Apr 29
Steinmetz tuning kit for the Opel Corsa OPC
Volvo Aims for Zero Accidents
Steinmetz tuning kit for the Opel Corsa OPC
Apr 29
South to Surrey
Set amidst the rolling Surrey Hills and yet within easy reach of Guildford, Loseley Park can trace its history back to the Domesday Book of 1086. A trusted advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, Sir William More built the present Manor House between 1562 and 1568 using masonry salvaged from nearby Waverley Abbey (itself a twelfth-century building). Still home to his descendents, this imposing Elizabethan edifice is surrounded by stunning parkland not to mention a walled garden, ornamental lake and plethora of ancient trees. Visited by various monarchs from Queen Elizabeth I in the 1560s through to Queen Mary during the 1930s, Loseley Park will play host to H&H for the first time on Sunday June 8th 2008.
With a large clear-span marquee in which to house the cars, motorcycles and automobilia as well as good road / rail / airport links, the sale promises to be a great event and has already attracted a suitably aristocratic 1936 Bugatti Type 57 Graber Sports Saloon as the headline lot. Invoiced to Bugatti’s Swiss agency, Bucar SA, on September 19th 1936, chassis 57443 was subsequently dispatched to Carrosserie Graber. Believed but not warranted to be a one-off commissioned by its architect first owner, the resultant Sports Saloon offered the same internal accommodation as a factory-bodied ‘Galibier’ but with far more flamboyant packaging.
The last of a long line of Bugattis to have belonged to the vendor’s family, chassis 57443 was purchased from A. van Ramshorst’s renowned ‘NV Albatros’ dealership in November 1962. Resident in Sweden before then, the past forty-six years have seen it used for a variety of touring duties including attending a wedding at Molsheim. Pleasingly retaining its original leather upholstery, the Type 57 is in unrestored but running order (though, the engine was treated to an extensive overhaul by Jan Keizer of Doetinchem in 1991). A familiar sight in Dutch Bugatti circles and well known to the late Hugh Conway with whom the vendor’s family were good friends, this ‘timewarp’ Graber Sports Saloon carries a saleroom estimate of £100,000 - £120,000.
Continua leyendo “H&H consigns a ‘timewarp’ Bugatti Type 57 and ‘barn find’ Lister Sports Racer for its Summer Sales”
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Apr 29
Click on the picture to enlarge
A few days ago we wrote about DELAHAYE USA, a division of Appleton Productions, Inc. The only firm in the world that specializes in recreating the most beautiful classic coachbuilt cars ever built with hand-crafted aluminum bodies, yet with totally modern underpinnings.
We now have some pictures in our Delahaye images gallery.
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Apr 29
More than 350 historic cars are already entered in the race weekend of Spa Summer Classic 13, 14 & 15 June 2008.
Touring cars, Grand Touring cars, Sport-Prototypes and Single-Seaters of the 60′, 70′ and early 80′ will race in twelve series during the weekend.
You want to be part of it ?
You want to race on the circuit of Spa-Francorchamps ?
Visit www.roadbook.be
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Apr 29
Filed under: Concept Cars, Sports/GTs, Nissan, Rumormill
Click the image above for more hi-res shots of the 370Z and Infiniti design teasers.
There were crisp images of a blurry car being swapped and discussed today at Nissan 360. When Shiro Nakamura, the head designer at Nissan, revealed the barest hints of a car outline hidden behind a taut sheet of fabric, speculation began as to whether it represented the new Z. The arced flanges over the wheels, and the way they follow the wheels, have 370Z written all over them. However, it doesn't look as if it would fit this rendering exactly -- which is not a bad thing. All Nakamura would say is that we'll be seeing that wheel later this year, which, coincidentally, is when the next Z -- supposedly lighter and four inches shorter than the current car -- is slated to be unveiled.
The other design teaser was a top-view sculpture of future Infiniti design elements. Who knows what or how much of the elements -- like the ducktail rear -- will make it to the final product, and who knows what those features will look like when in production. But it's a good looking piece of art in its own right. A brace of edges peeking out from a sea of crimson undulations -- if they had thrown wheels on it I would have driven it out of the hotel last night.
Our travel and lodging for this media event was provided by the manufacturer.
