Podcast appearances and mentions of austin mini

Alana and her husband received a collection from a Canadian race driver's estate. David Crowther, the driver, competed from the 1960s through the late 1980s in various events, including autocross, rallying, and ice racing, participating almost every weekend from January to October. The collection comprises extensive race results, news clippings, programs, and even race banquet menus, offering a remarkable glimpse into the life of an everyman driver. Alana's presentation discusses how the International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC) supports both researchers and race enthusiasts while preserving the legacies of drivers like Crowther. This presentation will not only celebrate Crowther's extensive racing career but also emphasize the importance of archival research centers in maintaining motorsport and driver heritage. Alana Roberts is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the University at Buffalo School of Law. She is a novice autocross competitor and racing history enthusiast with a passion for classic British cars along with her husband, Trevor. Among their collection are a first year production 1959 Austin Mini and a 1958 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite. Through their connections to the classic mini world, Alana and Trevor became custodians of David Crowther's collection of race results, programs, and various other racing ephemera. While cataloging the collection to donate it to the IMRRC, Alana's passion for racing history merged with her love of academia and it is an honor to present the collection and her experience cataloging it. ===== (Oo---x---oO) ===== 00:00 David Crowther: The Ultimate Weekend Warrior 00:45 Alana Roberts' Passion for Racing History 01:44 David Crowther's Racing Career 03:48 The Significance of the Collection 10:29 Nancy Crowther's Perspective (Excerpt) 14:36 The Breadth of the Collection 20:19 Preserving Motorsports History 24:37 Conclusion and Acknowledgements 26:47 Q&A Session; Closing Remarks ==================== The Motoring Podcast Network : Years of racing, wrenching and Motorsports experience brings together a top notch collection of knowledge, stories and information. #everyonehasastory #gtmbreakfix - motoringpodcast.net More Information: https://www.motoringpodcast.net/ Become a VIP at: https://www.patreon.com/gtmotorsports Online Magazine: https://www.gtmotorsports.org/ This episode is part of our HISTORY OF MOTORSPORTS SERIES and is sponsored in part by: The International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC), The Society of Automotive Historians (SAH), The Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Argetsinger Family - and was recorded in front of a live studio audience.

