akciddento

wow... lies, damned lies and statistics

web log analysis by analog

Figures in parentheses refer to the 7-day period ending Jul 30 2003 at 5:29 PM).
Successful requests: 880,435 (36,264)
Average successful requests per day: 11,820 (5,180)
Successful requests for pages: 160,903 (7,364)
Average successful requests for pages per day: 2,160 (1,051)
Redirected requests: 10,701 (137)
Distinct files requested: 1,870 (688)
Distinct hosts served: 2,139 (418)
Corrupt logfile lines: 5
Data transferred: 23.741 gigabytes (824.964 megabytes)
Average data transferred per day: 326.407 megabytes (117.852 megabytes)

different stats programs interpret user sessions and the like differently
BUT

the headline figure blew me away !

Successful requests: 880,435 (36,264)
Average successful requests per day: 11,820 (5,180)
Successful requests for pages: 160,903 (7,364)
Average successful requests for pages per day: 2,160 (1,051)

nearly ONE MILLION items served, an average of eleven thousand a day !

with over ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY THOUSAND PAGES SERVED, over 2000 pages every day !

TWENTY THREE freaking GIGABYTES!

not a lot at all by many standards but completely blew me away! visitors from almost every country on the globe, (hello to our readers in saudi arabia!)

the strangest search that brought anyone to the site has to be 'minisubmarine'...

:)

everybody's at it !

top post from slammedbay ollie on the new AK forum

me likey !

:)

good and bad...

spent the morning removing the rock n roll bed i put in last week and keying the frame ready to spray in blauweiss to match the interior. recovered the back of the seat back board so that when the bed is in seat position you dont see white formica through the back window..

got it all back in and it looks ok.

i also fitted the new ~TMI long side interior panel i got form the states via karmann konnection. i had to butcher part of the old panel to make up the opposite side and a portion of the TMI interior kit that either didn't arrive or i've mislayed in the house somewhere...

somewhat disapointed...

the tmi panel is the right size and shape, even has the holes from the chrome trimin the right place BUT the vinyl & meshcloth is in the wrong place... doesn't line up with the trim... and the glue used to put it on looks like pritt stick paper glue... it's useless!

so after paying aqll that money and waiting all that time i still end up taking it all apart and doing it myself... story of my life.

at least i got it finished and tidied up before the rain.

i ven got the garden swept and tidied up the rainfilled buckets of EP90 gearbox oil that have been sitting around waiting for disposal since the last oil change...

found two toads swimming about in the EP90. if you've ever used or smelled this stuff you know how noxious it is... either the toads round here are crackhead toads and subsequently psychotic mean mothers or they got in there just as i removed the cover...

your guess is as good as mine...

just got some mail from someone who asked for stickers...

so big smile of the day is thanks to topfuelthomas!

"Hi

P.S. respect to whoever stickered the "old people crossing" sign just out of the pod gates near hinwick hall. made me chuckle. "

you mean this one ????

did peg do a good job ?

picked up the newly trimmed cushions from 'sofa riot' this afternoon. Peg was finishing them earlier on and got them finished by the end oif t he day. they're ok but not really as good as i hoped. they all look a little saggy.

and we all know that saggy's no good

still. here's a pic of them inside on the new full width rock n roll bed. need to respray the bed base in blauweiss to match the original factory colour and mabe change the plastic trim on the side of the base boarsd of the bed for some of the sixties style aluminium trim with the plack vinyl; insert in . like they used on the edges of cupboards and tables in devon conversions...

forum schmorum!

after a week or two of testing the AK forum is now open for business....

checkout the forum here
register now and join the general chatter or post up the latest akciddento spotting to win substandard merchandise from the halls of Akciddento HQ.

been ploughing through the video and still from the bugjam weekend and started processing the peppercorn show pics and the video from the gti festival...

all being well ( as i'm sure it won't be) i'll have new galleries of images and new edited video going up onthe site throughout the week.