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Apr 29
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Sir Stirling Moss OBE Drove famous Jaguar D-Type through Bradford to celebrate opening of Speedmaster’s new £2.5 million conference centre
Hundreds of people lined the streets of Bradford on Thursday April 24th to see motor racing legend Sir Stirling Moss drive a long-nose Jaguar D-Type to Speedmaster in Greengates, where he opened Europe’s first motoring themed conference centre.
Sir Stirling headed a cavalcade of historic Jaguars from the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, that were given a police escort from Bradford’s City Hall to the new conference centre in Greengates.
Years of planning had gone into the design and building of the new 20,000 square foot conference and training centre which will be used for a variety of purposes by businesses throughout the north of England.
James Hanson, Managing Director of the new centre, said: “We were honoured that Sir Stirling opened this new complex which is already attracting conference and meeting organisers from across the region. It was great that he drove the D-Type and that hundreds of people turned out to see him and the other cars.”
The Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Robin Owens and the Lady Mayoress, Mrs Janet Owens, travelled in a new Jaguar XF, while the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Brian Cleasby was driven to the event in Jaguar XK 120, NUB 120, a famous Leeds car that was campaigned in the 1950s, and won several important rallies.
Continua leyendo “Sir Stirling Moss OBE Drove famous Jaguar D-Type through Bradford “
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Apr 29
Filed under: Emerging Technologies, USA
There seems no end to the different ways one can generate pollution-free electricity but we try to cover them all. From the not-so-ready-for-prime-time free-energy devices and solar paint to the most current statements in piezing dresses. (Get it? Current? Electricity? Dresses? Ok, nevermind.) We’ve even looked at the possibilities of roads before but this time we’re not talking solar or wind, we’re talking kinetics.
Terry Kenney had a dream one night about a device in the road that would harvest the energy from the vehicles driving over it. It took eight years of work and perseverance to bring it to the light of day but using parts sourced from all over the world and a cooperative customer in the form of Port of Oakland terminal operator, SSA, his clean electricity-making “Dragon Power Station” is fait accompli. According to an article at New American Media, as trucks pass over plates embedded in the asphalt “they compress a tank of hydraulic fluid under the road, which in turn creates a series of pumping actions that turns a generator to produce electricity.” By next month Kenney expects it to produce 5,000 to 7,000 kilowatt-hours every day. That’s enough to power 1,750 homes! The story is not going to end there either. The “Dragon” is being installed in some other prime locations and Kenney has deals-a-plenty on the horizon. Click on “Read” for the entire heartwarming story.
[Source: New American Media]
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Apr 29
Filed under: Economy, Japan, Hatchbacks, Nissan
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Nissan Cube.
Let's just get this out of the way right now: this blogger is going to buy one of these cars when they come to America. And I'm a die-hard 385-plus-horsepower sports car owner for years now. And I live in LA. But the Cube is just that great. So Nissan, don't pull a bait-and-switch, please...
The Cube is basic, and makes no attempt to dress it up. In fact, not only is the car not gussied up, but the entire interior of the car I drove was beige. And it was still hot. It's basic done completely right, with tons of cubbies and comfort in an enormous (relatively speaking) cabin and a unified design theme inside and outside that ties it all together.
The 1.5-liter, 107-HP engine has got the giddy-up-and-go, and the car is so much fun to drive that you'll cackle like an old hen every time you throw it around a corner. I admit I won't be buying one in sky blue, and it won't have the third row -- that row is more than a bit optimistic -- but I will have no problem showing everyone I know that "cool" is now spelled "cube."
You can check out the Nissan 360 event site for more details on all the vehicles in Nissan's lineup. In the mean time, be sure to check out the gallery of hi-res photos below.
Our travel and lodging for this media event was provided by the manufacturer.
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Apr 29
Filed under: SMART, Fiat, Renault, Lightweight, UK
Small cars aren’t necessarily unsafe, as good engineering and quality materials can go a long way towards making up for the size disadvantage that they face in many accidents. Sometimes, though, corners can be cut in order to save a few bucks, and the U.K. agency Thatcham suggests that the seats in small city cars could use some help.
“City cars are not equipped to protect their occupants’ necks when they have to absorb the crash energy from larger, heavier vehicles which combined with poor seat design makes whiplash far more likely. Good seat design is not something that should be inherently linked to higher value cars and this latest set of results will hopefully act as a catalyst for vehicle manufacturers to look at improving seat and head restraints design within this important and growing sector,” says Matthew Avery, a research manager at Thatcham.
