The bi-monthly Public Works meeting was held Tuesday afternoon at the Council Chambers.

Items discussed in the meeting included the Sprenkle & Associates, Inc. contract renewal. Sprenkle & Associates were renting two offices at the Engineering Department’s facility. The contract currently is for the use of two rooms at the rate of $300.00 per month. Sprenkle & Associates moved out of one of those rooms in June and the Engineering office took over to meet space needs. Sprenkle & Associates are now requesting rent be cut in half to $150.00.

A motion was made to bring the rent issue to the next City Council meeting on July 22nd. It passed with all votes.

Reports from staff included information from Director of Engineering Sam Proffer that the Department of Engineering has received their new computers. The lowest bid didn’t have the computer that was actually bid on, therefore a different computer was bought for the same price.

"We got a computer three times as nice for the same price," stated Proffer.

NASCAR to the Max

Sunday’s running of the Tropicana 400 from Chicagoland Speedway just outside Chicago, IL marked the third visit of the NASCAR tour to the track. Kevin Harvick was hoping to score a hat trick and record his third win at the track and become the first driver in NASCAR history to win the first three races held at a track. Of course there were 42 other drivers with designs on spoiling Harvick’s plan. Harvick appeared to be well on his way to the win by leading over forty laps in the races early going. A long stretch of green flag racing made pit and fuel strategy a factor for the second week in a row. With Harvick running second to leader Ryan Newman as the laps wound down, Harvick’s gamble to run to the checkers without a final fuel stop came up short three laps from the finish when he ran out of fuel. Harvick’s misfortune allowed Newman to take the win virtually unchallenged with a lead of over two and a half seconds; over 30 car lengths.

NASCAR is taking a hard look at additional safety features in the cars that will allow drivers easier egress from a burning or wrecked vehicle. Dale Jarrett and Ken Schrader have each been involved in very fiery accidents in recent weeks and Bobby Labonte also experienced a fire at Chicagoland. The driver’s seat is a virtual cocoon that cradles the driver and the interior of the cars are a maze of roll bar tubing. Couple the cramped space with a suited and helmeted driver and several electronic radio connections and fresh air tubing, escaping a vehicle is a complex process. Doing so quickly in a panic situation only compounds the problem. Fortunately, none of the drivers have been injured in the fires, but an unconscious driver might not be so lucky.

This week’s race will take place at the 1.058-mile New Hampshire International Speedway. The track is fairly flat and narrow which leaves little room to pass and could again make pit and fuel strategy the deciding factor.

I haven’t been out ta check out the roundabout as of this writin’, but from what I understand, it’s supposed ta be opened up taday. The great experiment begins.

I’m assumin’ the body shops in town are anxious to see what happens the first few weeks of the openin’. I’m guessin’ it will create a few minor fender benders initially. Hopefully at least the locals will grow accustom to the ebb and flow and actually accept the concept.

As always, prob’ly the main caution is to look out for that other guy. I’m understandin’ there will be no stop signs, just yield signs at all the entrances. The guy in the circle will have the right-of-way. Just because your right doesn’t mean someone won’t pull out in front of ya. Keep your head up and your eyes open.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click & Clack
TALKS CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

I have a 2000 VW Golf 1.8T, which I have enjoyed owning — except when I have taken it to the shop for brake pads. When I brought it in at 40,000 miles, the dealer told me that I needed not only brake pads, but also rotors. He informed me that Volkswagon makes thin rotors that are not able to be resurfaced. He said they are designed to wear out with the pads. Is this true? And why would they intentionally make thin brake rotors that have to be replaced every time you change the pads? — Pax

TOM: Surprisingly, it’s to keep customers from complaining, Pax!

RAY: It’s all about noise. In the old days, brake pads were made of asbestos. Asbestos was a perfect material for brake pads (except for that little issue of lung disease). It was durable, it performed well at high temperatures, and it was relatively soft, so it didn’t squeal when it made contact with the hard steel rotors.

TOM: And with the softer asbestos pads, the pads would wear out over time (as they were designed to) but leave the rotors relatively unscathed.

RAY: Because of the dangers of asbestos, we now use metallic brake pads. When the hard metallic brake pads squeeze the hard metal rotors, they make noise. And customers — as I can personally attest — hate brake noise.

TOM: So over time, manufacturers, including VW, have softened up the rotors to get rid of the squealing. VW is not alone in this. All manufacturers have done it.

RAY: But as a result, the rotors wear out almost as fast as the brake pads do. And they often wear out so much that they end up being to thin to machine.