The 16:9 PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY SCREENFEED – DIGITAL SIGNAGE CONTENT Projection has always been something of a fringe player in digital signage because of a series of technical barriers to adoption, most notably the limited operating life of the lamps, and the product and labor costs of switch them out. Laser projection has addressed that issue, but the other one that's harder to conquer is dealing with ambient light. Unless the projector is the size of a fridge, super-bright and seriously expensive, the environment's lights need to be off or dimmed and any windows covered. A startup called Obsidian Screens, based on the fringes of greater Toronto, has developed a projection screen that can show visuals that aren't washed out even with the lights on and the blinds open - and as the brand name suggests, the screens are black instead of white or silver. It's a super-thin laminated material light enough to marry with foam - like a poster with a 1/4-inch foam backing to make it rigid and ready to hang. Co-founder Chris Cavalieri and his business partner use Ambient Light Rejecting technology - something that's been around for years - but have their own "nanofilter" technology that does a better job, he says, of preserving projector brightness and visibility. And just as is the case with LED video walls, the more black on the display surface, the better the contrast. The company has been around for seven years, but remains quite small ... as they have struggled to find the right partners to specify, sells and deploy their tech. They've run into at least a couple of challenges - with end-users who were disappointed by conventional projection set-ups, and pro AV integrators who for logical reasons want to sell systems that cost a lot more and need ongoing paid support and services. Subscribe from wherever you pick up new podcasts. TRANSCRIPT Chris, thanks for joining me. You're based outside of the Greater Toronto Area and you've been working for a few years now on a company called, well, a product called Obsidian. Can you run through all of that for me?  Chris Cavalieri: Sure thing. Thanks for having me, Dave. I really appreciate taking the time to talk about it and boy, do I have lots to say. You have half an hour. Go! Chris Cavalieri: All right. Perfect. No pressure. So Obsidian, I should probably talk a little bit about projection. So what we've been trying to do and we've been doing for a while, is trying to find a way to take all the benefits. So if anyone's in digital signage, I assume there's a few listening to this what incredible things can be done with projection. So things like projection mapping holographic displays, very unique, creative stuff, and it's absolutely fantastic, and when we started out, we looked at things and said, like, why isn't this used more?  You know, we go to retail stores, we're going to shopping centers and there are LEDs, we've got LCD video walls now and only a few set cases, maybe a performance or display are using projection to its full potential and it begs the question is why, and that why is how we found it, our idea of Obsidian, which is to create a solution to get those benefits projection and make it a lot more accessible and practical in place of, or as an option compared to say our elite typical LED signage and LCD video walls.  So, I mean, projection, it's very renovation friendly, it's very scalable, and depending on what projector you use, it can be quite a low cost, the benefits are endless, and compared to LEDs, which are quite glaring, most of the time, I'm biased, obviously, no shame in that, but most people don't want to stare at an LED board as a backing, screen for like a speaker stage, for example, casino games. We've talked to fellows in Vegas before. It causes fatigue for people who are near them for too long. And that's, that comes down to the human eye and there's a whole science behind it, the wavelength of lights and all that. I won't go into it. It works. It's bright. It gets people's attention, but it just doesn't give the same aesthetic as a good projection setup would.  So coming back to it, why don't we use projection? And quite frankly, it's because it mostly just sucks because it fails. You need to have a dark room, dim room, or very well-controlled lighting, and by having controlled lighting and those restrictions, designers or retail commercial designers can't do solutions they want to do where this challenge is like a window nearby and sunlight there are challenges that they can't overcome and maintain a good looking display and that's where LEDs kind of help punch through that.  So the question is what if we had a solution where projection can punch through that can give you those same benefits and versatility, but you can have nearby lights? You don't have to overly control your space. I mean, of course, you can't do shopping in a grocery store with your lights off or a shopping mall. You know, it's not practical. You might be able to do a half-hour show or presentation, but it doesn't make sense, and that's at least my conclusion personally, my experience is why we don't see more of these really cool-looking projection map displays than we do now. It doesn't work in most cases. When it does, it's great, but most of the time it doesn't.  So Obsidian is basically to solve that problem. we've got our own proprietary technology and IP around it, and we've designed a system that harmonizes the projector and the screen, and we include the lighting as well for nearby lighting to essentially use the nanofiller technology to work together and what I mean in a very blunt sense from that is that these systems will work independent of the environment around it. So if people have heard of light rejecting screens, ALR screens essentially you have a gray screen or a silver screen. It'll absorb about 50%-60% percent of your light in the room and that gives you contrast, which is great because it helps you have a more adaptable, flexible display.  What our system does is the same thing, but that absorption, instead of normally it'll absorb your projector. So your white becomes gray, silver, whatever it is. In our case, your projector can shine on the screen and your lights can shine near or on the screen and have no loss, so it will reflect off of it. It keeps its colors, it keeps its white balance, and then the ambient light that is basically using this filter will absorb completely, not just the 60%. Whereas everything else gets knocked down by 50%-60%, and it creates this really neat illusion and really efficient display where fundamentally it's the same as any projection system, but you can see all your colors just popping. You maintain your contrast and your white balance and it's almost like you've doubled the lumens in your projector, and we love this because this opened up an option for again, adding an accessible and affordable solution somewhere between a TV set, and an LED video wall, where again, you can have something that's highly visible. It's got wide viewing angles. It keeps its color resilient, but you can also be adaptive. So again seasonal renovations for a retail environment stores, places where you don't really want to control lighting or it's too much work to deal with it. Plus you can install the thing in under a day. I mean, we've hung screens in under an hour compared to perhaps weeks on a video wall. So maintenance costs and benefits are endless.  So that was our goal with Obsidian again. What is holding it back from creating unique creative solutions? And how do we overcome that in this nanofilter system? And I think most people are afraid of it because it wasn't easy to develop and there are restrictions to it. Again, it's got to work as a cohesive system, that scared people and got a lot of resistance, but boy, does it work.  You're an engineer. I'm absolutely not. For simpletons like me, the simpleton explanation would be that instead of this being a white or silver screen, it's a black screen, correct? Chris Cavalieri: It is a black screen. So if you turn your projectors off and look at it, it'll look kind of a charcoal gray, maybe a little bit of a greenish tint to it, and you know, that's kind of like a decorative wall panel, and that's what it looks like. That's what it is, and that's because the light is bouncing off, it's still being absorbed. Their eyes don't have the nano filters in them. If you wear polarized sunglasses, you might, it might be interesting but that's essentially what's going on there. So it is indeed a dark-colored screen.  When you describe it as a system, you're talking about the kit of parts, but your part is the screen. The challenge with projection and the reason. It wasn't it hasn't really grown very much in digital science or anywhere else used to be with the projector and the lamp life and how you'd have to replace it all the time and it was unreliable and also that it wasn't very bright. Lasers have changed that. other technologies have improved. So that side is somewhat conquered. However, if you want a very bright projector, you're getting something the size of an Austin Mini. But, the screen thing is still by and large a white screen, right? Or film that you apply to a window glass that will make an image appear, but it's not very sharp or bright, I mean.  Chris Cavalieri: Exactly. I mean, that's the only solution people had to date is to get a bigger projector, and what's really unique about using our nano filter technology is you don't need a brighter projector to achieve the same result as you would. So there's almost a savings. I mean, I don't want to just say upfront savings, there is maintenance still involved, laser projectors have been a huge benefit to the industry on that front. They still need to be replaced eventually. But by using these filters and creating this super high-efficiency system effectively, it's not just the screen, it's the pairing of the projector and the screen. You can add the lights optionally as well. That allows you to use about half the lumens you would require in just a punch-through projector to achieve the same visible results that same effective brightness called legibility, of the display, and you're getting a little bit higher contrast because the screen is naturally darker than a white canvas or a white painted wall. Is it front projection or rear?  