What is Transmission all about ?

The job of a car's transmission is to make sure that the right amount of power goes to your wheels to drive at a given speed. It works by shifting gears in a very similar fashion to what you see on a multi-speed bicycle. On a bicycle, if the chain is off, the car won't go, and if the chain is in too high a gear, you'll have trouble getting started from a stop. The same principle applies to your transmission, and if you don't keep it well-maintained, you'll lose fuel economy or maybe not even be able to drive at all. 

There are two major types of transmissions in most cars on the road today: automatic and manual. Several other types of transmission have also been gaining ground in recent years. The dual-clutch transmission and The continuously variable transmission (CVT). An electric cars often don't have a transmission at all. 

Before we delve into the way the manual and automatic transmissions work, we should define some key terms:

• Gear: a set of toothed wheels that work together to determine or alter the relation between the speed of a vehicle's engine and the speed of its wheels; it is also the term used to describe each of the gears a driver can select, which is in fact a ratio of the selected gears on the input and output shafts.
• Gear ratio: the ratio between the rates at which the input and output of a set of gears rotate
• Clutch: a mechanism for connecting and disconnecting a vehicle's engine from its transmission system
• Transmission: a mechanism for transmitting power from a vehicle's engine (or motor) to its wheels
• Shift lever: a control lever which the driver uses to manage the current gear (or gear range) of a vehicle's transmission
• H pattern: an arrangement of gears, usually designated on the shift lever knob, where in the gears are arranged in a series of parallel rows, reminiscent of an "H" with extra legs

Manual Transmission :
Manual transmissions often feature a driver-operated clutch and a movable gear selector. Most automobile manual transmissions allow the driver to select any forward gear at any time, but some,only allow the driver to select the next-higher or next-lower gear ratio. This second type of transmission is sometimes called a sequential manual transmission.

Manual transmissions are characterized by gear ratios that are selectable by locking selected gear pairs to the output shaft inside the transmission.

The driver selects gears in a manual transmission by moving a shift lever, which engages a linkage that controls the movement of the gears along the input shaft. Moving the lever forward or rearward chooses between the two gears available on a given linkage; cars with four gears, or speeds, use two linkages; cars with five or six speeds use three linkages. The driver changes between linkages by moving the shift lever left and right.

To engage a gear in a manual transmission, the driver pushes in the clutch pedal, disconnecting the engine from the input shaft of the transmission. This frees the gears on the input shaft to move, as when the engine is sending torque through the input shaft, the gears on it are engaged. Once the clutch has disconnected the power from the engine to the transmission, the user selects the appropriate gear (i.e. first, third, reverse) and releases the clutch, re-engaging engine power to the input shaft and propelling the car with the selected gear ratio.

Contemporary automotive manual transmissions are generally available with four to six forward gears and one reverse gear. Tractor units have at least 10 gears and as many as 24.

Automatic Transmission :
In an automatic transmission, the same essential process is going on within the transmission itself, but it's all done behind the scenes. One of the primary differences between an automatic transmission and a manual transmission is that automatics don't use clutches (typically, anyway). Instead, the automatic transmission relies on a torque converter to de-couple the engine and the gear set.

The torque converter is why automatic transmission cars "creep" forward when idling and in "drive", as a small amount of the engine's torque is being supplied to the transmission's input shaft.

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Back on Roll..

"There's nothing as exciting as a come back - seeing someone with dreams, watching them fail, and then getting a second chance."

"You have no choices about how you lose, but you do have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again." 

"Give the world the best that you have, and the best will come back to you."

A big "Hi" to all my readers out there! Hope you have been doing fine.

I know.. i know.. You must be saying "what the heck these quotes are doing under an auto blog???" !!! Well...  Sometimes you need to motivate yourself to do something which was left incomplete.

When i started blogging, the enthusiasm was tremendous and the thought of discontinuing it, was certainly out of question. I never thought that i would be out of touch for so long!

But then, you can't predict what challenges lies ahead in life. Change is the only constant. Not only I was running out of time to blog, but I also drifted away from 'Cars on roll'.

The last time I blogged... it was Dec, 2008. I'm writing after 3 long years. Phoo!!... I never guessed that there would be such a huge GAP! 

Through this blog i have explored a whole new world. I got readers, fans, followers, friends, mentors. I also learnt a lot about the web. Though i was not blogging but comments have been flowing regularly and I even got a couple of requests for advertisements. Thanks to all. I love my readers! I want to get in touch with all of them again. 

