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JULY 2016 BE THE FIRST TO KNOW POPULAR MECHANICS RSA: R36,90 Other countries: R32,37 excl VAT BE THE FIRST TO KNOW TECH EXCLUSIVE UPGRADE HANDS-OFF WITH THE HIGH-TECH TRANSPORT NEW MERC E-CLASS + REGENERATIVE HOMES

THE SCIENCE OF FLOUR GROWING YOUR DAILY BREAD SPACE RACE II CAN PRIVATE INDUSTRY PULL IT OFF? THINGS MY FATHER SKILLS TAUGHT ME VOLUME 14, NO. 12  PROJECT: THE GREASE CAR > CLUTCH TECHNIQUE >  GET STARTED: R/C DRIFTING IDENTIFY TRACKS > CHOOSE A POOL CUE  CNC MACHINE BASICS > TIE OFF A BOAT > TELL SOMEONE OFF > USE SAFETY EQUIPMENT TESTED GETTING PERSONAL WITH E-MOBILITY

Cover JULY.indd 1 5/31/16 10:18 AM The new E-Class. Masterpiece of Intelligence. www.mbworld.co.za A Daimler Brand CONTENTS

JULY 2016 I VOL 14, NO 12 I I BE THE FIRST TO KNOW

HOW YOUR WORLD WORKS SCIENCE 14 Space Race, part deux 42 In the light fields The Pentagon has to replace the Russian rockets it uses How a few seedlings in a warehouse turned into a to spy on Moscow. sustainable indoor farm. Sound barrier Using tech to protect ears against permanent damage CARS in motorsport. 72 The NSX (finally) returns Is homework obsolete? Honda’s supercar is awakened in hybrid guise. Does all work and no play make Jack a dull boy? Launch reports Hardcore BMW X5 xDrive40e, Smart Fortwo, Smart Forfour. Sharlto Copley on his latest movie PM Drives This new roller coaster breaks six world records Ford B-Max, Merc S500e, Chevrolet Captiva 2,4 LT. Valravn is the tallest, fastest and features the longest drop of them all. SKILLS 78 The grease car FEATURES Converting a 1979 Mercedes-Benz to run on used 36 Things my father taught me vegetable oil. Good old know-how passed down from one generation The bio alternative to the next. If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, then just 56 Upgrade use biodiesel. Closed-loop communities The amazing CNC machine High-style transport A simplified guide to a sophisticated tool. 48 147 years of wisdom PM kids project: Ice lantern PM senior home editor Roy Berendsohn was taught all Shop notes he knows by his father, Oscar. Ask Roy 60 Somerset College: STEM school of note Home of the best maths student in SA – and the world. MONTHLY 64 The science of the loaf 4 Credits What’s artisanal about it? 6 From the editor 8 Letters TECHNOLOGY 10 Time machine 32 In the vanguard 12 Calendar The semi-autonomous Mercedes-Benz E-Class takes 24 Great new stuff us on a pre-launch drive. 100 Do it your way TESTED 28 Airwheel SA rideables Z3, Landslider, S6, M3.

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14 28 72

Cover: Fifty years after the original space race, the superpowers are engaged in another battle that’s out of this world as rockets are all the latest rage. This page: Not simply confined to race tracks, Mercedes-Benz’s latest Silver Arrow is one of the sleekest, most luxurious motor yachts currently available.

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 3 SUBSCRIBE NOW BE THE FIRST TO KNOW

EDITOR: Anthony Doman GROUP PUBLISHER: Neil Piper EDITORIAL TEAM Associate editor Lindsey Schutters Journalist Kyle Kock Digital content manager Nikky Oosthuizen Proofreader Margy Beves-Gibson

GREAT PRODUCTION AND CREATIVE TEAM THE NEW BREED OF CLASSROOM ROCK STAR Group production manager Keryn Rheeder JULY2016 MATHS MASTER: www.popularmechanics.co.za NEW STUFF: OUTSIDE Production manager Judy Romon HOME » » WHEELS » MUST-HAVE » SCIENCE TECH GADGETS Art director Thea Woodman Designer Sharon Gunst Group digital designer Bianca Liebenberg Group developer Cicero Joseph JULY 2016 RSA: R36,90 Other countries: R32,37 excl VAT BUSINESS AND SALES TEAM Group national sales manager André Stadler

POPULARMECHANICS Group digital business manager Wendy Lucas Advertising sales executives Gauteng – Joanne Thompson, Patrick Kennedy, Nicky Lloyd, TECH EXCLUSIVE Jackie Browning BE THE FIRST TO KNOW VOLUME 14, NO. 12 HANDS-OFF WITH THE Durban – Lindi van den Heever NEW MERC E-CLASS Cape Town and PE – Ingrid Versfeld UPGRADE Advertising sales co-ordinator Linda Delport HIGH-TECH TRANSPORT Group marketing services analyst Thembi Mokoena + REGENERATIVE HOMES Campaign manager Nawhaal Fakir

THE SCIENCE MARKETING, EVENTS AND CIRCULATION OF FLOUR Group marketing and sponsorship manager Dean Dicks GROWING YOUR DAILY BREAD Subscriptions marketing manager Lizl Joseph Retail marketing manager Dalene Gallagher Group promotions manager Amanda Africa Group show and events operations manager Kathryn Frew Group events coordinator Janice Bekker Subscriptions operations Karin Mulder SPACE RACE II Subscriptions administration Lynn Heiberg CAN PRIVATE INDUSTRYTHINGS PULL IT OFF? MY FATHER TAUGHT ME GROUP SUPPORT SKILLS > CLUTCH TECHNIQUE Finance manager Zanfre Gorgosilich > IDENTIFY TRACKS PROJECT: THE GREASE CAR HR officer Emmelia Fouché  > CHOOSE A POOL CUE  GET STARTED: R/C DRIFTING > TIE OFF A BOAT  CNC MACHINE BASICS > TELL SOMEONE OFF DIRECTORS > USE SAFETY EQUIPMENT TESTED Paul Jenkins (Chairman), Anton Botes, Jacques Breytenbach, Tim Holden, SAVEGETTING PERSONAL Terry Moolman, Neil Piper, Cornelios Vamvadelis WITH E-MOBILITY PUBLISHED BY RamsayMedia (PTY) LTD 5/31/16 10:18 AM 30% Company registration number: 1934/005460/07 ISSN number: 1682-5136 Cover JULY.indd 1 12 DIGITAL ISSUES Cape Town head office: 36 Old Mill Rd, Ndabeni, Western Cape, South Africa 7405 P O Box 180, Howard Place, Western Cape, 7450 FOR JUST R168 Tel: 021 530-3100, Fax: 021 531-9495 Gauteng office: Caxton House, 368 Jan Smuts Avenue, Randburg, 2196 P O Box 78132, Sandton, Gauteng, 2146 Tel: 011 449 1100, Fax: 011 449 1104 Email address: [email protected] www.ramsaymedia.co.za

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Visit www.popularmechanics.co.za/subscribe Published and distributed by RamsayMedia (Pty) Ltd by permission of Hearst Communications Inc, New York, New York, United States of America. Single issues are also available. We cannot be responsible for loss of unsolicited queries, manuscripts or photos. For return, they Be sure to rate & review us! must be accompanied by adequate postage. As a service to readers, Popular Mechanics publishes newsworthy products, techniques and scientific and technological developments. Due to possible variance in the quality and condition of materials and workmanship, Popular Mechanics cannot assume responsibility for proper application of techniques or proper and safe functioning of manufactured products or reader-built projects resulting from information published in this magazine.

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Call Centre 0860 86 11 11 Product colour, shape and interface are for reference only. The actual product may vary. UI functions and applications may vary by region. T&Cs apply. FROM THE EDITOR... THE OLD MAN he golden thread running through much of this issue of Popular Mechanics is Things My Father Taught Me. From life lessons Tto basic life skills, appropriately we celebrate Dadly wisdom – particularly given our proximity to Father’s Day. As the son of a photojournalist, it’s safe to say that an important lesson I learnt from my old man was to avoid clichés like the plague. It just so happens that I, too, am a father. In my time, I attempted to teach our daughter many things: how to make a kite, ride a bike, drive a car. Some of my teachings clearly stuck. What we have now is a grown woman who is confidently able to a) tell me to go fly a kite b) order me to get on my bike and the hell out of here and c) drive me insane. When I pointed out that I was trying to teach more a way of thinking than an actual motor skill, I discovered there was something you could learn from your offspring: how to roll your eyeballs until only the whites showed. The man pictured alongside with me isn’t my father, by the way. On a three-week visit to South Africa, Tim Leatherman swung by RamsayMedia to talk about his eponymous multitools. Our paths first crossed when he visited three years ago and I have his dated autograph engraved on the flank of my Super Tool to prove it. This time around, he engraved the other side to restore the balance. Look out for that interview with Tim, by associate editor Lindsey Schutters, in a coming issue – and by the way, don’t forget to visit our YouTube channel to view the video we shot of Tim in action. Although “action” sounds a little excessive as a description of a laconic man whose movements are measured and who serves his wit extra dry. Tim could justifiably claim to be the father of the modern multitool as we know it. The story of how he created the tool out of necessity while on holiday has already passed into legend. The device he created spawned a company whose name has become synonymous with the genre, though the organisation’s reach has broadened considerably into other areas of things that fall into the Every Day Carry category. What a pity that the times we live in have dictated that no longer is one able to carry a multitool on commercial airlines. Mention of flight reminds me of an unfortunate incident that befell a particularly prized multitool of mine. I’d been helping said daughter install something or other at her flat and was making my way to the lift after finishing up. The tool was one of those one-handed jobs and I was flipping it expertly back into its closed position prior to slipping it into the nifty leather holster on my belt. A kind of Billy the Kid six-shooter twirl, minus the blowing of the gunsmoke off the tip of the barrel. Then, overcome momentarily by my twirling prowess, I somehow lost my grip. Do you know, there’s a gap between the lift door and the shaft, a narrow gap, just wide enough for – oh, for a twirling, plunging Leatherman. For all I know, it lies there still, in the well five floors down. There must have been a fatherly lesson I wasn’t paying attention to. Finally, I would be failing in my duty as a father if I didn’t acknowledge, belatedly, that the fine picture of me at the helm in our May 2016 issue was taken by my son-in-law, Craig Appel. Nice one, son. One of my most repeated sayings is that I wouldn’t recommend parent- hood to anyone, but at the same time not being a parent means you miss what is possibly life’s greatest blessing. And of course, if you’re a child, do choose your parents wisely.

[email protected]

6 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 SC-2000_Brother_Pop 2016-05-06T10:47:06+02:00 LETTERS / WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?

Write to us, engage 3D PRINTING: DOING A GREAT JOB us in debate and you could win a cool prize. WINNING In fact, this month we LETTER Thank you for the outstanding polystyrene, ABS simulation job Popular Mechanics has material, titanium and tool steel) take that literally: our done over the year in terms of for any industry or individual. winning letter earns a sharing relevant and interesting In 2012, the first South African Little Luxury Vitality information. I refer to your Skills 3D-printed implant (printed at water cooler valued section, May 2016, specifically CRPM) was successfully implant- at R1 250. the section titled “Getting started in Pretoria. This was a proud Water is on, well, ed in… 3D Printing” on Page 87. moment for all concerned. Since everyone’s lips, with In my opinion as a project then various implants have been drought and water engineer in the 3D printing produced and when the first quality among the industry, you are selling us as mandible was implanted in the biggest threats facing South Africans short in terms Kimberley Hospital in 2013, it our society. For many, of commercial 3D printing ser- received coverage throughout filtering their water has vices available and where we are South African and in the global become second nature now with the technology. There media. and with Little Luxury are a few 3D printing service CRPM has assisted 30 patients, Vitality that process is centres throughout South Africa. who under the present circum- easy and affordable. It’s One of these is the Centre for stances, would not have under- silly to have bottled Rapid Prototyping and Manufac- gone any procedures to restore water delivered to your turing (CRPM), located at the their dignity and quality of life. house, at huge cost Central University of Technology, CRPM has been audited and financially and environ- Free State (CUT) in Bloemfontein. recommended to receive ISO: mentally, with diesel The CRPM was established in 13485 (medical device) certifi- truck emissions adding 1997 as part of a research initi- cation to manufacture custom to the pollution. ative and grew to become a centre implants, guides and models in The Little Luxury Vitality water that gives industry support. A titanium using 3D printing. cooler is the most affordable true mini cooler. It laser sintering machine was im- This will make CRPM the first provides 7 litres of ice-cold filtered water at your ported from Germany – the fifth 3D printing centre in South fingertips. Little Luxury Vitality cooler filters exceed 3D Printing machine in South Africa certified to produce both the USA and the European standards; they Africa. CRPM offers various medical devices. use NSF-certified filters, are tested by SGS France printing technologies (selective JOHAN ELS and approved by the FDA. laser sintering, stereolithography, PROJECT ENGINEER It’s the perfect gift for your bar, desk, kids’ direct metal laser sintering and CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF rooms, next to granny’s bed and on your kitchen polyjet) in a variety of materials TECHNOLOGY, FREE STATE counter. To find out more and buy online, visit (nylon, aluminium filled nylon, www.littleluxury.co.za

Send your letter to: Popular Mechanics, PO Box 180, Howard Place 7450, or e-mail popularmechanics@ ramsaymedia.co.za Please keep it short and to the point. Regrettably, prizes can be awarded only to South African residents.

FOR THE RECORD Remember that your electricity bill specifies calculation purposes or billing purposes. I refer to the comment made by David the amount of energy used, by stating the Therefore, I maintain that the capacity Strauss (Letters, April 2016) regarding the amount of kWh units used and then bills of any generation plant cannot be time expression of the capacity of an alternator’s accordingly. related. Time comes into the picture only ability to generate power being connected If a load demanding 0,5 MVA is connected when power is being consumed. to a turbine, whether driven by water, to an alternator with a capacity of 1 MVA, LOURENS ODENDAAL steam or wind. the load would have consumed 0,5 MVAh CENTURION The ability or capacity of an alternator after an hour. The capacity of the alternator to generate power is not time-related. If is still 1 MVA. (Excluding losses and power TO THE POINT an alternator is specified to have a 1 MVA factor for inductive loads ) With reference to an article about knife- capacity, it implies that it will deliver that To summarise: making in a recent issue, the art of knife capacity if the load demands that indefinitely. An alternator will deliver what the load making has been around since the dawn It is therefore wrong to express the demands at any instance, provided that the of time. I believe that a knife was the first capacity of an alternator related to time. load demand does not exceed the rated tool that Man created. Since then, knives If so, what time will we use ? A hundred capacity of the alternator. The power con- have come a long way, from the primitive hours, 1 000 hours or even 10 000 hours? sumed can then be related to time for energy (but extremely sharp) flint blades of our

8 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 ancestors to the highly specialised knives However, the original outright condemna- turned old tyres and plastic back to diesel. of today, made from the finest steels science tion of it as stated in the response has been I thought at the time this could be a small has to offer. tempered by the European and American business venture for many, with the advan- The process of making knives has come urological associations in their most recent tage of clearing away much of the waste a long way as well. After the flint (and other guidelines. that’s generated. kinds of stone) blades, people started forging Regarding brachytherapy for the treat- Two, what is happening to the railway blades out of copper, bronze, and eventually ment of localised prostate cancer, it is true engines that were too tall for our system. iron and steel. Even today forging is still a that it is an acceptable treatment option Are they being modified? Replaced? popular way to create a handmade knife. that should be discussed between doctor Has any research being done on the However, the most modern way to pro- and patient. The original article may have resurfacing of main roads using old tyres duce a handmade knife is by a process called created the false impression that its use is in the tarmac mixture? As a biker I find stock removal, which means that you start strictly limited to poor surgical risk patients that many new surfaces, although smooth, with a flat piece of steel and grind every- (although brachytherapy in itself wasn’t offer little or no adhesion for our tyres, thing off that is not a knife. The blade is mentioned, but radiotherapy in general). especially in the mornings when the dew then hardened and a handle is fitted. This Bear in mind that the intent of the article is on the surface. may sound simple, but there is more to it was merely to introduce robotic technology IAN AND HILARY STORER than that. Depending on the style of knife, in medicine to your generally mechanically JOHANNESBURG a good handmade knife can take between minded readership and not to discuss the (Sounds like a plan. Keep an eye out in the a few days to a month or more to complete, spectrum of treatment options. EUA guide- near future. Although we’re not so sure with many hours of blood, sweat and lines state brachytherapy clearly as a treat- about those trains – Editor) sometimes tears. ment option for low-risk prostate cancer. MAGNUS STONE To state that (it) has better outcomes for DANABAAI “all stages and grades” of prostate cancer than surgery is a gross exaggeration and ON WINGS OF IMAGINATION simply not true. I greatly enjoyed your article on flying The statement that “so-called experts in cars (May 2016). The Quad Copter their field do not offer brachytherapy as makes great sense. an alternative” is also completely untrue Now if you use a small gas-turbine if he refers to the urologists at The Urology engine coupled to a generator to supply hospital in Pretoria, where we do indeed electric power to the motors, you could offer (it) at our hospital. have a really useful aircraft, maybe with Regarding the rather slanderous accusa- two or four seats. I like the idea of get- tion that the robot is used for financial ting in and just entering your destination reasons, I can safely state that I am not into the GPS. Then press “go” and the aware of any hospital in our country that machine does the rest! makes money out of the device. It is a costly ROD KRUGER treatment option (as is brachytherapy) but BY EMAIL we believe that the advantages to our select- (At least on the road, we’re well on the ed patients of this minimally invasive sur- way to the kind of thinking you mention: gical procedure far outweigh the financial see “In the Vanguard” elsewhere in disadvantages. Furthermore the urologists’ this issue – Editor) PM remuneration for brachytherapy and surgery (open, laparoscopic and robotic) in South Africa is equivalent, despite the fact that there is a huge discrepancy in skill levels and time that it takes to perform the procedure. SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT DR F DU P BOEZAART Although Popular Mechanics is hardly UROLOGIST the proper forum to enter into academic THE UROLOGY HOSPITAL, PRETORIA discussions regarding medical conditions (Shortened – Editor) such as the appropriate treatment of prostate cancer, the response of a Durban-based urologist in your March issue to an article REVISITING PROJECTS concerning robotic surgery in your January Can we get “report backs” of projects pre- issue cannot be left unanswered. Certain viously featured in Popular Mechanics statements can lead to misinterpretation – whether they succeeded and their progress by the lay public, such as the majority of or, possibly more interesting, if they failed, your readers. to find out why they did? This could possibly Regarding screening for prostate cancer inspire budding inventors/engineers/ (which wasn’t even mentioned in the original entrepreneurs to carry on. article), it is true that there has been a lot A couple of features come to mind, one of controversy in recent years on this subject. a couple of years back now, the project that

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 9 TIME MACHINE / IT MADE PERFECT SENSE AT THE TIME

February 1939 The Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory was the most powerful in the world, with a five-metre concave mirror at its heart. It cost a mammoth $6 million US, and scientists at the time reckoned that they would be able to push the borders of the known universe to one billion light years away. The Square Kilometre Array, due to come on stream in 2020, will be able to look back in time to practically the dawn of the Universe, 13,5 billion years ago.

March 1953 Right at the beginning of the Space Race, the US military was trying to find out what sort of cosmic matter we’d be exposed to up there. There were two methods for compiling data. One was from a balloon “train” that con- sisted of equipment located at intervals along a 260-metre cable exposed to the elements 64 kilometres above the Earth. The other was from a rocket December 1971 hooked to a balloon that would launch by Radio-controlled drifting may be relatively new in the timing mechanism world, but radio-controlled racing had started taking the once at high altitude. US by storm as early as 1970. Powered by two-stroke PM model aeroplane engines running on a mix of methanol, nitromethane and castor oil, these 1:8 scale cars were hitting scale speeds of 482 km/h.

10 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 67735PM 2016-04-04T09:01:04+02:00 BH67735

> THE NEW FORD FOCUS WITH ECOBOOST THINK OF IT AS LEAN MUSCLE

Introducing the new Ford FOCUS, with award-winning EcoBoost technology. Turbocharging gives you more power and a rush of adrenaline. Direct fuel injection provides exceptional fuel economy. Add smart technology and sleek design to a car that has proven itself a ﬁ rm favourite around the world, and be prepared for it to become your favourite too.

FORD FOCUS Calendar JULY Get the most out of your month

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

30 1 2 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 pits the feisty foursome against a mad scientist with a diabolical plan for world dominance. Cowabunga, indeed.

3 4 5 6 8 9 Sport gives way to Beer Boot Camp – If you haven’t Are we there yet, style at the Cape With the weekend a craft beer teach- already done so, dad? Five years after Town Stadium for ahead, there’s still in – comes to Cape now’s the time to lift-off, NASA’s Juno the fourth SAMW time to get ready for Town. There’s make sure your car (JUpiter Near-polar 2016/7 Spring essential household another in is ready for the Orbiter) starts orbit- Summer collection, winter prep. Johannesburg worst of winter. ing the giant planet. featuring more than on the 2nd. 50 designers.

10 12 13 14 The country’s top paddlers contest the Happy birthday to gruelling 240-km the maddest scientist Berg River canoe The event known simply as The Open, in of them all, Nikola marathon over four deference to its status as the oldest of the Tesla. days from Paarl to majors, starts at Royal Troon in Scotland. Velddrif on the West Coast.

17 18 19 20 Gateway to Space 22 23 Sustainability will rule features models as power generation of Sputnik 1, the and distribution mov- Lunar rover, a space ers and shakers con- shuttle cockpit, verge in Sandton at Moon rocks and the Powergen Africa more at the Sandton conference and exhi- Convention Centre bition. Until 21 July. until 31 July.

24 25 26IN NEXT MONTH’S ISSUE27 28 29 30/31 l The greatest athletes in Olympics After three weeks The August A master A huge LAN section Constantly feeling history talk about the gear that testing the limits of issue of Popular Upholsterers’ is being touted as a the need to go side- got them there physiology, psycho- Mechanics hits the Challenge is among drawcard at this ways? Get started on l We check out Star Trek Beyond’s logy and technology, newsstands. the highlights of the year’s EGE gaming Page 82 and then the Tour de France new and improved Enterprise Port Elizabeth and electronics visit Hobby-X Cape ends in the tradi- l Tick, tock: what’s hot in timepieces Homemakers Expo, expo at the Cape Town (29-31/7) to tional Champs l Gaming under the spotlight until 31st at The Town Convention check out what’s Elysee sprint. Boardwalk. Centre. available.

THE WINTER CAR THE WINTER HOME THIS MONTH IN SCIENCE SUN CHECKLIST FRI CHECKLIST SUN HISTORY Coolant. Anti-freeze not only Unclog gutters of twigs and By the time the significance 3/7 inhibits freezing (duh), but also 8/7 leaves, particularly in the win- 10/7 of Tesla’s work was fully prevents rust and corrosion and ter-rainfall Western Cape. recognised, the popular units lubricates the water pump. Check your heating sys- of measurement had been Battery. Regularly check battery electrolyte tem. Inefficient heating will use more electric- already named for Volta, Ampere, Faraday level, clean the terminals using warm (not hot) ity, so it’s worth your while to have them and the rest. Given his contributions to the soapy water, inspect drive belts and check checked out by a professional. modern alternating current electricity supply charge rate – a weekly one-hour daylight On the Highveld, irrigation system valves in particular, it seems a shame that all the drive is good for boosting charge. can freeze and become damaged during winter. noted Serbian-born futurist got was the unit Windscreen. Don’t use hot water to Disconnect your hoses and store them in of magnetic flux. Perhaps looming larger in remove frost; preferably use a scraper, even your garage instead. the public mind for the showy nature of his an old credit card. Insulate. Insulation will regulate the temper- weird experiments than for his undoubted Tyres. Smooth rubber is simply a bad ature in your home all year round and save you vision in electrical current and telecommuni- idea outside of a dry race track. If you’ve money on temperature control. Don’t forget cation, the enigmatic Tesla went out of fash- hit the tread wear indicators, you’re nearly gaps under doors, windows and wall cavities. ion for a while. Then along came Elon Musk…

at the 1 mm legal limit. (Source: The AA) (Source: Showroom Condition, Gauteng.) SIMON DEINER/SDR (SAMW), WIKIPEDIA (TESLA), THE OPEN (CLARET JUG), SHIMANO (TDF), PHILIPS (LIGHTBULB). PHOTOGRAPHS: NASA (JUPITER), UIP (NINJA TURTLES),

12 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016

HOW▶ SPACE RACE ▶ HEARINGYOUR ▶ MOVIES WORLD ▶ AMUSEMENT PARKS ▶ BRAIN WORKSTRAINING ▶ GREAT UNKNOWNS

ROCKETS SPACE RACE PART DEUX The Pentagon depends on a Russian rocket engine to launch the satellites it uses to spy on Russia. It’ll need the help of the entire private space industry to replace it. BY JOE PAPPALARDO

An Atlas V rocket launches with the Juno spacecraft payload from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday, August 5, 2011. The Juno spacecraft will make a five-year, 400-million-mile voyage to Jupiter, orbit the planet, investigate its origin and evolution with eight instruments to probe its internal structure and gravity field, measure water and ammonia in its atmosphere, map its powerful magnetic field and observe its intense auroras.

