Knowledge in Automotive
The Hero "Ferruccio Lamborghini"
Ferruccio Lamborghini was born in Italy in 1916. He was fascinated with engines from an early age. During World War II he joined the army and was stationed on the island of Rhodes. Fortunately there was little going on there during the war. The island was essentially isolated from the rest of the world. Any cars, trucks or motorcycles that broke down had to be repaired on the spot with reused parts. Lamborghini became known as a wizard at mechanical improvisation and became very much in demand at fixing engines. After the war he returned to his home near Modena in northern Italy and setup a small car and motorcycle repair shop. He soon realized that there was a desperate need for tractors in the agricultural area in which he lived. He found he could build about one tractor a month from derelict military vehicles. As Italy's economy grew demand for his high quality tractors started to grow. He began building his own tractor engines. His tractor business became very successful reaching a rate of over 400 a month in 1960. He soon looked at expanding the business and in 1960 began manufacturing heaters and air conditioning units for buildings as well as maintaining the tractor business. This too became very successful. About this time Lamborghini started to get interested in developing a high performance car. He had owned Oscas, Maseratis and Ferraris but was always disappointed with them. Particularly their engines. There is a now famous story about how he was frustrated with problems he had with a clutch in a Ferrari (a Ferrari 250 GT), and went to visit Enzo Ferrari who's factory was nearby. Enzo had no time for a tractor manufacture and simply dismissed him. Lamborghini decided there was nothing Ferrari was doing he could not do better. He decided too build his own car with a V12 engine. For the design he found a very talented engineer named Giampaolo Dallara who had previously worked on a Ferrari V12 engine. The new engine had 4 cams, a short stroke and 4 big bore valves per cylinder. It developed a surprising 350 HP. It was an all aluminum engine with a crankshaft supported by seven main bearings. These crankshafts were machined from SAE 9840 steel. The connecting rods (12) were of SAE 4340 steel. The pistons were of forged aluminum. Each pair of camshafts were driven by their own half engine speed sprocket and silent chain. This engine was really the prototype for all future Lamborghini engines. A body designed by Scaglione-Touring was used to house the engine. The Lamborghini "350 GTV" prototype was shown to the public on the Turin Auto Show of 1963. Sales started the following year. The car was called the 350 GT. It was a complete success. Over 130 were sold.The future of Automobili Lamborghini looked very bright during the sixties. The 350 GT was succeeded by the 400 GT and then the 400 GT 2+2. The 350 GT and 400 GT 2+2 made the Lamborghini name known throughout the world. With the funds coming in from these cars and his successful tractor business Ferruccio allowed his engineers to design and construction a new car - the Lamborghini Miura. The Miura made the Lamborghini name legendary. It was a car truly ahead of its time. It shocked even companies like Ferrari and Maserati. The Miura was first shown on November 1965 at the Turin Auto Show by Ferruccio Lamborghini himself. Only the chassis was shown at the show, the engine was transversely mid-mounted, something up to then only seen in real F1 race cars. The design of the body was executed by Marcello Gandini in less than a year, and on the March 1966 Geneva Show it was completed and on display. It looked even better than in Turin. The car was very aggressively styled, and an appropriate name was chosen for it, the Miura, a name taken from the ferocious Spanish fighting bulls. Again the car was a complete success. This was followed in 1973 at the Geneva Auto Show when Lamborghini shocked the world again with his revolutionary LP400 Countach. Only a prototype was shown. Today it is difficult to realize the impact that car had on everybody at that time. Even now the car is a show stopper! The car at the show was painted in a bright red and with a black suede interior. It showed for the first time, the by now, famous, Lamborghini signature swing up doors. It also displayed unique vertically mounted rear air intakes to go with its powerful 4 Liter engine. In 1974 disaster struck. The Lamborghini tractor business received a major setback. A massive order for tractors to a south American country was cancelled. Lamborghini anticipating the demand, had previously upgraded the tractor factory to be able to build the numbers of tractors required. The company lost a lot of money over it. Compounding things also at this time was a series of labor problems at the factory. While his personal fortune was still considerable he decided to sell part of his share in the factory. Eventually the factory was taken over by Fiat. During the seventies the company survived on sales of Miura's. The car business started to be self sufficient and make money. However Lamborghini eventually sold all his remaining stock in the company to a Swiss investor. The company to this day still retains his name however. Ferruccio Lamborghini died in February 1993 at the age of almost 76 The oil crisis of the 70's started to made sales of high performance cars difficult. Production art the factory was plagued with budget and parts supply problems. People gave up waiting for cars with two year back orders. A wealthy Canadian, Walter Wolf, played a major role is supporting Lamborghini and developing the Countach during these difficult times. In 1978 the company declared bankruptcy. An Italian court was appointed to find a buyer. A Swiss based group called the Mimran brother's were able to save the factory. Patrick Mimran (one of the brothers), in 1980 started to turn the company around. The Countach was developed further under him from the LP500 S right up to the impressive QuattroValvole. . Just as things were going well, the Mimran brothers sold the company to Chrysler Corporation. This was a big surprise at the time. Chrysler support however was just what the company needed at that time. They were working on a Countach successor -- the Diablo. Chrysler kept the winning team together in Italy. While the cultures of the two companies were different and things got stressful between the management groups, they did succeed in bringing the vast resources of Chrysler to bear on the design, pollution controls, and new manufacturing techniques etc. for the new car. Again the result was an outstanding success. The new Lamborghini Diablo got rave reviews everywhere it went. However in another twist of faith, in 1994 Chrysler fell upon hard times and had to sell the company. It was bought by an Indonesian investment group headed by Tommy Suharto of the well known Suharto family. Unfortunately in the late 90's an economical crisis started to hit the Indonesian owners hard and the much needed money for research on a successor to the Diablo started to dry up. Fortunately the German company Audi had an interest in Lamborghini. On August 4 1998, in a complex series of transactions Audi AG became the sole owner of Automobili Lamborghini. As in the case of the Chrysler buyout, this could not have been a better time for Lamborghini. Audi took an active role in designing the Murcielago and brought to the table again the vast resources of a major automobile company to develop and produce another exotic car. Lets hope this is the last chapter of ownership changes in this unique little Italian car company. It is to the credit of the people there that they have hung in to all the changes of ownership they have experienced over the years and yet produced such exciting cars.
