New WRX Lights
Australian company Twinlight are at it again. Here's their proposed new headlight design for the MY01 WRX. Like it? Dislike it? Comments to twinlight@twinlight.com.au
Holden's New V6 Engine Plant
Victorian Premier, the Hon Steve Bracks and Federal Minister for Industry, Science and Resources, the Hon Senator Nick Minchin helped break the ground for Holden's new V6 engine plant site last week. Taking part in a special ceremony to mark the first 'turning of the turf' at the site of the new plant at Fishermans Bend, Victoria, Holden Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Peter Hanenberger, said the engine plant would add $5.2 billion to Australia's total economic benefit over the life of the program.
The new engine plant will cover 32,000 square metres on land abutting Holden Engine Operations' facility at Fishermans Bend. A $35 million design and construction project, it represents the first phase of a $400 million Holden investment program which will grow to $700 million by mid decade. The building project is under the management of Melbourne-based Connell Wagner and is to be designed and constructed by Baulderstone Hornibrook. Holden expects to build over 200,000 of the all aluminium, high technology V6 engine at the rate of 900 units a day in the first year of production. It will be exported in high volume to world markets from 2004 and will power future generations of Holden Commodores.
GM Innovations
Thirteen new ideas have been awarded the General Motors annual Charles F. "Boss" Kettering Award. The 13 Kettering Awards this year recognize 53 GM employees. The winners include researchers, engineers and scientists in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Germany and India.
A quick look at some of this year's winners:
- Corvette Frame Rail and Structure
The C-5 Corvette, introduced in 1997, has a patented body architecture because of its unique side rails which are formed from a single 17-foot piece of steel tubing. The part is created by "hydroforming" using a system developed by GM engineers. The hydraulic press system that makes these rails is capable of producing both the right- and left-hand rails for a Corvette in a single cycle. The hydroformed rail contributes to a 450 percent improvement in the stiffness of the vehicle and eliminates 14 smaller pieces that had to be welded together in the previous model of the Corvette structure.
- Decoupled Worm Gear for Electric Power steering -
Electric Power Steering, or EPS, gives a power assist to the steering column without taking any power directly from the engine. The EPS operates without hydraulic fluids, and is an enabler for future "drive-by-wire" systems. On a straight road, it uses no energy whatsoever. Opel researchers Werner Schleidt and Wolfgang Stoff from the International Technical Development Center in Rüsselsheim, Germany, devised a worm gear driven by a small brush motor and fixed in rubber isolators. The result is a cost-effective, rattle-free EPS with reasonable manufacturing tolerances. As a bonus, the system gives the driver a better on-centre feeling and improved returnability of the steering wheel. The system is a first for GM, and will appear on all European small vehicle platforms, about 1 million vehicles per year.
- IdleCATMON
Catalyst Monitoring Technique at Idle - A mathematical model of how an ideal catalytic converter should operate is compared to actual readings taken from a pair of oxygen sensors located upstream and downstream from the converter in the vehicle. This monitoring occurs periodically when the car is at idle, usually every 30 to 60 miles. If the converter's actual performance deviates from the ideal by too much, a warning light is illuminated for the driver.
- Vehicle Height Management System
As part of GM North America's development of the eight-wheeled all-terrain Light Armored Vehicle III, a team from GM Defense in London, Ontario, Canada, devised an automatic load-levelling chassis control system. A computer controls the nitrogen-filled hydro-pneumatic suspension, opening valves to automatically adjust the attitude of the vehicle's body and enabling the driver to raise or lower the vehicle as needed.
- Virtual Proving Ground
The next step after math-based engineering and design is math-based reliability testing. The Virtual Proving Ground is a 3-D CAD system that slams a virtual car through potholes, Belgian blocks and the four-poster test. It's rapid, it's cheap, and the stresses on individual parts can be viewed in real time and ultra-slow-motion. A virtual body-in-white can be run through 13km of testing in just two minutes. The Virtual Proving Ground, developed by Dr. Gabriel F. Gueler of GM do Brasil, is the only software in the world that integrates vehicle dynamics, fatigue and finite element modelling predictions.
Five GM do Brasil products have been tested through the system so far, creating a savings of about $1 million and reducing the development cycle by at least two months on one vehicle. At least $600,000 in prototype development was avoided. Isuzu and other GM units are also evaluating the software for use.
Quickies
- The all-new Citroën C5 will arrive on 1 July 2001 and Citroën Australia has confirmed that it will be available with a choice of three engines, including a diesel.
- Italian racing driver Michele Alboreto (44) died on April 25, while test driving the Audi R8 racing sportscar on the Lausitzring in Saxony, Germany.
- Britain's respected "What Car" magazine has awarded its annual prize for security to Lexus for its IS200 model and Toyota for its range as a whole. For the second time IS200 scored full marks for security, after becoming the first car ever to achieve the feat in 1999. The IS200 met all the anti-theft standards set by Britain's Home Office, which recommends that a car's locks should be able to withstand an attack by thieves for two minutes. The Home Office also recommends that if an immobiliser is fitted to the vehicle, it should be able to resist attempts to tamper with or by-pass it for at least five minutes.
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