Auto Performance Racing Blog

by Fei Lim
Looking for a small but sporty car that looks great and offers excellent performance? If so, then you may want to take a close look at the 2008 Brabus Ultimate 112 and all it has to offer. The first thing that will let you know that this car is a cut above the rest is the unique paint job a beautiful orange and mother of pearl color that almost looks like it is flaming. Take a closer look on the inside of the car and then you’ll find beautiful black Brabus leather on the seats with seams that are done in orange. Of course not only does this car look great, but it has plenty of power under that hood as well. This car is truly a sports car for the city, and it brings together a great combination of excellent equipment, handling that is agile, as well as great performance. Not only does the 2008 Smart Brabus Ultimate 112 come with a great custom paint job, but it also has a very muscular body kit as well. This kit includes rocker panels, a front spoiler, as well as special Brabus widestar fender flares, both in the back and the front.

You’ll notice that this car has very large wheel houses that offer plenty of space available for a very unique tire and wheel combination, which is quite unusual for cars that are this size. The wheels are glossy black and they are special Brabus monoblock VI wheels that are double spoke, and these are mounted on the front axle. In the front the wheels are 7Jx18 and they have 205/35 R 18 tires designed for high performance, and in the back are 8.5Jx18 wheels with tires that are 235/30 R 18 tires. These tires are designed to help make sure there is plenty of grip on the road to take the power of the engine and put it on the road.

Along with these unique tires is a special coil over suspension, which is height adjustable. This helps to make sure that you get sporty handling, safe handling, and a ride that is very comfortable as well. With all of the modifications, this offers a great platform for the engine in the car a Brabus three cylinder engine that is turbo charged. This engine does a great job and provides plenty of power out there on the road. You can either let the transmission of the car shift automatically for you, or you can use the paddles that are mounted on the steering wheel, which are much like the paddles used in Formula 1 racing. When you really put your foot in it, you’ll find that you can go from 0-62mph in just 9.5 seconds and the car has a top speed of 106 mph as well. There is a convertible option too that offers excellent performance.

Along with the exceptional performance you’ll get out of the engine, a nice stainless steel sport exhaust that has dual tailpipes accompanies the car as well. Of course the interior has a variety of great highlights as well, with the luxurious leather that is breathable and soft. There are special Brabus emblems embossed on the interior as well in the 2008 Smart Brabus Ultimate 112. There is a special instrument panel, door handles, a clock, turn signal lever, and more that is all designed to match the exterior of the car. It also comes with foot pedals that are stainless steel, and the emergency brake lever and shifter made of aluminum give it a bit of a racing look. A climate control system cones standard as well as a navigation system and a radio.

This is a limited edition of cars that are being made. In fact, there are only 112 cars being made, each having a placard in the interior with the cars number on it. You can purchase this car for just 45,900 Euros, which is a hefty price. However, many people feel it reasonable to have such a small and sporty car that is designed to drive in the city. So, with a luxurious and comfortable interior, as well as a flashy and sporty exterior, this is a car that is fun to drive and that looks great out there on the streets.

Source: www.goarticles.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - When the police got a tip that Bonner Elementary was being hit for the second time in a week, they rushed three squad cars to the school. As they were cordoning off the grounds, the burglars emerged dashing out a front door Learn more

TOKYO — Honda will meet growing U.S. demand for small cars while maintaining North American jobs by moving production of two bigger models from Canada to Alabama, Chief Executive Takeo Fukui said Thursday. Honda Motor Co.’s Pilot sport utility Learn more

9:44AM Friday May 30, 2008

A truck and two cars have crashed outside the Kumeu Produce Market on State Highway 16. Police are investigating the cause of the crash and have closed a section of the road and drivers should expect delays. St John Ambulance has transported two people to North Shore Hospital. One person had moderate injuries and another had minor injuries.

- NZHERALD STAFF

Source: www.nzherald.co.nz

Sports cars center helps you find all information about Sports cars.

COM Sports Car Club
Drive your car on a real road racing course, under safe conditions, with an experienced instructor for less than $230 per day. Let COM show you how! Get started

by Sav D’Souza
Volvo has won the “Traffic Safety Achievement Award” at the World Traffic Safety Symposium held in New York.

One of the main safety features that won many plaudits was the City Safety system that has been developed by Volvo. The system was designed to prevent low-speed collisions which are most common in urban city traffic. Volvo have high hopes that the system could eliminate whiplash.

“City Safety is yet another example of Volvo’s aim to utilise real world traffic situations to develop solutions to prevent accidents. It is extremely gratifying that we are now being acknowledged with this prestigious award,” said Jonas Ekmark, head of preventive safety at the Volvo Cars Safety Centre.

Rear-end collisions at relatively low speeds are the most common cause of whiplash injuries. The City Safety system is designed to stop Volvo drivers from crashing into the back of car’s ahead. Along with other cars the system will also detect other potential hazards like pedestrians.

