Mercedes C63 AMG

      Since we are on the topic of muscle cars, here is what i would say would be the closest thing to a European version of the muscle car would be.  The Mercedes Benz C63 AMG is a 4 liter V8 equipped power coupe with over 500 horsepower and rear wheel drive.  If i didn't tell you that it was a Mercedes, you would have guessed something from America, wouldn't you?

       This is a car that is both refined and then at the flip of a switch, it turns into a track devouring monster.  Whether on the drag strip or road course, there are not many other cars that come this well equipped to keep drivers as comfortable and yet able to go this fast.  Not only that but it just looks freaking awesome.  Let me know what you think but at least for me, this is a future classic in the making right here.

Muscle Cars

       Now, if you are looking for a car that screams america, has absolutely no cornering abilities and is the fastest in a straight line, then the car for you is a muscle car.  The defining characteristics of a muscle car is a big screaming V8 engine, a live rear axle, a very small backseat and a loud exhaust.

      These cars came around in the late sixties with the emergence of the Ford Mustang, and Pontiac Firebird. From there, cars like the Chevy Camaro and Nova, the Dodge Charger, Plymouth roadrunners, Pontiac Barracuda , Oldsmobile 442, Ford thunderbird, and even the Chevrolet corvette evolved into a muscle car.  These cars were the perfect representation of the first golden age of cars in America and set the bar for all following models.  Some of the most legendary and coveted of these muscle cars include the Mustang GT 500's, the Chevrolet Corvettes,  Plymouth Superbirds and Hemi Barracudas.

      Not only are these cars found to be awesome and desired for from the sixties, but there has been a revitalization of the muscle cars in recent years.  Even though the Mustang never really went away, most people just wished they had for some time.  For example the Ford Mustang II with all 74 horsepower coming from four screaming cylinders of fury and freedom (yeah i'll pass, thanks) was quite possibly the worst car ever to be created and whoever authorized the production of such a disappointment to the mustang world was hopefully executed for it.  However, the last 15 years have seen a great number of mustangs that have lived up to that expectation set back in the sixties.  From the Terminator Cobra mustang in '03 and '04 to the GT 500 in 2013 and '14 with well over 650 horsepower.  The newest mustang takes the name to a whole new level however.  It takes a car that is good in a straight line and the engineers finally figured out what that silly contraption called a steering wheel is and they made it good on the track as well.

      Other companies that have been making a comeback in the muscle car world as well include Dodge and Chevy.  They too have begun to meet and raise the bar of expectation on their cars as well.  For instance, the Chevrolet Corvette has begun to rival European sports cars that have dominated the scene on the racetrack for as long as anybody could remember.  The camaro and dodge hellcats look mean as hell and can scare the crap out of just about any driver with power outputs reaching up to 707 horsepower from the factory.  Yeah, 707 factory horsepower.  That's crazy.

      I see no reason for any slowing in the progress that these muscle cars have made and i think that it is safe to say that we will see them around for a little longer this time as well.

Star Wars Power

      Now, I am sure that all of you who will read this blog have seen the new star wars or have seen one of the movies in the past.  Now one of the major features about these movies that is a trademark of it is the us of light speed in their ships.  Now, i want to discuss just how much power it would take to send an object to light speed, or rather if it is even reasonable.
      Now, for you to be able to create enough power to get deep enough into space as to not be affected by Earth's gravity, you would need to have a rocket larger than the biggest rocket ever built, (the Saturn V rocket).  So if you were imagining flying a millennium falcon away from earth then sorry, your're out of luck.  Now, if you had the money and resources to make a rocket powerful enough then that solves the problem of attaining enough power to get you out of the gravitational field of earth.
      While you are building this rocket you are going to want to begin researching for a new source of power for the push to light speed in a reasonable amount of time.  This source needs to be very energy-rich and also able to be stored safely in high amounts.  Once you have found this new magic fuel, you can begin to address the challenges of takeoff.
      You are going to need a full support team and compound to aid in the launch and landing of your rocket on earth and where you are going to. So lets just say that you have the incalculable amounts of money to support the missions to travel the speed of light on more than one occasion then yes it could happen. But sadly it would be a very inefficient use of resources and time for mankind.

Top Fuel

      Every gear head in this world has watched at least one top fuel dragster go down the track at one point in time or other.  The fastest class in the fastest sport in the world is the class of the Nitro Dragsters.  These monsters of engineering are one of the greatest automotive achievements around. These behemoths race down the 1,000 foot drag strip in about 3 seconds, reaching speeds of up to 330 miles per hour.  At the beginning of the race, just after the Christmas tree turns green, the G-forces exerted upon the driver exceed 5.5 g's and the noise registers as one of the loudest events in the world (160 decibels), ranking up there with volcanic eruptions and shuttle launches.  This phenomenon is called a drag race. Not the old, teenagers racing their dad's cars on some back road, but full-on professional high stakes racing.  If you want to get into this sport, you are going to want to make sure you have your pocketbook out, it costs over 1,000 dollars a second to run a drag pass with free labor and nothing malfunctions.  To show you more insight into the world of top fuel racing, check out this video. Enjoy!

The safest Ford ever built

      If climbing into the already massive cab of a Powerstroke ford just doesn't cut the mustard any more, I have the solution for you.  It comes in the form of a massively overbuilt and crazy bullet stopping machine called the Terradyne Gurkha.  This thing is a beast.  The windows and body can take up to a 7.62 mm caliber rifle round,  and it is built off of the same spec's as the military and security versions. Just by taking a look at this thing makes you sure of two things.  One, you want one immediately, and two, it is one bad ass machine that eats road barriers for breakfast.  

      For those of you in this world who have the pockets and desire to buy a vehicle that could drive through a brick wall and survive and explosion while being shot at and then drive over a couple cars. This is your choice.  This fortress on wheels will run you about the same money as a 2005 Ford GT, but will come with different options.  Although they both have V8's, one is gas and one is diesel. One is focused on conserving power to weight ratios, and one has more armor than most bank vaults attached to it.  One is built to withstand .308 bullets and one, well one frankly wont stop a .22.  Anyway, if this is something that would float your boat, here is what this beast looks like courtesy of Terradyne's website.

Auto shows

      When car companies have a new car model or technology that they want to release to  the public, or just want to advertise their lineup to the public at an organized event, then they go to these automotive shows.  These are very large events that can draw massive crowds and can result in thousands of people showing up and showing off.

      Some of the major shows of the year for the mainstream automotive manufacturers include the Detroit auto show and the Japan Auto show.  Companies like Ford, Toyota, Honda and GM dominate these shows.  Now, for those smaller companies that don't mass-produce vehicles like Hennessey and other tuners that want to get together and show off what they have been doing for the past year, they go to places like the SEMA auto show in Las Vegas.  Not only are there places to look at parked cars at these shows but you can also go and watch live performance demonstrations of what these cars can do.  For example, Ford had a large piece of asphalt blocked off so that they could run their new mustangs around and show off to the public just what their products can do.

      Like I said before, lots of these big name companies like to wait until these shows to release new cars to the public.  Some of the largest releases of recent years include the folowing.  The Ford GT, Acura NSX, the new BMW M6, the Ford Raptor and Mustang GT350 and GT350R, and the new Nissan Titan.

