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By admin, October 25, 2011 12:10 pm

A fter seven years of hard work I am now able to tell you a little brief history and the path that led to the birth of the Huayra, project name C9.

The concept was born in 2003, the year of the introduction of the Zonda S Roadster. As you may recall the early 2000s were prosperous for the world of supercars. The commitment of big car manufacturers have contributed to the rise of extraordinary cars like the Bugatti Veyron, Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari Enzo, Mercedes McLaren SLR.

This context led us to make several observations concerning the future of the Zonda and what could be a new Pagani. Since the original design of the Zonda was done in the early 90s the first thought was that it was now an obsolete project and we decided to imagine the car totally different in form, dimension, dynamics and technology, all this without losing the essence of our approach, to follow a concept born in the Renaissance where Leonardo da Vinci told us that art and science are disciplines that need to walk alongside. The eternal element air in all its forms, especially wind, became determining in defining the concept and it was a great inspiration, a sit is ever present in our lives: a jet turbine, the silence of a glider… the elegance of the movements the wind creates&hellip but also the violence and force that it can unleash.

The Huayra is made of more than 4000 components (engine and gearbox not included). To create them and put them together requires creativity, patience and passion that I shared with a fantastic young team and with the most competent partner in all sectors.

In defining the size, I immediately thought of a car that would be longer than the Zonda, a track increased by 70 mm, a cabin position shifted 40 mm to the back and even more spacious. The silhouette should be soft, easy to read and form itself from lean and sleek lines that have a clear beginning and an end.

As the style is concerned during these five years we have tried to find the best compromise working on 8 scale models and 2 full scale models, as well as hundreds of drawings without never leaving the original idea and taking meticulous care of the details.

The ideas were of including elliptical shapes reminding of our brand in the front and at the back, keeping the central exhaust as the completion of the line of the canopy, the line starting at the headlight area that continues and ends into the air intake. We also thought from the beginning of active aerodynamics. Flaps that are activated according to the study of results gathered through calculations and aerodynamic testing. The whole car is shaped as a wing so it was necessary to create a high front to reduce the length of the upper part of this wing to counteract lift.

The active suspension in the front and the 4 flaps allow to optimally balance the drag coefficient and downforce.

Mercedes-AMG has created a truly unique and lightweight engine, a twin turbo with over 700 HP and 1100 Nm of torque that perfectly complements the car giving a feeling that has motivated our research: that of the brute force of an airplane taking off.

The main focus was in a power delivery that was linear and not with lag, because that could potentially create safety problems or a continuous operation of electronic driving aids.

Mercedes-AMG already 5 years ago thought about the coming environmental restrictions by creating a 12-cylinder engine that is at the peak of efficiency in terms of CO2 and consumption.

Pirelli has created a very progressive tyre with a exceptional grip in all situations and with low rolling friction. Every aspect of safety was treated taking into account the dynamic by which most accidents with high performance rear engined cars occur.

While developing the C9 we witnessed the evolution of the different models of the Zonda and it showed us that the Zonda wasn’t obsolete as I had originally feared. The Zonda R has been a key laboratory for the Huayra. The team was able to work on many projects at the same time driving on different tracks that occasionally came to meet by sharing engineering concepts, materials, safety and scientific or design studies.

Horacio Pagani

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By admin, October 24, 2011 9:57 pm

最近樓下連續兩晚都有戰神GT-R的到訪﹐分別是那台經常出現黑壓壓的R35 SPEC V和第一次看到的桔紅色R34。

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By admin, October 21, 2011 10:09 am

This is interesting as I have just found the solution, the hotfix is not available for download, you will need to contact Microsoft or your server OEM to get the hotfix, note there are two different hotfix versions besides the 32/64bits, one is for Win7/Win2k8R2 with SP1, one is without.