Because city cars spend much of their time in traffic, which is where whiplash is most likely, these latest tests indicate that much more work is required from manufacturers. Not a single mini-car tested performed well enough to earn a “good” whiplash protection rating, while the smart fortwo and Renault Twingo were the only mini’s rated as “acceptable.”
[Source: Thatcham]
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Apr 29
Filed under: Tuners, Sports/GTs, Euro, Hatchbacks, Opel
Click above for a gallery of the Steinmetz Corsa OPC
The Opel Corsa is small, cool, and like most other cool U.S.-automaker Euro offerings, unavailable to us -- at least for now. As good as the current car would look wearing Saturn badges and slotted beneath the Astra, we'll have to wait a good while until the next-gen Corsa arrives to see it in Saturn stores. Nifty though it may be in standard guise, it's the OPC performance variant that really strikes our fancy. 192 horsepower, a 6.8-second 0-60, and fuel economy in the neighborhood of 30 mpg is a compelling combo.
Longtime Opel tuner, Steinmetz, has unveiled a suite of mods for the butched-up Corsa OPC. The factory hot hatch gets a new exhaust that adds ten horsepower, bumping its peak output to 202 ponies. Next comes a suspension upgrade that drops the car 30 millimeters, giving it a more athletic stance. Finally, Steinmetz closes the deal with a new front spoiler, replacement grille, side stripes, aluminum gas cap, and an upgraded wheel/tire package. Looks like fun to us.
[Source: Steinmetz]
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Apr 29
Filed under: Ethanol
Corn plus magic equals gasoline. That’s how Stephen Colbert calculates the way ethanol is made. On the Colbert Report last night, the ethanol vs. biofuels debate that we just can’t help but hear about everywhere we turn was the subject of The Wørd. The best way to experience this four-minute comedy bit is to hit the jump for the video, but if you’re in a hurry, here’s the short version: ethanol is the best way for us to feel like we’re being green without sacrificing any of our creature comforts. Also, John McCain’s crazy tax holiday idea gets skewered as well: “Never was so little asked of so many by so few.” Oh, and I so wish I would have thought of the “corn on the Saab” line. Brilliant.
[Source: Colbert Report via Ecorazzi]
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Apr 29
Filed under: Minivans/MPVs, Crossovers/CUVs, Nissan
The Qashqai is a European-designed, Japan- and Euro-market crossover. We didn't drive the gasoline version, but the diesel is doable, if a little slow off the line, and the steering is pretty crisp for a CUV. The Qashqai +2 adds a third row... but there really isn't a lot of room back there, only suitable for new additions to the family. In a theme among all of the Nissan vehicles we drove today, the interior is quite pleasant. As ever, the Euros get mid-range vehicles with some really nice fit and finish. The leather in the diesel was especially nice, if a little puffy. The center console pleases the eye at a glance, but when you look closely at it you realize there are enough buttons and glyphs for a Sikorsky helicopter. It really takes scrutiny to decipher, and you don't want to do it while you're driving. But the panorama roof? Magnificent.
You can head over to the Nissan 360 event site for more details on the vehicles. But first, be sure to check out the gallery of hi-res photos below.
Our travel and lodging for this media event was provided by the manufacturer.
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Apr 29
Filed under: Motorsports, Sports/GTs, Euro, Audi, Driving
Driving a car on a racetrack, a controlled environment where the vehicle's limits can be safely probed, is an experience that not only increases driving skills, but it builds confidence too. Recognizing this, and offering car enthusiasts a way to legally wring-out some of their hottest products, Audi has partnered with Emotive to launch their 2008 Audi Sportscar Experience. Unlike last year's marketing-oriented Audi Driving Experience, or any other Driver Education event, the Sportscar Experience is focused on high-performance driving.
The program consists of several different one- and two-day programs held at Infineon Raceway in California. Drivers sign up for the event of their choice, and each one includes a high-performance Audi "S" model for flogging (yes, tires and brakes are included). The vehicles include the 420-hp Audi RS4, the 354-hp Audi S5, the 450-hp Audi S8, and the awesome 420-hp Audi R8. If there is a downside to all of this fun, it's the price. The entry-level half-day "Introductory Program" runs $695. A full-day program in the RS4 will cost you $1,295. Want to improve your skills behind the wheel of the R8? That will set you back a cool $1,895 for a one-day program, $3,495 for two days. Having fun ain't cheap.
