Patrick James

“I don’t know what type… it’s a blue car… once it gets me from A to B that’s all that matters” – I think everyone has heard this statement or something similar at one time or another – and for some people it is true, but not for most petrol heads. For me it’s a pet hate… and akin to a person saying about their own leg: “I don’t  know what it’s called really… it’s just a limb… as long as it gets me from A to….”!

Since the dawn of the automobile age we’ve seen so many different shapes, makes and models with numerous companies pushing the boundaries of what was possible – safety, style & design, even the combustion engine evolved and motoring needs gave birth to the electric engine. To compete, cars got more advanced and inevitably those developments led to better cars and as people began to spend more of their lives and lifestyles in or around their cars there grew a need for the “Luxury Car” – that safe, mobile haven that had all the creature comforts and security of home.

As someone who loves cars, I believe one of the biggest revolutions was the dawn of the affordable car, pretty much made possible by cars like  Henry Ford’s legendary Model-T. Once upon a time, cars were seen as a luxury but the affordable car meant everyone could could own one – before long the automobile was commonplace – and nowadays many homes boast the title of  being a “two car family” without batting an eye. To meet demand, cars became more and more lavish, with every automotive company offering “luxury models”. There was a car and a specification to suit every pocket.

In recent times though, the global credit crunch has given rise to the question of what is need, what is luxury and what is over-indulgence – as someone who often test drives cars, a question that I have been asked is: “Should car companies continue to produce and develop luxury cars in a world that is in the grasp of financial crisis?” The simple answer is YES – without a doubt.

Apart from the beautiful cars produced, the biggest virtue of “Luxury Cars” such as BMW’s new Z4 is they push the boundaries of what is possible (technologically and as regards safety, as Road Tests prove). One thing that always reigned true is that new developments that start off as exclusive to a luxury car, eventually become a commonplace feature and part of all cars, for example, power steering, central locking and even rear seatbelts (once exclusive to luxury cars only).

More than two hundred clamped cars were abandoned by their owners last year rather than paying the clampers fee.

It seems some drivers simply shrug and opt for one of the flood of cheap second-hand cars on the market when their trusty old vehicle is clamped.

Last year, more than 200 cars went unclaimed when they were taken off the streets of Dublin city after being clamped and towed away.

Amid plummeting car prices, a Dublin City Council spokeswoman said: “In most cases, the cost of reclaiming the vehicle would exceed the value of the vehicle.” If the vehicle is towed to the city car pound then the price starts to soar. The owner has to fork out €80 for clamp removal, a further €80 to cover the costs of towing and a storage charge of €35 for each day it is held.

Ok… So I get it why someone in desperate circumstances might not reclaim a vehicle or might not want to pay the fine… maybe a little, but I have still got to ask: Seriously… who are these people?

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT.IE

The new BMW Vision EfficientDynamics combines superb driving performance with extremely low consumption. A hybrid drive system and a revolutionary design are among the highlights. The film reveals how a sustainable, but enjoyable future BMW will look like.

Since its inception in 1958, NASA has been harnessing the unique properties of hydrogen to conduct missions. NASA's hydrogen technologies enable electrical power, life support and transportation systems. The agency continues to research, develop and test hydrogen technologies for future human space exploration vehicles as well as advanced terrestrial aircraft. One of the innovative ways in which NASA is implementing hydrogen usage is in its power cells.

Astronauts have been using them for power aboard spacecraft since the 1960s. Soon, perhaps, they'll be just as common on Earth - powering cars, trucks, laptop computers and cell phones. By combining hydrogen fuel with oxygen, Fuel Cells can produce plenty of electric power while emitting only pure water as exhaust. They're so clean that astronauts actually drink the water produced by fuel cells on the space shuttle. While Fuel Cells promise to be the environmentally-friendly power source of the future, some types run too hot to be practical and you can't "just fill 'er up" with hydrogen at most corner petrol stations. And fuel cell-based cars and computers are still relatively expensive. These obstacles have relegated fuel cells to a small number of demo vehicles and some speciality uses, such as power aboard the space shuttle and back-up power for hospitals and airports.

Now NASA-sponsored research is helping to tackle some of these obstacles. By finding a way to build "solid oxide" fuel cells that operate at half the temperature of current designs - 500°C instead of a blistering 1,000°C - researchers at the Texas Center for Superconductivity and Advanced Materials (TcSAM) at the University of Houston hope to make this kind of fuel cell both cheaper to manufacture and easier to fuel.