Chris Cavalieri: Front projection right now. We do have a prototype of the rear projection. It does work. We were working with the Art Gallery of Ontario at one point on a display which was kind of fun, so we almost accidentally made it just out of curiosity. There is a rear projection system for it. It's got, it's. own little challenges and restrictions, mostly just size, I say it's the only thing remaining. So while we don't offer it as an off-the-shelf product at the moment, customized solutions, that is something we can whip up together and it does work quite well. So is this almost like an architectural material that you could use instead of wallpaper or something if you wanted a projection surface in a retail environment or whatever? Chris Cavalieri: Absolutely. In fact, at one point, we had a version where we put an adhesive on the back instead of, we normally use PVC foam just to keep it rigid for hanging on the wall and we called it digital wallpaper and I know TV sets have tried to replace that and transparent LEDs, but absolutely this the screen itself is only about a millimeter thick. It is flexible so you can wrap it on columns, you can create decorative panels, and again, it does have a nice finish to it. You can route the edges, it's cuttable, machinable, you name it, and from an architectural standpoint, yeah, it's perfect. I mean, decorative panels, unique shapes. You can do multiple shapes in an array. You can make it continuous, join them together, and project whatever you want, and even when it's off, it'll have that kind of charcoal gray, very soft, it's a glare-free canvas finish to it like a print, and it definitely works. Could you print on it?  Chris Cavalieri: Yes. We haven't done it, but because it's built as a laminate, there was a layer on the front layer that we'd be able to print on the back of before it's assembled. So yeah, we could print a still image into it or a texture, maybe like a woodgrain pattern to it onto that one layer, stick it together, and embed a static image to it, which you could then nest to the digital content. That'd be really cool.  Is the front surface, the laminate part of it, is that like a fabric, or is that like an acrylic coating or something?  Chris Cavalieri: It's a polycarbonate substrate. So it's a kind of a semi-rigid plastic, a very thin layer, but there's a few layers. So it's kind of a blend of vinyl polycarbonate. We've got a few in there, but that top one would be a polycarbonate. So quite durable, quite resistant.  So you wouldn't have to rope it off or anything, people could be near it without being terrified that something's going to get damaged.  Chris Cavalieri: No, it's quite resilient. I mean, you can scratch it if you really try, but to break it or crack it is extremely difficult. What do you see as the primary use cases for it?  Chris Cavalieri: I mean, I've been dreaming of retail, commercial, public display, but honestly, I'm one person. I'm an engineer. I just want to get these in the hands of absolutely phenomenal designers, architects out there, and interior designers, to let them just run wild because it's so adaptable. In fact, you can shape it, you can wrap it, tile it, and do 3D shapes. Usually, when we go to trade shows we'll do like we have a pop can, it's like a cylinder and we put like a Pepsi animation on it and you can do arrays of different shapes together, and like the limits of creativity are endless. It's just like any good projection map and application. Get those into the right hands and it's a dream. So, I mean, I pictured grocery stores for advertising, to justify costs. So a lot of the time they have printed posters or a big mural at the back top of their store over their freezers and just put panels up. You have tons of ceiling space, running power, and signal to it, it's dead easy compared to like an led array for that size of display, and now you have a source of revenue, advertising, promotion of the week, whatever it is, and you have that control. So I mean, a store designer can really go to town because of that ease of use, ease of access, and the flexibility of a projection system, which now works by using our filters. What kind of challenges do you have around projection angles and things like that?  I gather we're talking, ahead of this a little bit, and I was asking about ultra-short throw projection and so on and there are some limitations around that, like you want to be a little bit further back in terms of the throw on the angle. Chris Cavalieri: Yeah, so right now, a short throw to a standard throw, and of course, long throws are all good for it. We have done some tests with ultra-short throws, unfortunately, the optics in the ultra-short throw right now do conflict with the optics in the laminate. So we can't use it with that at the moment. Although, secret R&D projects #1, #10 or #20. We are working on a potential solution to that, which should be independent of the projector that may work, but I won't say it will till I prove it. So let's assume it doesn't for now, for an ultra short throw, but again, standard throw and even short throw, long throw setups are all fine. That's what we recommend, and that's nice too, because that gives you, again, control over angles. We do play with the optics a little bit on the screen and it's part of our secret as well, we do narrow a bit of the vertical cone and bend light horizontally. So you have a more uniform viewing experience for things like foot traffic from left to right. So there is a restriction, but it's quite wide.  Most ALR screens, you might be able to see the thing at plus minus 30 degrees, sometimes usually less, where it comes down to a half-brightness angle. So we get very dark at an angle. Whereas ours actually, you can see funny enough, it's beyond 180 degrees, it gets brighter. That's steep, and it was really weird, totally not intended, but, so that's part of a little bit of the magic of our specific laminate that we've built is it has that really unique uniformity, kind of like paper, close to paper at all viewing angles left right around it. So there's a workaround. The challenge I've seen sometimes with projection systems is that they're great except when somebody needs to get up close to it or walk by and then there's a shadow and so on. So you can let's say in a corridor, a wide hallway, or something like that, you could mount this on like a track system or something like that and project down and people could walk by without, unless they're right in front of it, they're not going to, come into the shadow there? Chris Cavalieri: Yep. I mean, because we have that steep angle controlled on it, it can also affect bringing the projector into it. So we can have the thing off to the side. You can have it overhead. You can kind of project from steeper. So again, not quite an ultra-short throw, but that's because of the actual lensing in it. But a standard projector at a steeper angle will work quite well with that. So you have a lot of versatility and adaptability for that. Again, just making sure it's over people's heads, and by the time they block it, technically the advertisement, has done its job. So it's not too much of a concern on that front, but you can get away with quite a bit, and a lot of retail stores and public displays have lots of ceiling space to play with too. So it's very flexible there.  Do you have to monkey with the content in terms of how it's rendered or have particular software running on the media player or whatever to make all this happen, or it's a screen and point the projector at the screen?  Chris Cavalieri: That's why I love it because, I mean, ironically all the research we've done again, me and my colleague, both engineers, we love to keep it simple. So we've got a few projects on the go as well. Same idea, but all the software you need is the same that's already out there. It's projection mapping. Like that, nothing has changed. Nothing you learn there. If you know how to do projection mapping, or you have a team of guys who know how to do it, nothing's different. That's just content. All we do is you're putting the right projector with the right screen, and then you can see it. Simple as that.  So I wrote a piece a couple of years ago about an installation in London in a coffee shop, and it was a black wall with a kind of chalkboard, and they were putting the menu on that instead, well, on flat panel displays and it looked pretty cool, but the coffee shop was having to dim the lights and do everything else because there are windows and doors out to the street and so on.  If they're using your technology, do the lights have to be cranked down, drapes pulled, and all that, or it could behave as though, it is just being a regular shop? Chris Cavalieri: I mean, that's a perfect example, and that's exactly what we want to do, and in fact, we tried to approach McDonald's, Tim Hortons, and all that, and of course, they tell me to get lost because who's Obsidian, but that's just, it is, you don't need to turn your lights on.  Part of the founding purpose was, that Adrian, my colleague, kept tripping on everything in his classroom because he always had to turn the lights on and off and is prone to that he's always back and forth showing his slides and it's a safety risk. Even old age homes, we had approached at one point as well for they have movie theaters, they share and it's just not practical to do that, and like I said in the beginning, that's why projection isn't, and I wouldn't recommend using it in a lot of cases because if you're working as a barista and your lights are off, you can't see what you're doing. It's bad for your eye strain. If you're trying to focus look at what you're pouring, you're going to have accidents, you're going to slip, probably can't clean as effectively. And there's so many reasons you'd really need to have lights on for safety, if nothing else, and our screen will let you do that.  Again, we've had beams of sunlight across it, still keeping the thing readable. keep your lights on. I mean, there are things you can do to play with it. It depends on the projector you use, you'd use a brighter or dimmer one. You can control the lighting as well, and we do recommend it when you can, but you don't have to be quite as aggressive when you do it. So you can keep those lights on.  Part of the rise of the LED technology within workplaces has been the idea that in presentation theaters, big meeting rooms where more typically there's been a projector, but then the drapes are closed or a control room where the lights are very low so that you can see what's being projected on the screen. The idea was that a DV-LED would change all that. You could open the windows up and crank the lights and everything, and you'd be able to see what's on the screen with no problem. But the challenge is cost.  Chris Cavalieri: I mean, there's cost and there's also, I mean, with LED, do you want to see it? It's not very pleasant to look at for a long period of time. I mean, the concept is right. All these technologies have a purpose, and I'm not discrediting the value of LEDs like outdoor displays, and billboards, I mean, they punch through light. They're very good at getting through it. They're extremely visible. They'll get your attention. But they're just not pleasant to read, if that makes sense so in terms of a boardroom yeah, it could work, and I've seen stages done with full LEDs instead of a projection screen, and it's just unpleasant. Even if you're recording it, there are aliasing effects and a lot of unpredictable things you don't really expect. So it's one of those things that's good on paper, but in practical use is not great, and then the cost is the other end of it. So there's the cost to maintain it, install it, you have to calibrate it all those things because LEDs wear out, not no LED is the same when they come out of production, there's binning to them, all sorts of things to keep in mind. That was our other motivator with projection. These are my famous words. You don't have to blow your budget to blow minds, right? If you do something right with the right technology that's good enough, right? You got to know what your application is, know who your audience is, who's using it, and really understand and appreciate that and Obsidian was our way to say, look, you have another option. Because light ambient light is an issue. Architects absolutely love giant windows nowadays. A funny story about a university in Ontario that got millions of dollars to renovate their classrooms, I won't name them, and big giant skylight windows without drapes, funny enough, that would let the sunrise right in that window and really make the presenter glow at the front of the classroom and which also happened to have a projection screen, which was with white and not Obsidian, and let's just say it didn't end very well, and even the another Yoko university has used projection. They've put drapes on and with those giant lights, but they're not full block-out drapes. You know, they usually let a little bit of light in. Even with the drapes closed midday cloudy day, you still couldn't read the screen. So it is a major problem and aesthetically, the rooms look beautiful.  