One More Reason Turbochargers Rule [ November 19th, 2008 ] By: Charles Smith Posted in » Ramblings

It has been getting cold around here and sitting still in a car does nothing to help keep warm. Luckily I drive a WRX and that means it is turbocharged. Besides the added torque/power it makes, one really nice thing in the winter is that my car heats up faster.

Turbos spin really effing fast, and most turbos are cooled and lubed by the engine oil. The turbocharger is transferring heat from the exhaust gasses and its own spinning into the oil. This beautiful heat transfer results in warmer overall oil and so your cabin heaters work that much faster.

Oh how I do love my turbocharged car. There is one caveat, with the turbocharged car you have to be much more careful about running the engine hard (especially when it is cold) and shutting off the engine too soon after running hard. If the turbo gets very hot from running hard, shutting off the engine shuts off oil flow to the turbocharger. The oil left in it can burn off/cake in the turbo (BAD!!!).

2 Comments

Back To Normal at NEFR [ July 17th, 2008 ] By:Charles Smith

The New England Forest Rally was this past weekend, and unlike STPR’s results, NEFR was back to what you might expect: Coming in first was Niall McShea and co-driver Marshall Clarke, followed by Andrew Pinker/Robbie Durant. Rounding off the podium was Travis Pastrana/Derek Ringer.

This is good news for American Rally racers. Niall McShea has had 32 WRC starts, placed 9th in Rally Australia in 2004 and was crowned 2004’s PWRC winner. While you may not think that it is good news that a PWRC winner is stomping Americans and Canadians in Maine, you have to look at the pace that was kept. Travis Pastrana was only 2:43 behind McShea and only 1:18.9 separated Pinker from McShea.

As this beautiful sport grows in America, the gap between Europe and America shrinks in terms of Rally talent (see also Colin McRae not finishing 1st in the X-Games to Pastrana).

July 17th, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Turns Out I Wont Be at STPR [ June 5th, 2008 ] By:Charles Smith

Some money and time issues are preventing me from going to STPR. It is unfortunate, but I think I’ll be able to provide some entertaining content regardless. A bunch of guys from DirtyImpreza.com are going and unfortunately I won’t be able to meet them.

I plan on making up for this by attending New England Forest Rally in Maine.

In the mean time, I think I may have found a car Mark and I could use to rally. Let’s hope!

June 5th, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Powered by WordPress | Blue Weed by Blog Oh! Blog | Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS). | Automobile Blogs - Blog Top Sites