Recent Comments:
Spy Shots: Corvette ZR1 attacking the Nurburgring {Autoblog}
May 8th 2008 2:10PM Are we not allowed to count the Porsche 956? It has doors, so I say it counts. :) I suppose we can't count the edo Porsche GT2 RS or Loaded BMW M3 CSL either?
Unfortunately I'm not aware of any German über-production car that can beat the GT-R at the moment as it is quite the impressive piece. I'm still waiting on lap times for the Vette however, as it still sits at 7:40 which puts it below both the 997 GT2 and Carrera GT, so if it does break into the realm of the GT-R than I will temporarily put my anti-American car bias aside and be truly impressed. And since both of the Porsche lap time records are courtesy of Walter Röhrl, then anything below those times is simply spectacular.
Spy Shots: Corvette ZR1 attacking the Nurburgring {Autoblog}
May 8th 2008 1:39AM And the Nürburgring Nordschleife isn't really a track, it's a one way public toll road that contains nearly every challenging aspect of real world roads; high speed sections, low speed sections, tight decreasing radius corners, long sweeping corners, elevation changes, tricky destabilizing braking sections, etc. If you can design a car that does well on the ring, then you've created a car that will perform well in the real world.
It's nice to see the domestic boys finally getting away from the drag strips and oval tracks, but I suspect they've got a long way to go before they can hang with those who've had the Nordschleife in their backyard all these years.
Scuderi split-cycle engine almost ready for sale to automakers {Autoblog}
Apr 20th 2008 1:11AM And the added friction of adding the second cylinder sounds like a brilliant idea as well... I mean, piston to cylinder friction only constitutes 30-50% of total frictional losses, and whatever else you get from the rod due to it's associated geometry and bearings, so why not add another?
If you're looking to increase the expansion ratio without changing the compression ratio, why not opt for the Miller cycle? It's a proven design, and with all the new electronic variable valve timing controls you can fine tune the cycle even further. Granted you have to add the complexity of a supercharger / turbocharger to make it work well, but it seems like a better idea than adding the whole extra cylinder and air storage tank nonsense... which I agree is useless at such a low pressure.
I wouldn't be so critical if there was an actual prototype engine running in a dyno cell. While it may be reasonably difficult for anyone but a major automaker to build a one-off engine for research and development, running simulations all day long using Ricardo Wave doesn't convince me one bit; I can make Wave spit out nice numbers if I lie to it, so that proves nothing. Also, some rather talented students at Western Washington designed and built their own 554 cc V8 engine a few years ago, using only the heads as off the shelf items, so if you're going to re-invent the IC engine and make outrageous claims, the excuse that it's hard to make a prototype engine isn't going to fly with me.
Scuderi: Split-cycle engine will soon be licensed {Autoblog Green}
Apr 19th 2008 12:00PM Seems like the frictional losses will be the real challenge to overcome with this design, or any new engine design. I'm always a little skeptical of fancy promotional videos showcasing a nice computer model of revolutionary new technology that hasn't been tested yet. Granted, it could work quite well, and I'll be very impressed, but I'll believe it when a real engine is in a dyno cell putting out real numbers.
