Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Friday, February 18, 2011
BMW Z4
Woods strolls to BMW title
Tiger wins by eight as 30 go forward to East Lake
I'm proud of the way I played, but he was definitely in a class all of his own, and it seemed like he was playing a different golf course out there.
Jim Furyk on Tiger Woods
Quotes of the week
Quotes of the week
Final leaderboard:
-19 T Woods
-11 J Furyk
-11 M Leishman
-10 S O'Hair
-8 Z Johnson
-19 T Woods
-11 J Furyk
-11 M Leishman
-10 S O'Hair
-8 Z Johnson
Also see
- US Tour Schedule
- World Rankings
- Golf live on Sky Sports
Tiger Woods chalked up the 71st PGA Tour victory of his career with an eight shot win in the BMW Championship in Lemont, Illinois.
Leading by seven overnight after Saturday's fabulous 62, Woods
required only a steady round of 68 to get the job done at Cog Hill for a fifth time, landing him a sixth title since returning from last year's knee surgery.The world number one led the scramble for the top 30 places available for the final round of the FedEx Cup at East Lake, Atlanta next week on a day when only a handful of players broke par due to the firming-up of the greens.
Woods made bogey at the fifth and sent several wild drives into the trees, but his powers of recovery entertained the crowd and with birdies at the seventh and ninth - the latter via two sets of trees - maintained his lead as his closest pursuers were unable to gain ground.
An eagle at the par-five 15th capped a solid back nine that otherwise saw him make eight pars and leaves Woods in pole position heading into what will be his final appearance in America this season.
Made putts
"It was a good week. I hit the ball well, but basically felt like I hit it the same as I have been," said."The only difference is I made a few more putts this week and got some momentum. As we all know, you have to make putts to win championships. This week I certainly made my share."
Woods admitted that he trusted his putting stroke after two disappointing weeks with the flat stick.
"I didn't change anything, it's just one of those things where I was hitting a lot of lips, they just weren't going in," he added. "That's the way it goes. You're not going to make every putt.
"As long as the ball starts off on-line and I've got my pace right, that's the way it goes.
"If you read the putts better, eventually they'll start going in. It's just a matter of time. I was patient, and here we are."
Marc Leishman held his own in the final group with Woods to finish in a tie for second after a bogey-free 69, while Jim Furyk
joined him on 11 under par with a flawless 66 that vaulted him into third place in the FedEx Cup standings behind Woods and last week's winner Steve Stricker."You know, I've played well this year. I've played solidly, but obviously I haven't won a golf tournament,
" said Furyk, who has now gone 51 tournaments without a win.Different class
"That bothers me more than anyone else, trust me. And I'm reminded of it every time I play well. The guy out there in the last group (Woods) is the reason why I haven't had a better chance to win a couple more tournaments."I played well this week. Really this weekend I shot nine-under on a very, very difficult golf course. I made a big move.
"I'm proud of the way I played, but he was definitely in a class all of his own, and it seemed like he was playing a different golf course out there."
Sean O'Hair fought back from successive bogeys to make four birdies in the last five holes to take sole possession of fourth place ahead of Zach Johnson,
who finished two further back taking him up to fourth in the overall standings and in with a chance of the $10m bonus on offer at the Tour Championship.Brandt Snedeker, the final member of the last group, had a day to forget.
The American, who has played 13 out of the last 14 weeks in a bid to make the Tour Championship after missing several weeks with a rib injury, was in the 30 until a disastrous triple-bogey seven at the final hole saw him miss out on qualification, handing the final place to John Senden.
The Australian himself had a case of the jitters, double-bogeying the 17th, but in the end doing just enough to book his place at East Lake ahead of Ian Poulter,
who blew his chance with a closing 75 after dumping his approach to the closing hole into the water.FedEX Cup top 30 standings:
1.T Woods, 2.S Stricker, 3.J Furyk, 4.Z Johnson, 5.H Slocum, 6.P Harrington, 7.S O'Hair, 8.S Verplank, 9.K Perry, 10.J Dufner, 11.D Johnson, 12.N Watney, 13. G Ogilvy, 14.P Mickelson, 15.R Goosen, 16.M Leishman, 17.B Gay, 18.K Na, 19.D Toms, 20.L Glover, 21.YE Yang, 22.E Els, 23.H Mahan, 24.A Cabrera, 25.S Marino, 26.S Cink, 27.M Weir, 28.L Donald, 29.J Kelly, 30.J Senden.
POSTED BY : FAST SPORTS CARS 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Ferrari Cars
Main article: History of Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari never intended to produce road cars when he formed Scuderia Ferrari (literally "Ferrari Stable", and usually used to mean "Team Ferrari", it is correctly pronounced [skudeˈriːa]) in 1928 as a sponsor for amateur drivers headquartered in Modena. Ferrari prepared, and successfully raced, various drivers in Alfa Romeo cars until 1938, when he was hired by Alfa Romeo to head their motor racing department.In 1941, Alfa Romeo was confiscated by the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini as part of the Axis Powers' war effort. Enzo Ferrari's division was small enough to be unaffected by this. Because he was prohibited by contract from racing for four years, the Scuderia briefly became Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, which ostensibly produced machine tools and aircraft accessories. Also known as SEFAC (Scuderia Enzo Ferrari Auto Corse), Ferrari did in fact produce one race car, the Tipo 815, in the non-competition period. It was the first actual Ferrari car (it debuted at the 1940 Mille Miglia), but due to World War II it saw little competition. In 1943 the Ferrari factory moved to Maranello, where it has remained ever since. The factory was bombed by the Allies in 1944 and rebuilt in 1946, after the war ended, and included a works for road car production. Until Il Commendatore's death, this would remain little more than a source of funding for his first love, racing.
166MM Barchetta 212/225
In 1988, Enzo Ferrari oversaw the launch of the Ferrari F40, the last new Ferrari to be launched before his death later that year, and arguably one of the most famous supercars ever made.
On May 17, 2009 in Maranello, Italy, a 1957 250 Testa Rossa (TR) was auctioned, by RM Auctions and Sotheby's, for $12.1 million — a world record at that time for the most expensive car ever sold at an auction. That record is now held by a Bugatti Atlantic which sold for over $28 million. [5]
Bio-fuel and hybrid cars
Ferrari has considered making hybrids. A F430 Spider that runs on ethanol was displayed at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. Ferrari has announced that a hybrid will be in production by 2015. At the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Ferrari unveiled a hybrid version of their flagship 599. Called the "HY-KERS Concept", Ferrari's hybrid system adds more than 100 horsepower on top of the 599 Fiorano's 612 HP.[8]
Ferrari confirms 2011 car name
The team has elected to use the name as a tribute to the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, with the ‘Tricolore’ from the national flag set to feature prominently on the livery of the cars of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.
“Ferrari is an expression of Italian excellence, talent and creativity,” Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said. “All the men and women who put so much effort and passion into their work at Maranello share the pride and responsibility of representing our country around the world and it is in this spirit that we chose to dedicate this car to an event that is so important for the whole of Italy.”
