A Study Of Opposites At A Stoplight

I pulled up to the 4-way intersection as I headed towards the highway, and I noticed something. A strange sense of something interesting. I looked over to my left, and realized the silver compact hatchback in the turning lane was actually a Chevy Volt, not a Saturn Astra or a VW Golf like you might think at first glance.

It’s the first time I’ve seen a Volt in person, and I was pleasantly surprised. In real life, it’s a hunkered-down low slung looking thing, without the normal reek of hybrid dullness about it. Great looking car. And considering the relative importance of the Volt in the scheme of things, that would be a good enough spotting for me for one day. But let’s zoom the frame out a bit here.

Hmm… A highway on-ramp, a Toyota Minivan for the local Toyota dealer, a stoplight, a… wait. A Cateram 7?

Now that’s not something you see every day! I don’t know if this is a Cateram, Doonkervort, Birkin, Dax, or any of the other 14 million different Lotus 7 clones, but regardless, seeing a Seven on the streets in Raleigh NC (of all places!) is pretty damn strange. Seeing one at the same light as a Chevy Volt is even stranger. Really, how different can two cars get?

On the one hand, you’ve got the Volt, which is so packed full of batteries and computers and electric motors and pistons and seat heaters and computer screens and plugs and gas tanks and probably one of those nefarious “black boxes.” On the other side, you’ve got a 7. Which has… an engine! Some wheels! Slabs of metal to keep water from the front tires off your face! A roof you can put up, if you really feel like it! I feel like two cars can’t get much more different than a Volt and a 7. And to see both of them… at one stoplight… in Raleigh. Unusual to say the least.

Which would I rather have? The 7, of course. This is CarThrottle, not Gizmodo. Sevens stand for everything that is righteous and awesome about sports cars, a design so good it’s been in production basically unchanged since the late 50′s. Light is still the easiest way to go fast. And I’d imagine that by the time the Volt is out of date and out of production, they’ll still be making 7′s, because people will still want them.

(Ed’s note: sorry for the low resolution and general crappiness of these photos. Still, Camera Phones are getting better!)

The Sound Of A Spinning Dorito

Everything I know about rotary engines can be summed up in one sarcastic sentence: “Hey, communism worked in theory too.” That might be oversimplifying things: we can also add “boost goes in, apex seals come out” to the list while we’re at it. It’s safe to say that Felix Wankel’s invention never really achieved the widespread popularity some originally thought it would, but it can’t be said that the rotary doesn’t have it’s loyalists. Rotarys may be torqueless, thirsty, failure-prone, and oil-slurping emissions monsters, but they do sort of dominate on the racetrack.

This post isn’t going to be a “how the hell does a Rotary work, anyway” post -- there’s Wikipedia for that. (Although ask and you shall receive, if there’s any interest in such an article.) One of the greatest things about these engines is the sound an uncorked Rotary makes when it’s being wrung out. So sit back and enjoy the dulcet tones of the Dorito Spinner, one of the oddest engines ever to find it’s way into a production car.

This first video is an RX-7 so far from stock, it should probably be called an RX-10.5. It’s actually got a 3 rotor engine (the 12a/13b were 2-rotors) made up of RX4/5 parts as well as a big T04B boosting at 20psi. This one looks extremely rapid.

Another triple-rotor RX-7 here, this one a third-generation (FD3S) with a Eunos Cosmo 20b 3-rotor boosted to kingdom come. The sound this car makes on boost is just nuts. Notice the welded differential in the back, too? Hardcore.

A 13b (2-rotor) 3rd gen RX7 drag racing in Trinidad(!) The legend of the spinning Dorito has reached far beyond Hiroshima, it seems. This thing takes off like it just got rear-ended by a dump truck. Insane.

I have to assume that when the apocalypse comes, it’s going to sound a little like this. Oh lord. 7 second drag rotary is an impressive sight indeed. This one’s another triple-rotor 20B in an FD chassis RX-7. How much power? Probably a gazillion.

Rotaries are so light and can make so much power they manage to find their way into all sorts of race cars they were never intended to. For instance, how about this 9-second Datsun 510 Wagon?