Monidip Bag
Enzo Ferrari Biography
Enzo Ferrari Biography Race Car Driver, Business Leader (1898–1988) Italy's Enzo Ferrari was a successful race car driver before devoting his life to building immensely powerful sports cars and a championship racing team. Who Was Enzo Ferrari? Born in 1898 in Italy, Enzo Ferrari began his auto racing career in 1919. He soon joined Alfa Romeo and managed its racing division after retiring from driving in 1931. Following World War II, the Ferrari marque earned renown as its drivers racked up numerous major championships. However, its founder faced personal turmoil after the early death of his son, while financial issues forced him to explore mergers with other automakers. Ferrari formally resigned as president of his company in 1977 and died in 1988. Enzo Ferrari Enzo Ferrari Car Built in 2002, the Enzo Ferrari — named after the famed founder — is a sports car with a 12 cylinder engine and with a top speed of 218 mph. Death Enzo Ferrari died on August 14, 1988, in Maranello; no cause of death was given, although he was known to be suffering from kidney disease. Son Ferrari's first son, Dino, died from muscular dystrophy in 1956, a devastating loss that turned Ferrari into a recluse. Net Worth As for 2015, Ferrari's second son, Piero Ferrari, has an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion. Early Years Enzo Anselmo Ferrari was born on February 18, 1898, in Modena, Italy. The second child of parents Adalgisa and Alfredo, a metal worker, Ferrari was bitten by the racing bug at age 10, when his dad took him to watch a motor car race in Bologna. Ferrari also dreamed of becoming an opera singer, but the deaths of his father and brother from the flu in 1916 forced him to grow up quickly, and he left school to become an instructor for Modena's fire service workshop. Ferrari joined the Italian Army in 1917 and shoed mules for the 3rd Alpine Artillery Division, enduring his own serious battle with the flu before earning an honorable discharge. Driving Career and Team Manager In 1919, Enzo Ferrari moved to Milan to work as a test driver for Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali. Given the chance to compete with the company's racing team, he made his debut at the 1919 Parma-Poggio di Berceto hillclimb race, finishing fourth in his division. He left CMN the following year to join Alfa Romeo. After winning the Circuito del Savio in 1923, Ferrari met the parents of World War I flying ace Francesco Baracca, who suggested the young driver use the emblem that decorated their son's plane for good luck. The emblem — a prancing horse — eventually came to represent the power and prestige of the Ferrari marque. That year, Ferrari also married Laura Dominica Garello. Said to be unwilling to damage an engine by pushing it to its limits, Ferrari nonetheless won his share of races and was honored by his country for his sporting achievements. In 1929, he pulled together his own team of drivers and engineers for his Scuderia Ferrari (Ferrari Stable). Comprised mainly of Alfa Romeos, the scuderia soon became the official racing arm of the automaker. Ferrari competed in his final race in August 1931, and became a father with the birth of his beloved son Dino in January 1932. Although he scored a huge victory with one of his cars at the 1935 German Grand Prix, he had to close his scuderia in 1937 when Alfa Romeo reclaimed its racing division. He left the company for good in September 1939, with the stipulation he could not use the Ferrari name in association with racing or cars for at least four years. Rise of Ferrari Soon after leaving Alfa Romeo, Enzo Ferrari opened Auto Avio Costruzioni in Modena and sought to develop his own racing cars, but the outbreak of World War II led to government intervention. The company moved its factory to nearby Maranello, where it focused on building grinding machines. Ferrari resumed designing racing cars at the conclusion of the war, and in March 1947 he took the first official Ferrari, the 125 S, out for a test-drive. The marque scored its first win that year, at the Rome Grand Prix, and went on to notch victories at the Mille Miglia in 1948, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1949 and the British Grand Prix in 1951. In 1952 and 1953, Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari won the world racing championship. Around this time, the company also began producing cars for road use, with the rich and famous lining up for a chance to purchase one of these dazzling vehicles. Personal and Company Turmoil Despite rocketing to the top of the racing industry in the 1950s, Enzo Ferrari endured immense personal turmoil during this period. The biggest blow was the death of his son Dino from muscular dystrophy in 1956, a devastating loss that turned him into a recluse. In addition, six of his drivers were killed between 1955 and 1965, and he was even tried for manslaughter (and acquitted) after one of his cars careened into the roadside crowd at the 1957 Mille Miglia and killed nine spectators. Ferrari lost the services of several top engineers and executives in the "Palace Revolt" of 1961, reportedly after a dust-up over the intruding presence of his wife. Two years later, he engaged in serious talks with the Ford Motor Company about merging their operations, before pulling out at the last minute due to concerns over a loss of control. He eventually did cede some control of the company in 1969, when financial issues prompted him to sell a 50-percent stake to Fiat. Later Years, Death and Legacy Enzo Ferrari formally resigned as president of his company in 1977, although he effectively retained control of the business. Following the death of his wife in 1978, he admitted to fathering another son, Piero, with his mistress Lina Lardi in 1945. Shortly after being conferred an honorary degree in physics from the University of Modena, Ferrari died on August 14, 1988, in Maranello; no cause of death was given, although he was known to be suffering from kidney disease. Over the course of his lifetime, his cars won more than 4,000 races and claimed 13 world championships. In recognition of his accomplishments, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994. Enzo Ferrari Movie Ferrari cars continue to be recognized as top racing products and luxurious playthings for the wealthy, while its founder remains the subject of public intrigue. The story of his life was captured in the 2003 film Ferrari, and in 2015, it was announced that two new biopics were in the works, with Christian Bale and Robert De Niro set to star in competing films about the famously reclusive auto impresario.