I mean, the architect is doing their job on that front. They're gorgeous buildings, beautifully renovated very nice aesthetics to them, but it's not functional. You need technology to overcome those challenges and to date, your only choice is to guess it is LED you either put up with it just squint or not reading it or you stick something expensive heavy bulky, and kind of blinding and you know now you can read it but you've also sort of made people uncomfortable in this space too. So you need another solution, and that's what we're hoping to do. It's an interesting predicament for companies such as yours in that you're offering what's presented as a better option and probably far less cost. But for the companies that sell into environments like higher education, corporate, public utilities, all that sort of thing, it's not necessarily in their business interest to sell them a cost-effective, low-maintenance solution. There's a lot more money to be made on the margin of one hell of a lot of LED and then calibration and support services and everything around it, as opposed to just selling them a display and saying, thanks, very much, call us at three years when you need a new projector.  Chris Cavalieri: Yeah, absolutely, and this has been driving me absolutely insane, to be honest. This projection system has existed for almost seven years now, and I still, we're still a startup. It says a lot. I mean, yes, we're engineers. We're probably terrible at sales and marketing and we are, but c'mon… You're not the first. Chris Cavalieri: It's just we've approached distributors, we've gone through universities, we've thrown sales in front of them practically, and the reality is in the end, you got to go where the money's at. They want something that's predictable. The use case is the same. The installation is the same, and the training for their technicians and the customer is the same. Everything's the same because once you've got your company up and running they're not wrong. It's expensive, change is expensive and it's risky, and nowadays no one wants to take that risk. They don't want to do anything different. You know, it might be better for the customer, but. I like my margins. You know, I need my income. I got to put food on the table. I got to pay my team.  Now, we're going to do this job because that's what we know how to do, and that's where we make money, and we understand that, and that's fine, but there's got to be someone who cares about the end user to find unique creative solutions find solutions to problems that You know, push the industry a little bit further and this has been an ongoing battle for years for us, and it drives me nuts.  So you're absolutely right that it's a paradigm for them if they're not used to working with it. If they do, it's a white screen and they know when and where it works, and that's the end of it. There's zero reception for anything else and I hope that changes.  I suspect there's a bit of a taint as well in that, a lot of larger environments will have used projection in the past and have the experience of going, “Well, God, I can't even see the screen properly, or anything else, so projections are off.”  So when that gets revisited, unless you have the opportunity to have a really high-quality conversation with them, they're thinking, well, shit, I'm not doing projection again. That was a mess.  Chris Cavalieri: Yeah. “Oh, we have used projection before. It didn't look that good.” The customer wasn't happy. You know, we can't have that, and I mean, that's valid too.  So is a better specifier or audience for your technology, quite possibly the architects and people who think about physical spaces and experience? Chris Cavalieri: I think it has to be, I think those are the only people that really get the experiential side of what you can do with projection, they have the vision they can see they have a basically working towards a solution, right? They have a client who wants something unique they're left to their creative devices to develop this solution or overcome a challenge and they need all the tools in their toolbox and the actual installers, the AV text distributors, but they're not the right people to do it. They're going to do business as usual. It's gotta be the people making the design decisions who can see something greater or want to do something, and previously, let's say they couldn't, that's where proceeding could fit in. So getting it in front of them, and that's something we're trying to do as much as we can network. That's also been challenging because these people are hard to find. I think I waited four months for a meeting at one point and met an interior design firm, and in the end, they didn't know or want to hang a TV set, so it wasn't a commercial designer, more of an interior designer, the right people are out there, and those are the people that, again, the architects, designers, those are the solution providers that really need to get their hands on this.  It sounds like along with the physical cost of the substrate or screen or whatever you want to call it, there are really minimal additional costs in terms of a mounting system you don't need to go to the sorts of mounting systems that would be used for DBLED or LCD anything else. There's not all that metalwork, right? It's just this piece of foam that hangs on a wall, like a poster that you get foam mounted. Chris Cavalieri: That's exactly it. That's what we tell everyone. If you hang it, you just hang it like a poster or a mirror or a print, and it's all adaptable too. Again, we do a lot of customization. So we can put the French cleat on, and hang it on your wall. What we love about that PVC foam is it's you can superglue hard points onto it from this very inexpensive and very lightweight, let's say like a 24-inch by 54-inch panel, so 4.5 feet by 2 feet, is I think about 8 kilograms, basically per panel and put a cleat onto it. We've screwed into it. We've put hooks to hang off of for summer trade shows, for portal displays. You can screw into it, you can cut it, shape it, layer it, can thicken it, or thin it, it's very versatile for the installer and whatever the application is.  So to really get our goal, the whole vision of the city is to remove barriers, remove restrictions, and that's a mounting system we've enjoyed because it really harmonized with what we're trying to achieve lightweight. It's just no metalwork. It doesn't take weeks. It takes under an hour. You just hang it on your wall. You can butt them together. Done. Very simple.  So you're a startup. So I assume there's not a cast of thousands working at the company?  Chris Cavalieri: Nope. We've got two and a dog, we're very small. I mean we've got a few people out there who are kind of advocates for us as well. So we've networked that way. We've got a really great PR guy as well who is helping us out network to the States, and Canada. He's absolutely fantastic. So we've officially the team is two, but we've got a number of people helping us. We've had some advisors we've worked with locally as well, from the university and then the forge and Hamilton as well, for example. So we've got lots of support, so we're a small team, but we're quite effective at what we do, and we've got contract manufacturers.  We have a whole network in China if we really had to go down the road for volume production. So we see a path to mass production very quickly if and when we get to that point, but we're still two people at the moment. Your biggest challenge is just the simple thing of awareness and finding people who get what you've got.  Chris Cavalieri: That's it. I mean, it's spreading the message, and I mean, anyone who's done a startup knows how hard it is. Anyone who's been an engineer or even not an engineer knows how hard it is to push a product on someone. It's sort of forbidden, forbidden knowledge to do that, and we've tried and iterated our design many times.  For example, we've made a home theater projection screen you can buy at Walmart right now. We have an adaptation of this technology for home use because during COVID everyone was at home. No one's putting signs in. I mean, we're very adaptable, flexible, and I mean, that's the benefit of being a very small, but creative, dynamic team is you can do these things we have the technology, we have to know how to do it and frankly, we love design and we love creative challenges. So that's something we do and we'll continue to do.  Are there any sort of caps on resolution or anything like that? Like, I don't really understand screen technology. If somebody has a 4k output, that's what's on there, that doesn't really matter.  Chris Cavalieri: Yeah. So the resolution is all just coming from the projector itself. So it depends on the projector you choose. I'd say the only limitation, people listing stuff as like a 4k projection screen is just. Throwing jargon at you to make it sound cool. It's, plastic. It'll be stretch vinyl or painted vinyl. The only thing that might affect your resolution in general is if the screen has a high texture in it. So sometimes there are some optical screens for an ultra-short throw, for example depending on the size of those you might see speckling or something at a certain resolution. That's the only thing I can think of you could justify putting a resolution to a screen, but we don't have that..  So if people wanna know more, where do they find you online?  Chris Cavalieri: So I mean, you can dig me up on LinkedIn, but obsidianscreens.com would be a good starting place. Shoot me an email, and then my name's Chris Cavalieri, should be on the screens look me up on LinkedIn. Shoot me a message. We got Facebook, we got YouTube, you name it. So save screen technologies wherever you can find them.  All right, well thank you for your time.  Chris Cavalieri: Yeah. Thank you so much, Dave. It's great to talk with you, and I hope we'll get to see you soon. Well,  We'll see what I can do.  Chris Cavalieri: I'll show it off. I hope all my words live up to it in person.

