hyperlogos.org

There are [[muscle car]]s, which have big engines stuffed into ordinary cars. There are [[sports car]]s, which are purpose-built for performance. There are even [[race car]]s, which are built specifically to be placed on the track. But there is another class of vehicle in between these last two, something that is almost ready to be placed on the track as you drive it off the floor. Something that, arguably, has no reason to exist on a public road. We call that a supercar.

While the antilock brake system (ABS) helps keep traction while braking, and traction control (TC) helps keep traction while accelerating, it's yaw control that helps you keep traction while turning (or trying not to!) All three systems watch the output of the wheel sensors and take actions based on them; ABS tries to make sure that all wheels are turning at about the same rate, and TC tries to make sure that your use of the throttle doesn't cause them to spin, but yaw control's job is to make sure that the car goes where you are trying to make it go, and that makes it the most complicated out of the three.

Traction control is a name for a computer-controlled system intended to stop wheels from spinning during acceleration. The term is also used (somewhat incorrectly) to describe yaw control, a system designed to stop a vehicle from turning when you don't want it to. Both systems work by watching information from wheel position sensors, typically the same ones used for the antilock brake system (ABS) and then doing either one or both of two things: reducing the engine power output or applying the brakes through ABS.

The word transmission refers to a transfer of something. In this case, that is kinetic energy. In basically every automobile, a rotational force (whether produced from a reciprocating motion, such as in a typical gasoline engine with pistons, or from a rotary engine, electric motor, or turbine engine) is both transmitted from the engine to one or more driven wheels, but it is also geared down (and sometimes also up) so that it can do useful work.

The transfer case is the part of a four wheel drive vehicle which distributes power between the front and rear axles. All wheel drive vehicles have a differential instead. The transfer case differs primarily in that the front and rear wheels are driven at the same speed. Typically, the transfer case also allows the disengagement of the drive shaft leading to the front axle, and it usually also has a neutral mode which allows disconnecting both axles for the purpose of towing the vehicle.

Moteur Developpment International (MDI) is Guy Negre's air-electric hybrid vehicle company. While they have not yet (September 2007) produced any significant quantity of vehicles, they have allegedly for several years performed pilot projects in Spain using their Mini C.A.T. vehicle as a Taxicab.

Moteur Developpment International (MDI) is Guy Negre's French automaker which has designed the CAT series of air-hybrid vehicles, and their related power systems.

Today, parallel gasoline-hybrids are often touted as a cleaner, greener alternative despite the simple fact that avoiding purchasing a new car and sticking with your old one saves more energy and environmental impact in almost all cases. Rather than using the new technology to simplify the vehicle, hybrids are more complicated than their predecessors, and the results are not positive. The added weight of the electrical system means that the vehicle is either unusually heavy, or unusually expensive due to the necessity of balancing weight and crash safety. And the hybrid power system, most especially the batteries, comes at a substantial cost premium as well as substantially increasing environmental impact.

Yes friends, it is time for another tedious rant on the subject of sport utility vehicles. Those who are interested, read on. Everyone else will please step along smartly, thankyou.

In the continued saga of my 1993 Impreza LS, the fuel pump crapped out for real this morning (cycling the key on and off repeatedly did nothing) so I ended up having to swap it. I haven't fastened down the carpet since the last time I looked at it, so it was a fifteen minute job or so. The replacement is from a 1995 (IIRC) Legacy, but pretty much all Subarus use the little JECS canister pump also used by Nissans and such and only earlier, FWD Subarus have less displacement (and thus presumably less fuel delivery) than my '93 LS. This swap is even easier than on (for example) the 240SX because Subaru uses a slick connector for the fuel pump and sender. This connector, which is male on the outside, also has two male connectors on the inside, into which the sender and pump plug separately.