WW III - Axis Vs Allies

Anyone who is familiar with modern history will know that mankind had succeeded in falling into the destructive abyss of war. TWICEEEE!!!... Yes I’m talking about the two wars which made the whole world realize (but not learn from) the true destruction, suffering & after effects of war. 

World War 1: Global military conflict which involved the world’s great powers such as Britain, Germany etc. Over 70 million military personnel were mobilized in the largest war in history. Over 15 million people were killed, making it one of the deadliest conflicts in human history. The proximate catalyst for the war was the 28 June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.  Austria-Hungary's resulting demands against the Kingdom of Serbia led to the activation of a series of alliances which within weeks saw all of the major European powers at war. The end of it was seen to be in 1918.

However it wasn’t over yet. They fell into that dark pit for the 2^nd time in 1939.

World War 2: The war involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel and over seventy million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in history.

The start of the war is generally held to be in September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland and subsequent declarations of war on Nazi Germany by the British Commonwealth and France.

Amongst these main events are the Marco Polo ridge incident (fought between Nationalist Chain and Japan), the start of Operation Barbarossa (the Nazi invasion of Russia), and the attacks on Pearl Harbor.

The end came along in august of 1945 as the world saw the destruction of nuclear power when the Americans dropped 2 bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Over 78 Million casualties resulted from this war making it far worse than anything seen in the First World War.  The actual number of casualties may have been far greater since a larger number of people died of post war disease, radiation poisoning etc.

And still, it wasn’t done. This time they resorted to means which didn’t involve too much destruction to the masses on a visible scale, but devastating consequences which no one was able to see.

 

Cold War:  The Soviet Union and the United states emerged from the war as the world's Superpowers. This set the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 45 years. The United Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict.

 

Again why was I talking of some world wars which happened like 60 years ago. The answer is simply because it is still happening. Quite openly the allies and the axis powers are at war, but this time along the subject that is much more interesting to us.

 

To make matters more simple we’ll be taking into consideration only one aspect of this war.

The war to build the fastest car in the world.

This fight exists simply between 2 companies. Representing the allies we have the Shelby Super Car Company (SSC) and representing the axis powers we have none other than Bugatti. Some may have heard of Bugatti but I don’t think most have head of the SSC, so let me give a little introduction into both these companies.

 

             VS.

Shelby SuperCars Inc. (SSC) is an American automobile manufacturer founded in 1998 by owner Jerod Shelby. The company is based in West Richland, near the Tri-Cities, Washington and specializes in the production of supercars.

Founder Ettore Bugatti was born in Milan, Italy, and the automobile company that bears his name was founded in 1909 in the town of Mosheim located in the Alsace. The company was known both for the level of detail of its engineering in its automobiles, and for the artistic way in which the designs were executed. Today the name is owned by Volkswagen Group, who has revived it as a builder of limited production exclusive sports cars.

Back in 2005 the then VW head decided to build a car not for the purpose of selling it but for the purpose of challenging the engineering boundaries. The result built from scratch was none other than the Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4. Designed and developed by Volkswagen Group and produced by Bugatti Automobiles SAS at their headquarters in France. Although the origins such as production locations are different the ultimate design & concept is sound, therefore making it a German bred machine. 

Powered by an 8.0 Liter, quad turbo charged W 16 engine producing a staggering 1020 horse power. With perfect aerodynamic designing coupled with hydraulics which shifts the car up and down in order to give the optimum position for it to do what it was designed to do. The result was a blinding 408 kmph.  

[ Ok when it comes to setting speed records there is one more thing you should. ]

[How it’s done is as follows. Consider the points A & B. On the first run the car is made to travel from point A to point B at which the speed is recorded. Then the directions are changed and made to run from B to A, result recorded. The average of the 2 speeds is taken as the final speed.]

And that was the beginning of it all. 

