Purple in Sector 1 » General Racing http://lokikart.com/purplein1 Playing the Race Car Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:24:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 IT’S ALIVE!!! http://lokikart.com/purplein1/2008/12/13/its-alive.html http://lokikart.com/purplein1/2008/12/13/its-alive.html#comments Sun, 14 Dec 2008 04:45:32 +0000 admin http://lokikart.com/purplein1/?p=192 Last week SCCA announced the rebirth of the Trans-Am series after being “on hiatus” for the last two seasons. Many had thought previous management had managed (or mismanaged as the case was) to put the nails in the coffin but the SCCA is hopeful the reborn series and platform (GT-1 tube based chassis) will mark the new dawn of the series inspite of tough financial times.

Story at http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/scca-trans-am-series-returns-in-2009/

Story from the Death Star……err, I mean SCCA Pro Racing HQ ;)

http://www.scca.com/newsarticle.aspx?hub=4&news=3541

I wonder if  TK will rebuild the Chicken Car and take a whack at it…  Let’s see if I can dig up some shots I have of TK and the Chicken Car at PIR during some CART testing earlier in the decade.

]]> http://lokikart.com/purplein1/2008/12/13/its-alive.html/feed 0 Making a federal case out of it… http://lokikart.com/purplein1/2008/12/12/making-a-federal-case-out-of-it.html http://lokikart.com/purplein1/2008/12/12/making-a-federal-case-out-of-it.html#comments Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:54:26 +0000 admin http://lokikart.com/purplein1/?p=180 On Wednesday Dec 10 HANS Performance Products filed a patent infringement suit against Innovative  Safety Technologies in the District Court, Southern District of California.  The suit coincides with the announcement of the defNder G70 head and neck restraint system at the Performance Racing Industry show this week in Orlando.  HANS has long had a lock on the head and neck restraint business, with only Hutchens and LFT Tech the only competition.  Awarded the fifth patent on the device in September, HANS has been able to maintain a near stranglehold in that sector of the safety market for a while, commanding a premium price though recently introducing a budget version.  Still, even at a premium it works and it’s a lot cheaper than a basilar skull fracture.

I’ll update the post with links to the patent HANS alleges was violated and a copy of the complaint from Pacer.  Interestingly, I can’t find a patent application for the defNder though they say there is a patent pending on the the site.

UPDATE 1:  Jayski has pulled the blurb off his site but here is the PR Newswire copy of the release from HANS http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-10-2008/0004940184&EDATE=  My PACER account was locked because I haven’t used it in about a year and the card I was using on it expired.  The gov needs to manually turn my account back on.  I can sell engines on the other side of the country for a couple grand,  update banking and bill pay info in real time, buy race parts or welders at the click of a mouse but to access a public records database they need to have some gov IT guy do it by hand?  You’ve got to be fucking shitting me…  This is stuff that I was doing in 1997.

In the meantime, here is a link to Hubbard’s patent that is claimed to be violated.  I’ll post the other Hubbard/HANS patents as I dig them up.  The URLs at USPTO are real ball busters (not that the PR Newswire URLS are any better), thankfully we have Tiny URL  http://tinyurl.com/5u7ruc  .  The patent is a good read.

UPDATE 2: I guess they weren’t shitting me but I did get PACER access restored this morning.   Here is a link to the file hosted here at PI1.  It’s pretty standard, general and bland document that loosely claims that because Innovative manufactures a shoulder worn head and neck restraint that transfers the load to the vehicle’s restraint system they have caused harm to HANS and violated the patent.  As Lumbergh might say (the VP at Initech Lumbergh, not the Lumbergh Joanna slept with)  ”uuuuhhmmm, yeah”.  The complaint reads pretty much like a rank and file TPS report.  It will be interesting to see the Innovative response.

hans-v-innovative-complaint

]]> http://lokikart.com/purplein1/2008/12/12/making-a-federal-case-out-of-it.html/feed 0 Owner of Shawano Kart Track Under Federal Investigation http://lokikart.com/purplein1/2008/12/03/owner-of-shawano-kart-track-under-federal-investigation.html http://lokikart.com/purplein1/2008/12/03/owner-of-shawano-kart-track-under-federal-investigation.html#comments Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:03:42 +0000 admin http://lokikart.com/purplein1/?p=174 Buried in the news of the Supernationals and Rotax World Finals is the news that a religious sect run by RC Samanta Roy, owner of the USA International Raceway in Shawano, WI is the subject of a federal investigation alleging threats against as many as 60 Shawano area residents, including public and elected officials.  Roy is no stranger to controversy which includes long-standing disputes with some in the area and local authorities.  According to the AP Roy also goes by the names Rama Behera and Avraham Cohen.  Roy operates the religious sect Samanta Roy Institute for Science and Technology, at one time known as The Disciples of the Lord Jesus and has been involved in instigating several lawsuits against the city in recent years.  The investigation centers around a tip from a former associate that as many as 60 people were listed “to be taken care of” was confirmed by Shawano Police Chief Ed Whealon.  The registered agent for the sect, and related businesses including the kart track, Naomi Isaacson was recently arrested on an unrelated federal bench warrant on contempt of court charges.  One sect member is considered a “person of interest” in the case and responsible for the majority of the list, but Whealon would not identify that person or his or her status within the organization because the investigation is ongoing.

Compiled from various local and national press reports.

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