There are great many stories about the enormous changes that have taken place in this universe. So is human’s desire from time to time. And so are automobiles. There are momma’s boys who sit happily in the back seat of MERCS, there are lunatics who put a huge engine in pick-up trucks and crash, there are rich Rolls Royce owners shouting ‘Hey You Little man! Out of my way!’ and there are people like me who adore some of the insanely fast cars. Today we no longer need cars with a twelve liter W23 engine that is able to move the moon out of its orbit. Simply we put a tiny engine on an ultra light chassis and for that little bit of extra thing we have turbo chargers and super chargers, and drive it back home at a million miles an hour. We have hot hatches and tiny roadsters that give us drawback free motoring. Driving is all about going in a pantaloon. In that world there are no compromises and we are not even ready to waste time in the attempt to shift gears. It seemed that someone had been listening to the cries of the motorists, when the Volkswagen engineers came up with a solution. Direct shift gearbox.

Let me put it like this. If someone wants to use two gear boxes to reduce the shifting time, the idea may sound a bit crazy to you. But the Germans thought the other way. They put the two clutch plates concentric to each other and electronically controlled the shifts. One clutch has first, third and fifth gears; and the second clutch holds the rest. When you are driving first the other clutch is ready with the second gear. When you shift, the clutch is disengaged and the next clutch with the second gear is engaged and all that takes places in a biblical eight milliseconds. That kind of time is genuinely staggering and makes even the sequential manual transmission of the ENZO look old-fashioned. These are already available with all VW owned company cars like Skoda’s, Audi’s, Bugatti’s and Lamborghini’s. In the D-mode all the gears short shift which honestly will appeal only to the executive population, whose life is mind-numbingly boring. For men who want the back of the car coming into play in corners we have S-mode that takes you to the sweet red line every time. And then there is a Tip-tronic mode where you can give your suggestions, but it will do shift on its own anyway.

Coming to why we need such a thing, the answer is quite simple. The shifting is unbelievably fast. Current day sports cars are so obsessed with technology that we simply can not enter in and drive. The gear box indeed saves a lot of time to make up for the time you have lost in playing around with the settings. You put that gearbox in a racing car, it saves a fraction of a second in every shift and finally several seconds may even be a minute. That is exactly more than the difference between Felipe Massa and Adrian Sutil. But that is the upside. All nice things come with a price. The downside is it is expensive and heavy. And it is not easy to make either. But my worries have nothing to do with the cost. All cars are becoming brilliant, that is the problem. They have been losing the sense of craziness over time. They make you feel rich, proud and comfortable but they can no longer make you smile. And all the electronics make the driving feel as good as playing a video game, which means no analog feel, no human feel anymore. One more annoying thing in recent cars is the absence of gear lever itself. The paddles are mounted behind the steering wheels. That floppy paddle non-sense is a brilliant gear box for the rest of the world. But for me it isn’t. The plain old gearbox may not be so brilliant, but is a lot more fun.

Posted in automobiles, cars, Technology      

Let us talk about Indian cars. When you look into a buyer’s guide of Indian cars you will come across endless boring shapes those seem to have been designed by a Human relations manager. Just have a look at their interiors, it is pretty much as you would expect, hopeless. We are not talking about luxury cars, sports cars, tidy roadsters, super cars or brilliant cars by any means. This is India. Here all the form follows the function. All the cars here do not perform very well, nor are they well made either. If they add buttocks to a hatch and name it an entry level sedan it will sell well, they say. Or they can even shave an SUV and name it a saloon. A box sitting on a suspension with a stupid engine and good efficiency figures is the best car for people over here. Here number of occupants is of more concern than the engine capacity. They do not worry if a car corners like a hippo. They save some money by getting a variant that is not equipped with ABS and Airbags. As a result the Indian roads look something much worse than mind-numbingly boring. There is an advertisement not to mention the firm; the manufacturer claimed the car had cruise control, ABS, traction control and parking sensors. The car was said to be loaded with technology. Some cars in eighties had these technologies. So is it the manufacturers or the customers those can be blamed? Actually both must be blamed. It is not that the engineers do not have brains, they use it differently rather. All cars sold in India are engineered to be sold at a better price, rather than be sold as a better car. Let us put it this way. If you compare a typical car running on Indian roads and a world class car, the Indian car will be half as good but will cost a third or even less. So, why not sell cars here that are almost as good as the best European cars and cost half as much as per that equation. So you get my point. Indian automobile market is brilliant in its own way. What we need to do is scale up things a bit. The reason why other Asian countries are thriving is they sell better cars than Indian companies that are cheaper than European cars. India being a beautiful country deserves much better cars than it has if not better then Europeans. All we now want is cars that are half as well engineered as the Porsches and Beemers, a third as passionate as Ferraris and Lambos, a fifth as well made as Mercedes and Nissans, a tenth as lovable as Mustangs and Astons and priced as good as the Indians. I will be the happiest man if the Indian roads become what they deserve to be.