NASA/ BILL INGALLS

14 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 IN THE EARLY 1990s it all seemed so the joint venture between Lockheed Martin and industry like fertiliser. The Pentagon simple. Post-Soviet Russia needed Boeing that inherited the RD-180 when Lockheed has also introduced competition, cer- money. The US Air Force needed to bought General Dynamics. tifying that SpaceX’s designs and ▶ SPACE RACE ▶ HEARING ▶ MOVIES ▶ AMUSEMENT PARKS ▶ BRAIN TRAINING ▶ GREAT UNKNOWNS launch spy satellites. And General The US Treasury Department banned Russian operations are safe enough for some Dynamics, the company that built engines in 2014, soon after the Soviet state invaded of the world’s most prized payloads. the spacecraft that put those satel- Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels shot down a Without that stamp of approval, no lites in orbit, needed an engine. civilian airliner. It was quickly forced to reverse the company can even bid on a launch. This is how General Dynamics came decision: even an exact copy of the RD-180 would Before SpaceX was granted consider- to own the rights to a Russian rocket have to be engineered, built and tested in a process ation, ULA held a monopoly. motor, a dependable workhorse called that would take years. “These things do come home The result: the future of the mili- the RD-180. Over the years, the to roost,” says John Logsdon, founding director of tary launch business, worth about RD-180 has become the primary George Washington University’s Space Policy R1 trillion, is finally up for grabs. engine the Pentagon and the US Air Institute. As the new contender, SpaceX has Force use to boost that country’s gov- Now, the USAF desperately seeks a new engine – much to prove. It already has a fleet ernment GPS and spy satellites into spreading money around the nascent private space of American-made rockets and claims orbit using the Atlas V rocket – a it can launch government satellites rather obvious problem now that rela- for R900 million less per mission tions between Russia and the US have NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, stands in front than ULA’s current rate, but its relia- soured. Seeking an alternative, the Air of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V first stage bility is shaky. After winning the Force funnelled R2 billion into two booster while taking questions from the media, right to compete in national security Wednesday, 7 September 2011, at the Cape companies that might be able to build Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The booster launches last May, it promptly blew a replacement: Elon Musk’s SpaceX will help send NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory up a Falcon 9 rocket. and United Launch Alliance (ULA), Curiosity rover to Mars later this year. This January, the Air Force provided NASA/BILL INGALLS

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 15 HOW YOUR WORLD WORKS

SpaceX with R500 million to investi- Rocketdyne partnership looks like a clear winner – girl, then we’ve got this poor girl gate the use of the more powerful Aerojet Rocketdyne already makes engines for over here in Aerojet Rocketdyne.” Raptor, the engine of choice for the ULA’s other rocket, the Delta IV and already has a The 33-year veteran was forced to launch system Musk intends to use new one, the AR-1, in the works. The Air Force has resign over the comments. But it’s to send spacecraft to Mars. Unlike granted the partnership R1,7 billion to develop the the clearest description of the choice other SpaceX engines, it would use AR-1 as an RD-180 replacement. Company officials ULA faces. “The chances of Aerojet methane as a fuel in place of liquid say they expect a flight-qualified engine to be ready Rocketdyne coming in and beating kerosene. Among other benefits, by 2019, with a first launch expected as soon as the billionaire are pretty low,” Tobey methane can be harvested from 2020. said. “We’re putting a whole lot more other planets for return trips. Blue Origin, meanwhile, has been launching test energy into BE-4.” ULA, of course, isn’t waiting for craft high into the air and landing them on concrete As the competition’s stakes rise, the Elon Musk to swoop in and steal its pads in west Texas. The work attracted ULA in 2014 world will watch the flight tests and lunch. The company decided not to and the alliance began working on an engine called the liftoffs with great interest. The risk bid for a 2018 military GPS satellite BE-4. With zero orbital flights, Blue Origin has little of failure is real, but the risk of inac- launch contract, possibly to demon- experience. But it does have money: in addition to tion is even greater. Besides, there is strate that no one else in the market R685 million from the Air Force, the company has something refreshing about American is up to the job. It’s also running its access to its founder’s billions. entrepreneurs and scientists going own race for an RD-180 replacement. In March 2016, Brett Tobey, vice president of head to head to solve an intractable The contenders: Amazon founder engineering at ULA, summed up the field at a problem. Because everyone in the Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and industry University of Colorado symposium. “We’re sitting game has a US mailing address, no stalwart Aerojet Rocketdyne. here as a groom with two possible brides,” he said. matter which engine takes the satel- On paper, the ULA–Aerojet “We’ve got Blue Origin over here, the super-rich lites to space, the country wins.

A WHOLE NEW WAY TO FLY

MERLIN 1D RAPTOR A R - 1 BE-4

PRODUCER SpaceX SpaceX Aerojet Rocketdyne Blue Origin

OXIDISER Liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen

PROPELLANT Kerosene Methane Kerosene Liquefied natural gas

SELLING A track record of actual Methane is easier to The AR-1 would use the Liquefied natural gas POINT launches. And because handle than the kerosene same fuel as current easily gasifies from a the Falcon 9 uses nine of of the Merlin. But the real systems, requiring fewer liquid state, eliminating them, there is redundancy hook is the cheaper changes to launchpads the need for costly in case of a single failure. price. and rockets. pressurisation systems.

THRUST 750 kilonewtons at sea 2 270 kN of thrust at sea A launch of the Atlas V Like the AR-1 and level. Nine Merlin 1D first- level. Two engines will be will require two AR-1s as the Raptor, the BE-4 stage engines collectively needed to launch the well. Each has 2 225 kN will need a launch generate 6,7 million new- Atlas V. of thrust at sea level. buddy. It provides tons for a launch. 2 450 kN of thrust.

16 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 HEARING SOUND BARRIER Amid the wail of tortured rubber and the bellow of highly tuned engines, there’s an oasis of calm. High-tech ear protection comes to a Southern Cape motorsport tradition

DURING THE WEEKEND OF 6 TO 8 MAY, flagman Marck Cooper counted down and waved off more than 1 000 revved-up racers towards the daunting ascent to Simola, pretty much as he did in 2015. The difference this time round is that Cooper remained in permanent communication with the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb’s timekeepers. Importantly, that enabled them to co-ordinate the release of each competitor perfectly and to be able to react to a number of factors that impacted on the smooth and safe running of the event – right at the epicentre of it all. Up close and personal with the deafening din of high- revving engines, Cooper could hear and be heard thanks to his Peltor Litecom Plus level-dependent headset. Besides protecting his ears, the headset is equipped with a two- way system that allows communication on a public fre- quency over a distance of up to two kilometres. Headset suppliers HPC* also provided a number of SportTac active noise-suppressing headphones (extremely popular in recreational shooting circles) and other, passive noise attenuation headphones. These were used by marshals and other event personnel who were exposed to high levels of noise over the course of the three-day event. Communication and safety are both critical aspects of the annual event, says Sparky Bright, longstanding clerk-of- the-course for the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb. “It has been great to have HPC involved in these two important areas. Exposure Top: Flagman Marck Cooper was able to noise can cause permanent long-term damage, but in the to stay in touch – and keep his hearing short term it can also lead to mental fatigue and ‘fuzzy’ com- in good order. Above: Peltor KID range hearing munication in an environment where it is very important to protectors are specially designed for know exactly what’s going on minute by minute.” children, who have extremely sensitive Above: Smart circuitry in the hearing – and more difficulty in protect- SportTac is able to attenuate NOISE BY THE NUMBERS ing themselves from harmful noise. impulse noise such as gunshots. Decibels QUIET ROOM 30 CONVERSATION, 1 METRE 60 SMART EAR PROTECTOR: HOW IT WORKS. Built-in surround micro- CITY TRAFFIC 85 phones capture external sound, analyse it at high speed and attenuate it JACKHAMMER, 15 METRES 95 before it reaches the ear. Weak sounds are amplified; noise, including ROCK CONCERT (TYPICAL) 115 sudden loud noises like a gunshot, is attenuated to a harmless level. (A JET ENGINE AT TAKE-OFF 140 gunshot-type noise is an impulse noise, which is particularly harmful to GUNSHOT FROM A SMALL-CALIBRE HANDGUN 140 the human ear. A single shot can cause permanent damage without the PERMANENT HEARING DAMAGE THRESHOLD (PROTECTED) 145 proper hearing protection.) An equaliser function makes it possible to cancel out certain frequencies to help hear better. Stereo balance can be Podium finisher and previous winner Des Gutzeit streaks up the hill in his Nissan GT-R. adjusted to take into account hearing imbalances. Passive hearing protectors attenuate all noise, including speech frequencies, so this gets in the way of communication with the external environment. Combined with an external radio and microphone, level-dependent hearing protectors allow complete two-way communication. There’s also the possibility of Bluetooth connectivity for wireless connection to a mobile phone or other communication device. (Source: Roadworx) * Hearing Protection & Communication (HPC), suppliers of ear protection and communication solutions to motorsport and other industries.

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 17 HOW YOUR WORLD WORKS

MOVIES GOING HARDCORE Sharlto Copley’s latest project Hardcore Henry is in theatres now and breaks new ground as a first-person-perspective action film. He gives Lindsey Schutters insight into the behind-the scenes chaos that made this landmark film possible. On the risk of shooting on GoPro: above the camera because the human eye “I saw the music video Ilya (Naishuller) did naturally draws you to it. Sometimes I was for a band and I thought the action was acting with a stuntman who I had to help definitely going to work, but I was worried out and sometimes the director would be about how much narrative you could do acting with me. That was difficult because and will a narrative story work.” the director would be there with me and suddenly gone, still physically there, but On the durability of GoPros: focused on just framing.” “In the end there were about 14 used. On coaching stuntmen: They would get damaged – interestingly, “Shooting from just the one angle put not because the lenses would break, just enormous pressure on the stunt co-ordi- the connector port where you plug the nator, and by extension on the stuntman GoPro in to a monitor got damaged. That’s who would normally be completely sort of the weak point because no one was focused on the stunt and go into a zen- thinking that you’d plug it in while it’s on type place where he’s very calm and very your motorbike. The GoPros themselves focused. Now you have to say to him were fine.” ‘Listen, while you’re in your zen space and Above: Russian director Ilya Naischuller’s On talking straight to camera: you’re set on fire, look up and film the debut film sees him employ the GoPro “It was a very challenging film, the hardest actor who will also be set on fire, frame adventure mount in a Hollywood film. His I’ve made by a long way for many reasons. him properly, then look down and see previous film outing with it was for the rock From an acting point of view: normally your arms burning, and look up to see him band Biting Elbows. you act with another actor or have an eye- burning. Hold it for as long as you can line to follow like a tennis ball or a mark before you dive out the bus, don’t break on a wall. There were 12 different people the GoPro when you dive out. We want to On making money off of experiments: playing Henry. Mostly stuntmen, but also see some action, so you can’t tuck your “We made it for cheap enough that we the DOP (director of photography) and head in. And on cue look back and film the were always going to make the money the director in scenes that didn’t require other guy when he comes flying out of the back, but it’s just very different. I wanted any stunts. What happened is we had two bus window.’ When you have a sequence to make something different. I had more GoPros mounted on a rig that would sit like that that you’re trying to do in one say than I would normally have, but that just under the human eye. The most chal- shot and you’re asking the stunt guy to be was mostly because Ilya was a first-time lenging thing was not looking into the a cameraman as well, it’s a real tall order. I director. As executive producer I was more actor’s eyes that were sitting directly just take my hat off to them.” involved in the fundraising.”

18 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 AMUSEMENT PARKS THIS NEW ROLLER COASTER BREAKS SIX WORLD RECORDS But no bones. Yet. BY CAMERON JOHNSON

CEDAR POINT IN SANDUSKY, in the American state of Ohio, an amusement park known for its outrageous roller coasters, currently holds five world records. This May, the park unveiled Valravn, a new coaster that will win six more individual . . . records. Valravn is the tallest, fastest and longest dive coaster in the world and TALLEST1 LONGEST2 DROP FASTEST3 it also has the most inversions, the tallest inversion and the longest drop for a 68 M 65 M 120 KM/H dive coaster. In other words, save the corn dog for after the ride. The car approaches the precipice of the first drop at 68 metres above the ground, dangling the riders at the crest for four seconds. This pause before the 90-degree free fall is what makes Valravn a dive coaster, which is different from the other categories of roller coasters, of which there are more than 20, including wing coasters, where the riders flank the track. After the lull, the car releases into a free fall – a 65-metre straight drop that brings the speed to 120 kilometres per hour.

THE VEHICLE Like other dive coasters, Valravn uses a short, wide train with three rows of eight people across. This allows every rider to be closer to the front so they can all better experience the free fall. The shorter train also allows Valravn to have tighter twists – kind of like making a right turn in a car instead of a bus.

Valravn’s record-setting speed is necessary to make BLOCK BRAKE . TALLEST it all the way around the Valravn is broken into different blocks, each 4 LOOP tallest loop, a 51-metre equipped with sensors, called proximity switches, Immelmann loop, named 51 M that detect a metal component in the vehicle. Only after German World War I one train can be in any one block of the roller ace Max Immelmann, who coaster at a time. The block brake before the sec- invented a manoeuvre in which a pilot climbs ond drop will not permit a car to proceed if the and banks to turn around. This inversion one in front hasn’t cleared the end of the ride. This twists the riders at the top in a half-barrel allows Valravn to run three cars at once, making roll. Because the amount of g-force you feel the line move almost as fast as the ride. on a roller coaster is inversely proportional to a loop’s radius, the large radius makes for a smooth ride. Says Rob Decker, senior vice The other two inversions are a dive loop (a half . MOST . president of planning and design for the barrel-roll followed by a drop) and a 270-degree roll 5 6 park’s parent company, Cedar Fair: “If we INVERSIONS LONGEST (a three-quarter twist that riders feel mostly in their went as quickly as we could from horizontal extremities). Riders arrive back at the station a little THREE 1 041 M to vertical, it would be uncomfortable.” over a kilometre (and two minutes 43 seconds) later.

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 19 HOW YOUR WORLD WORKS

BRAIN TRAINING

All work and no play is a recipe IS HOMEWORK STILL RELEVANT for frustrated children and poor report cards, says a leading local IN THE 21st CENTURY? educator. Not everyone agrees.

TO THE TYPICAL SCHOOL PUPIL, it must sound like fantasy: a principal schooldays, he says. And the results are, so far, conclusive: “For who thinks children spend too much time having facts rammed four terms now we have seen an increase in performance.” down their throats and, instead of slogging their way through homework, they should be out playing. Schools as we know them today are pretty much a 19th-century con- It’s a tantalising prospect, especially if terms like “lowest com- cept that grew out of the Industrial Revolution, Keller points out. mon multiple” keep distracting you from terms like “PlayStation”. Essentially, the way they operate hasn’t evolved drastically. But it’s very much reality for Gavin Keller, the man who insti- In the 21st century, as understanding of brain function deep- tuted a no-homework system at his Cape Peninsula school. Not ened, it’s become clear that, for more effective learning, we need only is the idea increasingly garnering more interest, but it’s also it to be brain-based. “We started looking at how the brain learns. been great in terms of report card symbols. Even so, in many Well, it’s not designed for memory. It is designed for growing circles the jury’s still out.* memory. So you need to grow memories.” Keller’s approach may be at odds with the traditional way of This is not something new at Sun Valley. doing things, he says, but it’s more in tune with the way the brain “For a long time we have been considering neuro-based educa- actually learns. And, he adds: there’s no denying the positive tion,” Keller says. “We have been making revolutionary change in results. education for about the last 15 years.” Boasting a formidable CV as an educationist, Keller is under no As you might have guessed, his passion for a re-imagined edu- illusions about the hard sell facing anyone who proposes over- cation harks back to his own 12 years in the schoolbenches of an turning conventions. He is principal of Sun Valley Primary all-boys establishment. “I envisaged for my kids an environment School and also CEO of a Section 21 organisation, Silvermine that I would have enjoyed. Where kids would enjoy it. A class- Academy, which essentially acts as the Sun Valley group of room where they connected with me.” schools’ business and fundraising arm. His early days in teaching had one striking feature: “I was In the no-homework method, you don’t just get to go home and always doing things.” play. As part of the deal, for instance, pupils have to make certain He didn’t realise until much later that the “games” he was commitments, such as reading a minimum of 20 minutes a day. implementing tied in with neuroscience learning. Then, the actual instructional part of a lesson may be shorter and “What I was doing differently is actually the way the brain tests are immediate and more frequent. “We watch you in action,” learns.” Or doesn’t learn. Keller says. “Previously, what we got wrong was the assessment. The brain (he specified the male brain) has the capacity to The idea of sending children home to practise, then to present us absorb for seven minutes. “Then it switches off. We just go to with perfection.” The schoolhouse, he maintains, has to be the sleep.” There’s little point in stressing it beyond that. place where that oversight of learning happens. “And our memory is essentially a 40-day memory. The thing is, The no-homework development is recent. During a programme how do we teach kids to grow memory for 40 years?” to unlock innovation and creativity through play, it dawned on the participants that the day just did not have enough time to play. “One of them said, we can’t have our children sitting for two hours every day.” Given a choice between the old methods and this, parents and ‘We have 13 years teachers weren’t hard to sway. “The most difficult group to con- vince was the teachers. I went from hero to zero in one from Grade R to Grade assembly.” 12 (a mere 13 000 The reason for that, he says, lies in the belief that the mindset hours) to offer… of a good teacher is: “I give homework.” Yet others are also ques- the best possible tioning established methods. Which is why he travels a lot, speak- education, but more ing at conferences and schools all over the country. than that – we have Brimming over with enthusiasm about education in general, 13 years to generate he’s in fact a little peeved by the attention being focused on the no-homework policy. It’s part of a whole, he says: to understand memories that learning why no-homework works, first you need to understand how the is fun and that school brain works. is a good place to be.’ So, in July 2015, the no-homework experiment began. As you’d – Gavin Keller, principal, expect with any experiment with pretensions to scientifically Sun Valley Primary valid conclusions, it involved a control group, too. Assessments School and CEO, were held weekly to check progress. Silvermine Academy It’s early days yet. But the kids seem to be enjoying their

20 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 A different approach, one not based on pumping facts into little heads, is needed, involving real life skills. “My five-year- PLAYING IT THE FINNISH WAY olds are studying eggs. How is it possible that the construction of an egg allows you to stand on them? It’s about the arch Back in the 1960s, Finland decided to focus on public design. In the sandpit, they’re actually contemplating Grade education as the cornerstone of an ambitious plan for a 11 physics. In Grade R.” badly needed economic recovery. In terms of results, To those who think that this is some airy-fairy idea aimed nothing remarkable seemed to emerge until the turn of purely at a feel-good experience for little Stephanie or Sipho, the century. Keller responds bluntly. “We have always been proud of our Since then, Finland’s schooling has come to be viewed academic excellence,” he says. as a world benchmark. The UN Human Development “My argument is, when you have done six hours of work index’s Education index, for instance, ranked Finland joint that day and it has been meaningful, then the brain is finished first in 2008. The country’s minimum-homework policy gets a lot of learning. Now the brain must play.” the media attention, but the education system’s underly- He points out that the current generation is filled with anxi- ing principles include a holistic view of the child, free ety. “My intention was about creating a school where learning tuition, subsidised meals, daycare programmes, schools was real, meaningful, relevant and transferable.” located near homes and no “streaming” during basic It all comes down to education management and a better education. Play is an important part of it all, with generous teaching strategy. “We need to make the most of the six hours opportunities for learning via play as well as breaks we get every day,” says Keller. “And we want kids to really, between lessons. Of course, it doesn’t hurt either that really enjoy school.” – ANTHONY DOMAN classes are generally small and teachers are exceptionally well educated. The system’s design allows ample time for teachers to network, develop improvements and cater for children needing special attention.

KIDS HAVE MORE TIME TO BE KIDS

An average US Finnish students 5th grader has rarely do homework 50 minutes of until their teens. homework per day.

10-11 years old 13-14 years old

And while US elementary students average 27 minutes of recess...... STUDENTS IN FINLAND GET ABOUT 75 MINUTES A DAY. 27 minutes 75 minutes

* The question of homework’s relevance in the 21st century will be debated in the next round of the Cape Town Science Centre’s public forum series on Wednesday, 27 July at 6 pm. Mr Keller will be speaking for the notion. Speaking against is Dr Muavia Gallie, who contends that this is not an umbrella option. Moderator is Brian Schroeder, the chairman of the Science Centre and the Western Cape Education Department’s Deputy Director General. To find out more, contact the centre at 021 300 3200 or email [email protected]

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 21 Do you have unusual questions about the world and how it works and why stuff happens? This is the place to ask them. Don’t be afraid. Nobody will laugh at you here. Email [email protected] HOWHOW YOURYOUR WORLDWORLD WORKSWORKS Questions will be selected based on quality or at our whim.

portable toilet as well as such five-star job- site luxuries as a television, microwave, fridge, bunk, you name it. As for the sense of safety, “tower cranes are probably the safest cranes built by man”, says Ritchie. “They very seldom have accidents while lifting because they’re overdesigned and have limit switches that prevent them from being overloaded.” That said, they do take some getting used to, since they flex and sway in the wind and under load. “The first time I picked up a concrete bucket, I thought the crane was BIG QUESTIONS. going to tip over,” says Ritchie. “But after ANSWERS YOU CAN’T you’re up there for a few days, you don’t even notice it. It’s kind of like sitting in a FIND ON THE INTERNET. rocking chair and you’re always going back and forth.” Sounds like nice work if you can get it.

Does the US still manufacture How often do runaway-truck nuclear weapons? ramps get NO. LIKE TELEVISIONS, laptops and smartphones, they’re all made used? in China these days. More often than Despite the fact that the US has ceased production of new nukes nuclear weapons (and, indeed, has been steadily reducing the size of its arsenal from and less than a high of 20 000 warheads to the current stash of around 4 700), microwave ovens on cranes, which is prob- they are still in a position to be a “net exporter” of USDA Prime ably as it should be. mushroom clouds for the foreseeable future. Actually, nobody knows, as comprehen- Steven Pifer, director of the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation sive records aren’t kept and truckers who Initiative at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, explains that present US policy experience brake failure on steep grades dictates that rather than build new warheads, “we will basically do life extension pro- sometimes use such ramps successfully grammes, where we take existing weapons as they approach the end of their service life and depart without further incident or and those weapons are refurbished.” official intervention. A 1981 US study So how do you spruce up an ageing nuke? For starters, you replace the “pit”, the nuclear reported that there were about 2 450 run- heart of the warhead, which contains enriched uranium or plutonium and degrades over away truck events that year, of which time. The US has loads of perfectly good extras, many salvaged from decommissioned 2 150 involved the use of a ramp. But that bombs, along with enough raw material to keep business booming indefinitely. You can was 1981 and brakes, it is said, are better also upgrade a 30-year-old warhead’s electronics to modern standards; install new safety these days, no matter what your teenage features; adjust the “yield,” or destructive capability, up or down; reconfigure the fins on a son may claim. bomb to make it more accurate and even design a new generation of missile to deliver One thing everybody agrees upon is that your calamitous physics experiment to any deserving science fair on the planet. Each of the ramps save lives. Dave Kingham, assis- these measures is at least under discussion, so, depending on one’s point of view, the tant public affairs manager for the Wyoming country either has nothing to worry about or quite a bit. Department of Transportation, cites one ramp on US 16, outside Buffalo, Wyoming, What kind of amenities do skyscraper cranes have? which has been used six times since 2007. Bathrooms? A general sense of safety? “In cases where it has been used, there All of the above – and then some. In fact, after researching this a bit, haven’t been any fatalities or injuries,” it wouldn’t shock us to encounter a crane operator ensconced in a says Kingham, “whereas in the cases of Barcalounger enjoying a fresh-baked brick-oven pizza from his perch truck drivers who’ve bypassed the ramp, 40 storeys above the CBD. I think we’ve had five fatalities.” We exaggerate, of course, but as construction jobs go, operating Modern runaway ramps are safer and what is known as a tower crane can be a pretty comfy one. The operator sits in a swivel more effective than the traditional gravel or chair in a climate-controlled cabin about the size of a large cupboard. Generally he does sand ramps. The latest designs use steel net- not stray far from the cabin during a shift, which may be eight to 14 hours long (crane ting, along with a series of spooled metal operators bank enviable overtime), so some accommodation for nature’s call is a necessity. tapes, to lasso errant semis, including in one Dave Ritchie, a former crane operator, says “facilities” range from the crude-but-servicea- instance a 40-ton Freightliner travelling at ble used plastic liquid container method to a full-blown port-a-potty on a slab next to the an estimated 130 kilometres per hour, BY GREG CHRISTMAN ILLUSTRATIONS cabin. The real amenities, though, come when a crane is equipped with a separate structure which suffered only minor front-end dam- known as a doghouse. Some regulations require two workers on a crane, though only one age, unlike the car your teenage son drove can actually operate it. The other guy gets to chillax in the doghouse, which may contain a into the rear of that idling food truck. PM

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JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 25 GREAT NEW STUFF

Whaletone Royal Digital Grand Piano The purists will say it lacks the craftsmanship of a proper piano; the tech crowd will recommend software that costs half the price, including hardware inputs. But both sets are only hiding their envy, especially when you’ve selected the neon zebra print finish. At this price, everything’s an option, even the ability to play an instrument. It’s essentially a keyboard and pedals with an elaborate speaker system built in. From $150 000, whaletone.com

Tap Wearable Keyboard We appreciate companies that truly stretch the boundaries of what we imagine to be possible and Tap is right on Sony Xperia X the edge of belief. The device Think of it more as a product line than a single turns any surface into a full device and then put the X as the middle, the XA as one-handed keyboard by read- the budget, X Performance as the old Z and X Ultra ing the movements of your as the flagship. Get in there, Sony fans. fingers. Don’t worry, we’re From R10 330, store.orange.com PM already on the waiting list. Find out more at tapwith- us.com

26 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 DA VINCI JR.1.0 NEW 3D PRINTER Our most lightweight and eco-friendly model yet is perfect for any home, school, or ofﬁ ce.

