Now i don’t really understand replicas normally, but this is very interesting indeed.
I am interested as to how well the final finish will be and how well the car will drive (though its just a bigger Boxster) with a lengthened Porsche chassis and a much heavier V8/V10 in there. TBH, for the same money i would much rather by a Aston Martin, better build, more artchive and a much better investment, but that just what i think.
The 4 stroke engine has been powering most automobiles in the world for many years, with only small changes being made over time to make the engines more powerful, more economic and efficient. There is now a new engine design that uses an extra stroke to help achieve these goals with smaller engines.
The engine has been developed by Ilmor Engineering and could be the future of design for automotive engines. The design uses 3 different cylinders to produce power, but only the outside two actually fire. The firing cylinders go through the normal procedure of intake, compression, combustion and exhaust to make their power. This is where the 5th stoke comes in, as the cylinder located in the center receives the exhaust gas from one of the outside cylinders and allows it to expand even more, creating power.
The outside cylinders alternate to keep pressure even across the board. The result of this additional step is a torque curve similar to a diesel while still being able to ignite from a spark plug and without the emissions associated with diesel fuel.
The engine is currently only 700cc but the power output of the running test engine is 130bhp with 122lb.ft of torque. Ilmor engineering state that when the engine is running perfectly the little 0.7 litre engine should produce around 150bhp, which is amazing for such a small engine.
I am personally very interested to see if this new 5 stroke engine manages to make it into a production car and to see if anyone will further develop the idea to make a bigger more powerful version.
5 Stroke Engine
5 Stroke Engine Cut-out
As I said on Friday, the Mclaren unveiled their new team and car at the end of last week in preparation of the new formula One season that will kick off in Bahrain on the 12,13,14 March 2010. The new car in certainly no Van, but looks very different to last years car with the air intake carrying on all the way to the rear spoiler and the back of the car looking bigger to incorporate the new bigger fuel tank. I think it looks great and i cannot wait to see all of the cars in action in just under 39 days time. Here is some shots of the new car and of the launch.
Mclaren MP4-25 F1 2010 car
Mclaren MP4-25 F1 2010 car
Mclaren MP4-25 F1 2010 launch
Mclaren MP4-25 F1 2010 launch Lewis and Jenson
The video above shows the new high tech toy developed by the techies at VW. The new piece of technology solves the problem of having to get out of your car after parking a tight space in a car park.
Park Assist Vision lets you drive past a bay parking space, stop, get out, and let your Passat park itself neatly in the space. Saving you from having to struggle to get out if things are a bit tight. Then when you get back to your car, you just press a button and your car starts itself and moves out of the space again, letting you get back in behind the wheels and drive off. Great.
It was only a matter of time before someone came up with a automated parking program after BMW developed a similar feature for parallel parking a while ago (video).
The feature is still only a prototype at the moment, so don’t expect to see cars parking themselves in your local multi-story anytime soon.