For this weeks technical article, I thought that it would be good to cover the current and ongoing trend for hybrids. Nearly every time I talk technology I start with a comment that the subject is not new. Well, guess what - hybrid cars aren’t new and are certainly not 21st century vehicles. Back in 1901 the famous engineer, Ferdinand Porsche designed and drove a prototype … [Read more...]
Hydrogen Powered Cars
In the past few years many manufacturers who were developing prototype hydrogen powered cars have dropped them in favour of hybrids or pure electric cars. Ford, Nissan and Renault have all dropped their programs although BMW, Toyota and Mazda have been the three notable proponents of this technology who are pushing on with their development. Hyundai and Honda have also been … [Read more...]
Oil Viscosity
This week for the technical article, I am going to describe oil viscosity grades. Several years ago, I decided to learn about them as I have always been curious as to the meaning of the grades on my oilcans! For example, my old Honda used 10W-30 – a multi-grade oil. The viscosity of a liquid is the resistance to deformation when under stress, such as when heat is applied as … [Read more...]
IFR Aspid Supersport
I first heard about the IFR Aspid Supersport back when Motoring Weekly was in version 1 and formatted as a podcast through iTunes during 2009. The car was designed and built in Spain by a team lead by an ex rally engineer whose resume includes Prodrive and the Mitsubishi World Rally team. The Supersport was the first development car that the company built and was kind of a … [Read more...]
Run-Flat Tyres
Over the years many companies have sold the consumer on the benefit of having a run-flat tyre. In fact for a while, they were standard fit on many Austin and Morris Metro cars in the UK during the 1980s. There are advantages and disadvantages of having these types of tyres fitted - the clear benefit is that should the tyre be punctured, the driver can still continue their … [Read more...]