Incredible Tech- The Bugatti Chiron
Like its predecessor the Bugatti Veyron, the new Bugatti Chiron is a true engineering marvel. It’s a 1,478 horsepower monster capable of doing 261 mph a despite considerable bulk of 4,400 pounds. Here’s some of the goodness that makes the Chiron one of the most technologically impressive cars the world has ever seen. You think you know POWER? You think you know OPULENCE? You don’t know shit, and the new one… Read more With a price tag that translates to $2.5 million at the current exchange rate, the Chiron is meant as a very expensive engineering exercise, a showcase of the Volkswagen Group’s engineering and design talent at the highest level. Sure, it looks a lot like the Veyron, its electronically-limited top speed is about the same, and a lot of the powertrain and chassis components share similarities, but the Chiron is still an engineering nerd’s wet dream, even if it’s not as revolutionary as its brother. And at least until the Koenigsegg Regera comes out for real later this year, it can claim the title of the most powerful car in production. Yet while it does all of this magic without the aid of electric power, like many modern hybrid hypercars, the Chiron is still all about moving the technological needle, Wolfgang Dürheimer, President of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., said at the debut: It is part of human nature to cross boundaries and set new records – to run 100 m faster than ever before, to fly even further into space and to enter new realms. This striving is also our driving force at Bugatti. That’s a fancy auto exec way of saying they’re trying to show off, and boy, have they built a car worth flaunting. The old Veyron was more than just an obscenely high-priced seven figure toy for athletes, hip-hop stars and oligarchs, although it was certainly also used that way. It was built to take the title of the world’s fastest car, and indeed held some of those records for a while (or at least laid claim to them.) Just what is the fastest car in the world? Over the last few days, no one seems especially sure… Read more Can the Chiron one-up its older brother? It has one hell of a legacy to live up to. Here’s how it will try. Powertrain The engine in the Chiron looks a lot like the old one found in the Veyron. Again it displaces eight liters, looks like two narrow V8s bolted together to form a W16, and has four turbochargers. But to get the Chiron to nearly 1,500 horsepower—25 percent more power than the Veyron—engineers had to figure out how to cram more air and fuel into those cylinders. They achieved this via new turbochargers and a new Charge Air Cooling (intercooling) system to squeeze in more air, and revised fuel injectors to keep up with all that airflow. The new turbos are controlled by a two-stage system, replacing the parallel system in the Veyron. This likely means that now, instead of four cylinders each feeding exhaust to a single turbo turbine, a bank of eight cylinders feed two turbos in series. To minimize turbo lag, at low engine speeds—below 3,800 in the case of the Chiron—intake air only gets compressed by the first turbo in series (likely one turbo on each bank). At RPMs above 3,800, intake air is compressed twice as it is sent through both turbos on each bank, allowing for more air to enter cylinders for better volumetric efficiency. The increase in intake air pressure after going through a turbo is accompanied by a temperature increase, which makes intake gases not only less dense, but also causes possible issues with combustion stability. To fix this, Bugatti says they’ve made improvements to their charge air cooling system, though they don’t specify the changes. To cope with all that air being shoved into the cylinders, the Chiron gets 32 Duplex fuel injectors to ensure a proper air/fuel ratio and to shoot fuel in a way that optimizes combustion efficiency. The result: More than 60,000 liters (15,850 gallons) of air get forced through the engine every minute by the Chiron’s turbochargers and the torque curve is flat, with 1,180 lb-ft of torque made between 2,000 and 6,000 rpm. Exhaust System In addition to the new turbos, charge air cooler and fuel injectors, the Chiron makes more power thanks to a new less-restrictive titanium exhaust system. The exhaust system is insulated (possibly to warm up catalytic converters or to prevent radiation to the underhood and nearby sensitive components), and outfitted with four pre-converters and two main catalytic converters, which are much larger than those in the Veyron. Bugatti says they’re six times larger than catalytic converters found in medium-sized cars. The surface area of the exhaust catalyst is 230,266 m², which Bugatti says is about the same size as 30 soccer fields. Transmission Bugatti says it designed the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission to handle the Chiron’s 1,180 lb-ft of torque and that it’s got “the largest, highest-performance clutch fitted to a passenger car.” We don’t know how different the new trans is from the Veyron’s seven-speed DCT, but the press release does seem to imply that the gearbox was developed specifically for the Chiron. What that means exactly, we don’t know. Like on the Veyron, the Chiron’s transmission sends power to all four wheels. The front and rear differentials get a locking function, which makes sense, because 1,180 lb-ft of torque trying to spin only two wheels would be a mess. Body You can’t accelerate a lead-weight body to 60 MPH in less than 2.5 seconds, so the Chiron gets the latest in carbon-fiber goodness. The Chiron is built on a fully carbon-fiber unibody, unlike the Veyron whose rear section was also steel. (Somehow, the Veyron is still over 100 pounds lighter). Bugatti says “If all the fibres used in the monocoque were laid out end to end, they would stretch nine times the distance between the earth and the moon,” and that the monocoque takes four whole weeks to make. To cope with the ridiculous loads that torquey engine imparts on the body, you’d hope the Chiron’s tub were very stiff. On that front, Bugatti promises a torsional rigidity (resistance to twisting) of 50,000 Nm per degree of twist and and a flexural rigidity (resistance to bending) of about 0.25 mm of deflection per tonne, numbers that Bugatti says are similar to those of LMP1 race cars. Drive Modes The Chiron gets five drive modes in what Bugatti refers to as an “adaptive chassis.” The drive modes include: lift, Auto, Autobahn, Handling and Top Speed, the first four of which are activated via a dial on the steering wheel, and the last of which is activated via a special key. To engage these modes, Active Chassis varies ride height adjustment, shock damping, electric power steering feel, four-wheel drive system including the rear diff lock, the aerodynamic control system and the vehicle stability control. The Lift mode raises the suspension for easy trailering. The auto mode engages above 50 km/h and actively adjusts shock damping and ride height for comfort and handling. Above 180 km/h, autobahn mode kicks on, and dampers are set for comfort and high-speed stability. In Handling Mode, dampers and steering are set for the twisties, and ride comfort is put on the back burner. Then there’s Top Speed mode, which is activated via a separate key (called the Speed Key), and allows the vehicle to reach its top speed of 261 MPH. Chassis and Tires Chassis The Chiron’s brakes are 20 mm larger and 2 mm thicker than those on the Veyron, allowing for more heat dissipation. They’re also lighter, and squeezed by brand new brake calipers with titanium pistons. The front calipers get eight-pistons, while the rears make do with six. The pistons on each caliper are difference sizes, Bugatti says, in order to ensure even brake distribution on the brake pad. Along with new brakes, the Chiron gets a new electric power steering system, revised axles front and rear, and new chassis bushings, all of which Bugatti says “[ensure] optimum reactions to driver input.” Tires Like