Recent Comments:
Design students envision a modern Model-T {Autoblog}
May 2nd 2008 11:51PM The design is all right, and very futuristic. Dong did a good job on it, and one can see how he tried incorporating futuristic technologies to make the car more environmentally friendly.
However, as others have pointed out, the car is NOT suited for city driving, like the Model T was for. My reasoning is as follows:
1) The thick A-pillar. Talk about huge blind spots and subsequent massive collisions. I guess huge blind spots and subsequent massive collisions were part of the Model T's reputation, but seriously...
2) It sits too high off the ground. This is impractical for several reasons, being that the handicapped and the old may have difficulty getting into the car, that the driver won't see young (and short) children walking right in front of it, etc. The Model T may have had a high suspension, but that was only because of the low technology in the suspension.
3) What people don't understand about energy-capturing suspension designs is that (by the Law of Conservation of energy) this energy comes from driving the car in the first place, so it is like attaching a dynamo to your bike wheel and using it to power a motor powering the wheel. Not the most efficient solution.
4) If that thing can really fit 4 occupants, then my perception of proportion tells me that the width of that car will overflow the conventional width of a lane. Or else the interior would be seriously cramped.
I wish I had participated in the contest...
I'm a (freelance) car designer, and have had the honour of having my design selected in the Michelin Challenge Design.
Singapore's F1 night race to use electronic flags {Autoblog}
Apr 18th 2008 12:38AM You been living under a rock for the past 200 years?
Singapore has never been part of, and never will be part of China. In fact, it used to be part of Britain, and is still proud to be an English Speaking nation. It is located in South East Asia (which is 5 hours flight from China) and has GDP per capita comparable to the leading European nations. Furthermore, it has been independent for 43 years and counting.
In my opinion it is great that Singapore is holding such a wonderful event... it would be nice to let the entire world know that Singapore is an independent, English-speaking nation and one of the most advanced in technology.
Go Singapore!
Greenpeace vs. Porsche {Autoblog}
Jul 27th 2007 12:45AM We now know that approx 16% of all greenhouse gasses comes from all traffic in the world, of which only 12% comes from cars, which makes it a 2% of all greenhouse gasses. Of which, Porsche accounts for 0.1%, so Porsche is responsible for 0.002% of all greenhouse gasses.
On the other hand, cows account for 18% of all greenhouse gasses, due to their massive belching of methane, which, molecule by molecule, is 200 times as pollutive and greenhouse-effect-stimulating than carbon dioxide. Cows are 9,000 times as pollutive as Porsche.
Meanwhile, deforestation cause 20% of all greenhouse gasses, due to their spewing of carbon into the atmosphere (trees are made from carbon; if trees are gone, the carbon goes back into the air, either by burning, decomposition, or sublimation), which then bond to oxygen to cause CO2. Millions of acres of rainforests are deforested each year. Deforestation is 10,000 times as pollutive as Porsche.
34% of all greenhouse gasses come from power stations. Every five minutes a new coal-fired factory opens in China. For every tonne of coal, three tonnes of carbon dioxide are released since coal is mainly carbon and carbon dioxide has two more oxygen atoms per molecule. Eww!
NOTE that my figures are slightly distorted when compared to Porsche's because mine take into account other greenhouse gasses, like Methane and Ethane, rather than just Carbon Dioxide.
But don't you see, people are picking on cars because they see "smoke" coming out of the tailpipes, and they say, "That's CO2!"
Think again.
CO2 is invisible!
The white smoke coming out is... surprise, surprise, WATER VAPOUR! The hydrogen that goes into the engine in the fuel combust with oxygen, and comes out as H2O! My god. And to think that scientists are currently turning to massive cloud production to _STOP_ global warming, in hopes that water vapour would reflect sunlight.
Those people are just jealous because they want attention. They don't even know their science!
Greenies war on fun: CO2 limits might kill Ferrari, Porsche {Autoblog}
Jul 13th 2007 12:35AM Let me enlighten you with some facts here:
Gas Engines emit Carbon Monoxide (CO), which spontaneously bond with Oxygen to form Carbon Dioxide like this: 2CO+O2=2CO2
For each kg of gasoline, approximately 3kg of CO2 is produced since gasoline is around 5/6 carbon, and each oxygen atom is heavier than a carbon atom (not to mention that there are 2 oxygen atoms per CO2 molecule).
So gas engines DO produce tonnes (no hyperbole here; it's true) of CO2, which is directly linked to global warming.
Now, there are many types of gas engines. The 2-Stroke, 4-Stroke, and Wankel are 3 more common ones in land transport, being used in gas lawnmowers, cars, and Mazda RX7/8, respectively. The Wankel Engine uses 3 times as much fuel as the 4 Stroke Engine, but due to its efficiency and high spin speed, it is not much more polluting. As for the 2-stroke engine, it uses twice as much gasoline as the 4-stroke, and due to its lack of efficiency (ever wonder why those things are so noisy, and so easily-overheated?), are 4 times as pollutive.
In the average U.S. household, for every 2 cars there is a gas lawnmower. So, we can conclude that banning gas lawnmowers would be twice as effective as banning all the cars.
Another fact is that Porsches and Ferraris make up around 10% of all the cars in the world. So banning gas lawnmowers is around 20 times as effective as banning Porsches and Ferraris.
Furthermore, all transportation only account for 14% of global greenhouse gasses.
Cows account for 18% (they belch methane, and methane is about 200 times more effective at causing greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide, molecule for molecule)
All these are based on sources such as Newsweek, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, etc, which are more reliable than politicians (which are merely civilians that get to get what they want).
So, now that you have wisely spent a few minutes reading this through, you exclaim, "why don't we ban lawnmowers and cows instead?"
Well, first of all, if we ban beef, we still can't prevent the cows from belching. Second of all, if we ban lawnmowers, people will use electric lawnmowers, which get their electricity from coal-fired powerplants (yes, the USA is not as advanced as you think. They may have many nuclear plants, and Canada may have both nuclear and hydroelectric dams, but most of the power still comes from coal.), which are slightly more efficient than gasoline engines, but are still very pollutive, and actually account for more CO2 than land transport. Nevertheless, developed nations are going more and more towards nuclear and other non-pollutive energy sources, so...
My vote still goes to Electric Porsches and Ferraris!!
By the way, I am a fan of gas-powered Porsches. My, was there ever a more musical sound than a flat-six! But we have to save the earth.
Motor Trend crowns world's best-handling car with most confusing graph {Autoblog}
May 11th 2007 8:45PM dude, the Porsche 911 GT3 was derived from its racing counterpart: the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. It was designed SPECIFICALLY to have good handling. You may even classify the GT3 as a supercar, right up there with the heavyweights.
The Honda Civic was designed for buying groceries. It was designed for economy, functionality, city usage, fuel efficiency. So was the Mazda.
There was No Doubt that the Porsche 911 GT3 won. It was quite a surprise that the Cayman beat the everyone in chassis control though.
Porsches are amazing, even though this study of handling is a bit outrageous. If you're going to study the handling of cars, then pit sports-racing vehicles against other vehicles of their kind, not against family cars!
Tiny Turbo: Fiat 500 gets 911 reskin {Autoblog}
Apr 22nd 2007 12:48PM Interesting... It uses the headlamps of a Porsche 996 Turbo, rear fascia resembling Porsche 996 Carrera 4S, and front air intakes like the Porsche 997 Turbo.
Spy Shots: 2009 Porsche 911 {Autoblog}
Feb 1st 2007 11:28PM I love this! And the rear lights remind me of the new Cayenne, but looks awesome when applied to the 911!
This is true Porsche evolution, man!
Go Pinky Lai!
Bill Gates' Porsche 959 to become enemy of the state {Autoblog}
Dec 18th 2006 9:21PM Rather than crushing these beautiful cars (they are really masterpieces... So beautiful, so wonderful.), Bill should sell them to the Porsche museum! So that everyone can admire the beauty of the car! When sitting in a museum, it can no longer pollute the air! Everyone is happy! Bill can get a Porsche 997 Turbo instead to drive on American roads!
Super seeing speculation! Porsche developing night vision system? {Autoblog}
Dec 5th 2006 8:31PM Don't you guys realise that if it is a projected screen, the head of the driver, the seats, the toys, or the sports chrono meter would cast a shadow? (since they are between the projector and the screen)
It would only be reasonable if it were a LCD screen.
And then again, the LCD screen would need a very fast response speed, and a high resolution, and oh my, such a fast computer so that there is absolutely no lag or slow framerates.
More Porsche Panamera Spy Shots {Autoblog}
Oct 27th 2006 8:19PM I quite agree that it looks ugly; The front door is too small compared to the rear door, the side windows are totally screwed up, and the turn indicator light... ewww.
And somehow, the rear angle photo reminds me of a mazda rx8.
On the other hand, it looks like it has a pop up rear spoiler, and it looks like its going to have a 944-like rear window hatch.
The front lights of the car resembles the tiny headlamps of teh porsche 904 spyder, which was during its time dubbed the most ugly Porsche ever.
However, most of these observations on the mule may only be results of camoflaging (they shouldn't have polished it that much if they had wanted to really camoflage it.
Meanwhile, it has been brought to my attention the two red reflector rectangles on the rear. They really spoil the smooth flow of the car's shape and I think they should be replaced with one long reflector strip in between teh rear lights just like the Porsche 996 MkII Carrera 4 S.