Ahh, a humble VW Beetle. Little air-cooled flat four, 50 horsepower, the People’s Car… wait, no, drag monster with a turbo 13b in the back, pulling a wheelie on the bars halfway down the track. That’s more like it.

The Datsun 1200: Datsun’s competitor for the Toyota Corolla back in the 70′s. A cute little coupe with a 1200cc pushrod 4, the original couldn’t really punch its way through a wet paper bag. This one’s been augmented with… yup, a turbo 13b rotary engine. It’s starting to seem like everything is better with a little rotary under the hood.

If 2 rotors is good (13b), and 3 rotors is better (20b), then a naturally-aspirated 4-rotor in an RX8 sucking in air through 4 individual throttle bodies is the best. Right? Right.

I’m not the first person to point this out, but a Japanese car has only won LeMans once, and it was powered by a rotary. The 787B’s 4-rotor 26B engine put out 930 horsepower (naturally aspirated!) in qualifying trim, and 700 or so in competition trim. If that’s not a rotary sound to end a post on, I don’t know what is. What else would you suggest?

Not Your Usual Civic Hatchback

Ahh, the 90′s Civic hatchback: dime a dozen, get ‘em while they’re hot. I know you wanted to pick a flavor, but I hope you like vanilla, ’cause that’s what you’ll get. Right? Now, normally when you look under the hood of an EG-chassis Civic (92-95), you see one these: a D15.

Boring. On a good day, a single-cam D15 16v PGM-FI motor will make 110 or so horsepower. Which is perfectly adequate for a 2,400lb commuter car, and it’ll deliver 40+ MPG on the highway all day long. But if you want to go fast in your Civic Hatch, you’re going to need a bigger motor. How about one that doesn’t even fit under the hood?

Wait, WHAT? No, this photo isn’t photoshopped. That’s an Acura TL engine poking out of an EG Hatch’s hood. What?

I ran into the gentleman that owns this Franken-Honda at my local gas station while I was filling up my car, and I had a moment of cognitive dissonance when I saw the cam covers poking out of the hood. I went up to talk to the owner, who was an older gentleman named Marsh about the car.

The swap was done using a billet-aluminum motor mount kit from noted Honda tuners Hasport, who makes “swap kits” for putting most any sideways Honda motor into most any other sideways-engined Honda. But this has gotta take the cake for plug-and-play insanity. A stock TL engine makes 270 horsepower, or about double what a stock VTEC-equipped D-series I4 does. He pointed to the front tires, which were down to bare cords, and said “it’s a bit hard on the tires, though.” Well, I’d imagine so.

The Franken-Honda continues inside, where this EG sports an entire gauge cluster from a 3.2 CL Type-S Coupe, as well as the shifter. A bagless Momo wheel and some AFR and EGT gauges occupy the A-pillar, but otherwise it’s standard Honda in there.

As far as mods to the engine go, it looks like it’s got a set of stainless headers, a short-ram intake, and some silicone coolant hoses, but really- how much do you need to do to a TL engine in an EG to make it fast?

What’s funny is the relatively ricer-level quality of the rest of the stuff done to the car. The 18″ Motegi wheels are gaudy and probably weigh a metric ton, the clear taillights are just plain abominable, and there’s a big damn hole cut in the bumper for some reason. But when you’ve got a TL V6 in your Civic, I suppose we’ll afford you some ricer liberties. I mean, it’s not like it’s Ivan The Terrible’s Civic Type ARRRR.

It’s surprisingly quiet, too -- although I guess not that surprising considering the car that donated it’s engine to this swap was designed for ferrying around real estate agents and their clients. What crazy engine swaps have you seen? Did any of them make you drop your jaw like this one? Leave a comment for us below!

205 MPH… On Ice!

Back in the 80′s, 200 miles an hour was world-record territory for a road car. The F40 was the first stock production car to break the 200mph barrier, with others following after it. Those early race-derived supercars were raw, elemental thunderstorms of power and grip with little concession to human comfort.