• Maximum build volume 150 x 150 x 150 mm • An enclosed printing area and non-heating bed ensure a safe printing environment • Adopting NFC technology makes ﬁ lament detecting and replacing easy. • The system consumes only as low as 75W of power for printing and supports PLA material, which is the most highly efﬁ cient biodegradable plastics • Item No. 734295 9990

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DA VINCI 1.0 AIO 3D PRINTER Customize, design, print and revolutionize your life with just the touch of a button on this All-in-One 3D Printer, integrating 3D scanning, and 3D printing capabilities.

• Maximum build volume 20 cm x 20 cm x 19 cm • Rapid scanner which scans objects in industrial grade resolution in just fi ve minutes! • Includes software for editing the scans • Access to 3D Design Hub and Artist Collection, which gives you access to hundredsof 3D models online 14990 Scan XYZprinting’s da Vinci All-in-One (AiO) 3D printer features a rapid scanner which scans objects in industrial grade resolution in just fi ve minutes! The high- tech laser sensor technology and the turn-table print bed drastically save you time on getting your very fi rst print started.

Edit You can then edit the object using the XYZscan software which comes bundled with the da Vinci AiO 3D printer. Fix the scan or completely change any ordinary item into an extraordinary one.

Print This plug-and-play 3D printer has a robust build size of20 cm x 20 cm x 19 cm and is compatible with XYZprinting’s 3D Design Hub and Artist Collection, which gives you access to hundreds of 3D models online.

Available at your nearest DionWired store or at dionwired.co.za ● RIDEABLES TESTED COMPILED BY LINDSEY SCHUTTERS > [email protected] KEEP ON ROLLING Rideables and last mile solutions are a dime a dozen, so we tested a few to see which is best.

I rarely feel silly doing things, but riding an electric scooter to work made me feel very silly indeed. I’m not a small man and not a particularly well co-ordinated one, so the constant threat of falling off at every bump in the pavement more than an apple high was a clear and present danger. A fear compounded by the watching eyes of dense Monday morning suburban traffic. It would’ve been hilarious if I had fallen off, but by the white of my knuckles and the bruises on my ankles, I didn’t. Personal mobility is still best when done under your own power, but rideables are gaining popularity because of novelty value and celebrity culture. What we shouldn’t forget though is that the celebs are paid to look good, so using a “hoverboard” when cruising around an airport makes sense when you’ve just spent the entire morning in the gym. For longer journeys, South African pavements are far too inconsistent to find any value. That said, they’re helluva fun and require a fair bit of skill to operate. This is what you can expect after you part with a small fortune to embrace the hype of the immediate future of private transport.

28 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 AIRWHEEL Z3 TESTED Electric Scooter Hills became a problem very quickly, as well as wind resistance. I was already a few kilos over the maximum load capacity in my socks, but the Z3 was quite spritely cruising the confined comfort of my back yard so there was hope for the next day’s commute. There are a couple of people in my neighbourhood who take the same train and are always amazed when I sometimes beat them to the station on my folding bicycle. Those people were the first to voice their concerns after seeing me ride the scooter. The problem is that a 20 km/h top speed sounds fast and certainly feels fast in controlled environments, but you’ll never sniff that velocity on public roads with the added bulk of a laptop bag on the back of the overweight rider. Ride quality on the rutted suburban sidewalks of Pinelands was jarring and I prayed for either bigger air-filled tyres or better suspension. On the upside I didn’t break a sweat, which meant that I could integrate myself into my work day without the usual shower ritual. Price: R8 990, za.airwheel.net

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 29 TESTED LANDSLIDER Hoverboard Yes, there were a few odd stares from the mere mortals who were enduring a morning workout, but I resisted meeting anyone’s gaze like Magneto gliding past mere men as I navigated the hairpins of access control at Cape Town International Airport. Until I was promptly informed by ACSA ground staff that the airline carrying me to Johannesburg had banned hoverboards as a carry-on or check-in item – and I was forced to leave the Landslider in my Honda’s boot for the day. Needless to say, I had become fairly adept with the Landslider during its week in my care and had fully integrated it into my daily routine – getting up to make coffee, toilet breaks and the like. Needless to say, walking like everyone else now feels like a chore. The initial step onto the device is the hardest, but have faith that the gyros are doing their best to balance you and the ’slider, relax the knees and off you go. The pretty carbon finish is also easy on the eye and the inflated rubber tyres make up for the lack of suspension on uneven asphalt. Price: R7 950, landslider.co.za

30 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 AIRWHEEL S6 Mobile seat Everyone loves this one. It has the same mechanics as a Segway, but you’re seated with nothing to hold on to. And you steer with your crotch, basically. Like the M3 and Z3 you can hit a top speed of about 20 km/h at full tilt and one co-worker tested that top end down a ramp. The mind boggles as to how this peculiar device has started to trend because it isn’t very practical as a mode of transportation and doesn’t look too flattering (and that’s coming from a fat guy who rode the electric scooter to work). In office situations, however, the S6 comes into its own. Stalking the corridors, chilling at the water cooler and rolling up on unsuspecting colleagues seated at their desk are just some of the shenanigans this device is capable of. It’s a toy, but it’s cool and beats the hell out of walking. So maybe the hype is understood, or maybe that’s a conclusion we came to after hours of trolling colleagues and spouses. If you get one, be sure to do everything on it. Make coffee, proofread copy, run errands, watch TV and even walk your dog. Price: 9 950, za.airwheel.net

AIRWHEEL M3 Electric skateboard I knew that this was going to be a little trickier than the hoverboard, but as I watched the M3 demonstration in our office parking area, I was starting to feel cocky, especially because of my skating experience during secondary schooling and into my tertiary years. Oh, and let’s I eventually got slightly comfortable, but its 11,5 kg not forget the gifted thumbs that have led me to countless trophies mass makes the electric skateboard a little less wieldy on PlayStation Network. A particularly sensitive touch is necessary than the World Industries boards I used to kick around because the M3 uses a remote throttle that you hold in your hand on in my youth. and get on with it. Easy, right? Wrong. Well, at least I was, when the At least you’ll get to school faster than your mates, kids, M3 shot out from me the first time. The throttle is twitchy and the because kicking is so 2006. Adults, especially first-timers, M3 is capable of a 20 km/h top speed, so helmet and some padding need not apply. come highly recommended. Price: R7 990, za.airwheel.net PM

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 31 Tomorrow’s driver will, it seems, have to live with the idea of a car that thinks IN THE VANGUARD for itself. To get a IN THE VANGUARD feel for that, Lindsey Schutters had the opportunity to take THE HIPSTER IN ME likes to be the first to do the extremely smart something. Right now I’m not doing anything, really. I guess making amends with a deity does count as Mercedes-Benz new doing something. I’m also fighting the urge to take back control of the steering wheel, because testing a E-Class for a pre- new function takes full commitment. I peep at my visibly distressed photographer in the rear-view mir- launch drive. Or ror. A truck cuts in to my lane up ahead and I notice that it’s travelling below the national speed limit should that rather that the Mercedes-Benz E-class I’m driving is set to. I also notice that the road is about to curve quite be: it had the significantly. As one of the first people in the country to be testing this car’s self-driving chops on public opportunity to take roads and highway speeds, this is the moment of truth. I cross my arms and legs and put faith in the car. him for a drive? Mercedes-Benz is making a statement with the latest version of its E-class premium saloon. With competitors taking major technological leaps, the German manufacturer has seen its traditional market- leading cars lose ground. That changes now. The old dog has learnt some new tricks and is delivering high-speed semi-autonomous driving to the South African market. Vivendren Patchiappen knows the new E-class backwards. He should, because he’s the product manager for Mercedes-Benz South Africa and has literally just returned from Daimler HQ in Stuttgart, where he was extensively briefed on the car’s many capabilities. “When Connect (Mercedes-Benz’s smartphone app) arrives later this year, your smartphone will become your car key,” he teases. “You’ll be able to unlock the car via an NFC chip in the door, then place your phone on the NFC/wireless charging pad in the car and press Start.” Connect will enable more than just that. In the June 2016 issue of Popular Mechanics we sketched the dream scenario of having your car drop you off at a shopping mall and go off to park itself. The new E-class is halfway there.

32 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 ININ THETHE VANGUARDVANGUARD PICTURES BY WALDO SWIEGERS. SHOT ON LOCATION AT EAGLE’S CREEK AVIATION ESTATE EAGLE’S CREEK AVIATION AT SWIEGERS. SHOT ON LOCATION PICTURES BY WALDO

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 33 Fitted with the appropriate option, the car will scan for a vacant parking spot when you drive below 30 km/h. When a space is acquired, for instance a perpendicular alley dock parking bay, the car will request how you want to enter – nose or boot first. It’s all standard automatic parking wizardry at this point, until you get out of the car, initiate the manoeuvre from your smartphone and walk away. Current legislation requires a driver to be behind the steering wheel at all times, but that’s mainly for insurance purposes. The app isn’t available in South Africa until later this year, but sitting inside the car as it nego- tiated its way into a particularly tight reverse parking spot was something to behold. There’s no input from the driver after you execute the park command. Usually you’re required to shift the transmission between Drive and Reverse, but the E-class did it all on its own. Still, the initial entry was overambitious. No problem: the car corrected with a forward motion to then set up the steering angle better. It’s an astonishing improvement over even the best existing examples. Though the technology is clearly an advancement, I’m comforted by the almost human error in the movement. To test the other autonomous functions I took the road less travelled to Hartbeespoort Dam, west of Pretoria. Patchiappen explained and demonstrated that the next evolution of Distronic+ (Merc’s name for adaptive cruise control), The Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot and Steering Pilot all work in tandem Cockpit Management to maintain lane discipline even in the absence and Data system of clear road markings. The Magaliesberg area (Comand) offers has a healthy mix of poorly marked roads and granular control over almost all the dual carriageways to test the system to its limit. car’s configurable The car can brake for itself and dutifully fol- settings. Customise low the car ahead at speeds of up to 210 km/h. ambient lighting, Lane keeping using road markings or proximity seat massage, throttle response, to surrounding cars and the car’s ability to following distance, negotiate bends in the road, however, have a bass levels and cli- speed limit of around 140 km/h. That’s plenty mate control from fast, according to our road officials. one place. The sys- In my testing I found the E-class quick to lock tem has grown more useful over on to a car up ahead and willing to track it time and now finally through almost all the bobbing and weaving has the intuitive caused by the uneven northern Gauteng B-roads. control inputs to It won’t always follow the car ahead through a match its vast cus- tomising powers. corner, though. If the bend is too sharp, the car surrenders control to the driver without much warning. It’s disconcerting the first few times, but you soon begin to anticipate it as you learn the system’s limits. On better maintained and clearly marked roads back towards Rosslyn, the car was happy to putter along at a reasonable 100 km/h only asking for a reassuring grasp of the steering wheel every couple kilometres to ensure the driver hasn’t drifted off. There are enhancements to the system to be added at a later stage. These will add in road sign recognition to assist at stop streets and more easily stick to speed limits as Mercedes- Benz continues to refine. Software updates and patches to the apps and on-board services will be done over the air or at dedicated electronic service centres. The car will also connect directly to the Internet.

“The new Comand units will come equipped with an embedded SIM card and connect to data networks independently,” explains Patchiappen. This is massive news and something PM alluded

34 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 to in the May 2016 issue. “We’re currently negotiating with Vodacom and will be rolling out that deal to interested customers as a value add.” To put it plainly: when you buy a new E-class and opt for an e-sim unit, you will be able to open a data contract with Vodacom for your car. It’s a dream scenario that will entirely remove the awkward and unreliable data sharing from your smartphone and open up a new world of connected apps, which already come preloaded if you pick the correct option. My test unit wasn’t equipped with this function, but I did enjoy a fair bit of cliffcentral.com streaming when I managed to briefly share my phone’s data connection with the car. The added value of real-time diagnostics, service booking and other connected features are almost too vast to comprehend. And data logging will also arm Mercedes-Benz with valuable anonymous information about how drivers are interacting with the connected services, which can then ensure constant updating and refinements. That’s all future gazing though. Right now Our test model was the E200 powered by the familiar Then there are the little touches I’m still stuck with an ageing Comand user 2-litre turbopetrol unit. The E220d will benefit from the such as optional wireless charg- all-new OM654 2-litre turbodiesel powerplant. interface that, to its credit, has learnt a few ing and a more complete version tricks. Most important among these new of a two-screen solution (not tricks is the powers of Apple’s Carplay and equipped on the test unit). The Google’s Android Auto. real win, however, is cutting To be clear: Android Auto isn’t yet available in South Africa through the Icasa red tape and finally delivering on the promise and has been disabled on the car by default. of independent embedded SIM card technology. Buying a car I’m of the belief that in-car entertainment and navigation with a data plan like it’s a smart device is an idea I’ve been should definitely be outsourced to the dominant mobile operat- dreaming of for at least two years. ing system manufacturers and it’s telling that the original auto- I don’t enjoy the way the automatic steering can sometimes, mobile maker has opted to include these options. Mercedes-Benz without warning, give up midway through a tight bend, but that has also taken some strides to address the flaws in the way just means I need to keep a hand on the steering wheel. This is users interact with Comand by introducing steering wheel- fine, because the current laws governing our roads require a driver mounted scroll touchpads. to be in control of the vehicle at all times with no exceptions. “What actually happened with the first generation of touch- There’ll surely be litigation in the future that will require a rethink pad was it was basically made as a hardware component intend- about appropriating blame in the event of an incident where the ed to work with the existing interface. That interface wasn’t car was in control, like a remote parking fender bender. But today actually designed to work with a touchpad,” explains Pitchiappen. I realised just how sophisticated that technology is already. This also confirms a theory I’d long had about the frustrating The e-sim will also further enhance the geo-fencing and smart inconsistencies of the Mercedes Comand system. “Now we’ve tracking services Mercedes-Benz already offers on many of its cars, redesigned the entire design interface to work with the touch- which will reduce the hijacking threat and assist in swift recovery pad and the scrollers.” should the unthinkable occur. I found myself reverting to Online radio will probably see a the touchpad out of habit, but boost since the new infotainment once I retrained myself I found system can access entertainment the scroll trackpads very useful over IP, so the likes of Gareth and in the perfect position, Cliff will be happy. meeting my thumbs where But what makes me happy is they would naturally rest even that these innovations and when driving dynamically. advancements are being offered in an attainable package and not On the evidence above, you held hostage at the very top of can easily draw the conclusion the Merc pricing structure. that Mercedes-Benz has finally Many more people will be able to caught up to the market with experience the future of motor- regard to technological innova- ing and be part of the revolution. You’d be right, but I’d say tion, which will see the car earn they have surpassed the indus- its keep as a tool and not a toy. try leaders somewhat when Mercedes is excited to deliver you account for the thoughtful Intelligent lighting this product to market, but additions. The latest trend in exterior illumination is the non-dazzling high beam. assures us that the next-genera- Mercedes achieves this with an innovation called high-resolution tion S-class will by far surpass Remote parking is one MULTIBEAM LED headlamps. Each headlamp contains 84 individually thing, but turning your smart- controlled high-performance LEDs that automatically illuminate the the technological quantum leap phone into the car key is road with precision-controlled distribution of bright light. The beams of this model. Now that’s an something I didn’t expect auto dip when the car detects traffic. exciting prospect – except, per- from a German carmaker. haps, for chauffeurs. PM

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 35 In which we collect and keep the skills, wisdom, and good old-fashioned know-how that ought to be handed down from one generation to the next, before it all disappears and nobody knows how to do anything anymore. Teach, fathers!

36 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 CLUTCH CONTROL 01 THE BEST THING MY FATHER TAUGHT ME

Every clutch is different. Some cars have heavy clutches, clutches you can barely push DAVID DUCHOVNY to the floor without pulling a quad muscle. Others are so thin, the clutch so light and “My dad published his first easy, they threaten to stall after you’ve let the pedal up no more than a few centimetres off the novel, Coney, when he was floor. Most are somewhere in the middle. But in the most important way, every clutch is the about 70 years old. This same, because every clutch has a sweet spot, that precise place as it travels up the floor where was after a lifetime of it catches, connecting the drivetrain to the motor to move the car forward. Before that identifying himself as a moment, the engine is just on, spinning, idling. The clutch is the connector, but there is only ‘novelist’ with no novels. one exact moment when it engages. Learning to drive a manual-shift car is essentially training It’s simply that: his will and your leg to learn that moment. his perseverance to be Tell your driver this. The less abstract this all is, the more he will be able to visualise what’s what he knew he was.” happening. Find a flat patch of road. Too much slope up or down and the car will roll on its Duchovny’s new novel, own – probably uncontrollably into a ditch. Have the driver start the car. Clutch down, brake Bucky F*cking Dent, is pedal depressed. Then, after releasing the brake, very slowly let up on the clutch. At some about a man who fakes a point, a few centimetres off the floor, he should feel the clutch engage. The car will move slow- winning Boston Red Sox ly forward. Let him get comfortable with that point. Cruise around the parking lot a little bit. season to help his ailing Tell the driver he’s driving. Say it with a little excitement in your voice, otherwise he’ll think father. you’re making fun of him. Then, after a hundred times, let him give it some gas. He’s earned it.

HOW TO IDENTIFY TRACKS 02 Dog Kudu Leopard Not to be con- A walking Kudu Cats generally fused with a leaves a print like step into the front jackal: more this one. A run- foot track with the oblong with less ning one’s toes hind foot, so the prominent claws spread at the top rear will be more and a smaller and look more clear. Should fit in hind footprint. like an upward V. your palm.

Guineafowl Hippopotamus The Europeans Print will usually Train first thought these be quite even in Easy to spot and were wild turkey depth and lead follow. Don’t get tracks. In a pinch from water to too close. you can substi- grass and back. tute for chicken, if Hippos come out you can catch it. to eat at dusk. ILLUSTRATIONS BY JASON SCHNEIDER ILLUSTRATIONS

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 37 05

03 WHEN TO USE SAFETY EQUIPMENT HOW TO CHOOSE Safety glasses USE WHEN YOU ARE: A POOL Doing anything involv- CUE ing tools (except a manual screwdriver). Especially power tools. Even something as seemingly minor as When you find yourself at a bar, picking a pool cue is about choosing the best of the worst. driving a nail can send According to David Alciatore, author of The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards, the first a splinter of wood – or thing you look at is the tip. You don’t want one that’s glossy or rubbed smooth, because you worse, the nail itself – won’t be able to rough it up with chalk, making you more likely to miscue. If the leather – the straight at your eye. tip is leather – has been smashed flat, same deal. Also look for cracks around the tip. Even a small one can create a wobbly head, again leading you to miscue. From there you want the Work gloves heaviest cue you can find. It gives you more power and a truer stroke. USE WHEN YOU ARE: Rolling the cue on the pool table to test its quality is silly. The table might not be flat, for Welding, cutting sheet one thing. It’s better to sight down the cue as you turn it in your hand. If you notice excep- metal, digging a hole tional warping, move on. But if none of the cues in the rack is straight, don’t worry. for a fence post, Alciatore says a straight cue isn’t all that important anyway, since a good player doesn’t turn collecting brush, or his hand while he shoots. anything else that BONUS SPORTING TIP! If you’re at a bowling alley, choose a ball weight by dividing your involves work that body weight by 10. If you’re over 63 kilograms (which you probably have been since high could cut, callous, school), stick with 14. Bowling alley balls are actually heavier than they say, since they’re or stick a bunch of thorns in your hands. made of thicker material for durability. Earplugs USE WHEN YOU ARE: Operating any power THE BEST DALE EARNHARDT JR tool. (A drill is probably THING okay unless you’re “My dad gave me my first pick-up truck when I was particularly delicate.) MY 16 years old. A 1988 Chevy S-10. When I got that FATHER truck, I had no idea how much of a relationship I TAUGHT would have with it. Me and this S-10, we ran wide Work boots GAVE open.” USE WHEN YOU ARE: ME Earnhardt is a Nascar driver. His dad was, too. Working. Boots give you better traction and a lot more protection than sneakers. If you’re 04 HOW TO TIE OFF A BOAT on a construction site or happen to be particularly clumsy, get steel toes. When you’re out on a friend’s boat coming in towards the dock and he hands you the line and asks you to tie it off, you need to know what he means. What he means Dust mask is: secure the boat to the dock by snaking the line around a cleat. There is a way to do this, USE WHEN YOU ARE: and boat people tend to like things done the right way, because their vessel, and people’s Stripping, sanding or lives, often depend on it. First, leave a little slack in the line – you don’t want to brace the producing airborne boat to the dock so tight that it can’t move with the waves. Wrap the line around the far particles of any kind. side of the cleat. Do one loop around the base, then wind a figure 8 around the cleat’s And always open the horns. Wind another figure 8. Finally, form a loop in the line, with the free end on the windows for ventilation. bottom. Drop that loop over a horn and pull it tight. If you did it right, the rope should

grab the cleat and stay taut. Nice work. Now move to secure the stern. (That’s the back.) SAFETY GLASSES, BOOTS: GETTY IMAGES. COLOUR OF MONEY, GLOVES, EARPLUGS, DUSK MASK: ISTOCK IMAGES

38 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 06 HOW TO TELL SOMEONE OFF

The Internet has killed a lot of things. Road atlases. The yellow pages. Blind dates. But maybe the most lamentable casualty is the tell-off. These days, if you want to give someone a piece of your mind, you text it or tweet it or Yelp it or post some passive-aggressive comment. It is faceless, anonymous… and totally unfulfilling. THE BEST The whole point of the tell-off is seeing the stunned, speechless reac- THING MY FATHER tion it provokes. You are a reasonable person, sure, but you have TAUGHT ME 09 your limits, and you are unwilling to accept it when those limits have been crossed. MARK BURNETT It’s all in the delivery. You needn’t raise your voice or change your “Always be available to tone. The more measured and direct, the more powerful. In person, get out of bed in the HOW TO middle of the night to as in writing, a period is far more menacing than an exclamation help a friend who calls. point. “Get out of my face.” Not “Get out of my face!” In fact, there SELECT A Could be as simple as are times when you don’t need to say anything at all. Just a cold, helping change a flat CHRISTMAS hard glare that lingers for several excruciating seconds will do. tyre or picking them up – SEAN MANNING from a remote village. TREE You always get up and do it.” 07 Remember: It’s not an apology; it’s the truth. Don’t explain. Ignore the ones It’s the truth. Don’t tell stories. Don’t be tempted by Burnett is a television already bundled up, chronology and plot at all. Make a list in your head and use producer and an leaning against the trailer. HOW TO that instead. Like A, B and C. Speak clearly. Don’t prevari- executive producer They’re hiding something TELL THE cate. Square up your shoulders. Raise your eyes. Take a of Ben-Hur. TRUTH breath. Begin. It’s the truth. – a gaping hole, brown spots, a warped trunk. Instead look through the trees that are open, in terms of both their boughs HOW TO GET A and their flaws. Height is easy. The taller the better, 08 STICK OUT OF assuming you’ve premeas- YOUR ARM ured the ceiling at home A and know it’ll fit. What a lot of people forget is If the situation is saliva. Instead, grab your width. Most trees are serious, keep your com- tweezers – the same ones trimmed at an 80 per cent posure. Calm people make you used to pull out that taper. So a three-metre- better decisions. When you’re splinter. Get as close to the tall tree has about a truly out of your element, tick’s mouth as possible, 2,5-metre-wide base. Keep apply pressure and hope the then pull steadily outward so that in mind. To test a EMTs don’t hit traffic. as not to leave any parts in tree’s freshness, roll a your skin. branch in your hand. If A / YOU GOT A SPLINTER needles come off easily, Tweezers usually work for big C / YOU WERE IMPALED BY you don’t want it. Pines B ones. But for the microscopic A STICK have long thin needles slivers you feel but don’t see, Dr Evan Small, an emergency- that don’t shed, but their make a paste out of ¼ tsp medicine specialist, suggests branches are weak. baking soda and a few drops removing the stick unless it (Of course, in South Africa of water. Apply and cover hit an artery or pierced your the pine tree is an invasive with a bandage. The baking chest or abdomen. (If it did, alien. Indigenous alterna- soda swells your skin and remove the protruding parts tives that at least look like brings the splinter to the sur- and get to a hospital.) the original include the face. After 24 hours, it should Remove the stick and wash Widdringtonia nodiflora or be sticking out enough that the wound with clean water. mountain cypress. Get one you can remove it. There will be a little swelling as a pot plant and, when it – that’s okay. Apply pressure outgrows its pot, simply C B / YOU WERE BITTEN BY A and get medical attention. plant it in the garden as a TICK Whatever you do, don’t use a permanent Christmas Petroleum jelly and nail pol- tourniquet. That starts a tree. Other options you ish cause ticks to burrow clock on your body. You have could consider include deeper. Burning just makes about an hour before you the yellowwood family.)