 

See Video above for footage from Record Run: 

Quite soon after that the SSC put out the SSC Ultimate Aero, wich was built using a Lamborghini Diablo replica Chassis with twin turbocharged engine sourced from the Corvette C - 5R mated to a G-64 6 - speed manual transmission (alos seen on Dodge Viper). Built with bits and pieces from all over the place this car set a speed record of 412 kmph on September 13 2007, beating the Bugatti Veyron by 4 kmph. The effort put into setting this record was big. There had to be the right conditions for the car to run and also the driver had trouble in driving the car as well. He reported wheels spins at over 384 kmph which proves to show how unstable the car actually is.

3 Years later Bugatti came out with the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. The speed record was set on the VW test track 5 mile straight in Germany. The speed set this time was 431kmph, beating the Aero very comfortably. The Bugatti is so well built that it can get up to speed in almost any condition and even whilst travelling at those speeds the car remains EXTREMELY Stable. It’s described by some to be very “UNDRAMATIC” hence giving you the opportunity to enjoy the speeds. 

 See Video for Bugatti Super Sport High speed Run:

So how did VW set a bigger speed record than the Aero? Very simply put all they did was 2 things. 

1. Increase the engine capacity from 8.0 Liters to 8.3 Litre. The 0.3 Liter increase gave them a boost of 200 horse powers totalling upto 1200 horse power. 

2. A special paint that would actually decrease the drag force created by the air touching it. Only a single layer was applied, which caused the criss-cross pattern of the carbon fiber body to come up through the paint. But I think that’s a good touch to it. 

SIMPLY INGENIUS.

In July 2011 SSC announced that they will be building a all new car named the SSC Tuatara capable of doing 444 kmph  which will beat the Bugatti, but we’ll have to actually see it to believe that, but until such time the king of speed will still be the Bugatti.

Hmmmmm so who won the war……….. Need I even answer that…… Still don’t believe me??. 

Take a look at the picture below.

Road Accident - An Audi (German built car) onto a tipper truck. Which has Suffered more damage ???

My Parting Query to you?? Who would you now trust??

Food For Thought!!!

The Merc S65 AMG and SLS AMG

 By: Shervantha!!!

To me the most luxurious car with the most power up to now would be the Mercedes Benz S65 AMG. Exquisite thing, perfection to its peak, tastefully designed and looks quite seductive. Well you shouldn’t expect it to be very fuel efficient because of its huge engine supported by the twin-turbo charger which gives this beast a massive 612hp and reaches a peak torque of 1000Nm. As you step into the cabin of the S65 you will find it all labeled with AMG all over it, center console, dashboard, seats steering wheel, you name it! If you have watched the episode in top gear Richard Hammond drives the S65 AMG. In the race between the S65 AMG, the Rolce Royce Ghost and the so called Bentley Mulsanne, the 6.0L V12 S65 produces so much of power that it keeps the 6.6L V12 Ghost in its rear view. Well obviously the S65 is lighter and produces more torques and it also has a twin turbo charger hence where it gets all that power from. If you take a look at the outside of the S65 it still contains AMG badges all around the car. On its brake calipers, to the wheels, to the body. Just have a look at the engine block and how neatly the placement of the engine is made.

Perfect isn’t it? Don’t you actually wish that you were standing in front of the engine and looking at it for REAL!!! This car is electronically limited to a maximum 250kmph which is rather good in a way and bad in another sense as well. It also takes you from 0-100kmph in 4.4 seconds which is quite fascinating for a beast like this. That speed would be ideal for a car like that if I were to drive it on a massive highway! This car comes with some standard specifications which include the all new AMG sports suspension based on Active Body Control, the unmistakable AMG body styling, multi piece 19-inch AMG light alloy wheels, DIRECT SELECT gearshift with AMG steering-wheel gearshift paddles as well as the new AMG main menu with RACETIMER. When designing and building the V12 engine the AMG designers drew on the vast know-how amassed over many years of motorsport involvement. 

