Over the many years it has been in business, Lotus Engineering, the consultancy division of Lotus, has done work for many carmakers and in most cases, the scope of their work has been confidential. Of course, enthusiasts would know that vehicle dynamics is a speciality of the company so it’s not difficult to guess the areas that they would have been involved in.
There have been some models where the Lotus name has been associated with the product – like the Lotus Cortina, Lotus Sunbeam and Lotus Carlton/Omega. These were high-performance cars that were developed, engineered and manufactured in partnership with Ford, Talbot and GM, respectively.
Today’s driver assistance systems help the driver to be aware of dangerous situations as well as act autonomously to prevent accidents. These active safety systems use advanced and sophisticated sensor technology with radar and cameras scanning ahead and around the vehicle all the time.
But as the saying goes, it’s not speed that kills but rather the person behind the wheel. And the next step in driver assistance systems is to look inwards at the driver. Polestar is one of the companies that will be offering a driver monitoring technology by Smart Eye as standard in its Polestar 3 SUV.
When a huge asteroid smashed into our planet millions of years ago, it caused such great climate change that life on earth almost ended, particularly the dinosaurs. Climate change is also the reason why there is this urgency to switch to electric power for cars and stop using internal combustion (IC) engines which generate carbon dioxide (CO2), the culprit in global warming.
Unlike the death of the dinosaurs, the IC engines cannot just ‘die’ so fast, much as environmentalists would like them to. There are still more than 1.3 billion vehicles with IC engines on the planet, providing mobility to millions who won’t or can’t easily switch to electric vehicles (EVs). And all these vehicles require fuel to run… coincidentally derived from those dinosaurs which died. The combustion process that generates power for an engine also sends out CO2, so the solution has been to stop that process which should reduce the gas levels.
Crash tests have long been an important part of vehicle development. Apart from regulatory requirements which have become more stringent over the years, the carmakers themselves have also been improving the protection occupants are provided with as new technologies have become available.
Now, with the increasing number of electric vehicles (EVs), the manufacturers have also to take into consideration the presence of a high-voltage battery pack and many electrical systems. These too must be protected from damage in an accident.
For the final week of 2022, prices of all fuel grades remain unchanged from last week. The government says that they are formulating a scheme of targeted subsidies which could use engine size as a basis although that won’t work well today with even expensive models having engines as small as 1.5 litres. Some other criteria would need to be applied in this case.
Regardless of whether fuel consumption matters to you, it’s good to try to use less of it as fossil fuels will eventually be finished on the planet. Here are some ways to reduce the fuel consumption in your vehicle:
Right tyre pressures: Under-inflated tyres will cause more rolling resistance (not to mention faster wear) which will worsen fuel consumption. Be sure they are inflated to the minimum recommended by the manufacturer and a bit more might also be better.
Don’t carry unnecessary weight: The less weight your car has to move, the less hard the engine has to work. So whatever you do not need to keep in the boot should be taken out. This includes those golfbags and camping gear.
Plan trips: If you have different places to go on a single journey, spend a few minutes to think about the route so that you avoid congested areas. You may have to travel a few extra kilometres using a less congested route but you will actually use less fuel because the car won’t be stuck in a jam burning fuel going nowhere. Plus you will probably be less stressed out when you reach your destination.
Slow and steady: You don’t have to drive at a crawl to save fuel but if you just drive more frequently at 80/90 km/h instead of 100/110 km/h, you could save 10 to 15% in fuel. Keeping a steady speed rather than ‘pumping‘ the pedal will also save on fuel. On the highway, you can use cruise control, if available.
Service the engine regularly: Engine parts wear out or get dirty over time and reduce the operating efficiency of the engine. Regular servicing ensures that adjustments are set correctly and periodically, parts like filters or sparkplugs need to be replaced.
Switch off the engine more: Many motorists do not fully realize that the engine is burning fuel every second it is running. They will keep the engine running for long periods while waiting for someone to buy things or waiting for their children to come out from school. This is very wasteful and running the air-conditioner at the same time wastes more fuel. Switch off the engine when you are going to be stationary for more than 5 minutes and you’ll find your fuel consumption improving.
Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the theme park of the legendary Italian sportscar brand, will launch the world’s most immersive mega-coaster in January 2023 as an addition to its Ferrari-inspired rides and attractions for both adults and younger guests.
Known as ‘Mission Ferrari’, this new roller-coaster will offer an even more exhilarating, high intensity and multisensory 5D experience. A unique world-first feature is the sideways coaster drop which is enabled by the cutting-edge technology. Other features are an inverted loop and state-of-the-art special effects with stunning scenic show sets.