     I highly reccoment going to one of these shows if you have not already, they have so much new technology to learn about every year and who knows? You might get a chance to see and/or be a part of history.

The stig

      If you are a true gear head, you know who the Stig is.  Some say..... well you know.  Anyway, we finally know who he is. See here for yourself.  He has since been replaced and the new identity of the Stig has yet to be revealed.

Perfect Christmas Gift Ideas for Gearheads

     If you have a gear head in your family or you are a gear head with family asking for gift ideas, here are some of mine.

     Tools- Everyone who like cars probably also works on a car every now and then and the gift of a basic set of tools or a specific tool that they want would be a perfect gift.

     Car Calendar- As a great stocking stuffer, it will help them stay organized along with giving them some cool car pictures.

     Car Seat Covers-  If your gear head had an older car with torn or worn seats and isn't proficient in upholstery repair, then this gift idea is perfect for them.

     Custom Vanity Plates or Plate Cover- This is always a fun and interesting gift that will help give your gear head's car a new and unique look.

     A "this is my shop shirt" t-shirt- Why not? Everyone needs a shirt to get elbow deep in grease and have an excuse as to why it is dirty and has permanent oil or grease stains.

     Hope these help you find that perfect gift for the gear head in your life, and Happy Holidays!

Big Power

      Now, there is a percentage of the motoring world that believes that the key to a cool car is found directly underneath the hood.  Now, there are a few different ways that these massive amounts of power can be created in a variety of combinations.

      Big Motors:
The most logical and common way to create more power from a car is by simply putting a larger motor in the car.  This can mean either a larger cylinder block displacement, more cylinders, and best of all, both.  The best example of an automaker going for the biggest displacement can be found in the Dodge SRT Viper, at a mind boggling 8.2 liter V10.  This car claims the title for the biggest motor in a current production car.  And this was a success, at making well over 640 horsepower and 600 lb/ft of torque it ranks as one of the most powerful as well.  Now, the prime example of a production car with an immense amount of cylinders belongs to the Bugatti Veyron.  Boasting 16 cylinders in a w formation (like 2 V-8's with one row of cylinders stacked on top of the other), 64 valves, 4 turbochargers and well over 1,000 horsepower.  This motor is so complex that it is likely that no other car manufacturer will ever attempt to re-create Bugatti's masterpiece.

     Forced Induction:
When simply putting in a larger motor will either not work due to engine bay restrictions or not enough money to afford an engine and transmission swap, then forced induction is another, less expensive way to boos your car's power.  Forced induction is the term used for any system that aids the engine in helping increase the amount of air being put into the cylinders.  A naturally aspirated engine will only take in as much air as the pressure of the outside air will allow.  When you add a means of drawing in more air and compressing it into the same space, you increase power.  Denser air = more power.  The most common forms of forced induction are supercharging and turbocharging.  Superchargers are a compressor powered off of a pulley that draws from the rest of the engine.  Now, what this allows for is almost instantaneous power boosts off of the line due to the compressor generating power from the direct increases in engine rpm's.  However, this compressor draw can sap some engine efficiency as the rpm's increase.  A normal supercharger draws air in from the engine's stock intake system, but if the stock system is not providing enough air to keep the compressor from maximizing, another intake route is available.  This alternate to stock intakes is called a blower.  What a blower does, is it is an air intake that comes out of the hood of the car directly over the supercharger and draws all extra needed air down to the supercharger when needed through the opening of valves.  These blowers are so effective at drawing more air into the supercharger that they can add power boosts of immense proportions.  Turbochargers on the other hand are operated through utilizing the pressure of the exhaust.  Turbochargers have two housings, both that hold a set of rotors within them.  One housing and set of rotors is connect to the other. This first housing is connected to the exhaust pipes just after they connect from the headers and the fan inside is turned by these exhaust fumes. The higher the engine rpm's, the more exhaust fumes produced, thus creating more pressure and spinning this fan faster.  The second fan and housing, is connected to either a high flow air filter or is open to the outside air in a cold air dam.  What the function of this housing is, is that it takes the spinning power produced from the first housing, and it spins the second fan, that draws in and pressurizes the outside air that is then piped into the engine to create more power.  The advantages to having a turbo instead of a supercharger is that it provides a wider band of boost through the rpm's,and it doesn't draw away power directly from the engine pulleys.  The one major and probably apparent drawback to turbocharging is that it takes longer to build up the needed exhaust pressure to build  considerable amounts of boost at low rpm's.  The easiest solution to this problem is to either keep the engine rpm's high when expecting to need a power boost, but this can cause lots of wear and tear on your drive train and i would not recommend doing it very often.

      Precision Cylinder boring and Pistons:
A rather new but very effective way at producing immense power in any engine size requires some high tech approaches.  With new advances in cnc machining and precision machines similar to that, engines with almost the exact same cylinder and piston dimensions have become common technology in many different race classes.  The understanding around this is, is that before, a large amount of energy was being lost when the combustion was occurring and energy was escaping around the piston faster than the piston could move.  Now, these new engine blocks and their pistons are so close in measurement, that when the engine is cold, they are physically one piece.  The only way for racing teams to make use of this technology is to circulate pre-heated engine fluids through the engine hours in advance to firing the engine in order for it to work.  As the block heats up, the cylinders become just wide enough for the cylinders to move when firing the engine.  This new technology is a large contributor to the reason that the tiny 1.6 liter v6 used by formula 1 right now, produces well over 600 horsepower and how NASCAR engines can produce an astonishing 900 plus horsepower while being naturally aspirated.  Unfortunately, unless you drive a race car to work every day with a means of heating your engine block, this form of gaining power is somewhat out of reach.  For now at least it is.

How many gears is too many?

      A new occurrence that is staring to emerge is the number of gears in a transmission is greatly increasing due to a number of factors.  These factors range from better fuel economy, to a quieter car, or a faster car, or even just a smoother ride.  Whatever the case may be, I feel like too many can be a bad thing at a certain point.

     Examples of where more gears present is a good thing is in somewhat larger cars that are aiming to use as little energy as possible to get from point A to B.  Small econo-bots like smart cars and cubes though utilize a usually high number of gears, usually 6, but they don't use more because the weight of the extra clutch would be more parasitic to the efficiency of the car than beneficial.  However, in larger cars like sedans and luxury coupes, the weight of the extra clutch isn't as parasitic on the motor, due to a higher power output.  What these engineers hope to capture is easier acceleration of the car through more gears to keep the revs down as much as possible.  This puts less strain on the engine and also allows for less fuel to be used.

     High performance cars are also beginning to see this trend, seven and eight speed dual clutch automatic transmissions are becoming the norm for cars with ever increasing top speeds.  Manuals are also not omitted from this trend, as Porsche is offering a new 7-speed manual option in some of their cars.  This is in an effort to appeal to more new trends occurring in the car world today, but if you ask me, trying to manage finding the right gear in seven different slots would be a nightmare.

      So, what do you think? Are more gears better? Is this a fad or do you think that this is going to become the norm?

What makes a lemon, a lemon?

      By definition, a lemon is a car that has so many factory defects in the car that it renders itself completely unsafe and/ or unusable to the owner.  Also, the cost of fixing these problems adds up to more than the car is worth, then it can be considered a lemon and is given a salvage title.

