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RideLust Caption Contest: An Old Door

post from Ride Lust - Motion + Mobility on 20 September 2008 10:55:03 PM. © Ride Lust - Motion + Mobility

Taken at Jimmie’s Auto Parts in Philadelphia, PA. That’s all I’ll say about this picture for now. Let’s hear your captions people. Do it to me in the comments section, babySee the full sized pic after the jump:

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How Does a Supercharger Work - Turbocharger vs
Supercharger

post from Ride Lust - Motion + Mobility on 20 September 2008 10:41:02 PM. © Ride Lust - Motion + Mobility

A while back, I wrote a post about the effects of Nitrous Oxide on your car. I talked about how it basically just shoves oxygen into your combustion chamber. Well there’s an easier way to do that, without hilarious gas…forced induction systems.The purpose of forced induction systems, aka superchargers and turbochargers, is [...]

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CA-RAZY!: Women Sees Super-Truck Reversing Down
the Highway

post from Ride Lust - Motion + Mobility on 20 September 2008 08:29:27 PM. © Ride Lust - Motion + Mobility

Either that large semi is going 70 mph in reverse, an act which is physically impossible for the trucks transmission, or that woman has never before seen a tow truck. Whichever it is, she’s right - CA-RAZY!Women simply shouldn’t be allowed to drive - with the exception of Suzanne. I KID, I [...]

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GM Dropping Orlando MPV

post from The Auto Prophet on 20 September 2008 06:48:00 PM. © The Auto Prophet

According to various sources (see Autoblog), GM is killing its plan to bring a c-class (compact) 7-seat people mover to the U.S., the Chevrolet Orlando.
This puzzles me, for several reasons. The concept is a handsome vehicle, and looks quite practical. It reminds me of a down-sized Traverse. I think it is an exciting vehicle that would compete well.
Other carmakers are already selling small people-movers with some success, such as the Kia Rondo, Mazda 5. More small MPVs are going to be sold in the U.S. in the near future, such as the rumored Ford C-Max (and possibly S-Max) MPVs based on the European Focus. Honda may bring the Stream here as well.
Maybe, for some reason, the economics didn't work out for GM. But from my seat, this looks like a mistake.

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http://theautoprophet.blogspot.com/2008/09/gm-dropping-orlando-mpv.html

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Car Art of the Day: Jack Vettrianos Bluebird at
Bonneville

post from Ride Lust - Motion + Mobility on 20 September 2008 06:22:47 PM. © Ride Lust - Motion + Mobility

The Bluebird in the painting is the car that Sir Malcolm Campbell broke the land speed record in on September 3rd, 1935. The specially built Campbell-Railton Bluebird was powered by a supercharged Rolls-Royce R V12, and it broke 300 mph out on the Bonneville salt flats.Bluebird at Bonneville recently sold for almost $860,000 [...]

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WSJ On Future Powertrains

post from The Auto Prophet on 20 September 2008 05:37:00 PM. © The Auto Prophet

Last weekend, the Wall Street Journal ran a supplement with some generally well written articles about the future of energy, including such things as LED light bulbs (not quite ready yet) and underground coal gassification. It is very interesting reading, and if you haven't seen it, take half an hour and read it through.
There was a good article by Joseph B. White about why the gasoline engine will be with us for the foreseeable future (lots of power for the pound, low cost). But the Journal also published a table comparing some of the different upcoming greener powertrain options, which had some issues.
I can't reproduce the whole table here easily (but you can read it here). I'll just hit on the parts I think they got wrong.
First, describing Flex Fuel vehicles, WSJ wrote that they have "no price premium" compared to gasoline vehicles. This is not really true, as ethanol capable fuel systems must be made of different materials to resist the corrosive effects of alcohol. Also, the engine control system (mostly the software on the PCM) must be more complex to handle ethanol, because it can be present in any concentration from E10 to E85 due to fuel mixing. This requires substantially more development work by the powertrain engineers, and substantially more testing. The actual cost per vehicle of a flex-fuel system is somewhere closer to $100-200/car, in large volumes.
Regarding plug-in hybrids, WSJ noted that the "advanced batteries are not yet available". This is true, in the high volume commercial sense. However, it was not mentioned that the high capacity batteries required to make plug-in hybrid cars work will be rather expensive, on the order of $3000/car more expensive than the current hybrid batteries.
WSJ got sloppy with pure-electric cars. They wrote, "Technology still unproven. Batteries not available." Except that pure electric cars have been in mass production since about 1900. And batteries are available--until recently, most electric vehicles used lead-acid batteries. The article also misidentified the Chevrolet Volt as a pure electric car, which it is not-it is a "series hybrid", which is a car that has electric drive but can use gasoline to power the electric motor through a generator. What the article was probably trying to get at was that currently, pure electric cars can not compete in range with gasoline cars, but they didn't' say so explicitly.
Finally, regarding clean diesel, WSJ neglected to mention that most implementations require the driver to top off a urea tank to aid in NOX reduction--a definite annoyance, and a minus in my opinion.

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Prodrive P2: Ahead Of The Curve

post from Ride Lust - Motion + Mobility on 20 September 2008 03:34:25 PM. © Ride Lust - Motion + Mobility

Prodrive P2 PrototypeRegardless of whether you have an appreciation of it’s outward design (especially the “P” badge on front), the P2 prototype from Prodrive is meant to be a demonstration of the considerable technical prowess of the company behind six World Rally Championship titles with Subaru, five British Touring Car Championships, the 2003 GTS class winner at [...]

