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Motor Authority - blog Tag: engineering

  • Reiter Engineering's more refined Lamborghini Murcielago 'Strada'

    Reiter Engineering's more refined Lamborghini Murcielago 'Strada' July 24th, 2009 By Viknesh Vijayenthiran Viknesh Vijayenthiran, Author, July 24th, 2009 Viknesh Vijayenthiran 0 Comments

    Reiter Engineering's more refined Lamborghini Murcielago 'Strada' We've already seen much of German firm Reiter Engineering's work with Lamborghini models, such as this race-bred Murcielago R-GT model unveiled a short while ago. Now, the company has produced a more refined variant of the Murcielago R-GT, naming it the Murcielago Strada.

    The Strada model is designed in the style of the race-spec Murcielago R-GT, and carbon-fiber is used extensively throughout the chassis to lighten the car - in fact, the front splitter, rear diffuser and rear wing are all manufactured from the advanced composite material.

    Inside, Reiter Engineering has decked out the car with Alcantara and leather trim and custom... We've already seen much of German firm Reiter Engineering's work with Lamborghini models, such as this race-bred Murcielago R-GT model unveiled a short while ago. Now, the company has produced a more refined variant of the Murcielago R-GT, naming it the Murcielago Strada. The Strada model is designed in the style of the race-spec Murcielago R-GT, and carbon-fiber is used extensively throughout the chassis to lighten the car - in fact, the front splitter, rear diffuser and rear wing are all manufactured from the advanced composite material. Inside, Reiter Engineering has decked out the car with Alcantara and leather trim and custom designed sports bucket seats. Its designers claim the Strada features a look that more echoes a theme of "sporting elegance" compared to its brash sibling, the Murcielago R-GT. Meanwhile, the visually dramatic exterior is matched to a custom exhaust system that gives the Strada a unique sounding roar, and along with new suspension parts, a custom braking system and a new set of lightweight alloys, the Reiter Engineering Murcielago Strada will appeal to the driver who finds a regular Murcielago a little hum-drum but wants something a little more comfortable than the R-GT model. For those potential Lamborghini owners eying the new Murcielago 670-4 SV model, Reiter Engineering is also hard at work on a racing-bred model for the Murcielago's last curtain call - we should have more details as work progresses on that car.Reiter Engineering road-going Lamborghini Murcielago R-GTReiter Engineering Lamborghini Murcielago Strada Read More

  • Video: Lotus-designed electric vehicle demonstrates potential of city-car concept

    Video: Lotus-designed electric vehicle demonstrates potential of city-car concept July 21st, 2009 By Nelson Ireson Nelson Ireson, Author, July 21st, 2009 Nelson Ireson 0 Comments

    Video: Lotus-designed electric vehicle demonstrates potential of city-car concept A highly-refined, all-purpose city-centric electric vehicle is a concept familiar to popular culture, but to date, nothing in the real world has proven up to the task. To see what such a vehicle would look like, industry magazine Automotive Engineer commissioned Lotus Design to come up with a concept vehicle.

    The result is the attractive - if somewhat familiar in profile - vehicle shown here and in the video below. Designed to a core set of specifications in just two weeks, the car shows what could be done with a premium city-car format EV in the near future.

    Unfortunately for Americans, however, the car wasn't designed for those 1%... A highly-refined, all-purpose city-centric electric vehicle is a concept familiar to popular culture, but to date, nothing in the real world has proven up to the task. To see what such a vehicle would look like, industry magazine Automotive Engineer commissioned Lotus Design to come up with a concept vehicle. The result is the attractive - if somewhat familiar in profile - vehicle shown here and in the video below. Designed to a core set of specifications in just two weeks, the car shows what could be done with a premium city-car format EV in the near future. Unfortunately for Americans, however, the car wasn't designed for those 1% driving activities we like to buy our cars for. You know - those trips with 11 passengers through impassable mountain terrain at speeds over 100mph. Instead, it was designed for the 'average European journey' - a distance of about 14mi with a top speed of 65mph and an average speed of about 40mph. Those are fairly modest design goals compared to the 200mi-plus, 125mph EVs coming out of Tesla at the moment - coincidentally also designed with the aid of Lotus. The core features of the Lotus-AE EV that enable the car to meet these goals is a 37kW (50hp) motor, 10kWh battery and a simple bonded aluminum chassis that can be adapted modularly to other form factors. This combination allows for a final size that's almost dead-even in size with a Smart ForTwo, smaller than a Toyota iQ - though it's taller than both - and a turning radius tight enough to make a U-turn on all but the narrowest city streets. For more details on the car and its design process, check out the full story at Automotive Engineer, and watch the video below.Lotus Design electric vehicleLotus-designed electric vehicle commissioned by Automotive Engineering Read More

