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The New NSX Means Alot to Honda
Well, The result was the spectacular NSX shown at Detroit’s motor show. The NSX embodies the latest possible in a 21st-century supercar, though it’s not from an exotic car maker. And not from Ford, either.
Ford’s GT super car, with its Kardashian rear end, also arrived in Detroit, yet it seems more Model T than GT compared with the slim-hipped NSX.
Why? Electrification.
The rear-drive GT is powered by a twin-turbo V-6 mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Nothing new or novel there. The NSX is an all-wheel-drive advanced hybrid with two electric motors at the front and a third between the gas engine and the nine-speed gearbox. Acura’s 550-horsepower drive technology is a generation ahead of Ford’s 600-plus hp, period.
Of course, both designs are sleek, but the Acura’s is an impossibly low creation wrapped around an aluminum-intensive space frame to which are attached an aluminum hood and doors. The feathery body panels are made of sheet moulding composite (SMC); the floor is carbon fibre.
Klaus will not confirm the 550-hp number, but promises performance to please the enthusiastic, sophisticated driver. The fact this NSX is a hybrid may be incidental to the car’s broader mission – the perfect integration of man and racy machine – but it’s nonetheless a step up from the GT. Klaus, however, won’t be drawn into comparisons with Ford’s super car.
“I am agnostic towards what type of [drive train] technology,” he says. “A modern NSX – the X stands for experimental – has to maintain the fundamentals of a light and rigid chassis, but then you have to still experiment with technologies. Just throw them on there? No, no, no, no, no. But if they prove to be good, then use them.” Will this experiment pay off?
Read the full article here: http://bit.ly/1avnUgl
The New Aston Martin
The Aston Martin is a iconic car, and will continue to be with the release of this new generation. You have to hand it to Aston Martin. Its entry-level V8 Vantage may be nearly a decade old, but the British automaker never tires of rolling out ever more powerful versions. Where the original packed a 4.3-litre V8 derived from a Jaguar design and producing 380 horsepower, this latest version packs 565 hp to become the company’s quickest and fastest roadster to date, not to mention its most powerful.
Following the debut of the V12 Vantage S coupe, the new V12 Vantage S Roadster packs the most powerful iteration of Aston’s ubiquitous 6.0-litre V12 engine to date. Equipped with CNC-machined combustion chambers and hollow camshafts, unburdened of 44 pounds (20 kilograms) of excess weight and mated to Gaydon’s latest Graziano-developed Sportshift III seven-speed sequential gearbox, that engine is capable of propelling the open-top rocket to 60 (0-96km/h) in 3.9 seconds en route to a top speed of 201 miles per hour (324 kilometres per hour). That’s considerably quicker than the flagship Vanquish Volante, which runs to 60 (96 km/h) in 4.1 seconds and tops out at 183 mph (295 km/h), painting the V12 Vantage S Roadster as Aston’s most performance-focused droptop to date.
It’s also got a flatter and fatter torque curve than the previous V12 Vantage Roadster, three-stage adaptive damping, three-stage stability control and two-stage ABS, carbon-ceramic disc brakes and a lightweight exhaust derived from the pipes on the One-77. Like what you see? There are more details to digest in the press release below, including a full range of customization options from the Q by Aston Martin catalog. This new Aston Martin is going to rip up the street near you in the next year.
Harley Davidson Creates Electric Bike
When you think of Harley Davidson, you think of a big man on a roaring bike, ripping down a dirt road. Harley Davidson is trying to perhaps change the imagine slightly with their new electric bike. Motorcycle enthusiasts are about to find out as Harley-Davidson rolls out an electric bike — a sleek, futuristic version that sounds like a jet airplane taking off.
The public will get its first look at handmade demonstration models at an invitation-only event Monday in New York. The company will then take the models on the road for riders to try and provide feedback. Harley will use the information to refine the bike, which might not hit the market for several more years.
Harleys have long been the bad-boy bike of choice with an image associated with motorcycle gangs, even though most riders are middle-aged and middle-class. The new venture is a departure from Harley’s mainstay touring bikes and presents an added risk because currently almost no market for full-size electric motorcycles. The millions of two-wheeled electric vehicles sold each year are almost exclusively scooters and low-powered bikes that appeal to Chinese commuters.
But those focused on electric vehicle development say Harley has the marketing power to create demand, and its efforts to lower costs, build charging stations and improve technology will help everyone involved.
“It does validate what we’ve been doing; it adds additional credibility to it. It is certainly going to draw more people’s attention to electric motorcycles. The marketing horsepower of Harley-Davidson is going to be able to do things for us that we can’t do on our own,” said Scot Harden, vice-president of global marketing at Zero Motorcycles, the top seller of full-size, high-powered electric bikes.