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Bonhams sells S1 registration number

post from Classic cars, Vintage Racing, Classic Rally on 20 September 2008 03:31:32 PM. © Classic cars, Vintage Racing, Classic Rally

The first registration number plate to be issued in Edinburgh ? ?S1? ? was sold today (19 September 2008) by Bonhams for a staggering £397,500 ? a new world record price at auction. The sale took place at the company?s annual Goodwood Revival Sale in Chichester, West Sussex.

Following a lengthy bidding battle between several people on the telephone, a buyer in the room eventually secured the registration number to a round of applause. The successful buyer from the company Bold Registrations, said: ?I believe that number plates in general are a good investment, even at this price. The registration number will remain in the UK and will be going onto an old red Skoda, which will be seen around The Midlands.?

The registration number ?S1?, which had been expected to fetch £200,000-250,000, originally belonged to Sir John H A MacDonald, Lord Kingsburgh (1836-1919) and Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland (1888-1919) - a leading pioneer of motoring, who foresaw the rapid development of the motor car and the need for a proper road system.

Sir John MacDonald was one of the first owners of a car in Scotland. He was also a founding member of the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland - later to become the R.A.C. - and the first president of the Scottish Automobile Club, founded in 1899.

Motor registration marks were introduced in 1903 and Sir John H A MacDonald became the owner of registration number ?S1?, the very first number for Edinburgh that same year. This historic number has been in the same family since then.

Bonhams has a strong track record of achieving high prices for registration numbers. ?S1? beat the previous world record price of £331,500 for ?M1? , also sold by Bonhams.

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BMW at the 2008 Goodwood Revival

post from Classic cars, Vintage Racing, Classic Rally on 20 September 2008 03:24:17 PM. © Classic cars, Vintage Racing, Classic Rally

Every year, the Earl of March invites motorsport aficionados to the south of England for the Goodwood Revival, the most popular historic race meeting in the world. For many years BMW Mobile Tradition has counted among the regular guests at the Earl's country estate. BMW Classic is delighted to continue the tradition at the 2008 event, which takes place from 19 to 21 September and again brings to life motorsport's golden age of the 1940s to 60s. Cars and motorcycles amid the vintage racing ambience of those days, drivers and spectators in period costumes and an original circuit untouched by the modern era make this a truly unique occasion. For 2008, BMW Classic is dispatching three iconic models to the summit meeting of racing classics in the South Downs.

Lotus 23
The Lotus 23 developed by Colin Chapman made motoring history with its dazzling appearance in the 1,000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1962 with Jim Clark at the wheel. This last two-seater Lotus racer went on to celebrate triumphs in many more events. Its ultra-lightweight chassis, moreover, was ideally suited as a test bed for various racing engines. With assistance from the BMW factory, Toni Fischhaber had several Lotus 23 models fitted with 1.6 and 2-litre engines and entered them in numerous hillclimb events as well as several circuit races. At the 2008 Goodwood Revival, Marc Surer will be at the controls of a 1965 Lotus-BMW 23. The Swiss driver began his flourishing motor racing career in 1977 as part of the BMW Junior Team before advancing all the way to Formula One.

BMW R 5 SS (SuperSport)
In spring 1936, after a six-year gap, BMW unveiled another 500 cc sports bike at the Berlin Motor Show in the shape of the R 5. Its all-new engine with twin camshafts boasted output of 24 hp at 5,800 rpm and a top speed of 135 km/h. The newly designed, electrically welded tubular frame pointed the way forward for frame construction over the next three decades. On the basis of the R 5, a limited series of competition bikes was produced in 1937 for a select number of riders. This R 5 SS (SuperSport) delivered some 4 hp more than the production model and reached a top speed of 160 km/h.
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Mysterious crop circles at the Goodwood Revival

post from Classic cars, Vintage Racing, Classic Rally on 20 September 2008 03:11:14 PM. © Classic cars, Vintage Racing, Classic Rally

Click on the picture to enlarge

A mystery that?s out of this world has descended on the Goodwood Motor Circuit just 24 hours before the annual Goodwood Revival meeting ? the world?s most authentic historic motor racing event ? gets underway (19-21 September).

Mysterious crop circles have appeared in the grass at the legendary West Sussex circuit, which celebrates the 60th anniversary since its original opening at this weekend?s Revival meeting. The crop circles were discovered during final preparations before Goodwood opens its gates to 115,000+ excited motor racing enthusiasts on Friday 19 September.

The Revival is renowned for the IFOs (Identified Flying Objects) that traditionally appear at the event, with dramatic air displays scheduled this year to include Spitfires, Mustangs, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the earth-shaking Vulcan bomber.

UFOs are a rather less common sight at the Revival, however, although sightings have previously been made of unidentified objects in the skies over the event. Numerous reports can be found on the internet of a UFO sighting at the Goodwood Revival on 5 September 2003. The aliens must have enjoyed their previous Revival visit so much that they obviously did not want to miss out on the 10th anniversary Goodwood Revival celebrations this weekend!
Continue reading "Mysterious crop circles at the Goodwood Revival"

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