Berlinetta
The term Berlinetta refers to a sports coupé with two seats but including 2+2 cars. The original meaning for berlinetta in Italian is “little saloon”. Introduced in the 1930s, the term was popularized by Ferrari in the 1950s. Maserati, Alfa Romeo, other European car manufacturers have used the Berlinetta label. In North America, Chevrolet produced a version of the Camaro called the Berlinetta, from 1979 to 1986; the Berlinetta model was marketed as having a luxury focus, through interior features and softer suspension. Berlinette is the French name for a Berlinetta, defined as a sporty, low-profile two-door type of automobile body style related to the coupé. After World War II, the term came to refer to a small vehicle with enclosed coachwork similar to a two-door berline, or sedan in France, it supplanted use of the term "coach" for a similar but older body style, which had replaced the older term "demi-berline". The most common recent usage was in reference to the Alpine A110 sports car, simply called "la Berlinette"
Matra 530
The Matra 530 is a sports car created and built by the French engineering group Matra. In 1965 Matra's CEO Jean-Luc Lagardère decided to develop a successor to the Matra Djet, more appealing to the non-racing public - a voiture des copains; the result was the Matra M530, the first "true" Matra sports car, the Djet having been a René Bonnet design. The car was named after Matra's R.530 missile, was designed by former Simca designer Philippe Guédon. Like its predecessor, the M530 was built on a steel frame with polyester body and a mid-engine layout. To accommodate 2+2 seating, a mid-mounted engine and a reasonable boot, various engine options were considered. In the end, the running gear came from Ford in Germany: the "high compression" 1699 cc Ford Taunus V4 engine and gearbox from the Taunus 15M TS were chosen; this combination was compact enough to fit between the boot. Other noteworthy features of the M530 were its targa top roof, pop-up headlights and, most notably, the outstanding avant-garde design.
The first 530 was shown to the public on March 1967 at the Geneva Motor Show. It had a 70 DIN hp Ford 1699 cc V4 engine, it entered production a month incorporating modifications that included the addition of a chrome bumper bar to provide much-needed protection from parking shunts for the front grill, a modest reshaping of the dashboard to give the passenger a little more knee room, the repositioning of the ignition key to facilitate access. In its first two production years, the chassis was built by Carrier in Alençon and assembly was undertaken by French coachbuilder Brissonneau et Lotz at Creil; the engine bay of the early model 530 was accessible by removing the acrylic glass rear window. French artist Sonia Delaunay painted a 530A at the special request of Matra's CEO Jean-Luc Lagardère in 1968; that same year Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale presented. The car appeared again in Turin with a new paint scheme. 1969 brought many changes to the 530. Firstly, the running gear followed the same evolution as the Ford model it was taken from and power increased to 75 DIN hp by using a different carburetor.
Secondly, Matra closed a deal with Chrysler Europe, to sell their cars through the Simca dealer network from 1970 onwards and jointly develop the M530's successor. The cars were now constructed at the Matra Automobiles factory in Romorantin; the British magazine "Autocar" tested a Matra M530A in March 1969. The car accelerated from 0-60 mph in 15.6 seconds. An "overall" fuel consumption of 26.9 miles per imperial gallon was recorded. This put it behind the priced Lotus Elan +2 on performance, but the two cars were matched on fuel economy; the Ford-powered Matra's £2,160 manufacturer's recommended price was a little lower than the £2,244 price on the Lotus, but both were massively undercut by the £1,217 being asked for the MG MGB GT which, although based on an older simpler design, sold in greater numbers. Included in the price comparison was the Porsche 912 being offered in the UK with a manufacturer's recommended retail price of £2,894; the testers commended the Matra's refinement and steering, soundness of construction and finish, while noting that its performance was'not outstanding'.
