Audi R15: The Forgotten Audi LMP

Hi everyone.

This blog post is about what I consider the forgotten Audi Le Mans car.  It tends to get overlooked because it wasn't as successful or long lived as other Audi LMPs.  However, it set two distance/speed records that will probably not be broken for a long time, and set the tone for its more successful successors.

The Audi R15 was created as the successor to the R10 and to provide a continued answer to the Peugeot 908.  While the R10 had the 908 beaten on speed and reliability at their first meeting at Le Mans in 2007, the newer 908 had more development potential, which showed in early 2008.  Audi won Le Mans thanks to better tactics, reliability and adaptability, and they closed the gap in performance during the season.  But the R10 was a relative dead end as far as development.

The R15 was hoped to be more agile and easier to drive than either the R10 or 908.  And though the car showed potential in testing, between rain and accidents in testing, the R15's test regimen wasn't as successful as hoped, and ended up showing up to Le Mans with teething problems that didn't even show up at the car's successful debut at the 2009 12 Hours of Sebring.  In so winning at Sebring, the R15 set the all time distance record for a victor at the Sebring 12 Hours, a record that still stands and will likely stand for a while yet.

Le Mans, though, was a relative disaster by Audi Sport standards.  One car finished well back due to mechanical problems, one crashed out, and the other finished 3rd after battling overheating issues and a lack of top speed during the event.  

Hence, it can be argued that the R15 didn't live up to its hopes.  The R10 struggled with top speed vs the 908 in 2008 at most circuits.  This didn't hurt the R10 much as it won at tracks like Silverstone and Road Atlanta for the Petit Le Mans, where its handling advantage over the 908 worked in its favor.  But at Le Mans, with 5 zones were the fastest cars can easily hit speeds of over 200mph, the speed deficit showed.  Only by being better in rainy conditions, better strategy and tactics, and better durability did Audi conquer Peugeot at Le Mans in 2008.

At Petit Le Mans at Road America--a track that suited the early incarnation of the R15 just as well as the R10--Audi dominated in both wet and dry conditions, only for late race spins to cost them a likely win when the race was stopped due to a flooded track.

Keeping in mind the Le Mans performance deficit to Peugeot and other minor problems that held them back, Audi Sport redeveloped the R15 for 2010, keeping only the chassis, basic suspension, and the 5.5 liter V10 TDI engine and 5 speed gearbox.  Every body panel on the car was otherwise changed.  

That re-engineering did close the gap to Peugeot, but not completely, at Le Mans.  However, the pace was hard and record setting during the race.  And the effects showed with the Peugeots suffering terminal problems, leaving the slightly slower, but more consistent, and more durable Audi R15s to take a 1-2-3 finish at Le Mans.  And like at Sebring a year in a half earlier, set an all-time distance and average speed record that's unlikely to fall anytime soon.

Performance against Peugeot was on par for the rest of the Audi vs Peugeot encounters, though further victories eluded Audi until the R18--which was developed based on feedback and developments from the R15--entered use.  And thus, started a new generation of Audi Le Mans Prototype cars that featured smaller engines, enclosed cockpits, and, ultimately, hybrid systems.

Video of the early R15 in late 2008 being tested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo4W2Ycejr8&t=31s

Audi Sport promo video released before the 2009 12 Hours of Sebring:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMZE6xEc-lM

And now the 2010 version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CELNVjHCk6A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxNVmMycSdU

And now some articles and galleries, first 2009

https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/4044/Audi-R15-TDI.html

2010:

https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/4480/Audi-R15-plus-TDI.html

Audi R8: Where the Name for the Audi Supercar Originated

 

Hi everyone.

 

I've written a lot about the Audi R10 lately, but what came before it? One of the few Audi Le Mans cars that was more successful than it was. So successful in fact that Audi named their flagship supercar after it. The Audi R8. 

 

From 2000-2006, it won 80% of the races it entered, and influenced several features on the R10 and other cars that came in the R8's wake. We kind of owe modern Prototype road racing to it in many ways. 

 

It incorporated several F1 like technologies, including a roll over bar that withstood 3x what was required of it. It also spawned a successful customer racing program that took over when the factory team left to concentrate on the Audi Sport supported Bentley Le Mans Program for 2003 (which also used the R8's engine and electronics) and what ultimately became the R10. And it also spawned modular design, something that was taken further by the R10 and others that followed. This included a whole rear end assembly that could be changed in less than 5 minutes. 

 

Also of note for road cars, the R8 introduced to racing direct fuel injection for gasoline engines, inspired by then modern diesel technology. Now DFI is very widely used on road cars by many manufacturers, as it boosts both fuel economy and performance.

 

As the car raced in multiple year and some are even still encountered in vintage/historic racing, I decided that for the sake of brevity that I'd post the page to links on info and specs on all versions of the R8:

https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/search/&class=lmp

 

A couple of technical pages:

http://www.mulsannescorner.com/audir8.html

 

http://www.mulsannescorner.com/audir8-01.html

 

From a teaser post I made recently:

http://lemansprototypes.over-blog.it/.../Audi_R8-8736287...

