how far engines have come.

Today, is the tomorrow we worried about, yesterday !!

The future flywheel ? I think engineers have wrestled for years with the desire to fully utilise the volume of the flywheel ... bring it alive so to speak... Looks like it's importance will grow !
EGSHEV (Engine/Generator Sets for Hybrid Electric Vehicles )
Generators will be revolutionised too !! We are talking starter, generator and flywheel in one unit :wink:
See it here

More than 400 companies were involved in this project, the hybrid car and 100 mpg approaches ... Of course taxes will then increase to maintain the revenue status quo !!
:wink:

P
 
Of course, we could just get rid of the flywheel altogether, like with Formula 1 cars. Makes it a bu**er for stalling but I am sure they could work that out of the engine with some ECU programming.
 
To answer the original posts subject, the answer is not very far really, the basic principle is unchanged just refinement after refinment, so no revolution (if you'll pardon the pun) but plenty of evolution.
 
So in other words, "w ankel" has happened since Karl Benz on that evening in the 1880s. :wink:

My opinion differs. Whilst the basic 2-stroke and 4-stroke principles are indeed the same, the engines are more powerful, lighter, more reliable (really!), more efficient, have better torque characteristics.

OK, so I doubt in years to come I will look back and go "Ah yes, 2004. That was the year Vauxhall introduced a "sport" programme on the engine management unit for the Astra". A mass change over to electric-drive cars will be far more important and more memorable, a revolution to paraphrase Eddie.
 
Most of the modern technical (safety aside)advances are for(supposedly) environmental reasons,mainly fuel consumption or pollution reduction.

Presumably, the powers that be, must ignore the ammount of energy used to build a car. New regulations do seem to encourage the throwaway culture.

Talking about a long design life, could this ever be bettered.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/2971272.stm

I am not sure but I wonder if it was still basically the same air cooled block?
 
It is a great idea to utilise the flywheel as in EGSHEV ... This has been a long time coming .. The mass of the F/W will be made up of useful equipment ... Just think of .. no separate starter motor or generator so no belt drives, bearings and rotatatives. Electric power steering as Renault ... so then lose the belt driven hydraulics.
The future is electric with EGSHEV !! :D
 
I believe most, if not all, new cars have electro-hydraulic power steering. You can tell because when parallel parking it sounds like an electric wheelchair. Mine certainly does (built in 2001), as does the new Mini (from hearing a few parking). Still not as efficient as a fully electric system, but better than an engine driven system and actually easier to regulate for different levels of power assistance at different speeds.

It's the same with aircon. It used to be engine-belt driven, now they are electrically powered. I was reading somewhere that on old air-conditioned cars it could cause damage if you engaged the airconditioning at motorway speeds!
 
apparently the rover v8 with 2 cyls cut off from it was installed in a rally metro 6r4 with twin turbo's bolted on :shock: 0-60 about 3secs :shock:
will gollop used to drive one and it seemed that after every race the only thing left intact was the engine :wink:
 
Yes, that definitely rings a bell. Must be going senile in my old age :wink:

Wasn't a V6 SD1 (although they did do a 6-cylinder one, V8 seemed to be more common though), it was the 6R4. What a beasty that was!

I knew someone who had an SD1, he reckoned that if you put your foot to the floor on the motorway you could actually see the petrol gauge needle move.
 
Presumably the aim of the EGSHEV is to replace the existing axle/diff/gearbox/driveshaft set up completely, and use electric motors for drive.

Surely you wouldn't need 20kW min just to do away with a few ancillaries otherwise?
 
http://web.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~hiros/kaz/

Now THAT is what I want. Kinda like "FAB 1", but without the girly pink paintwork.

Battery powered, with a motor in each wheel. Top speed of 186mph, standing quarter mile in 15 seconds, range of nearly 200 miles @60mph.

image002.jpg


Before you wonder, yes: it is Japanese. Had to be! Even German engineers wouldn't say "Top speed: 311km/h (approx)" :lol:

"Rapid escape from external violence!" apparently, too.
 
david and julie said:
Would of thought this was more your type Adam.

http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/models/galleryDynamic.jsp?model=sixteen

Can't think off a nicer way of loosing ones licence.
Click to expand...

13.6 litres?! That is a third of the capacity of my current FUEL TANK!!! 16" disc brakes?! Most cars don't have 16" WHEELS!

1000bhp and 1000lbft of torque. You've got a brand new combine harvester? Well let's have a tug of war, I'll win. Almost twice as much torque as my benchmark for cars that have lots of torque, the VW Phaeton V10 TDI. And amazingly for a modern yank car, it is aesthetically pleasing!

And if you get bored you could always just floor it in first: the resulting torque would snap the front end off and you could drive around like Roger Moore in Paris in that Bond film, with that Renault taxi. 8)
 
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