those on the Veyron, the Chiron’s tires have been co-developed with Michelin. They’ve got to withstand 3,688 lb-ft of torque per wheel, and every gram of rubber is exposed to centrifugal force of 3,800 times the force of gravity. The tires, 285 / 30 R20 at the front and 355 / 25 R21 in the back, are also simpler to install than those on the Veyron and are less expensive overall. That’s a good thing, because a new set of tires on the Veyron were almost 40 grand. Aerodynamics and Cooling System Cooling System and Aerodynamics Aerodynamics and engine cooling are intrinsically linked. Radiators need airflow to reject heat produced by the powertrain, but that airflow entering the radiators causes drag known as “cooling drag.” When designing a car whose goal it is to reach a very high top speed, minimizing cooling drag while still keeping the engine cool can be very tricky. Bugatti says their 1,500 horsepower engine can generate more than 3,000 horsepower of heat rejection, much of which needs to be dissipated by heat exchangers. To cope with that need, the Chiron’s got a water pump that pumps about 200 gallons per minute through one main radiator and two auxiliary radiators. There’s also a 12-liter low temperature cooling loop for the intercooler. Add the three engine oil coolers, the transmission oil cooler, the hydraulic oil cooler and the rear diff cooler, and the Chiron’s got a total of 10 radiators. A typical high performance track-oriented car like the GT350R might have a four or five heat exchangers: one radiator for the engine, a transmission cooler, maybe an auxiliary oil cooler, perhaps a low temperature radiator for an intercooler and/or turbo, and maybe another auxiliary heat exchanger for the engine. Hybrids add more heat exchangers for batteries and other electronic components, but 10 radiators is unheard of. Well, except for on the Veyron. Despite all those heat exchangers, the Chiron can stay cool even with its lower frontal area and small low coefficient largely because of its clever ducting that routes air out and around the car after it’s gone through a heat exchanger, thus minimize cooling drag. Bugatti identifies major aerodynamic enablers as: “air curtain, the aerodynamic front splitter, the front air intakes for the cooling of brakes, water and air [heat exchangers], the air intakes of the oil cooler and the engine air inlets on the sides as well as the continuous trailing edge on the rear of the vehicle.” Aside from those passive aerodynamic features, the Chiron also gets hydraulically-controlled active aerodynamics, which includes a diffuser flap out front for decreased drag and better brake cooling and the active air brake in the back for stability and braking. That rear air brake spoiler in the has four main positions, but adapts its angle and level automatically based on the driving condition. In addition, the variable ride height also decreases overall vehicle drag, meaning the Chiron’s drag aerodynamic properties are constantly changing. So sure, some of the Chiron’s tech looks a lot like its predecessor’s, and it weighs a bit more. But you have to wonder if, without that speed limiter and with development time, the Chiron will take away all of the Veyron’s speed records. Something tells me the answer is yes.
Vehicle Dynamics
Lecture notes By- Prof. Dr. Georg Rill
Manu Kamboj
Theory of ground vehicles
Theory of ground vehicles- complete knowledge
Everything You Need To Know About The McLaren F1
A living legend. It was what the Bugatti Chiron is to cars today. Something that pushed boundaries, achieved things no other car had before, a real game changer in the world of supercars. The McLaren F1 made its mark in automotive history. Here is everything you need to know about the McLaren F1. From racing to the road Gordon Murray is a very talented designer and has penned everything from championship winning F1 cars to compact city machines. Back in the early 1990s, he was McLaren’s main man. His talent had delivered the team a lot of racing success, but Murray wanted to push himself further. After a bit of persuading McLaren boss, Ron Dennis, signed off on the idea of build a road car. McLaren is one of the most successful Formula One teams in motorsport history, but they had never built a road car. They clearly had the engineering talent, however, a road car has very different demands to a racing car. Components need to last years, not hours. On top of the challenge of building a car from scratch, Murray wanted it to be the finest performance machine the world had ever seen. This meant using exotic materials, Formula One science, and unconventional design. In 1992, the McLaren F1 was revealed to the world as the first totally carbon fiber car. Murray frequently said that its direct ancestor is a Formula One car. The Midas touch The F1 is a tightly packaged car to keep the weight low. However, putting a great big V12 engine in the middle means there is a lot of heat — and heat likes to melt things. Murray’s solution was gold. No, it actually was gold! The precious metal is a very good heat reflector and so every McLaren F1 contains 0.56 ounces (16 grams) of gold in its engine bay. A BMW heart The F1’s heart was something debated at great length. How big should the engine be? Turbocharged or not? Who would build it? Murray approached McLaren’s Formula One engine supplier, Honda, for something that was closely related to what they use in racing. Honda said no. Isuzu offered up a 3.5-liter V12 that they intended to take racing, but this time it was Murray that said no. McLaren wanted something with proven racing pedigree. So what now? A car is no good without an engine. Enter BMW M division boss Paul Rosche with a 6.1-liter V12. This gave the McLaren F1 627 horsepower (468 kilowatts) and a 0-60 miles per hour time (97 kilometers per hour) of just 3.2 seconds. These are performance figures that still make modern-day cars blush. Record holder The McLaren F1 was a technological marvel but it wasn’t until 1998 that it realized its full potential. Relieved of its rev limiter, the only thing that capped the top speed, it clocked 240.1 mph (386 kph). This was substantially faster than the 213 mph (343 kph) Jaguar XJ220. It was a record the F1 would hold for many years. In fact, it took until 2005 for the Bugatti Veyron to take the crown. Three isn’t a crowd There were many unique elements about the McLaren F1, yet the thing that still stands out today is how the driver sits. Instead of being right- or left-hind-drive the F1’s driver sits in the middle and is flanked by two passengers. This not only gives it unusual practicality for a supercar, but also increased visibility for the driver. British law wasn’t prepared for such a radical car and so McLaren actually had to request that the rules be changed for the F1. It won Le Mans The legendary Le Mans 24 hour race is the ultimate punishment for any car. Twenty-four hours of race pace driving is enough to break just about anything. In 1995, McLaren supplied a few teams with a racing variant of the F1. Just like today, the endurance race was broken up into several categories. The fastest are always the prototype cars – machines built purely for racing. The F1 might be of road car fame, but it was adapted to be a racing car and so the only expectation was to win its class. The race was one of stormy skies and tricky conditions. Against all odds and cars perceived to be much faster, the F1 took outright victory. This historic win was far from a given, though. The F1 that actually won was a modified test car entered into the race at last minute by a chap named Paul Lanzante. McLaren F1’s continued to race and spawned the iconic Longtail GTR variants. Rare beast Just 106 McLaren F1s were built between 1992 and 1998 including prototype and racing cars. Only 64 road cars were made, making the McLaren F1 one of the rarest modern classics out there. The first F1 imported into America is soon to go up for auction. Experts speculate that it could sell for around $10 million.