i still have to write up the story of bugjam but i'm ruminating on what i want to write and what i want to melt away into the ether... forgotten like the last snows of spring

ahhh... what a poetic image.
:)

botchvillage

here it is, the botch village and refugee reception centre

soft furnishings & things

finally called into 'sofa riot' a small bespoke furniture workshop/upholsterers round the corner from me in bristol. had a quick chat with Peg who works there and have delivered all the new cut foam and the megaexpensive grey vinyl & peppercloth OEM style fabric i got from TMI in the US. i put in a new full width rock and roll bed from bluebird customs last week and need to get the seat & bed pads covered.
as i did with the kick borad on the seat i want the cushions to look as 'factory' as possible. so with a little luck (and the dedication and skill of my new friend Peg) and the extra thirty quid i promised her to get the job done quick, i should have a factory look full width rock and roll bed done by next monday. just in time to go up to Martin Taylors workshop to have the new engine installed....

hopefully....

vwdrc points after bugjam

Jon Rathbone Race Cars Pro VW

1. Russ Fellows 1950
2. Paul Woodhead 1610
3. Paul Bate 1170
4. Justin Aldred 1060
5. Scott Evison 810
6. Ian Clark 750
7. Brett Lincoln 710
8. Neil Davies 670
9. Jason Aldred 590
10. Ian Dale 570
11. Paul Jackson 520
12. Pete Shattock 420
13. Stuart Humphrey 410
14. Kevo Metcalfe 300
15. Rob Bowler 290
16. Richie Webb 290
17. Tony Isley 230
18. Pete Englezos 190
19. Bernie Newbury 160
20. David Johnson 150
21. Nigel Green 120
22. Jon Rathbone 70
=23. Rick Jolley 10
Martin Taylor 10
Tom Jones 10

Beetlemania Sportsman VW

1. Stuart Hinds 2680
2. Graham Fairhead 1940
3. Steve Lee 1650
4. Brian Burrows 1430
5. Simon Longman 1390
6. Dan Buzzo 1380
7. Natasha Garcia 1310
8. Michael Geraghty 1280
9. Sarah Rollin 1190
=10. Martin Ayton 1120
Cath Bishop 1120
12. James Lake 1070
13. Rob Bowler 1020
14. Neil Davies 990
15. Martin Charles 960
=16. Roy Ayton 830
Neil Thompson 830
18. Simon Cooper 760
19. Martin Kearn 610
=20. Ed Kellas 600
Chris Baylis 600
22. Phil Barker 520
23. Adam Sheard 450
24. Chris Kousaris 420
25. Andy Brooke 410
26. Matt Edwards 400
27. Jim Smith 380
28. Ian Dale 280
=29. Adele Atherton 270
Andy Kelly 270
31. Paul Cox 250
32. James Kellas 210
33. Conor La Grue 170
34. Mason Griffiths 140
35. David Bridge 30
=36. David Johnson 10
Robin Braithwaite 10
Julie Snape 10

AMR Motors Alt/Eng VW

1. Matt Attwood 1310
2. Gin Marrone 680
3. Wayne Allman 550
4. Ian Sewell 510
5. Andy Raw 450
6. Darryn Coleman 430
7. Mark Skeen 360

information care of spencer tramm at VWDRC

after bugjam '03 team akciddento would like to thank

everyone!

after a bizarre LOONNNG weekend (thurs-sun) of rollercoaster-like highs and lows the dust is settling.

just like the first bugjam i went to nearly ten years ago i swore i'd never go back....

special thanks to all the other racers and crew . especially team thunder, rob, phil, george, jo rachel... providing sanity when our pit area turned into sarajaevo with one strong gust of wind... striptease racing, team botch and all in botch village. brian, kevo. andy M @ t3d for hours of engine work without hesitation, captain botch and esp spencer for all the hard work and words of encouragement.

the highest high point has to be driving back up the fire up lane after the lunchtime drivers meeting with TWENTY people in the bus, most of them wearing fireproof suits. looking round from the drivers seat was like being in a wierd pyromaniac fetish club

the lowest low point isn't even worth the effort to type.

