BMW M hybrid in the offing? Will Munich implement hybrid in spite of weight handicap?

Source: qJake via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

With the increasingly stringent emission standard and raising the environmentalists flag, the name of the game has now switched to creating greener cars: hybridity and electrification becoming increasingly inevitable.

Thanks to the likes of McLaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 918 Spyder, performance sectors are giving hybrid their graceful touch. Formula E , Porsche Mission E concept and Mercedes AMG SLS Electric Drive give performance cars some nice zap of electric shock. Hybrid and electric powertrain are not only constrained in your run-of-the-mill family cruiser, but also in muscle-bound brute that spells P.E.R.F.O.R.M.A.N.C.E.

With more and more performance marque shifting their future plan to hybridity and electrification, one marque putting their attention to it is BMW M division.

In an interview conducted by Auto Express, Dirk Hacker, vice president in the M division, admitted that hybridisation and electrification may be the future of M cars.

"We will look at electrification-I think it could be inevitable-but it depends on the possibility of increasing performance," Hacker said. He immediately noted that hybrid M will not be implemented right off the bat due to weight concern and will only consider hybrid if it offers performance improvement.

When asked on the possibility of electric M cars, Hacker dismissed the latter due to customer demand.

"We've found that our customers are not interested in driving without the combustion engine," Hacker said. "They want to know if these changes will help with performance." Seems like electric M is out of the question. Phew. This writer cannot imagine standing next to an eeriely quiet M car.

If that is the case, looks like our friend at BMW M is looking to hybridise their performance segment not in the name of efficiency but performance. The VP's concern on the weight of hybrid powertrain reminds this writer on Koenigsegg's chief concern during the development of their hallow Regera hybrid: weight.

Not surprisingly, weight is a performance killer. Shedding weight is a goal of every performance cars. Take for instance the likes of Ariel Atom 3.5R and Ferrari 458. The latter is more powerful than the former. However, the Atom sprints from 0-62 mph in just 2.6 seconds to the 458's 2.9 seconds. Wait a minute, how can the Atom with 350 hp 2 litre supercharged Honda 4 cylinders outgunned the 458 with its more powerful 562 hp 4.5 litre V8? The Atom only weighs 550 kg to the 458's 1485 kg. This emphasises in the performance realm, taking into account only power output is not enough. Power-to-weight ratio is the holy grail in making a car a speed demon. The VP's concern on hybrid drivetrain's weight may allude to boosting power-to-weight ratio.

This writer wonders if hybrid M do come into production, will the engineers at M division ponder on imitating Koenigsegg's trick in overcoming the weight handicap of their Regera hybrid: dispensing the transmission altogether. Will this be the recipe for crazy power-to-weight ratio?

Koenigsegg's Freevalve camless engine

For decades since the advent of the Internal Combustion Engine, camshafts have been responsible for actuating the poppet valves (intake and exhaust) to draw air fuel mixture into the cylinder for combustion and purging the cylinder off spent gases, or exhaust gases, for the next intake of fresh mixture.

In the past, camshaft tuning was a compromise, meaning engineers had to take into account the engine's application: will it spend its time in bumper-to-bumper traffic or screaming itself off at higher rev range.

Several innovations had been invested to overcome the restrictive nature of camshafts such as variable valve timing and lift, an innovation that alters the opening and closing time of the valves (timing) and how far it opens (lift). However, it still does not change the fact that camshafts, like any mechanical devices, are analog in nature: meaning the valves lack individual control due to being solidly locked to the camshafts. Enter Koenigsegg's Freevalve camless engine.

With the camless engine, rather than being actuated by a camshaft, the valves are actuated by high pressure air via pneumatic actuators. According to Christian von Koenigsegg, the founder of Koenigsegg supercar firm and a visionary who came up with innovative approaches such as the bonkers hybrid gearless Regera, traditional camshaft is akin to playing a piano with a broomstick and taking away the camshaft is akin to playing the piano with your fingers. Imagine taking a broomstick and try hitting the piano keys. You will find you have less control on which key to actuate as the broomstick will hit virtually all keys. Remove the broomstick and you have better control on which keys to actuate.

Going back to conventional camshaft engine, say you have 4 valves per cylinder (2 intake valves and 2 exhaust valves). Both intake valves are open simultaneously during the intake stroke and vice versa.