Italian president Giorgio Napolitano is reported to have ‘expressed his appreciation’ of Ferrari’s initiative.
| Ferrari unveils first all-wheel drive model | |||
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| ITALIAN manufacturer Ferrari revealed the first photographs of its first four-wheel drive car on its official website last week. The FF - an acronym for Ferrari Four (four seats and four-wheel drive) - is designed by Pininfarina and has an all-new Ferrari four-wheel drive that is said to weight 50 per cent less than conventional systems. The FF is the first model to have a four-wheel drive and according to an Ital Auto spokesman, the distributor and importer for Ferrari cars here, it will hit Singapore shores in the fourth quarter of the year. Cruising comfort should be reassured by the magnetic-fluid brakes and stopping power provided by Brembo carbon-ceramic discs. Performance aside, Maranello's latest model also offers standards of passenger space, comfort, in-car spec and equipment previously unheard of. It can comfortably accommodate four people and their luggage, thanks to increased cabin space and a boot capacity of 450 litres that can be increased to 800.  Posted By: Fast Sports Cars | |||
The Fastest Little Car in Uth
The Fastest Little Sports Car in Utah: Bill Gordon’s 20-valve Norwood MR2 Turbo  Bonneville can be one mean, unforgiving bitch. There are legions of good racers who have tilted at the Windmills of a Land Speed Record many times and never come out on top. There are competent racers who have gone to the Utah Salt Flats every year for decades and never set a Land Speed Record. Going fast requires a TON of power. Air resistance goes nuts with speed, increasing exponentially as the cube of the increase in speed. Air resistance over 120 mph becomes extreme, which is the speed at which a human body free-falling through the air (prior to pulling the ripcord!) reaches terminal velocity and will not fall any faster. If you could go 100 mph on, say, 80 horsepower, to double speed to 200 mph requires 640 horsepower! If you could go 150 mph on, say, 210 horsepower, doubling speed to 300 mph requires 1680 horsepower! Once you’re making a ton of power, you typically need to run hard for a relatively long time--minutes rather than seconds like a drag car. And then you need to run again within four hours, with the car in the meantime locked in impound where certain repairs are impossible. Mechanical parts flogged to the limit over the required 4-7 miles of super high speed running take a terrible pounding, and thermal loading can increase to fatal levels as the minutes tick by. Melt-downs are endemic to salt-flat racing. And then there is the question of tuning. Truly fast cars have virtually no good way to test at design speed at full power until they actually arrive on the desolate dead-level salt flats 100 miles west of Salt Lake City. Where can you run a car flat-out at 200-300 mph for 4-7 miles without lifting the throttle except at Bonneville? For many competitors, Salt Flat racing is more akin to an R&D and tuning nightmare than a race. For one thing, the air is thin at Bonneville, because the altitude is over 4300 feet. This means the atmosphere is less than 90 percent as thick as the air at sea level. Normally-aspirated engines lose about 3-percent of their power for every 1,000 feet of altitude, but there’s also the double-whammy that tuning that worked well at sea level in California may be rich (or lean!) at Bonneville, even if you’re fuel-injected and turbocharged. It’s a fact of life that sanctioning bodies typically force you to use “event fuel”, very high octane stuff that may have different specific gravity and energy content from what your engine’s used to. Even very fast well-tuned cars can run into very bad luck: The salt surface can change radically, depending on the weather. Tires that worked well for dry salt may be all wrong when the salt is wet from a sudden rain storm. Cross-winds mess with your handling and aerodynamics—on occasion catastrophically. Bonneville is not for the faint of heart. Dr. Bill Gordon was an owner-racer looking for the right project car that could go fast enough to take a shot at a Land Speed Record without the task becoming a Manhattan Project. Gordon’s “Other Car” was the “World’s Fastest Ferrari,” a Norwood-Autocraft 300-mph Ferrari 308 with 288-GTO body panels and a 500-inch Twin-turbo big block V8 that had already proven itself the fastest sports car on the planet by making easy work of 250 mph. This time, psychologist Gordon was looking for something the kids at his Fairhill School could get involved with and “own.” Something that could make a difference in the lives of some bright kids who struggled with learning disabilities like dyslexia. A project that was difficult but not impossible. Expensive but not too expensive. So he went to Bob Norwood. Bob Norwood was a Dallas-based supertuner, Ferrari hotrodder and speed freak of long standing who, in addition to building Gordon’s Top-Gun 8.2-liter 288 Ferrari, had years before captured the 3.0-liter naturally-aspirated Land Speed Record with a stock-displacement 308 Ferrari. He still owned that record more than 15 years later. Norwood was a Bonneville veteran who had also built streamliners and other exotic speed vehicles and raced many times at the desolate salt flats flanked by mountains 100 miles west of Salt Lake city that are the remnants of prehistoric Lake Bonneville and provide up to 15 miles of runway for vehicles trying to go very fast. Norwood was enthusiastic about managing Gordon’s project and acting as crew chief at Bonneville, immediately suggested acquiring a Toyota MR2 Turbo. This was no coincidence. Norwood had already proven the power potential of the MR2 Turbo’s 3S-GTE powerplant, deriving output approaching 600 horsepower on gasoline from a heavily modified MR2 for Sport Compact Car magazine’s Project MR2 street car in ‘97 and ‘98. Norwood had followed that up by building 3S-GTE powerplants with power approaching 900-hp! The MR2’s four-cylinder 2.0L 86mm x 86mm engine size was eminently suitable for a run at the various smaller-displacement Bonneville classes in the 1.0-2.5 liter size. Besides big power potential, a 1991+ MR2 has the kind of good aerodynamics that are de rigueur at Bonneville. The MR2, referred to by some as the “Poor Man’s Supercar,” looks a lot like a Ferrari 308, and Norwood knew the aero would be good over the mid-engine four-banger. Actually, quite a few men who were not poor had dumped money into MR2s, proving it capable of perhaps the highest streetable specific power of any production “Import Performance” powerplant. Norwood needed a wildly powerful MR2, so he went to James Patterson. James Patterson was a former Norwood Autocraft exotic engine builder who had recently bought Norwood’s engine-building, Ferrari and exotic car service, and super-high-output performance-upgrades business, and was still based out of the same building in Dallas as Norwood Autocraft, which now focused exclusively on complete exotic-car construction, custom engine-management system design, and chassis dyno tuning. Patterson volunteered to have the new company—Norwood Performance—build a super-high output MR2 engine and modify an MR2 to make it capable of “safely” exceeding 200 mph. The day Gordon wrote a check and found himself the proud owner of a 1991 MR2 Turbo, the Land Speed Records for stock-body 1.5L and 1.0L sports cars were 142 and zero mph. In Quest of the World’s Fastest MR2 The MR2 project kicked off informally the day Gordon bought a ’91 MR2 Turbo for less than $10K and shipped it over to Norwood’s Dallas supercar shop conveniently close to the Fairhill School in Dallas where Gordon and a small team of kids from the school could, on occasion, watch the car go together and even potentially help out. In spite of the excellent possibilities of the 2.0L 3S-GTE motor, Norwood quickly decided to discard the 2.0L motor and work with an exotic 1.6L Japanese-only 20-valve 4AG powerplant, complete with individual-cylinder throttlebodies, five valves per cylinder, and computer-controlled variable intake-cam phasing. This motor could straightforwardly be de-stroked to 1.49 and .99 liters in a quest for the 1.5L (H-class) and 1.0L (I-Class) Blown GT and Blown Modified Sports classes at the salt flats. The main point of using Toyota’s smaller exotic 20-valve 4AG powerplant was that it was smaller to start and could more easily be further reduced in size compared to the 3S-GTE MR2 powerplant, an iron-block phenomenon built strong as an artillery piece that had been run at super-stock power levels by everyone from high-school dropouts to Pikes Peak racers like Millen. However, the 4AG motor appeared more problematic over 600 horsepower than the 3S-GTE, and James Patterson and the Norwood Performance techs would have their work cut out prepping the little motor to survive at such extreme power levels.  