2007 September | Car Tuning Central






By N2H

The People Behind Formula One Racing

Formula One racing is certainly not a one-man show. A great driver owes a lot to a great team who supports him while on track. These teams do not start and end on those who are present on the pit stops. They range from pit crewmembers to sponsors just to name a few.

Team Ferrari, founded by Enzo Ferrari, has been part of F1 racing since the circuit’s beginning. Currently, its team president is Luca Di Montezemolo. Its drivers however are Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen respectively.

Also among the oldest and most popular teams in F1 history is Team McLaren. It has been enlisted since 1966 and made its debut on the Monaco Grand Prix. The team was established by Bruce McLauren in 1963. At present, its race drivers are Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton who are both headed by Ron Dennis who is subsequently also the team’s principal.

Since being founded in 1916, the BMW Sauber team has been inconsistently seen within F1 race circuits. Its drivers are Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, while the team principal is Mario Theissen.

Honda Racing made its F1 debut at the Grand Prix of Germany held in 1964. Its team principal is Nick fry while its present drivers are Rubens Barrichello and Jensen Button.

In 1972, the Williams Formula One race team entered the Great Britain competition. Frank Williams founded the team and likewise serves as its team principal. He also heads its drivers, Nico Rosberg and Alexander Wurz.

However, it was only in the year 1977 that the Renault team finally made its debut into Formula One. It was founded as far back as 1898. Its team principal is Flavio Briartore who also heads Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella as its team drivers.

After being founded in 1999 by Hiroshi Okuda, the Toyota Team finally debuted in 2002 at the Grand Prix of Australia. Its drivers are Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher, while the team’s principal is Tsutomu Tomita.

In 2005, Aguri Suzuki founded Super Alguri Formula One team and also presently serves as its team principal. The team’s drivers are Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato.

Among the youngest teams, the Toro Rosso Formula One team made its debut in 2006 during the Grand Prix of Bahrain. The team was founded by Dietrich Mateschitz and currently Franz Tost serves as its team principal. The team drivers are Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed.

Also sharing a young spot in the list of F1 teams, the Spyker team likewise debuted only in 2006. The team was founded by Spyker Cars and its team principal is Colin Kolles, who is also the managing director of the said company. At present, its drivers are Christijan Albers and Adrian Sutil.

Presented here is just a brief summary of the people behind the F1 racing scene. It is important to note that each team houses a lot of other faces who all have their own important contributions in making each Formula One event a definitely huge success.

Tags: Car Racing, Formula 1

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Truck Tuning

Well, it was about time our “twin site” upgraded it’s category structure to start including truck tuning there.

After loads of requests (including ourselves), Trucks and Trailers now has a truck tuning category, where most of the truck tuning news, modding articles, pictures and movies will be presented to their readers.

Go ahead and pay them a visit sometime. It’s always fun to check what you can do with your truck.

No tag for this post.

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The Subaru Impreza

When it comes to popular automobiles, few catch the heart and soul of rally fans like that of the Subaru Impreza. The Subaru Impreza is the most popular model car made by Subaru, and for good reason. And when it comes to information on the Impreza, Scoobynet is the place to be. Scoobynet.com is a website and community dedicated to the Impreza make of automobile, and it shows that they are passionate about it.

Scoobynet also has a forum dedicated to the Subaru located here. Their Subaru forum is of top notch quality and is well regarded as the premier destination for those who wish to discuss the Subaru make of car. In the end, for all things Subaru, head on over to Scoobynet.com, you won’t be sorry.

Tags: Subaru

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How to Change Brake Pads

The most important function your car can perform is stopping. It does so with brakes. Your braking system on your vehicle must be reliable and capable. However, over a period of time, your brakes- specifically your brake pads will wear out. If your brakes are not working properly or you notice it is much more difficult to stop, it is quite likely you will need to replace your brake pads.

There are Two Different Types of Brakes

There are two types of brakes, they are Drum and Disc. Practically all newer cars come with Disc brakes. Disc brakes are cost effective and very reliable. They are excellent at stopping a vehicle and fairly easy to replace. Disc brakes are used on 90% of the vehicles on the road. This article will only focus on changing Disc brakes.