Introduced at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show was the Matra Simca M530LX, a minor redesign of the 530A by Michelotti. The most notable changes were the front bumper. A budget version of the 530, the Matra Simca 530SX, was introduced in October 1971; the SX lacks the targa top roof, instead of pop-up headlights there were four fixed headlights mounted on top of the front. The only available colours were orange and white, the SX featured black bumpers instead of the LX's chrome bumpers. Production of the M530 ceased in 1973. No right-hand drive M530s were built
Overhead valve engine
An overhead valve engine, or "pushrod engine", is a reciprocating piston engine whose poppet valves are sited in the cylinder head. An OHV engine's valvetrain operates its valves via a camshaft within the cylinder block, cam followers and rocker arms; the OHV engine was an advance over the older flathead engine, whose valves were sited within the cylinder block. Some early "OHV" engines known as "F-heads" used both side-valves and overhead valves. A variation over the OHV design is the overhead camshaft, or "OHC", whose camshaft lies in the cylinder head itself, above the valves. To avoid confusion, OHC engines are not referred to as OHV despite having their valves in the head. In early 1894, Rudolf Diesel's second Diesel engine prototype was built with a cylinder head featuring push rods, rocker arms, poppet valves. Diesel had published this design in 1893. In 1896, U. S. patent 563,140, awarded to William F. Davis, illustrated a gasoline engine with the same head configuration, patenting his solution to the problem of how to cool the head, which problem had made the overhead valve engine difficult before then.
Henry Ford's Quadricycle of 1896 had valves in the head, with push rods for exhaust valves only, the intake using suction valves. In 1898, Detroit bicycle manufacturer Walter Lorenzo Marr built a motor-trike with a one-cylinder OHV engine with push rods for both exhaust and intake. In 1900, David Buick hired Marr as chief engineer at the Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company in Detroit, where he worked until 1902. Marr's engine employed pushrod-actuated rocker arms, which in turn pushed valves parallel to the pistons. Marr left Buick to start his own automobile company in 1902, the Marr Auto-Car, made a handful of cars with overhead valve engines, before coming back to Buick in 1904; the OHV engine was patented in 1902 by Buick's second chief engineer Eugene Richard, at the Buick Manufacturing Company, precursor to the Buick Motor Company. The world's first production overhead valve internal combustion engine was put into the first production Buick automobile, the 1904 Model B, which used a 2-cylinder Flat twin engine, with 2 valves in each head.
The engine was designed by David Buick. Eugene Richard of the Buick Manufacturing Company was awarded US Patent #771,095 in 1904 for the valve in head engine, it included rocker arms and push rods, a water jacket for the head which communicated with the one in the cylinder block, lifters pushed by a camshaft with a 2-to-1 gearing ratio to the crankshaft. Arthur Chevrolet was awarded US Patent #1,744,526 for an adapter that could be applied to an existing engine, thus transforming it into an Overhead Valve Engine; the Wright Brothers built their own airplane engines, starting in 1906, they used overhead valves for both exhaust and intake, with push rods and rocker arms for the exhaust valves only, the intake valves being "automatic suction" valves. They built a V-8 engine with this valve configuration in 1910. In 1949, Oldsmobile introduced the Rocket V8, the first V-8 engine with OHV's to be produced on a wide scale. General Motors is the world's largest pushrod engine producer, producing I4, V6 and V8 pushrod engines.
Most other companies use overhead cams. Nowadays, automotive use of side-valves has disappeared, valves are all "overhead". However, most are now driven more directly by the overhead camshaft system. Few pushrod-type engines remain in production outside of the United States market; this is in part a result of some countries passing laws to tax engines based on displacement, because displacement is somewhat related to the emissions and fuel efficiency of an automobile. This has given OHC engines a regulatory advantage in those countries, which resulted in few manufacturers wanting to design both OHV and OHC engines. However, in 2002, Chrysler introduced a new pushrod engine: a 5.7-litre Hemi engine. The new Chrysler Hemi engine presents advanced features such as variable displacement technology and has been a popular option with buyers; the Hemi was on the Ward's 10 Best Engines list for 2003 through 2007. Chrysler produced the world's first production variable-valve OHV engine with independent intake and exhaust phasing.
