World Solar Challenge: How Far in a Solar Car?

Solar power is a great source of renewable energy, but has always had its limitations. At best, there’s only 1,000 Watts/m2 available at the Earth’s surface on a sunny day, and the limited efficiency of solar panels cuts this down further. It’s such a low amount that solar panels …read more

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Hypercar Valve Technology On A Harbour Freight Engine

The inlet and exhaust valve timing of a piston engine plays a large role in engine performance. Many modern automotive engines have some sort of variable valve timing, but the valves are still mechanically coupled together and to the crankshaft. This means that there is always a degree of performance …read more

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How To Get Into Cars: Drag Racing Mods

While some love to carve up mountain roads, and others relish the challenge of perfectly apexing every corner at the track, many crave a different challenge. Drag racing is a sport all about timing, finesse, and brute power. Like any other discipline in motorsport, to compete you’ll need a vehicle …read more

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Alfa Romeo Gauge Cluster Gets a Fresh Set of LEDs

On older vehicles, if you noticed that the lights had gone out behind one of your gauges, you knew it was time to snake your hand back there and replace the little incandescent bulb that had given up the ghost. But what are you supposed to do if you’re seeing …read more

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Alfred Jones Talks About the Challenges of Designing Fully Self-Driving Vehicles

The leap to self-driving cars could be as game-changing as the one from horse power to engine power. If cars prove able to drive themselves better than humans do, the safety gains could be enormous: auto accidents were the #8 cause of death worldwide in 2016. And who doesn’t want …read more

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How To Get Into Cars: Offroading Mods

While plenty of automotive enthusiasts are all about carving corners at the local track days, it’s a special breed that leaves tarmac behind for the dusty trail ahead. If your chosen ride is of the four-wheelin’ variety, here’s how you can modify it to dominate the dirt and mud.

Handling

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Three-Wheeled Turret Car Looks Like It Should Be Orbiting Thunderdome

In a post-apocalyptic world, this is the hacker you want rebuilding society. He’s showing off a three-wheeled go-kart that pivots the cockpit as it steers. A hand crank mounted at the center of the vehicle pivots each of the three wheels in place, but keeps the driver facing forwards with …read more

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Fail of the Week: Roboracer Meets Wall

There comes a moment when our project sees the light of day, publicly presented to people who are curious to see the results of all our hard work, only for it to fail in a spectacularly embarrassing way. This is the dreaded “Demo Curse” and it recently befell the SIT …read more

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Tesla Begins “Full Self Driving” Public Beta as Waymo and Cruise Go Unattended

Self-driving technology is a holy grail that promises to forever change the way we interact with cars. Thus far, there’s been plenty of hype and excitement, but full vehicles that remove the driver from the equation have remained far off. Tesla have long posited themselves as a market leader in …read more

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Battery Swap Gives Nissan LEAF New Lease on Life

It’s often said that one of the advantages of owning an electric vehicle is reduced maintenance costs, and for the most part, that’s true. That is, until the vehicle’s battery pack starts to show its age. Then you might be on the hook for a repair bill comparable to swapping …read more

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