[Source: Audi]
Continue reading Audi launches Sportscar Experience at Infineon Raceway
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Apr 29
Filed under: Diesel, Green Culture, Ford, Toyota, Green Daily
For those of you in the southeast Michigan area, you might want to swing by the Green Street Fair in Plymouth MI this weekend. The street fair will feature exhibits and workshops on all things green, from gardening, recycling and transportation. Ford, Toyota and Bosch will all be on hand displaying their wares and discussing what they are working on and how to get better mileage with the cars you have now. The Electric Automobile Association, Metropolitan Alternative Energy and Vespa of Ann Arbor will be pushing alternative forms of propulsion as well.
There will also be plenty of exhibitors and workshops focusing on ways to be greener when you aren’t on the move. There will be speakers talking about subjects including human impact on the environment, air pollution in the home and organic lawn care (hint, stop watering, don’t spray anything on it and only cut it when it’s long enough) and more. Bring your unwanted clothes along for the Swap-O-Rama or take a Yoga class. The fair is located in downtown Plymouth from 10-7 on Saturday and 10-5 on Sunday.
[Source: Green Street Fair]
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Apr 29
Filed under: Minivans/MPVs, Nissan
Among the larger vehicles offered up at the Nissan 360 event that weren't the large commercial offerings from yesterday were the Japanese and "General Overseas Market" Elgrand Van and the Euro- and Japanese-market Qashqai.
The Elgrand wasn't a bad piece of kit for a great big honking van. While massive, the 3.5-liter V6 with 241 hp gets the thing up and going -- even uphill -- with an alacrity that feels almost driftworthy... for a great big honking van. The instrument panel is good looking and nice feeling, the three rows of seats can be moved every which way but loose, and the platoon-hauling mover weighs only 4,431 pounds. Nissan calls it "a first-class minivan fulfilling the dreams and aspirations of consumers for a relaxing experience." We call it a pretty good van.
You can check out the Nissan 360 event site for more details on the vehicles and Nissan company stats. In the mean time, be sure to check out the gallery of hi-res photos below.
Our travel and lodging for this media event was provided by the manufacturer.
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Apr 29
Filed under: Spy Photos, Sedans/Saloons, Auction Action, Euro, BMW
Well, waddaya know... you really can find anything on eBay. We have no way of knowing for sure if this front bumper offered for auction on eBay Germany is really from a preproduction 2009 BMW 7 Series, but it sure looks the part based on spy shots and renderings that we've seen. We can't imagine just how somebody would end up with this particular piece, but we're having fun imagining a bit of dumpster-diving around the BMW design studio. One can't help but wonder where the rest of the car may be. Didn't anybody notice the missing front end?
The seller claims that the front bumper comes from a prototype next-gen 7 Series and prefers that the item be picked up in Munich. Want it? As of this writing, the high-bid is just 25.5 euros. Seems worth at least that much, assuming it's for real.
[Source: eBay.de via Piston Heads]
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Apr 29
Filed under: Ethanol, Manufacturing/Plants
Every now and again, we hear a report about some dangerous explosion or accident at a biofuel refinery. While there are a variety of causes for these events, one way to prevent at least some of them is to identify when dangerous concentrations of fuel build up and disperse those gases. A new detector by Sensor Electronics of Minneapolis can identify that situation, and Domestic Fuel writes that the device “is thought to be ideal for protecting biofuel refineries.” The small sensor can be used anywhere where ethanol will be pumped, processed or stored, and can “sniff” out ethanol and send a warning if the concentration gets too high. The sensor is only eight inches high and 2.5 inches in diameter and quite weatherproof, so it should be able to work in a lot of environments.
[Source: Domestic Fuel]
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Apr 29
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Apr 29
Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Mazda
If you've ever smashed up a car in an accident, you've probably had the unpleasant experience of dealing with insurance agents who assess what can be saved and what has to be written off. In most cases, insurance companies might find ways to save as much as they can. But the insurers of the Cougar Ace want to make sure every last nut and bolt of some $100 million worth of new Mazdas are completely scrapped.