Zero expects to sell 2,400 electric motorcycles this year, a drop in the bucket compared with the more than 260,000 conventional motorcycles sold last year by Harley.
The new LiveWire won’t make the distinctive “potato-potato-potato” chug that Harley once tried to patent. Its engine is silent, and the turbine-like hum comes from the meshing of gears. But electric motors do provide better handling and rapid acceleration — with the electric Harley able to go from 0 to 60 mph in four seconds. LiveWire’s design places the engine at the bottom of the bike.
“When you ride a motorcycle, it’s the movement of the top of the bike side-to-side that gives you agility in regard to making turns. So, if I put weight low in a motorcycle, I can turn faster. I can drop the bike down and make quicker moves,” said Gary Gauthier, of NextEnergy, a Detroit-based non-profit with expertise in electric vehicles.
Jeff Richlen, Harley’s lead engineer on LiveWire, put it this way: “Some people may get on it thinking, ‘golf cart,’ and they get off thinking, ‘rocket ship.”‘ Harley has made a smart decision following the trend of electric cars in todays market. Watch for more motorcycle companies to follow the lead of Harley and begin to open this category up.
The 2014 Gumball 3000, Kicked Off Today
The 2014 Gumball 3000 kicked off today with drivers racing from Miami to Ibiza. This year had some stars attending including DeadMau5 and several others.
If you are unfamiliar with the Gumball 3000, it is an annual international road rally full of mayhem, exotic cars and car enthusiasts racing/partying for 3,000-miles (4,800 kms) along public roads with a different driving route around the world each year.
Kicking off in the sunny streets of Miami, this year’s Gumball 3000 participants have a long road ahead (see official 2014 Gumball 3000 map) as they’ll even have to pack their cars up into cargo containers in NYC and ship them over to Europe, as they race towards the finish line in Ibiza, Spain.
Most of the cars entered into the Gumball 3000 are rare and exotic like this McClaren P1 or Ferrari F40, but then you also get a few strange but cool oddities like the Batmobile Tumbler and Toronto’s own Deadmau5 behind the wheel of his “cat-powered” Purrari 458 Italia.
When it comes to picking pole position on the grid, it’s uniquely decided by the teams who’ve received the most charitable donations. The race so far has raised around US$167,000 for charity! Not a big surprise considering some of the the drivers include world famous celebrities and high rolling millionaires. On top of that the drivers in this race come from as far as Dubai to compete in it, although we did spot a couple New York, California and even Ontario, Canada tags as well!
Although some still think this an underground race where driver’s dog fight the whole length of the race, the answer is no, no it isn’t. The Gumball 3000 is much more than that. The Gumball 3000 is the ultimate road trip, jam packed with wild parties and good times in every city it passes through. This race is about having fun and showing off amazing cars!
click here to read the full article and to see pictures from the event.
Nascars Rating Struggle, Who Will Save the Day?
May 4th is one of the biggest stock car events, the Talladega Super Speedway, the problem? No one cares. It’s no secret that Nascar racing has had plenty of trouble recently holding on to its audience on a weekly basis. The series suffers from both an aging fan base and the lasting effects of a deep economic recession.
Television ratings are unequivocally down in the last decade—not surprisingly, major media partners including ESPN (DIS) and TNT (TWX) won’t be airing races next year. Stadium operators have even come to the realization that fans aren’t coming back, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce seating capacity at the tracks.
You’d think the success of a popular racer like Dale Earnhardt Jr. would correlate with the success of the sport. Not so. Yes, he’s a star with a loyal following, but Nascar needs to widen its audience. Earnhardt’s triumph at this year’s Daytona 500 hasn’t engaged the casual fan—TV ratings are down to levels not seen since 1997.
Despite fluctuations in the size of the household TV audience, a set of faithful fans will continue to watch. Such fans form the “minimum” audience number, those who watch no matter what. If anything, Earnhardt represents this group, the ones who love Nascar and aren’t going away. Will Earnhardt be the new Tiger Woods of Nascar?
To read the full article check out: www.businessweek.com
Secrets To Winning: How To Outsmart Car Dealers
Follow the tips below to learn how to play the game and win.
Yes friends, the end-of-summer auto clearances are beginning in earnest as dealerships across the nation fight to “move metal,” making way for the 2014 model year. Dealers are dropping prices and manufacturers are ramping up a new batch of 0% financing deals on many current models.
There’s a whole lot of money floating in that new car smell and tucked tidily in the seats. Never forget, in the world of automobiles, the dealer wins by netting as much of your money as possible. Every deal point needs to be carefully thought out and vigorously negotiated. You win by knowing the rules of the sport and making them fight for every dollar.
While it’s true that getting a good price is a big part of the hunt, the biggest, most important, super-secret strategy to turn the stealth hunter (them) into the prey: stand tough and fight to maximize your dollar throughout the process.