Symptoms

When deploying or cloning virtual machines from a Windows 2008 R2 or Windows 7 template configured with the VMXNET3 virtual network device:

•The resulting virtual machine’s guest operating system shows the Ethernet network interface as:

- VMXNET Device #2 in Device Manager
- Local Area connection #2 in Network Properties

•The old Ethernet network interface remains present in Device Manager when Show Hidden Devices is enabled.

•The old Ethernet network interface retains its network configuration, preventing the new interfaces from reusing the previous static IP addresses. For more information see Networking Error: IP address already assigned to another adapter (1179).

Note: Upgrading the virtual hardware from version 4 to 7, or upgrading the VMware Tools, may automatically convert Flexible or VMXNET2 virtual network interfaces to VMXNET3. This issue may be observed after such an upgrade.

Also I encountered the following error when trying to open “Edit Settings” after converted the Template to VM.

Call “PropertyCollector.RetrieveContents” for object “propertyCollector” on vCenter Server “VC” failed.

The solution is simple, remove the VM from inventory and add it back again will solve the problem.

Of course, you also need to add back the extra VMX parameters if you are using OEM Windows and make sure devices.hotplug = false is added which prevents hot plug warning in OS.

* Just found out you don’t need to do this if you added the VM to Inventory from Datastore directly as the original VMX contains such information already.

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By admin, October 17, 2011 8:01 am

昨天還跟身邊發生的問題糾纏不清﹐今天一早起床發現問題迎刃而解了﹐高興得直呼“明天會更好原來是真的﹗”。

鑽牛角尖很多時候是解決不了問題的﹐還是早點睡覺為好。

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By admin, October 16, 2011 10:21 pm

今天早上才得知海運大廈Maserati Car Show將會展出最新的GranCabrio Sport和全球只有50台的MC12﹐馬上動身去拍個夠。果然MC12完全把GranCabrio Sport的艷光遮蓋﹐成為全場的焦點所在﹗

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By admin, October 13, 2011 1:42 pm

最近用了整整2個星期的時間瘋狂地研究了好多美式肌肉的歷史和款式。最喜歡的還是那些60年代末期﹐70年代初的那堆經典如Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac GTO﹑Dodge Challenger/Charger, Plymouth Cuda/Road Runner, Ford Mustang等等。

之前就有啟蒙車模朋友咬牙切齒地說過我遲早都一定會掉進美式肌肉坑的﹐現在還真不幸被“言中”了。

生產美式肌肉車的廠商大多數都是這幾間﹕GMP(金融還嘯後倒閉了﹐太可惜了)﹑Highway 61 (Super Car Collectibles)﹑ERTL和American Muscle Collectibles﹐質量也是按照這個順序﹐以GMP的做工最好。

後來發現這些年來美式肌肉的車模已經出了太多款式﹐越找就越發現美國肌肉車的文化實在太博大精深了﹐只是一般亞洲和歐洲的車模迷們都忽略了美式肌肉的這塊瑰寶。

所以只能挑精的﹐年份定于自己最喜歡的1968到1972年間的款式為主﹐目標明確後﹐就好找了。至少不能是狗腿們﹐一下子就把ERTL和American Muscle Collectibles全部剔除了﹐剩下的GMP和Highway 61裡面挑啊挑﹐最終百裡挑一﹐終于鎖定了以下這3款﹐它們正在運輸路途中。

首先GMP橙色的1970年Pontiac GTO第一版真的要多謝新加坡的Allan大哥割愛。然後另一台黃色的1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Six Pack更是稀罕絕版之物﹐最近更榮升為我的第二最愛Muscle Car﹐第一當然還是67/68年野馬﹐最後盾那台橙色的是2006年Dodge Challenger HEMI概念版本。

另外最近在本地也用極合理的價格收到了另一台銀色的GMP 1972 Le Man GTO Convertible﹐現在只差紅白間GMP的Camaro Street Fighter了﹐以後有機會一定會收。

1/18 GMP (gmp8041) Pontiac GTO Judge Orbit Orang 1970 (Limited 3000, 2001)

1/18 Highway61 (H50469) Dodge Challenger R/T Banana Yellow 440 1970

1/18 Highway61 (H50502) Dodge Challenger R/T Concept Red HEMI 2006

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By admin, October 13, 2011 1:12 pm

Interesting there is a 10 years glass ceiling, it was never mentioned in their web site I guess.

