Let's See If They Can Get The Kinks Worked Out

Here’s What Happened With The Tesla Model S Race Car That Got Too Hot After Five Miles On An F1 Track

While the production Model S is a great track car for about a lap before it needs to cool off, too, the series spokesperson told Jalopnik there was more to it than routine overheating. The spokesperson said this was the first full day of testing at race speeds, and the car had been out all day in the heat before Needell got in.

The engineers also later found sensor issues that let the battery get hotter than it should have, the spokesperson told Jalopnik.

“The team spotted an accidental disconnection of one of the outdoor temperature sensors from the air conditioning system, which caused the air conditioning system to not send cold air to the battery and other systems when needed,” the spokesperson said. “There is always a limit if the power is used indiscriminately, but the resistance threshold is much higher if the air conditioning system had worked correctly. The team has now fixed that.”

The spokesperson also said the technical team confirmed that the car will be able to run the race distances, but at a more manageable pace—around 470 HP will be what the cars can maintain throughout the race, with the full 778 HP available for things like overtaking. The spokesperson said each driver will have “full control” over when they decide to use the car’s full power, and that it’ll be “part of the strategy and part of the show.”

We’ll get to see how that show plays out soon enough, since the first 10-race season for the international series is scheduled to start in November.

(Jalopnik.com)

The Method Is Unorthodox, But Effective

(Bits&Pieces.us)

So Much Talent Not Being Put To Good Use

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Something To Ponder

(CavemanCircus.com)

Charge!

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They Are Especially Functional Outside Of The Car, Too

The Story Behind Why Soccer Players Sit In Race Car Seats

“The story about the car seats at the sidelines goes back to the 1990s,” Tilman Schaefer, a company representative told me via email. He went on, saying the owner of Recaro at the time, Ulrich Putsch, was on the board of the German soccer team F.C. Kaiserslautern, and apparently gave the team’s manager Kalli Feldkamp a sports car seat because “the guy had back problems.”

It wasn’t long before, in 1994 according to the company’s website, the rest of the team wound up sitting on a “custom-tailored players bench,” with Schaefer saying: “They put the seat right next to the bench. Because the players thought the seat to be just gorgeous Ulrich had a complete bench produced for the home team” as a part of a sponsorship deal.

That’s when customized sports car-inspired seats began taking over the sidelines around the world, and other seat manufacturers from other industries also wanted in, with Schaefer telling me:

Other teams became so excited that they ordered benches from RECARO – so this became a special sales project over the years.

Other seat producers–even airline seats–followed line and started to supply seats to teams they sponsor.

So this is kind of a standard today on soccer sidelines (plus baseball in Japan, plus business seats in the stadiums). In Europa and Japan RECARO is probably the biggest supplier.

Today, according to Recaro, over 70 top soccer teams—including Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, Debreceni Vasutas SC and Ferencváros Budapest—sit on Recaro bucket seats.

As for the reasons why, Recaro’s spokesperson put it simply: “[The] seats are very comfortable and often supplied with a seat heating for the winter. And [they] look great.”

(Jalopnik.com)

Hell Ya I Would!

Would You EVER Import An Oddball Car That Was NEVER Sold To The U.S. Market?

How many folks would EVER import an oddball car that was NEVER offered to the U.S. market? Would YOU? If so, WHICH model and WHY?

My choice - A RHD E46 M3 From Japan

(AutoBlog.com)