Car News Articles

The best car never built?

The Felixicator 65X, of course.

Students of motoring history might guess that this is a car that not only hasn’t been built, but wasn’t even imagined until I started answering this question.

Like any truly great car, it needs a long and fascinating history, so the Felixicator story starts in 1909 with Henry Ford’s younger and more creative half-brother, Felix.

Stranded in Japan after several years in Germany and France, Felix Ford turned his mind to building a car that would be sold in any colour except black.

We don’t have space to fill in the next 100 years beyond pointing out that, although overshadowed by Henry’s larger concern, the company started by Felix has always been far more adventurous.

You can customise most aspects of the new Felixicator 65X on your computer. The finished car will be shipped to your door by AutoAmazon in a cardboard box protected by those little foam pellets that will outlast the sun.

You can hit the Check Out button on a day the Australian dollar is strong, and you never have to see a salesman hand balloons to your kids.

Even in its standard form the Felixicator will sprint from rest to 100 kilometres in 5 seconds flat while using 1 litre per 100 km. And that’s a litre of any liquid at all, except bottled water, which is plainly irresponsible and bad for the environment.

Felixicator always includes lots of clever interior features.

The large red button on the dash enables you to automatically zap the ignition of the idiot on the phone in the next lane, because he’s unsafe. Or the poseur in the dayglo Nissan with counter-rotating hubcaps. Because, well, you can.

The 65X accommodates the number of people you want to convey, and not a single extra: ‘I’d love to take you along, my dearest drunken old uncle, but as you can see my car has only one seat’.

If you do opt for passengers and one of them is saying something boring or irritating, the volume of the sound system increases automatically.

The 65X changes colour and even shape to meet your needs. It dresses up when you are going on a date or to a business meeting, and dresses down when you are negotiating a sharper price on the rent, or mixing with your anarchist/conceptual artist friends.

The special paint never gets dirty, except with the 4WD model, which is always filthy so you don’t look like the sort of idiot that only drives it around town.

The bumpers are – and this is a radical idea – stronger than anything you might hit.

The Felixicator has a conscience too. By which I mean it isn’t just frugal and clean running. It asks itself the big questions. Should I be emitting less? Should more of me be recyclable? Do I even need to be making this trip? Have I clearly and independently thought through my attitudes to Iran’s nuclear program?

Sure, it means the 65X has many long dark nights of the soul while alone in the garage. But hell, it’s better to have a machine do that for you too.

Fortunately, like most ESP systems, this conscience can be turned off. After all, there’ll be times when it is plainly necessary to speed up to block some taxi, which you just know will otherwise immediately slam the anchors for a fare or try to execute a U-turn across four busy lanes. No person or machine should ever feel guilty about that.

Thanks to Felix’s international outlook, the car that bears his name (and that of his business partner Nobu Icator) is styled in Italy, engineered in Germany, built in Japan, costed in China, has Australian air in the tyres, and is never touched by anyone from Detroit.

If you hear of a car half as good that really has been built, buy one today.

Tony Davis

Keep an eye on Daniel Ricciardo.

Right now the 20-year-old from Perth is on the fast track to Formula One and could easily become the next Aussie to win a race — or better — in the grand prix world. Ricciardo has been picked up by Red Bull, the same brand that backs Mark Webber, and this year won his way to the top of the cut-throat British Formula Three championship used by many drivers to springboard into F1.

He gets his first Formula One test in Spain with Red Bull in a fortnight and is pumped about the chance to prove he has the right stuff for the top level of motorsport. “I’m ecstatic. Ecstatic is one word to describe it,” Ricciardo says, speaking from his race base in Britain. “Once I got the news I had to ask them to tell me a few times. It took a while to understand. “It’s been a dream of mine since I was three or four years old. To get a chance to rag one of these things will be a very pleasant day.”

Ricciardo has also won his way up a step from Formula 3 and is confirmed for the World Series by Renault in 2010. And he was quickest in the final World Series test before the winter shutdown in Europe. “It was exactly the way I wanted to do it. It makes the Christmas break a bit more relaxed for me,” he says. “They are a great car to drive. It’s always good having a bit more power and a step up from F3. You have to muscle them around and be a bit more aggressive. At Barcelona, down the straight we were creeping up to 265 or 270 kays.”

Ricciardo was the star from the start in this year’s British F3 series with the Carlin team and says he always had his eye on the championship. “We started off really strong but at the same time Carlin were really strong last year. Everyone was trying to catch up,” he says. “By the third round the others had done their homework. In the mid season we weren’t always the quickest, and I made a few mistatkes, so we tried to grab the points. “Then had a win at Spa, which was good. The rest of the season was trying to win if we could but trying to stay on track for the title.”