With the camless engine, the ECU does not necessarily open all valves but rather take into account engine load and rpm to open just one or two valves to ensure efficiency at varying engine operations. This entails better control over the actuation of valves and theoretically may boost performance and efficiency, which Koenigsegg claimed an improvement by 30%. A huge claim indeed.

Most folks may be familiar with timing belt or timing chain. Camless engine dispose of the need for it as there are no camshafts. This may mean no more worries of the belt snapping at inopportune moment.

Evora S on steroid

What a day it had been at Lotus showroom. Though there was not much to be seen, the sight of a ferocious looking beast waiting to unleash its hidden power is satisfying to the eye of this writer. Pictured above is Lotus new model, christened the Evora 400. Well, technically it is Evora S with steroid coursing its vein.

                                                       

What does that entail? Pop open the rear bonnet and you will be greeted by that gorgeous looking 3.5 litre supercharged Toyota V6, the same engine found on the Evora S, but Lotus fiddled with it to raise its output from 345 horsepower to 400 horsepower as implied by the '400' in its name.

                                               

All those powers are sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed automatic with paddle shifters. If you wish to be in charge of cog swapping, fear not as a six-speed manual is also available.

                                                   

With such ginormous power in disposal, large brake discs will keep this car from wrapping itself around a tree.

                                          

There is nothing more satisfying than glancing in your rear view mirror, greeted by that roaring 'blown' V6 propped up just behind your rear windshield.

                                           

Petrol vs Diesel combustion

Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) have faithfully served us for decades since the 19th century when Belgian engineer, Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir, developed the ICE in 1858. The marvelous piece of machinery that rings your eardrum with its throaty bellow, waves its magic wand by mixing air and fuel, and with the presence of sufficient heat, BANG! You have combustion to get you to work, class, movies, red-light district, your GF's house and whatever places you can think of. The same 'air + fuel + heat = combustion' process applies to ICE such as petrol and diesel. However, they achieve combustion entirely in a different way which will be explained in this post.

Every car owners will be familiar with spark plug. After all, it is part of service interval to change spark plug after a certain kilometre has passed. Spark plug is responsible for providing the heat to trigger combustion on petrol engines only. Yep, only on petrol engines. What about diesel then? Well, there is no spark plug on diesel engines. Wait, how does it achieve combustion? The keyword here is pressure.

If you still recall your high school physics class, pressure is directly proportional to temperature, i.e. you increase pressure, you also increase temperature. How does that take place in diesel engines then? The air trapped inside the cylinder is squeezed at incredible pressure, twice higher than petrol engines. As a result, the air rapidly gains temperature, so hot that when diesel fuel is sprayed into the cylinder, it immediately combusts. No spark needed. This is in direct contrast to petrol where the mixture of air and fuel need to be ignited by the spark plug due to the fact that cylinder pressure on petrol engines are not sufficient enough to render spark plug unnecessary for combustion.

                                                       

Mercedes Benz 500 E

                                                           

Source: wikipedia.com

Somewhere in the northern suburbs of Stuttgart, lies the manufacturing complex known as the Rossle Bau factory, famous for belonging to a certain company called Porsche. 

At times of tight financial, Porsche faced a conundrum: drop in sales. What Mercedes got anything to do with it? Well, it had nothing to do with the drop in sales, but rather Porsche knocked at Mercedes door to strike a deal to help them in manufacturing the performance version of Mercedes W124 sedan, known as the 500E. Though still bearing the 3 pointed-star badge, this sleeper is essentially a Mercedes with Porsche's fingerprint.

Though Mercedes had a say on what had to be done to the car, it was Porsche who worked their magic in assembling the mechanical bits.

Plonked under the bonnet was a 5 litre naturally aspirated V8 which was fished out from the 500SL roadster and dropped off at Rossle Bau for Porsche to plonk it into the 500E engine bay; the rear suspension received upgrade from Porsche. While the gaffes at Rossle Bau busied themselves with the technicals, Mercedes dealt their deft touch with a coat of paint. Finally, the car was shuttled back to Porsche for the final assembly.

The result? A bonkers fast performance sedan that can rip off the tarmac with aplomb (well, not literally) to satisfy the need for speed amongst the testosterone-laden hamfisted hooligans (326 worth of ponies, not bad sir!), while its leather-trimmed seats made for a comfortable cruiser (good for a family day out, or for excursion to a fancy restaurant with your significant others).