 

Onboard from Laguna Seca as driven by Mr. Le Mans himself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK5u3aCwNgc

 

Technical video hosted by a man who has worked on the R8 and other Audi prototypes for many years and helps keep those in historical racing running:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIcalCMUbD4

Audi R10: Introduction into Modern Era Diesel-powered Auto Racing

 

Hi everyone.

 

This post is a change of pace--literally. Instead of talking about World War II or the technology from that period used in that conflict, I'm switching genres and time period. While my electricity was out after the Sunday windstorm, I started to get back into auto racing and the history of it. I won't be reaching back too far, in this case 2006-2008 with one of my favorite racing cars of all time, the Audi R10.

 

It was notable for being the first diesel powered car to win Le Mans, one of the first to have notable success in auto racing, period, and its design and construction influences top class Le Mans type racing cars nearly 15 years after it broke cover.

 

Even though diesel powered cars no longer race at Le Mans (that ended when Audi Sport withdrew from top flight prototype sports car racing in late 2016), the basic design of the R10 is still a design influence. Even though it's open cockpit (which became less common after 2008 and eventually totally phased out at Le Mans in 2017), it's chassis design is still pointing the direction to go. Almost all Le Mans Prototype cars still use a "all monocoque" chassis, where there's no bodywork covering the chassis beyond non-structural elements. This allows the whole front and rear clips of the car to be detached in big chunks for rapid changes of damaged parts, set up changes and chassis/suspension adjustments.

 

Then there's it's 5.5 liter V12 turbodiesel engine. Both the engine's basic design principals and being a diesel were outgrowths of the earlier R8 program (the current Audi super car and GT racers were named after the earlier R8 LMP car). Namely, the R8's (and Audi road car) direct gasoline injection system was an outgrowth of Audi's TDI (Turbocharged Direct diesel Injection) system, but applies to gasoline engines. With the R10, things came full circle.

The engine made over 650-700 horsepower and over 900 lbs/ft of torque. In a car that weighed 900-925 kg (depending on series rules and season the car competed in), and, initially, had no traction control (and even then barely worked most of the time, which the drivers actually appreciated it's minimal interference). When the R8 raced, traction control was illegal and only became legal in 2006 (though the R10 initially ran without it).

 

The car didn't just impress with its speed, but relative near silence on account of the turbocharged, low-revving diesel engine. When on considered that the earlier R8 (which used a 3.6 liter turbocharged V8) wasn't especially loud for a race car, that's saying a lot.

It also helped introduce the modern long wheelbase design into LMP racing. This was partly to keep as much weight as possible within the car's wheelbase for handling reasons. It also enhanced handling at high speeds and in rapid direction changes. It also allowed the R10 to run to near the maximum LMP1 car length of 4650mm, given that LMP1 cars from 2006 to 2020 were restricted in terms of front and rear overhang (distance of bodywork allowed to extend beyond the confines of the wheelbase), though wheelbase (distance between front and rear wheel centerlines) was unrestricted. Formula 1 cars and Indy Cars, for example, also run such long wheelbases for the same reasons.

 

For reference, Audi Sport compared the R10's wheelbase to that of the then similarly new first generation Audi Q7 full size SUV, and is still comparable to full size sedans and full size SUVs. This, however, posed no impediment to agility for reasons mentioned above.

The only Audi prototype that was more dominant or accomplished in racing was the earlier R8, who's DNA was all over the R10. From here on out in this post are links to info, photos and videos.

 

Evo Magazine article from 2008 track test: https://www.evo.co.uk/audi/6720/audi-r10

 

Photo gallery from same test:

https://www.evo.co.uk/audi/2285/audi-r10-pictures

 

Technical blogs with photos and illustrations: http://www.mulsannescorner.com/audir10.html

http://lemansprototypes.over-blog.it/.../Audi_R10_TDI...

 

https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/2611/Audi-R10-TDI.html

 

And now videos, including a legendary drive from then Audi Sport factory driver (and now Audi Sport Formula E team manager) Allan McNish from worst to first at Petit Le Mans in 2008.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IAKlOVcWOA

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwU4UXL3kt4

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoXpOEywv4k

 

McNish part 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb06KWq6BpU&t=47s

 

Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8PBjSP-H9o

Now I'm a PC Gamer

 Hi Everyone.

My younger brother recently got a PC tower, primarily for gaming, recently.  We've had it for over a week now.  And I've enjoyed gaming on it more than I thought I would.

So far, I only really have one game that I frequently play on it. And that's the PC version of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.  I've talked about that game before, but the PC version in a few ways is a different animal, pretty much for the better.

First, instead of some strange auto aim where when two things are near your aiming reticule, and bullets tend to go to the nearest of the two, now you can actually shoot at what you're aiming at.  Hence, you don't have to pussyfoot around and hope and pray your aim does what you want it to do.  