  • Reiter Engineering updates the Gallardo GT3 for 2010

    Reiter Engineering updates the Gallardo GT3 for 2010 July 20th, 2009 ByAlex Kaufmann Alex Kaufmann, Author, July 20th, 2009 Alex Kaufmann 0 Comments

    Reiter Engineering updates the Gallardo GT3 for 2010 Late last year we brought you Reiter Engineering's Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 Strada. Based around the Reiter Engineering factory-backed GT3 entry, the Strada is a street legal version of that car. Now Reiter has updated the GT3 to 2010 FIA specifications and with it has opened up the possibility for a new roadgoing version as well.

    The race car is interesting enough on its own, however. Rated at 570hp and 399lb-ft of torque, the race car's 5.2L V10 isn't far off the stock LP560-4's 560hp, but weight has been slashed to 2,627lb. For handling, the weight balance has been set at 43% front and 57% rear, ensuring strong straight-line performance... Late last year we brought you Reiter Engineering's Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 Strada. Based around the Reiter Engineering factory-backed GT3 entry, the Strada is a street legal version of that car. Now Reiter has updated the GT3 to 2010 FIA specifications and with it has opened up the possibility for a new roadgoing version as well. The race car is interesting enough on its own, however. Rated at 570hp and 399lb-ft of torque, the race car's 5.2L V10 isn't far off the stock LP560-4's 560hp, but weight has been slashed to 2,627lb. For handling, the weight balance has been set at 43% front and 57% rear, ensuring strong straight-line performance as well as competence in the corners. Pricing for the GT3 version is expected to top €265,000 ($376,800) in Europe, a healthy bump up from the standard car's price of about €160,000 ($227,000). In the U.S., the Gallardo LP560-4 road car starts at $201,000, but don't expect that discount to translate into the motorsports version of the car. Don't expect it to apply to a potential Strada edition either, should Reiter decide to follow up on this racer with another custom road car. The previous generation car, pictured below, featured the same modest power gains as the race car, but saw its weight drop by just 20lb due to the inclusion of necessary safety and interior elements. Nevertheless, the GT3 Strada's custom carbon-fiber body, 60mm wider fenders, GT wing and custom suspension setup make for an attractive and even more competent package than the original. Via: Autoblog.nlReiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 Read More

  • First drive: 2010 BMW X6 M

    First drive: 2010 BMW X6 M July 7th, 2009 By Nelson Ireson Nelson Ireson, Author, July 7th, 2009 Nelson Ireson 7 Comments

    First drive: 2010 BMW X6 M Hurtling along at a cool 143mph (230km/h) in BMW's 2010 X6 M at Road Atlanta just before you shut it down hard for turn 10A, there's a brief moment where you wonder if it's even physically possible for the 5,324lb (2,415kg) missile you're now a part of to slow down enough to make the turn and avoid surfing the sand into the runoff area. But the moment passes and soon enough you're throwing the car into a four-wheel drift and pegging the throttle as you confidently accelerate up the hill to start a new lap.

