Latest news with #horsepower
CNA
4 days ago
- Sport
- CNA
Different horsepower for Horner as Red Bull enter new era
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium :Former Red Bull team boss Christian Horner posted a video on social media of himself riding on horseback in the English countryside on the day of the Belgian Grand Prix. "Different horse power this Sunday," read the simple caption. Spa-Francorchamps marked the start of a new era for the former Formula One champions, the first race without Horner - dismissed two weeks ago - at the helm since Red Bull entered the sport in 2005. New boss Laurent Mekies started with a win, with Max Verstappen taking the Saturday sprint, and then a frustrating fourth place for the Dutch four-times world champion in the main Sunday grand prix. Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda failed to score for the sixth race in a row. Apart from expressing surprise at the long delay in getting the race started, due to heavy rain, Mekies avoided any polemic. He blamed the team for Tsunoda's blank, saying the Japanese had done a great job in qualifying but was called in too late for his pitstop in a mistake that cost him three or four positions. "After two weeks at the factory, trying to meet as many people as possible, it was nice to also meet the race team," said the Frenchman when asked to assess the weekend. "To also enter into the race dynamics and see how the flows and the processes and preparation are. That was super-good in terms of getting to know the team. As you would imagine, it's a team where everything is done at the mega level." Horner's absence was the talk of the paddock but by the time the circus regroups in Budapest next week, the conversation is likely to have moved on. "I think Laurent is very good. The sport moves on quickly, so it probably won't be something that we're talking about come Monday," McLaren boss Zak Brown told Sky Sports television. "He (Horner) had fantastic results. It's a shame to kind of go out the way he did." Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said earlier in the weekend that he would miss his old sparring partner and Netflix 'Drive to Survive' protagonist - in a way - and expected him to return sooner or later.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
The Absolutely Wild Horsepower Numbers Behind Your Next Flight
Jerry Seinfeld once quipped, "Why do we even use the term 'horsepower'? Is that to further humiliate horses? The space shuttle rockets have 20 million horsepower. Is there any point in still comparing it to the horses?" Yes, Jerry, it's because kilowatts and megawatts aren't as poetic. Gigawatts is a cool word, though, as long as you pronounce it as "jigawatts" like Doc Brown. Still, horsepower has a good ring to it, and it's just more fun to say that a Koenigsegg One:1 has 1,341 mighty steeds, or an Airbus A380 has a total of 300,000 stallions powering its gravity-defying trajectory into the sky. Look at that last number again. 300,000 horsepower at takeoff! Splitting that figure between the jet's four engines yields 75,000 horsepower each. Convert 300,000 horses back to science-speak, and you get 224 megawatts. Now, that may not be poetic, but it does have a terrifying ring to it, like we're equating jet thrust with nuclear explosion power. Maybe Christian Von Koenigsegg was on to something with the one-megawatt option. Let's see how megawatt rolls off the tongue in a sentence: With more than a megawatt of power at its disposal, Koenigsegg broke its own record by going 0-250-0 mph in 28.27 seconds in the Jesko. Ooh, okay -- maybe megawatt can stir strong emotions. Read more: These Cars Have The Best Wings Ever Car engines and jet engines work on thoroughly different principles -- unless you want to discuss the Chrysler turbine car -- so discussing the horsepower ratings of jets requires digging into technical nitty-gritty. The type of jets you see in most, if not all, commercial airliners are turbofans, though there are other jet types, such as ramjets, scramjets, turbojets, and turboprops, among others. In a turbofan, incoming air goes through the first set of fan blades and gets channeled in two directions simultaneously. These are the core compressor and a burner, where it's ignited and sent through a nozzle, as well as around the engine to create thrust like a normal propeller. The nozzle thrust and fan thrust combine to provide a complete thrust package. Since this is a car enthusiast website, you're probably at least passingly familiar with how piston engines operate -- tiny explosions push pistons to convert up-down energy to rotation energy -- so let's focus on the important point that piston engine power figures measure shaft power. The conversion process to find what a jet engine's shaft power would be is surprisingly simple. Multiply the jet's thrust, which is pounds-force (lbf), by the airspeed of the aircraft. You can either break out your TI-86 from college or go to the Calculator Academy website's Thrust to Horsepower calculator. The current most powerful jet engine in the