      There are a few common cars that can almost always be associated with the term lemon.  The most notable of these lemons is easily the yugo 45.  If you were to look up the words "piece of S*#%" in the dictionary, this would be the picture next to it.  What made this car so bad was a multitude of bad ideas put together.  For starters, many of these cars had paneling that did not even come close to being aligned correctly.  Along with this the body has been known to rust at even the hint of moisture in the air.  Another thing is the interior is made out of some of the cheapest and crappiest made materials known to man.  The engine and transmission were also prone to very premature and disastrous failure.  The frame itself was made out of Russian hot-rolled steel, which was very weak and also very prone to rust.  With tan exception to possibly only the Pinto, this was the car you least want to get into an accident with.

     Ultimately, any car that has been called a lemon had been done so for very good reasons.  It is almost always perfectly accurate in the predictions of the future of the car itself.  So, if you hear the term lemon around a car and don't want to pour vast amounts of money into the car, then get as far away from that car a possible.

Porsche 911: the Dynasty

      When you think of a small, loud and unnervingly fast car that can be used in both daily use and domination of the race track, few disagree that the Porsche 911 can be bested very often in both realms at the same time.  As we see the release of the newest piece to this impressive arsenal of cars, I would like to explain what exactly makes these cars so good.

      The basic concept of the entire 911 has not changed since it has first emerged back in 1963-64.   That winning combination of a rear mounted flat six engine mounted in a car that has not lost its original looks, it has only modernized with more rounded edges and a more functional rear spoiler.  Although underneath, the car has evolved greatly to remain at the top of the pack when it comes to performance.  From the original performance 911's to the new 911 gt3 rs, they continue to be at the cutting edge of technology when they come out.

      The functionality of this German engineered super car allows it to be widely purchased around the world due to it being one of the most manageable yet fast cars.  Once you listen to one of these fire up, you know they are fast.  Few other cars in the world have been able to create such a loyal following as the Porsche 911.

Fat tire mountain bikes

      Recently, there has been a new trend that has appeared from the ranks of craft beers, big beards, flannels and cross-fit (the hipsters among us). And that new trend is to take wide tired mountain bikes (about 4 inches wide) and take them trail riding.  Now originally these bikes were designed with such a wide track in order to not sink into snow when riding in the winter.  These bikes were originally designed to have static frames, but some companies have moved to producing hard-tail models by modifying the designs of regular hard-tail forks and their geometry to fit the larger wheels and beefier frames.

     Now, the obvious challenge about these bikes would be their weight, but this is easily solved by a reworked gear system with more low-gear ratios to aid in starting and going up hills.  Another obvious challenge is the turning radius, and the answer is provided through tow solutions.  The first being that with the wider tires comes even better grip on the trail, and this allows you to lean down into your turns much more than you would be able to do on a regular bike. Now, the wide tire's added grip also gives great benefits to the climbing capability, when coupled with the modified gearing of the bike. This also gives the bike a wider contact patch on all surfaces, which really comes in handy in wet and muddy conditions.

      Now, I would say that unlike other trends that can pop up and then quickly fade out, i believe that this one will stay around or quite some time,  This is largely due in part to the many fixes to potential challenges. faced when riding a bike like this.

When is too much, too much?

      Well, in order for us to be able to correctly answer this question, we must first find out what the "much" is consisting of.  For instance, what is too much bling for your car, or at what point is it socially assumed that your suspension compensating for other "shortcomings"?

      We all have that one friend that is into chrome, in order for you to know if he has a chrome problem or not... here are a few diagnostic tips for you.  Are there things that car chromed on their car that doesn't come available in a stock model of the car? For instance, it is one thing to have chromed mirrors or running boards, but when an entire A or B-pillar or a quarter panel of a car is chrome, then you may have a problem.  Does he have home-made or questionably constructed "rims" that seem like they don't exactly contribute to the performance of the car and possibly take performance away from it?   If he has other colors of chrome besides silver on totally unnecessary parts of the car like the hood, roof, etc... then your friend might be getting a little too close with chrome.

     We are all also familiar with the stereotype of lifted truck owners.  If he has a lift kit, then it's for a reason of "size compensation".  Now, there are functional reasons for people to do this to their trucks and sometimes cars.  If you were to be an off-road racer, for example a Baja truck racer, a lift kit or long travel suspension kit is absolutely necessary.  If you were to try and race any stock truck in a Baja race then ti would destroy itself almost immediately.  Another use for a lift kit is to allow for larger wheels and tires that can add much more versatility and off road capability on a day to day to day basis.  For instance, a truck that is used on a ranch every day is going to need big aftermarket tires to get around on a day to day basis to get around the rough terrain of his ranch.  These types of lift kits are for function.

      And now, we move to the people who overly modify their cars or trucks just to show off to the extreme.  One of the main forms of this can be found in lift kits.  You can almost always find a guy who drives a truck with am 8+ inch lift kit on his truck, that at the same time has never been off- roading in their life.  These people are a disgrace to the rest if the truck world, they spend all of this money just to not use their trucks for what they were built/ modified to do.

      Another type of excessive use that we find a lot comes in the form of speakers and sound systems.  If you have some aftermarket speakers and a new radio and an amplifier in your car, then good for you, you enjoy your music.  But it does get crazy when every available space in the back of your car is filled to the point of bursting with sub-woofers, tweeters and everything in between.  Let's just put it this way, the only reason I should hear your car before I see it, is if it has a really good exhaust and a big motor.  I should not be able to feel the bass from your 4 12-inch sub-woofers crammed in the trunk from the next area code.

      Now that you have read this, please remember that with great power of modification, comes great responsibility to not go overboard and end up looking like a complete and utter tool.  Thanks!

What is Rolling coal?

     I am assuming that quite a few of you were confused when i began to talk about this new truck rend called rolling coal.  First, in order to explain why it is happening, i would like to discuss what is going on in the truck to make it happen.

     It used to be that seeing coal roll was limited to just massive semi trailers straining to pull massive weights up to speed.  The large contributor to this happening was the fact that much more than the normal amount of diesel was being injected into the cylinders and not all of it was being ignited.  Thus, the un-burned fuel exited the smoke stacks with the rest of the exhaust as a semi burned black soot.

      Truck drivers all across the nation have adopted this as their new form of protest against new environmental laws that have been passes as of recent.  There are kits that are able to be purchased on line that go into the computer of the truck and trick the engine into thinking that it is being deprived of fuel.  When these modifying kits are paired with things like upgraded intake manifolds, larger injectors, and upgraded exhaust systems, these trucks can produce some serious soot, and power as well.  Now, technically this is illegal in many states and is likely to be frowned upon in others, this doesn't stop truck drivers at all.  In fact, they embrace it so much that they have begun to make clubs where local coal rollers will meet and go on cruises just to roll coal down the open road.

      Now, there are some misconceptions about rolling coal that i would like to address as well.  There are instances where rolling coal is a good thing.  For instance if a drag racer wants to put a turbo diesel motor in their car for obvious torque advantages, then they need to be able to spool up the turbos at the line in order to take advantage of the full potential of the turbos.  A result of these turbos being spooled up in a diesel motor is a lot of soot spewing from the exhaust, but the results include some of the fastest passes in drag racing for non-nitro methane cars.  Another misconception is that when you roll coal, you are releasing this horrible and deadly plume of smoke with mustard gas capabilities.  However the smoke is simply half or un-burned diesel fuel that escapes with the exhaust.  Now I do not recommend that you plant your face in front of the nearest coal roller, but I am saying that it is not as bad as some people think.

