Just picked up a hurting 16V for pennies on the dollar. Many dollars to come. Hurting is the operative word

A little of the 190E 2.3 16 valve story.

Under the heading Mechanics daily doint the impossibleMechanics making the impossible do-able

Bugetti veyron

You need a 5 point harness just to watch this.

Future Vision: Hybrid-clever and Ferrari-fast, this could be Toyota’s long-awaited Supra replacement

February 01, 2007

 / By Angus MacKenzie

It’s hard to imagine Toyota-rich, powerful, profitable-worrying about anything. In truth, Toyota worries about everything. That’s the difference between the company that’s about to become the world’s number-one automaker and…General Motors. And the wild-looking coupe you see here, the FT-HS Hybrid Sports Concept, is an especially worrisome car for Toyota.

Built as Toyota’s Detroit show star, the FT-HS is designed to showcase Toyota’s leadership in hybrid powertrain technology. Underhood is a next-generation performance hybrid system built around Toyota’s punchy 3.5-liter V-6 and capable of delivering approximately 400 horses. Performance targets include a 0-to-60-mph time in the 4.0-second range. Among the benchmark cars shown by Toyota during the FT-HS presentation were the Ferrari F430, Porsche 911, and Chevy Corvette.

Concept planner Chiharu Tamura says the FT-HS is a vision for a 21st-century sports car: a sports car that’s eco-friendly and fun to drive; a sports car as fast as a Ferrari, yet as fuel-efficient as a four-cylinder compact. Were this not a Toyota engineer talking, your hyperbole meter would probably be hitting redline right about now.

The next-gen hybrid system is the key: In this system, braking energy is stored and can be released as what Tamura-san calls “explosive power” out of turns. He won’t go into detail, but it’s likely the system uses a combination of a lightweight lithium battery pack and capacitors. The battery pack provides the longer-term energy storage as used in Toyota’s current Hybrid Synergy Drive vehicles, while the capacitors allow split-second discharge of large amounts of energy, perfect for delivering “explosive power.” The trick is managing and integrating the various power flows-engine, battery, capacitors-so it feels seamless to the driver.

The FT-HS was styled at Toyota’s Calty facility in Irvine, California, a studio best known for more prosaic products such as the Tacoma and Tundra pickups. “This is probably the single project we enter design for-a sports car,” says Calty vice president Kevin Hunter.Hunter cites influences as diverse as Bang & Olufsen sound systems, speed skiers, and Toyota F1 cars; with its combination of organic and sheer surfaces, it looks like a device shaped in a wind tunnel. The sharp edges at the corners of the car are designed to manage airflow, says Hunter, and the full undertray with rear venturis works with the unique combination taillight/rear wing to provide a measure of downforce. At the rear, floating C-pillars direct airflow into vents to cool the hybrid system’s battery pack. It’s bold. Aggressive. Technical. Pretty? Nope.

Although a coupe, the FT-HS features a novel take on the T-roof: The roof center slides rearward over the rear-hinged backlight, which then folds flat to open the cockpit completely behind the driver and passenger. You get a modicum of wind-in-the-hair motoring without compromising occupant safety or structural

Joined about 26 other Smart car owners on a trip from Monroe WA to Levenworth. The parade sure drew some attention. Good German Grub at Gustauv’s too.

Chrystler Creditors Cave

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