At last I came up with a new concept car. As you see I am not a good artist. Nowadays a concept car promises biblical performance or on the other end people are talking about battery cars. But this concept is totally based on practicality. A country like India faces problems like Petrol Price hikes, High city Traffic, lack of parking space. On the other hand passengers are keen on safety, Comfort, satisfaction and afford ability and also performance. Many cars score well on one or more aspects but lack on the rest of them too. I think I have got the solution. I am calling this concept ‘hope’. This car has an ordinary front wheel drive layout driven by 1.0 or 1.2 liter aluminum engines. The rear wheels are powered by a 30NM electric motor. Alloys, fuel cut off when braking and deceleration, good aerodynamics and light weight can result in an incredible mileage. The car will just weigh around 650 - 700 kilos. The dimensions will be small as well. The gear box will also be simple, a five speed manual. Brakes will be of disc type. This will feature an independent double wish bone suspension in front and multi link suspension in the rear. Steering will be direct. The car is bound to handle well and ABS is there to save the day. In spite of being nimble and peppy this would still be cheap. This car is a focussed light weight car with no air con and stereos. The interiors can accommodate three adults. The entire money is on the engine and chassis. This kind of car is the only solution to meet the emission norms without sacrificing performance err, by sacrificing things which we do not actually need in a car. This is not exactly a three seater, a fold able seat can be used to seat two persons at the cost of luggage space. A tiny additional luggage space is there though. Many people asked me why I think of such weird concepts. It is clearly practical. Okay! This does not have the passion of a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. But this has got everything an Indian needs. As I have mentioned in the previous post, I thought why there is no affordable coupe. Does an Indian not deserve sporty looking cars? Won’t those type of cars become affordable? Yes, It can. This idea a just the result of my yen for the sporty cars in India. Ratan Tata’s concept has done wonders. But this one I am afraid i gonna stay in my drawing board for ever!

I am not going to talk about Ratan Tata’s idea of “car for all” . When I say car for all, I never mean cars that men with sparse money can afford. We need to look into this problem from a different perspective. Nano is a wonderful piece of Engineering and when cost matters it is in its own class. As a matter of fact, the transmission system alone of a typical European car costs more than the cost of Nano. That is not our problem. Still people don’t get what they exactly need for money they spend. If engineers can design a hatch for such a knock out price why don’t we get a coupe for even ten times the amount. Not that the market is week for sports cars in india, but they are far too expensive for them to buy. Even in the existing cars people can’t find the perfect variant. Manufacturers design the packages for all the variants just focusing the price range. Just give a list of engine options, aesthetic enhancements and other kits. Let us choose each of them independently. Make a fast car cheap with no focus on the gadgets. What if one wants to get nothing more than a powerful car. I just want to spend all the money for the engine, what is wrong with that?

Will you pay 4,00,000,000 bucks for a car? That too for a car that accelerates to 100 kph in only about 8 seconds though the figure is not bad for a 3 ton beast. What’s the use of a 6.7 liter V12? You may think I am talking about a sports car. No. A saloon, you may call it. A Phantom, the so called world’s best car! Whatever some people may say about light weight futuristic performance cars, people still gonna buy this masterpiece. Do you think this is worth the money? Even after knowing that the loudest thing in this car will be a clock and a drop of water won’t fall off from a glass full of water when on the move and music system alone will cost several hundred thousand and much more; you may not be convinced. But all grown people do love her. She may not be the best partner for the youth. You need to grow in life and then she will be the highest luxury you could ever own. Everything is this car is a positive. Anyways I am not going to show you some figures as this car doesn’t have a competition anywhere in this world. She has a separate world and serves people who are hundred percent professionals. People in our world are not worth living when they loathe her, aficionados say.


But does this car not have any negative at all? No, It has and a lot. Here are some.