The story behind Ferrari and Lamborghini Rivalry
For all of those car junkies out there, you probably know which cars are the better makes and models. But there are so many different car names that the average person can’t wrap their head around it all. However, there are top notch names such as Ferrari and Lamborghini that everyone seems to recognize; who wouldn’t want a show car like one of these? For car dealers, though, there will always be rivalries. Ferrari and Lamborghini are two rival dealers, but how did the rivalry even start? That’s the real question. Here is a little history on what exactly caused the rivalry that still exists today: Ferruccio Lamborghini Source Ferruccio Lamborghini had been born into a family of grape farmers. He did not share the farming passion like his family; instead, he was more interested in mechanics. Lamborghini had served in the Air Force during World War II. Afterwards, he had taken old military machines and re-purposed them as agriculture supplies such as tractors. He became very wealthy from his tractor business. Like anyone who comes into wealth, he bought several luxury cars, including a Ferrari. Lamborghini had a passion for cars, so much so that he began racing some of the cars he had purchased. However, since he knew quite a bit about car mechanics he decided that the cars he raced needed a little changing. When it came to racing his Ferrari, he noticed that it was much too noisy and rough on the road. Another issue with the car was that the interior clutch needed repairing often. Enzo Ferrari at the wheel of a racing car Source During the 1960s, Enzo Ferrari’s cars were the top-of-the-line in luxury sports cars. Since he was so good a mechanic, Lamborghini decided to tell Ferrari about the imperfections he found in his cars. Considering Ferrari was the top dog of the car business, he didn’t appreciate the young tractor mechanic telling him about the imperfections. Ferrari believed Lamborghini didn’t know a thing about his cars, or cars in general. When Ferrari told Lamborghini he didn’t want advice from the tractor mechanic, a rivalry had begun. This started Lamborghini’s passion for cars. It had been merely a hobby for him before, but Lamborghini decided to turn his hobby into a passion. this is a logo owned by Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. for Lamborghini. Source He saw Ferrari’s insult as his driving force for starting work on his own type of luxury car. He began designing different models of his own brand. In only four months, he revealed the Lamborghini 350 GTV at the Turin Motor Show in October of 1963. By the end of 1964, Lamborghini had sold his first 13 cars. The name had eventually changed to the 350 GT. After Lamborghini brought competition to Ferrari, he decided to pursue other businesses and he became a very wealthy man before he was 50 years old. By the early 1960s, Lamborghini had become almost as powerful and wealthy as Ferrari. Many people believed that he was crazy for wanting to build a sports car to compete with Ferrari. Ferrari had years on him and was already quite wealthy by the time the Lamborghini had been built. People believed that wanting to build a car as great as Ferrari’s was impossible, they believed it was too risky. Scuderia Ferrari SpA logo.Source Lamborghini had begun working on his project in 1962, and by May of 1963 he had officially founded Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini. He decided to buy a plot of land in Sant’Agata Bolognese. On this plot of land he built a new, large factory for his car business. Due to his experience from his other companies, especially his tractor business, he was able to set up one of the best facilities for his car company. In fact, his factory was such a functional structure and rock solid that it was unrivaled. The manufacturing building was the central building; adjacent to it was the office building, allowing the management to be constantly monitored. This was the perfect thing for Lamborghini, since he preferred to go work on the cars personally when he saw something that wasn’t being done right. Lamborghini Countach LP400.Source After plans for the first model were released, Lamborghini had a few months to build the factory and set a date for the first presentation of the first model. Being an avid and passionate mechanic, he had chosen the best pieces for his cars. He had chosen the engine from Giotto Bizzarrini, who had actually designed some of Ferrari’s recent engines during the time period. For the other car pieces, he had hired two young engineers named Giampaolo Dallara and Giampaolo Stanzani. With the team’s work, they released the 350 GT at the Turin Motor Show.
Game Changer: The TATA Nano Story
The story of the world’s cheapest car begins on a rainy day in Bangalore. Ratan Tata was in the south Indian city on business and on his way to the airport. The head of India’s most famous business empire told his driver to be careful on the slick roadway. Article by MARCUS GEE for The Globe and Mail As usual in India’s crazy traffic, the streets were full of dodging scooters, many of them carrying whole families: father at the controls, mother holding on behind, children riding on their laps. Typically, none of them were wearing helmets. Suddenly, a scooter turned in front of the Tata car and lost control, sending a family of four spilling onto the pavement. “No one was hurt, but we could have run over the whole family; we were just behind them,” remembers Mr. Tata. He had seen before how vulnerable scooter riders were in the traffic, “but that was the first instance that scared me.” He began to think: How could he make driving safer for Indian families? His first notion was to build a safer scooter. Trained as an architect, he made notepad doodles of new designs – a scooter with two wheels at the back, a scooter with a protective cage – none of them very practical. Then he played with the idea of an open-sided “rural vehicle” with safety bars in place of car doors. He decided “no one wanted a half a car.” Finally, he hit upon the simplest and most audacious idea of all. Why not simply build a tiny car – just big enough to carry a family like the one that crashed in front of him that day in Bangalore, but cheap enough for a scooter-driving family to afford. Thus was born the one-lakh car. In India, one lakh means 100,000, so the car would cost 100,000 rupees, or about $2,500 (U.S.). No one had ever built a car for less than twice that much. Critics, including some within his own company, said he could never do it. So it was with obvious pride that Mr. Tata drove the one-lakh car, rechristened the Nano, into the television lights at the New Delhi Auto Expo on Jan. 10. “A promise is a promise,” the Tata Group chairman said as he announced the price of the car: 100,000 rupees for the base model (tax not included). The announcement made headlines around the world, supplying new evidence of India’s dramatic rise from impoverished economic laggard to industrial and technological dynamo. It also drew attention to the quiet tycoon who conceived and nurtured the phenomenal car. Mr. Tata was born into one of India’s oldest and wealthiest business dynasties. The group was founded in the 1870s by Mr. Tata’s great-grandfather, Jamsetji Tata, son of a Parsee merchant and banker. He made his fortune in cotton, an industry then dominated by imported textiles from Britain, then