It’s insane how fast these guys are going… I mean, you have to be a psychopath to drive that quick—not much room for error there. Did I mention that the sound is just eargasmic.
Damn, wish my car wasn’t in the shop. With the nice weather, I’d really like to go out for a ride. Damn.
Pretty interesting how they make the entire call. Pretty crazy how all the robots just stamp the whole body out of aluminum sheets.
On the other hand, Porsches are pretty much hand sprayed and assembled. Pretty huge contrast in manufacturing process.
Hat tip: Josh
Forget robotic drones; Honda’s new lawnmower can turn a dreary task into an X Games sport. Honda aptly calls it the Mean Mower and claims it can reach speeds up to 130MPH and can go from 0 to 60MPH in just four seconds. For a lawnmower to reach those staggering numbers, the company’s UK arm reached out to Team Dynamics, its British Touring Car Championship partner. They redesigned one of the company’s machines, equipped it with a motorcycle engine to make it more powerful and replaced some of its parts with fiberglass to shave off some of its weight. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you can cut grass while speeding and drifting like Vin Diesel — its cutting cables only work if you slow it down to 15MPH. –Engadget.com
Holy crap, The Stig is on a 130mph lawnmower.
Hat tip: Patrick
“It has a horse power of 520 bhp/ton and speeds to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds! And the MONO zooms to 100 mph in 6.7 seconds. The MONO’s max speed reaches an astounding 170 mph. The car is also made of science and art brought by the Brigg’s brothers’ expertise and experience with Ford, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz.”
“The car’s engine has a capacity of 2.3 liter inline-4, natural aspiration, a torque of 207 lb-ft, and has a weight of 1, 190 lbs.”
“The cool car MONO is a machine that is designed superbly with carbon fiber and tubular steel safety cell. The immense power of the MONO comes from its 280 hp, 2.3-litre Cosworth unit, mated to an electronically-controlled, paddle-shift, six-speed sequential Hewland transmission with limited-slip differential.”
The braking is designed by AP Racing, the bespoke HRT alloy wheels is made by OZ Racing, the public road legal track tires by Kumho, and the vehicle electronics and instrumentation by GEMS.” –thesupercars.org
The BAC Mono is probably one of my most desired cars now. While it’s not cheap, it just looks incredible. Wow, this is just something out of a manga movie. I can’t help but drool over the lines.
For whatever reason, it reminds me of Bjork’s music video, “All is full of love”, directed by Chris Cunningham.
It’s just so sexy.
So, bad news, I got a ton of yellow paint on my car. I had to take it into the dealer… but the good news is they’ve given me an 2013 Audi A4 as a loaner. I figure I’d give it a little review since I’ve never driven a new Audi.
The 2013 A4 is a 2.0 Liter 4 Cylinder Turbo, and it’s considered to be an upscale midsize sedan focused on luxury/performance. After driving it for a day, it feels like a large performance sedan trying to feel like a small practical one.
Power
So is the myth true, are A4’s powerful? Only when the turbo’s kick in. While the car’s spec claim a 258lb torque at 1,500 rpm, it doesn’t feel like it. The acceleration is actually kind of pathetic, and I’m shocked that a car with that kind of spec drives in such an awkward way. The way to hp/torque set up is probably most appropriate for passing cars between 40-70mph. The power’s there, but it feels like an old school turbo spooling up. Once the boost kicks in, it feels alive.
Handling
Handling is a little strange. When I say strange, I mean that it’s a big car that has a ton of assisted power steering. I can literally drive the car with my pinky. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not—I personally prefer a slightly heavier feel in my steering. Same goes with the brakes… for whatever reason, they’re very sensitive. Almost artificially too sensitive. I literally touch the brakes, and the car’s weight shifts forward immediately. I’m not sure if this is good for performance driving—you want to avoid throwing the weight of the car around, especially around the turns. On a positive note, the car feels planted at higher speeds and seems to handle better once you get momentum.
Comfort
So, for a sporty sedan, the seats are pretty loose. I’m sliding all around in the turns. The seats are comfortable, but are not performance oriented. Even the steering wheel position is off—it’s too far away from the driver by default. I will say that there are a couple of cool features… for example, the way the car starts is interesting—you have to push the key in, with your foot on the brakes to start it. To turn it off, you have to push the key inward. When I say key, it’s a fat piece of plastic that sticks into a giant numb to the right of the steering column. At first I disliked it, but it was actually really convenient, and clever.
Style
So the A4 is a sharp looking sedan. It’s modern, but conservative. It has a sleekness that most cars try to achieve. It’s a good looking sedan, and I believe it’s ahead of the curve in terms of styling.
Conclusion
So is the myth true? Is the A4 a powerful beast that rivals a BMW 3 series in terms of performance? The answer is no. It doesn’t feel like a drivers car in terms of the seat, driving position and overall handling characteristics. However, some people really like the styling enough to overlook performance. I’d describe the A4 as being practical and stylish. But I could see myself getting bored with it after a while.
Yesterday was a lovely day to get out. Again, I couldn’t hang out too long because my back was acting up (and it was getting hot), but there was a nice turn out.
This time there were a ton of tuner cars. I’m not a huge fan of them, but some were pretty sweet.
The white on white looks pretty classy.
And the highlight, a Skyline GTR.
There’s a ton of stuff going on under the hood.
Yep, it’s a real import… check out the steering wheel.
Lots of muscle.
Some of the 4×4’s showed up. Sweet snorkel on the Toyota.
I’m sure the cops will see these from a mile away.
Same with this one.
For the understated super car, black on black works.
And, as always, the German cars. The guy driving this M5 looked like he was a character straight out of Fast and Furious.
