The History Of Abarth, Expalined: Video

The name Abarth isn’t exactly a household name in the United States, but the brand is renown among enthusiasts in Europe. Abarth never built cars to challenge Ferrari or Maserati (or even BMW); instead, Abarth built parts to make commonly available Fiats go faster. By focusing on small cars, like the Fiat Topolino or the Fiat 600, Abarth earned a reputation and a nickname of “small but wicked.” Read more…

Bridgestone Revisits The Airless Tire

If you’re a car person with access to the internet, you’ve received images via email of a concept airless tire built by Michelin in the early ‘00s. Depending on which version of the e-mail you received (and we’ve seen dozens), the tire was either under development, awaiting production, or headed to a showroom near you in the coming months. While the idea was sound, the technology proved to be both expensive and impractical to develop further. Read more…

Buying A Used Car? Be Sure To Check It Out Well

Dr. Charles Preston needed a minivan to deliver food to the homeless, but didn’t want to pay full retail price for a new one. While we’d never advocate buying a used rental car (since we know how they’re driven, and also how they’re maintained), that’s exactly what the good doctor did. Choosing a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country from a Thrifty Rental Car sales lot, the doctor didn’t bother to check if all the vehicle’s systems were functional. Read more…

Formula 1 Brakes, Explained

The average driver doesn’t think much about the brakes on his car; in fact, most are likely to ignore the braking system until they hear the metallic squeal of wear indicators dragging on brake rotors. Modern braking systems on passenger cars are very good at what they do, within reasonable limits (such as slowing a car from 70 miles per hour, or working effectively with cold rotors and brake pads). Braking systems for race cars, on the other hand, must have much higher limits. Read more…

CarTransportQuotes.com – Easy Solution for a Happy Car

Whether you’re moving cross-country or relocating your vehicle to a buyer, CarTransportQuotes.Com is your answer. This new innovative company takes the pain out of shopping around for car and truck transportation by allowing you to use their site for quote comparison and browsing without contracts or fees. It’s a completely free and no-hassle way of shopping around online for a major move.  Use the site at your own pace and convenience. You will breathe a sigh of relief knowing your won’t have to sit on the telephone for 30 minutes with a barely comprehensible customer service agent. We give you the tools to help yourself and are there in case you have questions or need any guidance.

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Will Tire Tread Scanners Keep Roads Safer?

A few months back, Malcolm and I were headed north on I-95 after a Southern Automotive Media Association meeting in Miami. We were driving at around 75 miles per hour, in a steady rain and moderate traffic, when the minivan next to us spun.

The whole thing happened too fast to be puckering; one minute, the van was alongside us, and the next the driver was looking out his windshield at the side of my car. No one was hurt, and the van suffered only minor damage. Traffic was slowing ahead, and the minivan driver most likely tapped his brakes. What caused the spin? My guess is bald tires on a wet road. Read more…

Understeer Versus Oversteer

I’m working on a driving presentation for a local auto dealer, and I remembered these two videos (one from Top Gear, and one inspired by Top Gear) that explain the basics of understeer and oversteer far better than any fifteen-minute, physics based lecture. In a nutshell, when your car understeers, you see the tree that kills you. When you have oversteer, you don’t see it: hence, oversteer (at least according to Richard Hammond) is preferable. Read more…

Porsche’s Seven Speed Gearbox, Explained

Seven and eight speed gearboxes are the way of the future, since they offer up a blend of both performance and fuel economy simply not possible with five and six speed transmissions. Porsche is the first manufacturer to release a seven-speed manual transmission, and adding the seventh gear allows the automaker greater flexibility in improving the new 911’s performance while meeting ever-tightening U.S. and E.U. fuel economy requirements. Read more…