India’s colonial master. Travelling to England to study the mills of Lancashire, he set out to beat the English at their own game, then rigged in England’s favour. He later moved into iron and steel, laying the ground for what today is India’s largest private business house, with 98 companies in everything from cellphones and hotels to tea and trucks. Mr. Tata was raised by his grandmother after his parents, Naval and Soonoo Tata, divorced. Lady Ratan Tata, who had adopted Naval, presided over a stately Mumbai mansion, Tata House, where Mr. Tata grew up surrounded by British nannies, chauffeurs and footmen. He left India at the age of 15 to study in the United States, eventually completing a degree in architecture and structural engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. “It was a great thing to be a in a place where you were just another person,” he recalled in a recent interview at Bombay House, the colonial-era sandstone pile where Tata has its headquarters. “For 10 years of your formative life you were just another guy and you’d be punched in the nose as easily as someone else if you did something wrong.” Today, his style and mode of living are modest in a country where the rich aren’t usually shy about flaunting their wealth. He carries his own bags into airports and insists on paying the bill when he visits one of the company’s grand Taj hotels. A lanky, athletic-looking 70-year-old, he lives in a simple, three-bedroom apartment in old Mumbai, occasionally escaping with his dogs to a weekend beach house near the city that he designed to his own plan. Called back to India from the United States by his ailing grandmother, Mr. Tata worked his way up the ranks of the firm, starting with “drudgery” on the shop floor at Tata Steel and Tata Motors. He got his first interesting job when the firm put him in charge of a failing electronics company. “You didn’t know where the month’s payroll was coming from,” he says. “You were fighting for your life and I think that’s a great learning experience.” When he was called to take the reins of the whole company from his uncle J.R.D. Tata in 1991, he wondered: “How do I fill his shoes?” The senior Tata was an outgoing, larger-than-life figure who bombed around Mumbai in Italian sports cars. He had ruled the company for more than half a century. “Do I mimic him and be his clone or do I just be myself?” Mr. Tata asked himself. “I chose the latter.” Adopting a leadership style more “inspirational than dictatorial,” he got rid of extraneous businesses such as cement, paints and cosmetics. He halved the bloated work force at Tata Steel. He built Tata Consultancy Services into Asia’s biggest software firm. In 1998, he took a gamble by launching the first Indian-made “people’s car,” the low-cost Indica. Looking abroad to hedge the company’s risk in a volatile home market, he launched a go-global strategy that saw the company snap up Britain’s Tetley Tea, Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus and, finally, last month, two of the world’s most famous luxury car brands, Jaguar and Land Rover. When he told fellow executives the company should strive to get at least 30 per cent of its revenue from abroad, “one was told that it wasn’t possible.” Today the figure is 60 per cent. Mr. Tata does not like being told that something is not possible. Associates and rivals alike say that behind his gentlemanly demeanour lies a ferocious competitor. Nothing underscores that like the launch of the Nano, his most daring move yet. When he first announced the venture, no less a figure than Suzuki Motors chief Osaka Suzuki said flatly that “Tata will not be able to make a one-lakh car.” That quotation flashed on the screen behind Mr. Tata as he unveiled the car in January – sweet revenge. “A lot of personal success or failure revolved around what happened on a project that, rightly or wrongly, was connected with me,” Mr. Tata admits. “There would have been a great deal of attention if we’d fallen on our face.” To make sure they didn’t, he took intense personal interest in the project, travelling at least once a month to the design centre in Pune near Mumbai to huddle with the 500-member Nano team. Project leader Girish Wagh says Mr. Tata often grabbed a pencil and a notebook to sketch out ideas, encouraging everyone to speak up. “Even a junior engineer could talk to him,” Mr. Wagh says. He wanted to be sure the car came in at 100,000 rupees, but “when we tried to compromise on customer requirements, he would say no.” He drove a prototype of the car and thought it was underpowered, so the team added horsepower. The team had almost signed off on the styling of the car when Mr. Tata decided it wasn’t bold enough and ordered another try, resulting in the rounded, futurist look of the Nano. To save on costs, the team gave the car a windshield wiper with one arm instead of the usual two and one side-view rear mirror, too. They even attached the wheels with three bolts instead of four. Along with the engineering, Mt. Tata hopes to change the manufacturing process. The company will produce a ready-to-build version of the car that can be distributed in kits. With help and training from Tata, groups of entrepreneurs could buy the kits and assemble the cars themselves, creating new businesses across India – “my idea of dispersing wealth,” he told a British newspaper. The little, 33-horsepower, twin-cylinder engine is mounted in the rear, like the original Volkswagen Beetle. The base model has no air bags, air-conditioning, radio or power steering (later, upgraded export models may get them). Its top speed is 105 kilometres an hour. But, then, for the price of one Rolls-Royce Phantom, you can buy 240 Nanos. The first cars are expected to roll off the assembly line in October and the company plans to produce 250,000 a year to start. Whether the company can make money on the car at the one-lakh price remains to be seen. Even on the Nano team, “people right up to the day of the launch said that we were giving it away,” Mr. Tata concedes. But the car may already have achieved greater things. It has made the dream of car ownership a possibility for hundreds of millions of striving families in India and around the world. It has showed companies the value of pitching products to the lower end of the market – illustrated in C.K. Prahalad’s book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Perhaps most important, it showed that bold, innovative thinking – not just cheap goods from cheap labour – can come out of emerging economies like India’s. Auto maker Anand Mahindra, who competed against Tata for Land Rover and Jaguar, calls the Nano “a shot that was heard around the world.” “Maybe it won’t have great margins, or replace as many motorcycles as it would like to, but it was a game-changing move,” he said in a recent speech. Billionaire Baba Kalyani, head of auto parts maker Bharat Forge, says that before the Nano, if you wanted to make a car, “you set up a big factory, you cut a lot of metal and off you went,” charging customers enough to cover your cost and make a profit. Mr. Tata turned things around, setting the price and adapting the product accordingly. “They started with a clean piece of paper.” In Mr. Tata’s case, that is quite literally true – a doodled superscooter on his notepad, then a doodled minicar, then the Nano itself. Next time Ratan Tata has an idea, don’t tell him it can’t be done.