 

The AMG V12 engine has a precision-balanced crankshaft made out of high-strength materials forged pistons managed out of special material which is extremely resistant to temperature and pressure, a more effective oil spray cooling system with a separate individual nozzle for each piston plus larger pistons pins. The main and big-end bearings and also made out of improved materials to compensate for peak temperatures and pressures more effectively. The charge cycle in the cylinder heads benefits from optimized combustion chambers and longer opening times of the intake valves. A modified oil pump ensures that all lubrication points are supplied with oil - even in highly demanding conditions. An engine oil cooler is integrated into the AMG front apron, with an additional engine coolant radiator located in the wheel arc. Looking at the bright side of the S65 AMG it’s beautiful and silent while trying to get the maximum and it’s more of a peaceful car where you could just cruise past with so much of power when an SLS tries to pass you! Or is it?

How would you prefer an SLS AMG over an S65 AMG??? The difference is that the SLS has a 6.3L V8 engine and takes you from 0-100kmph in 3.8seconds with a top speed of 317kmph.  So how would it compare to the S65??? Well as you can see from the pictures below that there are vast differences in them. This would how the body structure would look like.

 Have a look at the engine structure and the perfection gone into making this. All of it is just made so tastefully

Moving onto the dry sump.

Look at the beautifully created suspension which looks quite dazzling!!

The brakes as you can see have all the AMG badges all over just like the S65 AMG but they aren’t the brakes that are fitted on the S65.

 

Those go as special performance brakes for the SLS. 

The steering follows:

 

Transaxle is mind boggling as well

And last but not least, the transmission. An AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT 7- speed sports transmission with an automatic double clutch which is automatic /manual and feeds all the power to the rear wheels of the car!

So what would you prefer?

The SLS AMG or the S65 AMG? Which is more powerful? Which is more prestigious? Which is something that will make you excited and give you the image that you want to project to others? Think about it. Some food for thought!

Over Speed!!!! - The Southern Expressway

Before I actually start writing about this, I must first declare as such "I will not criticize, any Sri Lankan infrastructure development project without thinking twice or experiencing it firsthand.......... unless the situation demands otherwise :P" Ok now since I got that out of the way I think you might have realized about now that I’m in fact talking about our Southern Express way extending from Kottowa (Colombo side) to Pinnaduwa in Galle. And I had a go at it myself.

 Since this was a family thing, the car of choice was of course whatever vehicle we had which could hold 6 adults and 2 kids. So the Choice lay in between a Toyota Sai – Hybrid, a BMW 3 Series, and a rundown Nissan Sunny FB 14. And Toyota Sai was the choice, since the BMW was too low ridden to support the weight. 

The Toyota Sai is hybrid slightly more built than the Prius and much much more pleasing to look at. It’s got a 2.4 L engines capable of generating just under 150 horse power. However when combined with the electric motor both are capable of producing up to 190 Horse Power. The suspension in this a Tad firm, a little too firm for my liking even with a load on. There is also a bunch of other features that these things has to make driving more easy and safe for people, but let’s not get distracted and stick to what we set out to talk about.

Since, well we were about to go on a highway that was well "Built in Sri Lanka" (please NOTE the sarcasm) and with a speed limit of 100 kmph, I didn’t mind going in the Sai. "Aright, this'll have to do" I thought looking at the BMW 3 series parked in my uncles garage. I thought this was one of those so called carpeted road with bumps every 10 meters & blah blah blah blah blah. However by the time I reached the highway things weren’t what they seemed.

The southern highway project was started back in December 2006 with the intention of building the highway from Colombo to Galle. But after the opening in 2011 the project started phase two which would build a 35 km extension up to Matara, expected to be opened in 2013. The highway is to be expected to go all the way up to Hambanthota and continue perhaps until Batticaloa. On the other side the highway is to be extended northwards and connected to the Colombo – Kandy and Colombo Katunayake Highways to create a network system. The Kottowa – Pinnaduwa length of the highway has a distance of 104 km between them. 

