Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Automotive Addicts

Automotive Addicts

Video: Jay Leno Forms His Own Opinion of 2011 Hennessey HPE600 Camaro Convertible

Posted: 06 Jun 2011 09:41 AM PDT


It is no doubt that John Hennessey and his team get some amazing horsepower figures from some of their intricate tuning of the finest automotive machines directly out of the production factory. Jay Leno invites John down to his garage for another visit only this time he brings 602 horsepower packed under the hood of a new Chevrolet Camaro Convertible. Check out the drop-top fun that Jay has with this beast below!

[source: Jay Leno's Garage]

Chrysler Working On Engine That Burns Gas And Diesel

Posted: 06 Jun 2011 09:22 AM PDT


What if you could have the performance of a 4.0 liter V6, while returning the fuel economy of an inline four? Chyrsler is working with the Department of Energy on just such an engine, and it will use both gasoline and diesel to achieve these performance targets. It won't burn the two fuels independently, so running out of gas (or diesel, presumably) will still leave you stranded. Instead, the engine burns the two fuels simultaneously to achieve both superior performance and fuel economy.

The engine is primarily a gas-burner that utilizes high compression and twin turbos to make reasonable power from a small displacement. Diesel is injected into the combustion chamber to control preignition, which allows the engine to run higher compression than pump gas normally allows. As a result, Chrysler claims comparable performance with a 25 percent improvement in fuel economy compared to their 2009 model year 4.0-liter V6. That translates into 31 mpg on the highway in a Town & Country minivan, but a smaller, lighter vehicle could see even bigger fuel economy improvements.

Chrysler isn't the first automaker to undertake a multi-fuel engine project. Ford is working on a multi-fuel engine that uses both gasoline and ethanol, but there currently isn't an infrastructure in place to support such a design in the real world. Where, exactly, would you buy ten gallons of ethanol? Diesel is commonly available from coast to coast, but both designs suffer from the same design drawback: multi-fuel engines require two separate fuel tanks and fuel systems, and they assume that drivers will never inadvertently mix fuels.

Since the engine is only in the design phase, Chrysler has time to sort out the bugs. I like the possibilities that such a design presents, because it shows that horsepower can coexist with fuel economy. Maybe the future for us horsepower junkies isn't as bleak as we thought.

Source: Kicking Tires

Chevy’s Newest Camaro: Fast Enough To Outrun A Decepticon Invasion

Posted: 06 Jun 2011 08:29 AM PDT


Chevy's 2012 Camaro gets more horsepower from the V-6 and adds the eagerly anticipated ZL1 version, complete with a 6.2-liter, 550 horsepower V-8. The SS version remains largely unchanged under the hood, but that's not a bad thing since the Camaro's normally aspirated 6.2 liter V-8 is still good for 426 horsepower with a manual transmission (or 400 horsepower with the automatic). That's not quite enough to outrun a Mustang from zero to sixty (sorry, bowtie fans), but it apparently is fast enough to outrun a Decepticon invasion, at least according to Tim Allen. Until Transformers 3 comes out, you can get a feel for the action in the video below.

Source: Chevrolet YouTube Channel
Posted by Didik Rg at 6:06 AM

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