Citroen DS3 Racing past March 11, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Minutiae of cars, Motorsport , add a commentWHY only 1000 Citroen DS3 Racings, I asked the Citroen man at the Geneva Motor Show.
Surely you could make it a permanent addition to the range, underlining its MINI John Cooper Works-challenging status?
The reason why, he revealed, was a blast from the past. It’s a mainstream maker’s homologation special. Like the Ford Escort RS 1600i, like the Alfa Romeo 155 Silverstone, like the Mercedes 190 Evolution. And thus, for me, cool.
It’s even diverted off the production line for final finishing: Citroen Racing (for it is they) send the instructions to the production line men, who add on a ‘parts kit’ of bits that turn a standard DSport into a DS3 Racing.
Changes include:
• Stiffer springs, lowered by 15mm
• New-spec front and rear dampers
• 30mm wider track front and rear
• 4-piston brake calipers
• Drilled rear brake discs
• 18-inch alloys
• Wing extensions
• Carbon-fibre air diffuser
• Remapping software for EPAS and ESP (including ‘off’ button)
Chuck in an interior makeover and STRICT limitations to 1000 units, and you have something that won’t be cheap but will be exceedingly collectable.
It’s quick, too. The 1.6 THP turbo has, at 200hp, 30 percent more power, plus 15 percent more torque. Thank uprated components, tuned turbo and remapped ECU for this. Rortiness is provided by a special exhaust back box.
But what is it homologation for? Next year’s new WRC rules, that’s what. These stipulate more real world cars with front-drive chassis. Kimi Raikkonen will be driving one of these next year. We’ll be able to buy one before that.
Citroen, you’ve sold me: add my name to the press fleet booking list now, please..!
Save BBC 6Music and the Ford Zephyr
Renaultsport past to inspire turbo future?
Why RenaultSports don’t have rear spoilers
Renault Raider is back March 6, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Minutiae of cars , add a commentRENAULT PR guys are insatiable car nuts, whose geekery for all things 1980s matches mine.
That’s why we were both clamouring over the Gordini Renaultsports at the Geneva show, and why I almost bowed down to them when they revealed a gem to me.
Special wheels on the Gordini Twingo and Clio? Complete with deep blue tint to the painted internals? The UK chaps have named them. What as?
Get this: Raider!
That’s as in Renault 5 GT Turbo Raider, the 1990 special edition that came with blue metallic paint and blue-painted alloys. Instead of naming the wheels after a French seaside resort or philosophical movement, the UK boys have raided (ahem) their history and gave me an excuse to drop a jump to a car many would kill for.
Heritage? The Clio Renaultsport Gordini oozes it. Already God’s own hot hatch, there will be fisticuffs in the MR office over who does the launch of this one…
Renaultsport past to inspire turbo future?
Why RenaultSports don’t have rear spoilers
Skoda inspired by Volkswagen Golf February 23, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , add a commentSKODA has just launched the Superb estate to the UK press, prior to its on-sale date this Friday (26 February 2010).
Much delight from me on a brief launch visit – particularly with the value, the space, the rear legroom, the prices, the lush ride and the sublime 1.8 TSI engine.
For under £19k, it’s an utter, utter bargain. If I had a growing family, I would have one – full stop.
During the drive, though, I was amazed to find yet more to love. (If you know me, or visit here on occasion, you’ll know I’m not kidding, either).
Yes. The Skoda Superb estate has an oil temperature readout. Just like on a VW Golf GTD.
Almost as good as that, the dials do a fancy full sweep when you turn the ignition key. Just like on a VW Golf R.
It also has a rechargeable magnetic torch in the boot, that will shine a bright-white LED for 2 days non-stop. This isn’t like a VW Golf at all. But is just as car geek-pleasing.
I’d get me coat, naturally. But I lost it in the Superb’s 1865-litre boot. Ahem.
Colour lightens weird journo mood
Colour lightens weird journo mood February 21, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , 1 comment so farBOLD colours are pretty badass. I love ‘em. Give me a colouring book and some BIG BOLD MARKERS and I’m sorted.
So it’s always appreciated here when car makers do colours well. Particularly when they’re backlit and glowing from one of my favourite motoring preoccupations, dashboards.
As promised in my knee-rub of the Golf R’s dials, here’s why I love my SEAT Exeo ST long-termer. Yup, its headlight switch.
