The main character in the show, a rich and feted playboy, emerges from the vehicle to a flurry of paparazzi camera flashes.

Alright, so this is a supercar, and enginestartbutton is an automotive tuning site. Hey, comeon…with horsepower and torque this sinful, it deserves a mention on my site!

Sharp eyed enthusiasts say the Audi R8’s design looks too similar to the Lamborghini Gallardo.

They are not paranoid. Audi does own Lamborghini.

The R8 is powered by a 4.2 L V8 engine which forces out 420 bhp/7800 RPM. The V10 Gallardo churns out 520bhp / 8000 RPM.

No prizes for guessing which model wins the 0-100. However, the R8 is not built to be a competitor to the Gallardo, but to complement it. Let me explain.

The Gallardo was designed prior to conceiving the R8. Audi-owned Lamborghini had in mind an entry-level supercar that would not only be fitted with a powerful engine, but handling and chassis practical enough for street usage.

Thus the Gallardo was born. It however, was still too powerful and unrefined, and in the upper echelons of the supercar status. Audi then decided to come up with a coupe that was ‘civilized’, luxurious & refined, yet powerful.

Think the Porsche, BMW categories.

That’s where the Audi R8’s Quattro All wheel drivetrain comes in.

Normal AWD systems work this way: The torque-sensing centre differential delivers around 40% of torque to the front axle and 60% to the rear.

Audi’s new Quattro AWD is able to send part of this torque to the individual rear wheels almost instantly (less than 100 milliseconds) if it detects any loss of traction.

This, of course, results in excellent handling.

The R8 is also constructed using the Audi Space Frame (ASF) technique.

ASF is a high-strength aluminum frame structure into which the panels are integrated so that they also perform a load-bearing function.

In conjunction with high-strength aluminum sheet, the aluminum body is characterized by exceptional stiffness and above-average crash protection, yet at the same time by substantially lower weight.

Basically one is getting an Italian designed supercar with the exotic looks, flair and luxury but state of the art German engineering and technological advancement.

So who cares if it looks like the Gallardo?

Actually that is only one purpose of dyno testing. A computerized engine dynamometer accurately measures torque and rpm and then can accurately calculate horsepower.

Knowing your horsepower and torque gives you a solid basis for making changes in the engine’s tuning or to the engine itself. How? Easy. If horsepower and torque go up the change was likely correct, if they go down you’ll need to make some changes.

The dynamometer applies various loads on the engine and measures the engine’s ability to move the load. The dynamometer may be connected to a computer which calculates the output of the engine. The engine is run from idle to its maximum rpm and the output is measured and plotted on a graph.

Dynometers are used to measure the factors such as : crankshaft torque, intake air and fuel consumption rates, air-fuel ratio for the intake mixture,environment pollutant concentrations in the exhaust gas and temperatures and gas pressures at several locations on the engine body such as engine oil temperature, spark plug temperature, exhaust gas temperature, intake manifold pressure.

To date dyno testing is the most accurate way to determine if the fuel saving device or the bolt on turbocharger your bought for your ride is effective.

Dyno testing will not come cheap, however, it is the price anyone who wants a 100% iron clad guarantee that the performance of his engine did improve upon fitting external devices.

Once again engine start button apologises *bow*

My trusty Apple Macintosh of 4 years crashed on me, and i’m using a borrowed PC to blog now.

Till date apple computer has not given me any word about my mac’s repair, and it’s been close to 3 weeks since i submitted in the CPU for repair.

Sorry guys but once the apple is fixed (or screwed for a new PEE SEE) i will get back to regular blogging.

In the meantime, await more auto tips….

Regards,

Philip-san.

Sometimes you also shake your head and wonder, all these riceboys. Don’t they realise the rim is just aesthetic and does not contribute to the car’s performance?

No they do. Let me explain.

Certain rally designed alloy rims are lighter (less weight = more speed) and also are designed to increase the cooling of the brake disks. Some designs have better build quality than others and some break very easily when hitting a pothole or curb at speed.

Always go for the best quality alloy rim that you can afford and read the reports and reviews. (Common sense lah!) Avoid buying a different overall size. If not, you’ll have to get the suspension and tracking realigned to avoid uneven wear under acceleration.

A lighter rim will improve handling because less weight is rotating around the hub so components such as suspension and brakes will last longer. The gaps in alloy rims also aid brake cooling and allow the brakes to do a better job at slowing up the car.

Big rims look ‘fierce’ but I have not found anyone yet who says that they have improved the ride or handling of their car, well, maybe higher fuel consumption.

Keep the overall rim width with tyre dimension as the OEM provided but go for a larger alloy and ultra low profile tyre if you really want the big wheel look.