Ricciardo is now honing his fitness for the World Series, and there is one race that stands out in his planning. “It’s the support race at Monaco. That’s the one that gives me goosebumps. Just to race there is amazing, but that is one I really want to win.”

But he has his F1 test before starting the World Series and knows what he needs to do. “I think the team want to have a look at me. It’s probably a bit of a reward as well after the season,” Ricciardo says. “I like to think if it goes well I could be a potential test driver.

Not that there’s a lot of testing these days. But it could mean going to a few races. “I’ve got three days. It’s from the first to the third of December. Hopefully it will go well. “I’ve had the seat fitting. It has been a bit of a process all through the week. Making the seat and doing some work on the simulator. “The simulator is like a very good Playstation. From the data they had and showed me, I was pretty much on it by their standards.”

He is planning a break after the test, before focussing on 2010. “Hopefully I’ll get a month. I need to switch off over the summer and take a break.”

But there is no break on the road to Formula One. “For sure I can’t really turn away from it now. I’m a pretty stable kid. I’m pretty relaxed. I guess I keep my feet on the ground,” he says. “For sure I’ve got some good opportunities, with my first official test. Maybe it’s not too far away, but until I’m there in F1 I’ll keep working. “To be honest I’m not in any rapid rush. I would hate to arrive in F1 and not be prepared. I want to be ready, and not take it for granted.”

So what about the timing, and perhaps even the chance to replace Mark Webber at Red Bull once the older Aussie retires? I haven’t really thought about that. It is a possibility,” he admits. “After next year, if it’s a good year with the World Series, for 2011 I think I’ll be prepared.”

If a movie was made of your life, it would flicker frames over family, friends, a house and a car.

Because, in Australia, there is always a car.  For baby boomers and on through the alphabetical generations, the car was the centrepiece of our formative years by providing freedom from the family and the ability to selfishly form new human and mechanical relationships.

You could argue without conclusion about what cars stamped their mark on Australians during and subsequent to World War II. In 1939, for example, there were 43 makes on sale in Australia ranging from Alvis to Wolseley.  But some were more pronounced than others.

Carsguide’s team of motoring experts from around Australia has compiled its ultimate list of the most important cars to drive on local roads in the 70 years since The Sunday Telegraph was first printed in November 1939.

Right at the top of the list of the cars that have grabbed Australia’s public interest most is the VW Beetle, closely followed by the Mini —  two of the most popular little cars ever to grace our streets.  Britain’s baby four-seater Mini, with front-wheel drive, became a cult that spread from 1959 Britain through to the global market by the 1970s and regenerated more recently as a bigger, yet unmistakedly familiar, version of the past.

The Beetle preceded the Mini by a few years, but the effect on a US-driven, big-car Australian customer base leapt from curious to smitten.  Despite the Beetles’ peculiar shape and compact dimensions, people took to it further when it competed in, and occasionally won, arduous outback rallies with the accent on fuel economy, low running costs and durability.

Like the Mini, the Beetle was briefly assembled in Australia, which created a home-grown affinity to the brand.  And it starred in its own movies as the popular Love Bug. More than 270,000 Beetles were sold in Australia.

Appeal based on economical motoring reached its antithesis when Australia launched another of its favourites, the awesome Ford Falcon GT-HO Phase III of 1971.At the time this was the world’s fastest four-door sedan. It was pictured on black and white televisions thundering down the Mountain at Bathurst, stood mystically at centre stage in Ford showrooms, and when one cruised the city streets, people just stared.

Never mind that the $4300 hoon express wasn’t a great sales success. It held up Australia as an engineering centre the rest of the world shouldn’t mess with. If that wasn’t patriotic enough, the exhaust noise was sufficient to send shivers up the spine.  And Australia had other slivers of greatness.

The Ford utility was a world first at combining sedan comfort with truck-like versatility. It just suited Australia and was successful through the war and into its generational upgrades and model changes to this day. 

While the ute was unique, the Holden 48/215 and more production-oriented FJ that followed was more a clone of a small Detroit sedan. But it was touted as Australia’s own car and the name (slogan??) stuck through impressive market sales.  The strength of the sales bedded General Motors’ Holden into Australia soil and spawned a line of winners, most notably the enduring Commodore that was originally nicked from Germany’s Opel but soon became indelibly indigenous after its launch in 1978.

And then came the Japanese. Post-war Australia took the Japanese car as a bitter pill that once was targeted by the RSL as being a very unwelcome addition to its meetings’ car parks.  But a Toyota Corolla is either owned — or has been owned — by virtually every Australian family. It was the first family car and the first car for youths and the preferred second-hand transport for the budget-conscious.