However, the breathing of the 5-valve-per cylinder head was already phenomenal (though not necessarily better than the 4-valve 3S-GTE except at partial valve lift when the valve circumference is more important than the total full-open valve area). Okay, the production 20-valve 4AG motor ran out of cam way below the stock redline at something like 6,000 RPMs, but custom cams could easily fix that problem. In fact, the race engine that would power Gordon’s MR2 Turbo in a quest for FOUR Land Speed Records in supercharged Bonneville classes used a stock 20-valve head with nothing more than a fresh valve job and very good super-high-speed valve springs and retainers. Breathing 22,000 Times Per Minute With a goal of an 11,000 RPM redline, each valve must open and close 92 times a second. With this in mind, the Norwood team installed a set of serious valve springs designed to resist 45 psi boost against closed intake valves and control float at extreme RPM via closed spring pressure of 85 psi and open pressure of 145 psi at .300 lift. In the quest for super-high RPM performance, the Norwood team next installed extremely high-lift, long duration cams capable of producing power deep into the 10,000 RPM range, and simultaneously modified the stock variable valve timing system for better performance at high RPM. Toyota’s variable Cam Phasing system on the 4AG 20-valve uses hydraulic oil pressure inside a diagonally-splined cam sprocket on the intake cam under computer control to force it to move on its sprocket relative to the exhaust cam, thus increasing valve overlap for better efficiency at high engine speeds. Norwood Performance altered cam timing from the stock minus-five degrees initial + 15 to 17-degrees initial + 15, with total advance limited via a custom positive-stop set-screw at 26 degrees combined intake cam advance. Living to Tell Norwood Performance equipped the 4AG powerplant with standard and non-standard super-duty custom parts and anti-failure countermeasures. These included lightweight Pauter connecting rods designed to survive extreme tension forces on the rod bolts of up to 180,000 pounds at 11,000 RPMs, a Norwood Performance custom crank-girdle to reinforce the main bearing caps and keep them from “walking” under heavy load at high-RPM, a custom Rody 43XX billet-steel crankshaft, and a set of 3.200-inch bore custom super-duty forged JE pistons. The billet crank had stroke reduced from 3.025-inches to 2.830. Displacement shrank from 1.6 to 1.5 Liters.  In a somewhat controversial move, Norwood Performance set initial static compression ratio at 9:1—high for an engine designed to gobble as much as 45 psi turbo boost. There was a good reason: On the way to supercharged glory, Norwood figured to take a backhand swipe at a Land Speed Record in the naturally-aspirated H Class—just for fun and to provide a relatively safe venue for a teenage student driver from the Fairhill School who would represent all Fairhill students at the salt flats. High static compression helps a naturally-aspirated engine rev fast and hard; the final effective compression ratio would be a function of the complex interaction between static compression ratio, cam timing, and boost pressure. To improve lubrication, provide hood clearance and keep weight as low as possible, Norwood and crew tilted the engine forward and fabricated a custom steel oil pan--and installed a multi-stage dry-sump oiling system to improve crankcase aerodynamics and keep flying oil and windage from slowing down the crank at speeds up to 11K RPMs. Norwood’s team simultaneously reworked the engine and trans mounts to raise the little 4AG engine and tranny 3.5 inches in order to bring the back of the car down close to the salt while maintaining good suspension geometry. The decreased engine height and Powertrain relocation enabled the team to lower the MR2 body for minimal clearance above the salt with greatly decreased drag. Engine Management and Boost Norwood Performance techs converted the 4AG engine for turbocharging by constructing a stainless-steel header system made from equal-length mandrel-bent tubing and 304 stainless flanges. They installed a Turbonetics T04 turbocharger with P-trim compressor and T-61-trim turbine, with the turbine housing A/R ratio set at .81. The team installed a Turbonetics Racegate with the goal of limiting boost to 40 psi. Norwood selected a Motec M8 engine system to manage the engine and installed sensors and actuators for direct-fire ignition, using monster 1,700 cc/min injectors capable of fueling at least 150-hp per cylinder at 85 psi fuel pressure. Norwood’s team installed an electro-pneumatic actuator that could regulate boost under Motec control by pulse-modulating the wastegate manifold pressure reference to provide pre-programmed and cockpit-selectable boost pressures ranging from a nominal 20 psi anywhere on to blow-up. Twin in-tank and in-line high-pressure electric fuel pumps supplied fuel. To withstand the enormous thermal and mechanical loading of long-duration Speed-Record runs, the Norwood team built a trunk-mounted air-water intercooler cooled with water routed through a large heat-sink tank which was cooled by a heat-exchanger built from a converted MR2 A/C condenser unit mounted ahead of the radiator. The Bonneville MR2 Comes Together The Norwood team rebuilt the stock MR2 transaxle. To get power to the ground, they installed a five-inch single-disc carbon clutch of the type no longer legal on an Indycar. The team installed a Tilton Super-starter with a matching small ring gear, and fitted the engine with a miniature Denso alternator. Meanwhile, the Norwood-Gordon-Fairhill team completely gutted the interior of the 1991 MR2 Turbo to remove weight, installing the required full roll cage, fire-control systems, and driver’s race seat. Along the way, they removed all unnecessary electro-mechanical equipment, including the heater, the A/C system and plumbing, and no less than five computers which the stock MR2 Turbo uses handle chores such as cruise control, anti-theft, electric power-steering, anti-lock brakes, and so on. The team removed the rear anti-roll bar, which they considered dead-weight on the Salt Flats. Safety equipment included an 11-lb fire-system, aluminum race seat, Diest five-point harness, and a window net. Externally, the Norwood race team removed the MR2’s rear wing, and installed mandatory spoiling rails on the roof to keep the car from trying to fly if it turns sideways, and a roof-flap that pops up in the wind if the car spins backward to cut the air and spoil all lift. Bob Norwood mapped the Motec engine management system on the Norwood Autocraft Dynojet chassis dynamometer, providing fuel and ignition calibration data at breakpoints from vacuum to 50 psi boost. Unfortunately, it was impossible to load the engine to the extent it would encounter at Bonneville when driving the weight of the car across the salt against the enormous air-resistance of speeds above 150 mph. Some of the numbers at certain engine loads where guesses that were not possible to achieve in the Dallas shop. On the dyno, the Toyota 4AG engine managed to achieve at least 34 psi boost on the dyno in the relatively thick barometric pressure of Dallas, Texas, 600 feet above seal level. In ready-to-rumble trim, the car weighed in at 2400 pounds. Y2k: A 1.5L Land Speed Record. Or Bust  In 1999, a team campaigning an Alfa Romeo Guilette Spyder had set the 1.5L blown modified sports (H/BMS) record at 140 mph with the supercharged Alfa Romeo. The Alfa guys were back in 2000 when the MR2 and its crew of Norwood professionals and Gordon and the Fairhill school kids arrived at Bonneville. The Alfa team batted first in the forced-induction H Class, and immediately pushed the record up to 152 mph. A young driver from the Fairhill School, newly licensed, had previously done his best to run the MR2 very fast in practice runs on the salt, but the MR2 proved tricky enough to drive that it quickly became clear that any serious safe attempt at a record would require the skills of someone more experienced. Owner Bill Gordon test-drove the short-wheelbase MR2, which he found “busy” at high speed without an anti-roll bar. Gordon drove the MR2 and but then decided to turn over the wheel to Norwood driver Tom Stephens. Stephens was an experienced racer with a resume that included setting track records in the Norwood Doom and Doom II Porsche racers on various road courses. Stephens had also successfully driven Norwood Ferrari and Porsche race cars in various road-course and drag racing events around the country. Stephens had quickly proved his ability to drive fast on the salt and set a 250 mph Land Speed Record in the glamour AA/MS class that distinguishes the fastest sports car on the planet, the 8.2 liter Norwood-Gordon twin-turbo Ferrari 288-GTO conversion. Stephens suited up and took the wheel of the MR2 in the summer of 2000. “On our first run out of the trailer,” says Norwood, “the MR2 went 205 mph. We heard some people had trouble believing our car could be legal; you’re not supposed to pound the record by 70 miles per hour.” The Norwood car went into impound where you get four hours to fix any problems and make the required backup run whereby your official speed is considered to be the lesser of the two maximum speeds attained in runs over the same best measured mile of the course. The Alfa Team stood by helplessly watching as their hours-old speed record stretched its wings and prepared to fly the coop to faster territory. But in the meantime, the Norwood team had its own troubles. “We immediately knew there was a problem from the way the MR2 cranked,” says Norwood. “The Event Fuel ran lean in the 1.5L 20-valve motor even though it ran rich in the big car [8.2L Ferrari].” The Motec datalog showed exhaust gas temperature had jumped to 1970 in the number three cylinder, just as driver Stephens lifted the throttle at the end of the last mile. The other three cylinders peaked at 1930, 