The Cougar Ace, as you'll recall, was a ship full of Mazda automobiles that nearly capsized in the Pacific Ocean two years ago. Although the cars were securely strapped down, Mazda deemed it impossible to determine the extent of the potential damage caused to each of the vehicles on board, so rather than risk the cars making their way onto the market - like many Katrina-damaged vehicles from New Orleans three years ago - the company and its insurers decided each car had to be scrapped. The process of destroying 4703 vehicles, however, proved to be quite a challenge. Airbags had to be triggered, wheels sliced and tires purposely punctured. For the airbag process alone, it would have taken half an hour for each car, so Mazda developed a device to inflate them all at once on each car, saving countless hours of work. The result is a seemingly counter-intuitive disassembly line turns the nearly 5000 new cars into metal shards. Follow the jump to read more about the process.
[Source: The Wall Street Journal]
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Apr 29
Filed under: Etc., Green Daily, USA
Feeling tired out at the end of a long day? Why not collect some of the energy that you used throughout the day by wearing a dress made from piezoelectric material? All of the joints of Amanda Parkes’ Piezing dress generate power from the movement of the wearer’s body. The dress keeps the electric charge stored in an on-board battery which can then be used for whatever your heart desires. Not sure how many miles you’d ever be able to drive an NEV using a week’s worth of energy collection, but it’d be a fun experiment. Electricity-generating dress just not your thing? Consider one made with recycled materials… like Anna Rochester’s tasty dress made from used Snickers wrappers or Karen Wilkinson’s jacket which is made from used plastic shopping bags. No good? How about Stephanie Sandstrom’s EPA Dress that wrinkles itself if the air quality around it is bad?
All of these very odd interesting pieces of clothing are being displayed as part of San Francisco’s Exploratorium “2nd Skin: Imaginative Designs in Digital & Analog Clothing,” runway fashion show. If you’d like to see these articles in person, you’ve got five months.
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Apr 29
Filed under: Spy Photos, Euro, Paris Motor Show, Hatchbacks, Renault
Click to view more of the upcoming Renault Megane
Renault has been hard at work on the replacement for the current Megane. Following the new Clio, which came out three years ago, the Megane is an important model for the French automaker, designed to face off against volume leaders like the Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit and Ford Focus. French magazine Auto Plus has managed to obtain some undisguised shots of the car, presumably obtained from a Renault employee in exchange for a case of wine, a carton of Gauloise and/or a joke about Americans.
As promised, the new Megane will be substantially more subdued in its styling than the love-it-or-hate-it current model, with its curved upright rear window. The front end borrows heavily from the new Laguna, hinting at a common design language for the company. There's certainly some similarity between the production version and the Megane Coupe Concept unveiled at the Geneva show this year. Although the production Megane will predictably be considerably more conservative than the show car, the three-door appears further differentiated from its five-door stablemate with more sporting lines. See for yourself in the scanned magazine pages in the gallery below. The car looks just about ready to hit the market, so a debut at Renault's home-turf Paris Auto Salon this fall would be a good bet.
[Source: AutoPlus.fr via theCarfanatic.com and Autoblog Spanish]
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Apr 29
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Bentley
The only green usually associated with Bentley other than the color is the amount you have to spend to own and operate one. However there are some within Bentley who are working on cars that don’t necessarily represent conspicuous consumption. A team of young apprentices working for Bentley took part in the GreenPower Corporate Challenge over the weekend and won the “Spirit of GreenPower” award with their Continental DC. The Continental DC doesn’t have the typical wood and leather interior associated with the brand, but instead is a minimalist single-seater running on battery power. The GreenPower challenge is a electric vehicle competition for British high school students that is in its tenth year. For the Corporate Challenge, company teams had the opportunity to take on the top 15 student teams from the regular GreenPower series.
The victorious Continental DC features a snug carbon fiber body that encloses a 240 W, 24V wheel chair motor and a pair of 12V lead acid batteries. The little racer has a top speed of 40mph. Maneuvering in a parking lot could be problematic with its 63ft turning circle. Of course with its 265lb mass you could just pick it up and turn it around. The team had some technical issues in the first part of the four race but persevered to win their award. They will go on to compete in the F24+ series this season.