The wave that washed away the war and made Toyota — and other Japanese makers — a household name also participated in our early history.  Toyota LandCruisers were the mules for the Snowy Mountain hydro-electric scheme, and the durability of the model to this day ensures that we are comfortable with the generic term of 4WD as a LandCruiser.

It’s hard to say where we would be, and what Australia would have become, without the vehicle.

The most significant cars of the past 70 years

1 VW Beetle
2 Mini
3 Toyota Corolla
4 Holden FJ/48-215
5 Holden Commodore
6 Ford Ute
7 Falcon GT-HO
8 Toyota Prius
9 Toyota LandCruiser
10 Valiant Charger
11 Holden Kingswood
12 VW Kombi
13 Holden panel van
14 Mazda MX-5
15 VW Golf
16 Citroen DS
17 Porsche 911
18 Morris Minor
19 Hyundai Excel
20 MGB
21 Austin A30
22 Subaru Leone
23 Volvo 240
24 Leyland P76
25 Ford Customline

Revealed in 1980, the 208 GTB (and is spider version 208 GTS) features the smallest V8 engine used by Ferrari by that time. The 208 GTB replaced the 308 GTB and stayed into production until 1982, with 160 examples produced, in both right and left drive versions.

The car was designed by Pininfarina and featured a pronounced wedge profile, with a rectangular egg-crate aluminum radiator grille below a slim full width satin black front bumper. A square section indent line ran along each body side between the front and rear bumpers, which was finished in satin black whatever the main body color.

The doors featured scalloped intakes to the engine bay, the right one feeding the carburettor filter box, and the left one the oil cooler. At the rear there were twin circular light assemblies on the vertical recessed tail panel. A single piece lid hinged at the roof covered the engine bay and rear sited boot, whilst the vertical concave rear screen was bounded by buttressed sail panels. Options available were wider 7.5” rims, air conditioning, a radio, a deeper front spoiler, plus Michelin TRX or Pirelli P Zero tyres on special rims.

MTM Audi TT RS packs up to 424 horsepower, 185 mph top speed

by Drew Phillips (RSS feed) on Nov 19th 2009 at 7:58PM

MTM Audi TT RS - Click above for a high-res image gallery

German tuner MTM has a long history with Audi’s inline-five. In fact, company founder Roland Mayer helped develop the turbocharged five-banger for the Sport Quattro back in the mid-80s, and MTM produced a 400 horsepower version of the motor as one of their earliest performance packages. Nearly 20 years later the technology and the cars have changed, but MTM is still doing its thing.

Its latest project is Audi’s TT RS, which boasts 340 horsepower and 332 lb-ft torque in stock trim. MTM is offering three stages of engine packages ranging from 404 to 424 horsepower courtesy of tweaks to the engine control unit and and an upgraded exhaust system. Naturally, the Stage Three kit provides a substantial boost performance, including a top speed of 185 mph and a 0-100 km/h time of just 4.2 seconds. A variety of other upgrades are available as well, including MTM’s 19-inch Bimoto wheels, 15-inch brakes with eight-piston calipers, and lowering springs. Follow the jump for the official press release and check out the high-res gallery below.

Gallery: MTM Audi TT RS

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[Source: MTM]

PRESS RELEASE:

It is still being good for best lap timing: the MTM Ur-Quattro S1, with its 5 cylinders engine, has once again shown this summer that it gets around the Hockenheimring almost as fast as the Porsche Armada. 25 years younger as the legendary S1 and directly from the same development department, the tuning specialist presents the MTM TT-RS with the rebirth of the 5 cylinders engine as perfect motorization for drivers who like their car being suitable for racing. After the MTM power therapy, the sport car from Audi gets a power of 424 BHP and 560 Nm of torque and shows itself with a new aerodynamic which is based on the Ur-Quattro.

The secret: love for details and understanding of the new engine from Audi. In addition to the adjustment of the engine control unit, MTM has also worked on the exhaust system: new middle- and end- pipes with throttle valves. Moreover, an additional pre-pipe with metal catalyser can be built in. The result: a high-revving engine, lots of torque in every range of performance and an impressive sound thanks to MTM exhaust system technology with throttle valve. A compact sports car which will be good for best lap times and this not only on the small track of Hockenheim.

The MTM TT-RS can be ordered in 3 different stages of power enhancement. Besides the maximal stage of 424 BHP with 84 BHP more as the 340 from the series car, MTM also offer 2 stages with 404 and 408 BHP and 550 Nm. MTM sports rims with the original BIMOTO design in 19 and 20″, as well as suitable spacers in 20 mm and 30 mm are available.

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