1910, 1915, and clearly were not damaged. “We pulled the head in about an hour,” says Norwood, “and saw that the number three cylinder had been torched between the two exhaust valves, with a great big path cut through the head down to the piston. That was it, the head was totaled.” At this point it was clearly out of the question that Norwood’s team could make the four-hour impound limit. Assuming the engine could be fixed, the team would have to start over. “Fortunately we had a spare 20-valve head,” says Norwood. “In the meantime, the Alfa crew was still complaining our engine couldn’t be legal size given our results that were fifty mph faster than what they had done. We’re certified engine builders and are automatically assumed to know the engine size and be honest about it. But since we were already tearing down the top end, we invited the officials over to measure bore and stroke.” The officials decided the powerplant was precisely legal at 98 cubic inches. “Unfortunately,” say Norwood, “the spare head had never been on the block. I had to drill it out for the huge head studs we were using in the block. With a hand drill. Which took three hours and nearly wrecked my arms.” At this point, Patternson and built up the new head with the high-RPM valve springs and retainers, while Norwood worked on replacing the melted piston in the short block. “I used Muriatic acid to remove aluminum stuck to the cylinder walls,” says Norwood, “then prepped the cylinder wall with Scotch Brite. Everything worked out perfectly except for this one quarter-sized spot five-thousandths deep burned into the cylinder wall which we couldn’t fix.” With the engine finally mechanically sound, the exhausted Norwood team buttoned up the engine and car and went back to their hotel for the night. Gasoline and Salt  In the morning, the Norwood teams arrived back at the Salt to discover the supercharged Alfa Team had given up and departed. Meanwhile, Norwood had other concerns besides the competition or lack thereof. In the current state of tune, the MR2 had already eaten one of its pistons. It was clear from overnight datalog analysis that the engine system had certain problems. For one thing, the air-water intercooler had not proven sufficiently effective at the extreme power levels the engine had actually developed at Bonneville in high gear with 30 psi boost against a wall of air resistance at 205 mph. Air temperature had been rising from 60-degrees in the lower gears to 210 degrees—hot!—as the water reservoir heat-soaked during a run. “I knew I had to do something to the engine to ‘safe it up’ a bit,” says Norwood. A compounding problem was that the fuel pressure was insufficiently high to fuel the enormous dynamic range of an engine which idled like a tiny economy car and then rose up on its hind legs and peaked at over 600 horsepower at high RPM. The combination of over 150 horses per cylinder and RPM so extreme that the engine made 92 power pulses per second at max speed left very little time available to squirt fuel into the engine even with the largest available injectors operating at 100-percent duty-cycle. Another problem was boost creep: The Norwood team had equipped the MR2 with a huge Turbonetics Racegate wastegate and an electronic wastegate controller under Motec control, but the car developed so much power, that even at 4300 feet above sea level the wastegate could not bypass enough exhaust gases to effectively limit boost, which went out of sight when the engine was really loaded at high speed. “The engine just went crazy with boost, went nuts,” says Norwood, “and the wastegate couldn’t control it.” The team installed a Kenne Bell Boost-A-Pump on the second high-pressure fuel pump to overdrive the motor with boosted voltage. Norwood recalibrated the on-board computer for 90 psi fuel pressure with safe, rich mixtures. The Norwood team then began a series of high-speed runs designed to simultaneously go faster and optimize engine tuning parameters: The car ran 160. With leaner tuning 180. With leaner tuning 195, then 200, then 205, then 207. “I finally got to the point where it had a perfect map in it,” says Norwood, “and just about that time the motor started to show a little blow-by. On the last day it was slowing down. We went out to try and bump the record at bit more, but now it wouldn’t quite run 200. I suspect the rings got tired of running on that ratty low spot, and started ragging out the rings. Or maybe the engine just didn’t like running all that boost.” However, by the time the Norwood team was finished, the final and slowest run of the Norwood Gordon Fairhill MR2 had established a new Land Speed Record of 199 mph, almost 50 miles per hour faster than the number two Alfa sports car. Gordon, Norwood, Stephens, and the entire Norwood Team of professionals and Fairhill School kids had realized the dream of setting a Land Speed Record a fraction of a mile per hour below 200. The MR2 Goes Small: 2001 1.0L Engine When the year 2000 rolled over to 2001, the Land Speed Records for the 1.0-liter supercharged I-Class were 70 mph in I/GT and zero in I/BMS (no one had ever even competed in the I-Class blown modified sports with a one-liter engine). In the new year, the Norwood team set about to reduce the displacement of the ’91 MR2 Turbo in order to murder both supercharged I-Class records. Norwood Performance ordered up a new billet-steel Rody crankshaft with reduced stroke that decreased the 1.6L Toyota 20-valve 4AG engine from the 1.49 liter displacement that had qualified it for the H Class in 2000. With only a hair over one inch of stroke, the new engine would now displace just 999 cc’s. The Norwood Team was immediately forced to install smaller injectors in the tiny powerplant in order that injection pulsewidth was long enough to be sufficiently repeatable that the engine would idle adequately with its bike-sized displacement. In the meantime, Norwood’s crew had changed turbochargers on the mini-4AG engine and reconstructed the air-water intercooler to make it considerably more effective at controlling inlet air temperature than it had been on the 1.5L version of the engine in 2000. A Turbonetics turbo was selected with the goal of making a maximum 45 psi boost and power possible equal to that of the 1.5L motor. Other 2001 changes included the Norwood team re-installing a stock rear sway bar on the MR2 to take some of the roll out of the car for speeds over 200 mph. “I would never have thought roll would be an issue on the salt,” says driver Stephens, “but it was. In 2001, the MR2 wasn’t as much of a handful to drive because horsepower was down. However, boost now came in later with a huge rush at higher RPM compared to the 1.5L version of the car.” “We added a lot more boost to the 1.0L motor,” says Norwood. “If you look at the dyno sheets, the engine has BIG power at 6,500, big power on up into the 9,500-10,000 range, then it goes down a bit. The sweet spot’s between 6,500 and 10K. I had assumed power would be much higher if we ran way up there above 10K, but the engine is happy between 6,500 and 10,000, it works there, and we have a good gear combination for that range. So we left it alone.” Norwood knew that if the MR2 could maintain 45 psi boost throughout the RPM range, the tiny 1.0L engine could push the car to 200 mph, even with only 65-percent the displacement available when the car had attained 207. In the end, scheduling considerations limited the amount of time available for extensively testing the MR2 with its new mini-motor prior to the late-summer 2001 trip to the Salt, but the engine had definitely proven itself capable of at least 450-hp on Norwood’s Dynojet chassis dynamometer. On an ominous note, on the dyno, the car encountered anomalous operating conditions at high load that seemed to demand better ignition at extreme boost. The Norwood team installed four MSD 6-series igniter boxes to energize the four direct coils of the 4AG motor, ripped off some R&D dynoruns, and headed for the salt. The 1.0 LSR Salt Conditions were nearly perfect for the first time in years when the Norwood Team arrived at Bonneville with the 1.0-liter MR2 in 2001. Good salt would improve high-speed stability for all competitors, but it was especially good for the short-wheelbase MR2. With the sway bar in place on the Norwood MR2, Stephens decided the car was a “real dream” to drive. It was not a real dream to launch. The engine had such small displacement, light reciprocating weight, and poor low-end torque that it would stall under all conditions from a dead stop without special countermeasures. Stephens’ de facto launch method quickly became to rev it hard to 4,000 and massively slip the 5-inch carbon clutch to get the car moving. Once RPM moved into the “sweet spot” above 6,000 rpms, power would come on hard and the car would accelerate very well to 10,000—in the first few gears. In the bright sun against the dead-level bleached-white salt with the only frame of reference distant mountains, there was little sensation of speed other than the increasing wind noise and the diving and shuddering of the short-wheelbase car on rough spots of the cement-like salt surface as speed increased beyond 100 mph. The car immediately set a Land Speed Record in the I/GT class the first day out at 132 mph, and the Norwood Team proceeded with plans to push the envelope as far as possible. But, as usual on the salt flats, there was trouble. Manifold pressure became maddeningly