world, GE Aerospace's GE9X, can produce 134,300 lbf. This is the engine that will be used in Boeing's 777X, which will reach an estimated top speed of 652 mph. Since the 777X uses two GE9X engines, we'll put 268,600 lbf in for thrust. Multiply 268,600 by 652, and we get an astounding 467,006 hp, or about 467 Bugatti Veyrons, plus or minus a lawnmower. Since the Boeing 777X isn't technically an airliner you can fly on yet, let's do the horsepower calculation for the current Boeing 777. The 777 can top out at 683 mph and uses a pair of GE's GE90-115B turbofan engines, which produce 115,000 lbf each. That still comes out to a healthy 418,907 hp. For metric system fans, that's 312 Megawatts. If you want larger numbers, you don't have to stick with horses. has a comparison tool where you can convert the pulling power of horses to dozens of other animals. Interestingly, the tool says that a horse can put out about 28 horsepower max, which is only slightly more than what biologists R.J. Wassersug and R.D. Stevenson estimated in 1993, which was about 24 horsepower. Sticking with that 28 hp figure, the horsepower converter tool estimates a chimpanzee has the same peak output as 0.03 horses, or a max of 0.87 hp. So, in a sentence that surely hasn't been written before, the Boeing 777 has 481,502 chimp power (cp?), which equates to 359 megawatts. There's no way you woke up this morning thinking you'd have the tools to directly convert the strength of chimps to megawatts, and yet, here you are. Think about that on your next commercial flight. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Car and Driver
01-07-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
View Exterior Photos of the 2025 Rivian R1T Tri-Motor
Total output is 850 horsepower and 1103 pound-feet of torque, which is more than last year's Quad-Motor version on both counts.
The Drive
19-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Drive
This Georgia Estate Comes With Its Own Go-Kart Track for $11.5 Million
The latest car news, reviews, and features. Got gasoline in your veins and $12 million or so burning a hole in your pocket? If you want to roll up your sleeves and put in some work maintaining a Hampton, Georgia, horse farm with outbuildings aplenty, look no further. We've seen our share of fancy car-holes around here, but any time a property offers dedicated tarmac for horsepower-based shenanigans, we take notice. This time around, we've got a listing that is billed as a 357-acre private estate, but after browsing the listing photos, I'm left with the impression that it was maintained as a business retreat more so than a private residence. The abundant directional signage alone suggests that the property regularly hosted outsiders, and if you look at the east entrance on Google Street View, it still has signage for 'Longwate Farms.' Between the 20,000-square-foot log house (cleverly dubbed the Loghouse) and the finished space included in the various satellite buildings, the listing claims a total of 30,000 inhabitable square feet. The Loghouse goes hard on the modern log cabin aesthetic and boasts a massive attached carport. It also has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a massive custom kitchen, a 12-seat theater with 'rumble' seats, a gym, and a sauna. OK, so there's no built-in car wash, but the attached garage visible in photos can hold cars two deep, fitting six or more within its confines. And if parking is your priority, well, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Mosey on over to the go-kart track and you'll find another metal barn that could easily swallow a pretty hardcore car collection. If that's not enough, there are three more equipment sheds nearby to house the property's maintenance equipment, and they each have some room to spare. The track itself is essentially a skidpad with modular barriers, allowing the buyer to configure (or expand) the setup to their heart's content. Still not enough? There's always the Chickenhouse. The listing says this is set up to serve as a bunk house (with five additional bedrooms) and offers two enclosed vehicle bays and two open bays for RV storage. There are also multiple RV pads and hookup sites scattered all over the property, just in case you're less concerned with parking vehicles than living in one. Do you have loved ones who want nothing to do with your gearhead habits? Fear not, this spot's got you covered. Between the Smokehouse entertainment venue (with its own stage and seating for 24) and the horse barn, there's plenty of space for activities, and there's existing fenced space to let your four-legged friends run amok, whether you're talking about man's best friend or something of the equine persuasion. Got a tip? Send it in: tips@
Motor Trend
18-06-2025
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
Battle of the Big Blocks! 440 Barracuda vs. 396 Camaro vs. 428 Mustang