Lower profile tyres are noisier and due to their low flexing they give excellent handling characteristics.

Wider alloys are much better than taller ones and improve the handling. Many users complain that taller rims affect the speed and handling adversely and cause bumpy & uneven rides.

Remember, for alloy rims, lighter is better.

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I apologise for my lack of posting activity.

Due to various projects and work and the internet, i was going crazy. My company, a Japanese trading firm, also had lost of ‘entertainment’ to do at night, if you know what i’m saying.

So i made a tough decision. They were paying well but the people and customers were nastier than the British paparazzi.

I resigned.

And right now, armed with affiliate income from the Internet and my own tidy sum of savings, I will devote my time to enginestartbutton as well as other online income.

But thanks for your viewership and readership, and I promise to inject more fresh news and tuning tips for your reading pleasure.

Dozo Arigato Gozaimasu!  

Why E-Brake? Many petrolheads love to do fancy shit like heel-toe drift, inertia drift etc etc. Most forget however, that the basics are the ones that save your ass.

“Philip-san, won’t E-brake wear out my tires or won’t they burst?”

No you dummy, Bridgestone and Yokohama have tested them on gruelling conditions.

Right, lets get down to the lesson.

1) Find a large open space, maybe an empty parking lot or industrial area for practice. Avoid at all cost all sorts of obstacles, such as lampposts, which can be dangerous if you spin out of control.

2) Drive in a straight line at a moderate speed, depending upon the distance you are confident with during your drift.

3) Shift into a lower gear, allowing your car to hit above 5000 rpm. Shift into 1st gear and get ready.

4) Depress the clutch hard, feel the engage,  and steer the car into the turn. At the same time, swiftly pull up the hand brake. You will need to be quick, so that the rear wheels will lock up.

5) Dis-engage the clutch as you begin to slide, continuing to steer the car into the turn, and then accelerate. The amount of petrol injected will determine how much the rear end will spin into the turn.

6)Allow the car to slide in the right direction, manipulating the steering wheel to regain control of the car as you constantly press the accelerator. Do not let the car slow down, straighten out or gain traction until the turn is completed and you are facing the desired direction.

7) Practice, tune your mistakes and keep at it. My advice is that you do not hit the road unless you are extremely confident surprise situations won’t make you panic.

P.S: - Disclaimer here. My advice is only given through my own trial and error and watching friends perform it. I am not responsible for any injuries sustained by the individual practicing without adequate precaution.

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Oh well, been there done that. In the past, a guy like me would take time to slowly go through brochures, phamplets and insurance stuff for a decent quote.

That is until i discovered Online Auto Insurance Quote. This site is something different in the sense that is it direct. Very direct.

Ok lets take a look at the front page. This page comes with a rating system, response timing and monetary savings.

I think the functions should explain themselves. Everything is easy to understand and you don’t need to have a general insurance degree to know what’s going on.

Clicking on the each panel, it brings you to another pages, where the plus points and packages of each insurance company is listed down, e.g  AIG offers the option to use your own mechanic or body shops.

There are also other services that 3 top 3 offer, such as housing or travel insurance, but we won’t go into that.

There is also an article section that is stuffed with valuable tips and advice on automotive insurance as well as other automotive related advice.

Overall a good site, but i just wished they had used more than 3 auto insurance companies to give a more evenly balanced look at the entire scheme of things.

Online auto insurance quotes can be accessed at this URL: - http://www.autoinsuranceonlinequotenow.com/

It’s hard to juggle work and blogging, especially in a busy (i would say slave-driven) nation like Singapore.

Anyway I have been seeing a lot of people parking really badly all over the place.

I really think they either bribed someone, stole their driving I.D from a corpse or got their licence from the PRC practicing parallel parking using 2 water buffalos.

Kudos to a local hero, the ‘parking idiot’ vigilante, for exposing these selfish, boorish, WANKERS who make me ashamed to tell foreigners that i am a singaporean. Good on ya mate.

Are there any sites that expose the double-standards of the local parking ticket wardens as well? Heheheh….

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However not many people will tell you to wake up and concentrate on proper vehicle handling and that Drifting is actually a visual appetizer but the meat & potatoes is your handling.

That’s where the Left Foot Brake (LFB) comes in.

When driven under acceleration with no brakes applied, a front wheel drive (FWD) car will understeer when the front wheels are turned. To overcome the understeer, left foot braking is used to change brake (balance) to the rear.

By using a combination of throttle and brake you can change from understeer to neutral steer to oversteer.

Left foot braking is useful in many cases: If the road surface changes, you can change the brake balance by either adding power (accelerator) or brake pressure (braking).

What happens is this: The tire has 100% of it’s possible traction when it is rolling straight with no braking or acceleration. When you change any of these factors the tires affected will have less available traction and control slips from your grasp.