Exhaust notes:A thing of bueaty

   What is that one thing that stays in your memory long after that awesome car you just saw go by that stays with you? The obvious answer is the exhaust note.  Not only does it add an amazing soundtrack to the car's appearance, but it shows the hard work put into the owner or designer to create the perfect desired sound from the engine.  The exhaust note is the ultimate telltale sign of the effort put into the car by the designer or owner and it shows what the car is really made of.

      Different types of exhaust types are used for different types of cars.  For example, if you drive  a smaller city car, you are going to want an exhaust with very low sound, but still allows the car to get very good fuel mileage.  The best style of exhaust for this car would be a simple single tip exhaust with a good muffler and not too many frills to affect the mileage of the car.  If you drive a sportier car, and performance takes precedence over mileage, a less restrictive twin exit exhaust system is probably the best option for you. There are many different exhaust setups you can run from this, ranging from side pipes, to both exhaust tips exiting behind the car, to both on one side.  Whichever you choose will provide a slightly different type of sound.  Now, if you are somebody who drives something built to go off-road a lot, like a truck and you also enjoy watching un-burned diesel fuel spew from the back of your vehicles, this is the choice for you. A new trend among truck owners called rolling coal(which i will cover in another story soon) is best optimized through using massive exhaust systems.  These can come in the form of larger exhaust pipes from the cat's back, or through massive semi-truck like smoke stacks.  This is the ultimate form of a redneck truck.  This is the guy that you can find deep in the backwoods tearing it up on a questionable blood alcohol level with his buddies.

      Now, some of the greatest examples of a good exhaust note start far away from the exhaust themselves.  It starts with the engine and intake systems.  You will get a very different sound from a I-4 compared to a V-8 compared to a V-12.  Now, most great exhaust notes begin in the rare cases of a powerful 6 cylinder.  These cars include the Lotus Exige, BMW E46 M3, any Porsche, Formula 1 cars, any Nissan GT-R, and the Jaguar F-type V6 S.  Many of these cars employ things like superchargers or turbochargers to greatly boost their power numbers, because there are simply not enough cylinders to make a boatload of power or sound from the block alone.

      Now, as the number of cylinders increases to eight, the sound becomes much more deep, as there are more cylinders firing. in my opinion, a good sounding V-8 is the best sounding engine in the world.  Some of the prime examples of this include, the Ford Mustang GT 350-R, or really, any proper mustang or muscle car for that matter, the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, The Audi B8 RS4, The Audi R8 V8, Mersedes, SLS AMG, any Corvette, the old original Ford GT-40's, the Ferrari 458, the mercedes C63 AMG, any Koenugsegg, and many others.  But my personal favorite V8 sound of all time would have to be this "slightly modified" ford mustang driven by drift king Ken Block.  Trust me, i'm sure you will agree with me on this one.

      Now, as we move on to the larger 10 and 12+ cylinder engines, a new sound emerges.  It is some of a high uppity tone from a strong, quick V6, and it isnt that of the deep, brutish snarl that wants to rip your face off that you find in a V8.  It is somewhat of a unique, exotic sound that is very hard to describe any other way.  When you hear one of these cars, you know they mean business.  The best examples include the following, The Audi S8 and R8 V10's, the BMW M6, the Lamborghini Gallardo Superlegerra, the Dodge Viper, the Lexus LFA, Porsche Carrera GT. For the V12's and up, the Aston Martin V12 Vantage, Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari F12, the Pagani Zonda R, Mclaren F1, Jaguar E-type V12, andthe legendary Mercedes CLK GTR.

      As you might have seen, as the number of cylinders employed grows, the exoticness of these cars also increased.  This is due in a small part to o with the fact that they wanted to be distinguished from the more ordinary sounding smaller engines.  I guarantee you that you will be able to tell if a Ferrari or a Ford is going down the road just from the exhaust note.

The Ultimate in Motorcycle Speed

      For those of you who feel that racing down a quarter mile drag strip in nine and half seconds at 150 miles an hour in car isn't good enough for you, then the alternative has arrived.  This comes in the form of an exact replica of Ducati's Moto GP race bike.

       Beginning in 2008, Ducati released this new bike, which was named the Desmosedici RR, would be produced at a rate of one per day.  The price tag on this particular bike was set at $72,500, and for a motorcycle, that is very, very expensive.  Now, to put this into more perspective, a Ferrari La Ferrari  which holds the claim to the fastest quarter mile when not modified, can spring the quarter mile in 9.7 seconds and 149.1 MPH on a perfect pass.  The Ducati can sprint the quarter mile in 9.4 seconds at 152.8 miles per hour without modification.  In fact, there are six other motorcycles that clock in with a better time than the La Ferrari, and that goes to provide some serious street cred for these motorcycles.

      Now, this bike is also built for more than just going really fast in a really straight line.  This is one of the most directly tied bikes in the world to the Moto GP version.  This is evident in the massive brakes, re-tuned ECU and racing inspired exhaust.  This bike was built specifically for the purpose of being a fast yet manageable daily driver that could go to the track and destroy all other opponents no questions asked.  The closest comparison to a car that I can think of is the old Dodge Viper ACR-X.

Red Bull Rampage

     The Red Bull Rampage is known to many in the growing mountain biking world as the pinnacle in free ride downhill cycling.  Like many of Red Bull's sponsored events, this event is the preview to the public of an extreme sport at it's highest level.

     Located annually in Virgin, Utah deep in the Rocky Mountains, the terrain that these riders experience is some of the roughest in the whole country. It takes a certain amount of skill and insanity that most everyday people would only dream of having.  The setup of the obstacles and possible lines down the mountain is changing and increasing every year to allow for even more dynamic and technical rides.  For those riders who go for the big air, massive jumps are littered throughout the course.  The biggest of which, consists of a 72 foot canyon jump that is accessed from riding over a more than 90 degree cliff and plummeting straight down towards the ramp, which propels you over this massive cavern.  Another one of the massive jumps is located on the Oakley icon send center, which sends you down a massive ramp and spits you out over a sheer cliff for nearly endless airtime.

        If your dream is to defy gravity, and going to space is out of the question then I would recommend that you begin training to ride here.  Nowhere else on the planet can you get as much air time as the Red Bull rampage.  Check this video out here for what I am talking about and i am sue you will agree with me. Like I said, this place is crazy. Thankfully however, in the 10 year history of this event, no rider has ever died in a crash.  The worst injuries sustained in this event have been a list of broken bones.  Hopefully there is never a fatality, which I would imagine is the aim of every rider and every other person associated with making this event happen every year.  Thanks for reading.

     

Why the Lykan Hypersport is a waste.

      I am sure that most of you have heard in recent car news about a new kid on the block in the hypercar world.  That new kid comes in the form of an ultra-rare package of the Lykan Hypersport.  Checking in at $3.5 million dollars, it definitely is the most expensive car out there, but do you really get that much car for what you pay for?  Well, look at it this way, in order to pay for this car, you have to have more money in your pocket than the average MLB baseball player earns in an entire year's salary (3.2 Million, thanks to the Huffington post).