The usual travel times from Colombo to Galle was + or - 3 hours. The estimated times by Authorities are 1 hour to 1 and a half hour. The actual time it takes in a reliable car……………. ......45 – 50 minutes.

On entering the highway we are given a receipt which contains a barcode when we stop at the toll booth. The process takes just a few seconds and we don’t have to stay in queue for long. I was in the back seat taking into account the scenery when I noticed we were travelling terribly slowly and leaned forward to look into the speedometer and to my surprise we were already doing a 100 kmph and all I was feeling and hearing were a few light bumps and silence. And that’s when I changed my mind. The highway has 2 very wide lanes along with a service lane which is about half the size of the actual lanes made for driving.

These service lanes continue for the distance of the highway, with special bay areas where the police cars/ bikes stay looking to run behind the first fellow who looks like he’s going over 100 kmph. Also in between distances, they are to build services areas which will have restaurants, petrol sheds and repair areas for your cars are still under construction.

It’s an absolute bliss to be driving freely without the disturbances of any motor cycles, three wheelers and buses. I mean you actually don’t have to worry about one of those fellows just jumping across the road from nowhere. It’s just about driving along the straight roads with absolutely no worry at all.

One of the most unmistakable sights along the highway is that the service lanes are pretty much occupied by vehicles most of the way and all these vehicles had 3 things in common.

1.      Almost all were vans, in some cases double cabs

2.      All of them had water running out from under the engine or they simply had their hoods/ front seats raised.

3.      All of those vehicles were older than 10 years

    I think people must really understand that these old vehicles (most probably older than 10 years more by the looks of them) can’t really keep up at speeds of up to 100 kmph. They may probably reach those speeds at high RPM’s (Engines rotations Per Minute) but the problem is you have to each those speeds and keep up for about an hour or so. And that’s where the problem starts. The most common scenario which occurs when the engine is kept at high RPMs too long is that the cooling until hoses blow up, and worse one of the metal pipes will blow and all the engines water will be lost causing the engine temp to sky rocket. If you are lucky, you engine will just heat up to red hot level at which point you have to stop and let it cool down. This is usually due to dirty radiators not allowing air to pass through them properly or a water leak in the cooling system. These cars just aren’t capable of coping up with the new roads.

We started off from Kottawa at exactly 9.35 am Sunday 18^th December and reached Pinnaduwa at exactly 48 minutes later. Keeping to speeds up to around 140 kmph in order to slow down quickly and moving up to speeds of around 170kmph (coz that’s the maximum the Sai could do) when there was a straight. I think if we had the BMW, we could have tried for over 200kmph easily. And we didn’t feel a thing. For all we knew it was like moving at 40 kmph through the streets of Colombo.

The Dangers:

Biggest problem is that there are animals (dogs, lizards, birds) moving across the roads. The biggest problem for them and us is that we are moving too fast to even start braking or for them to get out of the way in time. This of course instinctively forces the driver to shoulder turn (which means you put all your effort into turning the wheel in one direction) and hitting the opposite wall and at speed more that 100 kmph that not to be taken lightly.

Another problem causing scenario is of course tire punctures. This happens usually when a small metal object or rock pierces the tire usually this won’t have any affect at slow speed. But at higher speeds this can be very devastating to certain vehicles. Cars such as the Toyota Axio and Corolla or basically any car which has thin and tall tires are prone to lose control f the tire is punctured because the tire tends to get off the rim causing instability. In the Toyota Sai, it has a wide tire base with a short height. These types of wheels are more stable in the event of a puncture because the drop that the car has to undergo is pretty small, hence more stable.

 Most of the accidents currently occurring on the highway are due the above reasons. As at now there haven’t been the types of accidents you witness in other countries where about 10 or more cars slam into one another. Currently there aren’t enough cars on our highways to cause this type of thing but if people are this much scared of the so called “Accidents” now I have no clue what they will start doing when they witness one of the real accidents.


So people “GIVE IT A BREAK AND ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTS”