Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1999 09:30:37 -0800
Reply-To: Steve <sxs@CONCENTRIC.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Steve <sxs@CONCENTRIC.NET>
Subject: Re: THAT slow??? was: Syncro Power?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
GMB,
There are some steep mountain roads out here. there is one mountain pass
(Sonora) north of yosemite over the sierra where I have to drop down to first
gear for about 5 miles. It is so steep and twisty that it would be terrifying
to have to back down the sucker if your engine died on the way up. To make
matters worse, there is a military mountain warfare training camp at the foot
of the mountain....and the troops use the road.
I have solved the underpowered wasserboxer problem by applying mind over matter
techniques and the principles of relativity. It's easy. Time is relative, and
all observations made within time are relative. If you assume that a life time
is of a fixed, finite duration, then it follows that if you are always rushing
and trying to go faster, it will seem from the perspective of the subject in a
hurry at all times that life is shorter. Hence, if you slow down a little, and
orienent yourself to that slower pace, life gets longer...and better because
you have additional opportunities for sensory perception and cranal
stimulation, if not good conversation....
Applying the principles further, if you look back in time at the various
contraptions man has employed to traverse distances since invention of the
wheel, and you place the vanagon on a scale charting the average cruising speed
of these "vehicles," it ranks quite high and is certainly in the top 10%...and
is a high performance vehicle. It is also instructive to look out the window
while traveling and to again invoke the principles of relativity and imagine a
covered wagon and a pony express rider covering the same terrain, only without
a paved road. Look how fast that pony express rider is going relative to the
covered wagon, but compared to the vanagon in 3rd gear, he's slow, and you're
fast, and once you get to the top of that hill, you will pull away from him at
an astonishing rate as the vanagon edges up toward 75 mph...maybe the maximum
speed any sane driver would go for any sustained distance in a vanagon anyway.
The wasserboxer is a more powerful engine than the transplants available
because it inspires more profound thought and observation and awareness and
acceptance ... it is an antidote to the excesses of this so-called
technological age.
steve
"G. Matthew Bulley" wrote:
> Wow--
>
> Our 1982 Westy is no speed demon, but we generally can hang with 45-50 mph
> (third gear, wound up) on long grades, even with four folks in the van.
> I've not seen a climb that takes it below 35 (second gear, wound tight).
> Are we fortunate, or is the Westy Sinkhole ur, I mean Syncro, that much
> heavier/slower?
>
> 15mph is bicycle speed...of course, I can't pedal that fast when carrying
> four people.
>
> G. Matthew Bulley
> Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
> Cary, NC USA
> www.bulley-hewlett.com
> (888) 468-4880 toll free
>
> -----Original Message-----<<<SNIP>>>
> With my 90 Westy Syncro fully loaded (not including the water tank) I am
> reduced to about 25 mph up sustained hills. With a full water tank, propane
> tank, and food supply I have been reduced to 15 mph up significant grades.
> With it empty I can get to Tahoe without dropping below about 45 mph. The
> <<<SNIP>>>
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