[This story first appeared in the premier issue of MotorTrend Classic in 2005] If H.G. Wells Enterprises Inc. advertised time-machine test-drives tomorrow, it'd be tempting to hop in and twist the dial back 35 years to the end of the golden age of horsepower. In 1970, the trend lines charting engine power, torque, and cubic-inch displacement were reaching their zenith. Gas prices were still down in the 30¢ range, and the first Earth Day wouldn't be held until April 22 of that year. Government regulators had yet to turn their magnifying glasses on the automobile, so mandatory smog and safety gear accounted for less than one percent of the $3800 spent on the average new car. And most of the cars Americans bought were designed and engineered in the industrial heartland around Detroit. Carefree twenty-somethings composed the widest slice of the driving-age population (over 20 percent) in 1970, and a long hood stuffed full of go-fast engine, a short deck with weekend-for-two trunk space, and a back seat used primarily to reduce insurance rates appealed to them most. Ford pioneered this formula with the Mustang, and by 1970 every competitor offered a variation on that popular pony theme. The idea of putting full-size engines in midsize cars in the early 1960s had long since led to the even better notion of jamming jumbo motors into even smaller ponycars, which resulted in a dizzying array of powertrain options. In 1970, each of the leading contenders-Ford's Mustang, Chevy's Camaro, and Plymouth's Barracuda-offered at least nine regular production engines. A price-leading straight-six or two headed a long list of V-8s sized and carbureted to fit any budget or racing formula. While the Big Three sent their intermediate-size musclecars out to battle one another in NASCAR, the ponies faced off in the Trans-Am road-racing series. SCCA's displacement ceiling for the series was 5.0 liters, and each pony offered such an engine: Ford had the Boss 302, Chevy the Z/28, and Plymouth the AAR (a triple-carbureted 340 for the street, but a racing crank de-stroked it to 303.8 cubes). All three were conservatively-and perhaps conspiratorially-rated at 290 horses. These lighter small-blocks powered the best-handling ponies, but cornering prowess and braking balance didn't concern most customers. Many simply wanted to vaporize their rear tire treads at every stoplight and thunder down a quarter-mile dragstrip on the weekends. For that duty cycle, only a big-block will do. An ultra-exotic headline-grabber topped each company's engine range. Rated at 425 horses, Chevy's all-aluminum 427-cubic-inch ZL-1 could only be special ordered by certain dealers supporting drag-racing teams. The option price? An eye-watering $4160! An iron L72 427, good for 400 horsepower and priced at $489, also had to be special-ordered. Plymouth offered its awesome 425-horse Street Hemi 426 to anyone willing to lay out $871 for it. Ford's Boss 429 was a NASCAR homologation engine rated at 'only' 375 horsepower. The option cost $1208, but Ford reportedly lost money on every car. The big-block ponies gathered for this time-warp cruise-in stand one rung down on the power and affordability ladder. Our Camaro SS396, tuned for 375 horses and 415 pound-feet and priced at an affordable $316, runs the L78 engine option. (An aluminum-head version of this engine with the same output rating was available for a whopping $711.) The 1970 Mustang Mach I packs a reliable and under stressed 428 Cobra Jet engine, complete with shaker ram-air hood scoop. Rated at 335 horses and 440 pound-feet, it added $376 to the original sticker. And this bad-in-black 'Cuda boasts a 440-cubic-inch wedge motor topped with three two-barrel Holley carbs, good for 390 horses and 490 pound feet-a steal at just $250 in the day. The flashing lights and smoke have subsided; let's open the time-machine and step out into 1970. Six years after Ford started the ponycar craze, the segment had burgeoned to more than a half-million cars per year, and the Mustang was still the best seller. While the basic proportions and design language remained familiar, the original pony gained inches and pounds with each restyle. Nevertheless, reviewers in the day praised the small-block Mustangs for their nimble handling and strong, assured brakes. The big-blocks drew criticism for packing almost 60 percent of their weight over the front axle-far from ideal in a rear-drive car, even if its pilot only wants to blast straight down a dragstrip. Most tests of the high-output models noted the impossibility of applying full throttle at all in first gear without smoking the rear tires. Our bright yellow Mach I arrived with only a couple hundred miles on a fresh mechanical restoration, and its drivetrain felt solid and tight. Shifts were executed quickly and with authority, though the C6 automatic seemed loath to kick down-not that an engine with 440 pound-feet of torque on tap needs to change ratios all that often. A deep and vocal basso rumbles from the exhaust the instant the 428 fires and the hood scoop starts quivering. It's borderline unpleasant at idle, but as revs build it sounds as mellow as Paul Robeson singing "Old Man River." It's the most relaxed engine of the three, never straining at the leash as the other cars do. The competition