all at akciddento HQ feel like we've been subjected to some cruel and unusual torture - and emerged better people for it...

what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...
...or receiving incapacity benefit for life.

bugjam friday

team thunder, rob, jo, george, rachel and phil relaxing in the next door pit at bugjam.
lovely people. and quick car too !

settling into bugjam

in the akciddento pits on thursday night before bugjam

onwards and upwards

enough said!

doh...

if you see me over the weekend at the bugjam VWDRC race meeting please smile and be nice-
I just went out ot the split to sort some bits out and because paul venners is here doing welding his car full of tools is in the drive/courtyard so i parked the bus in the lane behind the house.

the rest writes itself doesn't it?

they got in through the passenger quarterlight and after a rummage through the interior made off with the first aid kit, the powered subwoofer and a 2 1/2 ton trolley jack.

BUT

luckily there seems to be no damage to the bus.

so it could have been much worse...

but it's still raining.

but i have fitted the newly upholstered kickpanel and speakewr pods under the new rock n roll bed in the back....

off to bugjam

and it's raining, a lot.
i can hear the lorries swishing up and down the road through the puddles.

pack the bus, get paul botch to finish the welding on the 412, pull the enginein the bus, strip it, rebuild it, do a four wheel alignment and rework the interior.
have a bath , then some breakfast and we're ready to go....

ha ha!

i'm planning to try not to start the jobs i know i don't have time for so hopefully we'll be ready half an hour before we want to leave...

what bliss
i'll let you know if it happens..

blessed be.

today is a bit of am odd day.
paul venners - of the commentating, 'botch boys - team botch- fame- is round for a few days doing the welding that needs to be done on the 412. he's tapping and welding and grimnding away.

my boy louie came back from school yesterday and walked through the gate and looked at him criticaLLY and announced
oh look, a welding gnome'

seems that paul actually likes the label....

any cartoonists out there ? he did say over coffee that he'd like a welding gnome cartoon ???

because pauls car full of tools is in the drive next to the 412 i had to start giving the bus some TLC & tuning on the pavement outside the house, with all the attendant yardies & cronies looking on...

i sorted out some wiring giubbins and found why the stereo is crackling and also noticed that the float bowl on one carb seems to be intermittently sticking, re routed the breather, carb balance, timing etc etc....

changed the fanbelt, CLEANED IT !
(after the 'brisk' run back from the ace cafe on tuesday night there was a fine film of oil over everything from the breather system.

as i was doing this and old jamaican guy in shorts and wrapround sunglasses with a towel on his head and a bottle of white rum and a can of redbull wandered over and sat on the kerb behind me and started muttering to me.

so, i smiled back and got on with what i was doing....

until

amongst the general patois i heard him mutter
'das a big breeder system on dat'

oh, so he knows engines ?

i pull out the timing gun and as i'm blipping the throttleand connecting cables with my arm in the engine bay a large scarred brown hand thrusts itself in the the engine bay and starts thrashing the thing and muttering.....

in my mind i can see his hand going through the fan belt and rounf the pully a few times, fingers flying in all directions and me cleaning blood for weeks.

eventually he stops and sits back down.

ya got a valve sticking and two plugs is brok man'

ok.

whatever you say...

and dis need bigger dampers, dis mogel should ride igher, yaknow

hmmmm... this is starting to get odd.

a few minutes later paul wanders out and has a listen... we both agree it's not right... a quick twiddle etc etc. i tell him what the jamaican guy says and

of course, it's right.... (or close enough)

inside later having a cup of tea while my girl emily packages up all the new shirts we get chatting about this bizarre occurrence with the mashed up elderly ex-vw mechanic. i decide to do something and grab one of the new akciddento shirts (in a fetching red colour) and head out to the street.

sure enough there is my new friend sat in the gutter/on the kerb behind the bus.

i squat down and we chat a bit.. i give hime the shirt and we talk about things, i tell him a bit about the racing. he reckons it's best to lose. losing is less stress and people don't hate you if you lose, so he says...
bearing in mind he is proper mashed up...
he then takes a capful of white rum and circles the bottle with it and mutters some stuff and throiws the rum on the ground. this process gets repeated but this time the rum goes all the way down the back of the newly washed bus.