So it’s a sign of great technical progress that a Finnish rally driver named Juha Kankkunen recently went 205mph in what is essentially a stock Bentley convertible, a leather-lined luxury rocket that’s as far from an F40′s rawness as one can possibly get. What’s so cool though? It was 205mph on ice.

I have to say, if I was going to shoot for the world speed record on ice, I’d probably get a Continental GT SuperSports too. What’s strange is he did it in a convertible supersports. With all-wheel-drive, a 621-horsepower twin-turbo W12 engine, and sophisticated ESP, the list of cars better suited to a high-speed ice run is pretty short. I’m thinking tuned Nissan GT-R, 911 Turbo S, maybe a Gallardo LP570-4 SV?

The Continental is remarkably close to stock specs, too. There’s a roll cage for safety, Pirelli snow tires for grip, and a few aero modifications to make the big Bentley more stable at high speeds -- as well as a parachute to slow down. The engine, suspension, etc is all the way it came from Crewe. The venue for this record was set on a frozen lake with 70mm thick ice in the Baltic Sea, just 4km off the coast of Finland. The final number, verified by the Finland Traffic Police and a Guiness World Records representative, was an amazing 205.48mph. The record was set on E85 BioEthanol, too -- fitting in with Bentley’s C02 policy.

Juha is no stranger to ice speed records -- he holds the previous record as well. Set in 2007 in a “regular” Continental GT Coupe, he beat his previous best of 199.83 mph thanks mostly the the extra 70-odd horsepower the SuperSports has over the standard GT. Before that, the previous record was set in 1995 by a -- get this! -- Bugatti EB110 SS, at a piddling 184mph.

Bentley says they will be releasing a limited (100 units) edition Continental GT in honor of the new record at the upcoming Geneva show, saying it’ll be the baddest, most powerful car to wear the flying B ever released. No other details, but imagining a more hardcore Bentley than the Continental SuperSports stretches the imagination! Keep an eye out for this new model around March 1st. In the mean time, high five to Juha Kankkunen, who is setting a new standard for automotive bravery.

The Sound of Classic Rally

Need a moment of zen today? Then plug in your speakers, turn it up, and just listen to it. It’s a compilation of footage from the 2011 Rallye Legend Boucles de Spa, a gathering of classic rally cars that’s a yearly occurence. Old (RWD) Escorts, stage-prepped air cooled 911′s oversteering wildly, just… just watch it. It’s beautiful.

My goodness. Feeling more in tune with your inner Chi now? Not yet? How about footage from 2010? Take two and let me know how you’re feeling later.

It’s already too late to go see the action this year (it was held Feb 18-19), but for more info on the event you can visit the organizational page at Race-Rallye.be. The language selector is at the top right! Enjoy the rally sounds on this Tuesday afternoon.

911 Sport Classic cars

Showcasing pictures and videos of the super cool 2010 Porsche 911 Sport Classic sports car.

Inspired by the Carrera RS 2.7 in parts of its wardrobe, the 911 Sport Classic will be built in very limited numbers with just 250 cars planned. Porsche have added the new double-bubble roof to the wide-body Carrera S bodyshell, and that ducktail rear spoiler archly echoes the 1973 RS 2.7's iconic rump.

What about the tech changes on the 911 Sport Classic?

It's a rear-drive Carrera S foundation, so you get the regular 3.8-litre direct-injection flat six – but fettled some. There's a new resonance intake manifold with six vacuum-controlled switching flaps – enough to raise power by 23bhp for a 408bhp total.

Porsche's six-speed manual gearbox is standard-fit, while the PCCB ceramic brakes are part of the package. The Sport Classic sits 20mm lower on its sports suspension pack and those 19in alloys are custom-made and identifiable by their black-painted rim.

Inside the Porsche 911 Sport Classic (2009)

Porsche Exclusive has thrown its full gamut of Harry Potter magic dust over the Sport Classic's cabin. The designers have let their hair down and trialled some novel materials, including leather strips woven with yarn for the seat fabric.

There is one big stumbling block, however. The 911 Sport Classic will cost an eye-watering £140,049. The new Porsche 911 Sport Classic goes on sale in January 2010, after its debut at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show.