Luxurious from the outside, a fire-breathing dragon sleeping underneath waiting to unleash its wrath, a dragon in tuxedo skin.

Porsche 959

                                                           

                                                     

Introduced during the 1983 IAA (Frankfurt International Auto Show), this beast called the 959 was intended to be a homologation special for participation into the FIA Group B racing (already defunct since 1986 due to being ungodly dangerously fast) with at least 200 examples of road going version to be built. Nevertheless, anyone lucky enough to own this marvelous piece of machinery will have the liberty to stretch its legs in their grandpa's favourite twisties, or show off Senna-esque 'win at all cost' on god forbid the most Frankestein monster of a race track (Nordschleife we are looking at you).

This car is everything that Porsche can do to augment the taste, the flight of fancy that every 911 owners could dream of. Yes folks, the 959 is basically a 911 with some bonkers going on under the skin, making it arguably Porsche's first true supercar, outfitted with state-of-the-art niceties for its time (mind you, this beast was produced in the late 80s).

                                                               

Source: silodrome.com

The source of 'oomph' lies at the very rear extremity of this beast. What is not to like about the crazy 2.85 litre sequential turbo flat six with its twin cooling system. Yep, this engine is both water-cooled and air-cooled, with water cooling the cylinder head and the turbochargers, and air cooling the cylinder block and crankcase. Ramming air into the cylinders are taken care of by two turbos, one small turbo and one large turbo for consistent boost across the rev range for more smiles per miles. All in all, 450 ponies worth of fun.

All those powers are channeled to a six speed manual transmission and permanent all-wheel drive with driver-selectable driving programs to ensure all those insane powers will keep you from flying off the cliff.

As always in performance realm, going on a diet is the holy grail in translating those huge powers into whatever performance figures that anoraks cherish. The doors and hood for instance, were made of aluminium and the rest of the body was Kevlar-reinforced fibreglass.

The 959 was offered in two trims: sports and comfort. Choose the sports trim, you will have to make do without air-conditioning, power windows and seats, back seats and adjustable ride height control in the name of weight savings. Choose the comfort trim, you have the aforementioned niceties equipped but at the expense of increase weight, but if go-fast is not your thing then this is the trim to choose.

Source: auto.howstuffworks.com

To those who own a 911 or have 911 as their 'cover girl', the 959 is an incredible boost for the 911 experience, with the added performance to put the standard 911 to shame. All in all, the 959 is not a wannabe 911 with 911 cosmetic enhancement per se, but a 911 that will make you clamour for it.  

Tramontana, a Spanish race car for the road

Source: wallpaperscraft.com

Imagine walking down the sidewalk minding your own business, only to be met by a car that resembles the idea of a fighter jet seating position fusing with open cockpit race car-esque bodywork. You gawk at it like as if it is from a different planet. The car from the above picture is manufactured by a Spanish manufacturer called Tramontana.

Open the fighter jet style canopy and you will be met by the fighter jet style seating, with the passenger seat smack dab behind the driver seat, if you option the 2 seat version that is. The car even sports the sidepod that you will typically find on open cockpit race cars like Formula One, GP2 Series, GP3 Series and Formula Renault 3.5. Of course, what sets Tramontana aside from the just mentioned racing series is the front spoiler-mounted headlights, the absence of air intake that sits above the cockpit and the wheel fenders.

Source: dieselstation.com

Onto the rear, you can see another stand-out features that make it distinct from open cockpit race cars, which are the rear tail lamps. Don't see any of these on say F1 cars for instance.

This beauty is powered by a 5.5L twin turbo Mercedes V12 that churns out 720 hp. All those grunt is conveyed to the rear wheels via a 6 speed sequential gearbox that enables it to sprint from 0-62 mph in 3.6s. The chassis is built on a hybrid between aluminium and carbon fibre that endow it with 1268 kg worth of weight. Double wishbone on all 4 corners ensure that all those grunts are not wasted in a cloud of smoke.

What does this writer think of this car? Well, it is rather an interesting idea to let drivers the privilege of an unadulterated driving pleasure with the fighter jet like cockpit as if the driver is piloting a fighter jet rather than driving a monster of a car. I wonder if there would be more manufacturers adopting this style in the near future.