The Draguar is probably my favorite of the Hot Rod Magazine Road Kill episodes. The guys purchased a Jaguar with a clapped out Chevy 350 for $1000 and then bolted a gargantuan Weiand supercharger to it in a parts store parking lot. The car survives some burnouts, a road trip and a few passes down the drag strip before the engine gives up the ghost. Apparently they thought the car was cool enough to deserve a new engine. This episode is about the dyno prep of the new Ford 383 that’s going to make a home under what’s left of the hood of the Draguar. The process starts with a break-in run naturally aspirated before the Weiand supercharger gets bolted on and they go for broke cranking up the boost with smaller pulleys.
Ford’s 3-cylinder 1.0 liter Ecoboost engine was designed to replace 1.6 liter naturally aspirated engines while providing 20% better fuel economy, 15% less emissions and more performance. It’s effect on the European small car market won the 1.0 Ecoboost the 2012 Engine of the Year award. To celebrate, Ford Europe outfitted a Formula Ford race car with the 1.0 liter Ecoboost engine and the bare minimum safety equipment to make it street legal. The turbo was upgraded to the bigger unit from the 1.6 liter 4-cylinder engine which pumped the output up to 200 hp. Race driver Nick Tandy was able to set a 7:22 around the Nurburgring which ties the time of the Dodge Viper ACR and is faster than a Nissan GT-R while delivering 56 mpg.
Ford Europe gave Chris Harris the opportunity to drive the Formula Ford Ecoboost on the streets and then take it for his own lap around the Nurburgring. The part that I found the most interesting is simply watching Harris’s reaction. He has recently had the chance to drive some of the most cutting edge green technology performance cars and has been uneasy with them. In the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive Harris was wowed by the fact that the controls strategy for the four drive motors could completely change how the chassis reacted but wasn’t completely sold on the fact that the car was a pure EV. When Chris drove the Porsche 918 Spyder, he was very impressed with the car’s performance and engineering, but the thought of applying the same lightweighting techniques to a gas powered car would yield better performance ultimately bugged him. Here Chris just enjoys the car and hardly mentions the green aspect of the Ecoboost engine. It seems as though being able to hear the boost of the turbo and having the characteristic of a tuned engine, albeit a small one, doesn’t rob the driver of the performance experience despite getting good gas mileage.
Car and Driver sits down the the Large Project Leader for the upcoming new Acura NSX, Ted Klaus. They talk about how an American engineer came to be a project lead as well as some of the heritage of the old NSX. The interview really puts me at ease because it seems like Klaus really gets what made the original NSX such a classic driver’s car. Even though many things will be changing in terms of vehicle architecture (the new NSX is a hybrid with three electric motors) and technology, they are making a very real effort to make sure the new car has the same soul as the original. They’re even going as far as to interview owners of the old NSX to see what it is they think is special about their cars. It also makes me really happy to know that a lot of the high-end performance cars currently in development are embracing hybrid technology both for performance and the perception that green technology is the latest and greatest for the industry.
Basem Wasef of Car and Driver pays a visit to Jonathan Ward of ICON. Ward got his start restoring old Toyota Landcruisers through his company TLC. His business then evolved into producing super high-end resto-mod versions of old 4×4’s including the FJ40. His most recent line of cars kind of brings Ward back to the middle ground between his two businesses. The ICON Derelict line takes old cars with perfect patina and re-engineers everything underneath the body without restoring the outer appearance. 3D scans are used to fit a new Art Morrison chassis to the body powered by a modern engine while the interior is fitted with modern gauges and air conditioning cleverly hidden beneath all of the stock equipment. The guys have a pretty candid discussion of what it’s like to drive one of these everyday and the type of hardcore car geek they appeal to.
The 2012 season of the British Touring Car Championship saw the crowning of a new champion in Gordon Shedden. The new Honda Civic race car also made its debut claiming all 5 available titles.
The Draguar is probably my favorite of the Hot Rod Magazine Road Kill episodes. The guys purchased a Jaguar with a clapped out Chevy 350 for $1000 and then bolted a gargantuan Weiand supercharger to it in a parts store parking lot. The car survives some burnouts, a road trip and a few passes down the drag strip before the engine gives up the ghost. Apparently they thought the car was cool enough to deserve a new engine. This episode is about the dyno prep of the new Ford 383 that’s going to make a home under what’s left of the hood of the Draguar. The process starts with a break-in run naturally aspirated before the Weiand supercharger gets bolted on and they go for broke cranking up the boost with smaller pulleys.