The system is called CamInCam, was first used in the 600 horsepower SRT-10 engine for the 2008 Dodge Viper. Early air-cooled ohv BMW boxer motorcycle engines had long pushrods and a single centrally-mounted camshaft; the pushrods were short, allowing higher rpm and more power. For instance, the BMW R1100S could achieve an output of 98 hp at 8,400 rpm, with no risk of valve bounce. Since 2013, BMW flat-twin motorcycle engines have had OHC valve actuation. OHV engines have some advantages over OHC engines: Smaller overall packaging: because of the camshaft's location inside the engine block, OHV engines are more compact than an overhead cam engine of comparable displacement. For example, Ford's 4.6 L OHC modular V8 is larger than the 5.0 L I-head Windsor V8. GM's 4.6 L OHC Northstar V8 is taller and wider than GM's larger displacement 5.7 to 7.0 L I-head LS V8. The Ford Ka uses the Kent Crossflow/Endura-E OHV engine to fit under its low bonnet line; because of the more compact size of an engine of a given displacement, a pushrod engine of given external dimensions can have greater displacement than an OHC engine of the same external size.
As a result, the pushrod engine can sometimes produce just as much power as the OHC engine, but with greater torque (contrary to popular belief, this is due to the greater displacement of
Transmission (mechanics)
A transmission is a machine in a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. The term transmission refers to the gearbox that uses gears and gear trains to provide speed and torque conversions from a rotating power source to another device. In British English, the term transmission refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, prop shaft and final drive shafts. In American English, the term refers more to the gearbox alone, detailed usage differs; the most common use is in motor vehicles, where the transmission adapts the output of the internal combustion engine to the drive wheels. Such engines need to operate at a high rotational speed, inappropriate for starting and slower travel; the transmission reduces the higher engine speed to the slower wheel speed, increasing torque in the process. Transmissions are used on pedal bicycles, fixed machines, where different rotational speeds and torques are adapted. A transmission has multiple gear ratios with the ability to switch between them as speed varies.
This switching may be done automatically. Directional control may be provided. Single-ratio transmissions exist, which change the speed and torque of motor output. In motor vehicles, the transmission is connected to the engine crankshaft via a flywheel or clutch or fluid coupling because internal combustion engines cannot run below a particular speed; the output of the transmission is transmitted via the driveshaft to one or more differentials, which drives the wheels. While a differential may provide gear reduction, its primary purpose is to permit the wheels at either end of an axle to rotate at different speeds as it changes the direction of rotation. Conventional gear/belt transmissions are not the only mechanism for speed/torque adaptation. Alternative mechanisms include power transformation. Hybrid configurations exist. Automatic transmissions use a valve body to shift gears using fluid pressures in response to speed and throttle input. Early transmissions included the right-angle drives and other gearing in windmills, horse-powered devices, steam engines, in support of pumping and hoisting.
Most modern gearboxes are used to increase torque while reducing the speed of a prime mover output shaft. This means that the output shaft of a gearbox rotates at a slower rate than the input shaft, this reduction in speed produces a mechanical advantage, increasing torque. A gearbox can be set up to do the opposite and provide an increase in shaft speed with a reduction of torque; some of the simplest gearboxes change the physical rotational direction of power transmission. Many typical automobile transmissions include the ability to select one of several gear ratios. In this case, most of the gear ratios are used to slow down the output speed of the engine and increase torque. However, the highest gears may be "overdrive" types. Gearboxes have found use in a wide variety of different—often stationary—applications, such as wind turbines. Transmissions are used in agricultural, construction and automotive equipment. In addition to ordinary transmission equipped with gears, such equipment makes extensive use of the hydrostatic drive and electrical adjustable-speed drives.
The simplest transmissions called gearboxes to reflect their simplicity, provide gear reduction, sometimes in conjunction with a right-angle change in direction of the shaft. These are used on PTO-powered agricultural equipment, since the axial PTO shaft is at odds with the usual need for the driven shaft, either vertical, or horizontally extending from one side of the implement to another. More complex equipment, such as silage choppers and snowblowers, have drives with outputs in more than one direction; the gearbox in a wind turbine converts the slow, high-torque rotation of the turbine into much faster rotation of the electrical generator. These are more complicated than the PTO gearboxes in farm equipment, they weigh several tons and contain three stages to achieve an overall gear ratio from 40:1 to over 100:1, depending on the size of the turbine. The first stage of the gearbox is a planetary gear, for compactness, to distribute the enormous torque of the turbine over more teeth of the low-speed shaft.
Durability of these gearboxes has been a serious problem for a long time. Regardless of where they are used, these simple transmissions all share an important feature: the gear ratio cannot be changed during use, it is fixed at the time. For transmission types that overcome this issue, see Continuously variable transmission known as CVT. Many applications require the availability of multiple gear ratios; this is to ease the starting and stopping of a mechanical system, though another important need is that of maintaining good fuel efficiency. The need for a transmission in an automobile is a consequence of the characteristics of the internal combustion engine. Eng
Matra
Mécanique Aviation Traction or Matra was a French company covering a wide range of activities related to automobiles, bicycles and weaponry. In 1994, it now operates under that name. Matra was owned by the Floirat family; the name Matra became famous in the 1960s when it went into car production by buying Automobiles René Bonnet. Matra Automobiles produced successful racing sports cars. By merging with various companies, Matra's CEO, Jean-Luc Lagardère, built a group around Matra diversified in media, state of the art technology, aeronautics and in automobiles and records production and distribution. Matra was privatized in 1988, with Lagardère holding 6% of the stock and by 1992, 25%. In 1992 the Lagardère Group was radically restructured. Lagardère merged Matra and Hachette to form Matra Hachette, of which Lagardère Group held 37.6%. Following a share swap in 1994 Lagardère held 93.3% of Matra Hachette's stock. In 1996 Matra Hachette was formally merged into Lagardère. Matra Hautes Technologies was the defence arm of Matra.
The company was involved in aerospace and telecommunications. In February 1999 MHT merged with Aérospatiale to form Aérospatiale-Matra. On July 10, 2000 Aérospatiale-Matra became part of EADS. Matra Défense Matra Systèmes & Information Matra BAe Dynamics, formed in 1996, Matra BAe Dynamics brought together the missile business of BAe and half of the missile business of Matra Défense.. Matra Marconi Space, was the space division of Matra which merged with the space operations of GEC in 1989 to form Matra Marconi Space. In 2000, it was merged with the space division of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG to form Astrium; this was renamed to EADS Astrium. Matra Nortel Communications R.511 air to air missiles R.530 air to air missiles Super 530 air to air missiles R.550 Magic air to air missiles MICA air to air missiles R.422 surface to air missiles Mistral anti-aircraft missiles Martel anti-radar and anti-shipping missiles in association with Hawker Siddeley ARMAT anti-radar missiles Otomat anti-shipping missiles in association with Oto Melara BLG 66 Belouga cluster bombs Durandal anti-runway bombs Pods for the SNEB unguided rocket The company was created following the acquisition of the brand Automobiles René Bonnet in 1964 by Jean-Luc Lagardere and disappeared in 2003 The Matra name was first used for road cars with the Renault-powered Matra Djet, an update of the Bonnet Jet, the Djet was replaced with the Matra 530, the Murena and the Rancho, an early type of sport utility vehicle.
In 1984 Renault launched the Matra built Espace minivan, the car was a success. After the discontinuation of the Renault Avantime, on February 27, 2003, Matra announced its intention to close its automobile factory in Romorantin-Lanthenay a month later. In September 2003, Pininfarina SpA acquired Matra Automobile's engineering and prototype businesses; the company was subsequently named Matra Automobile Engineering. On January 13, 2009, Pininfarina sold its share in Matra Automobile Engineering to Segula Technologies. Matra Djet Matra 530 Matra Bagheera Matra Murena Matra Rancho Renault Espace Renault Avantime In the mid-1960s Matra enjoyed considerable success in Formula 3 and Formula 2 racing with its MS5 monocoque-based car, winning the French and European championships. Matra competed as a constructor in Formula One from 1967 to 1972 and as an engine supplier between 1975 to 1982, winning the drivers' and constructors' championships in 1969. Matra competed in sports car racing from 1966 to 1974 winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1972, 1973 and 1974 and the World Championship for Makes in 1973 and 1974.