    That, in a nutshell, is all you need to know about the X6 M. Our time with the car was limited to just a few hours on the road and 20... Hurtling along at a cool 143mph (230km/h) in BMW's 2010 X6 M at Road Atlanta just before you shut it down hard for turn 10A, there's a brief moment where you wonder if it's even physically possible for the 5,324lb (2,415kg) missile you're now a part of to slow down enough to make the turn and avoid surfing the sand into the runoff area. But the moment passes and soon enough you're throwing the car into a four-wheel drift and pegging the throttle as you confidently accelerate up the hill to start a new lap. That, in a nutshell, is all you need to know about the X6 M. Our time with the car was limited to just a few hours on the road and 20 laps of Road Atlanta at today's BMW-sponsored press event, but that time has given us a clear image of what the X6 M is - and isn't. It's an SUV (or SAV - Sport Activity Vehicle, according to BMW) that you can actually take to the track and not only safely negotiate the corners with but actually have fun exploring the outer limits of the chassis, brakes and tires. And those limits are very high indeed - with a solid exit from turn 7 there's a real possibility of seeing the vehicle's electronically limited top speed of 155mph (250km/h). At speed, the car seems to shrink around you, contrary to its large street presence. Turn-in rewards good technique - crisp and precise if you're off the brakes, but tending toward understeer with trail braking. Get back on the throttle at the apex and you can steer with your right foot - assuming you've switched off traction control - with the car sending at least 60% of its power to the rear wheels, and a full 100% at speeds over 111.8mph (180km/h). Straightaways flash by in a blink with the 555hp (408kW) twin-turbo V8 screaming to its 7,000rpm redline without once running out of breath - a trait it owes to its unique cross-tuned manifold and twin-turbo setup. Stand on the four-piston, 15in brakes and the 275/40/20 front and 315/35/20 rear tires will perform miracles of deceleration with confidence-inspiring feedback. Behind the wheel, the X6 M not only feels small, it feels almost - almost - light. It certainly doesn't feel like a 5,300lb behemoth. Steering is light but offers decent feedback, the brake pedal is firm with a long stroke and the accelerator is responsive but never jerky, even at low speeds. For many drivers the X6 M's six-speed automatic transmission will either be a draw or a sore spot, but in practice the unit does admirably in automatic mode, though to extract the most from the vehicle, you'll need to tap the wheel-mounted paddles yourself. Take a step back from the heady rush of the track, and the X6 M begins to raise some questions. The first: who would buy this? It is, after all, a four-seater, four-door SUV/crossover with an understandably portly curb weight. Inside, the M is even more luxurious and well-appointed than the standard X6, with stitched leather and carbon-fiber-like materials throughout the cabin. The vehicle is intended to be a sort of automotive Swiss Army knife, capable of doing it all, but like the cutlery, in the end, it doesn't really do any of them as well as a specialist tool. And that's traditionally what the M Division has made - scalpels, not Swiss Army knives. That said, it is a very pleasing and fun track-day toy, and even though the average X6 M owner will likely never see a closed course, it's the possibility that will entice many. Just as most SUVs will never leave the comfort of paved suburbia, so too is the X6 M as much about potential as it is about practice. Driving the standard X6 from Road Atlanta to Spartanburg after our time with the X6 M was somewhat anti-climactic, but it served to highlight the comfort, ease of driving and perfectly capable acceleration of the standard V8 vehicle. Driven back to back on the city streets, the differences between the standard and M versions might not be readily apparent to the average driver, though the M's aggressive exterior leaves no doubt as to which is which. Perhaps BMW's own engineers summed the X6 M up best at the press conference when they compared it to a sunny spot in a sea of gloomy news, brought in to brighten up the automotive world when it needs it most. And that it certainly does. The question is whether its on-track potential will translate into real-world sales at its $89,725 price point - but we'll have to wait at least until sales start in October to learn if the M Division has hit all the right marks with its latest sport-activity sports car.2010 BMW X6 M2010 BMW X6 M First Drive Read More

  • Video: BMW cuts ribbon on new high-tech Aerodynamic Test Center

    Video: BMW cuts ribbon on new high-tech Aerodynamic Test Center June 22nd, 2009 By Nelson Ireson Nelson Ireson, Author, June 22nd, 2009 Nelson Ireson 0 Comments

    Video: BMW cuts ribbon on new high-tech Aerodynamic Test Center BMW is celebrating its Technology Day today, and as the central feature of the event, the carmaker is launching a new Aerodynamic Test Center (ATC), where future cars will be made both more efficient and more sporting.