Stay with me. Or, even if you don’t, savour the image. It’s like this:
• Backlit in red
• When the lights are on, the sidelight symbol changes to green
• As it’s auto lights, when the function is active, this glows yellow
It means you get a veritable light-like kaleidoscope of colour at night: red, yellow, green. For nutters like me, it’s so unexpectedly appealing, it’s a treat to stop at traffic lights and stare.
Don’t unduly worry. We mutterers had a calling that means such things are, as you perhaps have gathered from this blog, everyday occurrences. Last week, for instance, I spent 10 minutes chatting with colleague CJ about the weighting of column stalks on said long-termer.
That’s a blog in waiting there too, I tell you.
In the meantime, I’ll get me coat.
How torque curves will change in the future February 14, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , 2commentsTORQUE Talking is not only the name of fine industry man Duncan Forrester’s blog, it’s also what I like talking, when I’m not discussing ride.
Oh, believe me, it’s a night to remember, if you get me in the pub.
I’ve munched on the shape of torque curves before, and how they’re slowly changing from Peak Practice to Table Mountain. And, in the future, they will continue to do so.
Indeed, they’ll do it completely. Become big, flat boxes. Why? Because the car of the future WILL be driven by an electric motor. Whose key characteristic is maximum torque delivery from 0 rpm.
As soon as you press the accelerator of an electric car, all your Nms are there at your disposal. No delay, no build-up and no waiting for your little torque mountain-climbing men to summit the side of the low-rev cliff-face until the stick the conquering flag of their home nation atop the 3500rpm sweet spot. Or similar.
This means torque will become an absolute. You’ll see a number and instantly be able to judge the strength of an engine. Just as we look at 0-60mph to rate speediness, so we’ll view torque to rate strength. All the mystique will be removed.
Indeed, this is why all the fledgling electric cars right now are not even bothering to discuss hp. Because it’s even less important than it already arguably isn’t. Torque is what will talk. (Quite right, too. After all, hp is but a function of torque in the first place…)
Incidentally, note I earlier said accelerator. It is, of course, not a throttle. That’s why Vauxhall Ampera chief mused to me recently, that perhaps it should be renamed ‘speed variation device’…
Why Ford Econetics break the rules
RenaultSport past to inspire turbo future
Golf R dials cool blue point February 12, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , 1 comment so farVOLKSWAGEN made our jaws drop in the 90s with its blue and red dials.
The key to it was, yes, the blue background, rather than the red needles. Red needles? Pft. We’d had them for years – it was a proper old school sporting trick, up there with punched leather steering wheels. And shiny black bits for the dash. And strict adherence to primary colours for seat trims.
There’s reason to salute Austin Rover here, too. The Maestro bringing us illuminated needles made VW’s work of genius over a decade later all the more (ahem) illuminating.
By Lord, though, did the R32 cause my dropped jaw to fall off. Years after people had genuinely started buying VWs for the blue and red dials, VW gave us super-special dials for its superhatch. With, yes, BLUE needles! On an ice-white background! Rrrubrubrub!
And so they continue in the latest Golf R.
I had to photograph and film them. See, if I hadn’t done so, I would have to stare at them while driving, and would crash. Indeed, my dially preoccupation would be complete if I called up the oil temperature readout, too.
Details such as this make cars. Well, they do for me, anyhows.
Look out soon for my thoughts on the lights switch backlighting illumination of my new SEAT Exeo ST long-termer. I know, I know – you can’t wait. I promise you, it’ll come soon…
Volkswagen Golf R dials on YouTube
First impressions: Citroen C3 2010 February 9, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars, flickr , 2commentsFIRST impressions are everything. And so on. And on. There are a billion quotes or more I could reference. Which have given me an idea.
Here, I’m going to share those first few seconds, miles and minutiae of new, interesting, intriguing or plain cool cars with you.
Motor industry God, Richard Parry-Jones, said it was all about the 50 metre test*. Here’s a loose variation on this – something so new, I don’t even have a fancy title for it yet.
The first car to be sat in for 5 minutes, driven for a couple of miles then parked up again while I have a cup of tea is the new 2010 Citroen C3.
Head over to Flickr and let me know what you think of what I thought.
Oh, and once I’ve actually driven it some meaningful distance, I plan to post back here with more rounded impressions. Just so’s you can compare suspicion with, hopefully, a bit more reality.
Share here what you think of what I fleetingly think and share with you…
* ‘You can tell how good any car is within 50 metres from the ways it responds to your inputs and provides feedback,’ Parry-Jones told Brian Appleyard in The Times. ‘It should feel connected and coherent. If you work hard enough, you can do this for ordinary customers at ordinary prices.’
