Car Talk

[adwinistrator]

If anyone is planning on starting their own F1 team, Manor Formula 1 is having an auction

Hell, I might try to snag some random parts or equipment to hang on the wall.

[heydaralon]

I drive a red accord. Its old as time but it still runs well. Don't really have any complaints. Cars aren't really my thing. If I got an expensive dream car it would serve no purpose because I wouldn't know how to properly take care of it and all the maintenance and repair costs would just turn it into a financial black hole. No real point in that for me, just stick with what you know.

[Ex-California]

Since I just ruin cars by having a 30+ mile commute each way I really want to get rid of my Forester and buy an Accord or Camry with 100k on it already for much cheaper.

Its not like the Forester is a "nice" car but I still paid around $25k for it. I really need a car that's worth about $10k less for my type of driving. However, my vehicle always becomes the "family" vehicle by default so I guess there's that.

I really wanted a truck when I bought it a year and a half ago though, so now even though I'm very satisfied with the car that latent truck desire is rising.

[Okeefenokee]

My latest,

Ooo, I can role play,

Whoop, whoop. That's the sound of the police.

[de officiis]

Stupid car video. These are almost as good as cat videos, but with the added benefit that you get to see other countries like Russia with a more serious drunk driving problem than here in the States. Watch for the guy humping a muffler and the deadly tire.

[adwinistrator]

Talladega Audi
1985 Audi 5000CS Turbo Quattro

Rallyes never were very known or loved in the US. So, Audi couldn't use their Rallye successes which helped selling in Europe in this important export market. To demonstrate the superiority of the quattro drive, Audi had to do something else. They modified a German Audi 200 Exclusiv body and added a "5000 CS" badge. With this car Audi went to a genuine American area: speedways. The car was built according to NASCAR rules and let loose on the USA's fastest speedway: Talladega.

With turbocharging, all-wheel-drive and numerous hardly visible but extreme modifications (all complying with NASCAR rules!), the 200 succeeded in impressing the US. In Talladega the 200 with its 650hp reached a lap average of 332km/h (nearly 207mph). Thus it broke the big barrier of 200mph. On the straightaways it reached over 350km/h (over 219mph). In 1985 this time would have been enough for the first row in the starting line up. After this world-record for an all-wheel-drive vehicle on a circuit, the Audi team went on a promotion tour through the USA.

It is really hard to see all the changes that were made to this 200. It starts with a solid aerodynamic improvement. Drag was reduced by avoiding edges and ommiting the rearview mirrors. The body was lowered 40mm (about 1.6 inches), resulting in a smaller frontal area and a lower center of gravity. Downforce is created by the already known spoiler board up front and a small spoiler on the trunk lid. Spoilers cause downforce but they result in a higher wind resistance. Thanks to the aerodynamic changes, the cd-value of 0.33 could be kept.

The body panels were partially replaced: front and rear bumpers are made of Kevlar, doors and hoods are aluminium and the windows, apart from the windscreen, are made of plastic. The result is an impressive weight of only 1072kg.

In the banked curves unbelievable forces lie on man and machine: The Audi gets pushed to the surface with 2.2g (2.2 times its weight) while it is dragged to the outer curve by 1.6g! These forces result in a very hich dynamic wheel load on the outer tires. With higher wheel loads you can transmit higher forces through the area of street/tire contact, but an equal distribution of wheel loads is desired, especially for the tires. (The function is degressiv: More load gets you better grip but even more need for grip. So lighter is better, simply spoken. Or an example: If the vehicle weight doubles at the same speed, the centrifugal force doubles, too. but the tires can only transmit less than double the force.) One way to solve the problem of load transfer is by stiffer springs on the outer tires and softer springs on the inner ones. The difference in their sping rate is up to 60N/mm. Thus the rolling effect can be lessened. In this process, the car leans over towards the outer side and the center of gravity gets lifted, resulting in a growing lever arm for the forces. That leads to a further lift of the inner tires (so, more unbalanced wheel loads...).

Even more important is the weight distribution. As much weight as possible should lie on the inner half of the car. So the static wheel load is unbalanced on purpose. By shifting weight to the inner side Audi tried to balnce the dynamic wheel loads. Oil- and fuel tank are placed on the left as is the battery. Even engine, gearbox, drive shaft and the diffs are mounted 50mm (nearly 2 inches). So new shafts had to be made and the whole underbody had to be adapted. Even the driver had to move: he now sits farther left and 200mm (about 16 inches) farther back, which lead to new padals and steering column. The result: 58% of the weight lie on the front axle and 53% on the inner wheels.

The tires are of a pretty normal size, but tires larger than those 10inchers would not have fitted. Michelin first feared that the tires would not stand the stress. But they tested them in their lab and ended the test run at 450km/h (280mph) caused by their fear -for their lab! So it was clear, that the tires would stand up to the test. "Narrow" tires also have the advantage of a lower wind resistance.

The engine only reached 7200rpm at 350km/h, while it could have gone up to 7700 rpm. If the track had to much narrow bends or the gear box was too "long", is unknown. The secret of the engine lies probably in its cylinder head. Not much was told about it, except that it derived from the standard 20V. It was rumoured that it had a valve angle of 47degrees instead of the 25 of the Sportquattro.

[Montegriffo]

My latest,



Heated leather seats and remote start.

Come a long way since this,



Still haven't got the one I want,

Not an American car amongst them, some fuckin' patriot you are.
No wonder Detroit is a third world wasteland now.

[Ex-California]

https://www.chevrolet.com/performance/copo-camaro

[The Conservative]

When the topic was Car Talk, I thought it was about Click and Clack.

[Okeefenokee]

Not an American car amongst them, some fuckin' patriot you are.
No wonder Detroit is a third world wasteland now.

and I even paid for them with the blood money they gave me to kill brown people.

RUN! RUN! SCARED LITTLE MAN! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!