300 km/h and topless
Don’t get too excited, this is not
Luscious Lolita on speed, this is Bentley’s new Continental
GTC Speed.
The Continental GTC Speed drop-top follows the GT Speed
coupe released in August 2007. It has the same upgraded (ex
VW) 12 cylinder engine that enables the ultimate cruiser to
blast from 0-100km/h in around 4.5 seconds.
Bentley
Continental GTC Speed
With the roof up, giving improved aerodynamics, the GTC
Speed convertible is able to hit an impressive top speed of
322 km/h. With the top down you lose 8 km/h, leaving you at
314 km/h at full noise.
This new Continental gets 448 kW of power, a 9 percent
increase over the “standard” Bentley from the twin-turbo
W12. The torque output is even more impressive, rising 15
percent to 750 Nm, available all the way from 1700 rpm
through to 5600 rpm. This is fed to the road through a six
speed automatic with manual override if you think you can
emulate James Bond.
Bentley has lowered the suspension 10 mm at the front and 15
mm at the rear to improve the handling of the GTC Speed. It
also has retuned the power steering to give the driver more
response.
Bentley has fitted the GTC Speed with wider 9.5x20 inch
alloy wheels, which have specially developed 275/35-section
Pirelli PZero high-performance tyres.
Whilst Bentley usually has no aero add-on bits, the GTC
Speed does get one on the boot to keep it stable at high
speeds.
Like the Speed coupe, the convertible is available with
optional carbon-ceramic brakes with larger 420 mm front
discs and 356 mm rear discs. Quite frankly, at the money you
pay for a Bentley and the speeds it can do, I would have
considered that the best available brakes should have been
mandatory. The carbon brakes get eight-piston callipers
which are also 20kg lighter than the standard brakes.
So has Bentley (hiding behind the VW symbol) continued to
make a gentleman’s sporting carriage, or as Ettore Bugatti
once said, the fastest lorries in the world? The answer is
yes, but how many of these top end cars will go out the door
in these financially troubled times, I am not sure.
Go park yourself!
Ford is introducing a new Active Park Assist
technology on its 2010 Lincoln MKS flagship sedan and new
Lincoln MKT seven passenger luxury crossover. Available in
mid-2009 as an option, Active Park Assist uses an
ultrasonic-based sensing system and Electric Power Assisted
Steering (EPAS) to position the vehicle for parallel
parking, calculate the optimal steering angle and quickly
steer the vehicle into a parking spot.
The EPAS system utilizes a steering column mounted electric
motor that provides steering power assistance on demand and
typically consumes less than seven percent of the energy of
a conventional hydraulic rack and pinion power steering
system.
Active Park Assist system uses sensors on the front and rear
of the vehicle to guide the vehicle into a parking space.
The technology is a major leap forward in speed and ease of
use compared with the camera-reliant systems offered by
competitors, including a video camera-based system offered
by Lexus. Ford’s system requires less driver interface and
reduces the risk of selecting a parking spot that is too
tight. Ford’s Active Park Assist is claimed to also work in
downhill parking situations, unlike competing systems. To
park the vehicle, the driver activates the system by
pressing an instrument panel button, which activates the
ultrasonic sensors to measure and identify a feasible
parallel parking space. The system then prompts the driver
to accept the system assistance to park.
The steering system then takes over and steers the car into
the parking space hands free. The driver still shifts the
transmission and operates the accelerator and brake pedals,
so you don’t give up total control.
A visual and/or audible driver interface advises the driver
about the proximity of other cars, objects and people and
provides instructions.
While the steering is all done automatically, the driver
remains responsible for safe parking and can interrupt the
system by grasping the steering wheel.
Active Park Assist is enabled by Ford’s advanced EPAS
technology. In addition to helping with parallel parking,
EPAS improves fuel economy up to five percent, while
reducing CO2 emissions and enhancing steering performance
compared with traditional hydraulic power assisted steering
systems. EPAS saves fuel primarily because the steering
system is powered by an electric motor connected to
vehicle’s battery, as opposed to engine-mounted hydraulic
pump steering systems. By 2012, Ford plans to fit nearly 90
percent of the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury line-up with EPAS.
“As we use advanced technology like Electric Power Assisted
Steering to improve the fuel efficiency across our vehicle
line-up, we have the opportunity to introduce new comfort
and convenience innovations like Active Parking Assist,”
said Ali Jammoul, Ford’s chief engineer for chassis
engineering and steering systems. “This is technology not
for the sake of technology, but technology designed to meet
the needs and wants of customers.”
