McLaren tagged posts

McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Pagani, Koenigsegg, Aston Martin, Maserati are some brands that many people cannot afford. However this cannot stop us from examining them from the technical aspect: since they represent the most state-of-the-art technologies in the current automotive industry.

It is hard to judge and rank these exotic car makers, due to the fact that building a car involves lots of different technical areas. In this article, I will try to provide you a high-level holistic view, showing you what is the “house special” for each of them.

McLaren

They are good at car body and chassis design...

McLaren announced the brand-new 2016 675LT today. Basically speaking the 675LT is based on the current McLaren 650S.

Major changes made to the 675LT are:

– 33% of parts are different
– 220 lbs weight savings
– Same 3.8L turbocharged V8 engine, but tuned to 675PS (650S has 650PS, by its name)

For your reference, the 675LT is using the similar carbon fiber composite chassis in the 650S, with 220lbs less weight, the 675LT’s dry weight is as light as only 2,711 lbs.

The M838T 3.8L twin-turbo V8 is designed with the help from Ricardo. This root of the M838T can be traced back to Nissan’s VRH35ADE racing engine. The turbocharger on the M838T is sourced from Mitsubishi...

The upcoming 2015 Lexus NX200t is equipped with the first turbocharged engine within the whole Lexus history. This engine has the Toyota internal code name “8AR-FTS”.

The 8AR-FTS has an 2.0L displacement with an open-deck, midi-skirt type aluminum cylinder block. It also has a fully balanced forged steel crankshaft, cast-in iron cylinder liners.

On the Lexus NX200t, the turbocharged 8AR-FTS makes 235 hp at 5,600 rpm with 258 lb-ft of torque available from 1,650-4,000 rpm. On the paper this engine sounds just like a normal modern 4-cylinder turbo engine, which has similar performance (2...

Eight years earlier, cars sold under the $35k mark seldom get a 300hp+ engine (with exceptions like the 2005
Mustang GT), not to mention whether it was possible to get a 300hp+ luxury car at that time. Even though the
Mustang GT gets a 300hp V8 engine which is considered “high output” at that time, it sacrifices refinement
and interior material qualities and lots of other features.

But in the end of 2005, after Lexus released the 2GR-FSE engine, which was used in the 2006 IS350, the
situation is permanently changed. Equipped with the dual-injection-system 2GR-FSE engine, The IS350 has
306hp and carries a MSRP of $35,440 and its invoice price is $31,186 (for many peopl...

Insider news about GM leaked today indicates the next generation of Corvette (termed C8), may has an option of hybrid powertrain.

We all know that the biggest bottleneck of the internal combustion engine is its torque delivery. No matter how flat the torque curve it can achieve, it will never match the level that maximum torque at zero rpm, which is a special characteristic of the electric motor.

Therefore, adding an electric motor into the powertrain not only can enhance the car’s mpg, but most importantly it will significantly benefit the car’s acceleration performance...