So, this part of my life... this part right here. this is called "Comeback". (yeah! you guessed it right - i tweaked the dialogue from Pursuit of Happyness)

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A FACT EVERY INDIAN MUST KNOW

There is not much I would be writing in this post. The picture below says it all by itself. A very strong message for all the citizens of my nation. Every individual can interpret the wordings by his/her level of maturity and understanding but one can't ignore it. Hope it makes some difference... the rest will follow
(right click and select view image to get a better look)

Don't forget to drop in your views and comments. May this year be more peaceful, Happy New Year.

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Flying Cars !! How Will it Work ?

Sitting amidst a sea of cars in bumper-to-bumper traffic on an endless expressway, have you ever daydreamed about your car taking off and flying over the road? Imagine if you could just flip a switch and unshackle yourself from the asphalt!

Traffic jams are the bane of any commuter. Many of us spend an hour or so stuck in traffic every week. The growing population is partly to blame for our congested roads, but the main problem is that we are not expanding our transportation systems fast enough to meet ever increasing demands.

One solution is to create a new type of transportation that doesn't rely on roads, which could one day make traffic jams a 20th century relic. To do this, we must look to the sky.

EARLY EXPERIMENTS

Glenn Curtiss, the Wrights' chief rival, was the first to design a flying car. The first flying car to actually fly was built by Waterman. Waterman became associated with Curtiss while Curtiss was pioneering naval aviation at North Island on San Diego Bay in the 1910s. However, it wasn't until March 21, 1937 that Waterman's Aerobile first took to the air.

The Aerobile was a development of Waterman's tailless aircraft, the Whatsit. It had a wingspan of 38 feet (11 m) and a length of 20 feet 6 inches (6.25 m). On the ground and in the air it was powered by a Studebaker engine. It could fly at 112 mph (180 km/h) and drive at 56 mph (90 km/h).

In 1926, Henry Ford displayed an experimental single-seat aeroplane that he called the "sky flivver". The project was abandoned two years later when a test flight crashed, killing the pilot.

There are nearly 80 patents on file at the United States Patent and Trademark Office for various kinds of flying cars. Some of these have actually flown. Most have not. And all have come up short of reaching the goal of the mass-produced flying car.

MODERN FLYING CARS

There is no lack of engineers taking on the challenge to design a new breed of flying cars. While sleeker, more advanced cars have been developed in the last decade, no one has come close to opening up a flying car dealership. Here are a few of the individuals attempting to deliver a flying car:

Paul Moller has spent 40 years and millions of dollars developing his Skycar. He is now very close to developing the first mass-marketed flying car. In 1965, he demonstrated his first attempt, the XM-2, which hovered off the ground but didn't go anywhere. In 1989, Moller unveiled the M200X, which has now flown 200 flights and can go as high as 50 feet (15.24 meters).

MACRO Industries in Huntsville, Ala., is developing a flying car that it's calling the SkyRider X2R. This aero car will be able to take off and land vertically. SkyRider incorporates the interior design of a 2-seat sports car with the mobility of a helicopter or airplane. The company said it is also developing 5 and 7-seat models of the SkyRider, and it should fit in most two-car garages. The navigation system will be controlled almost entirely by GPS satellites and cellular services.

In Israel, Dr. Rafi Yoeli of Urban Aeronautics is testing the CityHawk, a prototype of a fly-by-wire car. He's also working on a project centered around the X-Hawk, a rotorless Verticle-Take-Off and Landing vehicle (VTOL). Visit this Web site for more information.

In 1990, Kenneth Wernicke formed Sky Technologies to develop a small-winged flying car. His Aircar has flown at 200 to 400 mph (322 to 644 kph) and driven at 65 mph (105 kph). It's also small enough to fit into an average parking space.

Recently, Branko Sarh, a senior engineer at McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, has attempted to develop a flying car, called the Sokol A400, or Advanced Flying Automobile. Sarh designed a 4-passenger vehicle that would pop out telescoping wings at the push of a button.

SKYCAR

Moller's latest design, the Skycar M400, is designed to take off and land vertically, like a Harrier Jet, in small spaces. It can reach speeds of 400 mph (644 kph), but will cruise at around 350 mph (563 kph), and it has a range of 900 miles (1449 km).





Gasoline, diesel, alcohol, kerosene and propane can be used to fuel the Skycar, and its fuel mileage will be comparable to that of a medium-sized car, getting 20 miles (32.2 km) to the gallon. The initial cost of a Skycar will be about $1 million, but once it begins to be mass produced that price could come down to as low as $60,000.

The four-seat Skycar is powered by eight rotary engines that are housed inside four metal housings, called nacelles, on the side of the vehicle. There are two engines in each nacelle so that if one of the engines in one of the nacelle fails, the other engine can sustain flight. The engines lift the craft with 720 horsepower, and then thrust the craft forward.

SUMMARY

The mass availability of flying cars could be very exciting or very scary, depending on how you look at it. If proper safeguards are put in place, they could be the answer to our ever-worsening traffic jams. Flying cars that can travel at hundreds of miles per hour would not only cut that rush hour commute to a few minutes, but it would allow us to live hundreds of miles farther from work and still make it to the office faster than by road-bound cars today.

Source : How Stuff Works, Wikipedia

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Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss

Daimler released today the complete details and image gallery of the Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss that will probably be the star of the show in Detroit in January.

As anticipated, the Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss packs a 478 kW/650 hp supercharged V8 engine under its bonnet that's able to take it from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.5 seconds. The top speed of the Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss is 350 km/h (217 mph) and imagine this car will take you this fast with no wind screen in front of you.

The Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss price is 750,000 Euros and the company will only build 75 of them. The production of the Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss will begin in June 2009, but the deliveries start date has not been announced yet.

The Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss features what the company calls an AIRBRAKE which can be manually deployed during braking at speeds over 120 km/h (75 mph). The Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss has a carbon fiber body and features closed underbody and a rear diffuser for maximum downforce on the rear axle.

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This is the BEST time to BUY a Car !

Car sales have plunged in India in the wake of the economic slowdown. In a bid to revive the auto sector, the government has cut the central value-added tax (Cenvat) by 4 per cent, making cars across the board much cheaper.

All car manufacturers -- Maruti, General Motors, Ford, Skoda, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Honda Siel, Toyota Kirloskar, Hindustan Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and General Motors -- have cut prices from Rs 7,000 to Rs 60,000 on all models. Here is a list of prevailing discounts :

Maruti

Maruti 800 will be cheaper now by Rs 6,593 to Rs 7,516. Maruti 800 (with AC) will cost Rs 2,39,000. The non-AC model will cost Rs 2,23,000.

Alto: Price cut by Rs 8,028-Rs 9,814. Dealers are offering a discount of Rs 12,000 on Alto. The Alto Lxi model is now available for Rs 3,07,000.

Zen Estilo: Cheaper by Rs 11,849 and Rs 12,747. Dealer discount on Zen Estillo is Rs 30,000. So Zen is now priced at Rs 3,55,000.

WagonR: Cheaper by Rs 11,167-Rs 12,793, besides this dealers are offering a Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 discount on WagonR. WagonR LX model is now priced at Rs 3,27,000. The LXi model will be available at Rs 3,88,000 and the VXi model will be available for Rs 3,82,000. (All are on road prices)

A-Star: Cheaper by Rs 12,156-Rs 14,392.

Swift will now be cheaper by Rs 12,458-Rs 17,868 across petrol and diesel variants. However, there is no dealer discount on Swift.

DZiRE prices will come down by by Rs 14,699-Rs 21,784 across petrol and diesel variants.

SX4 will see a price cut between Rs 19,752 and Rs 23,187.

Gypsy: Cheaper by Rs 16,326-Rs 16,989

Versa: Cheaper by Rs 11,605 and Rs 15,193

Tata

Indica Xeta will be now available at Rs 3,11,000 (on the road price)after a discount of Rs 30,000.

Indica DLX will be available at Rs 3,82,000 (on the road price) after a discount of Rs 25,000.

Safari will be cheaper by Rs 25,000.

Indigo prices will be cheaper by Rs 11,000 to 15,000 after the excise duty cut.

Light Commercial Vehicles: Cheaper by Rs 17,000 to Rs 23,000.

Sumo Grande will be cheaper by Rs 66,000.

Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles: Cheaper by Rs 30,000 to Rs 60,000

Hyundai

Hyundai Santro will be cheaper by Rs 8,834 and Rs 12,492. The Santro petrol GLS will now be available for Rs 3,36,543 and Rs 3,79,188 (on the road), Santro GLM is at Rs 3,40,178(and Rs 3,83,180(on the road).

The Getz would be cheaper by Rs 13,413-Rs 19,422 across different variants. The Getz GLS will cost Rs 4,71,728 5,28,703 (on the road). The Getz GLX will cost Rs 5,66,756 (on the road). The Getz GVS CRDi will cost Rs 6,34,543(on the road)

Accent: Cheaper by Rs 15,540. The Accent GLE price is at Rs 5,70,406.

i10 model: Cheaper by up to Rs 18,381. The i10 D-Lite (S) is now priced at Rs 3,84,914 (on the road). The i10 D-Lite (M) is priced at Rs 3,88,931(on the road). The i10 Era (S) is now available at Rs 4,24,587 (on the road).