00:00 - Show Intro - Should You Buy A Used R56 Mini Cooper S?00:55 - The Short Answer: Yes, but... Great question. I would say the short answer is yes, but with some caveats. The R56 Mini Cooper S is a great option because this model is typically not too old, and not too new, with not too many miles and it's also not too expensive, but these cars do have their issues, some of which I will discuss later in the podcast. 01:55 - A Brief History of the Mini CooperSir Alec Issigonis designed the Mini in the late 50s for Austin motor company in response to the fuel shortage from the Suez Crisis. Austin wanted a small, fuel efficient car that could comfortably carry four adults, while also being affordable to just about anyone. To meet this vehicle requirement, Issigonis did something no one had done before. He pushed the wheels out to the edge of each corner of the car, then turned the engine sideways and used front wheel drive to free up considerable space inside the car. Introduced in 1959, the Austin Mini easily sat four, got excellent fuel mileage and sold for a low cost. It was also an instant hit. 03:20 - Racing Legend John Cooper Gets His Hands On The MiniIn 1961 British racing legend, John Cooper began modifying Mini's for racing by increasing horsepower and improving braking and handling, and the Mini Cooper was born. These modifications turned this boxy little car into a giant killer, so much so that Mini Coopers won the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally three times in the mid to late 1960s. Over time the popularity of the Mini continued to grow and it went on to become the best selling British car of all time with 5.3 million sold. 04:10 - BMW buys Rover Group And The First Gen New Mini Is BornAfter purchasing the Rover Group (which included the Mini name brand) in the mid-nineties, BMW set about designing a New Mini. Their design directive was to produce a car that, when seen from any angle, could not be mistaken for anything other than a Mini. They nailed it and the first generation of the new Mini was introduced in 2001 as a 2002 model and it was sold in the US through 2006. The base R50 Mini Cooper had a normally aspirated 1.6-liter engine that made 115-horsepower and 110-lb.ft. of torque. The Mini Cooper S, also known as the R53 made 163-horsepower and 155-lb.ft. of torque from a 1.6-liter supercharged version of the same motor. Zero to sixty acceleration times were a little over seven seconds for the Mini Cooper S and both engines were built as part of a joint-venture between BMW and Chrysler. 05:38 - The Second Gen New Mini Hits The StreetsAvailable in the US starting in model year 2007, the second gen Mini was a little larger, and the new 4-cylinder 1600cc engine in the Cooper S was now fitted with a turbocharger, rather than the supercharger found on the first gen Cooper S. The 2007-2010 R56 Mini Cooper S came with the N14 engine that made 172-horsepower at 5500 RPM and 177-lb.ft. of torque at 1600 RPM. The N14 engines featured BMW's variable valve timing (or VANOS) only on the intake cams. The R56 Mini Cooper S from 2011 to 2013 was fitted with the slightly more powerful N18 engine. This engine featured variable valve timing (VANOS) on both the intake and exhaust cams and horsepower output increased to 182 at 5500 RPM with a torque rating of 177-lb.ft. at 1600 RPM. However this engine's DME or engine computer allows the turbo to overboost for several seconds at wide open throttle for a temporary increase in torque to 192-lb.ft. The N18 engine is also reported to have less issues compared to the N14 engine. 08:00 - Reasons Why You Might Want An R56 Mini Cooper SFun to drive (this is definitely the top reason to own a Mini Cooper). Lots of power for its size and...

