hot auto review
Electronic ignitions can improve fuel economy.
You’re missing both the performance and fuel economy boats if you’re still stuck on a points-based ignition system. For optimum fuel economy, performance, and low maintenance, install an electronic ignition system. It provides a stronger and longer-duration spark as well as more accurate spark timing—all of which benefits fuel economy.
Until you know exactly how the weight is distributed in your car, it's impossible to make accurate adjustments.
Whether you prefer drag racing, circle track, or road racing, a 4-pad scale can help you optimize your car. Proform Parts' new 4-pad Large Scale Weighing Kit comes in a heavy-duty black carrying case and is rated at 5000-pounds- 1250 per pad- and can be used to measure cross weight, side-to-side, and front and rear weights for more precise chassis adjustments. The Proform Large Scale Weighing Kit includes 20-foot cables, each marked for the correct pad, oversized, easy to read display characters, front and rear percentages and is accurate to 1/10th of 1-percent.
Price: $799.00
Proform Parts
Roseville, MI
586/774-2500
Toyota aims to produce 70 percent more Prius hybrids after a planned remodeling next year, bringing annual output to at least 480,000 units, the Nikkan Kogyo industry daily reported on Friday.
Toyota now builds most of the hot-selling gasoline-electric cars at its Tsutsumi factory in central Japan and another plant belonging to affiliate Toyota Auto Body. It also assembled 320 Priuses in China last year.
The newspaper said Toyota would transfer production of the Wish minivan, also built in Tsutsumi along with four other models, to another factory around next April to make way for more Priuses.
A Toyota spokeswoman said the company could not comment on the report.
Toyota sold 281,300 Prius cars worldwide in 2007 and faces a severe supply bottleneck with fuel-conscious customers, especially in the United States, waiting months for delivery.
The world’s biggest automaker also recently announced a plan to start building the Prius at an upcoming Mississippi factory from 2010.
The Wish minivan will move to the Tahara factory, from which some production of the RAV4 crossover will switch to a new factory in Canada, the paper said.
Toyota has a goal of selling at least 1 million hybrid vehicles annually soon after 2010, more than double what it sold last year.
Landspeed Veteran and 300 MPH Clubber Kenny Hoover to Drive the Spectre SpeedLiner at Bonneville Speed Week.
Spectre has named legendary landspeed racer Kenny Hoover as the driver of the company's BGS (Blown Gas Streamliner) class streamliner, a historic vehicle that Spectre hopes to set a landspeed record with at over 400 MPH at this year's Speed Week competition at the famed Bonneville Salt Flats.
"When I met Amir at the salt years ago, his commitment to the salt and need for speed were so genuine that we became fast friends," said Hoover. "I'm proud to be on the 'Speed by Spectre' team this year and look forward to taking the Spectre SpeedLiner on a record run at Speed Week."
Kenny Hoover is among the most experienced landspeed drivers on the planet - quite literally. He is a member of one of the most elite speed clubs in the world - the Bonneville 200 MPH Club. It is said that more men have landed on the moon than are members of the 200 MPH Club. In addition, Hoover is also a member of the Club's 300 MPH Chapter - a real force to be reckoned with, this guy, and an undisputed powerhouse on the 'Speed by Spectre' team. Having either set or broken 36 landspeed records in his driving career over the past four decades, Kenny Hoover is among the most respected landspeed drivers to ever compete, and team 'Speed by Spectre' is honored to announce him as the driver of this historic streamliner.
The Spectre SpeedLiner is finalizing its transformation into a landspeed record liner now at Performance Fabrication in northern California. This beautiful 500 cubic-inch Cadillac V8-powered piece of machinery is twin turbocharged and makes approximately 1600 horsepower, fed through a Liberty 5-speed manual transmission and a custom built quick-change differential. With the car expected to exceed 400 MPH, new wheels to handle the new tires are being made, along with new added coolers and water tanks to support the turbos. Aesthetically, the streamliner has shaved several inches off her waist - 13 to be exact - to a sexy 29 inches wide. Her finished length is expected to stretch from 23' to a svelt 33' with a chassis stretched 24," wheels moved 6" forward and the nose moved up approximately 18" for a sleek front stretch of 48". The rear section of the SpeedLiner is now rounded and smoothed out like the front, and stretched about 24" - a change that, together with the redesign of the front end, makes this piece of speed machinery look like a silver bullet from hell ready to take the salt…
Amir Rosenbaum, Founder of Speed By Spectre, explained their landspeed efforts by saying, "Working hard to squeeze every bit of speed and performance out of whatever it is we had at the time is what drove us 25 years ago, and what continues to motivate us today." He continued, "The SpeedLiner is an extension of that drive, and the realization of a personal dream of mine. Ideally, I want to go over 400 in the SpeedLiner. According to the SCTA Record Book, only 3 guys in the world have ever done over 400 MPH, and they were in turbine vehicles or blown and Nitro fueled streamliners. No one's over done over 400 in a blown gasoline powered streamliner - yet! First step is to break the BGS class record of 352.25 MPH…and I can't think of a better way to celebrate Spectre's 25th Anniversary this year."