suspension feels a tad stiff-legged, with a bit more front roll control than might be ideal. Overboosted power steering squelches every last scintilla of data coming from the road, but then the news probably wasn't all that good anyway-especially as transmitted by the original bias-ply tires (radials have mercifully been retrofitted). Ford's power brakes, by contrast, offer great pedal feel and straight, reassuring stops. This fully loaded Mach I's two-tone interior with white woven-vinyl seats, black dash, and faux-teak wood accents is by far the dressiest and most comfortable of the three. For owners like Mary Treat, who want vintage cool in a strong, easygoing driver, the Mach I 428 Cobra Jet delivers. GM stood smugly by in 1964, expecting Ford's Mustang to fall flat on its face. When it didn't, the General scrambled to build a competitor. Chevrolet introduced the Camaro in 1967 and gave it a makeover for 1969-a model year that lasted for 18 months while awaiting the delayed launch of the all-new 1970 Camaro. Chevy rolled out a broad array of engines, each of which trumped its closest Ford counterpart-especially the state-of-the-art 396 (see sidebar). The press expected great things from the lithe Camaro, but many reviewers came away disappointed. We decried the handling as unpredictable, with understeer that transitioned to snap oversteer with minimal warning. The similarly overboosted power steering required constant correction in turns, and on one test car the optional front-disk power brakes pulled to the right. Even the shapeless bucket seats were criticized. An SS350 tied for dead last in a five-way MotorTrend test in March 1969 and another magazine ranked a 1968 SS396 fifth out of six, citing an out-of-tune test sample. Maybe the press fleet cars were poorly prepped. We borrowed this freshly restored Olympic Gold SS396 from Corvette Mike's of Anaheim, California. Slipping behind the delicate, thin-rimmed steering wheel, we had to agree with our predecessor-the bucket seat's backrest angle is not adjustable and is set too far reclined. But one twist of the ignition, and the L78 bursts to life with a lumpy idle that suggests big cam overlap. Drop it into "Drive," and it lunges forward, ready to rumble. Stick your foot deep in it, and you might be surprised to find that for such a big engine, it's a breather that needs to rev. The stated power peak is at 5600 rpm, but if left in °D,° the TurboHydramatic shifts up well before that, meaning that for serious dragstrip work the tranny must be shifted manually at the 5700-rpm yellow line. Working the funky basket-handle shifter requires patience, practice-or both. Still, just tooling around with the windows open in this brute is a treat for all the senses-a whiff of hot oil and incomplete combustion for the olfactory, the baritone wail of an open four-barrel for the ears, and the look and feel of a padded and plastiwood-paneled GM interior hark to that simpler pre-Watergate, pre-Beatles-breakup era. Plymouth knew the Mustang was coming and beat it to market by a couple weeks with the Barracuda, a two-door Valiant with a fastback greenhouse grafted on. The fact that we call these cars 'ponies' not 'fish,' speaks to the splash that the 'Cuda made with the public. Plymouth's second try in 1967 looked the part, but its biggest engine option was an outclassed 383 that couldn't be had with power steering until 1969. The third restyle was the charm in 1970, bringing an aggressive, muscular interpretation of the cab-rear look using the wider firewall and front frame-rails of the B-cars (Belvedere/Road Runner) to ensure that any and all Mopar engines would fit comfortably. In May 1970, we sampled three 'Cudas (as the high-performance variants were then officially badged) a 340, a 440-6, and a Street Hemi. Our reviewer fell for the lighter 340, was mildly bemused by the mighty Hemi, and had nothing but vitriol for the heavy-handed 440-6's manual steering and four-speed stick. He might've been driving this very car, but what a difference 35 years makes. Today, those are the car's two most endearing features. You have to work the steering wheel (5.3 turns lock-to-lock), but the effort isn't excessive, and the 'Cuda's helm suffered way less freeplay on center than the others. Similarly, the pistol-grip shifter moved with an unexpected level of precision. Reverse is tricky to find, but a lamp on the dash illuminates when you get there. If the Ford and Chevy engines felt strong and brutish, this one's a chariot hitched to 390 Clydesdales. The sound and thrust unleashed when the fore and aft Holley carbs open up will get you laughing. Without tubbing the rear wheel wells and fitting gigantic drag slicks, the 440-6 and Hemi are traction-limited at launch (especially on their original F70-14 bias-ply tires), so they run neck-and-neck to about 70 mph. By the quarter mile, the Hemi opens up a two-mph, 0.4-second lead-thin bragging rights to justify what is now a huge price difference. The 1970 'Cuda was arguably Plymouth's best pony ever, and yet the Mustang and Camaro each outsold it four to one. So, today, 'Cudas are far more rare at cruise nights and car shows. Maybe that's why this car feels extra special. If the time machine broke, forcing a choice of one of these three ponies to drive back to 2005 in, the 'Cuda would be the knee-jerk first choice as the fastest and (to these eyes) best-looking of the bunch. Then again, it's a long drive, which would tend to suggest the more comfortable and better-appointed Cobra Jet Mustang. Of course, none of this matters-for 35 years, anyone with enough interest in ponycars to pick up a magazine covering the subject probably arrived at paragraph one harboring a fierce allegiance to one of the brands. 