What do you call an Austin Mini in a pond?  The wrong environment.  Jack, Lynne and Matt McFarland chat about this very subject on this episode of The Growing Season. Not about cars, per se, but about soil, compaction of it, amending of it and more.  Plants in the wrong location, in the wrong soil type and what to do to correct these situations are what we talk about on this week's show. Matt and Jack tell a story about fishing that will leave you smiling. Need a visual?  The visual accompaniment to The Growing Season is here to help.  CLICK HERE. What is a TGS Tiny Garden? CLICK HERE. Subscribe to The Growing Season podcast.  CLICK HERE. 

Join Car Specialist Greg Stanley to find out which cars changed the world and why from 1950 through 1969.  This is a series that will cover over 100 years of automotive history.  You can listen to the previous episode here: 175: 100 Cars That Changed The World (1880s - 1920s) 180: 100 Cars That Changed The World (1930s - 1940s) Cars mentioned in this episode: 1950 Nash Rambler 1951 Chrysler Hemi 1952 Bentley R-Type Continental 1953 Chevrolet Corvette 1954 Mercedes Benz 300SL 1955 Chevrolet V-8 1957 Chrysler 1958 Ford Thunderbird 1959 Austin Mini 1959 Lotus Elite 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Spyder California 1961 Jaguar E-Type 1961 Lincoln Continental 1962 Shelby Cobra 1963 Aston Martin DB5 1963 Chevrolet Corvette 1963 Jeep Wagoneer 1964 Porsche 911 1964 Ford GT40 1964 Pontiac Tempest GTO 1965 Ford Mustang 1967 Lamborghini Muira 1968 BMW 2002 1968 Dodge Charger 1968 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona 1968 Plymouth Road Runner 1969 Jaguar XJ Please support our sponsors: RM Sotheby's, Hagerty, Metron Garage, Euro Classics and Pioneer Electronics. Follow The Collector Car Podcast: Website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or communicate with Greg directly via Email.  Support this channel by supporting us at Patreon. Join RM Sotheby's Car Specialist Consultant Greg Stanley as he applies over 25 years of insight and analytical experience to the collector car market. Greg interviews the experts, reviews market trends and even has some fun. Podcasts are posted every Thursday and available on Apple Podcast, GooglePlay, Spotify and wherever podcasts are found. See more at www.TheCollectorCarPodcast.com or contact Greg directly at Greg@TheCollectorCarPodcast.com. Are you looking to consign at one of RM Sotheby's auctions? Email Greg at GStanley@RMSothebys.com. Greg uses Hagerty Valuation Guide for sourcing automotive insights, trends and data points.

