Tag Archives: Toyota

Mugen CR-Z GT

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Jon Sibal posted these pictures of the Mugen CR-Z GT testing at Twin Ring Motegi. The car is slated to compete in the GT300 class of the Japanese Grand Touring Championship. The people who saw the car in person said the engine was relatively quiet, so it’s probably turbocharged. Honda has already stated that the CR-Z GT has a racing hybrid system. Honda likes to put their racing campaigns that use possibly risky drive train technology under the Mugen name in case they’re not as successful as they hoped it would be. The same thing happened with the Mugen Shinden electric motorcycle. Head over to Jon Sibal’s Blog to see the rest of the pictures. The CR-Z won’t be the only hybrid in the GT300 class. Toyota is also campaigning a Prius hybrid race car.

2012 Le Mans 24 Debrief – DRIVE

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I normally don’t like to post these Shakedown videos of the guys just sitting and chatting, but this one has a lot of interesting news that’s relevant to what we’re about here at Flux Auto. This episode revolves around the 2012 Le Mans 24 hour race that just finished up. Leo talks about how the Toyota TS030 and Audi E-Tron Quattro did as well as the future of the Nissan DeltaWing which was knocked out of the race by a driver who claimed he couldn’t see it in his mirrors. There’s also news about engine restrictions, energy consumption and hybrid drive trains for the race next year. The last part is an interesting bit of news regarding Mazda’s announcement that they were producing Skyactiv diesel engines for P2 cars next year as well. I’m glad to see that the movement to develop fuel efficient performance cars in racing is so strong. Racing breeds strong innovation.


Source: DRIVE on YouTube

VTEC Club vs. AE86 Club – Best Motoring

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This is an exciting older Best Motoring video that pits the crew’s favorite tuner cars from the VTEC camp against the AE86 camp. Representing the VTEC cars, they brought out the Techno Pro Spirits DC2 Integra, Spoon EG Civic and Power House Amuse S2000. The two 4AG powered AE86’s are from Arvou and Crystal Body Yokohama. Of course Keiichi Tsuchiya shows up in a car that represents both camps. He got his hands on the Hot Staff AE86 powered by an F20C engine from an S2000. At the time, they were the first tuners to complete this swap. There must have been a lot of bragging rights on the line because the boys push pretty hard in the rain.


Source: YouTube user dc2rSpoon

Road & Track Takes a Closer Look at the 2012 Hybrid Le Mans Cars

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Road & Track put together this video that takes a closer look at the hybrid cars competing in this year’s 24 hours of Le Mans, the Audi E-Tron Ultra and Toyota TS030. They talk about how each car has different engines, energy storage and even electric motor power delivery.


Source: Car and Driver on YouTube

Best Motoring Eco Car Track Battle

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Here’s another point in the discussion of making green cars fun vs. making fun cars green. Best Motoring put together this track battle around a rain-soaked Tsukuba circuit after Honda released the CR-Z in Japan. The two main cars to pay attention to are the Tec-Arts Eco AE86 and the Modulo Sports CR-Z. The Tec-Arts Eco AE86 has been modified to improve its gas mileage. The alternator and the starter were updated to modern units and the power steering was converted from hydraulic to electric assist all in the name of reducing parasitic drag on the engine. Reflective window tint was also installed to reduce the need of the air conditioning. The Modulo Sports CR-Z is a factory trim package that was available only in Japan. It comes with sport springs, dampers, brake pads and Advan Neova AD08 tires. Watch the video to see how they did. The race starts at 3:30 after the introduction of the cars.


Source: YouTube user GmoneyGripNY