      What causes such a high price tag you may ask? Let's look at some of the amenities provided by the Lykan (courtesy of W motors website).  When you buy this car, you get an "exclusive heads up display" and "customizeable digital performance cluster" that gives so many different sets of data you begin to get tunnel vision from just looking at a picture of it.  One of the most luxurious options you get to make in this car is you are able to select between diamonds, yellow diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds to put on titanium in your headlights.  Another exclusive amenity you get is a key made out of carbon fiber, titanium and more precious stones, and you also get to choose a watch that matches paint colors with your car.  The body of the car is entirely made up of carbon fiber for weight reduction, powered by a Porsche derived flat six engine with twin intercooled turbos paired with a six speed sequential transmission, or a seven speed dual clutch transmisssion. The max horsepower is 780 horsepower and 708 Lb/ft of torque and it weighs just over 3,000 pounds.  

      Now, the interior does feature lots of carbon fiber, just like many other cars in the same class as the Lykan, but after that, things go downhill.  There is nothing very spectacular about the rest of the interior.  In fact, it looks downright boring.  Instead of beautiful leather inserts or other unique additions like the car like in the Bugatti Veyron, or the Audi R8 (both cars that cost a significantly less amount of money might i add). The dash board, door paneling, headliner and the seats look like they could have come out of a Ford F-150 with an interior redesign.  Now, these are entirely customizable of course, but the options offered like gold wire stitching seem a little ridiculous.  

Now, let's crunch some numbers, the most proven and dominant 6 cylinder super car on the planet is undoubtedly the Nissan GT-R.  The best version of this car comes from a tuning shop called Alpha Performance.  Tuned from 530 BHP and 448 Lb/ft of torque to 1,840 BHP and 1,283 Lb/ft of torque in the Alpha 16 Package, this car is the easily the king.  With the cost of this car sitting at around $200,000 (possibly a little more) you could buy 17 1/2 Alpha 16 Nissan GT-R's for the same price.  That amounts to over 32,200 BHP and 22,452 Lb/ft of torque.  Compare that to the meager numbers of the Lykan at 780 horsepower and 708 Lb/ft of torque.  If you still want to choose the Lykan over that much power, then you truly are the type of person who should buy the Lykan. 

      The Lykan Hypersport was built to appeal to a very specific type of person.  That person is who has more money than brains and wants to be able to drive a car that costs more to purchase than  private airplane (which they probably also have purchased).

The AC Cobra: The Greatest American Car Ever

      When you think of America, what do you think of first?  Of course you think of freedom, and what better expression of this freedom is there in this world than the open cockpit and roaring open exhaust note right underneath you of the AC Cobra.


      When you look at this car, with the crazy wheel wells and massive wheels and the subtle, yet elegant curve of the body line from the front to the back of the car.  What started out as one of the many revenge projects started by the masterminds called Carroll Shelby and Henry Ford II.  After Ferrari pulled out of a deal with Ford, the american car company owner went to racing legend Carroll Shelby and asked him what they could do to beat Ferrari at their own game.  Carroll took this challenge and created some monstrous machines.  The body of the AC Cobra came from a British Sports car combination of cars, including the AC Ace Racer.  Then, Carroll Frankensteined a massive 427 cubic inch engine with as much violence and brute force going on inside those cylinders as a freight train crashing into a brick wall.  The end result was a legendary car, whose according to it's name (the cobra) virtually came up and bit the balls off of every prancing horse and bull emblem that it encountered on the road and on the race track.

      The wrath and mind boggling power and acceleration of this car along with the great history of what this car represented is what makes it so desirable even today.  With original numbers-matching cars calling for easy six digit prices and many rarer ones like Carrol Shelby's personal AC Super Snake fetch a price of well over $5.5 Million dollars at auction.  These cars are extremely fun to drive, and the people who own these cars definitely know how to drive them.  If you ever get the opportunity in your lifetime to drive this american icon, I would highly recommend it.

Ricers: An Epidemic

      Many of you who have heard of the term "ricer" probably think of a crappy old Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla with an awful muffler and an even worse pain job to match.  Although these cars fall underneath this term, the term actually covers an even broader spectrum of cars.  There is also a distinct difference between ricers and tuners, and we will address that as well.

      The true definition to the term "ricer" is any car that has been tastelessly designed and customized with things that give zero advantages to the performance of the car itself.  For example: that "custom homemade" body wrap that you and your buddies got that has the cool flames you wanted that you put on your car in you mom's garage with a hairdryer and putty knife isn't fooling anybody.  Another prime example to spotting a ricer is the immediate presence of a ridiculously over sized rear spoiler that adds no performance advantages to the car and actually impedes the performance of the car by adding extra weight and drag.

      What was once just a small enclave of mostly Japanese drivers expressing their own views on car styling has turned into a worldwide epidemic in the automotive world.  The types of styles that now fall under this category vary greatly.  The most obvious is the tuner impersonator, which employs the same main spotting points discussed above with a few more added details.  These go on to include a muffler that does about as much good at making the engine quieter as an empty soda can would.  Also, many ricers add stickers to the front panels and rear windows of the car that sport products usually not even in the car, or stickers promoting a sportier version of the actual car.  This usually comes in the form of different logos like V-TEC or SVT or something along those lines.

      Another smaller group of ricers that has become more prevalent is the "donked out" cars.  These cars have been given lift kits and over sized wheels with the thinnest tires available to the owner.  These wheels can range in size from 24'' all the way up to 36'' and above.  Also, it is usually typical to see customized rims and/ or spinning rims on these cars (if that helps you identify who mainly drives these cars).  They also usually have very extravagant and extremely customized paint jobs.  These can take the form of anything from just some good pin striping, all the way up to full-on themed paint jobs attributing to things like McDonalds, Tampons and Kool-aid (i kid you not they actually pain cars like that).  As a nice final touch, these cars are also accompanied by even more loud accessories like questionably legal exhaust cutouts to solid gold truck nuts.

      There are many other smaller groups of cars that fall under this category.  The most commonly "riced" cars include the following,  The Ford Mustang, the Honda Del Sol, the Mitsubishi Lancer (non-evo version), the Acura Integra, Eagle Talon,and the king of them all is the Honda Civic.

      With this knowledge now vested within you, i challenge you to go back out into the world more aware of how these cars are dragging down many other types of car owners that i will discuss soon enough like Sleepers and Tuners.

Car Versus Fighter Jet

      Now, as you read this title, I know what you are going to think... "How is this even a choice?", there is one answer to your question.  In the world of extremely fast accelerating cars and mach-2 plus capable planes, the only way the car world has a chance is in the Bugatti Veyron, the fastest production car to date.

