The 44th Annual Festival of the Chariots went down over the weekend down over in Golden Gate Park.
As you might expect, the Richmond District Blog has all the deets with colorful photos
The Krishnas came out in force…
…from all over:
And everyone was invited to the “FREE FEAST,” of sorts:
This was the race course:
And here are all the deets:
See you next year!
I was headed on down to SiliValley on bidness yesterday and what did I see but this huge C5 Galaxyheading north out of San Francisco International. At first I thought it was an old C141 Starlifter, but no, upon further review, it appears to be a C5 of some sort. Now, I’ve seen military aircraft at Honolulu International HNL (in Hawaii of course, where you can’t drive to the Costco without getting intermixed with active duty military humvees), but never at SFO.
Anyway, you can’t have an Air Force One without a cargo plane or two to come with, right?
Here’s the outside of the flying presidential garage, just after takeoff. It’s a living:
The T-tail is your clue that this isn’t a regular old Boeing or Airbus jumbo. Click to expand
And this is what it looks like from the inside.
Look for photos of Obama’s visit on SFist.com – they’ll be sure to have some shots and reports posted in a timely fashion.
Of course white has to be one the better choices, right off the bat.
As here, where we can see an Arctic White Hummer H2 limousine on McAllister, temporarily blocking San Francisco Bike Route 20, known as the Snick.
Click to expand. See how big it gets?
But neon pink is not without its charms. As seen on 5th Street in the SoMA.
How about this: Black for funerals, white for weddings and hot pink for everything else?
That’s how you should roll in the 415!
In a move redolent of Michael Schumacher’s opening lap at the 2002 Malaysian Grand Prix, this Bauer’s Worldwide Intelligent Transportation Executive Shuttle managed to cross three lanes of traffic on the 101 to cut off this poor San Francisco taxi driver.
Perhaps Bauers’ drivers get paid by the mile?
Click to expand:
And are these slogans really their intellektual propertah?
“Saving the Earth 1 mile at a time”
“Be Clean, Go Green”
Oh dear. Be sure to check out their cheesy website, complete with polar bears, Emperor penguins, and, of course, Hummer H2 stretch limos.
And Bauer, try to use your signals when you’re changing three lanes at a time, when you’re speeding. You don’t want to give the NIMBYs any more ammo, right?
It’s a little hard to see the writing in the window of this piiiiink 20-passenger Hummer H2 limousine from two-star rated, Santa Clara-based LeGrande Affair, but it says “SWEET SIXTEEN” just so you know.
This machine is a wide-awake nightmare, just so you know. It has none of the class of something like the “Biker Limo.”
As seen on Fifth Street. Click to expand
But save your pennies and this could be you. Someday.
These days, you must have seen Toyota Prius hybrid taxicabs and Prius hybrid Google Map cars all over town. And you’ve probably seen hybrid limousines that are large powerful sedans.
But now, add to that list of hybrids this small black Toyota Prius limousine from PLANETTRAN (888 756-876) complete with California Transportation Charter Party License number (0020961) and LIVERY license plates.
Click to expand.
It’s new, it’s you.
Shown on California Street in the Financial District is a White Motor Company vehicle from the 1930′s. Feel free to call it what you will.
The license plate says “36 LIMO” and the company that owns it, The Ambassador’s Rolls, refers to it thusly:
1936AntiqueRollsRoyceLimousine.htm.
Why don’t we compromise and call it a coach? Click to expand:
You can see similar vehicles on Going-To-The-Sun Road in Montana at Glacier National Park. Glacier’s red buses have been modified a bit for the new millenium. Long may they roll.
Check out this car parked in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park (on a street unaffected by Healthy Saturdays or Healthy Sundays).
California “Livery” license plates and the TCP (“Transport Chartered Party“) number sticker indicate this is a limo for hire, and the letter “H” on the license plate and in the car’s model name, GS 450h, means this vehicle is a gas-electric hybrid.
Can you imagine the marketing of a hybrid limo such as this? You no longer have a driver, you have a Eco Chauffeur®. And on that special day:
“Your wedding car need not cost the earth. Enjoy luxurious and stylish wedding travel in the eco-friendly Lexus Hybrid wedding car.”
The problem with all this is that Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive technology is basically being used to make the car accelerate faster, as
“The only good thing about the electric motor is that it provides extra power when you mash your foot into the carpet. And I’m not sure that was the point.”
The same basic vehicle without the Lexus Hybrid Drive system, called the GS 350, is already as fast as stink. Take one of these non-hybrid, 5-passenger sedans to the racetrack and compare it to the vaunted, two-seat Tesla Roadster, the kind you’re starting to see on Bay Area roads these days. That Tesla isn’t going to outrun you to sixty mph.
When you add in the electric motor to make a GS 450h, you get a car that accelerates even faster. 0-60 mph in 5.2 seconds – that will get you to the church on time!
Toyota engineers could have emphasized mileage improvements at the expense of brute force speed, but they chose not to.
Anyway, enjoy your hybrid limo service – the faster you go the faster you save the earth, or something like that.