Technicalities of Porsche 911
Technical Highlight of 911 Technology Breakthrough You won't expect too much technical innovation in a rear-engined car. Yes, the 911 was never a good example for advanced technology. However, given the long history we can still find several breakthroughs : Turbocharging - introduced in 1975 4-wheel drive - introduced in 1989 Tiptronic transmission - introduced in 1990 Varioram - introduced in 1995 4-Wheel Drive The 4WD system used by the 964 Carrera 4 of 1989 was one of the most advanced designs for the time being. It was derived from the 911 Carrera 4x4 racer which won Paris-Dakar rally in 1984, but the experienced learned from the 959 supercar also helped. In fact, Porsche described it as a simplified version of 959’s PSK system. The system employed 3 differentials plus a multi-plate clutch. The epicyclic gear centre differential normally sent 31% to the front axle and 69% to the rear. Although it didn’t have 959-style variable torque split, the torque split is not fixed either. A multi-plate clutch incorporated with the centre differential would intervene whenever ABS sensors detected wheelspin at the rear wheels, hence sending more torque to the front wheels. This made the Carrera 4 more sophisticated than the contemporary pure-mechanical Audi quattro system. The rear differential also incorporated a similar clutch acting as a limited slip differential. Again, the clutch is controlled by computer which got information from ABS sensors in individual wheels. Therefore the rear end of the Carrera 4 could hardly loose grip. However, the Carrera 4 was far from popular. It was generally criticised as "over-corrected" the flaws of the tail-happy 911, transforming the car into an understeerer. The understeer was particularly severe when pushing the car to the limit, thanks to the large amount of torque sending to the front axle. Therefore Porsche designed a completely different system in the 993 Carrera 4. 993’s system Left: 993's 4-wheel drive system; Right: a typical viscous-coupling differenital In contrast to the 964, the 993’s 4-wheel drive system was rather conventional and simple, but it actually performed far superior in real world. Instead of epicyclic differential and mult-plate clutch, it used a simple viscous-coupling LSD as centre differential. To most FF car, viscous-coupling means understeer, but for the rear-wheel-drive-based 911, it means very much loyal to the Carrera 2’s character yet provided superior grip when needed. To make the viscous-coupling always engaged the front wheels, the rear tyres were made marginally smaller in diameter, enhance established a small speed difference between the drive shafts to front and rear. With the speed difference, the viscous liquid normally transferred 5-15% torque to the front axle, which was much less than the 964’s system. In abnormal conditions, that is, whenever one axle lost grip, the viscous-coupling LSD may send up to almost 100% torque to the other axle. Both the center LSD and rear LSD were now pure mechanical, but clever electronics was used in the newly-added ABD (Automatic Brake Differential). Again, ABD was simple yet effective. It was just a program, sharing all the hardware with ABS. Whenever rear wheels spin, it braked the spinning wheel thus the rear differential would send more torque to the other wheel. It was particularly useful for extreme conditions such as on snow, while LSD covered most normal conditions. The 993's system weighed only 50 kg, that’s just half of its predecessor. Energy loss was also halved. It made the 993 Carrera 4 nearly as quick as the RWD version. Production cost was reduced as well. Tiptronic Porsche's Tiptronic was the earliest semi-automatic transmission offered by a major car maker. First appeared in 1990 in the 911 as an option, it became available in 968, Boxster and was licensed to Audi and Mitsubishi for production. Based on an automatic transmission with torque converter, besides conventional auto mode it offers a manual override allowing the driver to shift by pushing the gear lever forward and backward. Faster reaction it may not had, but more fun to the driver was assured. The auto mode had 5 different programs to suit different driving style, something like the "Sport", "Economy" and "Winter" mode in traditional autoboxes. The computer determined shifting according to driving style. For instance, frequent full-throttle operation and brisk release of throttle indicated a sporting driving mode, thus "fast" program would be selected. Even in manual mode, the computer might intervene under harmful conditions, e.g. it would shift up without the driver's command if the engine speed had reached the upper limit. Tiptronic was developed in conjunction by Porsche, ZF and Bosch. Porsche originated the idea, ZF made the gearbox and Bosch was responsible for the electronic control. Little had changed since its introduction : 1995 : Tiptronic S introduced steering-wheel mounted fingertip control. 1996 : 5-speed Tiptronic appeared in Boxster, instead of the original 4 speed version. The switch buttons on the steering wheel of Tiptronic S
The story of Mercedes-Benz
The story of great brands is often the story of great people. This definitely stands true for Mercedes-Benz. This brand which has come to symbolise luxury, class and excellence is the result of the life work of two great inventors- Karl Benz & Gottlieb Daimler. The beginning reaches as far back as 1871 when Karl Benz along with a partner started the "Iron Foundry & Machine shop" but the partnership soon dissolved and Benz started to work on his own. The firm Benz & Cie was founded in Mannheim in October 1883. Three years later, Benz developed his first automobile, a single cylinder four stroke engine. In 1889 Daimler and his Chief Engineer William Maybach came up with their model, a steel wheel car with a two cylinder V engine. This was followed by the establishment of Daimler - Motoren - Gesellschaft (DMG) and thus concluded the initial steps of the brand that millions now adore. One of the most fascinating stories about the brand involves the creation of its name and logo. The name Mercedes was to come into being only as late as 1898 and the credit goes to a businessman named Emil Jellinek. The story is as follows - Mercedes, meaning grace, was the name of Emil Jellinek's daughter. A progressive thinker as well as a sports enthusiast, Jellinek ordered his first Daimler in the year 1897. This was followed by repeated orders with requests for increased speed. From 1899, Jellinek entered his vehicles in car races, foremost of which was the Nice week, under the pseudonym 'Mercedes'. The cars and the team gained immense popularity through these races. The following year Jellinek entered into an agreement with DMG concerning the sales of cars and engines and the decision was taken to use Jellinek's pseudonym as a brand name. It was also agreed to design an engine bearing the name Daimler - Mercedes. Two weeks later, Jellinek ordered 36 vehicles at a price of 550,000 marks. A whopping price by any standards, today it roughly converts to 2.3 million euros and thus began the journey of the 'Mercedes'. The first Mercedes, developed by William Maybach was delivered on December, 1900 and caused a revolution in the automobile industry. With unique features such as low centre of gravity, pressed-steel frame, lightweight high-performance engine and honeycomb radiator, the car boasted of numerous innovations and is often regarded as the first modern automobile. This year while marking the start of the Mercedes brand also saw the end of an era when Gottlieb Daimler passed away at the age of 66. The Mercedes vehicles once again entered the Nice Week and were found to be unbeatable in virtually every discipline. Orders started pouring in and the DMG plant was soon working in full capacity. On June 23, 1902, 'Mercedes' was lodged as the trade name and this was legally registered on September 26. While Daimler had managed to acquire greater reputation and worldwide fame, Benz was just behind them and in 1908, both