      In the video posted below, I will describe the match up featured in on of the greatest matchups of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoLYPrkwrA4

Stats:

      The Bugatti is powered by a W-16 quad-turbo engine that effortlessly makes well over 1183 brake horsepower.  Paired with a 7 speed transmission going to all 4 wheels, this car is the car that is the current world record holder for the fastest production car on the planet at over 270 mph, with a zero to sixty time of 2.5 seconds.  What makes this car so special and powerful is the unique design of the engine paired with the massive amounts of boost produced by the turbos.  Along with brute force, the Bugatti is a technological masterpiece with countless hours of aerodynamics testing.  These countless hours can be found in every part of the car, but the most interesting product of this research to me is the rear air brake/ wing.  When running at high speeds, it acts to provide down force to the rear wheels.  But when the car is slowing form high speeds, the wing flips up, much like air brakes on fighter jets, and it provides the car with as much braking power as a Volkswagen Golf when driving at around 180 mph.  Another interesting fact about the Bugatti is the safety features in the car, most specifically the speed governing system.  In the side of the diver's side door well there is a key slot that deactivates the aerodynamic speed governor by adjusting the suspension to lower the car almost so that it is touching the ground,  This gives the Bugatti it's capability or reaching its fabled top speed. When this is not activated, the car can only push itself up to a lower but still respectable 258 mph.

 
      The Jet in the video is one that might not be as familiar to people as the car.  It's name is the Eurofighter Typhoon.  the Eurofighter gets it's name due to the many countries who participated jointly to produce  the plane (England, Germany, Spain and Italy).  It is powered by 2 jet engines, which at full afterburner give the Eurofighter a thrust to weight ratio of 1.76 and pushing it to a disclosed top speed of over mach 2.35 (2.35 times the speed of sound). The super cruise speed (maximum sustainable cruising speed) is Mach 1.5 (1.5 times the speed of sound).  This jet is operated through a fly-by-wire system and is also run by over 70 different computers just to keep the plane in the air.  The reason for this many computers is due to design by necessity.  In order for the Typhoon to have an edge in dogfights before thrust vectoring, the plane had to be made unstable in the air to improve maneuvering in said dogfights.  The F-4's and F-14's were a prime example of the need for either smaller planes, or new technological developments in order for these big fighters to be able to stay alive in dogfights with much smaller planes like the MIGs of the time.

     Now with the Typhoon having this much speed as it does, it looks like it might be a blowout, but i will leave it to you to choose which you think will win and then watch the video yourself.

Car of the week: Koenigsegg Agera One:1

   
      A somewhat lesser known super car company comfortably nestled into Sweden, founded by a man named Christian Van Koenigsegg.  This man's dream was to create world-class super cars that could hold their own against cars made by much bigger companies.  And with the newest addition to the legacy of the Agera model line, they might have just made one of the greatest feats of automotive creation ever.  This creation takes the form of a car with an astonishing horsepower to kilogram curb weight ratio of 1:1.  Thus the name One:1, and what this also means is that this is the first street legal series produced car to produce one megawatt of power, thus being dubbed the "Mega-car".

     The truly amazing thing about this car is that it reaches it's maximum power numbers (1341 horsepower) while running on E85 bio-fuel, not racing gasoline.  The engine behind this monster of a car is a twin turbocharged 32 valve V8 with multiple sequential injectors for each cylinder.

     With all of this power, an equally large amount of down force is needed to keep the car glued to the track, and with the assistance of a massive rear spoiler, side and front air splitters, and a flat under body with air convectors in the underside, this car would need nothing short of an explosive charge to go off in order for this car to come unglued from the road.

     What all of these power and numbers add up to is something like this.  A predicted Bugatti-smashing 273 mph top speed, a predicted 6:30.00 time lap around the Nurburgring, pending the recent imposed speed limits are lifted, and a car that is one of the most capable feats of engineering ever to grace this planet.

      I am looking forward to the many, many records that this car will set and break, along with joining the likes of cars like the Hennessey Venom GT as one of the fastest cars in the world.

Possibly the end to the Naturally Aspirated performance Car?

      As the announcement from Ferrari came out about the details for the replacement for the 458 came out, the 488 had some details that are beginning to spell the demise for a realm of this car world.

      The end that i am talking about is that of the naturally aspirated performance car.  What this means is that many sports and super cars are beginning to feel the pinch of governmental emissions standards that are becoming all too much of a reality for us all.  These standards are forcing companies to downsize engine displacement and add either a turbo or a supercharger to the engine to compensate for the loss of power from the smaller engine and also to improve emissions of the car. The all too real world of emission-concerned people (tree-huggers) has even made its way into the almost imaginary racing world of companies like Ferrari, Nissan Nismo, Mercedes AMG, Dodge SRT, and other performance brands.  

      For example, the new Ferrari 488 features a smaller, turbocharged engine.  Now for those of you who are familiar with the 458 engine, this was easily one of the greatest performing V8 engines ever. Period. Now why would Ferrari do away with such am amazingly developed engine? Two words are all that are needed, Emissions Standards.  With tighter emission standards, the engine in the old 458 was maxed out in terms of fuel economy, and facing possible restrictions of import from countries like the U.S. sadly it had to lose some bulk and go turbo.  Other cars that have faced the same treatment go on to include the BMW M4 coupe, nearly every Porsche 911, Mercedes C63 AMG, and the Nissan 370z and the GTR.  

      What this means, is that the end is nearing, especially for the V8, with most V6's alerady gone the way of forced induction, the V8 is inevitably soon to follow.  in my opinion we may already be seeing the last hurrah of this great american icon.   And it is found in the form of a car that couldn't be more befitting to send it off into the sunset.  That car is Ford's new Mustang GT350 and GT350R.  With Ford finally taking a leaf out of Ferrari's book and came up with a flat crank deign allowing for endless revs all the way up to 9,000 RPM's.  When this car is going around the track or simply driving, it seems that you could just pick a gear and let it run forever.  Along with this, Ford also has an active valve cutoff valves that change the exhaust dynamics completely when changed from driving to track mode.  The video below, thanks to Ford themselves gives a demonstration of what I am talking about. After you listen to the ear-gasmic exhaust I am sure that you will be a believer in this car as well.

     Ford Mustang Exhaust

At about 20 to 30 seconds you will know what i mean about the active exhaust changing, and be careful, it gets pretty loud.

What is NASCAR?

      As the Chase for the Sprint Cup series continues to add racers to the field to the finals, some people ask, "What is NASCAR, and what is it all about?".  Now, I know that most people who read this know what NASCAR is, but i would still like to talk about it to educate those who do not know.

      NASCAR stands for the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing.  Now, a stock car is by definition, any normal "stock car" that had been modified for racing.  Within the association however, there are many different types of classes that allow for different amounts of modifications to be made to the car.  The most extreme of these cars are what you see racing around the oval across the country every weekend.  Although these cars are designed to look similar to those cars that you can buy from a dealership, they are the farthest thing that you can get from them.  For example, a normal Toyota Corolla costs somewhere in the $ 20,000 range brand new and makes 140 horsepower max.  The stock car version of the Corolla has been known to cost upwards of $150,000 dollars with the engine alone costing up to $100,000.  These monstrous engines are capable of creating power numbers upwards of 900 horsepower that at some tracks, can push the cars to their 200 mph racing speed with the capability of going much faster, if it wasn't for all of those darn left turns and restrictions that are put upon the cars to help maintain safety.

     Along with monstrous horsepower numbers and even heftier price tags, these race cars are also equipped with some of the greatest feats of driving safety known to man.  These include the roll cage and the front and rear driving assembly, which in case of a crash are designed to crumple and push all harmful parts of the car away from the driver while the roll cage maintains a solid structure around the driver.

