Archive for the ‘Hybrid Car’ Category

Honda NSX to Make a Return

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

Last week we blogged about just a handful of the exciting cars to look forward to this year, and today we bring you news that a new, eagerly anticipated, Honda NSX is on the way. The only problem being, who knows when? Certainly not this year, or in the next couple, but maybe in three years time if Honda stick to their timeframe.

However, regardless of that, an NSX concept was revealed at the Detroit Motor Show, however, it wasn’t actually promoted as a Honda, but an Acura (the American version of Honda).

It has to be said that the concept car looks pretty impressive with stylish, angular lines making it look like the ideal futuristic supercar. Furthermore, it probably won’t be another run of the mill supercar as it will, hopefully, follow in the footsteps of the original, which only had around 270bhp.

The beauty and brilliance of the original was the way it drove, the way it cornered and the noise it made. If the new NSX can tick those boxes then it’s happy days for the Honda NSX once again. This is indeed a supercar that doesn’t need to be filled with X-trillion horsepower, all it needs is to be designed with the same attitude as the previous model and bingo, it will likely be a fantastic car that will put a very large smile on your face.

It’s been well documented that Formula One icon, Ayrton Senna, had a helping hand in the development of the original NSX as he advised Honda, who were the engine manufacturers of all three of his World Championship winning cars, that the chassis needed to be stiffened, and Honda admiring, respecting and trusting Senna’s word, did just that! And it paid off as the NSX notoriously became one of the best handling cars on the market.

Now back to this new NSX, apparently it will come with a high-revving (good stuff) V6 engine, much like the original, so it is almost certain that the noise that will come out the back of the performance exhaust system will be truly awesome, however the new NSX has a twist…it’s a hybrid. Honda’s boss is adamant though that it will not get in the way of petrol head heaven, as he says: “The NSX will enhance dynamic driving abilities without getting in the way.”

The hybrid nature of the car goes thus far: there will be two small electric motors at the front of the car which will allow independent drive to each wheel and the ability to tighten or loosen the car’s cornering line for some effective torque vectoring, whilst another electric motor will be embedded in the gearbox to enhance the V6’s power. This is one clever concept that is sure to be fuel efficient also as the car will reclaim braking energy whilst also having added performance and some thrilling cornering capabilities.

With Honda again thinking about how best to utilise their tasty V6, the new NSX is sure to be a winner!

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Posted in Hybrid Car, New Cars | 1 Comment »

Toyota Reignite Le Mans Passion

Monday, October 17th, 2011

It has recently been announced that Toyota will make a welcome return to the world’s most famous endurance race. The 24 Hours of Le Mans next summer will see the Japanese car maker enter the top LMP1 class with a completely new machine.

The new team behind Toyota’s return to the spotlight will be based at Toyota Motorsport’s headquarters in Cologne and the new prototype is set to begin pre-season testing in early 2012. So far little to no detail has been provided with regard to the Le Mans contender; all we know is that it will be running a hybrid petrol powertrain.

The cars chassis will be developed by the Germany-based team whilst the engine will be built and engineered by the genius team of Toyota back in Japan. It is expected that the car will also compete in a number of other races next year.

The Toyota will face tough competition, especially from the hybrid turbo diesel powered machines of Peugeot and Audi. The Peugeot 908 and the Audi R18 TDI were the class of the field at Le Mans this year, with super efficient, reliable and powerful engines propelling them round the 8.5 mile circuit ahead of anyone else. Whether these cars even use every day diesel components, such as a diesel particulate filter that one would expect from their every day diesel powered road car, is something we cannot be sure about. However, we do know that more often than not, a successful racing car will mean that the technology used will trickle down into the road cars of the future.

That is most certainly the case with Toyota’s new venture, and Toyota’s Motorsport Chairman has said: “By using our hybrid technology this time will be a completely new challenge. In addition, we aim to learn from the experience of competing in such a challenging motorsport environment to enhance our production car technology.” It’s certainly looking good for Toyota’s future road cars then!

Toyota, of course, has a rich history with Le Mans. The 1980s, and in particular the 1990s, saw great success for the Japanese company. The iconic and enormously fast GT-One of the 90s set a lap record around the Circuit de la Sarthe and Britain’s much loved F1 commentator and former racing driver, Martin Brundle, was lucky enough to race one.

The question now is: Will the car in front be a Toyota? With next year’s race fast approaching already, they do indeed aim to be back at the front of the sport competing for victory. Even if this is not quite possible at next year’s race however, just having them on the grid is sure to spice things up a notch!

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Posted in Diesel Particulate Filters, Hybrid Car, Racing | 1 Comment »

Hybrid Hypercar Spotted

Monday, July 18th, 2011

One of the world’s greatest, most prestigious car manufacturers has been spotted with a secret hybrid prowling around the streets of Germany. Ferrari, since the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, has been considering the possibilities of designing a hybrid version of an already existing supercar, and now the chance of the world’s first hybrid supercar is genuinely on the cards. At the Geneva Motor Show last year they unveiled the Hybrid Concept, based on a normal 599. The firm has said that their goal is to reduce its fleet average CO2 emissions to around 240g/km by 2018. This would be a significant reduction from last year’s figure of 310g/km.

So, the new secret hybrid machine was seen in Germany, and at the moment, it appears to be a 599 GTO shell; however what is underneath that familiar exterior will indeed be rather unfamiliar. Ferrari are probably using the 599 GTO shell as an attempt to throw spy photographers off the scent, however all the evidence points to this being a hybrid prototype. Firstly, the car is wearing red-on-white German “pre-registration” plates; normally Ferrari prototypes don the Italian “Prova” plates. Secondly, there is an “S” printed on the plates which suggests that the car is registered in Stuttgart, which is coincidentally the home of German supply giant Bosch, who are rumoured to be helping Ferrari with the engineering and software set-up of the car.

Whilst the shell appears to be a 599 GTO, the car is running the California’s headlamps, wheels, chromed-wheel nuts and folding metal roof shutlines, while the brake calliper position and distinctive instrument binnacle can all be seen to resemble that of a California. However, the revised arrangement of the exhaust pipes is a significant new detail that may be linked to new routings for the exhausts, of course as a result of the hybrid powertrain, and a rather large new battery.

Ferrari are attempting to incorporate an all new traction control system that will work by reversing the electric motor’s torque rather than cutting engine power. While they are also working on an “electronic torque shaping” system, that feeds in small torque inputs from the electric motor during acceleration.

It seems that Ferrari are approaching the idea of a hybrid supercar with performance very much in mind. After all, it would no longer be a supercar if it was no longer supercar fast. The message to petrol-head-hybrid-sceptics must be to not worry about the future of supercars. As long as companies such as Ferrari are still in business, we will still have bare-knuckle, thrill rides available to us.

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Posted in Car Manufacturers, Exhausts, Hybrid Car | 1 Comment »