unstable as speed increased into the 150-mph range. Stephens would hear the engine surging, with power moving up and down in 4th and 5th gear. He wondered if something mechanical might be opening and closing. To eliminate the possibility the wastegate was fluttering, the Norwood crew removed it, to no avail. In the end, the Norwood team was forced into an exhaustive on-site R&D effort that made use of the only testing regime possible on the salt flats, a lengthy series of high speed runs: Wait in the interminable line of race cars queued up for the next high-speed run. Make the next experimental run with one or maybe a few parameters changed. Tow the MR2 back to the pit area to analyze the results and data. Huddle to decide what’s next. Execute the changes as fast as possible and then back in line as fast as possible. Crew Chief Norwood set about methodically to achieve a good, stable state of tune. But after converting the Motec from throttle-position to Manifold Absolute Pressure-based air-fuel tables and touching up the ignition and air-fuel Maps such that engine management was theoretically perfect under all boost conditions, the instability only became WORSE. Eventually, Norwood realized that the program had a design flaw. It was encountering a wall of air resistance approaching 150 that required extremely high boost in order for the tiny engine to develop sufficient power to push through. And there was the rub: The engine was so small that the boost pressure ratios required in the realm of the lower air-flow ranges in 4th and 5th gears to achieve the necessary power levels to accelerate were so high that the operating point on the turbocharger’s compressor map had crossed over the surge-line into an unstable realm. The MR2 would proceed quickly through the first several gears with no problems, but when it was time for the shift into high gear, air resistance was so extreme that boost would build to 345 KPA as relatively low engine air-flow, the engine would push the car hard against the wall of air resistance, the car would start to accelerate hard, and suddenly a pressure wave would surge backward through the centrifugal compressor of the turbocharger and boost would crash back to 265 KPA boost. The situation was a little like trying to launch a car missing first gear or an offshore boat potentially capable of very high speed that didn’t have the power needed in the range required to get it up on plane. Stephens and Norwood tried a range of strategies to avoid the fatal turbo surge. Reducing the boost pressure to 22 psi via adjustments to the electronic wastegate avoided surge, but then the car didn’t have the power to exceed 150 mph. Stephens tried slipping the clutch during the transition from 4th and 5th gear, but at higher rpm the problem only got worse. “You’re spinning the turbo faster,” says Norwood, “and you’re already up against the surge line. It gets worse. We had a good turbo, but we had the wrong unit or possibly needed compound turbocharging [the first turbo blowing into the second such that neither encounters extreme pressure ratios at low air-flow].” The upside of the new engine setup was that everything else was working very well. The new intercooler exhibited outstanding thermal efficiency. The car’s high-speed controllability was excellent. In spite of the turbo surge, the car managed to achieve a one-way high-water-mark of 165-mph over a two-mile stretch. And the MR2 had achieved outstanding results. With the best efforts of the Norwood crew, the MR2 set I-Class two-way records in Blown GT and Modified Sports classes at 152 mph. Two records had, indeed, been murdered, one by 82 mph, the other by 152 mph! Not bad for a tiny engine smaller than many motorcycles that was pushing a production sports car over 2,000 pounds. The Future Clearly there is an upside available when the Norwood crew returns to the salt in 2002 with the 999 cc MR2. This summer, the car will again run in Class I/GT and I/MS 1.0, in the later with the body altered to eliminate the notch above the MR2’s rear mid-engine. Following the summer’s fun at the salt, Gordon hopes to sell the car along with both the H-and I-class motors. Bob Norwood firmly believes both I and H records are “soft” and can be raised further. And, of course, there’s the potential for using the car as a platform to attack 2.0 and 2.5 Classes with the 3S-GTE motor—or perhaps even the 3.0 class with a bolt-in Toyota 3VZ-FE or 1MZ-FE 4-cam 3.0L V6 Posted By : Fast Sports Cars 2011 |
TOP CARS
1. Bugatti Veyron: 267 mph, 0-60 in 2.5 secs. Aluminum, Narrow Angle 8 Liter W16 Engine with 1200 hp, base price is $1,700,000. Tested again on July 10, 2010 with the new 2010 Super Sport Version, the Bugatti Veyron once again claimed its title as the fastest car in the world at 267 mph.
2. SSC Ultimate Aero: 257 mph, 0-60 in 2.7 secs. Twin-Turbo V8 Engine with 1183 hp, base price is $654,400. Tested in March 2007 by Guinness World Records, The SSC Ultimate Aero was the fastest car in the world from March 2007 to July 2010 until recently it fell behind the Bugatti Veyron to take the #2 spot.
3. Saleen S7 Twin-Turbo: 248 mph, 0-60 in 3.2 secs. Twin Turbo All Aluminum V8 Engine with 750 hp, base price is $555,000. Smooth and bad-ass, will make you want to show it off non-stop.
4. Koenigsegg CCX: 245 mph, 0-60 in 3.2 secs. 90 Degree V8 Engine 806 hp, base price is $545,568. Made in Sweden, it is aiming hard to be the fastest car in the world, but it has a long way to go to surpass the Bugatti and the Ultimate Aero.
5. McLaren F1: 240 mph, 0-60 in 3.2 secs. BMW S70/2 60 Degree V12 Engine with 627 hp, base price is $970,000. Check out the doors, they looks like bat wings, maybe Batman need to order one and paints it black
6. Ferrari Enzo: 217 mph, 0-60 in 3.4 secs. F140 Aluminum V12 Engine with 660 hp, base price is $670,000. Only 399 ever produced, the price goes up every time someone crashes.
7. Jaguar XJ220: 217 mph, 0-60 in 3.8 secs. Twin Turbo V6 Engine with 542 hp, base price was $650,000. Made in 1992, this car still got what it takes to make the list.
8. Pagani Zonda F: 215 mph, 0-60 in 3.5 secs. Mercedes Benz M180 V12 Engine with 650 hp, base price is $667,321. With a V12 motor, this baby can do much better.
9. Lamborghini Murcielago LP640: 211 mph, 0-60 in 3.3 secs. V12 Engine with 640 hp, base price is $430,000. Nice piece of art, the design is very round and smooth.
10. Porsche Carrera GT: 205 mph, 0-60 in 3.9 secs. Aluminum, 68 Degree, Water Cooled V10 Engine with 612 hp, base price is $440,000. The most powerful and most expensive Porsche nearly made the list as #10.
Columbia Cadillac Shoppers Drive Home in “Best Performance/Luxury” Vehicles
| Columbia drivers in the market for one of the best luxury vehicles around, look no further than Buick GMC Cadillac Saab, your Columbia Cadillac dealer. |
2011 Cadillac CTS-V Columbia SC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEPRLog (Press Release) – Jan 26, 2011 – MotorAuthority, a website catering to luxury car enthusiasts, has named the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe and CTS-V Wagon as the “Best Performance/
The vehicles receiving the award were chosen from a list of the newest sports cars, sedans and SUVs that are priced at more than $50,000. The 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe and Wagon were chosen among a list of finalists including Bentleys, Aston Martins, and others top luxury vehicles.
In order to earn this prestigious luxury title, the 2011 CTS-V Coupe and Wagon had to pass the judges’ tests. Editors selected the nominees based on road-test reviews, and chose winners based on vehicles that they personally would want to put in their own garages, to drive on a perfect day and on the perfect road.
In short, the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe and Wagon were named MotorAuthority’
All vehicles in the CTS-V line feature supercharged 6.2L V-8s, delivering 556 horsepower and 551 lb.-ft of torque. Power is delivered to the rear wheels through either a standard six-speed manual or available six-speed automatic transmission.
Other high-performance features on the CTS-V family include standard Magnetic Ride Control, Brembo brakes, and 19-inch forged-aluminum wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires.
2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe in Columbia Praised by MotorAuthority
Among the several high performance qualities of the 2011 CTS-V Coupe, available now at your Columbia Cadillac dealer, the sleek appearance was key in earning the Coupe the title of “Best Luxury/Performance Vehicle.”
The CTS-V Coupe pairs performance with classic styling for the 2011 model, making it an eye-catcher on and off the road, perfect for Columbia drivers looking to make a statement.
The Coupe also features concept-car details, such as the rear spoiler integrated into the center high-mounted stop lamp and the center-outlet exhaust with twin tips that pass through the rear fascia.
Columbia Proud To Reveal 2011 CTS-V Wagon Earns “Best Luxury” Title
For our Columbia Cadillac dealer’s 2011 CTS-V Wagon, spacious flexibility makes it a winner among other performance vehicles on MotorAuthority’
The 2011 CTS-V Wagon pairs the performance of the CTS-V lineup with accommodations for up to 58 cubic feet of cargo, featuring the practicality of a wagon and the luxury of a sedan. With the extra cargo space, the CTS-V Wagon will fit more than just a desire for high performance.