You can’t see one on the streets


She will be a virgin throughout her life


You lose your youth when you own her, as I said it she for fully grown people


You feel irritated when you need to use some other car once in a while


Your son will argue that this car is not the best


You need to put more efforts for her protection


You will think paying your driver is too much after giving him a chance to have his hands on that steering


The habit of seeing what brands others use will be gone for ever


Buy the time you will be able to buy her you will no longer have a taste for driving


Even if you own her earlier in your life, she can’t be used to thrill your girl friend.


Worst of all, a slightest scratch on her will hurt a lot.


Whatever we can find other than these, she is still the symbol of luxury and will continue to be. If you think you have reached the highest level in your life, they only you deserve her. Even then you are bound to handle her with care. For now it’s only a dream for me to touch her, push her, and tease her or whatever. One day I am sure I will spoil her virginity. I need an inspiration now for that and I have one. Yes, none other than that bloody great logo.

(click on the thumbnail to see the full picture)

This is time for the Lamborghini fans to think and find out whether or not the company’s latest offering honors their tradition of good-looking cars. Ever since sports cars have been in existence the lambos have been famous for head turning looks and sheer performance. The latter I think may be assured, no it’s sure to be found in the company’s latest offering. But the Italian manufacturer’s cars are legendary especially in terms of looks. But I am afraid this would sure damage their reputation.

The responses to the pictures of the car have not been great. You will find either Lambo fans struggling to defend or an outright criticism.It seems they have got them disgustingly wrong. This is a re-bodied Lamborghini Diablo, called the Alar, not a handsome car to say the least. This one looks like some bug sitting on wheels. That’s a shame to the hot builders, And to its ancestor Diablo too. Lamborghini took on this project, I doubt.

Ok, let’s say there is not even a problem with modern art or odd looking prototypes or even wild ‘out of the box thinking’. But this is just disgusting. The worst of all is its nose, mainly the lower skirt that bends up and looks like some licking action. I also never liked the hood, windshield, head lights, wheels, side surface lines, rear and er what else? I lost the count. The rear looks good from an elevated view. One must be mad to buy this at about Rs. 3, 00, 00, 000. If someone does others can laugh at the loser and call up the nearest psychiatrist.

The technical specs remain unknown yet. But I can’t get their plan that too in a market where thy style matters most. I think they are trying reverse psychology. I wish this remained as a prototype alone and never comes to production. Wait! I think I found the strategy behind this. They are planning to launch it as a surprise, and they are showing us a fake picture. Whatever it is, till we get further information nothing would show a positive sign. But even after this disappointment, it is a bloody Lambo. They will be having something inside their minds and inside this one too. Till the surprise come I will keep my fingers crossed.

Anyways, till they remove this ugly jacket come back to their sexy form , Kaushik ram and me will surely have the snapshots of REVENTONNto tweak up our desktops.

Not so many years ago all those giant car builders started realized that the kids are getting fatter. All those cars were put in diet exercises. Every car undergoes a shaving nowadays and are much lighter then their previous generation counterparts. The world of autos is no different from modeling. People too never like the busty models nowadays. Every kilogram of weight substantially affect the performance of a car at higher speed, say the aficionados.

So its now time for us to think why this happens. This reduction in weight, sex appeal and all those stuff are the things that can be heard only during this decade. So till some point the weight of the cars have been constantly increasing in the history. The reason is quite simple. Initially the purpose was mobility alone. Now, things have changed, I need not tell you. This is only because of the greediness of the user. The idea of creating a home inside a car is the sole reason I would say. And even in sports cars installation of upgrades increases the weight. But still people want mileage. Only thing that is helping us sort this out is the use of smart materials which are strong as well as light.

The expectations of people are changed now. People realized the benefits of being ultra sleek. All are up to making small cars. And thanks to environmentalists, their pressure is a vital part. By reducing emissions we also increase efficiency. All Asian companies are having breath taking concepts that are able to give an overall more than current bikes. So I wonder how bikes will be if they are also put under a strict diet. Still sticking to performance and all those stuff, I wonder how the future of European giants will be.

Take the latest LOREMO ( low resistance mobility). Ultra light(<500 kg), High efficiency(50 km pl), and ultra cool look, great handling and dynamics; that is how a design should be. All rounders are welcome. A Bugatti may be one hell of a performer. But we don’t need performance that will outsmart out reactions. I am waiting for those hybrids and other revolutionary words as do many Indian auto freaks. The green age will be back with all unbeatable package to customer as well.