The system uses senses to monitor the traffic ahead. A laser sensor is built into the windscreen’s upper section at the same height as the rear view mirror. It can detect vehicles or people that are up to 6 metres in front of the car’s front bumper. City Safety is programmed to react to things in front that are either stationary or moving in the same direction as the car itself. On the basis of the distance to the object in front and the speed of the car itself, the system makes 50 calculations a second to determine what braking speed is required to avoid a collision. If the calculated braking force exceeds a given level without the driver reacting, it interprets this as an imminent danger of a collision. City Safety then helps to avoid or reduce the consequences of a collision by preparing the car’s brakes or braking automatically and disabling the accelerator.

If the car approaches a pedestrian, a red warning light will come on first on the windscreen’s head-up display and a warning signal will sound. This helps the driver to react, and in most cases an accident can be avoided.

If the risk of a collision increases further, assisted panic braking is activated to provide more pressure when the brakes are applied. If the driver still doesn’t brake, and the collision is imminent, the car’s brakes are activated immediately.

The system is ideally designed for lower speed activity and although it has the capacity to reduce a car’s speed by approximately 15mph, it will be unable to prevent collisions at much higher speeds.

City Safety has the same limitations as all optical systems in that the detection capacity can be limited by fog, snow or heavy rain. It is therefore necessary to keep the windscreen free of dirt, ice or snow. If the sensor is blocked, the driver is advised via the car’s information display to clean the area. The system works equally well during the day and night.

“It is important to underline that the system does not relieve the driver of the responsibility from maintaining a safe distance to avoid a collision. The automatic braking system does not react until it considers that a collision is imminent. The system therefore helps to limit the consequences of or, in some cases, avoiding an imminent collision,” said Jonas Ekmark.

With 75 per cent of all reported collisions thought to occur at speeds up to 30 km/h, with many under 20km/h not reported to insurers, the new technology could prevent a lot of accidents.

The City Safety is just part of the new technological developments that Volvo is developing in the next generation of car safety measure. Next to be introduced is collision avoidance steering by auto steering. Collision avoidance by auto steering is a further development of lane departure warning, which uses a camera to monitor the car’s position between lane markers. If a car wanders across any of the lane markers without using the indicator, the driver is warned by an audible signal.

Collision avoidance by auto steering is significantly more advanced. The system is designed to help prevent a frontal collision caused by temporary distraction by using both a camera and radar to monitor the position of the car itself and the oncoming traffic.

If the car is about to move into the wrong lane and the system detects that an oncoming vehicle is on a collision course, the car is automatically steered back to a safe position in the original lane. The high demands for reliability mean that Volvo experts are still assessing which degrees of steering wheel intervention are relevant and the exact speed range the system can operate within.

If this all sounds like something from the futuristic film I Robot then Volvo’s next big project goes even further cars that talk to each other.

Cars that can communicate with other vehicles and the surrounding traffic environment should enhance the potential for safer driving and fewer traffic accidents. For communication to work, it is necessary to have a standard “language” which makes it possible for all vehicles to talk to each other irrespective of make. There are currently several international projects that endeavour to contribute to this standardisation.

www.GoArticles.com

The V12 Vantage RS concept is based on Aston Martin’s critically acclaimed V8 Vantage coupe, but the company’s design and engineering team have fully exploited the design flexibility of their unique VH architecture and the motor sport development of their 6.0 litre V12 engine to create a dramatic and production feasible concept car focussed on extreme performance and dynamics. In a speech to the …

by Hunter Taylor
People come up to me all the time as ask me if there really is a secret to buying a new vehicle and getting the best price. My answer is always a resounding “YES”! You must first do a few things that will help you in this quest for a new vehicle. 1. Do your homework. There are several websites now that will give you what the dealer’s invoice is on that vehicle. Remember that these costs sometimes do not include freight and other options. 2. Test drive, test drive, test drive. Once you have found the vehicle that you may be interested in, take it for a test drive. A test drive should be more than 5 minutes long. One can not possibly know how the vehicle will effect their backs, legs, and shoulders on a five minute test drive. Let the salesperson know that you would like to take it on a extended test drive. Some dealerships will even let you take the car overnight. 3. Once you have decided on the vehicle that you want, be prepared with what you want to pay and what you can afford. Most people get themselves in trouble by getting a payment far more than they can afford because they are keeping up with the neighbors. Decide on a payment and stick to it. Maybe you really do not need that sunroof. 4. If you have a trade in, make sure you know what that car is worth. There are also several websites that will give you an estimate to what your vehicle is worth. Be honest with your evaluation. Do not expect to pay wholesale for the dealer’s vehicle and get retail for yours. 5. Profit is not a bad word. The dealers have on average a $20,000 investment that they are paying interest on. Would you want to make $400 on a $20,000 investment that you have had for an average of 45 days? And then pay a commission on top of that? Probably not. If dealers let you walk out the door in today’s economy, you know that they are not making any money.

Other ideas: Try to buy as close to the end of the month as possible. Dealers are more likely to take a smaller deal to get another vehicle sold. They may have objectives they need to reach.

Rebates do go away and they are not always better.

Do not go into a dealership with a chip on your shoulder. You will ALWAYS get a better deal if you do not treat the salesperson has if they have no idea what is going on.

I hope this helps you in your quest to buying a new vehicle. It really is an easy process once you have determined the vehicle you want, the fair price you will pay, and the fair value of your trade.

Article Source: www.goarticles.com