     Another cool thing that not many people know about NASCAR is the story about where it came from.  The NASCAR actually originated from moonshiners.  Crazy right?? During prohibition, all of these moonshiners needed faster cars to be able to make quick deliveries of moonshine along with being capable of outrunning the police if needed.  When these moonshine runners weren't out on delivery runs, they tended to want to cut loose.  What better way for young restless men who have these souped up cars to pass their time other than racing them against each other?  What began as friendly competition soon turned into a nationwide racing organization.  What really spurred the growth of NASCAR was the end of prohibition, with even more free time to organize races and meetings, along with the funding available to them from their "questionably legal business ventures", NASCAR fever quickly caught on in a car-crazy country and the rest is history.

Car of the week: Corvette C7 Z06

     As a fan of one of , if not the longest continual car model on the planet, i had high hopes for the coming of the newest Kentucky bred racehorse. (For those of you that might not know Kentucky is where Corvette started).  With the new results out, i have to say, they not only met my expectations on this car, they blew them out of the water.

     With one of the most track-ready setups ever put into a street car, it is capable of stealing lunch money from cars costing upwards of two to three times the price, and can hang with even more capable and exotic cars.  For instance, cars like the Mclaren 650S had a hard time shaking the Corvette during hot lap testing for the magazine Motor Trend.  How is a car that costs over half as much as a car made by a company with one of the greatest racing pedigrees in the world able to keep up?  The answer is American brute power and down force, lots of down force.  The 6.2 liter supercharged V8 engine creates over 650 horsepower and 650 lb/ft of torque.  The entire car is designed to push air either onto the front air splitter and wings, around the car or onto the massive spoiler on the back of the car.  In all, this brute produces the most down force ever found in a GM-made car. Ever. Period.

      With the choices of either a seven speed manual or an eight speed automatic, the power is easily put to the ground with the assistance of optional Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires.  Also, what makes this car so different from many of it's competitors is the out-of-this-world suspension system.  Almost unlimited tuning and adjustments can be made due to the double wishbone magnetic selective ride control systems that companies like Ferrari asked to borrow from Chevrolet.  Crazy huh?

What type of bike is best?

In the world of bicycles, there are many different styles and variations that offer a very specific set of abilities and comfort ranges.  For example, a road bike is built to be as aerodynamic as possible and offer as little rolling resistance to the road as possible. Whereas a downhill mountain bike is built to be extremely strong where it needs to be, with massive shock absorbers to take up as much of the terrain that you face.

When choosing what type of bike you are going to buy, it is imperative that you first take a good look at what type of riding you will be doing the most.  If you are going to be racing in triathlons and road courses then a dedicated road bike is what you are going to want to buy.  If you are going to be riding around as your main source of transportation, then a good bike to choose would be a good quality cross bike.  These bikes can sometimes include shock absorbers but most of the time the offer a nice comfortable ride that doesn’t take a lot of effort to get going on.  Now on the other side of the spectrum, mountain bikes get even more specific in what style is needed for certain riding styles.  For example, gravity bikes are designed with one thing in mind and one thing only, and that is to be able to be sent down mountains at ridiculously fast speeds and to be able to handle massive obstacles and be able to have enough suspension travel for riders to be able to hit jumps on these courses of up to and over 60 feet.  From there things begin to become slightly less crazy with your downhill bikes and then to your cross country bikes.  These still allow for a large amount of suspension travel, but the angles of the frame allow for an easier time in acceleration on flat and inclined slopes.  These bikes can also feature high tech accommodations like adjustable locking suspension and adjustable hydraulic disc brakes.  To be honest some mountain bikes easily have more design and technology developmental hours than some motorcycles.  On the most common and relaxed side of the mountain bike realm, we have the normal trail bikes that can be found in either full suspension, hard tail or static configurations. 

Every bike type listed before all have advantages depending upon what types of riding you will be doing, so the more research and thought that you put into what styles of riding you will be doing, the better off you will be.

      Coming up in the next few weeks I am going to start putting up at least 1 post a week dedicated to a new or interesting car/ motorcycle/ bicycle that i find interesting and feel it needs to be publicized. I hope that you will enjoy the posts for the sole purpose of enjoyment.  I feel that people who are trying to get the word out about their vehicle will always appreciate all the help they can get to become known.

      Like I said, I plan on posting these purely for entertainment value and I aim not to offend any hardcore "brand followers" because i am a human as well and I will be voicing my opinions upon these vehicles. That is the reason for this blog, to share opinions about certain things.

     I look forward to begin posting these articles and I hope you will be too.

      Now, there are many different basic configurations that go into the setup of every vehicle.  One of the most important and complex of these is the transmission.  The purpose of the transmission is that of converting the rotational power provided from the engine and either decreasing the ratio to increase torque for low speed, or raising the ratio of spins from the engine to increase power at higher speeds.

      The way that this crucial part of the vehicle takes form however, varies greatly. The most two common types of transmissions are the automatic and the manual transmission.  The manual is easily the most basic yet effective type of transmission once one knows how to use it.  The manual transmission operates with a foot operated clutch configuration and a manual gearbox to manually shift between the different gears.  This gives the driver the ultimate satisfaction of actually being completely connected to the car and the road, this experience is unrivaled by any other transmission type.

      Automatic transmissions include many different types of shifting techniques. The most common is the fully automated transmission, which includes the mode selector, and the gas and brake (no clutch is present due to it being automated thus where the name automatic partly comes from).  All that you need to have in order to operate this transmission is a brain, an arm and a leg.  Along with the fully automated transmission, there is the automated manual transmission.  This is the same pedal setup and selector setup as a normal automatic except for the fact that there is an option to override into a manual gear shifting mode.  Although you are changing the gears, the clutch is still automated.  The third type of transmission is the dual clutch transmission.  The dual clutch transmission is a similar setup as the automated manual, but with more chances to control the shifting yourself, With the shifters either coming in the form of an up-down selector built into the mode selector, or in the form of paddles aligning with the steering wheel much like that in a Formula One car.  These transmissions allow for a much faster and efficient gear shift, with shift times in some cars having up-shifts as fast as 6 milliseconds.

      The benefits of having a manual versus an automatic transmission and the other way around are very apparent.  In my humble opinion in having driven many of these different transmission types, i would have to say that my favorite transmission type would have to be the manual.  I feel this way for a couple of different reasons.  The first is that I feel like I am preserving a lost art that is rapidly dying out.  The second is that I feel the best manual operators on the planet can still outperform even the best fully automated transmissions in the world wholly on the fact that the computer in the car can still make the wrong decision in what gear to put the car in going out or into a turn, when a person knows exactly what gear he wants at exactly what time.  You just cant achieve that in a computer driven car.

      With this in mind,I challenge all of you who read this to consider the next time you are buying a car, " can i get a manual with this?" or at least "is there an option for me to control the shifts?" because I guarantee that it will be the most fun you will ever have while driving.