'you be alright now wid dat...' says paul (as i have found out his name is)

so, my bus has been blessed.

watch out everyone !

so later on )approaching midnight if truth be told ) finds me starting to rework the interior in thebus, i'd fitted a new full width rock n roill bed the day before and now there were some bits to do.

drilling the new underbed kickpanels for the speakers

the akciddento midnight spray booth...

--searching for that captain scarlet look n feel...

peppercron...

duh!

what more can be said ?

quite a lot actually but i think i'll tell you all that tomorrow.

suffice to say great time, great show, great people got lots of bits for the fugly 412....

...and STOP TELLING ME WHAT I CAN AND CAN"T DO.
....and please stop telling me what it is that i want to do. i know what i want to do. i want to hit you with a baseball bat if you tell me what i want to do.

when someone says to you
'you know what you want to do ...'

surely the only answer can be
'yes i do actually...'

??????

fame!

got referred to a serious kinda drag race site earlier top end talesrun by the mysterious 'sharkman' with pictures and video of lots the cars racing at the summer nationals.

guess what's the first picture on the first page ?

AYE!

'Respect to Dan Buzzo, not only did he race this VW bus he made the final, only to break out with what I think was a npb! '

-sharkman

aw, shucks !

thanks, checkout the site. good pics and well funny commentary on it all.

new shop updates

finally got down to some keyboard hammering and knocked out a few more pages in the akciddento shop.
new design t-shirts, old style hats and baseball jerseys.

posted a link up on the Volkszone forum with a poll to get peoples reaction (though i think it's a bit like asking your aunts and uncles) and people see to like the new designs. lets see if they order any!
this time i'm not using the cafepress shop. although the cafepress setup lets me show lots of merchandise and have all the order processing etc done elsewhere it's all shipped from the states. this makes it a bit confusing for UK peeps and also an expense and hassle for shipping etc.

it also means that if someone orders a shirt for $14.99 i get the princely sum of $2 from the proceeds of the sale!...

although with the new shirts and stuff i've had to put up all the costs upfront (and on short run printing these are not small!) hopefully the returns are better. the only problem is that i seem to be giving away or 'losing' as many as i sell...

doh!

did you do this ?

here it is, the fugly 412 after a visit to mister MOT. investigating the 'corrosion to o/s & n/s rear inner wheel arch' i discovered that the MOT tester needed glasses. the 'o/s & n/s rear inner wheel arch' is made of expanding foam filler covered with p38 chopped strand. how could it be rusty ?

did you do this ? did you really look at it and think, 'that needs welding, i know i'll fill it with a spray can of expanding foam. that's a good idea'

do people really live their lives like this ?

hmmm.. on reflection, they do don't they ?

ah well.

to start back at the beginning,

i set off in the 412 EARLY for the mot appointment on the other side of town, possibly two miles away. i thought i get some petrol and have the opportunity to take the long route there.

wrong

the petrol station is half a mile from my house.
i never made it.

i stalled it at the traffic lights two hundred yards from the petrol station and guess what ? flat battery, and it's an auto box so no bump start! my friend dan delors from the most excellent band 'the mighty ging' saved the day.
of course when i got to the petrol station i though i'd back it up and fill the tyres with air.

wrong

i stalled it again. being an auto one puts ones foot down and then the car thinks about what it wants to do. this one wants to go home and sulk. if it were a person it would be a petulant five year old that knows it's in control and is is going to make you suffer, just for the hell of it.

dan delors returned to save the day but to no avail, the 412 was havign none of it. it would not fire.
so off i got to get the trusty bus and blat round town collecting things, including a rather swank 'mobile power unit' (a battery in a box with a charger and a lighter socket to me and you) return to the 412 and guess what ? starts first time, but you guessed that didn't you ?

only an hour late for the MOT this time...