Also, the graphics are a huge improvement over the PS2 version.Colors are brighter, graphics are smoother, and I'm getting 60fps out of it all the time.  Even the controls are better.  I know that some may or may not like WASD for movement, but I like it.  Biggest improvement there is mouse aiming.  It makes movement, not just aiming, but simple looking around or simple direction changes a lot more responsive and easier and more flowing.  

 As for the future, I'm looking into getting an emulator system for it for most of my PS1 and PS2 games, and looking at getting some of the Call of Duty games for it from back in the day.

I'm thinking that I'm going to really love gaming on the new PC. I'm also looking at getting a new laptop, not for gaming, but for basic looking up stuff online and viewing photos.  I'm open for suggestions.  I don't need much storage (I already have an external hard drive and thumb drives), and I'm looking for 14 to 15.6 inch screen and a $250 or less price tag.  

Other than that, I haven't been up to much.  I did get a new pair of glasses that I love wearing.  I'm probably, since it's getting colder and such, going to be watching more TV in the living room.  Also on Tuesday, I have a Halloween party with Best Buddies.  I'm really looking forward to that coming up.

 Also, I'm hoping soon to be doing some reorganizing in my bedroom.  Mostly getting rid of something on my desk that's storing a lot of stuff and have the PC tower up there on the desk, and some more room for lighting and such, too.

 Everyone have a good one :)

A Little Bit About Myself

 Hi Everyone.

I decided to make a bit of a post about myself where instead of talking about technical stuff or history and such, I want to talk a bit about me.

 I'll just be rattling off some stuff about me that some of you may or may not know about me.  But it's stuff that I think some of you might find interesting.

First of all, I do like to cook.  I love making slow cooker stuff, as well as home made fried chicken.  Even stuff like boxed pasta and French fries is stuff that I'm always interested in making.  In fact, earlier, I made some seasoned fries where I baked them for a while, then finished them in a deep fryer.  You can also use an air fryer for the frying part. I really love cooking and mixing up drinks as far as drink mixes.  And tacos, calzone-like creations, stuff like that.  

And a lot of you probably know that I'm into history and such.  Be it World War II, cars, motorsport, weather.  I love researching the past.  It also leads to IMO kinda weird stuff like thinking "how would this have done back in World War II) and such.  I also like looking into obscure junk and stuff that was flawed.  That's always had a bit of charm for me.  

Also, I'm into women's fashion and things related to that.  I'm big time into doing women's nails.  That's been something that I've been into since I was little.  I haven't done that much in recent times, but I did a friend's recently and she said I did a pretty good job.  It's just something that I find fun and interesting to do.

 Also in recent times, I've been becoming more social.  I've been trying to talk to friends online and when possible hang out with them.  I'm trying to see what I can do next and when.  That's much better IMO than how I used to be, which was kinda anti-social and even scared of other people in general.  I haven't always had a positive image of humanity, but I'm trying to change that.

 I know that this will probably be a bit of a short post, but I hope that you'll still enjoy reading it.

Have yourself a good one :)

Hangin' with Friends and Some Gaming Stuff

 Hi everyone.

The first thing that I'd like to say is that I've had so much fun hanging with and talking to my friends Victoria and Colton recently.  I haven't been able to show them the Bird Sanctuary yet, but it's on our list of things to do before winter.  Also, some sight seeing around Columbus is also something we're looking into.  

I'm also hoping to get some info soon on Best Buddies.  Victoria and one of our other friends Sara is working on that with some others.  Hopefully in a few days there'll be something concrete.

As for gaming, I'm about to move on to Gran Turismo 4 after literally nearly a year away, but first I'm trying to finish up a few things on Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.  I do have a few things to note about the game, though.  

One, is the AI in the game--or, maybe, lack there of.  It's something that certainly incentivizes stealth for sure.  However, I don't play it stealthfully, and the idiot AI is a mixed blessing.  The AI sometimes will behave as if they have no sense of self-preservation, or maybe they have a death wish.  

What I mean by that, is that the unarmed NPCs will run or walk (or stand or crouch) between you and an armed enemy NPC (usually a target's bodyguards or enforcers), which is an invitation to get shot by someone.  If you're trying to lay waste to a map, that's OK.  But when you're only trying to take down the armed NPCs, it can be very frustrating.  It also results at times in the armed NPCs accidentally shooting and killing the innocent NPCs.  Which means that I can "retaliate" against them for their act of manslaughter.  It is however sometimes comical seeing the armed NPCs have to pussyfoot around the idiot AI like you have to, though.

Maybe now's a time to bring up you can't spell "assassin" without using a certain word twice...?

And now, a word on the arms of Silent Assassin.  One is a rather mundane pistol that has a legendary (but somewhat erroneous) reputation, and the other is a weapon that's not at all common as it is in the game.