manufacturers shared the podium with winnings in the French Grand Prix. The beginning of the First World War saw both manufacturers converting their factories to suit the needs of the army and production of automobiles was temporarily relegated to the backseat. The period after the first war was marked by rising inflation and the market for goods, especially luxury ones, was lean. The impossibility of staying afloat alone was what bought the two former rivals Benz and DMG together. In June 1926, the two oldest motor manufacturers merged to form Daimler-Benz AG. Another interesting story surrounding this brand is how the logo came into being. The logo for the Mercedes brand was a three pointed star and had been chosen because Gottlieb Daimler had often used a star as a symbol and was fond of saying that this star would one day shine over his own factory to symbolise prosperity. The three points of the star were symbolic of the three means of transportation on road, air and water. In 1909, the star was registered as a trademark. Benz meanwhile had initially used a cog wheel symbol which he later replaced with a laurel wreath surrounding the name Benz. After the merger, a new trademark was designed, which brought together the main characteristics of both the existing emblems - the three-pointed star belonging to DMG was surrounded with its trade name 'Mercedes' as well as that of the equally famous name 'Benz', whose laurel wreath entwined the two names together and thus the brand finally came into being. Ever since, Mercedes-Benz has produced some of the best cars in the world and their engineers have been responsible for cutting edge innovations covering almost every square inch of the car. They have become particularly famous for their limousines, which even today stands as a symbol of wealth and exclusivity. The 260 D, the world's first diesel driven car was launched by Mercedes Benz in the year 1936. This was followed, post war by the release of the improved 170 V model. During the 50's, Mercedes-Benz produced some of their best looking cars ever such as the 190 and 300 SL. The first was a compact roadster that garnered acclaim after setting a new world diesel record in 1959. The latter is the famous gull-winged model that has come to symbolise the brand. Mercedes-Benz was among the first to deal with pollution concerns through the introduction of the catalytic converter in 1985. By the early 1990's, their diesel car range had completely switched to four-valve intake/exhaust systems and carburettors were dropped in favour of fuel injection systems. A few years later, Mercedes-Benz moved into developing superchargers which it did through the release of the C 230 Kompressor. The latest and most ground breaking innovation by this technology driven brand is the DiesOtto engine which delivers the advantages of both petrol and diesel engines. Currently the brand is moving from strength to strength with improved quality ratings in J D Power quality surveys, surpassing even Toyota, awards for several of its models and plants. The way forward for Benz is clear and shining. Interesting facts surrounding the brand: From 1903, Emil Jellinek officially changed his name to Jellinek-Mercedes, commenting that "this is probably the first time a father has taken his daughter's name." In 1896, transport operator Friedrich Greiner ordered a Daimler car equipped with a taximeter to start a motorcar transport service in Stuttgart. Thus, Daimler laid the foundations for the world's first motorized taxi business. In 1897, DMG introduced the first motor vehicle with a front-mounted engine. The Mercedes Mixte, released in the 1900's was one of the world's earliest hybrids. The world's first diesel truck was OB2 by Benz. The 200 km/h speed barrier was broken in 1909 by Benz's lightning. The Mercedes Benz museum has a collection of around 550 cars, comprising of their own vehicles as well as cars from both parent brands.
Royal Enfield Story
In 1942, at the height of the Second World War, a Royal Enfield underground factory was established in abandoned stone quarries at Westwood near Bradford upon Avon in rural Wiltshire. Many skilled machinists were drafted in from Redditch to make precision parts on drills, gear cutting machinery, welding rigs and capstan lathes. The factory entrance Picture Courtesy: Gordon G. May, royalenfieldbooks.com Location of the Westwood quarry Picture Courtesy: Gordon G. May, royalenfieldbooks.com Seen here, a worker taking the museum artifacts through the motorcycle storage area inside the underground factory. Picture Courtesy: Gordon G. May, royalenfieldbooks.com The factory’s location in a bombproof shelter safe enough for the art of the Empire was due to the fact that Royal Enfield manufactured components for anti-aircraft guns including predictors for accurate control of anti-aircraft weapons. Other precision items produced at Westwood included oil motors for operating searchlights and Bofors anti-aircraft guns as well as pump units for operating the gun turrets of tanks. Such was the skill level at the facility that parts were also fabricated for the control mechanisms of rockets and instruments being produced for the fledgling British atomic programme. The premises was state of the art, employing devices such as anti-smoke alarms and air-conditioning with humidity control, both unheard of back in 1942. There was even a room where workers received a much needed UV supplement, courtesy of sun lamps, as they spent so much time underground. As the majority of British men had enlisted in the armed services, most of the employees at Westwood were women and many of them had to be trained by the 'old hands' from Redditch. The whole of Great Britain was mobilised, using all of the nation's resources in total war. All citizens and manufacturers joined hands in the war effort and Royal Enfield was no exception, completely halting civilian motorcycle production and developing specialised military motorcycles like the 'Flying Flea'. Due to its lightweight and specially constructed parachute cage, this 126cc 2-stroke motorcycle could be dropped behind enemy lines, providing crucial mobility and communications for paratroops, most famously at the Battle of Arnhem in 1944. Seen here, the Royal Enfield Flying Flea in action. Picture Courtesy: Gordon G. May, royalenfieldbooks.com Other Royal Enfield motorcycles were much in demand by the armed forces, most notably the WD/D 250cc sidevalve, WD/C 350cc sidevalve and WD/CO 350cc overhead valve, the WD standing for War Department. These hardy machines were used extensively by Royal Corps of Signals despatch riders who were entrusted with delivering crucial messages across all theatres of war as well as back at home. The lives of these riders were especially in danger when close to the front line. Here they were a favourite target for enemy snipers keen to prevent the valuable messages they carried from being delivered. Riding at night, including when on convoy escort duty, was also perilous as blackout restrictions forced the riders to travel with a light no more powerful than a glowworm. Featured here: The Royal Enfield WD/CO, a 346cc, 4-speed gearbox war horse used by the British Forces throughout the Second World War. Picture Courtesy: Royal Enfield, by miles the best (book) by Gordon G. May After the war, the Royal Enfield Underground factory continued to manage parts, and eventually, complete motorcycles. Under the control of a newly formed company, Enfield Precision Engineering, the facility solely manufactured Interceptor motorcycles between 1967 and its closure in 1970. A couple of ex-Enfield employees took over parts of Westwood and used them as a workshop for another two decades whilst in other areas, a contractor began to once more quarry stone. The storage area is still secure and to this day is being used by a private security firm as an archiving and locker facility. Some of the machines and equipment from the historic factory can still be found at the site, reminiscent of a place of Enfield.
Carroll Smith- Tune to win
Vehicle dynamics