took a woirng turn and it stalled at the lights. wont start. the police cruise past about five times, me with no tax, no mot and no documents in a car that looks, and drives, like an orthopedic shoe - an orthopedic car they decide not to investigate no further, looks like too much paperwork.

not broken down, just resting.

eventually it fires and i get to the MOT station. i leave itm feeling embarrased and sorry for the mot tester and promise i will actually return to collect it.

some time later

i cycle over to collect the car, it's in a different parking place, that must mean that they actually got it to move !

i collect the anticipated fail sheet and it's not to bad !
(this must be a volkswagen thing! it failed on 4 spots of corrosion, lights, tyres (mixed sizes) seat belts, seats and ...
actually that's it!

no too bad thought I. passed on windscreen wipers and brakes, and on somethig else. i just can't think what.

so back to chez akciddento.

in rush hour.

thought the city centre

the rest writes itself doesn't it?

well....

yes it did stall, yes it was in bumper to tail traffic, yes it was on that bit of dual carriage way though the centre of town, yes it was in the underpass.

yes the battery was flat

BUT! the marvel of having the battery under the passenger seat meant that with only a little frantic swearing and scrabbling i got the power unit connected up and guess what ? it fired !

the rest was plain sailing.

back in the yard, fixed the lights in half an hour, adjusted the headlamps, changed the wheels, found the front rust hole, blocked drain hole in inner wing small plate no problem.

then...

EXPANDING FILLER!

you should be ashamed of yourself.

something interesting that i did find from the days adventures while trying to track/fix the source of the airleak inthe fuelk injection system. you can't use gaffer tape while wearing surgical gloves. they keep your hands clean but the gaffer tape sticks to them and when you pull it off it rips the finger tips of the gloves off. then when you try and wrap the tape round anyting it's all lumpy with the bits of ripped off glove finger tip underneath.
not very satisfactory

timing is the essence of good comedy pt II

following my theorising on the timing data from big bang here is some interesting sums that spencer tramm at VWDRC has doe

----

Here are the average reaction times of the Sportsman VW racers this year (eliminations only) , I have only included cars that have competed in three rounds of competition (i.e. an average of one per event so far)

There are 20 cars that fit the criteria (as Conor, Tourist, Phil Barker, Cath and Ian Dale have competed in less than 3 rounds of racing) - the number of redlights a person has done is included in the brackets below.

1. Brian Burrows .565 (1)
2. James Lake .580 (1)
3. Martin Charles .583 (1)
4. Neil Thompson .608
5. Graham Fairhead .611 (1)
6. Stuart Hinds .614
7. Sarah Rollin .624
8. Rob Bowler .633
9. Adam Sheard .654
10. Michael Geraghty .677
11. Simon Cooper .690
12. Dan Buzzo .728
13. Steve Lee .735
14. Simon Longman .747
15. Natasha Garcia .785
16. Martin Ayton .833
17. Chris Baylis .951
18. Chris Kousaris .999
19. Roy Ayton 1.024
20. Ed Kellas 1.039

hmmmm.. i might rack this up against the points ands see the correlations...

the fugly is ready !

for it's first MOT, it's booked in tomorrow lunchtime and i think it might be alright....

all the electrics are working, after a fashion...

and

most importantly, i cut all the jubilee clips off the front coil springs, that was entertaining, it now sits about 3 inches higher at the front.

here is what had been used to lower the front end.

if you are reading this and it was you that did this, you are a bad man. i assume that you're a man. i can't see a woman doing something that was so obviously stupid. not to say that women are not cabable of also being eminently stupid.

it also seems, following a somewhat unsatisfactory phone conversation, that the new engine for the bus will not be ready for bugjam.

Hmmmm.

i'll have more to say on this (general) subject later.

bugjam race preparations begin

spencer tramm from VWDRC has posted the early list of who is racing at bugjam... so here i is...