First of all, the PSM pistol (identified as the 5.45mm Pistol) in the game.  It only appears twice, and both times in the hands of Russian operatives, one being a FSB agent (accurate) and a Spetsnaz officer (less accurate).  In the case of the FSB, the PSM is fairly commonly in use in Russian (and some other former Soviet countries') law enforcement, as it's popular with plain clothes police officers and detectives.  And it is sometimes used by the Spetsnaz, basically Russian Armed Forces/Soviet Armed Forces spec ops.  

This, of course gave rise to it being alleged to be a popular assassin's weapon, due to it's small size and alleged formidable capabilities against certain types of light cover, and light body armor (such as flak jackets and bulletproof vests).  The latter is mostly true because of it using jacketed ball (aka hardball) bullets instead of unjacketed lead bullets of similar caliber (5.45mm is roughly .22 caliber).  That said, it's not an impressive round.

Ballistically, it's actually fairly similar or slightly more powerful than .22 Long Rifle.  However, that suits the PSM's actual purpose.  It was originally designed for Soviet Army and Air Force generals and Soviet Navy admirals as a compact pistol to be hidden in a special holster under their uniform blazers.  Basically it is to the 9x18mm Makarov PM pistol as the .32 and .380 Colt M1903 pocket pistols were to the Colt M1911 .45 pistol back in the day for the US Army. Smaller caliber weapon was issued to generals not expected to see serious combat.  Larger caliber pistol was issued to officers, NCOs and rank and file troops expected to see serious combat.  

In terms of the initialism, PSM is an abbreviation of the Russian phrase meaning "small self-loading/semiautomatic pistol".

But the PSM does have a legend to it, though one mostly perpetulated by films and video games rather than real life.

Also in Silent Assassin, in the Afghanistan levels, the Russian AKSU-74 compact carbine (or submachine gun as the Russians tended to term it until about 15 or so years ago) is insanely common.  Again, this runs counter to real life.  

It's inclusion was probably inspired by films and video games like Goldeneye where the AKSU featured prominently.  Let alone the fact that infamous terrorist Osama Bin Laden frequently was pictured with one in photos and videos.  The latter goes along with the US/NATO invasion of Afghanistan following the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks (the Hitman game franchise was developed by IO Interactive, a Danish software/gaming company.  And Denmark was a founding member of NATO and has been active in Afghanistan against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda).

However, the AKSU-74 (AK stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova, literally Kalashnikov Automatic Rifle, S for folding stock, and U for shortened, 74 for 1974 model year) is a relatively rare weapon in real life, and in fact is being phased out of the Russian Armed Forces in favor of a more advanced replacement.

Also, most AKSUs weren't made by Izhmash (now Kalashnikov Group), the majority being made at the Tula Arsenal from 1979 to 1993, when mass production ended.  Which means that among AK-47 based weapons, the AKSU is a literal drop in the ocean, and hasn't even really been produced since the likes of Victoria Justice, Ariana Grande and Liz Gillies were babies.  

It also wasn't particularly popular with the Soviet/Russian Army.  Only the Spetsnaz seemed to like it.  Between that and being out of production for over 25 years, it's being replaced by the AM-17, a Kalashnikov Group modernization of the rediscovered Dragunov MA.  The latter was designed by Yevgeny Dragunov, a gunsmith better known for the SVD sniper rifle.  It was originally a test bed for polymer materials being used in rifles by the Russians back in the 1970s.

So that's it for Silent Assassin.  I'm planning on buying a "new" PS2 off Amazon soon and a 256GB memory stick on Tuesday, and I'm looking into getting a 14 inch laptop whenever I can get the money.  

And of course, I'm looking forward to more adventures with Victoria, Colton, and others, too.

Eating and Gaming

 Hi everyone.

This is going to be a fairly mundane blog post about a couple of things I've been up to.  Mostly what I've been eating for dinner lately and some gaming stuff.

Basically, I've become addicted to pasta and slow cooker beef and onion dishes.  I've been eating a ton of Pasta Roni boxed pasta meals.  Basically, I've had just about everyone of them that was inspired by traditional Italian pasta dishes.  Namely butter and herb, Parmesan cheese, fettuccine Alfredo, broccoli and chicken, and chicken fettuccine.  All of which are pretty good, and all of which are pretty cheap.  Almost every place that sells them retails them for about a dollar.

I've also taken a liking to slow cooker beef and vegetables.  Be it pot roast or my upcoming attempt at beef and French onion soup.  I have onions, will be getting beef broth and steaks, so why not?

And for desert, well, I usually eat cereal like Crispex or Chex, or ice cream.  Meijer has Hudsonville brand ice cream, while Walmart has started to carry Turkey Hill (which Kroger already was).

Now to shift to gaming.  So far, as far as actual games, it's been the same old, same old.  Mostly Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.  However, I'll be doing some racing games soon since Le Mans is coming up next month.  However, I bought a Pound HDMI adapter for my PS2.  And it's a huge improvement over AV composite (or whatever the Yellow/Red/White wires are), or the RCA to HDMI adapted I used previously.  Text especially is do much sharper and easier to read, and color and such is pretty good as well.