If you open a license file with notepad, you will see that there are two expiration dates: one for support and one for the product. Each license is issued for 10 years, so if your support expires, you can use an existing installation until the product expiration date is reached. You will not, however, be eligible for support and product upgrades.

Thanks,
Andrey Beck
Veeam Software Support

Comments (2)

By admin, October 13, 2011 12:28 pm

今天看到MC論壇有兄弟貼出了第十屆中國國際玩具及模型展覽會的最新車模預告﹐以下是我個人的一點心得﹕

- AA的Mustang 2010﹕希望不會又是個換殼不換芯的變種特工﹐我最近買了個風火輪精細版的紅白色GT500﹐就是看中了它鏤空的前引擎入氣口﹐淘寶價才$280 ﹐性價比AA高了很多分。

- AA的Aston Martin V12 Vantage﹕因為自己接受不了V12 Vantage這種畫蛇添足﹐完全破壞了原先V8 Vantage的高雅美感。V12引擎蓋子上那堆好像黑色昆虫的物體令我馬上聯想到經典恐怖科幻片“異形”裡的相似場面﹐簡直就是難看的要命。記得上回看Top Gear的主持人Jeremy在夕陽中開著那台V12 Vantage﹐一路嘆息這類心愛超跑將會很快在消失人間﹐因為歐盟即將推出對大排放量的超跑提出更嚴格的管制。

另外銀色的DB5之前已經講過﹐除了狗腿有改進之外﹐其它一概停留在幾年前的工藝上﹐且不提模具勞損﹐縫隙太大的弊病。

- AA的Lamborghini Countach系列看來沒戲了﹐我們等來的居然不是紅色和銀色25週年紀念版本。這幾款預告的版本跟京商相比之下﹐除了那液壓桿之外沒有任何進步﹐但價格一定會在一倍以上。另外之前還在其它玩具展覽裡看到AA即將推出的那一眾極為誇張的Countach版本﹐如美版在車頭加上了難看的保險杆和尾巴排氣管多達10個之多的怪物等實在不敢恭維。唉﹐無它﹐京商多年前就已經把準則設的太高﹐除非你實在沒辦法或者之前錯過了。AA這次來的太遲了﹐難怪古語有雲“既生瑜，何生亮﹖”

- AA的Alfa Romeo TZ 1963﹕無論是TZ或者是TZ2都有抄襲法拉利250GTO的嫌疑﹐所以它們未能引起我的購買意慾。反而那台謠傳已久的Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale Prototype 1967完全令我心魂顛倒。

- JAGUAR E-TYPE﹕看來AA這季度最有機會成功的便是這一系列的經典英國國寶。今年適逢JAGUAR E-TYPE 50週年紀念﹐再加上車迷們等SERIES I 3.8/SERIES II 4.2等到的脖子都長了(5年了吧)﹐希望可以在年底前成功收到紅色開篷的SERIES I 3.8(必收色和款)﹑米色開篷的SERIES II 4.2(70年代法國情色電影艾曼妞中的跑車)和黑色的硬頂SERIES I 3.8。

73601  JAGUAR E-TYPE ROADSTER JAGUAR E-TYPE ROADSTER SERIES I 3.8 (RED)
73603  JAGUAR E-TYPE ROADSTER JAGUAR E-TYPE ROADSTER SERIES I 3.8 (CREAM)
73611  JAGUAR E-TYPE COUPE SERIE JAGUAR E-TYPE COUPE SERIES I 3.8 (BLACK) (RHD) 