Don’t let the wagon fool you, however. The 2011 CTS-V Wagon comes standard with several luxury amenities, including heated, leather appointed seats. Entertainment and information are available at the driver’s fingertips with an in-dash navigation system complete with a 40-gigabyte hard drive and a Bose 5.1 Cabin Surround audio system.
Visit Buick GMC Cadillac Saab, your leading Columbia Cadillac dealer, today to take a peek at this “Best Performance/
The vehicles receiving the award were chosen from a list of the newest sports cars, sedans and SUVs that are priced at more than $50,000. The 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe and Wagon were chosen among a list of finalists including Bentleys, Aston Martins, and others top luxury vehicles.
In order to earn this prestigious luxury title, the 2011 CTS-V Coupe and Wagon had to pass the judges’ tests. Editors selected the nominees based on road-test reviews, and chose winners based on vehicles that they personally would want to put in their own garages, to drive on a perfect day and on the perfect road.
In short, the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe and Wagon were named MotorAuthority’
All vehicles in the CTS-V line feature supercharged 6.2L V-8s, delivering 556 horsepower and 551 lb.-ft of torque. Power is delivered to the rear wheels through either a standard six-speed manual or available six-speed automatic transmission.
Other high-performance features on the CTS-V family include standard Magnetic Ride Control, Brembo brakes, and 19-inch forged-aluminum wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires.
2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe in Columbia Praised by MotorAuthority
Among the several high performance qualities of the 2011 CTS-V Coupe, available now at your Columbia Cadillac dealer, the sleek appearance was key in earning the Coupe the title of “Best Luxury/Performance Vehicle.”
The CTS-V Coupe pairs performance with classic styling for the 2011 model, making it an eye-catcher on and off the road, perfect for Columbia drivers looking to make a statement.
The Coupe also features concept-car details, such as the rear spoiler integrated into the center high-mounted stop lamp and the center-outlet exhaust with twin tips that pass through the rear fascia.
Columbia Proud To Reveal 2011 CTS-V Wagon Earns “Best Luxury” Title
For our Columbia Cadillac dealer’s 2011 CTS-V Wagon, spacious flexibility makes it a winner among other performance vehicles on MotorAuthority’
The 2011 CTS-V Wagon pairs the performance of the CTS-V lineup with accommodations for up to 58 cubic feet of cargo, featuring the practicality of a wagon and the luxury of a sedan. With the extra cargo space, the CTS-V Wagon will fit more than just a desire for high performance.
Don’t let the wagon fool you, however. The 2011 CTS-V Wagon comes standard with several luxury amenities, including heated, leather appointed seats. Entertainment and information are available at the driver’s fingertips with an in-dash navigation system complete with a 40-gigabyte hard drive and a Bose 5.1 Cabin Surround audio system.
Visit Buick GMC Cadillac Saab, your leading Columbia Cadillac dealer, today to take a peek at this “Best Performance/
Toyota Motor (TM) managed to hold onto the title of world's No. 1 automaker last year, despite numerous safety recalls that took a toll on its sales.
Toyota, which saw its sales rise 8% last year despite its recall woes, sold 8.42 million vehicles worldwide in 2010, news agencies reported Monday. That was enough to barely edge out a resurgent General Motors (GM), which rang up sales of 8.39 million, a 12.2% increase from the previous year. Toyota surpassed GM in 2008 as the world's largest supplier of motor vehicles.
GM fell about 28,000 vehicles shy of surpassing Toyota in 2010, compared to a difference of some 330,000 vehicles in 2009, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Strong sales in China, where Toyota has less of a foothold, helped Detroit-based GM to narrow the sales gap with its Japanese rival.
GM's sales soared 29% in China, home to the world's largest car market, surpassing Toyota's 19% gain there, Reuters reported. In the U.S., GM saw its sales grow 6.3% last year, slower than the industry average but ahead of those of Toyota, which were flat last year.
"Looking at the current sales momentum, it's hard to say whether Toyota will be able to keep its top position for a fourth straight year" in 2011, Mamoru Kato, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center, told Dow Jones.
See full article from DailyFinance
Posted By : Fast Sports Cars
BMW SUPER CARS
Mercedes’ sales jumped 15.6 per cent to a record 28,065 vehicles last year from 2009 while BMW volumes climbed 10 per cent to 27,202 in the same period.
The two German-based auto makers have dueled for the sales lead in the premium auto market for most of the last decade but BMW prevailed every year.
Mercedes chief executive officer Marcus Breitschwerdt said Thursday the company has gradually increased its business here by adopting a strategy of shifting away from a model lineup that suited Americans to one that was more European.
“In Canada, the social structure is like many European countries – middle class, hard working and skilled people,” he said in an interview. “They also care more about fuel economy and the environment.”
It led to Mercedes creating the compact luxury segment in Canada for buyers who wanted something more in quality at an affordable level but not necessarily bigger.
“We want to give someone who drives a (Honda) Civic, a Mercedes-Benz alternative that they can afford,” he added. “You pay a little more but you get much more in quality, technology and innovation in a car that is fun to drive.”
He also noted that in addition to more new products this year, the company is investing in its dealerships and used car salesrooms. The company also plans to increase if 53-store network by five to eight outlets during the next two years.
Veteran auto industry watcher Dennis DesRosiers said dealers told him that Mercedes hit record sales and remained “very profitable” at the same time.
“Of course everyone discounts but most of the sales in the luxury segments were driven by great product rather than heavy duty discounting,” he added.
Despite falling behind, BMW said the company is happy with its 2010 results, the second best performance in the company’s history.
“We had a great year and we did it with some older product,” said Barb Pitblado, the company’s director of corporate communications. “We are confident our sales will be even better in 2011.
She said a new X3 sports utility vehicle and a full year of business for its 5-Series sedans should fuel higher sales and boost prospects in overtaking Mercedes.
“We definitely hope so,” she added.
Although BMW lost the lead in annual sales in the luxury segment to Mercedes, it sold slightly more vehicles when other models are taken into account.
BMW Group said sales including the MINI brand increased 9 per cent to 31,703. Mercedes sales including smart cars and Sprinter vans rose
Press Release:
A BMW S1000RR, the double championship-winning supersports bike, features in a high-octane superbike vs supercar race on this week’s episode of the hugely popular BBC Top Gear show.
Steve Brogan, the 2010 Mirror.co.uk BSB-EVO champion, will be racing the 999cc, 193bhp stock road bike around the legendary Top Gear test track. He’s up against a £150,000 Ariel Atom V8 – a 475bhp, 550kg supercar powered by two 1300cc motorcycle engines which have been bored out and turned into a V8.
Brogan, who dominated the BSB-EVO class on a race spec BMW, takes on the supercar which costs more then ten times as much as the stock BMW S 1000 RR.A BMW S1000RR, the double championship-winning supersports bike, features in a high-octane superbike vs supercar race on this week’s episode of the hugely popular BBC Top Gear show.
Steve Brogan, the 2010 Mirror.co.uk BSB-EVO champion, will be racing the 999cc, 193bhp stock road bike around the legendary Top Gear test track. He’s up against a £150,000 Ariel Atom V8 – a 475bhp, 550kg supercar powered by two 1300cc motorcycle engines which have been bored out and turned into a V8.
In a neck-and-neck race around the famous circuit, viewers of Sunday night’s show will get to see whether the bike or car, at the hands of a mystery driver, crosses the finishing line first!
Anyone wanting to know the result will have to tune into the show on BBC2 on Sunday, 23rd January at 8pm.
Posted By: Fast sports Cars 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Luxe Cars
Luxe Car Rental® is an independently owned and operated company which specializes in luxury car rental and sports car rental in Singapore. We aim to provide you with an exceptional driving experience and impeccable customer service. Luxe Car Rental® features exotic luxury vehicles from the most exclusive manufacturers in the world, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley, Aston Martin, Maserati and Porsche.