Previously, I felt I was taking an eye exam with how blurry some images were.  Granted, my eyesight isn't the greatest to begin with.  But now at least I can read text in my PS2 games without excessive blurriness and such.  Not to mention if my next TV only has HDMI, no worries there, either.

So, that's what I have for now.  I'll probably make a more history oriented post next time within the next few days.

Everyone have a good one :)

Hi--What I've Been Up To the Past 6 Months

Hi everyone.  I know that the last time I posted something here was about 6 months ago.  In that time between Covid, social unrest, and other things that were depressing and upsetting to me, I battled a lot of off and on depression and tried to focus on keeping occupied since I was stuck at home so much.

Over the past few weeks, however, some wonderful things have actually happened to me.  A couple of Saturdays ago, my friend Angie had me over to her new apartment in Columbus.  I wasn't able to stay the whole day, because neither of us was feeling that good, but it was a start.

Last Friday, I got to hang out with my friend Victoria and her friend Colton, and I got to make a new friend as a result.  I've been talking to more friends and such recently, too.  That's good from my POV, given that for a while I felt like I was getting oddly misanthropic.   For a while, I was feeling so socially shut off, I was wondering what the point of reaching out was.  But at least the last few weeks have changed that.

It's also changed my attitude towards this blog.  I neglected it because either I thought no one would want to read about me being pissed off at the world and seeing either red (anger) or blue (depression), or just being freakin' boring.

Now I actually have a wide range of topics I'd like to write about that I've developed in recent weeks.  Things such as items concerning owls, weather, cars/racing and history/armed forces tech, and even video gaming (casual retro-gamer, nothing big, though).

Hence, I'd actually like to know what you guys would like for me to talk about.  You can post comments here or on my Facebook post where I'll be posting a link.

Near future blogs will likely concern owls and a project involving an armed forces service rifle that's a general showing of how not to engineer anything that you intend to work right.  The latter started out pretty well, but progressively went down the tubes until, at the lowest point, outsiders who knew how to engineer the device properly, quickly reversed the project's fortunes seemingly overnight just by the proper attention to detail.

I hope that you guys will enjoy what I have coming up.

What I Do To Pass the Time.

Hi Everyone.

I've been meaning to write this for a little while.  It concerns what I do in my spare time when I'm not online.  

First of all, I'm kinda a casual gamer.  I'm not serious about it, I just do it for fun.   I'm also stuck in the PS2 era of games.  Which means that I mostly play Gran Turismo 4, and several games from the Medal Of Honor series, namely Underground, Frontline and European Assault.

However, I've been playing a pretty different game from that fare (GT4 is a racing game and the MOH series on the PS1/PS2 are World War II games).  The game is Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.  Not to be confused with Hitman 2 that came out on PC, PS4 and XBox One that came out in late 2018.  Silent Assassin came out in 2002 on PC, and was ported to the existing console platforms later that year.  

The whole plot of the Hitman franchise of games is that you play as Agent 47, a genetically engineered professional assassin who's known for ultra-stealthy and innovative ways of assassinating targets. 47 is a definite anti-hero, a man of unknown moral make up who performs his contracts to perfection.  At least, that's how the story goes.

All Hitman games do, however, especially from Silent Assassin onward, allow the player, on most missions, to fulfill the mission criteria however he or she wants.  The emphasis is on stealth, however.  Unlike most shooters, but like say the Metal Gear/Metal Gear Solid games, the emphasis is on stealth, not blasting away at enemies.  However, like in those games, most Hitman games do give you the option to take down only the target, annihilate everyone on map, and anywhere in between in most missions at your discretion.

There's of course the normal whole range of weapons, from knives and melee weapons, to pistols ranging from a .22 silenced pistol, to a 9mm Beretta 92, to a .357 Magnum revolver, to a Desert Eagle magnum automatic pistol, to Agent 47's signature .45 AMT Hardballer pistols (called Silverballers from Silent Assassin onward, probably due to copyright reasons).  There's also submachine guns, namely an Uzi and a standard and silenced version of the MP5, carbine assault rifles like the AKSU and M4 carbine, a M60 machine gun, two double barreled shotguns and a semi auto shotgun, and various sniper rifles.

As far as shooting, it normally works as you'd expect.  However, the aiming system is somewhat odd in that the bullets don't always exactly go where you expect them to.  This can be annoying in crowded situations, especially when you're trying to minimize collateral damage in a fight.  Also, naturally, some weapons are better than others for like say ranged shooting.  

Also, though this gets addressed in later games, there's almost no hand to hand combat use in the game, though the developers incorporated a cheat code that allows 47 to deliver a devastating punch that kills anyone who he punches, mostly for dark humor value.  Also, several of the ragdoll effects on enemies are overdone to the point where they're humorously absurd.

Also, the game perpetuated an inaccuracy with the Russian PSM pistol.  It is depicted, like common at the time, as some kind of super snazzy, super powerful assassination pistol used by the Spetnaz and KGB as an ultra-powerful pistol that can deal with soft body armor, like most Kevlar flak jackets.  

