Brakes

“Brakes are the most important parts of the car.”

-Most Moms.

They’re right, brakes will save your life so you might as well make sure they are in good working order. If you race your car on a track, you will know that brakes can help you shave a few seconds off your lap time because you will be able to brake later when cornering. If, on everyone of those turns you save time, you will save a lot of time on the whole race. So, before going out and buying serious engine mods, make sure your car will be able to brake well at speed, because nothing is worse than buying all these mods and having to brake very early resulting in poor lap times.

There are mainly 2 types of brakes: Drum brakes and Disk brakes

Drum brakes are often found on older and/or entry model cars. They are more fragile and do not perform as good as disk brakes. These can block and stay in a braking position and are quite hard to repair, so are often replaced completely.

 

Disk brakes are much better because they are much safer and more reliable. The way they work: A metallic disk that is attached to your wheel spins with it. A caliper  squeezes the disk when you brake which will slow down your vehicle. This system is much easier and cheaper to repair as the different parts are easier to pull apart and you can easily purchase them.

If you want to buy new brakes for your car, I would suggest you ask a mechanic to either help you or let him do the job himself as, like I said, brakes are very important. If you have a big budget and are looking for the best performance from your brakes, I would suggest that you buy Brembo parts. These are the brakes the big teams use at Le Mans. Otherwise, I would look up on Google what brakes your car manufacturer recommends as they will probably have a kit that will perfectly fit the model of your car.

Winter tyres

I live in Belgium. Here, the weather is unpredictable. Most of the time, it really sucks, but sometimes it can be quite nice.

In winter however, you never know what will hit you. Some years there is no sign of snow and other years, the snow is just too much to bare. This makes it very hard for the authorities because investing in gear to keep the snow off the roads would be a good idea if there is snow. People often think that it should be a nightmare to drive in countries where snow is a major factor but, actually no, it isn’t. Those places have very expensive snow plows and a massive stock of grit salt. Countries like Belgium, The UK,etc can’t make the decision to invest money in that sort of gear because it will be useless most of the year.

This makes the roads very dangerous in these countries. That’s why most people around here have a set of winter tyres. These tyres are softer and have more tred. So basically, they are made to have more grip. An amateur might ask:”Then why don’t people use them all year round?” It’s because they are softer, so they wear much faster and would become useless in the winter after a while.

I’ve heard people say that winter tyres are useless, they just cost more money and don’t do anything better than your normal road tyres. I find this funny because most of the people who say this have never used winter tyres and are maybe convincing other people not to use them. I don’t own a car or have ever driven a car outside of the parking lot, but I am still a car guy and i have to change these tyres every 6 months on my moms car. I know when they are on and when they’re not. I can definitely say that there is a difference, even for the passengers.

If you live somewhere where it can snow at least 2-3 times a year. I would highly recommend buying a set of winter tyres. Even if you are the best driver in the world, odds are the guy behind you isn’t. They aren’t cheap but they are worth the investment. I would advise on asking your local garage, mechanics, people you know that have already bought some or just a friend that’s a grease monkey that knows a thing or two about it.

A fresh start

OK guys, I’ve decided to go full time on this. I will be constantly working on my blog to make it even better.

I’ve taken the time to get some ideas on how to get the blog up and running. I am no longer focusing only on cars. I am now going to post anything that shares its roots to anything even similar to the mechanics or the design of a car.

 

Dirt 3

The Dirt Series is probably Codemasters best known games. The first two were very realistic, full-on Rally simulators. The third one is a bit special.

Anyone can play it because you can set it up for a beginner where all the driver assists are turned on. The races do look similar to the previous ones but the one thing that makes this one stand out is the Gymkhana (If this sounds weird, just look at the video link under this post).

The game can also be set for the hardcore simulation gamer. The assists are then all turned off and the competition is extremely hard.

I would recommend to play this game with a Force Feedback steering wheel. If you are a beginner, a game-pad could work fine.

It took me 21 hours to finish the Dirt Tour.

 

McLaren P1

Now this is interesting! The new McLaren P1 is a hybrid supercar. Some may think that it’s a stupid idea: What’s the point of saving fuel in a hypercar?

This car is made to be able to beat almost any other car in a race, but then be able to go shopping, and to go over speed bumps. That’s why it’s a hybrid. The electric motor puts out around 176 bhp, so it isn’t the same type of hybrid as a Toyota Prius.

The engine puts out 727 bhp for a total of 903 bhp. That is enormous considering that it’s a hybrid. It uses a big V8, about the same one as the MP4-12C.