In our second of two special episodes with Nancy of New Westminster the dogs look at plastic scale models, Christopher Columbus, Constable Tom, phallic rockets, Nancy's work for Peter Julian, and shopping for EVs. Hey don't think this episode is not super special. It is, but our regular effusive blurb writer is otherwise engaged. Come for the Chevy Monza, stay for the Austin Mini conversion!Links: Shed Dogs; plastic models; Christopher Columbus criticism and defence; the Jesuit missions amongst the Hurons; battle of the phallic rockets; Peter Julian; liquid crystal windows; electric vehicles; Austin Mini conversion project.

Marion a 40 ans, elle est professeure des écoles en Seine-Saint-Denis. Elle est en instance de divorce et a trois enfants. Originaire de la banlieue parisienne, elle remonte avec nous le fil de sa vie à travers les voitures qui l'ont traversée : une Ford Escort, une R19 Chamade, une 4L, une Austin Mini, etc. Les années 80, 90 et 2000 reviennent dans son témoignage. *************** Auto reverse : le podcast qui fait repenser à sa vie et à une époque depuis le siège de nos différentes voitures. Le concept est simple. Un peu avant chaque épisode, je demande à mon invité de lister les voitures de sa vie, dans l'ordre chronologique, et de réfléchir pour chacune à une ou deux anecdotes marquantes. La première voiture dont il se souvient, celles de ses parents, la première qu'il a conduite, achetée, etc. La route des vacances, le trajet vers la maternité, un accident, un rendez-vous chez le garagiste, tout est possible. Je leur demande un travail de mémoire inhabituel mais qui, je l'espère, amènera à des conversations passionnantes à écouter. En fait, les voitures, je m'en fous un peu. Ce que je veux, moi, c'est écouter les gens, écouter les gens se raconter, se confier, sortir de l'oubli des épisodes peut être anodins qui en disent long sur eux et sur une époque. Alors, installez-vous confortablement, mettez votre ceinture, enclenchez la marche arrière et prenez le temps de regarder avec moi dans le rétroviseur. *************

Hvor mange husdyr og familiemedlemmer er det mulig å få inn i en 64-modell Austin Mini? Hvor mye koster det egentlig med is på Hamar? Og: bli med over ferister og brøytekanter på biltur til Geiranger

#61. Tito Rosemberg recorda suas inúmeras vivências sobre rodas. Primeiro, com amigos na Europa, em um Austin Mini. Depois, em Kombi pelos Estados Unidos. Bisavô do estilo vanlife, como ele próprio se define, Tito também morou em jipes Land Rover em vários países. Este é o último episódio da série com o aventureiro que aguarda as fronteiras abrirem para voltar ao seu motorhome, na França. Imagem: Arquivo pessoal / Tito Rosemberg Se por acaso você ainda não ouviu as duas primeiras conversas com o convidado deste bate-papo, vale a pena conferir os relatos emocionantes dele na Amazônia e em veleiros. São memórias inspiradoras que vão te fazer viajar! Gostou do podcast e quer ser um apoiador ou apoiadora do Maré Sonora? É muito simples: basta fazer uma transferência bancária, no valor que desejar, para o PIX: podcastmaresonora@gmail.com Toda e qualquer ajuda é muito bem-vinda e será fundamental para arcar com os gastos necessários à produção deste apaixonante canal de jornalismo independente. Fale comigo pelo site: www.podcastmaresonora.com Ou através do Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastmaresonora/ Conheça mais sobre Tito Rosemberg: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/titorosemberg/ Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user3526605

In aflevering 4 van De MINI-Cast gaat Rachel de Wit (De Podcast Producent) in gesprek met John Verhoeven AKA singer-songwriter Mercy John (hij bracht de succesvolle Americana albums 'This Ain't New York' en 'Cruel Love' en 'Let it Go Easy' uit). John vertelt over zijn eerste baan bij een reclamebureau en de MINI waarin hij destijds naar zijn klanten toe scheurde... En Mieke Link uit het Drentse Eelde sprak Rachel ' op afstand' (waardoor de geluidskwaliteit helaas iets minder is, dan je van De MINI-Cast gewend bent). Zij werd onlangs weer eigenaar van de jubileum uitvoering de Austin MINI, de MINI 25, waarin zij in de jaren 80 naar The Boss: Bruce Springsteen, reed! De muziek waarover Mercy John (John Verhoeven) spreekt in deze aflevering is: Back Home - Mercy John & My Favourite Game - The Cardigans De muziek waarover Mieke Link spreekt in deze aflevering: Born in de USA - Bruce Springsteen We zijn nog op zoek naar toffe verhalen over de MINI, dus heb je ook een goed verhaal over de MINI, reageer dan via: info@depodcastproducent.nl --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/mini-cast/message

You won’t believe how much this Austin Mini sold for! This story and more! [Ep44] The post Car Guys Report – An Austin Mini with a Maxi price! appeared first on Radio Misfits.