The truth is actually pretty different.  The PSM was basically a baby version of the Russian Makarov automatic pistol designed as the Russian/Soviet version of the Walther PP pistol firing a unique 9mm round similar to the .380 ACP.  In the case of the PSM, it was a 5.45mm caliber pocket pistol for Russian/Soviet Army Generals and some police operatives who needed a very small, modestly sized--and in truth, modestly powerful--pistol.

The 5.45mm round can penetrate certain types of soft armor, but so can 7.62mm Tokarev pistol rounds of certain specs and certain specs of over pressure 9mm Luger pistol rounds designed for submachine guns.  

In game, the PSM is similar in power to the 9mm Beretta 92.  In reality, the PSM is roughly equal in power to a .22 Magnum or .25 ACP pistol.  It was designed to be compact for Russian Army Generals, not as a sophisticated KGB assassination weapon.

Inaccuracies and such aside, Hitman 2 Silent Assassin is pretty good game, given that it's nearly 20 years old now.  Biggest issue is, like with any pre-HD TV era consoles, it's hard to play them on a modern HD TV.  However, playing with brightness and some additional controls over contrast enhancement and color enhancement fixes most of those issue.

I'll likely later go on with the Medal Of Honor games and GT4 next time I decide talk about gaming.  Everyone have a good one :)

A Bit of a History Lesson on Italy in World War II

Hi everyone.

This is what I've been working on writing for a few days now.  I did mention that I'd be writing about the "junk" of World War II.  And one area that was rife with that was the realm of Italian machine guns.  These are among the strangest and most awkward firearms ever designed, and as implied, it was not for the better of the Italian Army in either World War.

Granted, I'll be starting with one of the better machine guns designed in the early 20th century.  This was the Perino medium machine gun, adopted alongside some Maxim machine guns that the Italians bought prior to World War I.  It was operated by a recoiling barrel that unlocked a bell-crank operated breach, and was fed from a box of trays that contained 25 rounds of ammunition each.  As for said ammo, the gun was chambered for the standard 6.5x52mm Carcano rifle cartridge.  

The only truly "bad" feature of this weapon was that it's original version weighed 27 kg (about 60 lbs), though a lightweight 1910 version cut that figure by nearly half.  The Italian Government and Army treated the weapon with great secrecy, and that lead to it being adopted in only small numbers, no matter how effective it was.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perino_Model_1908

Hence, come 1914 and just prior to Italy's entry into World War I, they were left with trying to find something that can be mass produced quickly.  The result was a machine gun designed by Italian Army Captain Bethel Abel Revelli, who also designed the Glisenti 1910 service pistol and the Villar Perosa twin barreled 9mm machine gun that was originally an aircraft weapon, but later formed the basis of Italian submachine guns from late World War I until the 1930s.

This Fiat-Revelli 1914 machine gun has numerous strange features that place it in a league of its own as far as strange weapons go.  Chambered for 6.5mm Carcano, it operated by a strange mix of short recoil and delayed blowback.  The mechanism was essentially an enlarged version of Revelli's Glisenti automatic pistol, where the barrel recoiled a very short distance until a locking block was pivoted out of the way to "unlock" the breach.  

Such an arrangement didn't allow for primary extraction (the initial unseating of the cartridge from the chamber to ease extraction), though, for its benefit, didn't use oiled ammo.  The gun had tons of entrance points for dust and grit as it was (more on that in a moment), and oiled rounds would've made those matters much worse.

Also, there was a large opening for the gun's "magazine", which had a 50 or 100 round capacity, and was sort of like 10 or 20 Carcano rifle clips welded together, and was ejected out of the right side of the weapon when emptied.  The clip arrangement wasn't very satisfactory, since the clips could be easily damaged, and left hung holes in the receiver for all matter of junk to find its way into the action.  

 Also, the Fiat-Revelli used a charging handled that was attached to the bold that cycled back and forth as the gun fired.  This ensured injury to anyone who wasn't careful of where they placed their hands on the grips while firing, and also collected dust and debris.  In any case, the gun's action was prone to jamming and stoppages.

Even with that, some examples soldiered on until the end of World War II, though some were modernized or newly built in 1935:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat%E2%80%93Revelli_Modello_1914

 https://www.forgottenweapons.com/italian-fiat-revelli-modello-1914/

Things were made more chaotic interwar by everyone and their brother seemingly designing a new machine gun for the Italian Army every other week.  

One of the better ones was the Brixia 1920 medium and 1923 light machine gun.  It was "better" mostly because it was more conventional.  It was simple in mechanism and was reliable given the time it was designed.  It used a simple tilting bolt lock mechanism that the only unusual feature was a piece on it that would flip-flop back and forth to act as a bolt accelerator.  It was also fed by a simple tray in box arrangement similar to the Perino mentioned previously.

 https://www.bevfitchett.us/machine-gun-v1-repeating-weapons/brixia-machine-gun.html

Then there was the Fiat/SAFAT 1924, 1926, and 1928 machine guns.  These were all very similar in design, differing in that the 1928 weapon was a belt fed aircraft machine gun chambered for .303 British as opposed to 6.5 Carcano.  These were improved lightweight versions of the Fiat-Revelli 1914 with improvements that improve reliability.  However, these were still heavy for "light" machine guns, were fed by strange hinged magazines that were usually reloaded by special 20 round chargers (except for the 1928 aircraft model), and were mounted on tripods.