    The high-tech facility presents a striking appearance from outside, leaving little doubt as to its function from its shape alone. Though it will blow air at up to 186mph (300km/h), it's not just a wind tunnel. It offers some unique abilities that BMW hopes to leverage into better cars.

    One such feature is the ATC's ability to simulate and test aerodynamics in a wide variety of real-world driving conditions without having to... BMW is celebrating its Technology Day today, and as the central feature of the event, the carmaker is launching a new Aerodynamic Test Center (ATC), where future cars will be made both more efficient and more sporting. The high-tech facility presents a striking appearance from outside, leaving little doubt as to its function from its shape alone. Though it will blow air at up to 186mph (300km/h), it's not just a wind tunnel. It offers some unique abilities that BMW hopes to leverage into better cars. One such feature is the ATC's ability to simulate and test aerodynamics in a wide variety of real-world driving conditions without having to build an entire, road-capable prototype. This speeds up development time, cuts costs, and helps the engineers get closer to an optimal design before committing anything to sheet metal. Another benefit of the ATC for BMW is that its size and scale allows for testing of new designs and how they interact with other vehicles on the road, at speed. But the system doesn't just blow wind over the cars to see how they flow. There are also five rolling tracks installed in the ATC to enable the flow dynamics to account for movement of the car's wheels and whatever influence an operational engine might have. That enables BMW to evaluate how aerodynamics affect driving dynamics in the lab, where conditions can be controlled, as opposed to on a test track where no two days are alike. To see what it's like inside such a high-tech testing center, check out the gallery and video below. Alongside the ATC, BMW is also presenting new straight-six turbocharged engines, both gasoline and diesel - to show off their improved efficiency and power ratings. One of the new engines, a TwinPower Turbo gasoline engine, is rated at 306hp (225kW) and combines direct injection and fully variable valve timing to maximize both power and efficiency. Despite the large power output, BMW managed to trim fuel consumption by 9% with the combination of the three technologies. As part of BMW's continued EfficientDynamics efforts, a range of advanced gearboxes and other engine technologies are also in the works. Expect to see these developments spread through the BMW lineup in coming years.BMW's Aerodynamic Test Center Read More

  • GM CEO Henderson says Corvette is safe despite restructuring

    GM CEO Henderson says Corvette is safe despite restructuring May 6th, 2009 By Nelson Ireson Nelson Ireson, Author, May 6th, 2009 Nelson Ireson 2 Comments

    GM CEO Henderson says Corvette is safe despite restructuring When General Motors disbanded its High Performance Vehicles unit in February, a ripple of fear shot through the automotive press over the future of the Corvette. GM was quick to quell the concerns, however, and today GM's CEO Fritz Henderson has again spoken directly on Corvette's secure future.

    "Corvette pays its rent," said Henderson in an interview with AutoWeek. The next-generation C7 Corvette had been put on indefinite hold as the global market entered its tailspin last October, but Henderson says plans for the car's development are in place and moving forward.

    Interestingly, Henderson hinted that the C6 Corvette's prowess is so... When General Motors disbanded its High Performance Vehicles unit in February, a ripple of fear shot through the automotive press over the future of the Corvette. GM was quick to quell the concerns, however, and today GM's CEO Fritz Henderson has again spoken directly on Corvette's secure future. "Corvette pays its rent," said Henderson in an interview with AutoWeek. The next-generation C7 Corvette had been put on indefinite hold as the global market entered its tailspin last October, but Henderson says plans for the car's development are in place and moving forward. Interestingly, Henderson hinted that the C6 Corvette's prowess is so great that the company doesn't want to do anything to compromise that, leading to speculation that the next Corvette may not be the C7, but a sort of in-between model. That would help GM wring more value out of its C6 platform while also giving it a longer time frame to spread out development costs of the C7 car - both no doubt attractive points given the company's current status. The bottom line, however, is that the Corvette is safe - or at least as safe as anything at GM is these days - and that enthusiasts can hold out hope, and hype, for the next-gen car.Corvette ZR-1 Read More

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