Motor Vehicles
These are my thoughts about machines that transport utilizing internal combustion.

Introduction:
While it might seem silly to justify a whole page dedicated to it, cars are definitely one of my interests.  Not only do the majority of humans in industrialized society rely on them for transportation, but they occupy a significant portion of our free time (washing, maintaining, using, etc) and national economy (purchasing, gas, maintenance, accessories, etc) as well.

Motorcycles:
How many people use a car to move only themselves, without any passengers or purchases, from one place to another?  Next time you're in traffic, look around you at the other drivers.  The majority of people are by themselves, but having to use enough gas and donate enough pollution to the atmosphere to move all 1 - 2+ tons of machinery around.  As the gas supply runs shorter, and eventually it will, it's my hope that more people will use a motorcycle when transporting themselves without any passengers, groceries or luggage.  Then it will also be safer for those who are riding, without having so many drivers distracted by radios and cell phones, which of course I'm guilty of when driving as well.  Also, all drivers will be more aware of the surrounding motorcycles as well as the dangers of riding one, as they too will own one themselves.  Although in truth, today's hybrid (combination of gas and electric - see bottom of page) vehicles are getting gas mileage sometimes even better than that of a motorcycle, without ever needing recharging!

To me, riding a motorcycle is as close as you can come to flying while still touching the ground.  It's also the best way to experience, absorb, and be a part of your surroundings while traveling.  The best description of motorcycling that I have ever heard is by Robert M Pirsig from his book 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'.  I didn't care for the book much, or at least what I read of it before wanting to put it down, but the first few chapters dealing with the philosophy of riding in general, traveling long distances on a motorcycle, and maintaining your own machine are great.  For the audio clip describing why motorcycle riding is so different and wonderful, read by the author, click here.  I have a long version too (about 2Mb), which also describes the wonders of long distance traveling on a motorcycle, but it's takes up too much server space for me to keep it online.

As a transporting machine, motorcycles are a lot more efficient than cars.  Cars make excessive efforts to maintain comfort and safety for you and your passengers, which add significant additional weight (1 - 2+ tons) to the vehicle.  In comparison, a motorcycle is extremely simple.  It's basically an engine with a couple of wheels and some suspension.  All it has to do is move you from one place to another, not heat or cool your insulated airspace, play music, carry a family and their luggage comfortably, protect you from the elements or, unfortunately, from an accident either. 

American Muscle Cars vs. Import Sports Cars:
Until recently, every vehicle (besides motorcycles) that I have ever owned has been manufactured by an American auto company.  For proof, check out my 'vehicles' page.  I have owned two American muscle cars, the first was a 1977 Chevy Camaro, and the second was a 1987 Buick Grand National.  I also owned a Dodge Daytona, but that doesn't count as a muscle car.   I recognize that the Japanese, as well as other foreign automotive manufacturers, have built better quality, more reliable products for many years now.  I also believe though that the quality of American products has been steadily improving over the years, perhaps because of taking some lessons from our competitors, who have continuously enjoyed a steadily growing sales base and customer loyalty.  Even at the time when American families were increasingly turning toward the eastern continents for their transportation needs, the world of speed was still dominated by the good ole U.S.A.  With the deep grumble of a souped up V8 under the hood, the little four and six cylinder sports cars that were offered by the Japanese or European countries simply couldn't keep up.

In the present day however, I think American manufacturers have seriously missed the boat.  Why?  Because with an addition of a turbo, a lot more horsepower could be squeezed out of an engine with a lot less cubic inches.  A turbo not only increases your horsepower, but does so by making effective use out of an otherwise wasted step of the 4-cycle combustion process, the exhaust stroke.  In short, when a turbo is added to an engine configuration, it increases the vehicle's power and efficiency by utilizing a force that already exists and would otherwise be wasted.

There are only three American production vehicles that I can think of that offered a competitive, high-performance configuration using this wonderful invention, and they are all manufactured by General Motors.  They are the Buick Grand National, the GMC Typhoon, and the GMC Cyclone.  The Typhoon and Cyclone are both basically the same vehicle.  The only difference that I am aware of is that the body of the Typhoon is a pick-up and the Cyclone is a sport-utility vehicle.  All three vehicles have basically the same engine, which is a V6 turbo (the GMC machines have a 4.3L engine, while the GN has a 3.8L).  There was also a brief (one-year) production run of the 20th Anniversary Edition Pontiac Trans Am with the Grand National engine and modified heads (to fit under the smaller headroom of the TAs sloped hood).  This was such a brief period of history in the life of an otherwise V8 powered vehicle though, that it hardly counts. 