There was also a SAFAT 1928 infantry machine gun that had a quick change barrel and an improved breach locking system.  An interesting weapon with few unusual features (aside from using a hinged magazine feed), it wasn't adopted in large numbers.

The aircraft gun didn't fare well, considering that it did tend to jam and was also criticized for it's low rate of fire and difficulties with propeller synchronization gear on fighter planes of the era, so was passed over in favor of the Breda SAFAT machine guns, which were modified Browning 1919/AN-M2 aircraft machine guns.
 
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1926_machine_gun

http://www.forgottenweapons.com/fiat-model-1924-manual/

And now we're onto probably one of the very worst automatic weapons ever designed, even worse than the 8x50mm Lebel caliber Chauchat machine guns, and as bad as the .30-06 Springfield versions pawned off onto the US Army in World War I until replaced by the far superior Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR for short.

This is the Breda 1930 LMG.  It seems to embody almost every strange feature presented so far into one of the oddest and worst weapons ever designed.  Like the Fiat Revelli, it was once again a short recoil/delayed blowback weapon, but instead of a propping block, it was "locked" by a 5 lug bolt.  However, this bolt doesn't actually rotate.  It interfaced with a rotating locking collar that also interfaced with the breech end of the barrel.

It had the hinged magazine familiar by now to Italian light machine guns, poor primary extraction (which lead in this case to an oiler being gun mounted that oiled rounds when chambered), and tons of places where dust and crap can get into the weapon to jam up the works.  

In simple terms, this was a horrible weapon.  One saving grace was the quick change barrel.  But that didn't help, as unlike most air cooled machine guns that fire from an open breach (the bolt is held back between shots to promote barrel cooling), the Model 30 fired from a closed breach, which made barrel overheating much more likely to set on quickly.  Also, there was no carrying handle to carry the weapon with, which made carrying a very hot Model 30 a very interesting experience.

There was also a Breda 1924, also called the Model 5C, which differed in that it was tripod mounted with spade grips, instead of the 1930s bipod and pistol grip.  The following links will show photos and a further description of the flawed, bizarre weapon.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breda_30

http://www.forgottenweapons.com/light-machine-guns/breda-model-30/

Next up is the Breda 1937.  This medium machine gun began as the 13.2x99mm Hotchkiss caliber Breda 1931, which itself was basically a license built Hotchkiss 1930 13.2mm heavy machine gun.  The Model 37 was a scaled down Model 31 with one rather unusual feature.

As the Model 37 was originally designed as a tank machine gun for armored vehicles such as tanks, it used a strip feed where trays contained the round, and the gun's breach mechanism had to extract a round from the tray, chamber it, fire it, and replace it back into the tray.

The breach, unlike the original Hotchkiss design, had no primary extraction, so like the Breda Model 30, had to use a cartridge oiler to ease extraction.  Though the biggest problem overall was that the strips held only 20 rounds, and the gunner had to remove the empty shell casings to re-use a tray.  

However, the Breda 37 was well liked and had a solid reputation, and some remained in service after World War II.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breda_M37

Finally, on the Italian end, there was the modernized Fiat-Revelli machine guns that were rebuilt or built as new from 1935.  Among the changes were a switch from water cooling to air cooling, discarding the clip feed in favor of a belt, and changing the chambering from 6.5x52mm Carcano to 8x59mm Breda (as used in the Breda M37).

You'd hope that this made for a better weapon.  It did, but not by much.  It still fired from a closed breach, like the water cooled version did.  But without water to cool the barrel, cook-off and barrel overheating became much more likely unless discipline was use while firing.  Early guns also had to have an oiler or rounds greased in the belt before insertion until the guns were upgraded with barrels with fluted chambers that eased extraction and cured the problems with stuck shell casings.  Needless to say, it didn't stick around long in the Italian Army once World War II was over.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat%E2%80%93Revelli_Modello_1935

Also, the Italian Army during both World Wars also used Maxim machine guns, Vickers-Maxim machine guns, Browning 1895 "potato digger" machine guns, all in 6.5mm Carcano.  They also used captured Austrian Schwarzlose M1907 machine guns during World War I, and also received many as war reparations afterward.  These were used as substitute standard issue medium machine guns in World War II.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzlose_machine_gun

In all, you can't refute that the Italian designers were trying to design the best they could with what they knew.  It's not like today where there's few truly proven ways on how automatic weapons should operate and do so reliably and without frills.  And the machine gun was still fairly new equipment and a fairly new concept back then.  So experimentation was expected.