As Ford introduces EPAS in more vehicles, it will be able to
offer Active Parking Assist in more models. In addition,
Ford is working on using EPAS and other sensors for other
smart technologies, including one that could prevent a
vehicle from drifting out of lane on the highway.
Active Park Assist works in tandem with other new
technologies that will be offered on the 2010 MKS and MKT
and other Ford Motor Company vehicles, including Blind Spot
Information System (BLIS™) and Cross Traffic Alert. BLIS
employs a sensor on the outboard rear quarter panel that
monitors the traditional blind spot area, and can notify the
driver with a warning indicator light in the corresponding
side view mirror if the sensors in this optional system
detect a vehicle in the blind spot. Cross Traffic Alert uses
BLIS sensors to help detect cross traffic when backing out
of a parking space.
Autotrivia Quiz
RHD Bugatti
Last week I asked which pre-1970 Bugatti
models came in left hand drive? The correct answer was
“none”. Up till then they were all RHD.
So to this week. Harry Ferguson is remembered for the
tractor and the four wheel drive vehicles. He was also
famous for something else in Ireland. What was it?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
BRM rises from the
ashes
Yet another famous British automotive name is to be
resurrected in 2009, with the news that Bee Automobiles
recently announced 250 mph AWD electric racing car will
compete as the BRM Bee Four ERV in the British Hill Climb
Championships this year.
The car is reportedly using a new type of electric motor
featuring a segmented armature. Each 13 kg motor (one for
each wheel) delivers a peak power of about 50 kW and peak
torque of 130 Nm, making it 200 kW and 520 Nm all up.
Simulations show that the same motor, developed by the
Electronic Power Group within the Engineering Department at
the University of Oxford, is capable of achieving a peak
power of over 150 kW and a peak torque of over 200 Nm.
Remember, that is per wheel, as these are in-wheel motors.
1948
BRM being pushed as usual
All of the car’s direct technological influences have not
yet been revealed, but the web site hints at who might be
involved when it states the car has been “designed by a team
accustomed to winning Formula 1 Grand Prix” (they must be
pretty old, as that was some time ago when Graham Hill and
Sir Jackie Stewart gave the marque 17 F1 wins and a drivers
and two constructors titles). Mind you, the in-wheel
technology dates back to 1902 with Dr. Porsche’s Lohner
cars. Nothing’s really new!
It is 60 years since BRM was founded by Raymond Mays, who
had built several hill climb and road racing cars under the
ERA brand before the war, and Peter Berthon, a long-time
associate. BRM had backing (both financially and in kind and
labour) of the British motor industry and its suppliers
channelled through a trust fund.
This proved an unwieldy way of organizing and financing the
project, and as some of the backers withdrew, disappointed
with the team’s slow progress and early results, it fell to
one of the partners in the trust, Alfred Owen of the Rubery
Owen group of companies, which primarily manufactured car
parts, to take over the team in its entirety. In fact,
between 1954 and 1970, the BRM team entered its works F1
cars under the official name of the Owen Racing
Organization.
According to the press release, “The BRM Bee Four electric
racing car will be consistent with BRM’s long history of
innovation and teamwork, and will be a great demonstration
of Rubery Owen’s modern focus on environmental technologies.
It will also be a marker for a new breed of motor sport, one
which minimizes environmental impact and is overwhelmingly
cost effective, but at the same time is phenomenally fast.”
Paul Owen, grandson of Sir Alfred and managing director of
Rubery Owen’s Environmental Technology Subsidiary Rozone
Limited commented, “Rubery Owen is very pleased to see the
BRM name once again being used to drive forward an
innovative development to take motor sport to new levels.
For the last decade, our Rozone subsidiary has been seeking
to develop technologies under the umbrella of ‘Sustainable
Solutions’ - solutions which try to balance economic, social
and of course environmental considerations, all within a
framework of teamwork and co-operation.
“We believe that the BRM Bee Four project demonstrates this
perfectly - acknowledging the past, enhancing the present,
and creating the future. At a time when we are all examining
the cost effectiveness and environmental impact of many
parts of what we do, we hope that the project will
demonstrate that motor sport can be both these things - but
without forgetting the ‘social’ aspect or the importance of
fun, enjoyment and competition - the main reasons we all do
it in the first place!”
All very lofty ideals, as were the ideals behind the
original BRM. However, on paper the BRM Bee Four should be
blisteringly fast (but so was the original BRM in 1948 - on
paper!).