Matra sponsored Racing Club de France in 1987~1989 Matra produced a home computer, the Matra Alice Matra produced a fiberglass 14 ft sailing dinghy with an innovative double bottom, self-bailing hull called the Capricorne. Though several hundred were sold and a class association existed, it never caught on against the better established International 420. Matra created an automatic light rubber-tyred metro, the Véhicule Automatique Léger Matra attempted, failed, to produce a personal rapid transit system, Aramis Matra makes electric bicycles and electric scooters Matra i-step Runner and Force as well as Matra i-flow in Romorantin. Official website matraclub.com matra-automobile.com History of Renault Espace includes opinions about demise of Matra
Sports car
A sports car, or sportscar, is a small two-seater automobile designed for spirited performance and nimble handling. The term "sports car" was used in The Times, London in 1919. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, USA's first known use of the term was in 1928. Sports cars started to become popular during the 1920s. Sports cars may be spartan or luxurious. Sports cars are aerodynamically shaped, have a lower center of gravity than standard models. Steering and suspension are designed for precise control at high speeds. Traditionally sports cars were open roadsters, but closed coupés started to become popular during the 1930s, the distinction between a sports car and a grand tourer is not absolute. Attributing the definition of'sports car' to any particular model can be controversial or the subject of debate among enthusiasts. Authors and experts have contributed their own ideas to capture a definition. A car may be a sporting automobile without being a sports car. Performance modifications of regular, production cars, such as sport compacts, sports sedans, muscle cars, pony cars and hot hatches are not considered sports cars, yet share traits common to sports cars.
Certain models can "appeal to both muscle car and sports car enthusiasts, two camps that acknowledged each other's existences." Some models are called "sports cars" for marketing purposes to take advantage of greater marketplace acceptance and for promotional purposes. High-performance cars of various configurations are grouped as Sports and Grand tourer cars or just as performance cars; the drivetrain and engine layout influences the handling characteristics of an automobile, is crucially important in the design of a sports car. The front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout is common to sports cars of any era and has survived longer in sports cars than in mainstream automobiles. Examples include the Caterham 7, Mazda MX-5, the Chevrolet Corvette. More many such sports cars have a front mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, with the centre of mass of the engine between the front axle and the firewall. In search of improved handling and weight distribution, other layouts are sometimes used; the rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout is found only in sports cars—the motor is centre-mounted in the chassis, powers only the rear wheels.
Some high-performance sports car manufacturers, such as Ferrari and Lamborghini have preferred this layout. Porsche is one of the few remaining manufacturers using the rear-wheel-drive layout; the motor's distributed weight across the wheels, in a Porsche 911, provides excellent traction, but the significant mass behind the rear wheels makes it more prone to oversteer in some situations. Porsche has continuously refined the design and in recent years added electronic stability control to counteract these inherent design shortcomings; the front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout layout, the most common in sport compacts and hot hatches, modern production cars in general, is not used for sports cars. This layout is advantageous for small, lower power sports cars, as it avoids the extra weight, increased transmission power loss, packaging problems of a long driveshaft and longitudinal engine of FR vehicles. However, its conservative handling effect understeer, the fact that many drivers believe rear wheel drive is a more desirable layout for a sports car count against it.
The Fiat Barchetta, Saab Sonett, Berkeley cars are sports cars with this layout. Before the 1980s few sports cars used four-wheel drive, which had traditionally added a lot of weight. With its improvement in traction in adverse weather conditions, four-wheel drive is no longer uncommon in high-powered sports cars, e.g. Porsche and the Bugatti Veyron. Traditional sports cars were two-seat roadsters. Although the first sports cars were derived from fast tourers, early sporting regulations demanded four seats, two seats became common from about the mid-1920s. Modern sports cars may have small back seats that are really only suitable for luggage or small children. Over the years, some manufacturers of sports cars have sought to increase the practicality of their vehicles by increasing the seating room. One method is to place the driver's seat in the center of the car, which allows two full-sized passenger seats on each side and behind the driver; the arrangement was considered for the Lamborghini Miura, but abandoned as impractical because of the difficulty for the driver to enter/exit the vehicle.