Verna: Price cut between Rs 19,625 and Rs 26,174

Sonata: Cheaper between Rs 38,006 and Rs 44,792.

The price of sports utility vehicle Tucson will not be cut as it is imported as a completely built unit.

Dealers are offering a discount of Rs 13,000 on the Santro GLS model. Insurance will be free for one year on Santro and Getz models.

General Motors

Spark: Cheaper by Rs 8,000-Rs 10,200. The Spark is priced at Rs 3,10,000.

Aveo U-VA: Cheaper by Rs 12,000 and Rs 16,000. The Aveo U-VA is priced at Rs 4,55,000.

Aveo: Cheaper by Rs 16,700-Rs 21,000. The Aveo is priced at Rs 6,84,000.

Tavera would be cheaper by Rs 16,500

Mahindra Renault

Mahindra Renault will offer a discount of Rs 60,000 on Logan. The base variant of the car, 1.4 GL (petrol), currently priced at Rs 4.72 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai), will now be available at Rs 4.12 lakh.

Ford India

Fusion: Cheaper by Rs 18,500 and dealer discount on the petrol model is Rs 20,000. The Ford Fusion petrol model is now priced at Rs 6,83,000.

The Fusion plus is priced at Rs 7,30,362. The diesel model is priced at Rs 7,47,000 and Rs 7,93,000 after a discount of Rs 10,000.

Fiesta will be cheaper by Rs 21,000 and Rs 25,000. The dealer discount on Fiesta ranges from 20,000 to Rs 70,000 depending on the model.

The Fiesta FXI (petrol) is now priced at Rs Rs 6,98,000. The diesel variant is priced at Rs 8,06,000. The dealer offers a discount ranging from Rs 20,000-50,000.

The price cut on sports-utility vehicle Endeavour is between Rs 47,000-Rs 54,000.

Toyota Kirloskar

Toyota Kirloskar Motor's Innova would now be cheaper by Rs 23,980 to Rs 32,780, Altis by Rs 34,100 to Rs 40,750, Camry by Rs 70,430 to Rs 76,130 and Prado by Rs 1.21 lakh.

Honda Siel

Honda City (SMT) is now priced at Rs 9,54,000 and Honda City (SAT) is priced at Rs 10,46,000. This will be cheaper by Rs 19,000-21,000 after the duty cut.

The Honda Civic which is priced at Rs 14,15,000 will be cheaper by Rs 29,000-31,000.

The Accord (MT) which is priced at Rs 19,00,000 and Accord (AT) priced at Rs 20,00,000 will be cheaper between Rs 27,000 and Rs 28,000.

Honda CR-V's price remains the same as it a a fully imported unit.

Skoda India

Car maker Skoda India said it will cut prices of its products by up to Rs 51,500. The price cut after the duty cut will be between Rs 12,500 and Rs 51,500 across all models.

The Skoda Fabia models are priced at Rs 5,69,000 and Rs 6,83,000. Dealers are not offering a discount on this model.

However, there is a 50 per cent insurance cut and three year maintenance free of charge on all models. The company is currently working on the details of price cut on various models.

The dealers are offering a discount of Rs 2 lakh on the Superb variant. The price of the car ranges from Rs 22.5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh (Rs 2.25 million to Rs 2.5 million).

VE Commercial Vehicles

VE Commercial Vehicles has announced a price cut across all product ranges in Volvo Trucks as well as Eicher Trucks & Buses.

The price cut for Volvo Trucks regular models will range between Rs 1,25,000 and Rs 2,00,000.

The price reduction for Eicher Trucks & Buses will range between Rs 16,000 and Rs 37,000.

Hindustan Motors

Hindustan Motors will cut prices of its Ambassador car models by Rs 10,000 to 14,500.

Hindustan Motors has also reduced prices of all Mitsubishi models -- Lancer, Cedia, Pajero, Outlander and Montero.


Two-wheeler and three-wheelers will also be cheaper with Hero Honda and Bajaj cutting prices. This thus is the best time to buy a car or a bike. What's more exciting, this comes after petrol and diesel prices have been slashed. If you are confused with so many options and having problem in purchasing the right one, here are the Tips On Buying Your First Car.

Also if you are planning to take an auto loan, here's some good news, some of the PSU banks -- like Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank -- have already cut loan rates. Others banks are likely to offer lower rates soon.