Rathbone Race Cars Pro VW (9)
Pro 11 Paul Woodhead
Pro 36 Rob Bowler (as long as he's remembered to ring and change )
Pro 38 Paul Bate
Pro 63 Ian Dale
Pro 72 Brett Lincoln
Pro 132 Tony Isley
Pro 400 Jon Rathbone
Pro 733 Richie Webb
Pro 7261 Bernie Newbury

Beetlemania Sportsman VW (12)
SP16 Graham Fairhead
SP41 Sarah Rollin
SP44 Cath Bishop
SP47 Mason Griffiths
SP53 Brian Burrows
SP66 Neil Davies (as long as he's remembered to ring and change )
SP67 David Johnson
SP78 David Bridge
SP90 Paul Cox
SP92 Martin Kearn
SP97 Dan Buzzo
SP299 Julie Snape

AMR Motors Alt/Eng VW (1)
AE81 Andy Raw

plenty more to come... still two weeks away yet !

wiring madness, again ?

i've spent too much of the day tracing this....

the haynes/vw wiring diagram for the 412. slowly it's staring to make sense.

i got the windscreen washer pump working, the interior lighty, the windscreen wipers (with NEW wiper blades) german and swedish don't have a single part for a 411 or 412 listed so guessing the parts interchange is fun, it seems a combination of bontempi home organ, mamod steam engine, late beetle and early golf. i'll get there... maybe...

so there it is. the passenger floor of fugly. note the lack of a central tunnel! cute. and the bling auto shift. the pool ball gear knob is temporary, i promise.

after much tracing etc, i realised that the reason that the main beam doesn't work in the headlights is beacuse the relay is missing. it's a wierd one that blugs into the top of the fuse bocks. i've never seen the fuseboix in a late beetle of a type 3 so this is all new to me. i'll see if i can get one tomorrow then, all eing well, the 412 is readuy for MOT. i got a new fornt number plate too....

i never realised how much hassle it is to get a number plate printed now, the autoshop asked for the registration documents, my drivers license, more id. everything.

as is ususally the case i hadn't bothered to change the registratio yet and they got all sniffy about it... yeh. like i',m a major car thief. stealing rusting old ugly orange volkswagens so i can spend more money doing them up.....

ah well.... with the new front plate on and the worst of the orange ovrepsrayt scraped oiff the windows it doesn't lool too bad.

- btw i guess that i ought to proof read this stuff sometime and correct the spelling and puctuation. just someothertime, ok ? -

i had a crawl around to che the underneath. some bright spark has lowered the front end an inch or two. the back end is spring wishbone like a wedge van and the font end is mcpherson strut like a late beetle.

the ingenious way it's been lowered is by having ten mates sit on the bonnet and then strap jubliee clips round the top of the spring.

I kid you not.

tip time! everybody work for a living...

here i am taking the akciddento race car out for a little run to bed things in and check it all over.

and take a load of trash to the tip. i've been hanving fun decorating some opf the walls in the house with a hammer and relocatiung them to a big heap at the end of the garden. after a couple of trips like this i reckon iv'e saved over a ton in weight whioch should strip about three tenths of a second off the quarter mile time of the house. all i need now is a class that will let me race a 1750 georgian townhouse with an out of date MOT.

i also got some shopping in and overloaded the akciddento parts hauler somewhat with these...

new winder handles for the fugly 412 and some replacement light bulbs. no expense spared. mot here we come?

hey hey post number 69 !

timing timing!

people say that the essence of good comedy is timing.

well, if you're interested all the timing from this years qualifying and elimination runs at SPRC summer nationals for the VW sportsman is here at eurodragster.com

there are some new movies too, round four and the finals are online in the movies section and i have another hour of video to edit, half a gigabyte of stills from my camera and over a hundred images on my phone....

i still have the video from the gti festival to finish editing and all the stills (some of which look very interesting) from the VW action beach party....

just as soon as i finish the tax returns, rewire the fugly 412, mow the lawn, finish unloading the bus from the weekend, do the decorating downstairs and brush my teeth....

i promised my self i'd get some sleep this week, especially after the mess i was in on friday night at santa pod. by ten oclock i was feeling majorly hypoglycemic and couldn't string a sentenc together....

special thanks to **ed** for reminding me what my name was...

night all