Turning off exterior lighting (where safe) can improve gas mileage.
Depending on specific vehicle implementation, manually switching on the headlights or using the Daytime Running Lights (DRL) feature found on many late-models can take anywhere from a few Watts of electricity to in excess of 100 Watts. This makes the alternator work harder, increasing the vehicle’s parasitic horsepower loss and thus negatively effecting gas mileage. Although turning on the headlights can be of benefit on two-lane rural roads, they’re not needed when driving in good visibility conditions on divided, controlled-access highways.
Performing required maintenance on time enhances fuel economy.
A well-maintained vehicle is a more efficient vehicle. It’s a “win-win” situation: Not only does performance improve, but so should fuel economy. For example, the EPA says that replacing a clogged air filter can improve your car’s gas mileage by as much as 10 percent; fixing a car that’s seriously out of tune or has failed an emissions test can improve gas mileage by an average of 4 percent; and rectifying a serious maintenance problem, such as a faulty oxygen sensor, can improve mileage by as much as 40 percent.
Taking the best path through a curve can improve fuel economy.
Picking the racing line through any corner conserves momentum. The “racing line” is usually the path through the turn having the largest possible radius. Within reason, this allows a higher speed with reduced body roll, g forces, and tire scrub but even at lower speeds, maintaining the racing line can be of benefit.
Roland Leong's Hawaiian 1970 Dodge Charger AA Funny Car will be at Kansas City International Raceway on Oct. 3-5, along with Leong and driver Larry Reyes.
Legendary drag racer and tuner Roland Leong, his driver Larry Reyes, and the original Winternationals-winning 1970 "Hawaiian" Dodge Charger AA/Funny Car will reunite for the first time in more than 30 years at the Muscle Car Reunion and Nostalgia Drags at historic Kansas City International Raceway on Oct. 3-5.
Larry Reyes will sit behind the butterflies and Roland Leong will do the rest as the legendary duo will "cackle" one of Roland's original Funny Cars, now owned by Greg Mosley, at the three-day blast from the past.
The duo will be joined by Don "Big Daddy" Garlits and about 250 more nostalgia cars of all types from Funny Cars to Fuel Altereds to altered-wheelbase Super Stockers for three days of Nostalgia racing, bench racing and a '70s car show, swap meet and manufacturers' midway.?
A three-day ticket is just $40. Kansas City International Raceway is located at 8201 S. Noland Rd., Kansas City, MO 64138. Contact event promoter John Troxel at 573-644-3272 or go to www.musclecarreunion.com for more information.
Photo by Don Eckert.
bmw hybrid
BMW is realizing that even the most powerful cars on the market need to get greener. After talking about a V6 turbocharged engines for future M models to cut CO2 emissions, BMW has now announced hybrid-drive is also under consideration.
BMW M GmbH is reportedly considering hybrid-drive in the long-term. Currently, output of conventional combination of a gasoline-engine and electric motor is still too low for the high-performance division to put into production models.
According to BMW M GmbH head of development Albert Biermann, BMW is looking to transfer over the technology it will start using in its Formula 1 cars in the 2009 season called KERS. KERS, which stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery System, has a hybrid module consisting of an electric motor, generator and a battery.
The hybrid module is said to be five times smaller and about five times more powerful than in a conventional hybrid. At low speeds, the energy is recovered and saved to the electric-motor and then used later for additional power.
There is no word when BMW will use the technology in production M models.
Improving vehicle aerodynamics improves fuel economy.
Anything that makes your vehicle more slippery improves fuel economy. At the most basic level, that means keeping your vehicle washed and waxed. But that’s only the beginning. Other aerodynamic tricks to consider include:
* Lower the vehicle ride-height
* Install front and rear spoilers
* Fabricate an under-vehicle full body-pan
* Remove the roof rack (or at least, don’t carry any external cargo on the rack)
* Keep the sunroof closed
* Shave the door handles
* Use an electric antenna
* Remove the windshield wipers
* Drive with the windows up
* On the highway at constant-speed cruise, take a tip from the stock car boys and draft behind a big bulky 18-wheeler (this works, but can be dangerous, may anger the trucker, and may not be legal on the highway in your State).
Of course, when you start getting into major body and suspension mods, you must consider the cost of such mods versus the benefits that could be obtained. Recouping their cost in terms of gas savings might not be possible over the vehicle’s projected lifespan.
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