The Ford EVOS debuted at the Frankfurt Autoshow in 2011. It’s a bit of a design exercise, a what is possible if you will. It’s meant to showcase where Ford is heading, and while a lot of it is a bunch of futuristic concept stuff we will never see, you might be surprised at just what shows up on Ford vehicles in the not so distant future.
Jan 04
You Know You’re a Ricer If…….
Talking to some guys I play Forza Motorsport 4 with on the XBox 360 a couple of months ago, an argument commenced over what exactly constitutes a “ricer”.
Obviously, the term has moved beyond the nickname for Japanese cars. Originally, because of their low fuel consumption and the fact they were from Asia, where a lot of rice is consumed, Japanese cars were referred to as “rice burners”. A slightly derogatory and racist term.
These days, the term is generally used more in light of a particular group of car, ahem, culture, who do particular things to their vehicles that make them stand out.
Read the following list and you should get the gist of what we’re on about.
You know you’re a ricer if :
1. Your rims and tyres are so large that they double your car’s weight.
2. Your car has a GT-R badge, in homage to the great “Godzilla”, but no RB26DETT engine or ATTESA AWD system.
3. Your non-turbo FWD Lancer has Evolution badges all over it.
4. Your car has more exhaust decibels than kilowatts of power.
5. Your car’s stereo is rated at more kilowatts than your engine is.
6. Your car is covered in MOMO stickers, but you have no MOMO stuff in/on it.
7. You’ve ever bought a set of clear tail-lights for something other than the Lexus IS series.
8. You lean back so far in the seat that your back hurts instead of your bum when you hit a bump in the road.
9. If you go faster than 60km/h, your bumper drags on the road.
10. Your inline 4 is fitted with a dual-exhaust system.
11. You’ve spent more on the stickers on your car than you have on fuel for running it for the year.
12.You brag about running 18s for the quarter.
13. Your A Pillar Gauges are so numerous and so bright they can be seen by satellite.
14. There are more neon lights on your car than at a strip club.
15. You put Honda VTEC badges and stickers on your Hyundai or Mazda
16. You line your interior with the hide from green, pink, yellow or blue “cows”.
17. Your car makes a blow-off valve noise, but is a non-turbo.
18. You claim that the Cone Filter you installed gives your car 30% more power, which is about 4 kilowatts.
19. You can recite every single line from “The Fast and the Furious” series of movies.
20. You bring an empty coffee can with you when you’re shopping for an exhaust tip.
Michael Adams from Test Driven Australia
Article Originally Written for Infinite-Garage
Got any more for us? Comment below
Jan 03
Electronic Stability Control
It’s known by many acronyms by different car manufacturers, but there can be no doubt that stability control is becoming a more and more common driver aid fitted to new cars. The Australian government have now made it mandatory on all cars being built here or arriving on our shores.
What’s all the fuss about? What is stability control and how does it work?
There will always be those of us who prefer not to have sensors dictate the attitude of our driving. Those who would prefer to learn the skills of threshold braking than have ABS fitted to the car. Those who would prefer to learn throttle control with their right foot rather than have the Traction Control system engaged.
Heck, I’m probably one of them. In testing various cars, I’ve seen my own braking stop in a shorter distance than ABS can. The majority of vehicles can be launched harder with the traction control off, than with it on. Most times because there is not enough leeway given to performance and the car bogs down. There have been some we’ve tested though, where the traction control sensors couldn’t cope with the amount of grunt being dropped at the back tyres and fried them to shreds.