What happens when you mix John Carmack and Cars? PHUN!
This year, I was blessed to be able to cover the Quakecon event run by id software in Dallas, Texas, and boy did they offer us here at WebRidesTV a pleathora of new shtuff to talk about! As a matter of fact, there was so much new and exciting news in the automotive and gaming worlds that you will get to read my normal blathering banter every single day next week.
Isn’t that exciting?!
My good friends over at Endless USA, specifically Dominic Chen, wrote this pretty comprehensive write up on the new Nissan GT-R’s brake system. Take a read. Lots of technical information contained within.
With a good portion of my time recently devoted to R35 brake solutions, I figured I’d post as much as I could so that all of the facts and key points are in one place. It makes it easier for me to remember everything and hopefully some of you will find it useful or at least interesting.
Every car enthusiast loves the whirl of a turbocharger. That tornado-like sound screaming from under the hood is a drug that most of us cannot get enough of. A rather delicious side dish to turbo spool is the “pfffftttt” sound from a blow off valve. This aural treat is just as addictive as turbo spool. So much so that, I have heard of N/A vehicle owners fitting one onto the piping of their “cold air intake system,” hoping that they could hear that hiss when letting off the throttle. (This usually generates a laugh or two among people I know) But a blow off valve isn’t designed for sheer driving entertainment. Rather, it serves a rather important function that increases turbo performance and life span.
Motorcycles are amazingly fun, they are light have great power to weight ratios and let you bank for turns. The only problem with motorcycles is the fact that they do not have the safety features of a car. Theres something about having a steel frame surrounding me while driving that makes me feel extremely safe. Most people that want car safety with motorcycle speed buy supercars. For the rest of us there is a cheaper option, motorcycle engine powered cars. Motorcycle engine powered cars are great because they are usually light 2 seater kit cars that have high power to weight ratios. These cars handle and accelerate like motorcycles but tend to be a little more practical and cost a fair bit more. The Kneeslider.com has a great list of cars that are powered by motorcycle engines.
It looks like even Ferrari cannot escape the pressure to “go green” that so many automakers are giving in to. Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the president of the Italian supercar company, has announced their plans to create a hybrid supercar by 2015, in accordance to tightening European emission regulations.
The new hybrid supercar will use a Kinetic Energy Recovery system that is borrowed from Formula One development teams. KERBS sounds promising because if the energy is being created due to braking, why not harness it? Regenerative braking has actually been used in many other hybrid systems, such as the Integrated Motor Assist from Honda. However, Ferrari will not supplement this system with a battery unlike the other automakers.
Ferrari has also toyed with other green vehicle concepts such as the Biofuel Concept F430 which was unveiled at the 2008 North American Auto Show. Realistically, while enthusiasts may worry about green cars taking over, the end result of research and development (even into alternative fuel solutions) is always a more efficient product. Bring on the gas sipping supercars.
In the latest news of things that make me want to vomit, the blogosphere has produced perhaps the most disgusting and horrible news I have ever read. Quite possibly one of the greatest crimes against humanity are to be perpitrated by the Italians, and we should do everything we can to keep them from getting away with it. That’s right, Ferrari is producing a hybrid.
They would sacrifice glory like this for gas mileage. Enzo Ferrari is rolling over in his grave.
With gas prices skyrocketing (the national average is $4.10 for regular nationwide), Americans are putting more effort in looking for alternative means of transportation. In a recent Associated Press article I was perusing, I found out that demand for Segway electric scooters is increasing at a rapid rate. For all of you unfamiliar with the Segway, it is a self-balancing electric scooter that can take a person about 25 miles before needing to be recharged at a top speed of just over 12 miles per hour.
The Golf GT TSI looks relatively pedestrian, merely sporting different wheels and front bumper cover from the GTi Version. However, the motor that the TSI uses is anything from ordinary. While oem turbocharged motors are nothing new (neither are oem supercharged engines), the TSI is both supercharged and turbocharged! This setup is affectionatelly called twincharging and it not a new concept by a long shot - twincharging was used on the Lancia S4 back in the 1980’s.
Benefits of a twincharged setup seem obvious - midrange to top end power form a good sized turbocharger without the pesky lag that is usually associated with these size turbos. A supercharger (usually roots type) provides the boost from the low range which also helps spool up the turbo faster. After the turbocharger starts providing the boost, the supercharger unit is kept under control by a clutch pack on the pully (similar to AC compressors and some engine fans). Using this technology, Volkswagen manages to squeeze out 170 horsepower out of a 1.4 liter engine.
Twincharging has some obvious downfalls though - turbo setups are hard enough to work with sometimes, good luck working on a Mazda FD RX7’s or Nissan 300ZX twin turbo. Adding a supercharger to the equation will only compound difficulty when time comes to service the twincharged engine. However, the benefits seem to far outweigh the downfalls so we all hope to see twincharging being used in more performance oriented applications in the future!
Alright I am going to talk about something that has been bothering me for quite some time, Truck Nuts. Alright the first time I saw Truck Nuts I thought it was pretty funny but the more and more I see them the more and more I detest them. As someone with a truck I never seem to hear the end of the argument that a man needs to prove himself by the vehicle that he drives and a truck says nothing other than “I am manly so I have to drive a big truck”, which by the way I resent. Trucks are used to move and haul things, they are for use in practical applications and trust me I hate it when I see a large lifted truck that never has seen dirt or a heavily loaded bed. Read the rest of this entry »
Here at the WebRidesTV.com Blog, we are known for tackling the tough issues. Such hot issues include which muscle car rocks the most casbah for the current week, cars made of foam and who could forget the 10 Commandments of ricers? Well this week, I will be discussing the hot issue of cas prices, and more particularly, why they are so high. More importantly, will you have to trade in your Escalade for a Prius?
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