22-7-09: The Best Day of Work Ever, Part 1

Today was pretty much the greatest day of "work" I've had in any job, since we actually ended up doing lots of cool things instead of actual work. Not that my job is bad - because it isn't - but just read on today and tomorrow to see what I mean (yes, so much happened that it will take two days to write about it).

Our day begins at the test track in the town of Susa, a town a little bit west of Torino that is right about where the Alps begin. The TTW folks were scheduled to take their vehicle for a spin to take some tests on it. I'm working on a different project with TTW's partner company, but our boss (both companies have the same head honcho) and my supervisor gave me the thumbs up to tag along. We sit right next to the TTW vehicle at work, but this was our first time really seeing it in full action.

The day was foggy, so sadly we couldn't see the mountains all too well, which was a shame. But conditions were perfect for a day on the test track - not too hot and not raining. The test track itself was pretty neat. Here in Torino - which is essentially the Motor City of Italy - it must be unsurprising that there is one of these tracks not too far away. Anyway, in addition to having curves and straightaways to test all of the vehicle essentials in acceleration, braking, and turning, it had some portions that one could make slippery by wetting it, to test how well the vehicle could maintain stability and control if it slips.

But for now, they were just performing some more fundamental tests, such as general stability and control.

Sometime during the day, a truck full of French cars that looked kind of like Mini Coopers stopped by in the parking lot next to us. Our professor was curious, so we sent one of our guys out to take a look, and the truck driver was nice enough to let him even see the interior - probably because we are working for a university and not a rival automobile manufacturer.

Here's the team extracting measurements from a test run and getting ready for the next one. And in the driver's seat is none other than our boss, Professor Carabelli.

Seemed like overall, the vehicle worked fine. It probably needs a couple of tweaks, but nobody was hurt today, so mission accomplished.

We came over to the test track with one of our coworkers, Sebastian. During the day, Professor Carabelli told us that since we're in the Susa area, we might as well take a look around. So he recommended some places for Sebastian to drive us to and sent us off. Let's just say that this was a pleasant surprise to us, to hear this from our professor! But as Fernando says, it seems like he is very proud of the area he comes from, so he would like for us to explore it.

Our first destination, naturally, was the actual town area of Susa. Because during Roman times, this town signified the edge of the civilization before the mountains, the town was fortified with walls and gates. Here we see the remains of a Roman wall and gateway.

And right inside is the town, which still has a somewhat medieval look. This park has some remains of Roman columns to go along with a statue of Augustus Caesar.

We had lunch in the mountain town of Oulx, which has a French-looking name, but is in Italy. It was clearly lunchtime because the streets were empty.

Our final destination was the town of Avigliana, which has a beautiful abbey, the Sacra di San Michele, right on top of a mountain. This abbey had so much to see that it deserves its own post tomorrow. Until then, arrivederci!