Does it feel like lately your car has exchanged horsepower for hamster power? If so, you might have a power problem, but good luck nailing it down; the same intricate fuel systems that mostly conquered vapor lock also introduced a slew of failure points, and pinpointing which one is responsible can try the patience of a shade-tree saint.
Thankfully, there are some clear signs to look for, so get the banana out of your tailpipe and read…
Road trips answer a deep human yearning to be free. For a time at least, they allow us to escape our quotidian cares and simply be. At the same time, they indulge our love affair with automobiles and our craving for novelty. As authors such as Jack Kerouac remind us, the road is where we discover our country, our fellow human beings—and ourselves.
In 1900, drivers jaunted in their rattletrap Panhards, Mercedes, Darracqs and Fiats along a115-mile Italian endurance circuit called the Coppa Florio, a bone-rattling race on treacherous and poorly kept roads. Seven years later, the first 24-hour race got underway at Brooklands, the first speedway ever built specifically for auto racing.
From these humble beginnings sprang the great endurance races of today: the Le Mans 24-Hour, 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. Along the way, the sport expanded and diversified into subcategories based on car type, manufacturer, course and event length, number of drivers and so on. In this article, I give you a head start in understanding this complex world and list some of the surprising ways that endurance motorsport has influenced the cars we drive every day.
The world’s first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid car launched in December 1997 against a backdrop of growing concern over human-induced climate change and a clamor for greener technologies. Debate over the economic impact of the vehicles continues to this day, fueled by shifting sticker prices, ephemeral economic incentives and spiking fuel costs. Ultimately, detecting the economic impact of hybrids is about as easy as hearing an electric motor idling at a stop sign, but I took a crack at it anyway.
What was once a tenuous toe-dip into green waters for car companies looks more and more like a sea change. Manufacturers today are increasingly utilizing dual-mode drivetrains both to improve fuel economy and to make better performing cars, even as they avail themselves of the hybrid cachet to hawk them. Today, there’s a hybrid for nearly every palate and purpose.