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JASON SCHNEIDER. BY JASON SCHNEIDER. ILLUSTRATIONS TREES BY ISTOCK IMAGES them release more diseased start causing damage. – MATT GOULET

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 39 HOW TO 10 EXPLAIN STUFF

My dad was a good explainer. He also liked tripe. So it was a 50-50 proposition when we went to lunch at Roncone’s in Rochester, New York, that his place mat would get used for one thing or the other. He’d sketch out how a cylinder lock works, or splash things with a little cow gut. I always HOW TO knew we were getting down to brass tacks when 11 MOP THE he’d push aside his plate, turn the place mat a quarter turn in my direction, and start outlining FLOOR what we knew to start. He was an architect and a poet who liked to make lists, draw floor plans, craft I was arrested in university for maps, and draw connections using a bunch of dif- stealing bacon from a supermarket. ferent styles of architectural arrows. This is why Inexplicable really. It is punishment I’ve always believed you can explain anything – any enough to have to type that sentence secret, any mechanical process, any business deal – decades later. But as part of my sen- THE BEST on one side of a paper place mat. If you need more tencing then, I was assigned to work for THING MY FATHER than that, then you’re making the problem too a local museum for 25 hours. The cura- TAUGHT ME complex. In this way, my father explained human tor I reported to was a retired master flight, why you sometimes need a rip-saw blade, chief in the Navy. He was either gristled BOB LUTZ carbonation and suicide by gas oven. One sheet, at or bored; I was too young to know the “Avoid debt. The only thing lunch. Now the best I can do is imitate him, but difference. The first thing he did was you should buy with the I’m not that good. I try to remember. Compress assign me to mop the new cement floor help of debt is a house, in the basement. He showed me where your thought. Make your lists. Learn as you go. and you should never the mop was; I filled the bucket with hot exceed three times your Draw as you speak and laugh about it. Use the water. A quarter of an hour later, I was income to buy it.” illustration to slow you down. Sometimes my dad done. When I told him that, he looked Lutz is a former executive would fold one of these place mats up and I’d take like he’d been hit in the head with a foul of BMW, Ford, Chrysler it home, only to lose it within days. Other times, ball. He could not take the squint out of and GM. we just left them on the table, our only record of his eyes. He walked downstairs, looked what I had come to learn. Man, I wish I still had around, then kicked over the mop buck- just one. That’s what my dad and I did on Tuesdays et. Water spread to every corner of the at Roncone’s, when I had a question and the spe- floor. “Up,” he said, and I must have cial was tripe. – TOM CHIARELLA given him a blank look because he then gave me a clarification, which seemed to exhaust him in the telling. “Mop it up.” It took me an hour to get that water, 12 soaked into the mop, then wrung out HOW TO UNDERSTAND RACKING AND BENDING into the bucket. Blue-black and nasty. This time the master chief seemed to be With almost anything you build, from a bookcase able to condone my presence at the to a house wall, you have to account for racking and work end of the mop. But he wanted bending. step two. “Now swab it down,” he Racking [fig A] is the tendency of a square or rectangular declared. So I got clean water, mopped assembly to move into a parallelogram shape because of in a semi-organised pattern till the floor a sideways force. The nails that hold the timber together reflected light, which was the idea, or so can actually work as hinges, allowing the structure to shift I thought. This time, the master chief to one side. To prevent that, you have two options. The seemed happy. So naturally, he kicked first is to add a diagonal brace on one or both sides, as over the bucket once more. “Do it again,” shown. For an even more rigid structure, cover at least he said. And so the pattern of my twenty- one side with a piece of plywood fastened with evenly five hours was set; I mopped for ten Fig. A spaced nails or screws around its perimeter and to any afternoons – up, down, again – until I’d vertical members, such as studs. paid my debt to society. On the last day, When it comes to bending [fig B], of the many things that the master chief bought me a sandwich, may cause it, there are at least two factors that are easy to which was the first time he treated me as understand: the bending force and the shape of the thing anything other than a bacon thief. “At the force acts upon. You can’t do much about the force least you know how to mop,” he said. being exerted on a structure, but you can do something Then he repeated the steps, throwing up about the shape on which it acts. For pieces of wood that a finger for each one. Mop it up. Swab it are long and slender, such as a 50 x 300, orient the wood down. Do it again. That’s never left me. with its edge against the force. That way, the force acts The best instructions are easy to remem- through the length of the rectangle, not the weaker width. ber. The best lessons are hard to forget. This is why floor joists are always vertically oriented. I’ve taught a dozen others since then. Fig. B Because I can really mop. – T.C. ILLUSTRATIONS BY JASON SCHNEIDER ILLUSTRATIONS

40 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 14 HOW TO TOE-NAIL 13 A NAIL THE BEST THING MY FATHER Nailing at an angle is TAUGHT ME called toenailing. Some WHEN TO EXPECT say that’s because sometimes you use the toe of JONATHAN JARVIS REVERSE your boot to prevent the timber ““My dad would take me from moving. Others say it’s THREADING into the forest near our because the nail is driven at an home, pick out a big tree angle at the foot of the stud and clean out every little you are securing. All you need Reverse-, or left-hand-thread- to know is that it’s useful. ed objects go against your leaf or twig that would righty-tighty instincts. They’re make a sound, place an old STEP 1 / Place the stud a little used to keep nuts and bolts piece of carpet on the soil to the side of where you want the hammer, hold the nail at a that rotate counterclockwise to keep dry, and sit down. it to end up. You’re about to 60-degree angle. It will skid from working themselves Within thirty minutes, the hit it with a hammer, and it’s down slightly and into the going to shift a bit. wood, and then you’ll be at loose. forest would come alive. He taught me to remain step 4.) STEP 2 / Holding the nail silent, move very slowly about 3 cm above the end of STEP 3 / Use your hand to Lug nuts on the when I needed to, and just right side of the the stud, tap it a few times, pull the nailhead up to a car listen and watch.” until the nail is parallel to the 60-degree angle. Typical on older cars, Jarvis is the director of the ground and seated about half the reverse thread- National Park Service. a centimetre in the wood. (If STEP 4 / Drive the nail into ing is intended to you don’t have room to swing the wood. counteract the initial inertia of the lug nut against the rotation of the wheels. (The wheel moves and, for a split second, the lug nut remains static, loosening by 15 an imperceptible fraction of a turn.) It’s since been proven completely HOW TO unnecessary. PACK THE Lawn mower BOOT THE BEST blade THING MY FATHER If the blade spins TAUGHT ME to the right, it can slowly unwind itself each time the blade MARK CUBAN jerks to a start. “My dad upholstered > Gather everything in one area so that you know exactly cars. His one mission Toilet handle what you’re working with. Stare at the luggage pile for 15 to in life was for his boys Every time you 30 seconds, looking pensive. not to have to do the flush, the handle > Is one of the items to be packed a cooler? If so, it is your back-breaking work – rotates against the cornerstone. Place it in the bottom-left corner. which caused him to threads to tighten > Work from the hardest luggage to the softest, the biggest to lose an eye – that he instead of loosen did. He would empha- the assembly. the smallest, the heaviest to the lightest. Stack heavy hard- case luggage horizontally. sise education to a > Work in layers, working your way up to the smallest, light- fault, but he also had Left bike pedals an understanding that Using the pedal est, most fragile items. As you go, fill any gaps with odd- we only had one shot tightens instead of shaped or small stuff. No gaps. That’s the goal. loosening it. > on this Earth and that Take one last look at the boot. If at all possible, put your the most valuable wife’s bag on top – better to keep things from wrinkling. Make asset we had was not Propane tank sure she notices. This is more of a money, but time.” safety feature, so Cuban is an investor, that flammable BONUS PACKING TIP! If the roof has rails, but no rack – which the owner of the gases can be used is common – make one by tying planks of at least 50 x 100 mm Dallas Mavericks only with the appro- crossways across the rails. Tie them tight. Now you have a roof priate regulators. baseketball team and rack. Just remember: the built-in rails are stronger than your a star of Shark Tank. planks, so fasten luggage directly to the rails. Safe travels. PM

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 41 IN THE

How a few seedlings IN A WAREHOUSE DELIVERED A FATHER AND SON FROM GRIEF BY GIVING THEM HOPE FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE.

BY LINA ZELDOVICH PHOTOGRAPHS BY BEN STECHSCHULTE PHOTOGRAPH/ILLUSTRATION BY TEEKAY NAME BY TEEKAY PHOTOGRAPH/ILLUSTRATION

42 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 BY LINA ZELDOVICH PHOTOGRAPHS BY BEN STECHSCHULTE

Daniel Kluko works up to ninety hours a week in his family’s vertical farm, occasionally sleeping on a cot he and his father keep around. Sometimes it’s easier to stay than to go home.

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 43 Clockwise from above: Daniel and Milan examine the Salanova red lettuce; the roots of all the crops, such as this Muir summer crisp lettuce, sit in about five centimetres of water; baby pac choi.

N AN EARLY SPRING DAY in New Buffalo, traditional farming, plants derive phosphorus, nitrogen Michigan, a layer of clouds hangs over the and potassium from the soil. In hydroponics, which is the close-cropped buildings like a duvet. The method used at Green Spirit Farms, you put the precise grey ground has only partially recovered nutrient mix directly into the water. If you want the plants from winter. It’s the time of earth-churning to grow, you must research their needs and meet them and seed-planting. Of little furrows in long straight lines. exactly. Daniel is very good at this. That’s why it’s his job. And yet, on the farm that belongs to Milan and Daniel On the other side of the floor a scissor lift buzzes softly, Kluko, it’s already harvest day. raising a worker to the ceiling to harvest greens from the Green Spirit Farms is an unusual place – a farm crossed top level of one of the plant racks. Huge fans whir on the with a Virgin Airlines flight as imagined by Tim Burton. ceiling and smaller ones are clamped to each rack. The air On the growth floor, as the Klukos call it, patches of green is crisp and the breeze carries the faint scent of foliage. sprout through Styrofoam sheets on floor-to-ceiling racks, The room doesn’t quite evoke the peace of strolling through floating in water that slowly circulates through the rigging. ripe fields at harvest time, but it’s close. “I love coming In the brighter areas, Tesla lights creep over lettuce bunches here. I laugh here more than I laugh anywhere else,” like upside-down cable cars. LEDs make the room glow Daniel says. pink and purple: it is always sunset in the rocket patches. He replaces the Styrofoam sheet. “I never thought I’d Milan Kluko, 57, is gathering bags of mixed lettuces be farming for a living,” he says. His laugh strikes out that are due to vendors by the afternoon. He looks a lot across the room. But then he goes quiet. like his son, Daniel, but is taller, with a light patina of age and a more boisterous voice. “It doesn’t get more fresh HE STORY OF DANIEL and Milan Kluko is and local than that,” he says on his way out the door to the story of any family that has been shattered deliver the bags. Even in the dead of winter, the two men by tragedy – a story both ordinary and ach- sell up to 1 800 kilograms of produce a month. It seems ingly unique. At the beginning of the family’s everyone in the state wants their vegetables. journey – kids sitting down to dinner and Gangly and watchful, Daniel Kluko, 25, lifts a Styrofoam homework, scraped knees, mornings in the garden – you’d sheet to examine a web of bald, sinewy roots beneath it. never know that there was some dark, malformed section He is dark-haired and brown-eyed, like his father, but more of track waiting down the line to throw you and every- economical of movement. More meticulous. When a father one you love into oblivion. Even if you could know this – and his child work together every day, even subtle dif- could see all the misfortune in advance – what would ferences like these become significant. For example: in there be to do about it?

44 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 AN ART AND A SCIENCE

Indoor farming requires a green thumb, yes, but also a fair amount of engineering savvy.

A Layout More than 6 096 heads of lettuce can grow in a vertical growing station like this one. To fit all those plants, the farmers grow them under Growing up, Daniel didn’t see his father Tesla induction lights, which are about 300 degrees cooler than every day because his parents were divorced, traditional high-pressure sodium but they spent many weekends together. Milan lights, or under LEDs, which are was an environmental engineer and ran his even cooler. own company, Fountainhead Engineering. His projects often took him to old industrial B Water sites that needed cleaning up. Daniel liked to Daniel and Milan add phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium, explore them, poking around old furnaces that and other crop-specific nutrients to the nutrient tank, once melted scrap metal for steel-making plants, and then a 0,75-kW pump hoists the water to the top climbing on defunct locomotive trains, or of the station and across the growing platform. At the driving Bobcat loaders. He also helped his dad end of the platform, gravity assists the water on its way back to the pump, where it is recirculated. take notes and pictures. “I’ve been working for my dad since I was old enough to pick up a rake,” he says. C Lights Daniel always wanted to know how stuff worked. He constantly demolished and rebuilt his electronics. In third grade he invented windscreen wipers for his glasses, powering them with a tiny motor. When he was ten, he took his father’s computer apart without asking. Daniel could have been an engineer at Apple or Google and, for a short time, he appeared to be on his way. When Daniel was in high school, his mother moved him and his older sister Laura, a big- Version 1: Tesla induction lights Version 2: Spectrum-enhanced LEDs hearted teenager who liked to volunteer in Daniel and Milan initially outfitted their Recently, the farmers have begun switching over soup kitchens, to Traverse City, Michigan, shelves with full-spectrum Tesla induction to LED lights, which use 45 per cent less energy lights, which provide the plants with light and emit even less heat. These lights emit only the four hours away from where the kids grew up across all wavelengths just like the sun wavelengths the plants use to grow – mostly red and where Milan still lived. Laura had been does. A moving track ensured that the light with a small amount of green or blue. This is

ILLUSTRATION BY GRAHAM MURDOCH ILLUSTRATION acting out, hanging out with friends who lights could reach all the plants equally. why the racks glow pink and purple.

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 45 were on probation. She had been taking drugs as well, but she had been clean for a while. Things were looking up. On 21 March 2009, Laura went to a friend’s birthday party two blocks down the street. Daniel stopped by the next morning to pick her up. Laura appeared to be sleeping peacefully on the couch, but she wouldn’t wake up. Daniel noticed that her lips were a strange colour. “We need to help Laura,” he shouted at the dishevelled bunch of twenty-somethings assembled in the living room. But the friends were too afraid to call 911 – probation will do that. Daniel tried to give his sister mouth-to-mouth and she gave a gentle gasp. We can still save her, he thought. He picked up his sister, carried her to the car and rushed to the hospital. “I drove fast, really, really fast,” he says, suddenly out of breath as he tells the story. “I got out and yelled for help and people got her.” But Laura was already dead. An overdose. Daniel’s mom called Milan to tell him. It was the first weekend of spring, Milan’s favourite part of the year, time to get the soil ready for planting the garden greens. “That year I didn’t plant anything,” Milan says. “I didn’t have the But for Daniel, the boy who always needed to understand will.” Back in Traverse City, Daniel couldn’t bear to walk the way things worked, there was no making sense of this. by the house where Laura had died. Despite almost a year There was no way to reason what had happened to his of therapy, the flashbacks never fully faded. He started sister, his family, himself. Applying his analytical mind work on a computer-science degree, but after two years to the tragedy was not working. He was suffering from in the programme, he quit. “I had to get out and figure post-traumatic stress disorder and needed some way to out my life,” he says. find meaning while still being left alone to think. “PTSD Daniel missed Milan. He remembered the easy times he is interesting – it’s inescapable,” he says. “You never know had had with his father as a kid. But he also felt he didn’t when it’s gonna happen.” know his dad as well as he wanted to. And so when Milan One day Daniel told his dad he wanted to be a farmer. offered him a place to stay, Daniel came back to New The work seemed secluded and serene – the kind of work Buffalo. All seemed well, but the restlessness returned. he might be able to do and flourish. Milan, meanwhile, A hole like the one Daniel felt could not be filled so easily. had always found joy in gardening. He had gotten his “I felt like, I gotta do something with my life, otherwise first gardening lesson – about radishes – from an uncle my parents are gonna feel like failures,” he says. at age nine and pottered in his own garden ever since. “I’m the kid who didn’t die.” “Me too,” Milan said. The Klukos didn’t own farmland, but from Milan’s HE MACHINERY a person uses to process previous environmental work (he had once planted grief springs from the deepest core of his strawberries and wild flowers on a worksite to prevent personality. The drinkers drink; the jokers erosion), he knew a bit about growing plants. He’d also joke. A more impulsive person might get a read about vertical farming, in which crops were grown tattoo or run off on a trip around the world. indoors and stacked in towers to save space. Farming

Light-activated chickens Plants aren’t the only ben- digestive and immune-sys- eficiaries of LED colour tem development. Chicken schemes. Light wavelength farmers also use blue THE (which creates colour) also lights, which seem to have affects the growth and a calming effect and can behaviour of livestock – in penetrate the chickens’ thin FUTURE OF particular, chickens, which skulls down to the pineal have thin skulls that light gland, stimulating growth. FARMING can penetrate and four Red lights are better for photo-receptors (humans “layers”, the hens that make have three). For this rea- your eggs. When red light In 2050, Earth’s son, as well as for energy hits the pineal gland of a population will efficiency, some chicken hen, she lays more eggs. reach 9 billion, farming companies have Chicks raised under red light begun raising flocks under are also less prone to peck- with 70 per cent of red, blue or green LEDs. ing other chicks. Scientists us living in urban In general, short-wave- believe this is because the environments. length light (green and blue) colour also hides blood, so Here’s how we is better for the chickens chicks that have been peck- you eat, known as broilers. ed once aren’t singled out might farm then. Green lights are used on for bullying. It’s too bad very young chicks to in- that doesn’t work on crease muscle and improve humans. – Kasey Panetta ILLUSTRATION BY GRAHAM MURDOCH ILLUSTRATION

46 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 Far left: Milan Kluko with Laura, Daniel, and their younger half-sister Mary in 2003. Near left: Lettuce requires 18 hours of light a day, but rocket can’t exceed 14 or it will flower.

he stacked the trays on racks. As they began to outgrow the space, Milan searched for an inexpensive building to rent. The recession had left many empty warehouses on the market. They were able to buy one and launched Green Spirit mostly with their own money and that of a few partners. The large space enabled them to experiment, growing plants using different spacing, nutrients and lights. After hydroponically in vertical stacks, Milan thought, would they established the testing protocols, Daniel changed reduce the amount of water required for irrigation and one variable at a time, noting what gave greater yields. allow him to grow a variety of crops in the same location, “Can you do better?” Milan asked after Daniel set up the even in a climate where they don’t normally coexist. For yellow Tesla lights, so Daniel added a moving mechanism the first time since the death of his daughter, Milan found – the upside-down cable cars – that enabled the lights to himself excited to plant a crop. reach more of the plants. Yield increased by 15 per cent. “We’re going to start vertical farming,” he told Daniel “Can you do it faster?” Milan asked, so Daniel tried newer about a month after their joint epiphany. He thought his lights, which accelerated growth twofold. son had the perfect skill set for the job: Daniel would be And then there were the onions. In many parts of Africa, inclined to tinker with equipment until it worked. “Buy onions are a finicky crop – they don’t do well in the local some textbooks, read university studies, use trial and climate and soil, so they’re often imported, which makes error,” he said to his son. “Go figure it out.” them expensive. When a group of African investors saw Daniel knew nothing about plants, but, like all boys, he a TV news clip about Green Spirit Farms, they asked Milan wanted to impress his dad. He bought college textbooks to help them develop an indoor onion-growing system. for plant-science courses. He read Hydroponic Food Produc- Daniel argued that, because onions grow in soil, which tion by Howard Resh, the man who pioneered the method they didn’t have, they would be difficult or impossible to in the 1970s. He tried a bunch of different lights. The greens grow at Green Spirit. Milan agreed to the onion project weren’t flourishing under the LEDs available at the time, anyway and within the quick deadline – two months – so he settled on Tesla lights, which he ordered from China Daniel had managed to grow them in water. “Daniel has and assembled himself. He grew his first crop in Milan’s that innovative streak in him,” Milan says. “He just needed office, among the tables and chairs – in 1,5 x 3-metre not to be afraid of failing.” hydroponic trays used for growing cannabis. After that, Daniel says his father pushes him harder than anyone else has in his life. Milan knows what Daniel is capable of, even when he doesn’t know it himself. But then, Laura pushed Daniel too – she took after her dad that way. “She was the biggest supporter of me, of what I wanted to do,” Daniel says. A baby Today, Daniel is feeling confident about his career. It’s monitor for veggies a new feeling for him. He’s planning to experiment with pineapples and avocados. He thinks he might graft the Want to farm in an urban environment, avocado trees on to some other plant to make them short but your green enough to fit the racks. The living pesticide thumbs are better Milan, meanwhile, almost never speaks about what To run a vegan-certified farm, at playing Candy Crush than happened. They say a parent should never have to bury a farmer must not only eschew watering tomatoes? If you were his child and you can see that in the lines on Milan’s manure and animal by-prod- based Stateside, you could tap face. But the farm has been healing for him, too. “We’re ucts, he must also jettison into the skills of Boston-based pesticides. Maybe this is why Freight Farms, which can set you honouring her by doing something that’s meaningful – Metropolis Farms in Philadel- up with a recycled freight contain- we’re growing food for people,” he says and in his heavy phia is the first farm in the US er containing a hydroponic farm sigh, you can hear the pain and the hope that are his to have achieved the status. that comes with a monitoring app new life. And though it’s his daughter’s memory that he To remove bugs, grower Lee for your smartphone. It lets you feels most acutely, he sees two children in the fields of Weingrad selectively bred car- check temperature, humidity and purple light. Laura’s heart in the sustainable, healthy nivorous Pinguicula plants, nutrient and pH levels of the which are native to Mexico, to water, as well as a live camera food they plan to grow for the disadvantaged. Daniel’s bloom and consume bugs year feed. Sounds like something mind in the measured spacing between the plants. PM round. Fittingly, Weingrad that enterprising locals might calls them Terminator Plants. want to start…

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 47 When the painting in the background was too big to fit over the fireplace, Oscar Berendsohn cut out part of the frame with a jigsaw.

48 For three decades, Popular Mechanics readers have turned to senior home editor Roy Berendsohn, 56, for instruction on nearly any home project, along with advice on the best tools to use for the job. But who taught Roy? His father, Oscar, 91, a German immigrant who helped design and launch two of the most important satellites in space history. Here, in their own words, is the story of what one son learnt from his father over a lifetime.

INTERVIEWED BY Cal Fussman PHOTOGRAPHS BY Matthew Monteith

49 Oscar extended the house’s original workbench and added discarded oak flooring for durability.

THE THUMB long as I can remember I tried to make We got out by bribing the Honduran Oscar Berendsohn: My father owned the sky closer. Consulate. I thought the Nazis would a shipyard on a river near Hamburg, Roy: My father’s life makes me think get us, even in Honduras. It was only Germany. There were flatcars on it that of what’s possible. That boy staring up when we arrived in New York that I could transported heavy machinery on rail- at the night sky through binoculars in finally feel safe. road tracks. I was five years old when rural Germany would one day become an Roy: That kind of explains why I’ve a hired guy told me and my brother to engineer who helped make a crucial spy been at Popular Mechanics for almost sit on the flatcar and he pushed. I sat satellite and the Hubble Space Telescope. 30 years. I tend to cling to home. I put down, but as it started rolling I got down roots. I like to stay in one place scared and jumped off. When my feet THE NAZIS and get to know the job and my sur- touched the ground, this car pulled me Oscar: When the Nazis came to power, roundings and neighbours. I think it’s under and cut off my left thumb. my father had to sell his shipyard. I a reflection of both my parents and There was one doctor in town and didn’t understand it at first. My father what they lost when they were young. my father couldn’t stand him. So my had converted to Christianity. But his brother had to go across the river for relatives were Jewish. The Nuremberg A NEW LIFE another. That doctor sewed my thumb Laws defined my father as a Jew in 1935. Oscar: New York was overrun with cheap back on, but it didn’t work. Gangrene We moved from our small village into labour and my father couldn’t find a job. set in. They had to amputate. an apartment house in Hamburg. I can Then he made a terrible mistake. He Roy Berendsohn: I never saw the lack remember listening to a radio station bought a farm in upstate New York. I of a thumb impeding my father. He did and hearing glass smash. I thought it was personally ploughed with horses. We all kinds of repairs around the house. an accident. Then I went outside to the didn’t know what we were doing and it He plays the piano. edge of the street. People were smashing was a very bad time. My father even- the windows of a Jewish clothing store. tually sold the farm, gave me $100 and THE STARS They smashed all the Jewish stores. I sent me on my way. Oscar: When I was a boy, it was a marvel could smell the burning synagogues. On my next job, one of the horses for me to look up at the stars. I saw a That was Kristallnacht. kicked me right between the legs. Kicked zillion of them. My father had binocu- We felt like pariahs. We had no rights. me with both feet right over the groin. lars and I looked through them to try Anybody could spit on you. Beat you up. Put me in the hospital for nine days. I was to see the details of the Moon. For as Kill you. bleeding internally. No compensation.

