Thursday, June 21, 2007

Stock 2007 Acura TL Type-S on Dyno

With a aluminum-alloy SOHC VTEC V-6 and a displacement of 3.5 liters, the TL Type-S is rated at 286 @ 6200 rpm and 256 @ 5000 rpm.



"With a crank rating of 286hp, the TL Type-S' 250+whp results are pretty impressive." - ToV

[Click Here] For the dyno plot of the 2007 TL Type-S vs. 2004 TL

Monday, June 18, 2007

European Accord Sport GT

Honda UK has added a new mode to its range with the introduction of the Accord Sport GT, a new trim/equipment package based on the existing Euro Accord. The European Honda Accord is basically the Acura TSX here in the States. The Sport GT version gets a sport suspension, Graphite-finish alloys (17" for the sedan, 16" for the wagon -- a.k.a. Tourer) and several appearance and convenience upgrades. Those include the Premium White Pear finish shown above, dark chrome grille and door handles, red gauges, carbon fiber-look inlays on the dash and center console, a decklid spoiler, premium audio, nav, Bluetooth, and a few other items.



The Accord Sport GT is powered by Honda's 2.2L i-CDTi turbodiesel, which delivers 140 horsepower at 4000 rpm and 250 lb-ft of torque at 2000 rpm. Combined cycle fuel economy is right around 42.8 mpg (US).



[Source] AutoBlog.com

The car looks pretty good. I especially like the rims better than the current style on the refreshed (2006 & after) Acura TSX. I wonder if we're going to see a "Sport GT" version for the Acura TSX anytime soon, however It's more likely that we'll be seeing a "Type-S" version from Acura.

[Related] A TSX that gets more MPG than a Prius!

How Long to Make a Car?

According to the latest Harbour Report, Toyota needs only 29.93 hours to make a car. Nissan came next with 29.97 hours, and Honda third at 31.63 hours. Those numbers cover stamping, engine and transmission production, and car assembly. GM takes 32.36 hours to make a car, which was a 2.5% improvement over the year before.

To be expected, although the domestics put up solid productivity numbers, profit-per-vehicle still lagged. Toyota and Honda made, on average, $1,200 pre-tax profit on each car sold in the US. The Big Three lost anywhere from $1,072 to $5,234 last year on every vehicle sold. Health care and pension liabilities and incentives were to blame.

Friday, June 8, 2007

[A Look into the Past] Ayrton Senna in NSX at Suzuka



The legendary F1 driver tackles Suzuka in loafers! Senna is what made the original NSX the respected supercar it is today.

Here is video of Senna's "last lap."



ESPN's coverage of the fatal crash:



Here his crash is being analyzed:


On lap 7, from the onboard camera of Michael Schumacher's Benetton, Senna's car was seen to break traction twice at the rear, go off the track at Tamburello corner and strike an unprotected concrete barrier. Telemetry shows he left the track at 310 km/h (193 mph) and was able to slow the car down to 218 km/h (135 mph) in less than two seconds before hitting the wall.

A National Geographic documentary concluded that that if Senna's reactions had actually been slower, he might have survived the crash.

The irony of the on board video available from Senna's car is that the final seconds of footage are missing. The approximately 1.5 seconds of remaining video which would have provided a definite answer as to the cause of Senna's death were lost in an act of astounding coincidence when the TV race director decided to switch camera signals at the very instant the Williams started to leave the track. Perhaps unsurprisingly, numerous rumours abound that the remaining 1.5 seconds are not lost and reportedly show Senna's steering wheel clearly coming off in his hands as his car is leaving the track.- Wikipedia.com
Below you can see the changes made to circuit in response to the deaths of Senna and Ratzenberger.


Ayrton Senna's body was flown home, and on 5 May about half a million people watched the coffin pass by in a state funeral in Sao Paolo.

R.I.P. Ayrton Senna.

[A Look into the Past] RD-X Concept Video




2002 Acura RD-X Concept Pictures

For more Acura Concepts

Drawing of original NSX





Click here for more NSX entries.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

[Video] Koni Challenge Daytona 2007

Highlights from the Kensai Acura TSX #75 of Beau Buisson and Travis Walker.

TSX wins Koni Challenge at Laguna Seca!

Karl Thomson and Billy Johnson co-drove to their second 2007 win in four races this season and retook the championship lead with a victory in the No. 76 Kensai Racing/Compass360.com Acura TSX in Saturday's Grand-Am KONI Challenge (ST) Street Tuner Monterey 200 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The duo also combined to win the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway in January. [Source]





Here's an in-car and nose cam, from Billy Johnson in practice. The day before he won the Grand Am Koni Challenge ST race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Famous Geek drives Acura TSX?

According to automotoportal.com's article: What Cars Do Famous Geeks Drive? Chris Pirillo drives a 2006 Acura TSX. Here's what automotoportal.com had to say:
Chris Pirillo is an Internet entrepreneur, book author, ex-TV show host and technology enthusiast. He is addicted to computer hardware and software -and the Acura TSX. According to him, the 2006 TSX is about as geeky as today’s cars can get. This car has an audio in jack, live traffic reports, Bluetooth connectivity, Zagat ratings and an excellent navigation system with voice recognition.

The car also has handsfreelink, keyless access system with driver recognition. The sound system in the Acura is a 360-watt system with AM/FM stereo, 6 disc in dash CD changer and eight speakers. There is also an XM satellite radio, MP3/auxillary input jack and home link. Other accessories include a dual zone automatic climate control system and heated front seats, theft deterrent system with an electronic immobilizer. The exterior temperature indicator lets you know what the temperature is outside.

Now it's time to take out the red pen teachers use to correct student's work:
1) The TSX does NOT have live traffic reports,
2) the picture automotoportal.com has up for the 2006 Acura TSX is actually a pre-2006 model (this is noted because of the lacking integrated fog lights), &
3) Chris Pirillo no longer drives a TSX, but instead drives an Acura RL.

I don't know what automotoprotal.com was doing, but it sure wasn't research. Here is the entry from Chris Pirillo when he was thinking of "upgrading" his Acura TSX. Being a TSX owner myself, I actually left a comment on that entry in September of last year. At that time, I had no idea Mr. Pirillo was "famous."

Monday, June 4, 2007

Some Upclose Photos of Concept cars from Acura Design Studio

IGN.com posted some pictures from their visit to the new Acura Design Studio.


The highly talked about 1995 Acura CL-X Concept.


Side view of the CL-X.


The rear end of the CL-X.


Acura RDX Concept.


Acura MDX Concept.


A photo of the Acura Sedan Concept.


Acura Sports Car Concept.

No Longer a 1995 Acura Integra

I first read about this mod on Acurazine.com. Garo set out to build his dream-car. Which was a vehicle with a 2005 Acura TL front and 2005 Infiniti G35 2DR coupe for the back. If you need to stop and re-read that sentence again, I'll wait. *pauses for a second* Well anyway, on to the pictures!


Photoshop image of the "dream-car."



Before an after (so far) - front.


Before an after (so far).



Before an after (so far) - back.



Before and after (so far) - rear lights.



Before and after (so far) - side view.



Old hood opened.


Door opened - front view.


Just posing...


Hood and doors opened.



Current interior picture.

If you want to see more pictures of this project and the owner, click here. I hope he does some kind of engine swap too. That's a lot of car for a 4 cylinder engine to haul around.

[Update Photo - June 19, 2007]

Starting to look pretty sharp!

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