[Source: Bentley]
Bentley Racing Green
28 April, 2008
Crewe, Monday 28th April 2008… A Bentley Motors apprentice team has won a special “Spirit of Greenpower” award for its performance in the Greenpower Corporate Challenge which took place at Goodwood race circuit yesterday. The Bentley apprentice team designed, engineered and built the electric powered car which they entered into the Greenpower Challenge as well as a season of “F24+” racing. The Bentley Greenpower car is called Continental DC (Direct Current) and runs off a 24-volt motor supplied by two 12-volt batteries. Designed for lightness and maximum power efficiency the one-seater Continental DC has a carbon fibre chassis and low resistance tyres.
Greenpower is a series of events which aims to promote greater interest in young people to follow careers in the fields of engineering and technology. The 2008 Greenpower corporate challenge held yesterday was the first race of the season. 25 teams entered, comprising 15 school entries and 10 company teams. The Bentley team achieved their goal of completing the four hour race, despite some technical difficulties in the first section. The award was given in recognition of their excellent team spirit which they showed in overcoming these initial technical challenges. The F24+ season consists of eight 90-minute endurance race events which will culminate in a grand final at Goodwood in October. Race tracks on the F24+ schedule include Dunsfold, Rockingham, Croft and Aintree.
The Bentley Motors team is composed of nine of the company’s apprentices who are all following a three or four year apprenticeship scheme at the factory in Crewe. Margaret Cheshire, Head of People and Organisational Development at Bentley Motors said, “It’s fantastic that the apprentices are not only gaining the technical skills associated with building a car but are also increasing their knowledge of other areas of the business such as finance, purchasing and public relations.” She continued, “It’s all about giving the individuals knowledge and expertise to be successful in their future careers after the completion of the Bentley apprenticeship programme.”
Having taken the initiative themselves to compete in the Greenpower challenge the apprentices have devoted weekends and evenings for the past ten months taking full responsibility for all aspects of the car’s development. Three team members acted as drivers on race day, the rest of the team provided essential back-up support in the pits.
Tom Hodgson, Greenpower team manager added, “In building the car we pooled the expertise and resources from across the business to produce a project of which we’re all proud. Having completed our first race we now know what we have to do to be successful for the rest of the 2008 Greenpower season. The experience of developing a project from idea to race-day was exhilarating. It was also hugely satisfying to see the positive support from sponsors keen to help the Bentley team”.
Technical highlights of the Bentley Greenpower car
- Its 24v Motor delivers 0.5bhp and 5.1 lb ft (7Nm):
- Top speed of 40mph (64km/h).
- Zero CO2 emissions.
- Chassis & design:
o Fixed carbon fibre suspension wishbones for maximum strength and minimum weight.
o Excellent roadholding and superior grip from unique 1×16″ carbon fibre wheels with bespoke Michelin low resistance tyres.
o Rear grille matrix in chrome finish.
o Bentley Hide/Alcantara trimmed interior
o Specially built ECU to control motor/transmission
More information on the project is available at www.bentleygreenpower.com
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
MODEL TYPE Single Seater
Power
Type 24v Wheelchair motor (Regulation)
Installation Transversely mounted, One-wheel drive
Power 240 Watt
Torque 7 Nm
Fuel Source 2 x 12 v Lead Acid Batterys
TRANSMISSION
Type Continuous one-wheel drive
Gearbox Nuvinci CVP
Ratios Infinitely variable between 0.5 under and 1.75 overdrive
PERFORMANCE
Top speed 40mph (64km/h).
SUSPENSION
Front Single wishbone rigid suspension
Rear Single wishbone rigid suspension
STEERING
Type Rack & pinion,
Turns lock to lock 1
Turning circle (kerb to kerb) 19.2m
BRAKES
Rear 160mm ventilated disc (to single wheel)
Anti lock In development!