50 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 Later, I found a good-money job through school, I was getting by, living working at a foundry. Pouring molten in a room in the back of my sister’s iron into moulds. You walked up to the deli. All it had was a cot. I knew what furnace with a ten-pound ladle and you was waiting for me if I didn’t pass the took your turn catching the stream of test. It was back to the foundry. I had molten metal. It was between 1 600 and to do all the calculations longhand. 2 000 degrees Fahrenheit. We filled the After the test, I went straight to the ladle with sixty pounds of malleable iron. bookstore and bought a good one. You had leather straps on your left Roy: In our work at Popular hand. You couldn’t use gloves, because Mechanics, you cannot be over-equip- ‘As proud as when you poured the molten iron, the ped. Be prepared and if you’re really metal sprayed and spattered and the counting on one thing, you’d better my dad was drops could get into the gloves and burn think it through. Do you have a plan B? your hand. You carried the ladle on your of the work, side with only an asbestos legging to THE THIRTY-DOLLAR FRAME he wouldn’t protect you. You walked as fast as you Oscar: Graduation was liberation. I could to the moulds, but you didn’t dare had the right to call myself an engineer. talk about it. trip. I saw it happen once. One guy trip- My wife, Christine, wanted my diploma ped and they threw him in a big trough framed. I said: “We’ve only got a couple It’s a study in of water. He was badly burned. of hundred dollars. I can’t afford to I got hit on the eyelash when some do that.” integrity. He molten iron spattered just as I was She said: “Yes, you can.” I went to a blinking. My friend was not so lucky place to frame it and found out it cost became an old to be blinking. Two guys lost their eyes. thirty dollars. To take thirty dollars out man before I I did that job for three years. for a picture frame was ridiculous to me. Roy: My dad always taught that you’re But my wife insisted on it and when knew what he’d responsible for your own safety. I don’t she insisted on something I always let have a spontaneous bone in my body. her have her way. accomplished.’ I prepare before doing something. I make sure I’m properly equipped. I have the right tools. I have the right knowledge. I have the right safety Clockwise from left: Oscar’s equipment. That all comes from my German passport (1938); a family dad being injured and in dangerous baptism in Germany (1932); Oscar with the 2nd Armoured Division, situations as a young man. Fort Hood, Texas (1949); three of Oscar’s four sons (and a puppy, THE MILITARY 1965); Roy aboard the family sail- Oscar: In December of 1948, I joined boat (1973). the US Army. I was an average shot. Roy: Well, he impressed the heck out of his 12-year-old son when he drove a nail into a piece of wood with a bullet from a pretty good distance. THE SLIDE RULE Oscar: Going to college was a once-in- a-lifetime opportunity for me. I got into the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, which is now called the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. I was studying metallurgical engineering. The rules were very strict. Only one out of three graduated. You didn’t want to fail an exam. In those days we used slide rules for calculations and for finding trigonometric functions. When I was taking a test on a hot day and doing the calculations with a wooden slide rule, the heat expanded the wood and the slide rule wouldn’t work. I was fighting with this stupid little tool to get the answers out and I couldn’t move it. It felt like somebody prodded me with an electric iron. While I was going

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 51 on one of two tests and the problem could’ve been fixed very easily. If you run two tests and there are contradictory results, you’ve got to do a third test to ensure which one of the two is correct. You’ve got to rule out one of the tests. The programme manager didn’t do that. Why didn’t he do it? He wanted Oscar still lives in the home the family moved into in 1968. They built this addition themselves in 1981. to deliver the primary mirror in record time. Why? Because the type of contract the company had with the government called for milestone payments. There was a milestone payment of Roy: I’m glad they made that seem- I knew what he’d accomplished. tens of millions of dollars for the delivery ingly annoying expenditure. My three The Hexagon was this bus-size satel- of that primary mirror. My big boss sent brothers and I looked on the wall and lite that shot special 150-millimetre film a letter to the programme manager we saw this degree and we knew how as it was moving over its target and then saying: You’ve got to run a third test far he had come. It gave us a very clear ejected the photos in a canister that to make sure that there is a known idea what to aim for. It was not abstract. would fall into the Earth’s atmosphere standard. But it never happened. I had I went back with him to the delica- and get speared and reeled in by an no responsibility for this error, but it tessen he lived in for three and a half Air Force plane. felt very bad when the photos came years while he went to school. Believe The imagery was so crisp that the back and it was said that the Hubble me, it was grim. Calling it a back room story goes when Gorbachev was bluffing had blurry vision. is giving it too much credit. It was like Reagan about where the Soviet missile Roy: A tiny error can be multiplied by a large closet with a cot. launchers were located, Reagan slid an distance until it becomes so gigantic it envelope across the table. Inside was a becomes unfathomable. Small errors can THE SPY SATELLITE photo of Gorbachev stepping into his have life-changing repercussions. A Oscar: I graduated college in 1957 – own limousine. small error can cost you your life and the year of Sputnik, the first man-made And Reagan said to Gorbachev some- lead to professional ruin. satellite. It was science fiction come true. thing like: “If we can shoot a picture Oscar: This error was fixed and the It reminded me of the time when I was of you getting into your limousine Hubble sent back many beautiful pic- a boy looking at the stars. from space, don’t you think we can tures of the galaxies. Stars in formation. I got a few contract jobs. One was take pictures of where your missile Things that you couldn’t even dream working with radar. Then I heard of a encampments are?” about. Black holes. It was extraordinary very secret job at Perkin-Elmer, an optics to look at them. Looking at these photos engineering company. I enquired about THE HUBBLE tells you that life has a definite purpose. it and was told: if you can’t get clearance, Oscar: The Hubble Space Telescope was That was a great feeling. you can’t get this job. It’s very highly the opportunity that every engineer But when you ask me about the classified. waits for and most of us never get it. happiest days of my life, I’d tell you it The job was to work on a spy satel- We knew the size of the universe and was raising my children. lite called Hexagon. It involved a great this telescope would look near its edge. Roy: So here you have a guy who amount of knowledge. Two other com- This work would cause an explosion of started out as a boy looking at stars panies had tried before us and they knowledge about the heavens. It’s hard through binoculars, who lost his home, couldn’t get it done. It meant putting to describe the immensely satisfying ploughed with horses and worked brutal together very carefully chosen alloys. feeling of furnishing materials for the jobs for years, got educated, met a We did it and proved that anything is Hubble. woman he loved and gave his family a possible if you try hard enough. One technician made an error on a secure home, defended his new home Roy: As a kid, I was chafing at the bit precision instrument that tested the by helping to create a cutting-edge to know what my father was working on. primary mirror. The error was twenty- satellite and then ended up working As proud as my dad was of the work, he five thousandths of an inch. Or, as we to see what he wanted to see when he wouldn’t talk about it. It’s a study in call it: twenty-five mils. In my world was a boy. And he says the happiest integrity. He had taken an oath and he and in the world of telescopes, that is days of his life were raising his kids? upheld it. He became an old man before a huge number. This error showed up How do I top that? PM

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53665-303290 Premium Q1 Content Print 275x210 champion.indd 1 2016/05/27 3:34 PM My in multiple plots – behind his house, behind his mother-in-law’s house, behind a cottage in the Finger Lakes, and, for a few years, on a scrubby hill on a friend’s farm, where he relied upon a bolt-action .410 shotgun to thin the rabbit horde that approved of his work-mandated periods of absenteeism and was never quite deterred. Dad grew, to borrow his wildly inaccu- rate phrase, what everyone grows. But he GARDEN branched out. Melons became his special- My dad focused on his garden with the same ity. In the 1970s, through study and trial and error, he mastered the art of raising intensity he did his work. northern muskmelons. Because seasons in his zone start cold and open late, this BY CJ CHIVERS melon-growing zag required a canny mix of dreaming, planning and studying, something that he approached like a legal SOMETIME AROUND NOON on a late-winter’s day, as the Sun’s steepening angle case. The plants needed cold frames for chased the chill from the ground, I bent to the dirt near the turkey pen out back. Up spring, and the soil needed to be warmed sprouted neat rows of thick and sturdy garlic shoots. The 2016 crop was beginning to by plastic for early summer, and then claim its place, its greenery forming the first sign of many harvests ahead. I snipped off a came dutiful protection from a particular piece a couple of centimetres long and slipped it into my mouth, like a stick of chewing species of beetle, which he was known to gum, and let the powerful rush of flavour carry with it a sense of pre-spring satisfaction. pursue by hand. After a few summers he I have a demanding, complicated job and a large, busy family, which together can occupy had mastered the challenge, and his chil- almost all of my attention. But the garlic and the garden that produced those fresh shoots dren, coworkers, and neighbours were all serve as an anchor – the result of a set of carefully nurtured places and disciplined habits rich in cantaloupes come August, at least that connect us to cycles as timeless and essential as any other aspect of our bustling for a week. He also attracted one thief, a lives. These delicacies and the sentiments that come with them are not serendipity. neighbour our dogs flushed from one of They are heirlooms passed the plots one day. She appeared down from my father. from the bushes with a large melon James Chivers is now 77 in each hand, huffing, chagrined years old – an age that, after a and busted. heart attack and a bout with James Chivers in his Today my father still keeps a son’s garden last cancer, we can objectively say summer, 2015. garden, though much smaller than he looks, but does not act. He’s before, and he has gradually drifted a competitive swimmer and to planting and tending fruit trees. still a practising lawyer. He can spend hours among them, Recently he became a widower telling the harvests and frustra- after years of caring for his wife tions of each. This new project has of over half a century, my locked him in a perpetual, low- mother, who passed away in grade war with a particularly nim- 2015 after an unrelenting ill- ble woodchuck population, which ness drained her of alertness nibbles at the tree bark and has and vigour. Throughout it all, learnt to climb to steal, the four- he has always kept busy. He is legged thieves replacing our two- a driven man, a workaholic, legged, melon-lifting bandit of someone who loathes sitting yesteryear, and proving impossible still and is unwilling, perhaps to shame. unable, to allow the mind to Those big, busy gardens have drift. He majored in mathematics passed to me and my own house- in university, became a flight officer in a US Navy A-1 squadron early in the Vietnam hold. They form a set of places and a pas- War, and then came home and attended law school, ultimately buckling down for life in time where we can put our cluttered a small city in upstate New York. In my youth his preparation for trials was the stuff of minds, feel grateful for simple pleasures household awe. He would research his cases and concentrate on them with an intensity and straightforward rewards, and carry that my mother described as similar to watching a captain depart on a submarine. on. Garlic, potatoes, onions,and basils And you should have seen the gardens. are among our specialities, a sometimes For as long as I can remember my father always kept fruit and vegetable gardens, fickle but usually reliable yield that fills sometimes of remarkable ambition, complexity and size. This started, as near as he can the pickup bed each summer and makes remember, at age four or five, when he helped an uncle with a sprawling garden in a us many friends. Melons, I expect, we’ll spare plot outside Pittsburgh, where he was raised and where his family, as he told me on get to with time. a recent night, grew what everyone grows: tomatoes, beans, squash, and all that. After We’re blessed that he showed us the returning from Vietnam and starting a family, his replication of this effort claimed space way. PM

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Sub ad July.indd 1 5/31/16 4:44 PM NEW IDEAS THAT COULD CHANGE THE WORLD l Compiled by THE EDITORS [email protected] UPGRADE ARROW460-GRANTURISMO CRUISER TRAVEL IN STYLE LIVING THE GRAND LIFE involves a wider range of toys than most people are accustomed to. It’s not just enough to have a car for every occasion: if that occasion involves water or air, well then, a car simply won’t do. For the world premiere of the new luxury motor yacht “Arrow460 – Granturismo” and H145 luxury helicopter, Mercedes-Benz Style chose – where else? – the millionaires’ playground of the Côte d’Azur. The sleek twosome were joined by the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet. The 14-metre long, 706 kW Silver Arrow of the Seas is said to combine the advantages of an open boat with those of a hull cabin cruiser in unique fashion. Its crossover design offers the ultimate in variability, resulting in a boat that is equally suitable for day trips and overnight stays on board. Since 2010, Mercedes-Benz designers working with selected partners have been developing exclusive products like these. Almost everything about Arrow460-Granturismo is unique, from its concept to the smallest bespoke detail, according to UK-registered Silver Arrows Marine Chairman Ron Gibbs. The luxury motor yacht can accommodate up to 10. Its large side windows are retractable and the windscreen can be raised. Tables and beds are extendable, and therefore available as and when required. Superior comfort is assured by a luxurious bathroom unit and separate dressing room. As standard the yacht is equipped with features such as an air-con- ditioning system, a high-quality audio system, wine-cellar and an ice-making machine. Wood lines the entire interior, not just the floor. The floor covering is an industrial, sustainable composite material. The glazing is unique in two respects: the luminous transmittance can be controlled electronically, along the same lines as the Mercedes-Benz Magic Sky technology; at the same time, the silver-shimmering glazing blends apparently seamlessly into the overall profile, as on the Mercedes-Benz concept vehicles F015 and Concept IAA. ARROW460-GRANTURISMO Total length: 14,14 metres Hull length: 13,85 metres Draught: 0,93 metres Maximum boat width: 3,97 metres Maximum displacement: 13,58 tons Fuel tank capacity: 1 200 litres Water tank capacity: 500 litres Drive system: 2 Yanmar 6LY3-ETP diesel engines, each rated at 353 kW Cruising speed: 28 to 30 knots (in calm seas) Top speed: 40+ knots (with light load) Design category: Class B

56 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 ▲ IN THE AIR. The EC145 Mercedes-Benz Style from Airbus Helicopters in 2011 was the Style label’s first mobility product beyond the car. In-house designers created the interior. All the seats are ▲ mounted on rails and can be positioned in various arrangements for four to eight, or completely removed. To date, ten units of the new H145 model have been delivered to customers. Designers are also working together with Lufthansa engineers to create a completely new and luxurious cabin concept for short and medium-range aircraft. The classic division between the ceiling, walls and floor is blurred by a dynamic, spiralling division of space. This gives rise to new, independent spatial zones without the typical arrangement of seat and wall

elements. ▲ AT HOME. Since 2015, Mercedes-Benz Style has co-operated with the Frasers Hospitality Group, an internationally leading provider of luxury apartments and associated services. Mercedes-Benz designers have fitted out six apartments in London and nine in Singapore. In addition to this, they have developed the futuristic app-controlled “Ameluna” hanging pendant (below), inspired by the under-water world, together with the Italian lighting design company Artemide.

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 57 UPGRADE REGEN VILLAGES THINK SMARTER, NOT SMALLER

ECO-COMMUNITIES designed to meet the challenges of the population explosion, urbanisation, resource scarcity and climate change while reconnecting with Nature: it sounds like utopia – but an innovative concept based on the ideas of a thought leader in organic living and closed-loop systems could show the way. Stanford University spin-off company ReGen Villages, in partnership with EFFEKT architects of Denmark, hopes to create a new visionary and regenerative model for energy and food self-sustaining eco-communities. The five pillars of the concept are: l Energy positive homes. l Door-step high-yield organic food production. l Mixed renewable energy and storage. Illustration © EFFEKT l Water and waste recycling. l Empowerment of local communities. “ReGen Villages is engineering and facilitating the development of off-grid, integrated and resilient neighbourhoods that power and feed self-reliant families around the world,” explains founder James Ehrlich, a technology entrepreneur who has self-funded regenerative organic food and bio-generator platform research and development. ReGen stands for regenerative, where the outputs of one system are the inputs of another. The concept has a holistic approach and combines a variety of innovative technologies; for instance, vertical farming aquaponics/aeroponics and waste-to-resource systems. Illustration © EFFEKT “ReGen Villages is all about applied technology. We are simply applying already existing technologies into an integrated community design, providing clean energy, water and food right off your door- step,” says Sinus Lynge, co-founder of EFFEKT. “We like to think “We like to think of ReGen of ReGen as the Tesla of ecovillages.” ReGen acquires land in collaboration with like-minded national and as the Tesla of ecovillages.” local municipalities and the idea is to remain in every project beyond completion, providing a concierge level of services to residents, by aggregating data and building algorithms to improve its mechanisms. The first ReGen Village pilot community is to be developed in Almere in the Netherlands, with 100 homes breaking ground in mid-2016. PM

Illustration © EFFEKT

58 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 Illustration © EFFEKT Aquaponics facilitates a more efficient and a 100% organic food production.

Illustration © EFFEKT

Illustration © EFFEKT Aquaponics have the capacity to increase yield tenfold compared to terrestrial farming in the exact same footprint.

Illustration © EFFEKT The closed circuit ecosystem emits no nitrogen and phosphorus into the surrounding environment.

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Illustration © EFFEKT The concept: creating a village that does not deplete the environment, but restores it. Illustration © EFFEKT

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 59 ICS FOR AN L H E C A E R N M

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SOMERSET COLLEGE: STEM school of note

The sparkling jewel in the DARIO TRINCHERO is a rock star at high school. Which is odd, because kids who stand Cape Winelands education out by achieving perfect scores on international maths exams are usually on the less glamorous end of the cool divide. That we couldn’t walk across campus without crown is harvesting the being stopped for at least three hugs from girls speaks volumes for how academic fruits of its A-level labour. achievement is valued at Somerset College. BY LINDSEY SCHUTTERS But a rock star is only as good as his band. The teachers who helped Dario achieve his high accolades are equally impressive in their commitment to excellence. Trinchero is also a regular teenager who gets a bit shy in interviews and seeks the comfort of his group of friends. Being one of the best maths students in the world isn’t easy, but you’ll never say so when talking to him.

Yes, a South African scholar achieved 100 per cent in the Cambridge maths exam ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY RETHA FERGUSON

60 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 THE CAMBRIDGE WAY How do you ensure that you’ve thoroughly prepared prospective students at your university for success? You develop the ultimate entrance exam which then also serves as a global marketing strategy and keeps your institution top of mind with the world’s brightest. The General Certificate for Education Advanced Level is the foundation for the British education system and was adapted for the Commonwealth countries; the international certificate is a further branching out of that programme.

in the first year the programme has but about 2 000 schools are now been at the school. Four other kids in switching over to the international the class achieved near-perfect scores programme because of the difference as well. Now let the fact sink in that in levels. SA regularly is rated at the bottom of “Some international universities are the pile in maths and science among now giving credits to students com- developed and developing countries. ing from the international Cambridge This is a special achievement indeed. programme, so if Dario wants to go to Harvard with his international “WE STARTED at the beginning of 2015, A-levels in maths, he’ll start with sec- so Dario was part of the first AS class,” ond-year mathematics… depending explains Gareth Tucker, deputy head on how he does this year, of course,” of Somerset College. Tucker runs explains Tucker. the school’s Cambridge programme. The school is a private entity that MUCH LIKE COMPATRIOTS Siya Xusa follows the IEB (independent exami- and Elon Musk, Trinchero is bound nations board) curriculum, but also for overseas should he repeat his offers the Cambridge International 2015 exploits and get funded. “I’m Examinations as an option for more applying to a heck of a lot of univer- advanced learners. sities, mostly in America, but also “We offer a staged route to the two local ones because I do believe A-level, so the learners write an exam that UCT has a very high standard at the end of year one, which is the AS of physics – as far as I’m aware it’s or A-level supplementary,” continues the top one in Africa,” he says. Tucker. “And then they write the rest You can’t blame him for first seek- of the exams at the end of year two ing tertiary tutelage outside of our – which some people call A2 – and borders. Although the yearning to that gives them the full A-level qual- spread his bright brain all round the ification. The exam that Dario wrote globe is something that’s encouraged at the end of 2015 was the AS exam.” at the school. “We’ve allowed him to The Best Maths Student in the fly,” says Meg Fargher, executive head World claim, that many South African of Somerset College, of how the school media outlets led with, isn’t all sen- empowers gifted kids. “We try to take sation and exaggeration, either. “We the roof off so that they can reach have the certificate from Cambridge their full potential. All 120 matrics stating that,” says Tucker. last year applied and were accepted “Well, best maths student in the AS, at British universities, and that was which is international, but obviously straight in with an IEB matric.” not everybody does it,” Trinchero Fargher does, however, state that interjects. it isn’t the school’s intention to Achieving a perfect score on what send skills out of the country and is considered the toughest high school I’m inclined to agree with her. maths exam in the world is a special Somerset College is a private school achievement, made more special when that accepts kids from Grade R I’m told that fewer than 10 students through matric. And school fees aren’t matched this achievement. And cheap. This culture of excellence is Trinchero is the only one in the south- hidden behind a paywall of privilege ern hemisphere to do it last year. that immediately puts pupils at a But there’s more to the Cambridge massive advantage to their govern- story. “You get two Cambridge systems. ment school counterparts. The school Much like our national exam and IEB doesn’t have things all its own way, exams are based on the same curricu- though. It is currently seeking fund- lum, but differ in exam questioning ing to build a centre for the arts that style. IEB is regarded as being at a will also have a maker space. higher level,” says Tucker. The UK fol- One advantage of not having lows the national Cambridge system, shareholders to please is that the ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY RETHA FERGUSON

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 61 SOMERSET COLLEGE: STEM school of note

school is open to offer bursaries and how Trinchero spent his December problem because the service allows financial assistance to children for holidays reading through his text- lending to a single user-assigned reasons other than winning rugby books and course work. Tucker con- device only. Somerset College has a trophies. Another is that all proceeds firmed the story, adding that he was bring-your-own-device policy, so or surplus go directly back into the sent an email one night detailing all each child needs to be the sole user school. the minor errors in the physics text on their smart device. It isn’t out- “We’re passionate about building alongside Trinchero’s questions for side the realm of possibility given good kids,” says Fargher of the Somer- the year. the demographics of the students, set College ethos. “I’m constantly You could interperet that story as but rather an interesting insight. sending my teachers on courses to a tale of a very committed student equip them with more skills so that who has a close relationship with DR ALAIN RENAUT is excited by the we can maintain high standards.” his teacher. But Somerset College potential of technology in schools, scholars all have that same level but he values the interpersonal rela- WALKING AROUND CAMPUS during of access. The school uses Google tionship between teacher and student break gives a good idea of what the Classroom and each class is equipped more. He prefers practical explanation school is really like. I was expecting with a smart whiteboard, so all and writing on a traditional white- boys to jump to attention as Mr notes and resources are accessible board. With a marker that you can Tucker walked by, but it was more on the platform. Further reading wipe off with your hand. The former casual conversation and a sense of from the library is either done on university researcher first came to mutual respect. This stems from the site, or via the electronic library the school on a temporary basis to broad access the children have to system Overdrive. help out as a science and biology their teachers. Using that particular Adobe-based teacher, but he soon lost his heart Fargher shared an anecdote about library service presents a unique to teaching young people.