When an American auto manufacturer wants to use a method of forced air induction, they typically turn to the use of superchargers.  Superchargers also compress the air that is being inducted into the engine cylinders, but it draws on the power of the engine itself through a belt. While this still produces the effective result of increasing horsepower, it typically works best on engines with greater horsepower and torque to begin with, while a turbo can increase the power of any size engine efficiently and gracefully.

Imports do not enjoy their popularity simply because they are manufactured overseas. I have seen many Ford Focus', Saturns, and Dodge Neons souped up and accepted as ultra-sweet machines by their peers. What makes hobbyists, teenagers, and car-lovers frequently turn away from American sports cars are the distinguishing trait that the manufacturers think they must continuously adhere to in order to maintain the image, which is that of cubic inches.

In my opinion, the greatest performance cars of 2004 are two vehicles, the Subaru WRX (especially an STI), and the Mitsubishi Evolution.  To me, the true genius of these cars is that they are not only incredibly fast and agile, but they could double as an actual family car.  They're 4-door sedans, have fairly small engines (4-cyclinder turbos) so they shouldn't be too bad on gas consumption, are all-wheel drive (for increased safety, as well as traction when accelerating), and they run quarter mile times in the mid-13s to low-14 seconds, stock.  I sincerely hope, as do a large percentage of performance car enthusiasts, that someday I will be able to purchase either one of these road conquerors.

Hybrid Vehicles
On average, 62 percent of the energy that begins as gasoline in a car's fuel tank is lost as heat in the engine combustion process; 17 percent is lost to engine idling; 6 percent to the transmission; and 2 percent to accessories, such as air conditioning and power steering.  In the end, just 13 percent of the energy in the gas tank makes the car go--and half of that is subsequently lost to wind and tire resistance.  These statistics represent a rather sad example of engineering, especially since there is almost a century worth of knowledge accumulated since 1903 when Henry Ford first began manufacturing the Model T on an assembly line.  While I have heard several stories of engines reaching a consumption of 80 mpg, we continuously see greater quantities of horsepower, but a steady gas consumption rate of 15-30 mpg in most vehicles.  In truth, unless either a) the government mandates through law for the automotive companies to reduce the gas consumption of their products, or b) gas prices get too high for the average American to afford powering such large engines, manufacturers will continue to increase the performance of their machinery while sacrificing improvements in gas mileage.

Hybrid vehicles, however, seem to be the best solution to the problem of increased gas consumption and continued inefficiency, all while still retaining an acceptable level of performance.  These machines use a much smaller gasoline engine in addition to an electric motor and battery.  One or the other are chosen for average everyday usage, but by themselves, neither is able to provide significant acceleration. For those moments when additional power is desired, the other one of the two kicks in.  While that makes a lot of sense by itself, the genius of it is that the battery for the electric motor never needs charging from an external source.  While there are several varieties of hybrid gas/electric vehicles, the batteries are primarily recharged from either or both of a) the gasoline motor, and/or b) regenerative braking.  

With regenerative braking, the electric motor that helps to drive the car is engaged, but is reversed in that the motor is then spun by the wheels.  The power required to turn the motor is used to assist the car's deceleration, while inducing a current to charge the batteries at the same time.  So when you brake, some of the power that is typically wasted as heat is utilized to eventually keep your vehicle moving forward. 

An additional benefit of  the hybrid configuration is that the engine automatically shuts off when at a stop, but is able to start up again instantly, without any perceived interruption to the driver.  Think about all of the many minutes/hours that are wasted at stop lights and in traffic jams each day, just wasting the continuous combustion of the engine to keep it from having to restart each time you want to accelerate again.  Now you will just be wasting your time, but not the resource of gasoline, nor will you be providing the contribution of needless pollution.

Truly, I look forward to the day when all automobiles will utilize both turbos and hybrid configurations so that the average driver can continue to enjoy high performance, while offering very low emissions.