How Do Disc Brakes Work

There are a few elements that make a disc brake work. The parts of a disc brake include the caliper, brake pads and a rotor. There are also clips and bolts that keep everything together. Calipers can come either as fixed or floating. A caliper’s job is to squeeze the brake pad toward the central metal plate called the rotor. As the rotor comes into contact with the brake pad, friction occurs. As friction occurs, your car slows down. Brake pads are usually made out of ceramic materials that are very good at resisting heat and stress.

How to Change Your Brake Pads

Step1. Check to See Whether Your Brakes Require Replacement

There are two easy ways to determine if your brakes need to be replaced. First, if you hear your brakes squeaking or worse- scraping like metal, then it is obvious your brakes generally need to be replaced. Second, you can visually check your brake pads to see if they are damaged, worn down or uneven. Typically brake pads should be at least ¼ inch thick. Any less and they should be replaced.

Step2. Prepare Your Car for Brake Replacement

When repairing your brakes, you will need to take off your car’s wheels. You will replace either the front brakes or the rear brakes. It should be noted that 90% of the brakes replaces are the front. You will need to jack your vehicle up, but first, park your vehicle on a flat surface out of the way of traffic. Put tire blocks behind the tires so the car does not move. Jack up your vehicle and then place tire jacks to hold the vehicle steady. Don’t trust only a jack to keep the vehicle in place.

Step3. Remove the Wheels in Order to Gain Access to the Brake Pads

You should work on your vehicle one wheel at a time. First remove the lug nuts and then the wheel. You will see the braking system. There will be a caliper, brake pads and the rotor. You will also notice the clips or bolts that hold the pads to the caliper.

Step4. Remove the Calipers

Remove either the bolts or clips that attach the pads to the caliper. Once the calipers are removed, you can get a good look if your brake pad is damaged. Check to see if it is worn down, worn uneven or less than ¼ inch thick. Now check the rotor. The rotor is the shiny piece of metal. It should be very smooth and should not have any scoring in it. If it does, it is damaged and should be replaced.

Step5. Prepare to Install Your New Brake Pads

If your brake pads need to be replaced, go to your local auto parts store and purchase a pair of brake pads that fit your exact vehicle. For those that also require new rotors, you should also purchase new rotors at this time. In addition, purchase a small tube of brake grease.

Once you are back at your vehicle, you can start the installation of your new brake pads, however before doing so, you will need to locate the caliper and reposition it to its full open position. You must physically move the piston on the caliper back to its open position. You should be able to accomplish this with either a vice grip or channel lock. Moving it back means towards the center of the vehicle.

Step6. Apply Grease to the Brake Pads

When you bought your pads, you should have also purchased brake grease; so, before placing the brake pads back into the calipers, you will need to apply brake grease on them. The grease goes on the back of the brake pad- the part that comes into contact with the rotor. The grease is applied between the plate of the caliper and the back of the brake pad. Applying brake grease will cut down on squeaking.

Step7. Reassemble your Caliper and Wheels

Once you applied the brake grease, you can start reassembling the caliper with the brake pads using the clips and bolts. Now reassemble the vehicle as it was first disassembled. If you have any problem with reassembly, look at the other wheel on the other side of the vehicle for a guide to assembly.

Important Tips to Consider

New brakes will almost always squeak and give off lots of brake dust- especially during the first few days
Once you have installed new brake pads, test your vehicle slowly to make sure it stops well. Don’t immediately try to stop at a high rate of speed
It is a good idea to purchase a car repair guide for your specific make and model vehicle. Most repair guides give you detailed instructions on how to replace your brake pads.

Tags: Car Maintenance

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Lamborghini Murcielago LP640

Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 by Edo Competition has taken a look under the hood of the Lambo Murcièlago LP640 supercar and worked its magic to the tune of 663 horsepower, 23 horses up on the factory model.

Torque from the 6.5L V12 is increased from 660Nm to 675Nm at 5,600rpm, which results in final acceleration numbers of 3.8 seconds for the 0 to 100km/h sprint and a top speed of 348km/h. The extra power is courtesy of modifications to the engine’s ECU, special high-flow air filters, high-performance catalytic converters, an exhaust butterfly valve control (remote-controlled on request), a high-flow muffler and stainless steel exhaust tips. More car reviews and motorcycle crash videos at DPCcars.com.

Tags: Car Reviews, Lamborghini

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