Labels

Wednesday 30 November 2011

AE86 is Expensive (from thetunersgroup)

For Sale: Toshiki Yoshioka Team Droo-P AE86 Drift Car

untitled image

NOTE: Price now lower in some currencies due to changes in Japanese Yen exchange rate !

When Yoshioka's AE86 and the extensive spares package was put on the market, the Japanese Yen was very strong, particularly against a number of other currencies.
The price in Japanese Yen of JPY 3,500,000 is still the same, but due to recent changes in the Japanese Yen exchange rate, the price of the car in a number of other currencies is now much lower ...
Due to the changes in exchange rates of various currencies compared to the Japanese Yen, as at exchange rates on 16 June 2009, the Japanese price equivalent in:
  • Australian Dollars has dropped from AU$59,500 to AU$45,477 (a saving of approx AU$14,000 or approx 23.5%)
  • US Dollars has dropped from US$38,000 to US$36,263 (a saving of approx US$1,737)
  • Euro has dropped from Euro 30,150 to Euro 26,155 (a saving of approx Euro 3,995)
  • English Sterling £ has dropped from English Sterling £26,700 to English Sterling £22,106 (a saving of approx £ 4,594)
  • UAE Dirhams has dropped from UAE Dirhams 139,885 to UAE Dirhams 133,155 (a saving of approx UAE Dirhams 6,730).
We are advised that Team Droo-P spent roughly Japanese Yen 8,000,000 (approx US$89,000) to build this car. The asking price of Japanese Yen 3,500,000 is less than half this amount.

About the car

The Tuners Group is very proud to announce that we have been appointed by Works Bell in Japan to find a new home and owner for Toshiki Yoshioka's legendary AE86 drift car.
For sale is Yoshioka's car, which he has campaigned with enormous success and with which he won the Las Vegas round of Formula D in 2008 - where he stunned the US drifting community with the mindblowing speed of his AE86 at a circuit which many have described as the fastest track on the entire Formula D calendar.
untitled image This car is without doubt one of the most developed, most advanced, and most successful AE86's on the planet.
Image Credit: Original MadeImage Credit: Original Made It features a black top 4AG, 1750cc, 20 valve motor built by Prime Garage in Japan. Full engine specs can be found below.
A Works Bell Paddleshifter fitted with alloy paddles is used to control the nitrous oxide system in Toshiki Yoshioka's Team Droo-P drift car, one of the top drift cars in the worldA Works Bell Paddleshifter fitted with alloy paddles is used to control the nitrous oxide system in Toshiki Yoshioka's Team Droo-P drift car, one of the top drift cars in the world The car has a dry twin shot nitrous system, which is activated via a Works Bell Paddle Shifter mounted behind the steering wheel.
The transmission is an HKS FC3S H-pattern dogmission with a custom bellhousing.
Image Credit: Original MadeImage Credit: Original Made The exhaust headers are a custom made special order set made by Toda Racing.

Videos of the car

There are three online videos of this car available.
The first is an incredible display of the speed of Toshiki Yoshioka's AE86 vs the 520 hp JZX100 of Kuniaki Takahashi in D1GP in Japan.
This video is a perfect example of the ability of Yoshioka's AE86 to outclass high horsepower competitors. As you can see in the video, the 520 hp JZX100 ends up in the dirt trying to keep up with Yoshioka's AE86. Click on the video below to play it ...
untitled image The second video includes details of the car itself and an interview with Yoshioka after his win in Las Vegas. Click on the video below to play it ...
untitled image The third video is a warm up sequence of the car, so you can hear just how highly tuned and developed the Prime Garage engine is. Click on the video below to play it ...
untitled image

Thursday 24 November 2011

Spark Timing Myths Debunked


A widely-held myth is that maximum advance always means maximum power. Here’s what’s wrong with this thinking:

The spark plug ignites the mixture and the fire starts burning. The speed of this flame front depends on the mixture, this means how many air and fuel molecules are packed together in the combustion chamber. The closer they are packed together in the same volume, the easier it is for the fire to jump from one set of molecules to the other. The burning speed is also dependent on the air-fuel-ratio. At about 12.5 to 13 air-fuel-ratio the mixture burns fastest. A leaner mixture than that burns slower. A richer mixture also burns slower. That's why the maximum power mixture is at the fastest burn speed. It takes some time for this flame front to consume all the fuel in the combustion chamber. As it burns, the pressure and temperature in the cylinder increases. This pressure peaks at some point after TDC. Many experiments have shown that the optimum position for this pressure peak is about 15 to 20 degrees after TDC. The exact location of the optimum pressure peak is actually independent of engine load or RPM, but dependent on engine geometry.

Typically all the mixture is burned before about 70 deg ATDC. But because the mixture density and AFR in the engine change all the time, the fire has to be ignited just at the right time to get the peak pressure at the optimal point. As the engine speed increases, you need to ignite the mixture in the combustion chamber earlier because there is less time between spark and optimum peak pressure angle. If the mixture density is changed due to for example boost or higher compression ratio, the spark has to be ignited later to hit the same optimal point.

If the mixture is ignited to early, the piston is still moving up towards TDC as the pressure from the burning mixture builds. This has several effects:

The pressure buildup before TDC tries to turn the engine backward, costing power.
The point where the pressure in the cylinder peaks is much closer to TDC, with the result of less mechanical leverage on the crankshaft (less power) and also causes MUCH higher pressure peaks and temperatures, leading to knock.
Many people with aftermarket turbos don't change the spark advance very much, believing that earlier spark creates more power. To combat knock they make the mixture richer. All that happens really then is that the mixture burns slower and therefore hits the peak pressure closer to the right point. This of course reaffirms the belief that the richer mixture creates more power. In reality the flame front speed was adjusted to get the right peak pressure point. The same result (with more power, less emissions and less fuel consumption) could be achieved by leaving the mixture at the leaner optimum and retarding the ignition more instead.

Turbo charging or increasing the compression ratio changes the mixture density (more air and fuel molecules are packed together). This increases the peak pressure and temperature. The pressure and temperature can get so high that the remaining unburned mixture ignites by itself at the hottest part in the combustion chamber. This self-ignition happens explosively and is called 'knock'. All engines knock somewhat. If there is very little unburned mixture remaining when it self-ignites, the explosion of that small amount does not cause any problems because it can't create a large, sharp pressure peak. Igniting the mixture later (retarding) causes the peak pressure to be much lower and cures the knock.

The advances in power of modern engines, despite the lower quality of gasoline today, comes partially from improvements in combustion chamber and spark plug location. Modern engines are optimized so that the flame front has the least distance to travel and consumes the mixture as fast as possible. An already burned mixture can no longer explode and therefore higher compression ratios are possible with lower octane fuel. Some race or high performance engines actually have 2 or three spark plugs to ignite the mixture from multiple points. This is done so that the actual burn time is faster with multiple flame fronts. Again, this is to consume the mixture faster without giving it a chance to self-ignite.

Higher octane fuel is more resistant to self-ignition. It takes a higher temperature and pressure to cause it to burn by itself. That's why race fuels are used for engines with high compression or boost. Lead additives have been used, and are still used to raise the self-ignition threshhold of gasoline, but lead is toxic and therefore no longer used for pump-gas. Of course a blown engine is toxic to your wallet.



Klaus Allmendinger is the VP of Engineering for Innovate Motorsports, a division of Innovate! Technology, Inc. Innovate develops digital tools for tuning internal-combustion engines.