Still, this motley, strange collection of firearms show how chaotic Italian Armed Forces ordinance was following World War I and the Fascist era.  No to mention that the Italians used numerous different rifle and machine gun calibers during this period.  Among them were:

6.5x52mm Carcano
8x50mmR Mannlicher
8x50mmR Lebel (not interchangeable with the above)
7.35x52mm Carcano
8x59mm Breda
7.7x56mmR/.303 British
And lastly, 7.92x57mm Mauser.

Just from the list of cartridge calibers I listed, you can see how hectic things were and how hard a time the ordinance men had, not to mention just the mix of different rifles and machine guns, period.

Nevertheless, this is an interesting field of study.  The Italian/Mediterranean theater or World War II is in my opinion underappreciated and understudied.  That's in spite of the fact that some of the hardest fought and desperate battles were fought in World War II.  Also, Italian fighting vehicles and aircraft are also pretty interesting, and also reflect shortcomings in what the ordinance departments thought the Italian fighting man needed during the war.  Logistics and production problems caused great ills within the Italian Armed Forces during World War II, and they suffered according at the hands of the Allies.

In spite of that, once the Italians became Allied Co-Belligerants after September of 1943, they helped push the Nazis and the German Army, and Fascist loyal to the cretin known as Benito Mussolini out of their country and did their part in liberating their nation.

This is just an interesting little list of weird and unusual items used in World War II.  For more photos and info, I have these threads:

 http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=189572&sid=3702a8c8de946a4c4dffcc30dad016b7&start=15

 http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=166998

Hi--Say Hi To My Little Friend (Fan Fic Character)

Hi everyone.  

One of the things that I was struggling with recently was pinning down a name for my fan fic character.  She's existed for a while, but I kept trying to change her name to something else.

I originally wanted her to be a tribute to Victoria Justice and some of her film and TV characters.  As a character, she is that, but that's where the hang up on the name began.  Originally I was going to make her name a composite of VJ's character names.   So for a while I settled on Naomi Ramona Vega.  I then decided that I wanted something a bit more original sounding.  That's where I finally settled on her name.

So now, allow me to introduce my little friend, Ashley Naomi Bonner.  

First, her appearance.  If you've seen any photo of Victoria Justice from 2010-present, or watch an episode of Victorious or the film Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List, that's basically what Ashley looks like.  She's moderately tall for a woman, slender yet toned and somewhat shapely, with high cheekbones, long dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes.  

Ashley has an eclectic sense of style, like Victoria, Tori and Naomi.  She'll wear just about anything if she likes it or thinks it's comfortable.  She's very much a T-shirt/tanktop/jeans/sneakers/Vans/flip flops girl.  She likes getting dressy on occasion, and loves wearing nail polish and doing her hair.  

As for her most important aspect, personality, again, look at VJ, Tori or Naomi, especially Victoria and Tori.  However, she does have an edge.  She's normally overwhelmingly nice, courteous, generous, and has an infectious smile and brightens the morale of people around her easily.

This is actually where we slightly get into supernatural aspects.  Her creation was influenced by the Twilight Saga and the Japanese manga and anime series Bio-Booster Armor Guyver.  Which isn't much of a surprise, given that my fan fic are based on Twilight and Guyver.  

Ashley is part human, part vampire.  In specific, Ashley is 3/4 vampire, and 1/4 human.  Her biological father is fully vampire, her mother is a vampire hybrid.   Getting into that, her biological father is Joham from Twilight, an amoral "scientist" who breeds part vampire children.  Ash from the start developed (even in the womb) a disdain for her father.   She's on excellent terms with her mother and adoptive father, though, as well as her siblings, though she likes some better than others based on personality.

As far as special talents or abilities, Ash can influence the mood of people near her, and she can also read minds to an extent.  She also, even compared to vampires and other hybrids, does poses above average strength and agility.  She's also excellent with handling weapons like knives, swords and firearms.  

That said, she abhors violence, and will only resort to such actions only when necessary.  She also gravitates to people with similar thoughts and virtues.  She's an extremely peaceful and pleasant person.  That being said, don't threaten her, or especially her family or loved ones.  Or any innocent people, for that matter.  That side of her does intimate others, especially those who aspire to do evil to others.  Her physical beauty also intimidates others, even with her exceptionally kind and gentle nature.  Granted, once befriended, Ashley shows that no one under normal circumstances has any reason to fear her.

That all being written and said, don't do anything to make her extremely angry or upset.  She's got a very low tolerance for innocent people being victimized, and one way or another, you'll regret gaining her ire.  

That's Ashley's place in the canon of my stories and what led to her creation.  Also, as a lot of you know, I have this huge crush on Victoria Justice and have for over a year now.  And prior to that I was a casual fan of hers dating back to 2015.  I originally had an idea as kinda a tribute to her by making her and her characters into a composite named Jennifer, a character from Twilight that was mentioned in the text of Breaking Dawn.  But then I decided to make her an all original, stand alone character.  Basically a clean slate.

So that's what lead to the creation of this character.  I hope you like her :)