"Our key advance was making the heart of the fuel cell (the sheet of electrolyte that controls the flow of electrically charged ions) - out of a thin film only one micron thick," says Alex Ignatiev, the director of the NASA-funded TcSAM." In contrast, today's off-the-shelf solid-oxide fuel cells have electrolyte layers 100 microns thick or more (a micron is one thousandth of a millimetre). "The thinness cuts down internal resistance to electric current, so we can get comparable power output at much lower operating temperatures." To make this ultra-thin layer, Ignatiev and his colleagues at TcSAM don't simply shave down a chunk of bulk material until it's thin enough. Instead, they grow the electrolyte atom by atom, depositing one layer of atoms at a time in a process called epitaxy. The thin films in TcSAM fuel cells are about 1,000 atoms thick. The same power at half the temperature creates a domino effect of cost savings. For one, cheaper materials can be used to build them, rather than the expensive heat-tolerant ceramics and high-strength steels demanded by 1,000-degree fuel cells. The automobiles that would use these fuel cells can also forgo exotic materials and elaborate heat-dissipation systems, lowering manufacturing costs. All of this tips the scales of economic feasibility in the right direction.

Research Source: Science@NASA

Here are a few behind-the-scenes photos of the Mazda RX7 while work was being done on it… Finbar Cunningham and all the guys at FC Autotyling really did a first class job.

With the global downturn there has been a real lull in car sales… I think one of the things that has struck me most about early 2009 and the world credit crunch is the number of new models of car being released… and no-one to buy them. The new Opel Insignia for instance and the new Mitsubishi Colt and the list goes on!

One car manufacturer with a new car is Alfa Romeo with their new MiTO. Not content to take the credit crunch and an international reduction in car sales they have come up with a fun addition for their website. Now when you visit their website you can create YouTube styled Mini-clips and Icons… for example, for Valentine’s Day…

With the spate of bad weather Ireland is having, including Snow and Ice, many people are wondering what to do when driving in these adverse conditions.

Firstly (as advised by the AA), it should be said that if you know there’s likely to be ice on the roads and your journey isn’t important, stay at home. Choosing to drive on an icy road means that you’re choosing to take a ton or so of self propelled metal onto the public highway with no sure way of stopping or controlling it. It’s not always possible to avoid driving in icy conditions but if you can, you should.

If driving in icy or snowy conditions drivers should:

• Remember it takes longer to stop in icy conditions than on a dry road. Drive slowly and allow extra room between your vehicle and the vehicle in front
• Use the highest gear possible to avoid wheel spin
• Manoeuvre gently, avoid harsh braking and acceleration
• To brake on ice or snow without locking your wheels, get into a low gear earlier than normal, allow your speed to fall and use the brake pedal gently
• Remember that heavy snowfall and rain reduce visibility. Use dipped headlights and decrease speed
• Watch out for black ice, especially in sheltered areas on roads

In the event of a minor skid do the following:

• If you start to skid, release the brake pedal fully and stay off the brake
• Turn the steering wheel in the same direction as the skid and ease off the accelerator at the same time
• Avoid over correction with too much steering

If driving in stormy conditions drivers should:

• Watch out for falling/fallen debris on the road and vehicles veering across the road
• Control of a vehicle may be affected by strong cross winds. High sided vehicles and motorcyclists are particularly vulnerable to strong winds
• Allow extra distance between you and the vehicle in front (i.e. don’t tailgate), especially when driving behind heavy goods vehicles
• Allow extra space between you and vulnerable road users such as cyclists and motorcyclists
• Use dipped headlights at all times of poor visibility
• Check tyres to ensure minimum tread depth of 1.6mm and correct tyre pressureHidden dangers at zero degrees

Hidden dangers at zero degrees:

• Black ice. Normally, you can’t see black ice. However, if the pavement looks shiny and black instead of grey-white, be suspicious.
• Shaded areas.
• Bridges and overpasses. Ice tends to form on them before it does elsewhere.
• Intersections. Car exhaust and packed snow cause intersections to ice up quickly.

Turn off your cruise controlWhen the road is slippery, turn off your cruise control system. Snow, ice, slush or even rain can cause wheel-spin and loss of control.The only way to stop this wheel-spin and maintain control is to immediately reduce power. However, an activated cruise control system will continue to apply power, keeping the wheels spinning. By the time you disengage the cruise control, you may have lost control.

Vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are advised to be seen, wear bright clothing with reflective armbands, or a reflective belt or carry a torch.

Now this is trullt beautiful… and it’s official! 525hp Audi R8 V10

Even though the 4.2-litre V8 in the current R8 offers outstanding performance, pundits wondered why Audi didn’t adapt the more potent V10 engine from its S8 saloon for use in the hottest car it has ever made. Audi answered the challenge with the introduction of its new R8 5.2. Faster and more powerful than its V8 sibling, this latest exotic from Ingolstadt goes on sale in Europe in the second quarter for 142,400 euros.

The 5.2-litre V10 in this R8 generates 525 horsepower and 391 lb-ft of torque — considerably more than the V8, which puts out 420 horses and 317 lb-ft of torque. The company did not say how much the R8′s new engine has in common with the V10 in the Audi S8 saloon or the Lamborghini Gallardo (Volkswagen/Audi owns Lamborghini).

MORE PHOTOS!

Source: MSN Cars