73581  JAGUAR E-TYPE ROADSTER JAGUAR E-TYPE ROADSTER SERIES II 4.2 (RED)
73582  JAGUAR E-TYPE ROADSTER JAGUAR E-TYPE ROADSTER SERIES II 4.2 (CREAM) 

至于捷豹XJ-S白色硬頂及敞篷版﹐我已經有Minichamps的1比43白色版本﹐所以應該不會收了﹐除非AA推出最好看的紅色XJ-S敞篷版(73572)。

- 最後不得不提的是那個半路殺出個程咬金的最大驚喜﹗WELLY將會推出Bentley Continental Supersport﹐看來Bentley終于肯放手把車模牌照發放給幾家(JADA Paragon和WELLY)﹐不在是Minichamps的專利了﹐這是個好事﹐因為之前AA獨大發生不愉快的亂加價事件真的令人很反感﹐市場有競爭才有進步﹐這絕對是件好事。

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By admin, October 12, 2011 11:13 pm

The following is from the latest October Equallogic newsletter:

How will installing Dell EqualLogic Multipathing Extension Module (MEM) for MPIO on my ESXi hosts affect the number of iSCSI connections in an EqualLogic pool?

The interesting answer to this question is for most the number of connections will increase but for a few it will go down.  The key to understanding the number of iSCSI connections created by MEM are the following variables:

• The number of ESX hosts you have
• The number of vmkernel ports assigned for iSCSI on each ESX server
• The number of EqualLogic members in the pool
• The number of volumes in the EqualLogic pool being accessed from the ESXi hosts
• The MEM parameter settings

The MEM is designed to provide many enhancements over the VMware vSphere Round Robin multipathing and standard fixed path functionality including – automatic connection management, automatic load balancing across multiple active paths, increased bandwidth, and reduced network latency.  However, before installing the MEM you should evaluate and understand how the number of iSCSI connections will change in your environment and plan accordingly. In some cases it may be necessary to adjust the MEM parameter settings from the defaults to avoid exceeding the array firmware limits.

The MEM parameters are listed below.  You’ll notice each parameter has a default, minimum and maximum value.  What we’ll go over in this note is how to determine if the default values are suitable values for your environment and if not, what values are suitable for your environment to ensure that the total iSCSI connections to the EqualLogic pool remains below the EqualLogic pool iSCSI connection limit.

Single EqualLogic Array in Pool

Let’s start with a simple example – a four node ESXi cluster with 4 vmkernel ports on each host.  Those hosts all connect to 30 volumes on an EQL pool and that pool has a single EQL array. For each individual ESXi host the following variables effect how many connections MEM creates: 

So the first step in our ESXi host connection math is to get some subvalues from these parameters we’ll call X, Y and Z.

X = [Lesser of (# of vmkernel ports) or (membersessions parameter value)]

Y = [# of volumes connected to by this ESXi host]

Z = [Lesser of ((# of arrays in pool) or (volumesessions/membersessions)]

We then use X, Y and Z to calculate the total MEM sessions for one ESXi host using the formula below.

Total iSCSI Sessions from ESXi host = [Lesser of (X * Y  *  Z)  or (totalsessions MEM parameter value)]

So in this particular scenario X = 2 (the membersessions MEM parameter value),   Y = 30 (# of volumes connected to by this ESXi host) and Z = 1 (the # of arrays in the pool).  So for one ESXi host in this scenario we have a total of 60 iSCSI connections.  Since 60 is less than the totalsessions MEM parameter limit of 512 the MEM will create all 60 connections on this ESXi host.

We have 4 ESXi hosts in our environment this EQL array will have a total of 240 (4 x 60) connections from those ESXi hosts.   

Why would I get less iSCSI connections with MEM?

Let’s go back to our statement that some environments you may have less connections with MEM than with VMware vSphere Round Robin multipathing.  Typically this will only happen if you have a single member group and when the number of vmkernel ports is more than the membersessions MEM parameter.  In our original example we had four vmkernel ports so with VMWare fixed VMware vSphere Round Robin multipathing you would have four connections to each volume.  When you install MEM it will look at the membersessions MEM parameter and change the number of connections to the default of 2 connections per volume.