Wenn wir von etwas "sehr kleinem sprechen, dann ist es sicherlich nicht das Ego von Ron", stellt Podcast Host Oli scharfzüngig fest und leitet damit einen bunten Reigen an fachkundigen Anekdoten, Nerdtalk und Trivia zu einem der beliebtesten britischen Automobilen, dem Mini, ein. Heute sprechen wir über den Austin Mini oder auch Rover Mini oder auch Layland Mini ... der Mini hat eine bewegte Geschichte, bis die Marke schließlich Anfang der 2000 jahre bei BMW landete. Die in der Suezkrise konzeptierte Antwort auf die Kleinwagenentwicklungen auf dem Festland hat mittlerweile, nicht nur bei Oldtimer-Fans, Kultstatus erreicht. Heute ist ein historischer Mini ein Statement für Understatement und Fahrfreude. Wenn man in die Mini-Szene einsteigen will, ist es wichtig zu wissen, auf was man beim Kauf achten muss, da, wie Ron lapdidar feststellt, "gefühlt 99% der Autos Rost haben". Warum trotzdem Hoffnung besteht und was den Kult um den kleinen Briten ausmacht, erfahrt ihr in Folge 14 unserers Oldtimer Magazins! WICHTIGE HINWEISE: Der Film, über den Ron und Oli sprechen ist nicht "Moonraker" sondern tatsächlich "Police Academy" aus dem Jahr 1984, das Auto ist kein Mini, sondern ein '78 Honda Civic, aus dem "High Tower" den Frontsitz entfernt, um von der Rückbank aus zu fahren! Wenn ihr sehen wollt, wie das aussah, hier geht's zur International Movie Car Database - ein großer Spaß für Film und Auto Fans! https://www.imcdb.org/v011386.html Und, auch neu, wie sind jetzt bei "Insta", wie die jungen Leute sagen, dort findet ihr uns unter @classicpodcars bitte folgt uns und empfehlt uns weiter, dort könnt ihr uns auch direkte "PM" schicken, wenn ihr wollt. https://www.instagram.com/classicpodcars/ Weiterhin gilt, wenn euch unser Podcast gefällt, dann liked uns, retweetet uns und gebt uns einen Daumen hoch, wenn ihr Kritik, Lob oder Vorschläge habt, was wir besser machen können und welche Autos wir dringend noch besprechen müssten, dann sendet uns eine eMail an nettemenschen@classicpodcars.de UND: Wir werden immer wieder nach dem Porsche 911 gefragt - Ja, ok...! - Wir haben gesagt, es gibt nur einen, mit dem wir über den 911er sprechen werden und das ist "the Porsche Godfather" himself, Walter Röhrl!! Also, wenn Walter das hier liesst, oder hört oder jemanden einen guten Draht zu ihm hat und ein Interview arrangieren kann, dann sagt uns Bescheid, wir packen sofort unsere 7 Sachen und stehen bei ihm auf der Matte :-) thx!

Mark Wilsmore at the Ace Cafe in London The Ace Cafe in London, England has a history going back as far as 1938. Beginning as a roadside diner catering to hungry truckers, it evolved in to a popular motorcycle hang out. Setbacks led to the shut down of the iconic motorbike meeting place when it was bombed in the Second World War and again with the evolution of the Austin Mini. Although it had been resurrected a couple of times, the Ace Cafe didn’t realize it’s full potential until Mark Wilsmore’s plan and determination to reopen the it came in to fruition. From the Ace Cafe in London was born an international following which lead to the opening of Ace Cafes in other locations, including Beijing and the United States. Today, the Ace Cafe is a place for petrolheads, people who love the smell of gasoline and oil, motorbikes and cars. Somewhere to hang out and talk, to swap ideas, to show their vehicles, to enjoy themselves. To sit down, listen to music, have a meal and a cup of coffee with like minded people. Mark Wilsmore is the owner of the Ace Cafe. You can read more about the Ace Cafe and check for upcoming events at https://london.acecafe.com/. Sam Manicom | What’s it Like to be in the Ace Cafe London? Sam Manicom, motorcycle adventure travel author and presenter, and co-host on ARR RAW, shares his experiences of the Ace Cafe, what it’s like to go through the doors and experience this legendary petrolhead hang-out. www.sam-manicom.com Sponsors: This episode of Adventure Rider Radio is made possible by the following SHOW SPONSORS. Please support ARR by supporting our sponsors.
 Max BMW: www.maxbmw.com 
BestRest Products: www.cyclepump.com 
Green Chile Adventure Gear: www.greenchileadv.com Motobriiz: www.motobriiz.com 
IMS Products: www.imsproducts.com Music Used in This Episode: colourbox by urmymuse (c) copyright 2014 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/urmymuse/45808 Ft: Snowflake, Edward R Murrow 2016 Admiral Bob Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Verify at http://ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/54272 Rocker ROCKER (AC/DC STYLE) Audioautix AUDIONAUTIX.COM 2015 Alex Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Verify at http://ccmixter.org/files/AlexBeroza/32423 Barbeque Blues - Apple Funky Long - Apple About Adventure Rider Radio: This adventure motorcycle travel podcast is brought to you by Canoe West Media, producers of Adventure Rider Radio and ARR RAW, motorcycle travel roundtable discussions. Listen to other episodes at www.adventureriderradio.com. Don't miss an episode by subscribing to the podcast on our website or to your favourite podcast app. To keep up with ARR news, like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AdventureRiderRadio/. This podcast is free to download, you can help support the show by making a donation at www.adventureriderradio.com/support. Transcript: Go to www.adventureriderradio and see the episode show notes to read the transcript.

Hey guys! Little bit of an error with this episode on my part so I apologize for that. One of the mics wasn't recording the entire show lol. We'll definitely have Sid and Josh back on the show in the near future so hang tight and enjoy this epic show! We discuss all important things like unreleased podcast episodes, Canadian resorts, Jesse's mountain climb (again), new ICBC laws, GoodRide tires, the Sharkwerks GT4, North Surrey, 911s, Jesse's mysterious packages, Josh's AE86 vs. his AW11 MR2, junk day, trampolines, illegal vehicle modifications, car fires, driving cars on sidewalks, and as well we get the most comprehensive update we've ever heard from Jesse on his Austin Mini project car!!! Enjoy. Follow us on Instagram! http://instagram.com/roadsuntraveledhttps://www.instagram.com/ulrich_langley/https://www.instagram.com/jesse.cross/https://www.instagram.com/leviweig/https://www.instagram.com/88.sc.604/https://www.instagram.com/deadbeat.scum/

Today on the Roads Untraveled Podcast, Marcus and Jesse discuss listener Questions, an Austin Mini clutch, car collections, window tint, and VW Golf's. Subscribe on Youtube where our car film and reviews are posted! Also check us out on Instagram to keep up with what we're doing! www.youtube.com/roadsuntraveledshowwww.facebook.com/roadsuntraveledshowwww.instagram.com/roadsuntraveled