This car has the looks, the power and is quite practical for a hypercar.

If I could, would I buy it? Absolutely!

Bugatti Veyron 16.4

The car of the decade? Absolutely!

In the mid nineties, VW bought Bugatti. The company had been broke for several years and had not made a car in years.

With a history such as Bugatti’s, some people didn’t think that it was possible for VW to restore the company to its former glory. Setting out to prove everyone wrong, they announced that this car will have  1001 brake horsepower and that it would be the fastest production car ever built. Most people did not believe them and thought that it would just eventually slip through their minds, by the time that people had almost forgotten about it, Bugatti had made their first prototype. It wasn’t very good so they went back and made a few more prototypes until it was perfect.

When the car was completely finished, they went to Ehra Lessien to test the top speed. Guess what? They did it, the car broke the land speed record for production cars.

The car is made completely out of carbonfibre. The body is made to have near perfect aerodynamics while still remaining stylish. The 16 cylinder engine is laid out in a “W” shape for more torque and gets so hot, It needs 10 radiators just to keep it from melting the car. Even with so many radiators, there is still a danger of overheating; therefore the engine is not enclosed by a hood.

I could go on for hours about this car. This car is just amazing!

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SRT Viper

It’s the new Viper!

It has always been considered as an ugly big car with a huge truck engine. Not true! It actually never had a truck engine inside of that enormous hood and personally, I have quite liked the car. But there is now a whole new one. The body has been completely remodeled, it still has a huge front hood completely made out of carbonfibre  and is the biggest part ever manufactured (and the most expensive).

You do need a big hood, because with an 8.4 liter V10, It is the biggest V10 on the market today.

http://www.funcrazyworld.com/cars/2012-new-york-auto-show-2013-srt-viper-officially-slithers-on-stage/attachment/2013-srt-viper/

Jaguar F-Type

I first saw the F-Type at the Brussels Auto Show earlier this year. Before I saw the badge, I immediatly thought that it was the successor to the old E-Type. Then I saw F-Type written on the back and I knew it was something special. A whole new Jag had been created in the form of a sportscar. It does look a bit similar to the E-Type, but this one is more muscular as the basic model has a V6 and the high end model has a supercharged V8 which sounds like a big Mustang.

It’s small, agile and nimble. It will easily go around a corner and has enough power to fly out of it. Although it is a fast little car, I consider it to be more of a driver’s car. Something in which you go out and drive just for fun. Without a destination. Just enjoy the car!

To buy this car will set you back between 69000$ and 105000$.

Need for Speed Most Wanted

In this game, you arrive in the city of Fairhaven, where your goal is to become the Most Wanted driver of the city. There is a list of 15 drivers who are considered as the best. To be crowned the Most Wanted, you have to be recognized through gaining Speedpoints. When you get enough to take on a Most Wanted driver, you race him. If you win, you take his place on the Most wanted list.

One thing that I find frustrating in most racing games is that you have to buy the cars by winning money in the game, but sometimes this can take hours. In this game, all you have to do is find the cars around the city and when you do, you can drive them. You might think that you can just find the fastest car and win all the races, but no! To get the best cars, you have to beat a Most Wanted driver and shutdown his car to get it.

I really enjoyed this game, because it really was unique in almost every way and also because I am a huge N.F.S. fan. Need forSpeed Rivals will be out in November and I will be sure to review it as fast as possible.

2014 Corvette Stingray

I’m sure everyone has heard of the Corvette. It has always been the pride and joy of Chevrolet. It all started in the 50’s when Chevy released the Corvette C1.

Before making the second series of the Corvette, General Motors designed a concept car called the Stingray (because of the stingray looks). They decided to use that design for the second series Corvette. They had now created one of the most iconic cars of all time. They built a racing version of the car to beat the mighty Shelby Cobra, and it did. They called it the Grand Sport, also known as the Cobra Eater (this car featured in the train heist scene in the movie: Fast Five).

As the years had gone by, there were some great Corvettes, but none as great as the original Stingray. But wait, Chevrolet has unveiled a whole new Corvette. The design is completely different, the engine is new and they even replaced the iconic four round tail lights. Some might think that this is a bad thing: “Has Corvette lost its touch and are desperately  trying to get more customers”? I don’t think so, I mean have you seen it? Something tells me that it might just be one of those cars which will be considerd as a classic in about thirty years.

And one last thing: It has a Stingray badge on the side.