[lini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkFloyd Ladies and Gentlemen please give a hand for the Robin Reliant.

Great - and so very British!

On the other hand... Seems like we can do it even wimpier - check the Messerschmitt Kabinenroller: http://www.kabinenroller.de/

Grinnings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

P.S.: And I'll never forget the scene, when one of my western German uncles got visited by one of my eastern German uncles - and the latter let the other look under the bonnet of his Trabant P601 (http://www.team.net/www/ktud/trabi.html). Comment: "Ok, so there's the heating - now where's the engine?"

The former uncle works for MAN Technologie, btw - while the regular MAN mainly produces trucks and truck engines, MAN Technologie does high-tec: satellite dishes (the large ones - for space exploration), some stuff for ESA rocket family Ariane (for Ariane IV, for example, MAN Technologie mainly produced the booster rockets), but they also did and do more commercial stuff like turbo chargers for BMW et cetera. I've worked there, too, for two summer holidays - a very nice job, because it was all very interesting. One day I almost walked into a huge (~ 3.5 m high, I'd assume) metal cone, then I looked up and saw that it was a rocket enginge exhaust cone of an Ariane IV booster. In comparision, the actual booster engine (called turbo pump) is really tiny (the housing measures some 30 cm in diameter...). The name turbo pump is well deserved, though... Also interesting: The machine that produces kevlar fueltanks for spacecrafts or the oven for "baking" satellite dish coatings... And I really liked the "Dixie", a huge 5 axis moulding cutter - thingy was like 4 x 4 x 3 m and was precise up to 2 µm. Also fun: Seeing a Wanderer moulding cutter effortlessly going through DurAl with a cutting head with some 5 cm in diameter at 30 cm/s... Well, at least it was a fun view for those who had one of the wooden shields that were common there for some reason...

For the others, it was duck&cover time, then...

Uhm... I seem to digress...

 

[warubozu]

Officially the McLaren F1 is the fastest production line car ever built as recognized by Guiness World record and countless number of automotive publications. Although the F1 was built in the UK is powered by a dry sump BMW V12:

Power is provided by a 6.1–liter V12, designed and built by BMW’s M Power division exclusively for the F1. Putting out 627 hp at 7,500 rpm and fitted to a 2,500–pound carbon fiber chassis, the combination was good for a top speed of 240 mph at Volkswagen’s proving grounds at EhraLessien, Germany, in 1998. In the capable hands of Le Mans and Daytona winner Andy Wallace (and with the rev–limiter disconnected, allowing the engine to spin to 7,800 rpm), this was a top–speed record for a road car–and it remains unbeaten today.

I've seen the actual in **** pit video footage of the McLaren's above record run when it was set in April of 1998, 240.1 mph in 6th gear at well over 7,000 rpm. All I can say about the rest of the video footage is wow.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by warubozu Although the F1 was built in the UK is powered by a dry sump BMW V12:

German engineering tweaked by the best racing engineers / pioneers in the world, quite a combo

McLaren site

 

[warubozu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkFloyd German engineering tweaked by the best racing engineers / pioneers in the world, quite a combo

I agree

 

[PinkFloyd]

I know this is old hat but what if Donald Campbell had decided to stick to "land" instead of "water" all those years ago? That guy pushed the boundaries to crazy limits and his "water" speed is still faster than the McLaren F1

http://www.sigmapress.co.uk/knowl766.html

"Donald started by buying the K4 Bluebird (in its jet conversion form) from his father's executors. He achieved enormous success on both land and water and in 1964, perhaps at the pinnacle of his career, he raised the world land speed record to 403.1 mph in July on Lake Eyre and, in December, the world water speed record to 276.3 mph on Lake Dumbleyung - both locations being in Australia. He was the only man ever to hold both records in the same calendar year, which he achieved with just nine hours to spare. "

Now if only Richard branson could make it around the world in his balloon...........

 

[soupy]

Quote:

German engineering tweaked by the best racing engineers / pioneers in the world, quite a combo

I would also agree in a way...but Mclaren/Mercedes sure got crushed this past year in Formula 1. Now B.A.R. on the other hand... Japanese engineering tweaked by the best racing engineers/pioneers in the world, that's a nice combo. Ferrari? they're not human, machines i tell ya...they don't count