62 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 them just how capable they are now, and just watch them fly.” Dario Trinchero says he wants to spread his wings in the world of theo- retical physics, the field pioneered by Archimedes and Pythagoras and expanded by Einstein. If he maintains his current rate of advancement, my grandchildren may well be learning about the Nobel Prize-winning Trin- chero theory and I’ll tell them overly exaggerated tales of when I once interviewed the best maths student in the world. The value of the Cambridge programme is plain to see, but the magic of it is in the structures and, importantly, the people who facilitate it. Those teachers and administrators who offer up their time and experi- Dario Trinchero ence to build a platform to launch Below: Meg Fargher, executive head of dreams. Somerset College has built Somerset College. a solid platform. PM Bottom: Dr Alain Renaut

“The young people who choose to engage with the Cambridge programme are people whom I enjoy communicating with,” he says of his involvement. Trinchero has taken Dr Renaut as a mentor and it’s wonderful to see them interact and intellectually challenge each other. “My primary vision, and I know it sounds cliché, is that they (the students) think globally and are aware of the global aspect – not only in education, but of themselves. And then act locally,” Dr Renaut says of his hope for his students. “I will say without exception that every single member of Dario’s class is capable of making changes in our immediate world. And who knows, maybe in the larger world. They are very capable students and very capable people. I think our responsibility is to show

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 63 This is a story about food production. It’s Wheat from also the story of fore- sight and dedication. But most importantly, the chaff it’s the story of a loaf of bread. Where it started and how it will ensure our food security for IT’S AN EXCITING DAY ON HANSKRAAL generations to come. FARM because the April rains have finally come to the Overberg. That means it’s wheat planting time. Every And it all starts when farm from Caledon to George is vibrating to the dra-da- dadrada-dra-da of large capacity diesel engines tearing one man decided to go the ground to deliver the tiny payload. Although you against his father’s can’t call the minimum tillage methods employed by a large majority of farmers here in Protem “tearing”: it’s advice. more like caressing the earth. Soil conservation is the only way we can turn the food insecurity tide and the reason why the story of good bread starts here. AJ du Toit is a fifth-generation farmer and a regional pioneer in conservation agriculture. Minimum-tillage and no-tillage farming practices reduce costs, reduce erosion, improve soil carbon content and ultimately improve yield. “Today we’re playing,” says a visibly optimistic Du Toit. The minimal-till planter is an almost otherworldly machine. Seed and fertiliser are deployed simultaneously across a wide span and the payload is delivered according to precise GPS co-ordinates that were plotted in response to the harvest data collected by the combine harvester. Du Toit is trialling a new organic fertiliser alongside the product he buys in from Omnia. “I have free range chickens, broilers, and my own abattoir, so we’ve digested (composted) the entrails and mixed them with UAN (urea and ammonia nitrate) – which is also organic – and trace elements. We want to see if it will work.” He doesn’t seem too concerned about the efficacy of the new fertiliser because farmers are constantly doing trials and the area he is covering with the new mixture is a small portion of his land. What is bothering him, though, is the amount of solids and how Right: The minimum till planter from right to that will affect the filters and pump. “I suspect that we’ll left has a blade, seed delivery system and a wheel to gently press the soil back. struggle, so I want to do mine right at the end and plant Top: Du Toit shows off his earthworms. with the Omnia product first.” Another fertiliser made Above: AJ du Toit and his experimental with fish scraps and kelp is being tested today. fertiliser mixture. Before we go out into the field, it’s first time to go to school. “The no-till planter is built in a parallelogram with a wheel at the bottom and the seed comes out here,” Du pose. “The mix that we’ve made goes with the seed. My logic is that if you Toit explains, using his surprisingly good impromptu spread this on the farm, then you give the seed a good zone to germinate sketch. “And the fertiliser package then follows the seed. quickly and the fertiliser will leach into the mulch zone, then use a smaller When viewed from behind, you can see a groove where amount of chemicals to control disease later. If we get the microbe levels the wheel travelled with the mulch pushed to the side. right now in these grooves, next year we plant next to it in the mulch area In that groove you layer the nutrients, seed and the fer- and that’s how you annually rebuild the soil.” The key to all of this soil tiliser on top.” rejuvenation though is the earthworms that take the mulch deep into the Du Toit explains that the mulch from this year’s har- soil and create channels for the fertiliser to spread into. vest is left to decompose and feed the soil for the next You never fully appreciate how knowledgeable a farmer is until he takes year’s planting. The mulch (straw), however, needs to be you into a random camp, walks a few paces, stops to dig a hole and shows kept clear of the seed because it uses nitrogen to decom- you what is possibly the fattest earthworm you’ve ever seen. The impres-

64 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 sive part is that Du Toit explains that he knew he’d find one in that spot still working their lands hard and burning land, so because a) his land is teeming with earthworms; and b) he spotted the they’re sitting with carbon levels of 0,5 per cent. A few earthworm poo – which is just a more grainy soil. More impressive is the of my camps are closing in on three per cent.” attention to detail required to achieve such fertile land. Plants need carbon to grow and with more carbon in Du Toit turned to conservation farming during the devastating 1992- the soil you need to add less nitrogen to the fertiliser. 1999 drought period. “I started in 1998 and learnt from Jack Human, who Another important part of conservation farming is was the conservation farming pioneer in the Cape on his farm in crop rotation. Ten different crops are planted at Heidelberg. We had a massive drought from 1996 to around the year 2000 Hanskraal. Not only do the various crops complement and I almost lost my farm,” he explains. “When you walk on Human’s farm each other, like the tap roots of canola that provide you can feel how soft the ground is and there’s earthworms all over, too, channels for wheat to spread its more delicate systems but the carbon retention was the big thing. The guys in the Swartland are into, but Du Toit has a diversified income portfolio and

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 65 can also broaden his farming skills. everything that is done at Hanskraal. “Jack Human had a list of rules. The first is that, in a “I prefer to plant my own seed because I know how it has been produced. decade, five years must be grain crops and five years leg- Right now I have about 300 hectares that are just for seed production. I’ve umes. Then, you never take the harvest waste from the found a market for the seed as well because other farmers see that I’m trying land; you always mulch it. If it rains, you spray weeds to do it the right way,” he says. “It’s a brand that I’m trying to establish for within 14 days. I forget the others now, but those rules myself that is clean and good for the environment. That brand extends into are the basics of what you should do,” he says. “If you the chickens as well. The market that wants it is people who have realised deviate from that plan, you taste it and feel it.” that life is unhealthy. People are getting sick, getting cancer and it’s from The back-to-basics approach is more an exercise in eating the wrong things that have been produced in the wrong way.” land rejuvenation after years of poor practice than it is Farmers are typically religious and even more so in South Africa. It’s an about immediate profits. Du Toit and other farmers in understandable leaning when your entire livelihood depends on weather pat- the Overberg area believe that conservation farming is terns and being in tune with Nature. You also need to be a bit of an evange- an investment in the future and have seen the benefits list when you’re trying to revolutionise farming practise for the good of an in the form of increased crop yields, a reduction in water industry. Du Toit quotes the irrepressible Angus Buchan mantra about use and a better quality product. showing people God when explaining how he tries to spread the word of Du Toit is driven by the need to know where his food conservation agriculture in his immediate community. That approach has is coming from and a desire to share that with as many worked quite well because you can’t throw a stone around Protem without people as possible. It’s an approach he has carried over hitting a minimum tillage planter. To follow the full gospel as laid down by into his free range chicken farming and one that has Jack Human though requires messianic discipline. opened up a more discerning market for his produce. “We’re a nice community and most of the farmers do the same, but if you The sentiment is largely anti-GMO and it flows through don’t commit wholly then you can’t expect the full results.” The farm needs a new tractor, though, and that will come at a price of around a million rand. Because the tractor runs for maybe two weeks of each year, most farmers buy second-hand and off-brand, then modify and upgrade accordingly. But planters are a different story. Hanskraal is the only farm on the drive from Cape Town that didn’t have a green Equalizer unit THE CONSERVATION GAME delivering seed. Du Toit’s experience with conservation agriculture is a large Secretary for Conservation Agriculture in the part of the reason for that; he was experimenting with minimum tillage long Western Cape, Dr Johann Strauss, explains why before the Schreuder brothers engineered their masterpiece. He had to build SA needs the no-till intervention: his own. “Nearly 80 per cent of Western Cape farmers hav- What’s interesting about these machines isn’t really the minimum damage ing a no-till machine. Jack Human was the first to start after he lost land to a flood in 1983. they cause to the soil, but rather the data you can gather from them. There South Africa is a water-scarce country and are two GPS units built into this planter which are used to tag data points so there’s limited soil for agricultural production. The the farmer can know exactly where the seeds were planted, how much ferti- use of no-till helps lower the loss of carbon and liser was deployed and which specific fertiliser was used. moisture from the soil. For every one per cent of Inside the tractor cabin the driver is armed with spreadsheets and maps added carbon to the soil, the water-holding capacity of that soil doubles. Mulch not only reduces soil erosion, it reduces soil temperature by at least 4° C, creating better conditions for these organisms to thrive. Conservation agriculture, which includes no-till, will be the only way we’ll feed humanity in the future.”

66 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 Clockwise from above: All the charts and data the tractor driver needs to plant this season’s seed. Hanskraal monthly rainfall data dates back to 1994, the corre- sponding crop yield trends upwards after conservation farming took effect. Du Toit sketches how the seed is planted.

with data gathered from the last harvest and the previous year’s plant, as well as the same head unit that will be used in the combine harvester come reaping season. This is precision farming at its most accurate. An Omnia representative on the ground follows the planter when it’s using her company’s product and takes soil samples. The dedication and attention to detail is impressive, but it’s refreshing to see such a large multinational corporation supporting the farmer in the field. She’s knowledgeable about the farm land, too, and explains how the hills can We catch up to the planter and production has cause nutrients to drain quicker in specific areas and how Du Toit shouldn’t stopped because of a constantly clogged filter. Once overreact to certain irregularities on the charts. again Du Toit’s experience and attention to detail have I’m encouraged to play chicken with a planter by standing on the edge of the proven superior. He says he’ll have to adjust the mixture rows as the tractor makes a pass in the opposite direction. I jumped out the or try to add another step to process solids more finely. way long before the planter pulled past, but I could still see my undisturbed He’ll also modify his planter next year to leave a gap footprint in the last row, which was right next to the freshly laid groove. between rows so that the plants can get more sunlight Du Toit explains that he doesn’t allow livestock to roam on his lands. He and grow higher. The land will only be as productive as challenges me to take a walk on one of the farms along the N2 that allows the farmer engineers it to be. It’s the constant labour sheep in the fields and ask the farmer about the wheat production there. and micro-adjustments that keep things ticking over. Livestock compacts the soil and ruins the land for wheat, particularly. It’s That commitment and knowledge is a trait carried another one of Human’s rules, which results in the soft soil that he referred from father to son over generations. But sometimes old to on the Heidelberg farm. traditions need to be broken. The Overberg region has been spared from the El Nino-affected drought “Where my abattoirs are now, used to be my dairy. that has ravaged the northern parts of the country at the end of 2015. That We’d bale up all the straw after harvest and feed it to doesn’t mean that there are no problems in the region, though. the cattle and sell the dung for cash flow. I’m renting a “Everyone wants to rent now. There’s good money because of the good farm now that is ten years behind where I want the land years of rainfall and the grain prices,” explains Du Toit. “But an ignorant to be because the farmers did the same thing. It doesn’t farmer who rents out his land will go for the best price. A clever one will go add up,” he says. “The turning point was the day I sold for the best manager and you can’t my dairy. That was when I started to give back to the measure that in money, at least in the land. My father used to believe that dairy farming is short term. I was in a situation last your cash flow. But it’s costly. Yes you can argue that year where I tendered for the land you recover the cost of manure and soil dressing and told the guy what I would be through selling milk, but that costs water. It’s a monthly doing and put in a good price. The cash flow, but you spend all that money every month.” owner called me and said he gave the I’m happy to know that our farmers aren’t afraid to land to a farmer for a higher price. I take bold strides that don’t have an immediate pay off. told him to enjoy the money.” It’s a brave investment in our collective future.

67 Stone The world of artisanal cuisine is filled with good intentions and plagued by jargon. Lindsey Schutters cold decodes the hidden world of the grind “We grind it and bag it immediately.” That’s the promise Aubrey Terblanche, owner of Gideon Milling and part-time commercial jet pilot, makes for each bag of flour that goes out the door. Though he’s a strong advocate of conservation agriculture and tries to pass on all that care and effort to the consumer, he doesn’t label his product organic. “The market thinks organic is when you plant the stuff and you leave it. We’re not gonna feed the world like that because you get a small harvest,” he explains. “Now we get into sustainable farming: no-till, back to basics. You saw the benefits of that at AJ’s farm.” To be clear, Terblanche facilitated the Hanskraal visit because it was at a more convenient time than the farm visit Popular Mechanics first sched- uled with Cross Cape Precision. He also sources the bulk of his wheat from the Protem region via the Caledon silos. Although this part of the story is about flour, that end product is only as good as the raw materials. “Big bakeries call us to complain that our flour is a bit darker than the flour coming out of the super mills. The reason is that it’s coarser because of the stone machine. We don’t grind as fine because that would push the temperature up,” says Terblanche. Temperature is very important when milling the whole kernel. If the wheat germ is present in the milling process, those fats start to aggressively decompose when reaching about 45º C and that turns the flour rancid. What the super mills do is separate out the germ before the final grind and then rip up the grind to that fine white powder that has proved very marketable. You’ll find that Gideon mill isn’t much about the marketing, because that costs money that would be better spent improving the quality of the final product. The company doesn’t make a fuss about the fact that each bag is hand packed and hand sealed using workers from the surrounding Bellville South, a community already pushed to the brink with factory closures. It also doesn’t make on-the-bag claims about the numerous health benefits of grinding whole grain, or about how we may all be misunderstanding gluten intolerance. The science is still largely anecdo- tal, but there is a growing call for more studies regarding the benefits of retaining the wheat germ. The From top: The ground wheat separates into overall sentiment is that the essen- three main components bran, semolina and tial enzymes required to digest the flour. Danish grindstones are the best in the business. Caledon’s grain silos are the protein in gluten are actually in the town’s landmarks when passing along the germ, along with all the vitamins N2. Grain will come in from farms as far and minerals standard supermarket afield as Calitzdorp. breads are enriched with.

68 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 It may seem naïve, but I’m even more convinced that Gideon mill has nothing to hide, given the company was willing to stop operations to grant me unprecedented access to the inner workings of a stone mill. There is an unsifted wholewheat flour that the company does in smaller quantities, where everything goes into the bag. It isn’t a very profitable product because of a shorter shelf life and it makes for very flat bread, but it’s a testament to a stated commitment to delivering a wholesome product. Not all the parts of the kernel make it to the cake flour and white bread flour, but the entire grain enters the grinding stones. The best millstones are Danish and that’s what Gideon uses. The set-up is on the horizontal, with the bottom stone doing the work and the top stone essentially just a board against which the grain is ground. I was expecting precise torque requirements for setting the stones, but it appears that this is is adjusted by feel. If the flour is too coarse, they tighten the screws and vice versa. Before the grinding comes is a series of agitators, augers and sieves that remove from the grains anything that isn’t wheat. I saw stones, pieces of iron and even some glass in the waste pans. Let me explain: when a farmer delivers grain to the silo, it goes through a grading process. A sample is tested first by hand sieve to estimate the amount of foreign bodies, then a very fancy machine gives a protein and moisture analysis. Once graded, the load is assigned a silo and the grain is sent along the network of high-speed belts and buckets into the relevant silo where all similar graded grains will go. There were three men working in the grading office at the silo I visited and sometimes only one will be there to do all the grading. It’s an effective process, no doubt, but a lot of foreign objects come through to the mill. After the wheat kernel is sorted it makes its way into the grind- From top: From this control board you can er. Then, if the company isn’t send grain throughout the complex and keep bagging the wholewheat flour, it accurate record of stock. After a hand sifting the samples are placed in this machine to makes its way into a sieve. At determine the protein content. Bakers will then this point, a baker can specify a call on the silo with a specific need and have mixture and the mill can adjust that stock delivered to them. Aubrey Terblanche the bran and semolina quantities. spends most of his time at the flour mill when not piloting private jets all over the continent. The company is currently supplying to Checkers, “The wholewheat flour doesn’t with more supermarkets coming soon. rise well because there’s too much bran, which cuts the glu- tens,” Terblanche says in somewhat of an oversimplification. “But our company has a purpose beyond profit and offering that product to the market is important because it’s the healthiest possible flour we can make.” Removing the germ from wheat, like many of the super mills do, is done partially to increase the product shelf life, but mostly because selling it to pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies generates more profit. “Steel roller mills were introduced in Britain in 1872. In 1876, the birth- rate declined. Then the natural loaf became compulsory and within two years the birth rate increased,” he explains. Although I haven’t yet tracked down the study he was quoting, there is an alarming prevalence of birth rate decline among rats in controlled studies using enriched bread. There’s a glut of science being funded by the Banting brigade that is finding bread to be the root cause of many cancers and syndromes affecting more and more people. None seem to be factoring in artisanal bread baked with stoneground flour. Terblanche has many stories of gluten-intolerant people who call up to find answers about why bread baked with the company’s flour doesn’t set off the usual reactions. To me, the moral of this story is that when hard work and effort are put into delivering a quality product to the consumer without regard for profit, you’ll usually end up with a good deal. Artisanal bakers love baking with Gideon flour and the bread tastes amazing. Aubrey Terblanche knows where the bulk of his grain is coming from and has a great relationship with the farmers who produce it. Gideon mill opened its machines to the scrutiny of the Popular Mechanics lens. The science may not be there to support it, yet, but there’s a lot of goodwill and craft in the stoneground flour, which makes for a good loaf.

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 69 Zen and the art of bread

Thursday morning, 3 am. I’m stamping my feet to try to generate warmth. There’s an edge to the dark- ness that hints at the beginnings of autumn after a long, hot summer. And it’s Thursday morning, 3 am. Bakers keep unsociable hours. At the Hoghouse brewery and bakery on the historic Spier estate near Stellenbosch, I’m on the final stage of this journey from seed to table. Unlike farming and milling, baking looks fairly uncomplicated: mix, knead, prove, bake. A simple series of chemical reactions, you’d think. And most of us grew up on regular commercial bread. So why the big hoo- hah about artisan-baked bread and the use of wild yeast – the sourdough process? Does this truly fit into the narrative of sustainable farming or is it just another hipsterish yearning? To some, the inherently more measured process of artisan bread baking is in itself a guarantee of certain things: slower descent into staleness, yes; more intense aromas and flavours, most definitely. Plus, there’s something almost magical about the process of creating bread in time-honoured, traditional ways, instead of on a production line. There’s also that kneading thing as stress-release. Not that it’s a process entirely without science. As a sometime baker myself, I have wrestled with lactobacillus and sweated over hydration and fermentation schedules. I have debated technique vs quality of ingredients. Consistent flour from big-name industrials vs variable stoneground from little-known independents. And yes, if things went well with my loaves I have felt no small pride when asked to identify the baker. (To be quite honest, I have also dumped unreasonably large quantities of less-than-acceptable breads. This is not an exact science.) Now: try doing that for a living. 3.03 From out of the gloom, baker David Hobbs melts into view, with a colleague in tow. He slows only to exchange pleasantries, grab a broom and start sweeping his work area. 3.25 A fine cloud of ash envelops us like a miniature snowstorm as Hobbs rakes the interior of the wood-fired oven, the exterior of which is a mighty 2,5 metres wide by 4 long by 2 high. The ash is all that’s left of coals that were levelled off the previous afternoon at 4 just before he left. “You want to avoid hot spots,” he explains. Top: David Hobbs samples the fruity aroma of his levain. Above: Gauges on the outside of the oven, connected to sensors embedded in its Dough proves at a leisurely rate overnight in the fridge; mixing wall, show internal temperature. Today, surface temperature is 350 degrees, takes place in a monster machine capable of 120 kg at a time. down from yesterday afternoon’s 400 (he will do spot measurements using an IR gun). He’ll need to load the water-filled cooling pans to get the reading down to the 240 degrees needed for baking. It’s a big brick oven, so it will retain the heat for hours. The mouth of the oven is about 20 degrees cooler than the rest. The chim- Austrian pastry chef maestro. That sounds very Zen. As ney gets up to 600. Me, I still feel the need to wear my down hoodie. The we chat, Hobbs preshapes four dozen baguettes, two at bustling Hobbs rocks his T-shirt and jeans. He is having to move around a a time, seemingly without conscious effort. Again, very lot more than usual because his assistant Francois is off sick. Zen. That done, he calls urgently to colleagues in the Hoghouse kitchen: “Let’s move this inside guys, it’s get- 4.15 Hobbs is shaping dough. His beard and dark hair, tied back in a bun, ting chilly out here.” are still flecked with ash. He’s part of the new wave of artisan bakers who generally trace their lineage back to a common source: Markus Farbinger of 4.43 Ciabatta mixing is in progress. The dough is a Ile de Pain on Knysna’s Thesen Island. Hobbs was born in the Free State, blend of poolish (a 50/50 flour-water mix with baker’s grew up on a farm and studied to be a chef. A move to the southern Cape set yeast, pre-fermented in the fridge overnight) and a lev- him on course for Ile de Pain, where he served his apprenticeship under the ain, a sourdough culture. “The poolish provides the big

70 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 says. At home, she bakes mostly muffins and scones. Here, she does a bit of everything. 6.03 The baguettes have been shaped, deftly slashed four times, slightly off the diagonal. The slashes help with oven spring and just plain look good. Meanwhile, the first Joburg- bound flight of the morning from Cape Town Airport passes overhead. Sunrise is still three- quarters of an hour away. 6.30 Mthembu is hard at work shaping bread sticks. 6.40 Sporting fresh blue tape over a finger that blistered during the raking, Hobbs is slap- ping the slack ciabatta dough into its classic slip- per shape. Though his left hand seems permanently clean, he suggests that, when working with a sticky dough, it’s good to have some water close by to act as lubricant. 6.57 “LOADING!” 7.18 I bend down and lower my head to hear the crust of the freshly baked bread crackle. Bakers say, the bread is singing. Hobbs’s big sourdough loaf is a 50/50 mix: “Rye to amplify the flavour, wheat for loftiness. It’s a good balance.” Today, Hobbs will do 120 loaves Top: Sleeping loaves in their bannetons await loading of various types, about a while the oven’s surface temperature is brought down to a suitable 240 degrees. Left and above: third of the oven’s capacity. slashing is an important element for both the baking What does it mean to process and aesthetics. bake artisanal bread compared with any other kind? holes and the levain an acidic environment. The addition Involvement, mostly. of the levain is effectively using natural methods for the “You have to teach your same reason you add ascorbic acid to breads: to tighten customer about bread.” Of course, things change. “You have labs that test up the proteins so that they have more structure.” flours, gauge temperatures. This enables us to work a lot more effectively.” Today he’s doing just 12 kg of ciabatta dough in a 120 kg But the thing that he really likes about bread is that it’s a social food. machine and, as a result has to continually scrape dough Bread, above all, brings us together. down the side of the mixing bowl millimetres from where the massive hook is menacingly churning. Tip: if you are 8.50 Baguettes go in. Made with commercial yeast, these will have fermented working with very wet doughs like ciabatta, don’t wash at least 18 hours under refrigeration to optimise the flavour. Time is an your hands with water after; dip them in flour and rub important element of the whole process. Hobbs says: “You can’t rush bread- them together to clean. baking.” But it starts with the wheat and the milling. The millers he uses, among 5.15 The Vinschgauer bread (a nod to Farbinger’s them Gideon, try to retain as much of the value of the wheat kernel as possi- Austrian origins) needs to have its flour sifted because ble, he says. “So the loaf is a lot more nutritious.” Also, milling at higher its dough is mixed by hand. The bread contains a corian- temperature using steel grinders, like the big-scale producers do, changes der/salt mix with honey to balance the bitterness of the the flour’s protein structure, he adds. “With these breads you have a natural, 85/15 rye/wheat mix. While Hobbs is busy I get a chance lower GI product.” to sample some of his rye sourdough culture. It’s fizzy The fact that it tastes amazing is a bonus. like champagne and tastes of green apples and grapes. 9.30 “You can tell if a sourdough culture is right: it floats,” he With my free arm, I wave goodbye to Hobbs, busy preparing the next says. “If it sinks, it would be non-fermented.” day’s production. I expect he’s also contemplating lugging a trolleyload of firewood from the store. Under my other arm, I’ve wedged a brown paper 5.23 Assistant Veronica Mthembu arrives from package containing a couple of fresh baguettes from the Hoghouse shop. As Kayamandi, on the other side of Stellenbosch. She used I cross the carpark, I break off the tip of one baguette, briefly sniff the aroma to be a pizza lady before she started with David, she and finally… crunch. Heaven.– ANTHONY DOMAN PM

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 71 NEW NSX ➜ FORD B-MAX ➜ CHEVROLET CAPTIVA ➜ HYBRID MERC S-CLASS ➜ LAUNCH REPORT

Compiled by KYLE KOCK [email protected]

But when you ask for it, the noise of THE NSX (FINALLY) RETURNS Sport Plus is quite wonderful. In no way THE MISSION OF HONDA’S HYBRID SUPERCAR: does the NSX attempt to disguise its turbo- PERFECTION THROUGH ADAPTABILITY. ness. Hit the gas and you hear the great jet-turbine intake and breathy exhalations This NSX has been a long time coming. But somewhere along the line, Honda had of the turbo’s electric wastegates opening. a philosophical crisis. Was this a car to compete with Corvettes and lower-echelon 911s? Meanwhile, the exhaust chatters out this Or should it go after bigger game and put fear into Ferraris, like the original NSX from strangely exotic Klaxon drumbeat that 1991? Eventually, Honda resolved to go big, which meant pretty much starting over. sounds like no other V6. If you roll the So here we are, finally. window down and get on the throttle, it’s As with the first NSX, the new one is, at heart, a normal car rife with subtle Honda like you’re about to be overtaken by some ergonomic touches. There’s the slender A-pillar that allows great forward visibility and kind of big-bore scary motorcycle. It’s the steering-wheel cover that has no stitching to chafe your fingers. Elsewhere, electronics excellent stuff. create a duality of character, from hushed and refined to loud and edgy, spread between And if you want to mess with bystanders, four drive modes. go straight from Sport Plus to Quiet as you’re For instance, the sound: turning to Quiet mode reduces intake and exhaust noise by creeping along in a parking lot. The exhaust 25 decibels. At first, I thought that sounded like the dumbest idea ever, Silence of the cuts from a raucous burble to dead silence Lame Supercar. But when you’re on the highway, it’s actually nice to cork the exhaust as the car enters electric mode. From the and let the NSX impersonate a luxury sedan. Switch to Sport Plus mode and an exhaust outside, it sounds like you’ve stalled it. But bypass valve unleashes two extra pipes and opens plumbing that brings intake noise then the car just keeps going, perhaps stop- through the firewall and into the cabin. You wouldn’t want it this loud all the time. ping and reversing into a parking spot. So it’s not. What demonry is this? Ah, yes, electric mode. The NSX has it, because it’s a hybrid – two electric motors on the front axle and one at the rear, the

// The front electric motors cut out at 200km/h, at which point the NSX is strictly rear-drive. // Optional wheels cost R22 500 and are heavier than the standard set. Pass. // The A-pillar is so slim that the mounting socket is the size of a R5 coin.