Motorsport and Twitter aim for Groundswell
Nissan Qashqai photostream on Flickr
Renault Clio 2009 photostream on Flickr
How can good ride be stiff ride? December 19, 2009
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , 1 comment so farRIDE, schmide. It’s just about the uncoolest thing in the car world you can obsess about.
But, just as I caught myself wearing socks and sandals while queuing up at the cashpoint last night, so too do I love a nice ride (arf).
What makes a good ride, though? Surely it’s just about soft springs and marshmallows under the wheelarches? Soft = better; it’s a linear and direct connection. Well, that’s what I used to think.
Then I drove the somewhat stiffly-sprung Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and ohmylikeGod fell in love with it – despite detesting it at first, because of an intolerably stiff ride. Utterly inexplicable at the time, it was: me coming back and enthusing over its absorbency, damping quality, sheer depth of talent.
A few years later, I went on my one and only Maserati launch – the Quattroporte GTS. Similar experience; on the taut side, I thought, when I first drove it. Only to emerge at the other end wanting to marry chief engineer Paul Fickers. Luckily, I instead asked him what was going on.
Yet again, the same thing I asked to another chassis top cheese a few weeks ago – and, like Fickers, he said it’s all down to bump steer. See, at speed, it’s not so much the disturbance of ruts on our sensibilities, but the way the car physically reacts to them, that upsets us.
You can have a pretty stiffly set up car, that still seems more than fine, simply because it’s rock-solid assured over even the nastiest of surfaces. This is what the Maser does so well – and, probably, what the Porsche excels in, too.
Chuck in modern cars’ absorption of the nasty harshness that used to so pain us, plus iron-fisted control from decades of damper experience, and you’ve a stiff ride that’s also a good ride. Bizarre but true.
Such as setup also bypasses the other disadvantages of softly sprung cars that made their ride qualities so illusional:
• Roll
• Pitch
• Lean
• Free and easy body damping characteristics
• Uncanny ability to excite toddlers’ stomachs
• The way they suddenly run out of ideas when roads get really challenging
See: Ride CAN be cool. Kinda.
Land Rover’s ride quality secret
Vauxhall gives new Astra suspension a twist
BMW M3 Edition Coupe photostream on Flickr October 10, 2009
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , add a commentBMW’s M division are setting out to do more bespoke stuff for the AG giant.
Enter the BMW M3 Edition Coupe, a super-special and very desirable version of the super-special and very desirable M3 Coupe.
Really, how can it fail? Indeed, press reports until now have been blinding. I’m not about to change this. Instead, I focus on some of the details, via my M3 Edition Coupe photostream on Flickr.
Head on over there, take a look-see, and leave any comments you see fit!
BMW Z4 has 3 Series Convertible to thank
We like vans because they’re stiff October 4, 2009
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , add a commentGIVE a motoring journalist a van and he’ll be your best friend.
Particularly if you are Ford’s Bob Wright, who controls the press fleet, and distributes said vans to house-moving journos who just so happen to also have a pressing need to get a van out on test.
But, why? Just why is it we love driving them? Is it their simplicity, their great visibility, their excuse for you to drive like an arse, the fact they’re just plain different, the fact they’re always so surprisingly good? Well, probably all of that.
There’s another to add in too, though. They’re stiffly sprung, to help manage those heavy house-move loads. And, thus, handle like big GTIs. Yes, really. The latest Ford Transit is an absolute riot through the lanes; a Mercedes Sprinter is an utter class act.
They’re chuckable, accurate, precise, lithe and fun. And why is this set-up such a welcome surprise, when GTIs and sports cars are so commonplace? Because, reckons a chassis pal of mine, car makers are getting scared of sticking stiff springs on.
Particularly the Japanese, he reckons. Car makers don’t want to offend with the initial thudder of a ride, so will go down on the spring rate to give response frequencies to bumps that are, well, pleasant. Trouble is, they forget to perfect the damping to deal with the after-effects of this – meaning as soon as surfaces worsen, so does the ride.
None of this worries van drivers. They need a set-up that will compensate for their gregariousness both on the way to and from picking up those 12 200kg generators – so, spring rates go up, handling benefits accordingly, and chassis engineers are forced to carefully consider the damping rates to deal with this huge variation.
Vans are stiff. But, because vans are stiff, vans are actually far more intricately engineered than you first may think. Making them a blimmin’ riot of a test car.
If only I could shift my house…
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Why Ford Econetics break the rules