      To continue on with my introduction into the different types of vehicles that will be highlighted throughout the rest of the year, i would like to move on to the topic of motorcycles.  With motorcycles, there are three basic types of variants that almost all motorcycles can fall under.  The most common and oldest type of motorcycle is the normal street bike, these can include anything from your super fast racing bikes like hyabusas and ducatis, to more tame long distance cruisers like the Harley Davidson Electra Glide.  The next type of bikes is your off road bikes, the most common of these are dirt bikes, but can also take the form of "modded" and customized street bikes to perform in off road conditions.  The final and most radical form of motorcycles takes shape in the form of the chopper, which is a completely customized and usually hand built motorcycle custom built to the buyer's configurations.  These choppers are extremely unique and can very easily be turned into a unique piece of art that becomes very difficult to replicate.

      There are many contributing factors as to why motorcycles are as popular as they are.  For starters most motorcycles get extremely good fuel economy, with most motorcycles getting around 90 to 100 miles per gallon,  The next reason is the cost of owning a motorcycle is significantly less than a car. A typical basic car can be purchased new for around $23,000.00 when a starter motorcycle can go for as low as a few thousand dollars and sometimes even less.  Another reason that people buy motorcycles is for the freedom you experience when you are out riding on the open road.  It is simply something that is unable to be described to those that have never been on a motorcycle and i encourage every one of you to at least try it one day.

      However, owning a motorcycle also poses many new safety threats.  Without a cabin surrounding the driver and passengers, the elements of the road and nature are in full presence while riding.  This means that the riders are subject to a very wide range of weather from beating sun to driving rain that they must deal with in order to remain comfortable on their ride.  Along with weather, road hazards like branches, potholes, oil puddles, rocks from other cars and metal or glass on the road.  Something as simple as a flattened soda can has been known to cut deeply into rider's legs after being kicked up on the highway from a semi truck.  Also, motorcycles have been known to be much harder to spot, and cars who do not know that motorcycles are in their blind spots can cause serious accidents. Things to help address these problems include, windshields on the bikes, always wearing race-grade leather jackets when riding, installing louder exhaust pipes to let other cars know where they are, and wearing a helmet.

       Another realm in the world of automobiles is the truck and SUV section. Next to cars, this is easily the most popular type of vehicles on the road.  They can range in sizes from the small Jeep Renegade, up to monstrous Ford F-650 super trucks (Most do not consider a normal semi/18 wheeler to be within the realm of trucks and SUV's).  What makes these vehicles so appealing is usually one of two things, their versatility and safety advantages.
 
      What makes these once work-dedicated vehicles so common is largely due in part to the companies who make them began to realize that people were buying these trucks (few SUV's had been invented at the time minus the Land Cruiser, Bronco and Blazer) for things more than work and began to the the opportunity that the market presented them with.  These companies began to add more luxurious options like leather and air conditioning and eventually extended cabs to began to raw more and more people into the truck and then growing SUV market.  What these vehicles offered to the people that most cars couldn't was the capability to take more people and much more stuff different places, and do so in a safe and comfortable environment.  With so many different models and options to choose from ranging from the normal work truck all the way up to fine leather and premium interior package trucks like the Ford F series Lariat, King Ranch, Platinum and Limited models, the options were endless.

     Another smaller but still prevalent reason for the success of the truck and SUV deals with the off-road capability that is presented in some models of daily driving vehicles.  For example, when Ford came out with the original Bronco back in the 60's, the purpose of the bronco was to present buyers who wanted an off-road capable vehicle without having to make the modifications themselves and possibly ruin their vehicles in the process.  Then, in 2010, a division of Ford designated SVT (special vehicle team) came out with a heavily modified version of the F-150 called the Raptor.  This truck was purpose built to be a manageable daily driver with the capability to go out and race in desert the same afternoon.  They succeeded and the Raptor has become an icon of Ford that I am sure will be around for a very long time.  The truck and SUV market in an entirety has become one of the most popular and varied class of vehicles on the road today and there are no signs of that changing one bit for a very long time to come.

      To continue with my last post about the difference the many different categories of vehicles, i would like to continue with my discussion upon cars.
 
      One of the main reasons that cars are so common within the United States and throughout the word is due to a few basic yet very important things.  These factors include the ease of handling, as they are all close to the ground, with a good center of gravity and a very low chance of getting into a serious accident when driven properly.  Another reason for the popularity is their ability to perform multiple different tasks, ranging from family hauler to work site transporter.  Next, most cars are designed with more thoughts about being environmentally friendly than ever before with some cars like the Prius getting up to and well over 50 miles to the gallon. Finally, with these cars being produced ever more efficiently and in larger and larger amounts, the price for many cars is extremely low and it is almost impossible not find at least 10 different super low priced cars on dealership lots all across the country and the world.
   
      Over the years, people have sought out and created many different unique cars with the use of many different types of modifications.  Some of the most common modifications to cars seen around the world include the following.  Engine chipping and tuning for an easy increase and fast boost in power and performance, stroking, boring and camming the engine, which includes replacing the stock camshaft for a more aggressive timing sequence, boring out the cylinder walls to allow for more compression and installing larger pistons into those cylinders to create more power.  Other non-performance upgrades that are very common among car owners is to add larger and better aftermarket wheels and tires, adding lights, re-painting or adding decals to the body, adding body widening kits that help with possible wider tires, tinting windows and adding or removing chrome inserts from the cars.  With all of these options and many more out there, it is becoming less and less common to find a car driven by a true car person that doesn't have at least one modification that adds uniqueness to the car at all, so feel free to go out and have fun with your and don't ever feel afraid to make it your own.

      For the first of many posts in this blog, i would like to begin by first addressing the different types of cars and bikes and other such things that may be brought up throughout the rest of the year.  The first part to this introduction will be on the topic of cars exclusively.

      What encompasses the realm of what is a car is basically anything with 4 wheels, a body, a drive train and different combinations of configurations of what is inside and outside.  This can range from the 2 door coupe, to the family sedan, to convertibles, sports cars, and roadster models.  My personal favorite out of this category would have to be the sports car for obvious power benefits and overall coolness factor of the style.

      With so many different types of styles, the possibilities of all the different options that can go into these cars is endless.  Also, the focus of a company and what its message to the public is though these cars can change drastically within a matter of a few short years.  A perfect example of this is in the car company Cadillac.  In the 50's and 60's this company was one of the most popular and widely known car company known to the public, producing top of the line A-list styled cars.  But when the 70's and 80's came around, things took a turn for the worst and this once loud and proud car company began to produce huge monstrous beasts of cars known today as "land barges" with some weighing up to 3 tons and being over 22 feet long.  Along with this, the styling took a turn for the worst as well and the obvious product of this is found in the Cadillac Seville.  This style continued well into the 2000's with big, blocky and unappealing styling the drove many potential customers far, far away.  Then came a revival movement spearheaded with a new supercharged, tuned up and lighter Cadillac CTS-V, which provided the spark needed for the major overhaul of the total lineup to the sharp, fast and once again elite Cadillac brand.

      Now you may be thinking, "Well that is great, Cadillac made a comeback, but what other cars can I buy besides that?". Well there are a plethora of other options of fast sporty cars to choose from,  The most commonly known and best examples of this include the following.  Audi R8, Gumpert Apollo, Lamborghini Aventador and Huracan, Ferrari 458, Ferrari Enzo, Ferrari F40, Ferrari 599 GTO, Ford GT, Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Corvette, Jaguar F-type, Scion FRS, Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Porsche Carrera, Nissan GTR, Lexus LFA, and many countless others.


      With much more to come, thanks for reading and i hope to see you again here soon.