You may be concerned that changing from four connections per volume to two connections per volume might have a performance impact but this is usually not true. MEM will use all four VMkernel ports for the various volumes but just not use all vmkernel ports for all volumes. In addition, the EqualLogic array connection load balancing will keep the network load on each individual array port balanced out as evenly as possible.

Add Additional EqualLogic Arrays in Pool

Let’s say your environment grows and you need more storage capacity.  Let’s add another two EqualLogic arrays to that single member pool in our original example.   The volumes in the pool will now spread out over all three arrays. That is, there is a “slice” of the volume on each of the three arrays.  Now the 3^rd MEM parameter – volumesessions – comes into play.  MEM will create 2 connections (membersessions default) to each of the three arrays that have a slice of the volume. MEM is aware of what portion of each volume is on each array so these connections allow it to more efficiently pull volume data down to the ESX server. Standard ESX MPIO doesn’t know about the EqualLogic volume structure so it can’t be as efficient as MEM.

The only parameter that changes in the table from the first example is the number of arrays which increases from 1 to 3.

So let’s get our subvalues X, Y and Z for the situation where there are 3 arrays rather than just one:

X = [Lesser of (# of vmkernel ports) or (membersessions parameter value)]  = 2

Y = [# of volumes connected to by this ESXi host] = 30

Z = [Lesser of ((# of arrays in pool) or (volumesessions/membersessions)] 

= (3) or (6/2)

 = 3

So   X * Y * Z = 180 connections per ESXi host in this example.  180 is less than the totalsessions limit of 512 so MEM will create a total of 180 connections from each ESXi host. 

We have 4 ESXi hosts in our environment this EQL array will have a total of 720 (4 x 180) connections from those ESXi hosts.   720 total connections is within the limits for a PS6xxx series array but is well over the connection limit for a PS4xxx series pool.  However, if any additional expansion of the environment occurs – such as adding two additional ESXi hosts – the session count will now be 1080. So in some circumstances we may need to make some adjustments in the MEM parameters or array group configuration to optimize our configuration.   We’ll talk about that in the next section.
Planning the Number of iSCSI Connections

So if you have done your math and see that you’re getting near the array firmware limits for connections how do can you alter the number of connections?  There are several choices for this including:

• reduce the number of volumes per pool
• reduce the number of ESX servers that connect to each volume
• move some of the EQL arrays/volumes to another pool
• reduce the membersessions MEM parameter limit on each ESX server
• reduce the volumesessions MEM parameter limit on each ESX serer
• reduce the totalsessions MEM parameters limit on each ESX server.

Remember when you’re doing your math that you also need to include any connections from non-ESXi hosts when deciding if you’re going to exceed the array iSCSI connection limit.

As we’ve seen a little bit of planning will help you keep the iSCSI connections to your EqualLogic pool at an optimal level.

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By admin, October 11, 2011 10:59 am

自己90年代初Ayrton Senna走後就再沒關心過F1的賽事﹐記得小時候還很用心的做過一台他Marlboro紅白拉花1:24的F1賽車。

兩年前的一天﹐在小區商場附近偶然發現有幾個漂亮的MM在派免費飲料﹐嘗試了一口可能是我人生唯一的一次紅牛(直至現在都沒再喝過)。之後在MM們的慫恿下﹐還傻乎乎的跟後面的F1照了張即影即有的相片﹐仔細觀察﹐今天才發現後面還有兩個好像很專業的F1技術老外。

恍如隔世﹐原來紅牛車隊現在已經在F1賽場上鼎鼎大名﹐如日方中﹗

P.S. 咦怎麼最近朋友見到我都說我玩車模後“苗條”了不少﹐看來一定是給車魔折磨的利害。