And the Winner is...

As I posted yesterday, Audi raced their new R15 P1 race car in the 12 Hours of Sebring today. They took first place in the Prototype 1 class, and took the overall win as well.

This remarkable new car has not had as much testing as Audi says they would have liked, but today has proved their new car is a force to be reckoned with. Taking first and third, they have not only proven the speed of their new car, but the durability as well.

Audi's main rivals in the ALMS (American Le Mans Series), Peugeot, will have to really plan and prepare some strategies if they intend on taking the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Today they took second and fifth. 

This coming season should prove to be very competitive and entertaining to watch, keeping fans across the globe on the edge of their seats. I'm anticipating the arrival of the Formula 1 season, as well. Hopefully, that too, will be just as fun to watch.

Results for the 12 Hours of Sebring can be found here: http://www.americanlemans.com/index_news.php?n=12628

Truth in 24

Tonight I watched a special they had on ESPN called Truth in 24. It's an inside look into Audi's R10 diesel powered race car, and its venture in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

It was beautifully filmed, and it really gives an outsider a peek into what goes on in the pits and the drivers perspectives. 

The film takes place during the 2008 Le Mans race, and Audi is fighting for 1st against their new diesel powered rival, Peugeot. Peugeot's car is newer and faster, and has been beating Audi throughout the series. Audi hopes they can beat them in the 24 hour race with experience and reliability.

Until I saw Allen McNish deliver commentary to a video of the circuit, I never realised how different race car drivers were from good drivers. Perhaps, it's because he's actually driven the track, and has done so MANY times, he can deliver speed, gear, handling characteristics of the car,  and recollect just about anything that goes on during a "fast" lap. It goes to show how much information one must process while focusing on keeping the car on the track. Or better yet, how much focus is involved to not stop processing all that information.

Tomorrow is the 12 hours of Sebring, and Audi will be racing their new R15. We'll have to see if their new diesel V10 chassis performs as well as the rest of the cars. 

Details can be found here: http://jalopnik.com/5167230/the-audi-r15-tdi-now-in-glorious-detail

Why Not?

Jalopnik has this great post they started doing again called "Engine of the Day". I was reading it and learned something cool? They show cased the Ford OHC (over head cam) motor, which was originally found in the Ford Pinto. 

Now, the Pinto may have not been the safest, but perhaps the coolest, because they were known to explode in rear end collisions. While the Pinto didn't last long the motor did, finding its way into many Ford's up until 2001. That's a good thirty years! The best part is, the last car equipped with motor was the Ford Ranger, in a 2.5Liter form.

Guess what? My Mazda truck, is a re-badged Ford Ranger. You know what motor I have? A 2.5L OHC. I drive a truck with a Pinto motor! Geez. That makes a lot of sense. If it were a modern design, it would have more than 80 horsepower.

But! I there may be an upside to this. I saw a few examples of some race-prepped OHC motors. MaybeI can build up my truck motor for some decent horsepower and snappy throttle response.

Oh yeah, I forgot, that's retarded.

I need that Datsun I've been eying for awhile. At least that car participated in motorsports.

Jalopnik post: http://jalopnik.com/5165997/engine-of-the-day-ford-ohc  

Music to My Ears

This weekend, the question came upon me: What is the best sounds made by a car? 

I had an idea, but I came up with a short list of some of the best sounding cars in the world. Here in order from first to fifth is my list.

1. Any cars from this fantastic Ferrari/Shell commercial, because it captures the awesome sound Ferrari has been producing for over 50 years.

2. This 1968-72 Nissan Skyline GT-R has proves that one of the best exhaust notes doesn't have to come from a huge motor. Equipped with a 2.0Liter straight 6 motor, it screams into the stratosphere.

3. Any Aston Martin will melt your heart, but the race cars will truly turn your insides into pudding. Here's the Aston Martin DBR9 on Top Gear

4. Now, I haven't forgotten the Americans! The Ford GT-40 makes a menacing growl that would make you grin for days.

5. Lastly, at number 5, I have to pick the Subaru with its Boxer 4 turbo motor. It has a deep gutteral burble to its exhaust note, and is easily identified from down the block.  Combined with the whistle from the turbo and its bypass valve, you have a sweet batch of candy.