72 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 NEW NSX ➜ FORD B-MAX ➜ CHEVROLET CAPTIVA ➜ HYBRID MERC S-CLASS ➜ LAUNCH REPORT

battery riding behind the seats. Total system power is 427 kilowatts, with 373 from the turbocharged 3,5-litre V6 and the rest from the trio of electric motors. You can probably forget about a plug-in version because there’s no room for a battery with enough range to make that worthwhile. It isn’t about the mileage. I saw about 15 litres/ 100 km during my street drive, but let’s just say I wasn’t in Quiet very often. In this hybrid, the electrons deploy to the purpose of speed, not fuel The carbon brakes are especially SPECIFICATIONS economy. formidable, even more so when Each front electric motor is 27 kilowatts PRICE: R2,33 million you learn that the pedal isn’t phys- and operates independently, which means ZERO-TO-100 (CLAIMED): 2,9 sec ically connected – this is a brake- that for the first time on a Honda, the ENGINE: Twin turbo V6 with three AC electric motors by-wire system, the pedal merely torque vectoring – intelligently sending telling the computers what you’d power between the front wheels – happens like to do. The advantage to this at the front end rather than the rear. The rarely used system, as with the distinct sound profiles, is the ability to tune the feel for effect is subtle. It makes the NSX feel like completely different driving scenarios: the brakes can be smooth and easy to modulate a conventional mid-engined car driving when you’re pottering around the city or direct and firm during aggressive driving. from the rear wheels, rather than an unci- Adjustability means no compromises. vilised turn-in-hungry track monster. Philosophically, I think Honda made the right call, pushing the NSX towards higher per- The NSX uses a nine-speed dual-clutch formance and higher technology. Now the Honda flagship has the power to back the transmission with launch control, but the promise of its looks, which stop traffic. When I pulled over at a turnout on Route 74, high system doesn’t rev up to a high-rev clutch in the hills above Palm Springs, I inadvertently kicked off an impromptu Q&A session. dump like most other dual-clutch cars. First up, a guy in a Porsche Cayman. Then a guy with an Audi S4. Finally, a Mercedes-Benz Instead, the NSX uses its electric motors S63 Coupé pulled alongside and its driver jumped out to examine the NSX. for off-the-line torque. To exploit all of the “How much is it?” he asked. Ah, the dreaded question. I tell him the price starts at available electric power, you’ve got to push $156 000 (R2,33 million), expecting a wince or a low whistle of surprise. “That’s all?” he through a detent in the throttle linkage and replied. “That over there” – gesturing to his S63 – “is 200 grand”. No, the NSX is not really floor it. That fraction of a second is anywhere near cheap, but it is nonetheless a no-excuses bargain exotic supercar. Just all it takes for the V6 to come online with like the original. – EZRA DYER max boost and start ripping through the gears. There’s no wheel spin, no wailing engine. The NSX just beams itself on down THE GRANDDADDY OF ALL VTECs the road. The car reliably hits 150 km/h I’d never driven a first-generation NSX, the car that forced the Italians (and everyone else) within about 150 metres and its claimed to abandon the idea that high performance was incompatible with comfort and reliability. sub-three-second zero-to-100 is appropri- But Honda had one in Palm Springs, a mint 2005 model, so I grabbed the keys. By modern ate exotic territory. standards, the original model doesn’t feel fast, but you can immediately see why this car Top speed is electronically limited to blew everyone’s mind back in the early ’90s. The V6 takes on a hard-edged growl at high 307 km/h, which is kind of hilarious. I revs and the steering feels weighty and perfect. You can see out of it – in fact, you feel like mean, what happens at 308? Honda is you’re perched between the front fenders, nothing at all in front of you as you hurtle vague on the reasons for the limiter, but across the planet. The NSX feels like a classic already, the original tame exotic. representatives said the designers are just being conservative in their consideration of items such as tyres and rotating assemblies. If you catch 310 on a downhill straight on the autobahn, the car’s probably not going to blow up. Honda says this isn’t a track car, but a few hours at the Thermal Club track in Palm Springs proved that the NSX can turn an impressive lap, especially if you’re running on the optional Pirelli Trofeo R tyres, which are nearly race slicks.

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FORD B-MAX 1,0T TREND PRACTICAL CHAMP Can the Blue Oval do any wrong? Ford’s new-model onslaught continues to bolster the company’s rise as the firm challenges segment leaders across the market and consumers are taking note. Its first foray into the baby MPV market sees the B-Max step up to the likes of Honda’s Mobilio, Suzuki’s Ertiga and the Toyota Avanza. There’s only one problem though: surely the 7-seat rivals have the 5-seat B-Max’s number? I’m going to stick my neck out and say not exactly. When last have you watched a young family in a tight parking spot at the mall get into a seven-seat vehicle? It’s not exactly the most graceful thing and, depending on the vehicle, access to that third row isn’t easy and the last bench often swallows up previous cargo room. There’s a lot more to the B-Max than looking like a Fiesta with a taller roof, because Ford believes that it has solved the problem of the compact MAV (multi activity vehicle) by fitting the B-Max with traditionally hinged front doors, eliminating the B-pillars entirely, and fitting sliding doors to the rear. It’s definitely an industry first, and my concerns (along with many others, I suspect) had mostly to do with the B-Max’s structural integrity. Ford has assured the world, however, that all’s in order. The engineers beefed up the front and rear doors with high-strength boron steel to absorb more impact in the event of a side collision, while 58 per cent of the B-Max body consists of high-strength and ultra high-strength steel. The little newcomer scored a full five out of five stars in the stringent Euro NCAP crash test rating system, by the way, notching up 92 per cent for adult occupants and 84 per cent for children. So that takes care of the safety aspect. Once your head is wrapped around that, then move on to actually using the new doors, and you might not look back. NEED TO KNOW If I can use a phrase to describe the process, then it would have to be “unparallelled PRICE: R261 900 access”. Bulky child seats and oddly shaped cargo disappear easily when there’s no B-pillar ENGINE: 1,0 three-cylinder turbopetrol getting in the way and the doors don’t have to be opened and closed in a specific sequence CO2: 114 g/km either. EFFICIENCY: 4,9 litres/100 km The B-Max is powered by Ford’s multiple award-winning 1,0-litre Ecoboost three-cylin- POWER/TORQUE: 92 kW/170 N.m der powerplant, which provides more than adequate grunt for this segment, and brilliant TRANSMISSION: five-speed manual fuel consumption. The added weight does negatively affect the B-Max, though you’d only 0-100 KM/H: 11,2 seconds notice if you’ve experienced the Ecoboost motor in another of the Blue Oval’s products. AFTER-SALES: 4 year/60 000 km service plan

74 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 CHEVROLET CAPTIVA 2,4 LT NOT SO BASIC There have been plenty of technological developments in the automotive industry that push the boundaries of safety, environmental and autonomous issues, but they do tend to push prices beyond that of the average consumer. So, it’s refreshing that every once in a while a vehicle comes along that comes kitted with just the bare essentials for those on a budget, and the recently updated Captiva can count itself among them. Or so I thought. Sales of crossovers and compact SUVs are burgeoning not only in South Africa, but the rest of the world as well, and to keep up with some of the trend Chevrolet put the Captiva’s nose under the knife. It now boasts a revised grille and LED daytime running lights and 18-inch alloys in the clad- ding-protected wheelarches. I’m not sure the facelift is enough to win-over the boerewors- belt brigade, but it manages to exude enough machismo to not be mistaken for anything too soft. The drivetrain is decidedly old-school, a large easy smartphone integration NEED TO KNOW four-cylinder engine not particularly efficient and even phone screen projec- PRICE: R396 600 (though helped by a six-speed transmission) but tion onto the 7-inch touch- ENGINE: 2,4 four-cylinder petrol also not too noisy. It’s smooth enough for urban screen in the middle of the CO2: 210 g/km driving, but you really need to get to about 70 facia. The standard sound sys- EFFICIENCY: 8,8 litres/100 km or 80 km/h in top gear to keep your wallet tem provided sufficient POWER/TORQUE: 123 kW/230 N.m happy because I didn’t get close to the manufac- oomph that even those in the TRANSMISSION: six-speed manual turer’s consumption claim. third row of seating were 0-100 KM/H: 10,5 seconds The relative thirst at city speeds was compen- impressed. AFTER-SALES: 3 year/60 000 km service plan sated for by decent poke on the open road and The Captiva further caters to milder consumption over a weekend trip up the the family by offering compre- Garden Route and the 65-litre tank was all I hensive safety specification in needed to get to my destination and back again. the way of ESC with traction control, EBD and Brake Asist. And to my surprise, Don’t let the looks and engine fool you how- hill start and descent control are fitted as standard as well to this front-wheel ever. It’s in the cabin that the Captiva packs the drive compact SUV – which came in hand on the dirt roads I spent the weekend most punch. traversing. Further niceties are dual zone climate control, keyless entry and an The occupants were kept happy by Chevrolet’s eight-way electrically adjustable driver’s seat. MyLink infotainment system, which allowed for It’s hard for anyone to top that sort of value at this market price point.

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 75 PM

MERCEDES-BENZ S500E L LUSH+HUSH There’s something magical about Stuttgart’s grand saloon. In the limo class it more than held its own against more expensive rivals from Britain and has over its 40-year history been accepted as a universal symbol of class – especially the 500s. I’ve long said that if I were to drive one car for the rest of my life, it would have been a previous generation (W222) S500. I wondered if I’d bestow the current crop of S500s with the status of being my dream retirement vehicle when the S500e L arrived for a week-long test at the PM office. Part of the appeal of S500s for me were that they have always been powered by silky-smooth, muscular V8 engines that allowed for effortless overtaking acceleration and high-speed cruising. As you may have figured out by the name, the “e” in its nomenclature denotes that this S-Class is a plug-in hybrid, which means that unlike the V8-powered 500s before it, the S500e L uses a turbopetrol V6 in conjunction with an electric motor to minimise emissions and maximise efficiency. With interest picking up in alternative NEED TO KNOW powertrain technology, Mercedes-Benz, traditionally PRICE: R1 875 500 a trendsetter, definitely can’t be seen to be lacking. ENGINE: 3,0 turbopetrol V6 + electric motor

So rather than ask what does S500e L does to live to CO2: 65 g/km up to S reputation, I asked what it does to catapult the EFFICIENCY: 2,8 litres/100 km lineage forward. POWER/TORQUE: 325 kW/650 N.m Well, it doesn’t look any different from any other TRANSMISSION: seven-speed automatic S-Class, apart from the badging, which scored highly 0-100 KM/H: 5,2 seconds in my book – especially in this long-wheelbase config- AFTER-SALES: 6 year/100 000 km service plan uration. Its cabin similarly doesn’t deviate from the tried and tested path of opulence and utmost comfort for the driver and three passengers. The digital instrument panel the tick-tock of a clock during does have a display that helps the driver determine how much the night, she found that the electric power is being used before the petrol engine takes over, rear confines of the cabin, like most of the competition, but apart from that, you’d have no complete with privacy glass clue as to the vehicle’s hybrid underpinnings. and window blinds, catered to her taste. That, and perhaps the deafening silence afforded by wafting The lack of two more cylinders wasn’t missed, as I busied myself along in peak hour traffic in full electric mode thanks to about a with trying to extract the maximum fuel efficiency from the hybrid 65 per cent charge before the morning commute. The double Mercedes, managing an average of just over 6 litres/100 km over a glazed windows combined with the other cabin insulating materials weekend (I didn’t recharge the battery overnight, though I expect- are excellent on the rest of the line-up, but on this model the ed there’d be a lot more regenerative charge from the hybrid sys- execution is sublime. tem). And on the occasional burst on the freeway, the combined It just so happened that my mother, a librarian, needed trans- outputs (see above) certainly didn’t disappoint. portation to her place of work one Monday morning and I hap- I might not want a V8 after all. pened to be driving the S500e L. Being someone annoyed by even

76 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 2 REPORT

1 2 3 SMART FORFOUR BMW X5 XDRIVE40E SMART FORTWO Sometimes you need a little bit more The i8 was something of a landmark The ForTwo has always been close to room than just a passenger seat and in the hybrid sportscar genre. It my heart for one of the very reasons two backpacks, and Smart’s alternative for served as the perfect platform from which for which it was originally conceptualised those who absolutely must have its city to launch the next model in BMW’s envi- nearly two decades ago – it’s a parking car style is the Fourfour. But while it looks ronmentally conscious portfolio – the X5e. space hero. So imagine my surprise when nothing like its predecessor, it’s a little bit The idea is perfect because SUVs have on the South African launch of the new cleverer than just a stretched wheelbase always had a reputation for being guzzlers, ForTwo the fleet of Smart vehicles was and two extra doors. and BMW has made amends by using parked conventionally in the parallel bays In fact, a welcome side effect from the technology gleaned from the i8’s develop- along one of Cape Town’s CBD streets. increased dimensions over the FourTwo ment for the hybrid X5e – which uses an The ForTwo’s turning circle, at a minis- (800 mm bumper to bumper) is extra electric motor integrated with its eight- cule kerb-to-kerb of just 6,95 metres, resistance to the gusts experienced during speed transmission to supplement the means that it’s capable of u-turns almost autumn in Cape Town – which troubled petrol engine. anywhere. The quick ratio came in handy, this model’s smaller sibling slightly earlier Admittedly, there isn’t a bellowing V8 or especially on the way out of mid-morning on in the same day. Both models are sonorous six under the bonnet, but a tur- gridlock. The maximum amount of torque equipped with the company’s Crosswind bocharged four-cylinder motor that pro- on offer from the 1,0-litre three-cylinder Assist system as standard – not that I felt vides sufficient grunt for one not to miss engine is just 91 N.m, but the ForTwo’s any particular assistance in either model. anything larger. low mass more than makes up for the low As I mentioned earlier, there’s more to The 180 kW and 350 N.m from the fossil figure. Its gearing is ideal for zipping the Forfour than just the size. Smart lived fuel engine made its presence felt on the through traffic while economically sipping up to its name by making optimum use of open asphalt around the Hartebeespoort just under 6 litres/100 km - and that the available cabin space, with rear seat- area during the launch in Gauteng, but it despite my enthusiasm for the throttle backs that fold down to create 975 litres was while driving through Sandton and and the rorty burble that gives away the of utility room, “readyspace” rear seat navigating slow-moving traffic that the engine’s uneven cylinder count. cushion that can be reversed to allow for hybrid system came into its own. For the As can be expected from a Mercedes- 120 mm more loading height, and rear record, the X5e’s combined outputs are Benz product, you can equip your ForTwo doors that open to nearly 90 degrees. 230 kW and 450 N.m. Leaving the BMW with a host of safety features. The list The normally aspirated engine it shares head office in Midrand and setting off includes optional forward collision warn- with the Fortwo is peppy, but with four before lunch, my co-driver and I were able ing and Lane Keeping Assist, while the adults in the Fortwo, I’m guessing its to achieve a best of 1,8 litres/100 km, mak- instantly recognisable Tridion Safety Cell performance will fall short of zippy. ing full use of the maximum range that the has a twofold purpose. It is there as a pas- Fortunately, Mercedes-Benz is bringing a electric motor could manage from the 60 sive reminder that you’ll be kept safe in 0,9-litre turbopetrol motor with six-speed per cent capacity we started our journey the unfortunate event of an incident and dual-clutch transmission as this magazine with. Basically, for my commute back home doubles as a notable styling element. The hits the printers. That’d be the one I’d in Cape Town, I could very possibly use no design has evolved well from the preceding go for. fuel during the 32 km daily grind. model. From: R210 400 From: R1 097 500 From: R179 900 PM

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 77 L A R M E C H A P U N I C P O S ESTD 1902

Supermarket vegetable oil is more expensive than petrol, but many restaurants will give you their old stuff for free.

THE GREASE CAR How I converted a 1979 Mercedes to run on a completely free, relatively ubiquitous and only slightly smelly fuel source: used vegetable oil. BY BRAD WHEELWRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAT PIASECKI PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAT

78 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 To create the customised coolant circuit necessary to transfer engine heat to the vegetable-fuel filter, line and tank, Wheelwright teed into the main coolant line coming out of the engine block.

was always a little uncomfortable and flowing on the trip from the tank to threaded inside, which helps protect with the ecological implications of the engine. against the degradation vegetable oil can Icar ownership, but when some friends Because my tank was originally used in cause on plastics and rubber. A dedicated began experimenting with running diesel a pick-up, it was huge – 150 litres. Although filter head and filter would remove impu- vehicles on vegetable oil, I saw it as a way this limited fill-ups and extended the car’s rities (particles and bits of food) from the to be part of a much more environmentally range, it also meant I couldn’t put the oil. And two three-port solenoid valves responsible fuel-supply chain. I was def- tank in the boot, as most converters do. and their associated circuitry would control initely intimidated and wondered if I I ended up lashing it down in the back the two fuels and keep them adequately could manage a backyard conversion. My seat. Having the tank inside the car raised separate. After adding numerous lengths mechanic skills were limited, although the unexpected challenge of how to get of hose to allow for the proper return of there had been some bright moments: the new lines through the firewall and to unused fuel and the necessary brass fit- once, working on a San Francisco stoep the engine. Cutting the hole (40 milli- tings and hose clamps, I turned the key I repaired a motorcycle’s fuel-tank valve metres by 63) was truly a brutal ordeal. for the first test. with only J-B Weld and hazy memories of Because of the contours in the metal and The engine wouldn’t start. It didn’t advice I’d once been given. I also replaced the challenging access, a hole saw turned seem to be pulling any fuel at all, which a car’s freeze plug successfully, albeit with out to be useless. Instead I hacked away I eventually realised was a priming issue. a little handholding from a mechanic. Plus, at the steel with a variety of tools, includ- Fighting against tight and frustrating I had serious concerns about the logistics ing twist drill bits, hacksaws, hammers access, I had to open up the new hose of fuel sourcing. What eventually convinced and levers. clamps and fittings and unscrew the fuel me was another friend who got into the Once the hole was complete, things filter more times than I care to remember conversion game and was generous with progressed more rapidly. To create the in an attempt to carefully pour diesel fuel both advice and fuel-collection opportuni- customised coolant circuit necessary to into any accessible air pocket. From there ties. After several months of research I transfer engine heat to the vegetable-fuel I would crank the starter to test my work, bought a 1979 Mercedes 300TD. A few filter, line and tank, I teed into the main giving it frequent rests to cool down. months after that, I bought a used, par- coolant line coming out of the engine block Several times I had to stop everything tially complete and extremely dirty two- and then ran it back into an accessible to recharge the battery. In desperation tank vegetable-fuel system from a friend segment of hose just before the water I even topped off the diesel tank and who had decommissioned it from a pump. It was difficult to tease the air out jacked up the rear of the car to provide pick-up. of the system, but with lots of revving, the system additional hydraulic leverage. The system included a tank, hoses, a several test drives and periodic additions All these approaches were incrementally fuel-switching solenoid valve and a filter of coolant, I finally got everything to helpful and finally the engine reluctantly head. The additional tank is for the veg- circulate properly. rumbled to life – coughing, revving and etable oil. When you first start the car, Next was the fuel system. The engine dying and then going through the cycle it runs off diesel fuel until the vegetable and injection pump required no modifi- again. oil is heated to a level that reduces its cations. The original diesel engine was When it finally ran reliably and I’d viscosity enough that the injection pump actually made to run on peanut oil, so completed a successful test drive, I was can handle it. Once the oil is heated, you as long as fuel viscosity mimics that of ready to wire the solenoid valves. I used flip two switches and start drawing only petrodiesel, the engine will run normally. a multimeter to identify a positive tab grease. Coolant keeps the grease warm I added a length of heater hose with PEX in the fuse box that is only live with the

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 79 HOW IT WORKS: A VEGETABLE-OIL ENGINE

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1. DIESEL TANK Fuel from this tank powers the engine Wheelwright added a bracket to hold the supply The 150-litre vegetable-oil tank provides great driving until enough heat is created valve against the filter head, reducing the range, but it takes up a lot of the backseat. amount of tubing and the volume of oil to be to return the vegetable oil to heated before the car can switch from diesel. fluidity. 2. VEGETABLE-OIL The fuel line running car key in the run position and tapped I’d hastily chosen not to clean the tank TANK into it as a power source. Splitting it before installation and, every so often, a into the vegetable-oil tank is to provide juice to each valve circuit, I glob of solidified goo would plug the intake heated, providing the neces- crimped the wires into the solenoid leads, line and cause the engine to sputter. I’d sary temperature to keep the grounded the circuits with eye terminals have to switch to diesel, find compressed fuel flowing freely. screwed into the chassis and pushed four air and evacuate the line back into the 3. VEGETABLE-OIL wires through a hole I’d drilled in the tank. This happened a couple of times FILTER corner of the glove compartment. Attach- before I realised a much easier, if slightly ing the two toggle switches at the driver’s- disgusting solution: wiping off the sticky 4. DIESEL FILTER side end of the glove box provided the end of the line (and reminding myself 5. SUPPLY VALVE most visceral satisfaction of the entire that it was basically food), I blew through 6. RETURN VALVE When the vegetable oil is hot enough, the driver flips two switches added to the dash- I PUT 40 LITRES OF FILTERED board (or elsewhere in the VEGETABLE OIL IN THE TANK AND WAITED passenger compartment). FOR A GOOD REASON TO DRIVE MORE This activates the solenoid THAN A FEW KILOMETRES. IT WORKED. valves and stops diesel from being pumped through the engine, replacing it with vegetable oil. 7. CYLINDERS These project, when the audible click of the it. Eventually I did get around to cleaning power the car. And they valves switching confirmed my success. the tank. don’t care if they’re running I put 40 litres of filtered vegetable oil Overall, my grease car’s performance on diesel or old frying oil. in the tank and waited for a good reason has been very satisfactory. Fuel economy to drive more than a few kilometres – and power are unaffected by the conver- long enough for the grease to heat up. sion and I’ve found fuel collection and When the time came, I ran for several processing (all oil ideally should be pre- minutes with diesel directed back into filtered before being put in your car’s source, filtering (usually using passive the vegetable-oil tank (supply valve off, grease tank) to be acceptable chores, solar heat and a sock-shaped filter return valve on) to purge air from the even if they’re not very clean or always attached to the lid of a bucket) is rela- vegetable side and with some trepidation, convenient. My oil comes from many tively uneventful and even easy. The flipped the supply valve to on. It worked. different types of restaurants and, as only real problem is that it tends to Of course there were a few more issues. long as I begin with a relatively clean make people hungry as I drive by.

80 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 THE BIO ALTERNATIVE If you can’t stomach the thought of converting your diesel car to run on chip fryer oil, biodiesel is the real thing.

FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES and farmers, Nine years ago, Waterman and his wife it’s the price that makes biodiesel attrac- Bettina were running a transport compa- tive. For the handful of greenies, some of ny. They started making biodiesel purely them trekking across the Cape Peninsula for themselves to keep fleet operating to get their fill-up, it’s the bonus of the costs down. “When the diesel price went warm fuzzy feeling of doing good for over R10, we started getting enquiries.” the planet. He saw a gap waiting to be exploited and “It really is a mindset,” says Craig Water- now produces both fuel and processor kits. man. His company, Green-Diesel, is one Used oil is the basis of the business. of a handful of local biofuel producers. “Places you would not think of collecting Biofuels are regarded as an important from… hospitals, army bases, canteens.” element of South Africa’s environment Here’s the thing: research has shown that policy. Last October was set as the date less than 1 per cent of domestic oil is for countrywide implementation of a five recovered in South Africa, Waterman says. per cent biodiesel mix at filling stations There’s stiff competition. A lot of used – which never happened. That inititiave oil goes into the production of animal feed appears to have bogged down, not least and small amounts to producing paint because five per cent of the national products. Exports, too: Europe is a big distribution is 40 million litres. market and exporters will get paid in Euro. From its anonymous warehouse in Complicating matters is that the two main the industrial area of Stikland in Cape oils used for culinary use are palm (import- Town’s northern suburbs, Green-Diesel ed) and sunflower. Soya oil is produced shoves used chip fryer oil in one end locally, but rarely used in deep fryers. and pours good, clean biodiesel out the Also, by law, no biodiesel may be imported other. (Some clever stuff with processors and new oil is out of the question, unless and catalysts happens in between.) subsidised as in the EU and USA. It’s perfectly safe for conventional Green-Diesel is a “non-commercial” diesel engines, though manufacturers producer, which means it is subject to an are wary: one limits the biodiesel pro- annual cap of 300 000 litres. That works portion to 5 per cent to comply with out to 25 000 a month. Its pump price warranty restrictions. But not only more or less tracks the retail diesel price does the stuff burn cleaner (100 per and is typically about R1 cheaper. There

cent biodiesel reduces CO2 emissions is an additional incentive for local farmers by 75 per cent, Waterman says) it has who export to the EU, which audits their no deleterious effects. carboon footprint. To eke out production, an extra purification stage is being imple- mented that will skim additional fuel from the water extracted as part of the biodiesel process. The biggest customer is a supermarket chain that takes 2 000 litres a week of production and supplies much of the feedstock. Biofuel at this stage, then, is still a cottage industry. Blending at refinery level is years away, says Waterman. There are plenty of hoops for big-scale producers to jump through: plants grown for biofuel production may not be irrigated, have to be grown on mar- ginal land and are subject to restrictions Craig Waterman produces biodiesel processors from tab- on what may be grown. “Our neighbouring letop models to big industrial models (left and above), but countries are years ahead of us in this his primary business is the good stuff itself (main picture). respect,” he says. - Anthony Doman

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 81 SHOP NOTES Bottle caps protect EASY WAYS TO DO HARD THINGS clamped surfaces If you’re clamping a surface and you’re worried the clamp isn’t suf- ficiently padded to keep it from marring the surface, try putting a bottle cap between the clamp and the workpiece. A TRICK FOR MATCHING PAINT When mixing paint to match an already painted surface, put a little of your mix on a clear piece of plastic or glass, like from a picture frame. Hold it over the existing surface for a seamless colour comparison.

FIND THE MIDDLE OF A WEIRD WIDTH WITHOUT A CALCULATOR READER Sometimes a piece of TIP timber has a strange Tape prevents jagged width and dividing it in plywood two is not simple arith- On plywood, a table saw can cause Adapt your shop vac to metic. Here are two ways the veneer to splinter and separate. of bisecting the width A quick fix: along the path the blade pick up dropped valuables while avoiding the complicated will travel, apply masking tape to WHEN YOU DROP a tray of small parts, like short screws or maths. both sides of the plywood. Remove plastic wire connectors, it’s a nightmare to pick them up. Things it when the cut is finished. The tape become dire if you’ve dropped them on thick carpet or grass. holds the wood fibres in place. A classic strategy is to use a magnet to pick them up, but what if the parts aren’t magnetic? Reader Derek Grozinger of Ottawa, Ontario, suggests a shop-vac hack that can help. Find a thin, WITH ONE TAPE porous piece of fabric, like an old undershirt, tear off a small MEASURE piece and stretch it over the end of the vacuum’s hose. Secure Measure the total width of it in place with rubber bands. Now turn on the vacuum and the wood, then round to a allow the suction to pick up the pieces. The fabric allows air larger number easily divid- through, but keeps the parts at the end of the hose. ed by two. For example, if the width is 45 centimetres, round to 46. Use the tape measure to make a diagonal of that length across the SCREEN SHOTS CAN SAVE YOU wood. The halfway point of Sometimes you need to prove that a payment went the diagonal – 23, in this through. Or capture a dumb tweet for posterity before example – is halfway your friend deletes it. Maybe you just want to prove to across the board. A better way to remove the IT guy that you’re not a moron. nails from trim Here’s how to take a screen shot. During a renovation, you may want to preserve old trim or Windows computer Apple computer Smartphones moulding – if it’s exquisite and To copy an image to Press COMMAND On an iPhone, press your house is old enough, it’d the clipboard, press + SHIFT + 3 to the sleep/wake but- probably cost an arm and a the PRINT SCREEN capture the entire ton and the home leg to reproduce. Once you’ve key to grab the screen, or COM- button at the same taken it off the wall, you need whole screen, or ALT MAND + SHIFT + time. On Android WITH TWO + PRINT SCREEN 4 to turn the phones, it varies, but TAPE MEASURES to remove old nails. You could for just the window pointer into a a combination of the Hook one tape measure hammer the tips to back them out you’re currently look- crosshairs you power button and to each side of the wood. of their original holes, but that ing at. Then open can use to select either the home but- Pull each straight across to would ruin the face of finished the Paint program the portion of the ton or a volume but- the other side. Reading trim. Instead, assuming they are and paste the image screen you need. ton is a safe bet. from left to right, one tape into a new file. Images are auto- Screen shots show measure’s numbers are finishing nails with small heads, matically saved to up in the phone’s counting up, while the other grip the shaft with locking pliers the desktop. photo gallery. is counting down. The point and use a rocking motion to pull where the numbers match them through the back. is the middle. ILLUSTRATIONS BY KAGAN MCLEOD ILLUSTRATIONS

82 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 The amazing CNC machine An oversimplified guide to a highly useful tool.

A LOT OF people know and less powerful the router. what a CNC machine is. Industrial CNCs use beefy routers But for those who nod and called spindles. They’re much quieter ABOUT OUR EXPERT hope the subject changes, a CNC and have five to ten times the power. Ben Aroh is a 24-year-old woodworker. Before machine is a computer-driven cut- The bits last longer and you get a he finished university, he launched a Kickstarter ting tool. You can use a CNC to carve cleaner, much faster cut. Just be sure campaign to sell a series of wooden states that hang on your wall with embedded magnets to out ornate inlays in furniture, tem- that the bit you’re using is optimised hold your keys. (For more information and to plate a jig, or even make your own for your materials – wood, plastic, check out his work, go to aroh-co.com.) That guitar. CNC stands for computer aluminium, whatnot. Also pay atten- campaign quickly turned into a career. By the numerical control, which basically tion to the types of bits. Up-cut bits end of the year he hopes to have a new shop means that you input the plans (in expel shavings upward, leaving a and three full-time employees. the form of a vector or line draw- smooth finish on the bottom of the ing) and the machine cuts them. material. Down-cut bits do the oppo- Because the process is computerised, site and compression bits do both, you get the same results every time. leaving you with a smooth cut on the And they’re always perfect. top and bottom. And then there’s CNCs can get expensive. Wood- the number of flutes, or cutting worker Ben Aroh (pictured), started edges, that spiral down the bit. The out with a small, basic machine more you see, the smoother your that cost R75 000. A year later, cut will be. he bought one for R225 000 and When is a CNC worth buying? If now he’s considering upgrading to you’re making a lot of a particular a R600 000 option. The real differ- thing. Less expensive alternative: ence is in the router bit. The find a machine for hire at a local cheaper the CNC, the cheaper maker space or cabinet maker’s. PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE BUGLEWICZ

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 83 ASK ROY Popular Mechanics’ senior home editor solves your most pressing problems. BY ROY BERENDSOHN

The stairs to our above-ground We love everything about our Do push-on solderless fittings pool are splintery and loose. I house except the wood trim, for copper pipe work? want to replace them, but is there which was stained dark brown in the anything I should be worried about? 1980s. We’d rather paint it than Yes. Solderless fittings are the replace it, but the first few pieces fastest way to produce a water- Anyone with a little carpentry we painted show a dark shadow. tight plumbing joint. You cut the tubing, experience should be able to build remove the burr on the cut end and push a small set of exterior stairs. There are Your best bet here is to apply a the fitting on to the tube. And you’re plenty of resources online, but many of primer specifically formulated to done. What would have taken several them overlook errors that first-time stair hide dark colours. minutes with various tools, a torch and builders tend to make. (I’ve made those Start with the acrylic water-based) solder, takes only a few seconds. mistakes, so I know.) type, which is easiser to clean up than By the way, don’t confuse these press-on First, don’t skimp on the wood. From the alkyd (stronger, but oil-based) version. fittings with solderless fittings that there it’s all about precision. The main If the old stain still seeps through the require you to crimp them to the pipe. features of any stair are the treads [A] primer (a phenomenon called bleeding With those, you need to buy or rent a (what you step on), the risers [B] (the or bleed-through), switch to the alkyd. special cordless crimping tool that bears vertical wood between the treads) and The stronger chemicals lock down the down on the plumbing joint with tons of the stringers [C] (foundational support old oil stain and bury the dark colour. force. A good method, but not nearly as pieces). When you mark off the stringer, Once the primer dries, you’ll be ready convenient and not much more stable. do it accurately and consistently. Each to apply your choice of topcoat. If you’re worried that these fittings riser and tread need to meet at a 90-degree You can further improve your results are too good to be true, don’t be. They corner. Ensure this by making a plywood by using high-quality brushes and rollers. work. The trade-off comes when you go to template shaped like a triangle. One leg The label on the brush will tell you the pay for them. It’s a time-versus-money corresponds to the tread, the other to the kind of finish and surface the product is dilemma. Soldered fittings cost a minimal riser. Trace it and then move down and designed for. For example, don’t use a amount, once you’ve invested in a torch trace the next step. Add a centre stringer brush designed for applying stain or a and a few other tools. Solderless fittings to support the tread in the middle of its roller designed for rough surfaces, since cost more, but the only tool you’ll need span, where it’s most likely to bow. When trim is generally smooth. And as with is a tubing cutter. Your call. you cut out the stringer, don’t overcut. any paint project, invest in a few canvas It looks sloppy. More important, it weak- dropcloths. Newspaper is porous and ens the stair. And don’t forget to use won’t completely block spills and sheets corrosion-resistant screws, lag screws and of plastic can get dangerously slippery. bolts. These fasteners must be stainless steel, dipped in molten zinc (known as hot- dipped galvanised), or have a rust-resistant coating rated specifically for pressure- treated timber. Finally, the entry point to any pool should be protected by a gate. Is yours? If not, add that to your construction project. ILLUSTRATIONS BY CLINT FORD ILLUSTRATIONS

84 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 ANIC CH S E FO M R

R K

A I

L S

U In honour of Father’s Day, US Popular

★

P Mechanics editor-in-chief Ryan D’Agostino

★ ICE LANTERN and his kids built this project.

Kids learn the scientific properties while building a lantern for an imaginary ice hotel.

EASY REASONABLE HARD DIFFICULTY: Cheerios, food colouring, pebbles, Legos, leaves, and other stuff. We even froze a length of string 2 TIME: 45 minutes AGE: 5+ between two cubes to be used as a handle.

2. Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil – this Shopping list is your building surface. (Tip: Before you start building, make enough room in your freezer to accommodate your lantern when it’s finished QTY DESCRIPTION for a final freeze.) Set a bowl of water next to 1 LED light * your work area. Now you can start building your 1 pipette (a small baster) * ice structure, using the cubes as bricks. To affix one cube to another, use the pipette to squirt 1 oversize ice cube tray some water where the two cubes meet. The 1 various ice cube fillers (leaves, rocks, tiny cubes will freeze the water, creating a bond. toys, food colouring, etc) Our base was a three-by-three square. 3 baking sheet 3. Build the walls up from the base, leaving a 1 aluminium foil chute in the centre for the LED light. Try to match cubes that have flat sides for better bonds. If parent only you’ve planned for a handle (like we did with the Instructions parent and kid string), remember to save those cubes for the kid only top. When you’re happy with your lantern, place 1. To build our ice lantern as part of a Groovy Lab the whole thing (carefully) in the freezer to science experiment (see box, right), our first step solidify the bonds and strengthen the structure. was to make a bunch of zany oversize ice cubes. (You can find the silicone trays at kitchen stores.) 4. Drop your LED light into the centre, and Put anything you want in the cubes – we used watch the lantern light up!

4 * SUPPLIERS: LEDs: electronics stores; Pipette: Pharmacies, baking supply stores. INSTRUCTION PHOTOGRAPHS BY BETH PERKINS

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 85 GETTING STARTED R/C DRIFTING Drifting: There can’t be many people unfamiliar with the concept of drifting (for those IN . . . recently arrived from Mars, Google “Pluspy”). In tech terms, it’s the process in which the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle in a vehicle. Simply put, it’s hanging the tail out. BY KYLE KOCK

ESSENTIALLY, A TRUE DRIFT in motorsport would require all wheels to be pointed in the same direction (straight), while the more modern and popularised understanding is that the front wheels are pointed in the opposite direction of the corner apex. So, if you need to turn right for a corner, you are doing so while the front wheels are pointed left. Japan was where drifting became really big and about 15 years ago in Japan, radio-controlled hobbyists started mimicking what full- scale drifters were doing. The hobbyists used 1:10 scale cars, and local enthusiasts quickly picked up the trend here in South Africa. But people started losing interest at the end of the previous decade, until a revival – largely thanks to increased realism – led to a mass resur- gence in the past three years.

Chassis 50:50 An all-wheel-drive car where the front wheels turn as fast as the rear wheels. This is the most basic entry-level car you’d be able to buy, and the cheapest. SHELLS: Made of polycarbonate; you can find almost anything you desire. Most TIP! R/C drifters prefer the cars that have been an integral part of drifting or racing culture, such as the Nissan Silvia and Toyota AE86 or BMW M3 and Ford Mustang. CS (counter-steer) Also four-wheel drive, but with the rear wheels spinning faster than the front, mimicking more of what full-scale drifters experience with a rear- wheel-drive effect). This version is more customisable than the 50:50 chassis, where you can set the gearing, for example, to get the rear wheels spinning even faster.

RWD (rear-wheel drive) The real makhoya. Uses a gyro to aid the practitioner. If you’ve ever kicked the tail out on a full-scale vehicle and caught it in a drift, then try to picture catching a 1:10 car in scale – you’d require superhuman reflexes because the gyro reacts within six-tenths of a second. Because there’s only one belt or shaft, it’s theoretically cheaper to maintain, but you need to be on expert level to even look like you know what you’re doing.

86 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 PRACTICE TIP! MAKES PERFECT You’re not going to start and be competitive right from the beginning. Not even if you’re a full-scale drifter. You need to have an understanding of a car’s behaviour when it’s sideways. The easiest way to get going is by doing figure eights. When you’re able to widen and tighten your Tyres line at will, you can move on to more challenging exercises. JUST LIKE REAL CARS, where you have different compounds and thicknesses, threaded tyres and slicks. There are also many different manufacturers. The tyres used on a particular day will depend on where RC drifters get together, practise or compete. On tarmac, the compound will be harder, whereas on a smoother concrete surface, the compound will be softer. DID YOU KNOW? When the hobby was in its infancy, RC drifters would use PVC piping on the wheels to help the 50:50 chassis cars slide around with ease.

Suspension IT COMES DOWN TO DECIDING on spring rates. A lower spring rate equals a softer set-up, which is ideal for drifting. Most competitors use non-progressive dampers, and you can get up to national level competition on them. Progressive is the most desirable, but is also very pricey and suits certain surfaces only. Fully adjustable suspension set-ups will make all the difference in fine-tuning your set-up.

Steering

Remote controller/throttle

Servo

JUST LIKE in the real racing ANOTHER HIGHLY customisable a world, with quick ratio and slow- b unit required for ultimate control. ratio steering racks, a servo is an You can adjust many of the car’s important area that you’d want to settings steering from the remote spend a little more money on to get controller – depending on what the job done properly. Servos help you’d like to spend. with precise control.

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 87 Getting Started In R/C DRIFTING

This comes down to a battle between brushed and brushless motors. The cheaper option, a brushed motor, uses a more mechanical method to generate current and eventually turn the driven wheels, but the downside is that it will require some maintenance and is prone to failure (just like any other piece of mechanical equipment). Motors Brushless motors use electromagnets to turn the rotor, and require almost no maintenance because of the lack of moving mechanical parts. Brushless Brands motors are best used in conjunction with Tamiya, HPI and Yokomo are the three main an ESC, which is essentially the engine brands. The Tamiya TT-01 is one of the most management system of your RC drift well-known models and many hobbyists started car – on which you can fine-tune motor off using this mainstream chassis. The HPI behaviour, cut-off threshold (how far you Sprint2Drift is on par with the TT-01, but want the power to keep feeding in doesn’t have as many hop-ups available. before it cuts off completely, start-mode Essentially, the TT-01 in its various guises (a sort of traction control system), will be able to teach you about camber, caster brake force, and timing. and toe settings – the suspension settings that you will need to master to progress quickly. A NOT ALL ABOUT SPEED: brand new TT-01 will set you back about R3 000, TIP! You don’t need the fastest motor but you can also purchase a used TT-01 that’s because drifting isn’t about who fully hopped up for around R1 500. gets from point A to point B the fastest. You have to have style and control, so don’t go out and get the most powerful engine right off the bat. WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO PAY TO BE NOTICED

Chassis: R3 500 Servo: R3 000 Batteries Brushless NiMH (Nickel-Metal Hydride) batteries used to charge for an motor with hour and you’d get about 10-15 minutes. But these days you ESC: R3 500 can get up to an hour and, with rear-wheel drive, up to two Remote: R3 500 – R8 000 hours because of how light you are on the componentry, with Batteries and LiPo (lithium-polymer) batteries. LiPo batteries come in almost charger: R600 – R800 for LiPo any shape, are light and pack a lot of power. NiMH batteries batteries and up to are hardier, in terms of lifespan and how they are stored and R2 000 for a charger charged require less care than LiPo. Shells: Anywhere between R250 to R1 500. Drifters might use four a year. Tyres: R300 – R450 per set Wheels: R200 – R600 per set Suspension: R1 000 – R1 500 for coilovers and springs It’s important to note that you can pick up all of the above on the used market, as people transition from all-wheel drive to DON’T RUSH PURCHASES: Avoid this rookie error by buying only what you need, when CS and RWD, and upgrade their set-ups, TIP! you need to. For example, if you’re not satisfied with tyres once you have been using for half the asking amount when new or them on different surfaces, buy a new set to go with a certain surface. Just buying even less. PM many things at once will result in wastage and you not getting your money’s worth.

88 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 To advertise in Buyer’s Guide contact Joanne, Lindi or Patrick on 011 449 1100 or BUYER’SGUIDE email: [email protected]

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 89 To advertise in Buyer’s Guide contact Joanne, Lindi or Patrick on 011 449 1100 or BUYER’SGUIDE email: [email protected]

90 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 To advertise in Buyer’s Guide contact Joanne, Lindi or Patrick on 011 449 1100 or BUYER’SGUIDE email: [email protected]

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 91 To advertise in Buyer’s Guide contact Joanne, Lindi or Patrick on 011 449 1100 or BUYER’SGUIDE email: [email protected]

92 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 To advertise in Buyer’s Guide contact Joanne, Lindi or Patrick on 011 449 1100 or BUYER’SGUIDE email: [email protected]

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 93 To advertise in Buyer’s Guide contact Joanne, Lindi or Patrick on 011 449 1100 or BUYER’SGUIDE email: [email protected]

94 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 To advertise in Buyer’s Guide contact Joanne, Lindi or Patrick on 011 449 1100 or BUYER’SGUIDE email: [email protected]

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 95 To advertise in Buyer’s Guide contact Joanne, Lindi or Patrick on 011 449 1100 or BUYER’SGUIDE email: [email protected]

96 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 To advertise in Buyer’s Guide contact Joanne, Lindi or Patrick on 011 449 1100 or BUYER’SGUIDE email: [email protected]

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 97 To advertise in Buyer’s Guide contact Joanne, Lindi or Patrick on 011 449 1100 or BUYER’SGUIDE email: [email protected]

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98 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ MAY 2016 To advertise in Buyer’s Guide contact Joanne, Lindi or Patrick on 011 449 1100 or BUYER’SGUIDE email: [email protected]

JULY 2016 _ www.popularmechanics.co.za 99 DO IT YOUR WAY / USEFUL, CLEVER TIPS FOR YOUR HOME WIN

WINNING TIP SEND US YOUR NOW YOU SEE IT HINT – AND SCORE! We are very keen campers and have lately begun using a 4x4 bush wagon for our excur- Send us your best home, garage work- sions. We have always had the problem of kids and even us adults tripping on tent pegs shop and general DIY hints – and win! and injuring ourselves, especially in the dark. This month’s winning tip will receive a Our solution was to buy a few brightly coloured pool noodles, cut them into the lengths Masterlock hamper worth R1 500! of the tent pegs, slitting them with a sharp knife along one side and then sliding them over The Master Lock hamper consists the tent pegs. Not only are the tent peg more visible, but they are less likely to injure you of a key storage unit, keyed locking seriously if you do happen to trip over one. My wife, a stickler for a neat camping site, also cable and M2 Excell padlocks. The key finds them more pleasing to the eye. storage unit has a large key storage MARCEL DU PRÉ compartment, a four-digit resettable KLERKSDORP combination and the dial is mounted at an angle for easier use visibility. The solid zinc body can withstand hammering and sawing. Dual locking levers provide better resistance and a protective plastic door offers better weather resistance. The keyed locking cable is a 1,8 m self coiling cable with pin tumbler cylinder. A vinyl cover protects it from scratch- es and is available in red, blue and transparent. M1 Excell padlocks are ideal for securing factory fences, sheds or store front gates. It has a 45mm laminated had placed thin, empty boxes around our steel core with titanium reinforced outer garage walls. Her explanation was simple body for higher strength and reliability. – and the effect of her empty boxes Exclusive octagonal boron-carbide immediate. shackle for maximum cut resistance. The boxes prevent the car doors from Double deadbolt locking for added chipping paint against the garage wall protection from prying and hammering whenever one of our three boys (and our- with a 4-pin cylinder. For more infor- selves) get over-enthusiastic while climb- mation on Master Lock, view www. ing out. This may be a small trick that she mackiediy.co.za or call 021 508 1250. has devised, but it’s one that has saved the paint on our car on many occasions Send your tips to: and quite possibly a small dent or two. PM Do It Your Way, Box 180, Howard THE CLIP THAT LASTS ROB NEWCOMB Place 7450, or e-mail popularmechanics Ever bought a bicycle pump and, after a few PIETERMARITZBURG @ramsaymedia.co.za. Please include uses, the plastic clip that holds it in place your name, address and contact number. Regrettably, only South African residents breaks off? Mine did, and after a few flat A HAND IN NEED are eligible for the prize. Prizes not tyres on the road, having to borrow a pump, After servicing or repairing an electrical claimed within 60 days will be forfeited. I made a plan. I took two terry clips and appliance, getting the wires back in their riveted them onto a piece of metal I had original position often requires a third lying around. By bending the metal plate, I hand to set the wires in position ready to was able to ensure that the water bottle hold- screw everything together again. That’s er still fits, even though it’s not pictured especially so if they have been shortened. here. The result: a fix that not only holds My answer is a small blob of Prestik. This the pump much more securely than the old will hold any stubborn wire in position, plastic clip did, but one that will last forever. leaving your hands free to screw every- PETRI DUVENAGE thing together. I’ve just rewired a small GROBLERSHOOP vacuum cleaner with ten fixing screws. The wires were held and remained in place BOXING CLEVER for the whole assembly. I am a sailor and on returning home from BERNIE CROCKFORD a long trip I couldn’t understand why my wife BY EMAIL

RESERVATION OF COPYRIGHT The publishers of Popular Mechanics reserve all rights of reproduction or broadcasting of feature articles and factual data appearing in this journal under Section 12 (7) of the Copyright Act, 1978. Such reproduction or broadcasting may be authorised only by the publishers of Popular Mechanics. Published by RamsayMedia Pty Ltd for the Proprietors, Popular Mechanics (SA) Pty Ltd, 36 Old Mill Rd, Ndabeni, Western Cape. Distributed by RNA, 12 Nobel St, Industria West, Johannesburg, and printed by CTP Web, 12-14 Boompies Street, Parow, Cape Town. Apple Mac support: Digicape tel 021 674-5000.

100 www.popularmechanics.co.za _ JULY 2016 FOOTBALL THAT SHAKES THE WORLD SEE EVERY ACTION AND REACTION JHB 54008/OJ As seen on DStv

Catch all 51 games live and in HD when Europe’s greatest footballers battle for glory at UEFA Euro 2016 from 10 June – 10 July.

54008-303147_SS Euro2016_Z ibrahimovic_275x210.indd 1 2016/05/27 5:56 PM Frankie Dettori – Investec ambassador

What does it take to win the Investec Derby? Losing it 18 times.

We believe in ambition. Like Frankie Dettori, Britain’s best-loved champion jockey, who once rode all seven winners at Royal Ascot at odds of more than 25 000-1. And yet somehow the Investec Derby at Epsom Downs eluded him. Until he soared to victory in 2007 and then again in 2015. It’s that same grit and tenacity that we apply to creating and managing your wealth through Specialist Banking, Asset Management and Wealth & Investment.

How ambitious are you?

Specialist Banking Asset Management Wealth & Investment

Investec Limited and its subsidiaries, including Investec Bank Limited - 1969/004763/06, registered credit providers and authorised ﬁnancial service providers. Johannesburg 011 286 7000 Cape Town 021 416 1000 Durban 031 575 4000 Pretoria 012 427 8300 Port Elizabeth 041 396 6700.

Repro 1505527 Investec Frankie Dettori PopMech 275x210.indd 1 2016/05/27 2:36 PM