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet 428 Our Take Then: We think [the 428CJ] engine is too big and heavy for these cars to handle as well as they should. For sheer power, yes. For handling, no. -Bill Sanders, MT, March 1969 Now: The Cobra Jet 428 is a kinder, gentler, less-extreme big-block that delivers its wallop of torque without all the rumble and vibration of its more high-strung competitors. Ask the Woman Who Owns One Mary Treat and her husband Jay bought this rare steed in pieces while finishing their graduate bio-chem degrees at Texas A&M. They restored the interior and repainted the body in yellow, Mary's favorite color. It's just reemerged from a 14-month professional mechanical restoration. Why I Like It: 'The first time I saw a Mustang, I was a Camp Fire Girl. I rode in our leader's light-yellow 1966 convertible, and I just thought that was such a cool car. I love this one because it's so unique-big, fast, and a real head-turner.' Why It's Collectible: 1970 was the end of the line for the early-style Mustangs and for Ford's factory Trans-Am racing effort, making it a popular year. Just under 3500 428s were sold, and few were as fully optioned as this one. Restoring/Maintaining: Mustang parts are widely available from multiple sources, and many rare items are being remanufactured. Rare option parts are not cheap, but can be found. Beware of oiling problems with the 428 on engines that haven't been rebuilt or had their oil-pump orifice enlarged. Expect To Pay: Concours ready: $39,600; solid driver: $22,000; tired runner: $9000 Join The Club: Mustang Club of America ( Mustang 428 Cobra Jet Registry ( 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS 396 Our Take Then: We thought for sure the Camaro was going to chew up all those mean corners on the road course, but it bit off more than it could response was quite unpredictable. -Bill Sanders, MT March, 1969 Now: We know better than to expect Trans-Am race-car handling from any ponycar today, and in any straight-line dash long enough to redline this deep breather in three gears, the SS396 satisfies. Ask the Man Who Owns One Mike Vietro has spent 23 years building an empire, Corvette Mike's ( 800/327-VETT), selling and servicing new and used Corvettes, hot rods, classics, and musclecars and marketing a line of performance parts. Why It's Collectible: 1969 stands as the year with the broadest array of high-performance engine options, of which the L78 396 is perhaps the most accessible and livable. Restoring/Maintaining: Camaros sold well in the extended 1969 model year, and almost 5000 L78s were built, so parts are available. Solid-lifter engines tend to require frequent tuning to run properly. Beware of authenticity-the value is in the engine, so check for matching numbers, and verify engine condition with a compression check. Expect To Pay: Concours ready: $51,000; solid driver: $29,150; tired runner: $8625 Join The Club: American Camaro Club ( Worldwide Camaro Club ( 1970 Plymouth Barracuda Our Take Then: Ah, the 440-6. One trip around the block is better than a week at Vic Tanny's. Giving the steering a close race, however is the "Excalibur sword-in-stone shift linkage (only King Arthur can get it into second). -A.B. Shuman, MT, May 1970 Now: Yesterday's high effort is today's road feel. Too few people took advantage of the 'Cuda 440-6, a musclecar bargain in 1970. The 'Cudas are expensive now and appreciating fast. Ask the Man Who Owns One John Laforme owned a rusty 340 Barracuda when he was 19, and he always wanted a decent one. He found this numbers-matching car in the background of a photo advertising a 440-6 clone and talked the owner into selling it. Why I Like It: "Because of the style of the body, the aggressive look of the grille, I just love the car for that. The horsepower is great, but you can always add horsepower." Why It's Collectible: The Barracuda 440-6 was the meanest of the mainstream big-block musclecars, and yet Barracuda sales totaled less than 20,000. Restoring/Maintaining: Most of the parts are readily available, including six-pack carburetor setups, though they're not necessarily cheap-an unused inflate-a-spare runs over $500. Beware of sticking carburetor floats in cars that sit for too long. Rattles, squeaks, and loose trim items also are common. Expect To Pay: Concours ready: $104,500; solid driver: $55,000; tired runner: $17,000 Join The Club: Walter P. Chrysler Club (
