Draco-REX

I only have a couple issues with Subaru's neglected child. 1. The rear seating is only useable by double amputees. There is literally no space between the seat and the rear seatback. 2. For some inexplicable reason, Subaru went with a thicker than standard wiper arm for the driver's side. You can only get driver's side wipers from Subaru. All of their other cars use standard arms, but that one is different and I can't even order a wiper for it at work. What's interesting is that the next generation Tribeca is rumored to be a re-skinned Highlander.

Repost http://www.columbusracing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89081

I'm much the same, but at least these are shaped like the street cars, unline another series that shall remain nameless. I really enjoy the tech involved too. But those Daytona Prototypes are just UGLY. I wish they would come up with a design that has a lower roofline.

Yup And another interesting fact: The initial 5th gen Camaros in the GT class were actually the RX8s from the previous year, just with a new body and an LS-derived engine under the hood.

Love hearing those triple-rotor Mazdas. Interesting fact: The RX8s and the BMW M3s in the GT class have the same chassis. They just have different engines and bodies.

Don't like the headlights on the white one; too small for the body openings. The blue one is cool, but looks confused. It looks like it can't decide if it wants to be a road racer or a drag racer. The 'vert looks ok.. Not a fan of 'verts though. Especially f-body 'verts Stock IROC is stock. Hooter girls are a plus though.

I LOL'd. Drifting in the family Truckster. Imagine losing to that. "Dude, you lost to a Mercedes." "Yeah..." "It was a station wagon." "Shut up, I know." "It was a DIESEL!" "Fuck off man, I know!"

Just saw the review for the BMW 1M (not M1). Sounds like BMW is trying to recapture some of the E30 magic. It's the weight of an E36, but with a bit more power (twin turbo so potentially a LOT more power) and a 2" shorter wheelbase. It also apparently has the wheels, tires, and brakes of the current generation M3 so it must stop on a dime. The numbers look good. It could shape up to be a nasty little car. Hopefully it won't cost the better part of a M3. Now if only the 1 series didn't look like a characature of the 3 series.

Actually, if this fuel is legit, you're only going to see water vapor at the tailpipe. There would be 0 carbon emissions since there would be no carbon in the combustion chamber. This is the same as burning hydrogen in your car, just a different way to deliver it. Again, assuming this stuff actually works as advertised. Carbon cost to make it can be reduced if the local power grid is powered by clean sources. If this fuel is not successful (which seems more likely) the true car of the future will be a plug-in hybrid that uses the algae-based bio-diesel. That's the only solution that's sustainable and can be implemented within the foreseeable future. (This assumes more Nuke plants and less fossil fuel plants)

Thats.. not bad.. The big rim/tire combo and the.. hate to say it.. stance, help.

Isn't that what you get after a chowing down on Taco Bell and then running a Marathon? I think he means a higher energy density. I wonder what the equivalent octane rating is. This is essentially a hydrogen fuel, so from what I've seen, the base octane is around 130 or so. But then it's encapsulated in those 'beads' so it's not in direct contact with oxygen until those capsules are broken. So the octane rating could be much higher. But I keep wondering: If this is just hydrogen in capsules, what makes this better than just using gaseous hydrogen as a fuel? And doesn't the extra step increase the energy cost to manufacture the fuel, over just gaseous hydrogen? I'd like a more detailed article on the manufacturing process. Otherwise, I think we're looking at another idea that looks good on paper but not in reality; like the "water-powered" cars one of the commenters is waiting for.

Very interesting read. I was hoping for more numbers, but that's the kind of guy I am. It does support what I've perceived the Volt to be. I am surprised he liked it so much. GM must be making absolutely *sure* it dots the Is and crosses the Ts on the Volt; something they need to do more of, based on my two weeks in a '11 LaCrosse. Of course, the Volt gets away without having to use one of GM's craptastic automatics. That's a huge plus.

If they want this to be taken seriously, they need to mix up a few hundred gallons and take it to a race and fuel one of the cars with it. Much as I dislike NASCAR, it has enough of a following in the US for it to be a respectable platform for something like this. Give some of this fuel to a team and have them tune the car for it. Get dispensation from NASCAR to run it in a race. Then, when people see a car being fueled by bright green cans instead of red, and then that car trading paint with the dino-fueled cars, people will want to know more about it. But if this is just some theoretical development and isn't feasible, then they can keep up with their press conferences and papers which no one will take seriously. Personally, I hope this pans out (far fetched as it is); I really want something like this to defy my expectations and surprise the hell out of me. But I'm not holding my breath.

NOD32 It's light, it's fast, it works.

It's probably just how he had to drive the Atom, but New Stig was driving it like a sledgehammer. I want to see how he handles some more conventional cars, but so far it looks like the new Stig is a BTCC driver.

If the car has changed a lot, they may even want to do a follow-up article about how its changed in the past 10 years.

Lots of torque, that's for sure. But the line about the twin ECUs and the fact that it is essentially two inline 6s is very interesting. I wonder how close the heads are to the supra heads... That would be wild. Two supra motors under one hood? You'd probably create a weather front every time the turbos spooled.

Electric motor tech is really good right now. Battery tech... ehh... It's getting better. But the motors are what really interest me. Swap that one big motor with a pair of smaller ones and clutch the second and you'll have half the drain for daily driving, but then full power at the flick of a switch. Use 4 100 horse motors, 2 in front, 2 in the rear. Then cruise all day in a 100hp FWD car, have a 200hp RWD car for fun, 200hp AWD car for bad weather, and a 400hp AWD monster to really blow some door off. All in the same car with just a little bit of programming. Good EV motors are around 1hp/lb. So that's 400lbs. A dressed LSx is around 450lbs. But the EV motors would be lower and better distributed front-to-back. The biggest problem comes down to the battery pack. The Volt's pack weighs in at 375lbs, and supplies it's 150hp motor enough for 35 miles. So our imaginary sportscar would probably see a range of 40-45 miles on one motor. Not bad but not great without a generator. But we're at a driveline weight of 775 before controls, wiring, diffs and axles. I think we're looking in the neighborhood of 1000lbs of driveline. Good news is that it's all located down low. Bad news is that we're probably looking at a 3500lb small car with out a lot of options (the volt is 3790). Then of course, how do you sell an electric sportscar to enthusiasts? Especially when there's no gas engine to extend the range? So battery tech needs to catch up. But as a project car, it could be pretty cool. Hell, use four Volt motors and you've got 600hp with 100% torque at 0rpm.

Nice. I like that it doesn't get boring after the front clip.

Sorry, not doing it for me. Music like this lost it's appeal when I learned to smile and say, "Fuck it, let the world burn." :bangbang:

Of all Honda's engines, that series really interests me. It really seems like it would take to turbocharging well (which it seems to) and would work well in a lot of different applications.

No, we just have Youtube now to document the stupidity.

Another one? Or is this a repost?

That's what's odd. I've had back pain in the fall the last two years. But it only lasted for a couple weeks and I think it was muscle-related. But right now I don't have any serious pain and can lift without issue. That's what's so confusing, and also worrying. I guess I'll see who my insurance works with in the area and see if I can schedule a look.

I was hoping it would show the two bones touching, but that makes more sense. Yay...