<That is Russ's old vehicle that is going to get restored "one of these days". I think there were also some pictures from real early on that had one of my Ferrari's in the background, and our next big production video will probably have some footage of me making chips on my little lathe in the garage, four feet away from my F50...

Hi John,

Russ has taken on an ambitious restoration - and with each passing year it will get even more ambitious ;-)

F50 - When you mentioned the F50 a bell rang - and now I know who you are.

The infamous Carmack twin-turbo F50. If I recall correctly, that was tested by one of the auto-mags (can't recall which one) way back when in one of their top speed shoot-outs (or was it a TR?) and as I recall you mentioned an even more powerful car was in the works.

After messing with turbos for this long - I can see how rockets are a natural evolutionary step. ;-)


My motivations really aren't very business related, and I'm not looking for investors. I have picked goals that I believe we are capable of reaching with my personal funding, so investors would only get in the way. I write the updates as internal documentation, and to organize my thinking. I learned everything I know about rocketry in the last two years, largely as a result of internet resources, so I am happy to contribute back new resources for others. I also wind up learning something almost every week from someone commenting on various issues that I discuss in the updates. I care more about the absolute state of my knowledge, rather than the state relative to others, and I find that I learn most by being open, rather than trying to keep anything secret.

A noble goal. Life is a reciprocal learning experience, and no one has all the answers - and the answers are relativistic anyway and never static.


Everyone is working for free, because they are interested, not for any particular monetary motivation. However, I firmly believe that if you do something sufficiently Neat, and you don't spend too much money doing it, that you will wind up making money. I concentrate on the Neat, and let the business take care of itself. We have already had offers for contract work, but that would be off the critical path, so we haven't taken them. The first money we see will probably be the X-Prize. :-)

A good approach. All the projects I have worked on privately with no compensation, were generally more rewarding and fun and the people were/are there because they want to be. Now, how many of those projects achieved their desired goals is another story. ;-) (around 1 in 5)

I wish you the best of luck in your X-prize goal. Win or lose...just like the F50 - it's one heck of a ride getting there.

And isn't that what life is all about - learning, making mistakes, picking oneself up and having fun along the way?

Best wishes,

SDAI-Tech1