just a quick post as i complete another more substantial one.

i wanted to bring these residential high-rise buildings to your attention due to the initially horrific exterior paint job which for some reason, after the shock sinks in, gives them a certain amount of charm. the group of towers are located in paris, were built in 1977 and go by the name of tours aillaud. if buildings could go paintballing, this is what the shit players would look like.

enjoy.


image source


image source


image source

you can even spot the paint job on google maps. quite impressive...


google maps link

[update] it's already been identified by toby as a langley aerodrome. i'll post a new one soon.

seeing as the blogging's back on track, let's restart the game.

here are the rules, copied and pasted from previous games...

i have a folder on my desktop called 'huh?'. it's full of photos (hundreds) i've come across over the years whilst surfing the intertubes, photos which all have two things in common - 1. they intrigue me beyond belief, and 2. i have no idea what the subject matter actually is. the reasons for me having no clue about the photos' origins are numerous, but the majority are due to me excitedly saving them only later to find out i didn't also bookmark the relevant page.  i've been storing them in that folder fully intending to one day work out what they're of but today i realised it's never gonna happen, so i decided i'd let you lot tell me, one picture at a time. the first person to let me know, with linked proof of some kind, exactly what each photo is of, gets a tenner via paypal.

what the fuck is this?

happy hunting.

first of all, build it on top of a discount store in the middle of downtown tokyo and promise it thousands of excited riders every year, both local and from afar, eager to try one of the world's few roof-based half-pipe thrill-rides.  



and then never open it. just leave it standing, looking foolish. 

obviously that wasn't the intention. engineers were called in to attach the bright yellow half-pipe in 2005, and by the end of the year, everything was set. but then problems arose that would ultimately paralyse the ride forever and result in an extremely expensive pair of horns being left on the don quijote store for tourists to speculate about for years to come. depending on who you listen to, there are a couple of different reasons as to why the coaster never rolled. the first, and most common: local residents and fellow shopkeepers mounted an enormous attack on the plans, citing potential noise, pollution, and hi-speed death as unacceptable by-products from a discount store. the second reason, apparently from intamin, the ride's manufacturers: 'while the building is capable of handing the weight of the roller coaster, the lateral forces presented an unexpected problem'.

over 3 years later, it's still attached and unused. there are positives to look at. the store now stands out from the crowd, and no-one's recently been flung from its roof by accident. as far as i know.



image source

ok, so that took a bit longer than expected.

point your eyes towards this image..

image source

i had this bookmarked for over a year but it got buried at the bottom of my ever-increasing list of things to blog. there are a couple of interesting things about the photo. first off, these 5 enormous tracks are not parallel to each other. it just so happens that the angle at which the photo was taken resulted in an illusion of sorts, kinda like magic. check the area out on google maps here and then come back immediately. deceiving huh?

then there's the site's function.

in order for a plane to safely land on an aircraft carrier without racing off the end, its tailhook needs to be 'caught' by arresting cables attached to the carrier's deck (see here). these cables need to be extremely strong and durable but also flexible enough so as not to stop the plane too quickly. these 5 test tracks, located at navair in lakehurst, are dedicated to testing these very systems and the emergency barricades.

image source

the photo above shows an F/A-18 airframe sitting on a sled. on the back of that sled are 4 jet engines which, when fired up, will produce 42'000lbs of thrust and ultimately send the jet down the 2.8km track at a speed of 460km/h, into an arresting cable or barricade. if the plane stops: great. if not, the plane usually ends up in the clearing behind the track or amongst the trees. either way, an enormous, expensive amount of fun.

unfortunately i couldn't find any footage of a test in progress but instead here's video of the test track at holloman air force base, being used by a rocket sled travelling at 10'325km/h and breaking the world land speed record in the process. more info here.



seeing the lakehurst tracks reminded me of another unique test track i read about years ago, so i thought i'd dig up some photos...

image sources: top / right / left

for those who've never seen it, this is the old 5 storey lingotto building in lingotto, turin. at one time, when owned by fiat, it was the world's largest car factory but that wasn't its only claim to fame. car production started at ground level and as each car reached another stage of completion, it was moved up another floor until it reached the rooftop, hopefully finished and ready to be raced around the test track on top of the factory. unsurprisingly a track of that size has still not been seen on a building since. apparently the factory has now been converted into a (presumably) hideous shopping and entertainment complex. i believe the track is still intact but criminally disused.

[edit] here's the track being used in the italian job..



there was actually a similar track, on a smaller scale, above the imperia factory in nessonvaux, near liege, belgium. in 1928, following complaints from the locals about noise due to cars being tested on the roads, a test track was instead built within the premises. one end actually went through the factory, the other looped over one end of the building's roof. 

for more of these photos, go here. for a nice write-up about the factory in liege, go here.

and that's that. let me know of any other similar tracks if you can be bothered. wired posted some nice aerial shots of a few regular test tracks last year, if you fancy looking at 'em, go hither.

bon voyage.