 

This list is very open to my changing at any moment, because just like music, you get a taste for something different from time to time.

Lotus Omnivore Motor

Lotus made a press release today detailing their prototype motor, the Omnivore. Titled "Omnivore", or creatures that eat both animals and plants, the Lotus motor is capable of running on different types of fuel.

It is a two stroke single cylinder design, much like an old dirt bike motor, but FAR more technically advanced. It utilizes direct fuel injection and variable compression ratios. These technologies allow the motor to run on ethanol, any octane of gas, and although Lotus did not mention it, possibly diesel. 

The lack of poppet valves allows the block to not require a seperate head, or head gasket, making it more durable and efficient.

Another plus, is that because it is a two stroke, it has twice as many power strokes compared to a four stroke. This means more power, and requires less cylinders to achieve similar power of its four cycle kin. 

In today's fuel efficient, and environmentally conscience society, this motor could prove  to be quite the notch in motor engineering history. You can run it on just about any form of combustible liquid, and theoretically it would work. As far as environmentally sound, two strokes havn't had the best rep for being clean, but Lotus claims, because it runs higher compressions, it should burn fuel much more efficiently.

You could run all sorts of fuels, and it should be clean, too. This motor is the future of combustible engine transportation!

But it's not. You see, back in 1957, Felix Wankel created the first running prototype of the Wankel Rotary motor. In the late 60's, Mazda utilized this motor in their Cosmos, and later in their RX-series of cars. I remember my neighbor once telling me, when he first heard about those motors, he thought they were going to be the motor everyone was going to be using in the future. 

Forty years later, and Mazda is still the only production car company using a Rotary. Perhaps, Lotus will make it their signature motor, but I just can't help being skeptical about this motors' success. 

For photos, and the press release, you can go here:http://jalopnik.com/tag/lotus-omnivore/?id=5160933

Insanely Modified VW Lupo

Ok, I'm a HUGE fan of modified street cars. It shows what you can do fabrication-wise, or it can show how much money you have to burn. I tend to lean more on the fabrication side, because I'm a broke college student, but that's another story.

I saw the beginning of this build about a year or two ago and nearly spit out whatever I was drinking. I hadn't checked back on the progress, and forgot about, until I read a post on Jalopnik about it today. I thought to myself, "I've seen this before!". They didn't write much about it, but they posted a bunch of Youtube clips of it.

Here's the run-down. A couple of Croatian friends got together and turned their VW Lupo into a monster. For those of you who don't know, the VW Lupo is a small car sold in Europe and South America that is smaller than the Golf.

What these guys did was rip out the puny 1.4?Liter motor, and swapped in the VW Jetta's VR6 motor. The VR6 is a narrow angled V-6 that is compact and coupled to a front wheel drive transmission. They cranked it up to eleven by putting another VR6 motor in the rear. This insane combination gives them an all drive twin motor Lupo witha stripped out, and roll caged interior. 

That, my friend, is impressive. Fast too!

When it comes to this sort of thing, there are  no instructions. All there is, is some creativity, balls, and mad fabrication skills. That is why I love modifying cars so much. How far are you willing to push the limits? What makes it different?

Sometimes, even Frankenstein can be beautiful.

You can see the article by Jalopnik here: http://jalopnik.com/tag/twin-vr6-awd-vw-lupo/?id=5156754&autoplay=true 

Art on Wheels

So, I'm browsing Jalopnik, and I come across a post about the Pagani Zonda R. It's an uber expensive track machine with an ear splittingly loud exhaust that could melt your heart. 

As a composites tech in my club, I'm very interested in carbon-fiber. When properly laid, it is simply a thing of beauty.This Zonda R, is a thing of beauty. A showcase of their talent and skill with the material. The entire car is perfectly V'd down the center, and has that awesome matte finish that comes with the use of very high quality aerospace carbon that needs to be kept in a freezer for storage. 

Alright, go ahead and take a look at what I've been oozing about:

http://jalopnik.com/tag/pagani-zonda-r/?id=5156281