Luxe Car Rental® is the only exotic sports car professional rental company with the best fleet in Singapore. We offer the fastest and most exceptional supercars for hire, be it for special events - such as weddings and parties - or other leisurely pursuits. Other than catering for special occasions, Luxe Car Rental® also aims to fulfill its clients’ aspirations of driving luxury cars in Singapore without the servicing efforts and hassle of possessing a vehicle. As a result, clients experience the thrill of our luxury sports cars whilst maintenance, insurance and other aspects of car ownership, are handled by the Luxe Car Rental® team.
Singapore has won a five-year contract to host the Formula One race on the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Since September 2008, Singapore has seen the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen racing down the streets in downtown Singapore for the world’s first night race. Now you can make your dreams come true and not only watch the Formula One race, but drive powerful sports cars in Singapore yourself!
In terms of growth, India is now one of the top three markets for BMW globally with only China and South Korea ahead of it.
Mercedes, which had suffered a decline in sales in 2009 that eventually led to it ceding its leadership position to BMW, bounced back strongly in 2010 with almost all its models doing much better than in the previous year. The stellar performance however, was not good enough to dethrone BMW.
Audi, long considered the dark horse in the race also remained steadfast in achieving its ambition of becoming the market leader.
“We have had a very satisfying year in 2010 and have exceeded our internal targets for the third straight year,” said Michael Perschke, head, Audi India. “The race to the top is a long term game and we will get there in time. We are aiming for a market share between 28-30% in the luxury car segment in India and the way it is growing, we know it is a tough task.” who sold how much
Audi Group of America Inc. is going to push into the US luxury market in the year 2011. Their A8 model which is part of the top end car from the company is the flag bearer of this thought process to be followed up by the A6 and A7 in the Phase Two of the brand development process by Audi in America. The smallest model from Audi, the Q3 though seems to be back in contention for a release in the US on the back of a healthy growth of 23.3 percent recorded by the entire segment in 2010, this after it Audi officials had decided against its release in that country. The A1 model from Audi also has better chances of joining up with the Audi lineup in the US market.
As per Johan De Nysschen, President Audi Group of America Inc.’s people would have to wait for the next generation models to come up where one would get more diesel variants. Audi had sold a record number of 1,092,400 vehicles worldwide in 2010 which included an all time high record of 101,629 in the U.S. They hope to continue with the positive sales trend in this year as well.
For the long term forecast, the company plans to sell 200,000 units in the US market in the year 2018. This is about twice the number of vehicles that they have sold last year. They also aim to sell 1.5 million cars worldwide to become the top luxury car seller. For the year 2011 they intend to sell 1.2 million units globally and to double their sale figures in the US market. As per De Nysschen, Audi has been successful in garnering the interest of more affluent Americans and this has been possible due to the stupendous success of the A8 model which Audi had introduced last year.
For Ford Motor, it’s an open question as to where the optimal balance lies between cost and range. But according to Sherif Marakby, the company’s director of electric vehicle development programs, the answers “will become clear in the next couple of years with more and more EV introductions in the market.” Ford will adjust its plug-in offerings based on results it sees in two areas: First, customer and market acceptance of the current range of electric vehicles. “With several EV introductions, the customer will either tell us the current range is not practical (at any cost), or that cost will determine their next EV, even at current range levels,” he said. The second factor is how battery technology evolves in the next couple years, and especially energy density. Increased energy density drives down cost, said Marakby, and determines “how much battery we can fit in a car.”
According to Kevin See, an analyst with Lux Research who focuses on electric vehicles, cost will be the more important factor for automakers seeking mainstream acceptance of EVs. Although “range anxiety is obviously an issue,” he said, “we absolutely see cost as the major obstacle to mass adoption.”
It’s not a one-size-fits all market, however. “Right now, you can increase range just by building a bigger battery pack,” See said, noting that Coda Automotive has opted for a 40 percent larger pack for its $44,900 Coda Sedan than Nissan has chosen for its Nissan LEAF (33.8 kWh vs. 24 kWh), affording the Coda Electric Sedan up to 120 miles of range compared to about 100 miles for the LEAF.
As a pure-play EV provider, said See, Coda had to differentiate itself. “They can’t come out with the same car as the LEAF,” he said. “They’ve chosen the battery pack to be the differentiator.” See believes that at this stage, however, “a small increase in range is not worth $12,000 to most consumers.” At a certain point, additional range simply may not be worth it for all but a niche market. “Consumers are not expecting to do 300-mile road trips in an electric car,” said See.
Competitive pricing is a moving target, however. As fuel efficiency improves for internal combustion engine vehicles, said See, payback periods (i.e. the time it takes for an EV buyer to recoup the extra upfront cost of their plug-in by spending less on fuel) will increase, unless EV costs also come down. “Going forward, economies of scale for everybody is what’s going to bring down battery cost,” said See, and there’s interest in “tweaking” battery chemistry to further reduce costs. “But the question is, will they come down enough to compete with the internal combustion engine?”
Luxe Car Rental® is the only exotic sports car professional rental company with the best fleet in Singapore. We offer the fastest and most exceptional supercars for hire, be it for special events - such as weddings and parties - or other leisurely pursuits. Other than catering for special occasions, Luxe Car Rental® also aims to fulfill its clients’ aspirations of driving luxury cars in Singapore without the servicing efforts and hassle of possessing a vehicle. As a result, clients experience the thrill of our luxury sports cars whilst maintenance, insurance and other aspects of car ownership, are handled by the Luxe Car Rental® team.
Singapore has won a five-year contract to host the Formula One race on the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Since September 2008, Singapore has seen the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen racing down the streets in downtown Singapore for the world’s first night race. Now you can make your dreams come true and not only watch the Formula One race, but drive powerful sports cars in Singapore yourself!
The German automotive giant, BMW has retained its number 1 position in the luxury car segment in India in 2010, despite a relentless onslaught throughout the year from rival Mercedes Benz, which launched as many as 18 models during the year. BMW sold 6,246 cars last year, a 73% increase over 2009
when it had sold 3,619 cars. Mercedes and Audi, its two main rivals did not do too bad either. Mercedes despatched 5,819 cars to its dealerships, an 80% growth over the previous year while actual sales are estimated at 5,776 units during the year. Audi sold 3,003 cars, 81% more than its tally of 1,658 cars in 2009. “We are glad that we managed to retain our pole position in 2010, a feat we first achieved in 2009 and are now confident of maintaining our leadership in future,” said Andreas Schaaf, president, BMW India. “When we started the year our target was to sell 4,200 cars during the year. The fact that we exceeded that by some margin shows how strong the demand is in India and how strong our brand is.”In terms of growth, India is now one of the top three markets for BMW globally with only China and South Korea ahead of it.
Mercedes, which had suffered a decline in sales in 2009 that eventually led to it ceding its leadership position to BMW, bounced back strongly in 2010 with almost all its models doing much better than in the previous year. The stellar performance however, was not good enough to dethrone BMW.
Audi, long considered the dark horse in the race also remained steadfast in achieving its ambition of becoming the market leader.
“We have had a very satisfying year in 2010 and have exceeded our internal targets for the third straight year,” said Michael Perschke, head, Audi India. “The race to the top is a long term game and we will get there in time. We are aiming for a market share between 28-30% in the luxury car segment in India and the way it is growing, we know it is a tough task.” who sold how much
As per Johan De Nysschen, President Audi Group of America Inc.’s people would have to wait for the next generation models to come up where one would get more diesel variants. Audi had sold a record number of 1,092,400 vehicles worldwide in 2010 which included an all time high record of 101,629 in the U.S. They hope to continue with the positive sales trend in this year as well.
For the long term forecast, the company plans to sell 200,000 units in the US market in the year 2018. This is about twice the number of vehicles that they have sold last year. They also aim to sell 1.5 million cars worldwide to become the top luxury car seller. For the year 2011 they intend to sell 1.2 million units globally and to double their sale figures in the US market. As per De Nysschen, Audi has been successful in garnering the interest of more affluent Americans and this has been possible due to the stupendous success of the A8 model which Audi had introduced last year.
he plug-in vehicles rolling out to consumers this year rely on battery technology that’s already a step behind the cutting edge. After all, automakers have been working for years to secure suppliers, build prototypes, refine designs, and integrate systems. When deploying next-generation batteries in future models, automakers face a choice to apply energy density improvements toward increased electric range or reduced costs.