McLaren used the design in their F1. Another British manufacturer, TVR, took a different approach in their Cerbera model; the interior was designed in such a way that the dashboard on the passenger side swept toward the front of the car, which allowed the passenger to sit farther forward than the driver. This gave the rear seat passenger extra room and made the arrangement suitable for three adult passengers and one child seated behind the driver; some Matra sports cars had three seats squeezed next to each other. The definition of a sports car is not precise, but from the earliest first automobiles "people have found ways to make them go faster, round corners better, look more beautiful" than the ordinary models inspiring an "emotional relationship" with a car, fun to drive and use for the sake of driving; the basis for the sports car is traced to the early 20th century touring cars a
Wheelbase
In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles, the wheelbase is the distance between the steering axle and the centerpoint of the driving axle group. In the case of a tri-axle truck, the wheelbase would be the distance between the steering axle and a point midway between the two rear axles; the wheelbase of a vehicle equals the distance between its rear wheels. At equilibrium, the total torque of the forces acting on a vehicle is zero. Therefore, the wheelbase is related to the force on each pair of tires by the following formula: F f = d r L m g F r = d f L m g where F f is the force on the front tires, F r is the force on the rear tires, L is the wheelbase, d r is the distance from the center of mass to the rear wheels, d f is the distance from the center of gravity to the front wheels, m is the mass of the vehicle, g is the gravity constant. So, for example, when a truck is loaded, its center of gravity shifts rearward and the force on the rear tires increases.
The vehicle will ride lower. The amount the vehicle sinks will depend on counter acting forces, like the size of the tires, tire pressure, the spring rate of the suspension. If the vehicle is accelerating or decelerating, extra torque is placed on the rear or front tire respectively; the equation relating the wheelbase, height above the ground of the CM, the force on each pair of tires becomes: F f = d r L m g − h c m L m a F r = d f L m g + h c m L m a where F f is the force on the front tires, F r is the force on the rear tires, d r is the distance from the CM to the rear wheels, d f is the distance from the CM to the front wheels, L is the wheelbase, m is the mass of the vehicle, g is the acceleration of gravity, h c m is the height of the CM above the ground, a is the acceleration. So, as is common experience, when the vehicle accelerates, the rear sinks and the front rises depending on the suspension; when braking the front noses down and the rear rises.:Because of the effect the wheelbase has on the weight distribution of the vehicle, wheelbase dimensions are crucial to the balance and steering.
For example, a car with a much greater weight load on the rear tends to understeer due to the lack of the load on the front tires and therefore the grip from them. This is why it is crucial, when towing a single-axle caravan, to distribute the caravan's weight so that down-thrust on the tow-hook is about 100 pounds force. A car may oversteer or "spin out" if there is too much force on the front tires and not enough on the rear tires; when turning there is lateral torque placed upon the tires which imparts a turning force that depends upon the length of the tire distances from the CM. Thus, in a car with a short wheelbase, the short lever arm from the CM to the rear wheel will result in a greater lateral force on the rear tire which means greater acceleration and less time for the driver to adjust and prevent a spin out or worse. Wheelbases provide the basis for one of the most common vehicle size class systems; some luxury vehicles are offered with long-wheelbase variants to increase the spaciousness and therefore the luxury of the vehicle.
This practice can be found on full-size cars like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, but ultra-luxury vehicles such as the Rolls-Royce Phantom and large family cars like the Rover 75 came with'limousine' versions. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair was given a long-wheelbase version of the Rover 75 for official use, and some SUVs like the VW Tiguan and Jeep Wrangler come in LWB models In contrast, coupé varieties of some vehicles such as the Honda Accord are built on shorter wheelbases than the sedans they are derived from. The wheelbase on many commercially available bicycles and motorcycles is so short, relative to the height of their centers of mass, that they are able to perform stoppies and wheelies. In skateboarding the word'wheelbase' is used for the distance between the two inner pairs of mounting holes on the deck; this is different from the distance between the rotational centers