By applying brake against the throttle in a front wheel drive car, two things happen. One: The front wheels keep turning. And two: The rear wheels try to lock up. If you are in a turn, the back of the car will start to slide toward the outside of the turn.

To control or stop the slide, apply less brake and more power (this changes the oversteer toward understeer and stops the rear wheels from sliding toward the outside of the turn).

What i did with my VW Caddy Turbo was this:

I drove to a secluded area in the evening (Not to watch couples making out!) I placed some ’soccer cones’ to make a T-junction on the ground.

I got in my Caddy and practiced driving the turn trying a normal brake with my left foot.

“So basic?”

XIAO EH! (Fukienese for ’friend’) You can’t learn to LFB until you train your left leg to brake! If you have never tried using your left leg, you will find it’s like trying to write with your left hand if you are right handed.

Tough huh. Until you can drive doing the braking with your left leg, you can’t do LFB. Once you can brake with your left leg, go on to ‘lesson 2′.

Work next on the practice turn. After turning, apply the brake against the throttle (accelerator). If you did it correctly you should feel the rear of the car start to slide to the outside of the turn.

When you are pointing in the direction you want to go, let pressure off the brakes and increase the throttle. Again, if you did it correctly you will feel the car pivoting on the front wheels.

Practice makes perfect, so you need to do it again and again.

P.S: The Autospeed Guy, Julian Edgar has a post on this too. Check it out here. 

P.P.S: A word of caution -Do not try this on the road unless you have practiced for 2-3 months. I am not responsible for your severed leg on the road. 

The memory lives on though. Although many people did not have a good impression of the last mass produced Celica (the T230 1.8 VVT-i engine. YUCK!), there is one Celica a true boy racer will remember with tears in his eyes: The Celica GT4 S185.

To call this vehicle a sports couple is actually an understatement. The Celica GT4 ST185 was originally designed and produced to compete in the World Rally Championship and give european auto manufacturers a run for their money.

It went on to bag the WRC Driver’s Championship in 1992, and WRC Manufacturer’s and Driver’s Championships in 1993 and 1994. Not bad for a normal ’sports coupe’.

So what’s under the hood of this baby?

Well…it gets a little technical here. The Toyota 1998cc 3S-GTE engine is built in-line, 4-cylinder and utilizes a CT26 or CT20B Dual Entry turbocharger.

The Dual Over Head Cam (DOHC) 16 valve cylinder head is designed by Yamaha.

The pent-roof combustion chambers are complemented by a cross flow intake and exhaust layout. Spark plugs are located in the middle of the combustion chambers.

The engine churns out 204 Bhp@6000 rev/min, 275 NM@3200rev/min.

To all the drifting nuts out there (which should be 60% of my reader demographics), the GT4 has an all wheel drive system(AWD). It is fitted with a Central viscous coupler, Torsen rear differential. The Epicyclical center differential with 50-50 % F/R distribution.

HUH?? What was that?

Ok layman terms…

A Viscous Coupling works very similarly to a Limited Slip Differential (LSD).

A viscous coupler can be seen as a tube containing a pressurized viscous fluid in which discs are rotating. Half of the discs are attached to the incoming axle and the other half to the outgoing one to the tube’s walls.

The discs are pierced and the viscous fluid completely surrounds them. Minor speed differences are allowed between discs. Increased slip (i.e. rotational speed difference between discs) leads to a rapid increase in the viscosity of the fluid which, in turn, locks up the coupling.

During normal driving conditions, both sets of plates and the liquid ‘connecting’ them within the coupling are all rotating at the same speed. However; If one set of wheels loses traction, its set of plates will rotate faster than the other set.

In this case, the liquid within the viscous coupling transfers torque from the faster spinning plates to the slower spinning plates, ie torque is transferred to the set of wheels with more traction.

The fastest recorded speed of the GT4 S185 is 230Km/h, with a pickup of 7.9S in the 0-100Km/h test.

Before the WRXs and the EVOs came about, Toyota was already trashing the competition with the GT4 S185. Unfortunately, Toyota pulled out of the WRC to focus on F1…and ever since it stopped producing AWD/RWD cars…

Well you get the picture. The last celica didn’t sell well probably because it was a Front Wheel Drive and remember this:

The main plus point of RWD vehicles is with some of the mechanical parts removed from the front and installed at the rear, vehicle balance and handling are much improved.

Using the rear tires for acceleration traction takes the load off the front, so drivers accelerating out of a corner have much more lateral grip.

Looking at the kind of family vehicles Toyota produces now, I mourn the departure of a Toyota classic,  a rare one blessed with technology ahead of its time.

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