit well. Neither does the idea of cake mix clogging up our engine — what a mess that would be. Nonetheless, that’s the idea put forth in an article in this month’s Engine Builder Magazine.

“Engine oil has sometimes been compared to a cake mix. The base oil is like the flour and the additives are the spices. How much is used of each varies by the type of cake and its intended use. Birthday cakes don’t really work for weddings. Engine builders have also been compared to gourmet chefs, so naturally, you like your cake a little more than the average cake connoisseur. A good cake is hard to beat, but a bad one will leave you feeling empty, looking for a jug of milk to wash away the taste.

Like a good cake, good oil is more than one layer. For racing and performance applications, conventional oils just won’t cut it. There are many reasons to use a racing oil over a standard API-SM rated oil, but not all oils are the same, and depending on your application, an additive may be used along with API oils for added protection and performance.” Click here for the rest of the article.

When we read this article we wanted to know just how much of an impact a high-quality racing oil could have. So if any of the IntelliStick users out there have their curves that compare different racing oils, please pass them along.

Innovation Truck

Last weekend the latest and greatest the trucking industry has to offer was on display

Daimler Trucks' new Innovation Truck

at the Mid-America Trucking Show. We are always interested in new features being debuted and the impact they’ll have on the trucking industry. It is no surprise that there were a lot of  “green” products that make trucks more environmentally friendly and improve fuel economy. One in particular that caught our eye was Daimler Trucks’ Innovation Truck. It has a slick new aerodynamic design, cameras instead of rearview mirrors and its chassis adjusts to two different height settings — a low one for the freeway and a higher one for in town. But the feature that intrigues us, not just for its current utility but for what future technologies it could spur, is the Predictive Cruise Control. It ties the GPS system to the cruise control and monitors the road profile for the two miles in front of truck and adjusts the speed accordingly. Imagine if in the future they could also factor in extra information like road conditions or traffic patterns …

There’s a YouTube video of the engineer explaining some of the main features. [note: it looks like the video was taken on the convention floor so at times the background noise is a little loud.] This video’s a little dry, but it gives you a look at the truck.

We enjoyed this video, which is an overview of the entire show. We were wondering what it would take to get an ice sculpture like that in the entryway of the IntelliStick office.

An Intelligent Dipstick?

That sounds like something Click and Clack would take as a compliment. For those who don’t know them, Click and Clack — Tom and Ray Magliozzi — are the humorous hosts of NPR’s Saturday morning program Car Talk. It’s a great program to have on while you’re out running errands or doing chores around the house. Plus their Web site is full of helpful car information, advice and forums. www.cartalk.com They  also allow readers to write in with their car questions, and in their response the guys sometimes even answer the question. We recently came across this one…

Dear Tom and Ray:I know you don’t like old Beetles, but I own one, and I love it! I work for a federal agency where everyone drives brown and gray vehicles. When I come out to the parking lot, I smile at my little yellow flower amid all the potatoes out there, and greet her: Buttercup! Where was I? Oh yes. My question is: Why the heck don’t  carmakers offer an oil gauge that works like a gas gauge, and tells you what your oil level is? Would that be a handy thing to have? Thanks! — Vickie Visit their Web site to see their response.

We wrote to Click and Clack to tell them that IntelliStick was the answer to this reader’s dilemma. See our “What Onboard Algorithms Don’t Tell You About Your Oil” post from July 2008.  We haven’t heard back from Click and Clack yet, it must have stalled at the desk of Haywood Jabuzoff, their customer care representative.