Source : Rediff

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StudioTorino Coupetorino: Mercedes SL coupe

A design created by Studiotorino and IAAD (Istituto d’Arte Applicata e Design) Coupetorino Mercedes SL is a coupe based on the Mercedes-Benz SL roadster. The object of the design was to create a coupe from the roadster, without compromising on the aesthetics of the roadster.

Designed for the 'Turin World Design Capital 2008' event in the "Bespoke Coachwork" class, this 1:4 scale model was created by Alfredo Stola at StudioTorino and Piotr Degler Jablonski at IAAD. The idea was to transform the Mercedes SL into an exclusive coupé with Italian flair.

The car was revealed at the Turin Gallery's premiere, will be on display as part of an exhibit entitled 'Bespoke Coachwork' from December 12 to December 23. To see more of StudioTorino's handiwork, check out the Maserati Cinqueporte concept, or the Porsche Cayman RK.

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Veritas RS III Video

In the latest episode of Top Gear Richard Hammond drives the Veritas RS III. The incredible performance of the Veritas RS III comes not only from the massive power, but also from its low weight(just over 1,000 kg).

The Veritas RS III is powered by a 420 hp engine from a BMW M3 that has been tuned to output 480 PS. This translates into a top speed of 329 km/h and a 0 to 100 km/h acceleration time of 3.6 seconds.

To see where the car gets on the Top Gear watch the Veritas RS III review video yourself:




DO YOU KNOW ?

With a virtual disappearance from motor racing and automotive engineering for nearly 50 years, a small company known as Vermot AG plans on "resurrecting" the Veritas name on a planned model known as the RS III. Where did the company disappeared ?? .. interested in knowing the history of Veritas, click here to unveil the past.

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January : Expect Price Raise

Car lovers and potential buyers celebrating the recent price cuts after the government slashed central value added tax 4% last week, may be in for a jolt.

Car makers said they are planning to raise prices 2 to 3 per cent in January, almost neutralizing the December cuts. The move is to improve margins and, in for cars with high import content, to cover the cost of a weakening rupee against the dollar.

Some analysts, however, suggest that car-makers threaten price rises every January in a bid to clear calendar year-end inventory.

Auto industry estimates price raise of at least 31 models -- from compact cars to premium sedans and sports utility vehicles from Maruti Suzuki, Toyota Kirloskar, Honda Siel Cars, General Motors India and Ford India -- will rise.

Chevrolet, the brand through which troubled US auto giant General Motors operates in India, said it will raise prices Rs 7,000 to Rs 57,000 across models. Honda Siel Cars India plans to raise prices of models like City, Civic, CR-V and Accord significantly. Up to 75 per cent of components for the Accord premium sedan and about 50 per cent for other models are imported.

The weaker rupee is also likely to see prices of Toyota models like the Corolla Altis, Innova, Camry and Prado go up between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000. Most car makers say their decisions are driven by the weaker rupee.

Lets see what the next year holds for the common man!

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Veritas - The Story Behind

Veritas was a famous West German post World War II sports and race car company, located at Hausen am Andelsbach, near Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg, later at Meßkirch and Muggensturm and moved finally to the Nürburgring.

In 1946, after a failed plan by a British BMW licensee to continue production by bringing the brains of BMW to England, several employees left BMW to form their own company named "Veritas" - Latin for "truth."

Since Veritas was formed and headed by Ernst Loof, the chief of racing operations at BMW, it was a racing-oriented company. The first cars that were produced in 1947 were single-seat Formula 2 racers and competition sports cars. These cars were powered by modified 328 engines, scavenged from any place they could be found.

The first car was used in 1947 by its owner Karl Kling to win at Hockenheim and subsequently become the 1947 German 2-litre champion. After only a few cars were made, following an objection from BMW, the cars became simply known as Veritas.

The first Veritas to be made for normal road use was made in 1949 with the launch of the Komet coupé which was little more than a racing Veritas RS made street legal. It was followed by the more civilized 2+2 Saturn coupé and Scorpion cabriolet.

The company moved to larger premises in Muggensturm in 1949 but were badly under capitalized. New cars were designed using a 1998 cc engine. Over 200 orders were received for the new car but there was not enough money available to buy the components and production came to a halt in 1950 and the company continued in operation until 1952 by making new bodies for Panhard cars.

Ernst Loof moved to the Nürburgring in 1950 and set up a new company Automobilwerke Ernst Loof GmbH and started a new range of Veritas cars. But, money quickly ran out and the final bodies were fitted with Ford or Opel engines. The number of cars made at the Nürburgring is estimated as between 6 and 20.

Although it had several prosperous years of racing in the German Formula 2 races, the Veritas failed in international events when it could not catch newer Ferrari and Maserati racers with their 180-horsepower engines.

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