BODY & CHASSIS
Construction Carbon Fibre monocoque
Length 1420mm
Width (inc. mirrors) 1000mm (82.76in)
Weight 120 Kg
Height 500mm
Wheelbase 1300mm
Front track 1000mm
Rear track 1000mm
Wheels Custom made 16″ carbon fibre
Tyres Michelin Eco-Marathon specials
FUEL CONSUMPTION/EMISSIONS
Fuel consumption 2 hours per battery set
Carbon dioxide emissions 0g/km
CONTINENTAL GT FEATURE SPECIFICATIONS
EXTERIOR FEATURES Bright chromed grille
Bentley Wheel Badge
INTERIOR FEATURES Trimmed Steering wheel, Seat and dashboard, Touch screen driver information panel in development
Tom Hodgson
Bentley Test & Development Engineering Apprentice
Greenpower Project Manager
Andrew Conneely
Bentley Whole Vehicle Engineering Sponsored Degree Apprentice
Greenpower Design of steering and suspension components
Martyn Brookes
Bentley Prototype Workshop and Test Facility Apprentice
Greenpower Chassis, Design & Electrical.
Ellis Dawson
Bentley Apprentice Analyst Programmer
Greenpower Team Marketing, Website, data logging and telemetry.
Annabelle Gibson
Bentley Commercial Apprentice
Greenpower Contact for sponsors.
Charlotte Watling
Bentley Electrical Engineering Apprentice
Greenpower Electrical design & Production and driver.
Hannah Proffitt
Bentley Body Hardware Engineering Sponsored Degree Apprentice
Greenpower Interior trim, Steering and driver.
Laura Taylor
Bentley Trim Development Apprentice
Greenpower Seat design and manufacture.
Paul Johnson
Bentley Manufacturing maintenance Apprentice
Greenpower Data logging and telemetry
*We have received much support from across the Crewe Factory
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Apr 29
Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Ferrari
Pininfarina and Ferrari have had an intertwined relationship for decades, and according to a report from Reuters, the families are set to intermarry. Piero Ferrari, Enzo's son, is expected to join three other "prominent figures of the Italian automotive industry" that will take a stake in Pininfarina. The news comes shortly after Tata announced plans to throw some money into the Italian design house, which includes a 100 million euro stake in the firm. Part of that cash infusion will help to create the new electric car Pininfarina is developing with Bollore, while simultaneously reducing the shares that the Pininfarina family currently holds.
[Source: Reuters, Photo by DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty]
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Apr 29
Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Wagons/Estates, Volkswagen, UK
Click on the image for more high-res shots of the Passat R36
Volkswagen's most powerful Passat ever, the R36, which we've been hearing about for over a year, is finally on sale in the U.K. in both sedan and wagon versions. Featuring a 4MOTION all-wheel-drive system to put the 300 horses and 258 lb. ft. of torque to the ground, VeeDub claims that the sedan can get to 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph) in 5.6 seconds. The wagon is a few hundredths slower in the sprint to sixty, but both boast a top speed limited to 155 mph.
Besides the powertrain updates, the R36 gets a unique body kit, Bi-Xenon headlights and a new grille. Chassis enhancements include 18-inch rims, new brake calipers and most importantly, a 20mm lowering of the ride height. A blindingly bright turned-aluminum dash applique matches the new allow pedals and sill plates, while new seats promise a snug fit. The £30,990 base-price is encroaching on Audi territory, though not one featuring 300 horsepower. Now that Volvo's V70R is no longer available, the £32,150 estate model (that's wagon to us yanks) offers lots of performance and utility in a much more refined manner than your typical SUV. No word on a Stateside offering as of yet, but we won't give up the hope.
[Source: Volkswagen]
Continue reading VW Passat R36 goes on sale in UK
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Apr 29
A little over a year ago, we put the 2007 Nissan Altima hybrid through its paces in the AutoblogGreen Garage. We found the sedan to be a solid performer but left unanswered the question of whether the hybrid cost premium made the ride worth it for everyone. Over at Newsday, Tom Incantalupo similarly enjoyed the Altima hybrid (most likely the 2008 model) but comes out unabashedly in favor of paying the extra money for the hybrid. Back in our Earth Day calculations about hybrid payoff times, we figured it would take 300,000 miles of highway driving (or about 70,000 in the city) to recoup the hybrid Altima’s premium. But, as we stated, these numbers don’t figure in tax credits, which vary. In this particular case, Incantalupo says, by figuring in the tax credits and using $3.75 as the price point of a gallon of gas (we used $3.50) the Altima hybrid pays for itself in just over three years. There are other variables - hybrids aren’t exactly easy to find these days - which you can read about over at Newsday.
Gallery: 2007 Nissan Altima Hybrid
[Source: Newsday]