Of course, it’s more of a balancing act than an either-or scenario. A recent survey conducted by IBM’s Institute for Business Value found that U.S. consumers want both more range and lower costs.For Ford Motor, it’s an open question as to where the optimal balance lies between cost and range. But according to Sherif Marakby, the company’s director of electric vehicle development programs, the answers “will become clear in the next couple of years with more and more EV introductions in the market.” Ford will adjust its plug-in offerings based on results it sees in two areas: First, customer and market acceptance of the current range of electric vehicles. “With several EV introductions, the customer will either tell us the current range is not practical (at any cost), or that cost will determine their next EV, even at current range levels,” he said. The second factor is how battery technology evolves in the next couple years, and especially energy density. Increased energy density drives down cost, said Marakby, and determines “how much battery we can fit in a car.”
According to Kevin See, an analyst with Lux Research who focuses on electric vehicles, cost will be the more important factor for automakers seeking mainstream acceptance of EVs. Although “range anxiety is obviously an issue,” he said, “we absolutely see cost as the major obstacle to mass adoption.”
It’s not a one-size-fits all market, however. “Right now, you can increase range just by building a bigger battery pack,” See said, noting that Coda Automotive has opted for a 40 percent larger pack for its $44,900 Coda Sedan than Nissan has chosen for its Nissan LEAF (33.8 kWh vs. 24 kWh), affording the Coda Electric Sedan up to 120 miles of range compared to about 100 miles for the LEAF.
As a pure-play EV provider, said See, Coda had to differentiate itself. “They can’t come out with the same car as the LEAF,” he said. “They’ve chosen the battery pack to be the differentiator.” See believes that at this stage, however, “a small increase in range is not worth $12,000 to most consumers.” At a certain point, additional range simply may not be worth it for all but a niche market. “Consumers are not expecting to do 300-mile road trips in an electric car,” said See.
Competitive pricing is a moving target, however. As fuel efficiency improves for internal combustion engine vehicles, said See, payback periods (i.e. the time it takes for an EV buyer to recoup the extra upfront cost of their plug-in by spending less on fuel) will increase, unless EV costs also come down. “Going forward, economies of scale for everybody is what’s going to bring down battery cost,” said See, and there’s interest in “tweaking” battery chemistry to further reduce costs. “But the question is, will they come down enough to compete with the internal combustion engine?”
Posted By: Fast Spo
Classic Cars
- A Toyota Lexus LFA vehicle on display at the Abu Dhabi International Motor Show in December 2010.
But company officials say they will continue to manufacture some type of sports car after production of the limited edition, 500-unit Lexus LFA supercar winds down in two years. Executive vice president Takeshi Uchiyamada told The Wall Street Journal at the Detroit auto show that another sports car will enter the line-up after LFA production ends and struck a wistful note that the Supra line was not continued in the 2000s.
“Yes, we will do it,” he said, adding “We can’t just crank them out one after another like a normal model, but there needs to be consistency in production so you don’t get a situation like that with the Supra, which just died out altogether.”
Speaking in an interview, Mr. Uchiyamada, Toyota’s global chief engineer, said that various ideas are under consideration to carry on the post-LFA sports car mantel, but that no formal decision to develop a new sports model has been made. “Some of our engineers are doing their own research, but it’s not on the official project schedule,” he said. “But if it were to be authorized, it could happen quickly.”
Toyota officials in the U.S. would like to see a new sports car too, but say their immediate priority is adding core vehicles such as the Prius family and updating models such as the Camry mid-sized sedan and Corolla compact. “I am confident it will happen, it’s just a little further down the list,” said Bob Carter, group vice president and general manager of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. “Stay tuned.”
PETER CHENEY
Globe and Mail Update Published on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011 4:12PM EST Last updated on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011 4:19PM EST
Never mind. I have enough sunny memories to carry me through until spring. One of them is the Porsche Boxster Spyder, my favourite convertible ever. Who knew? The standard Boxster was never a car I lusted for. To me it was like some of the women I dated before my wife: somewhat attractive, good family, no spark.
But the Spyder is different. Lighter and lower than a standard Boxster, it has fat tires, extra power and a humped rear deck that evokes the Porsche 550 that James Dean loved so much. (Of course he died in it, too, but never mind.) The Spyder has the ineffable aura of a true sports car – low, agile and stripped down.
Thanks to all the over-compensated yuppies who use them as rolling status symbols, I have a bit of a love-hate thing with Porsches. When I worked as a Porsche mechanic back in my twenties, many of my customers barely knew how to drive, and I once met a woman whose father gave her a Porsche 911 with an automatic transmission for her sixteenth birthday – she crashed it the first week,
But the Spyder made forget all that baggage and remember why my dad and his buddies loved Porsches long back in the fifties, when only the true aficionados knew about them. I went to Mosport racetrack and arced the Spyder through the curves, addicted to its cornering force and the rasp of the high-tuned motor. I parked it at Starbucks and stared at it through the plate-glass window. Spyder lust was upon me. I checked the price (about $80,000, give or take) and pondered the balance of my son’s education fund, wondering if he’d miss it.
I could see that the Spyder isn’t the car for everyone. To save weight, it has a manual top – to put it up, you have to pull off the road, extract the top from a rear compartment, and assemble it like a little pup tent. If you’re stuck in highway traffic and it starts to rain, well, tough luck. For me, this only added to the Spyder’s appeal - I’m sick of decadent, overweight sleds that masquerade as sports cars, and the manual top was a symbol of sporting commitment. So was its six-speed manual transmission, which shifted with minimal wrist-flicks, like the bolt on a perfectly oiled Lee-Enfield rifle.
As a boy, I dreamed of tiny, convertible sports cars like the Lotus Elan and the Porsche Speedster. The Spyder is their direct descendant, a car just big enough to wrap itself around two people. My wife and I headed out of town, revelling in the pleasure of a small, fast car with no top.
I drove the Spyder to Montreal to cover the Grand Prix, then to Muskoka to hunt for twisting roads. I put the top up just twice – once when I got caught in rain too heavy to ignore, and the second time after a topless highway session during a summer heat wave that left me utterly broiled. (Ten minutes later, I took the top back down again, because it felt wrong to miss the experience, broiling notwithstanding.)
The Spyder reminded how much we miss by riding around in climate-controlled boxes that disconnect us from nature. In a small convertible you are just one step removed from a motorcyclist or a pony express rider – you smell flowers and fresh cut corn, and as you blast past a paving crew, you are struck by a hot, moist bouquet of tar. When the sun falls, you reach for a sweater. Beautiful.
I realized that the Spyder is an ideal example of one of my favourite car genres: the factory hot rod. Having modified a few cars myself, I know how hard it is to actually improve a vehicle. It’s easy to produce more power or make a car corner flatter, but most modifications exact a steep price in other areas (comfort, reliability, fuel economy, the list goes on….) Making a car better all-round calls for true sagacity, and it’s hard to beat a team of professional engineers, especially the kind that work at elite firms like Porsche, BMW or Ferrari.
Now I was driving a mechanical dissertation. Compared to a standard Boxster, the Spyder’s changes are minimal: a few millimetres of suspension drop, ten horsepower, eighty kilos of lost weight, and some speed humps on the deck lid. Doesn’t sound like much. But for me, it meant everything.
By Michael Ramsey
Toyota Motor Corp., which wrapped its $375,000 Lexus LFA sports car in a lightweight carbon fiber body, is planning to begin using lightweight material in more of its product line to cut weight and increase performance, said Takeshi Uchiyamada, the chief engineer for the automaker.Carbon fiber weighs about one-third as much as steel, but costs eight to 20 times as much. Reducing vehicle weight is one of the best ways to improve performance and fuel economy in a vehicle.
Toyota developed its own carbon fiber technology for the LFA, which is a limited run super car. Other automakers, including BMW AG, are using the material more broadly. The German automaker has a partnership with SGL Carbon SE to make a carbon fiber passenger cabin for an upcoming BMW electric car called the MegaCity Vehicle.
Posted By:Fast Sports Cars 2011
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