We know you know everything, but even readers of sport compact car can learn something. Here are 99 terms and phrases you need to know. Learn all 99 and you'll be smarter. Like, way more smarter. Enjoy.
1) bog - during a hard launch, this is the drop in engine speed and power resulting from using too little throttle while slipping the clutch, or engaging the clutch too quickly. Or both
2) power Shift - upshifting at wide-open-throttle; a good way to expire a transmission in short order
3) double-Clutch - a downshifting technique used in cars with non-synchromesh gearboxes. The idea is to match the transmission's layshaft speed to the gear cluster speed. The driver depresses the clutch, moves the gear selector to neutral, and declutches. While in neutral, the driver rev-matches the engine and layshaft to the speed of the gear cluster, then depresses the clutch again, selects the lower gear and declutches. This keeps the bits going the same speed at the same time, avoiding a nasty gear crunch. All modern road-going transmissions have synchros, which magically speed up the layshaft to the speed of the gear cluster so you don't have to.
4) dog Box - transmission with dog rings instead of synchros. Dogs do what synchros (or double-clutching old farts) do, but faster and with a big clunk.
5) cat-Back - the portion of the exhaust downstream of and not including the catalytic converter
6) skid Pad - circular piece of pavement used to determine the maximum lateral acceleration, or ultimate grip, a vehicle can generate. See #61 "1.0g"
7) apex - the point on the inside of a turn that bisects the angle of the entering straight and the exit straight; the geometric center of the turn
8) back Pressure - the pressure in the exhaust system, typically measured near the exhaust ports
9) red light - crossing the stage beam before the green light is lit; this will get a sub 0.500-second reaction time and an automatic loss (see 0.500).
10) Honda -soichiro honda's honda motor company sold its first motorcycle in 1949. Ten years later, the first honda, the c100 super cub motorcycle, was sold in the united states. Eventually honda sold 30 million of them, making it the world's best-selling vehicle to date. Ten years later, the first honda automobile, the 9600, was sold in the united states. Today, honda is reknowned for its powertrain excellence and endless possibilities for engine swaps.
11) Toyota - selling the toyota automatic loom works gave inventor sakichi toyoda enough profit to produce his first car. That was in 1937. It took 20 years to finally sell the first toyota in america, the toyopet crown, making toyota motor corp the first asian carmaker to enter the u.s. market. The toyota camry is now the best-selling car in the united states
12) Nissan - in 1934, jidosha seizo changed its company name to nissan motor co., ltd., and began selling datsuns in asia and central and south america. Forty-four were shipped in 1935. Right on the heels of toyota, nissan began exporting to the united states in 1958. Datsuns became nissans in 1981, to the puzzlement of thousands worldwide.
13) Chevrolet - william durant, founder of general motors, was $7 million in debt and figured he could turn it all around by sponsoring racer louis chevrolet to quickly build a car under his well-known name. The first chevrolet, the classic six sedan, hit the streets in 1912 with a straight-six engine. The chevrolet motor car company was incorporated in 1911, to be fully assimilated by gm in 1918. Interchangability of chevrolet products with other gm brands followed shortly thereafter.
14) Ford - henry ford invented the modern age with his revolution in mass production known as the assembly line. The first recorded sale of a model t was in 1903, eventually totaling 15 million sales. In 1932, ford motor company successfully cast the first one-piece v8 engine block. Today, the f-150 truck is the best- selling vehicle in the united states. In a perfect world, it would be the ford gt instead.
15) Dodge - brothers john and horace dodge, minority stockholders in ford motor company, built their first car in 1917 with money made from ford's success. Chrysler purchased dodge brothers, inc. In 1928. A few years later, the srt-4 was made.
16) Mitsubishi - translated literally as "three diamonds," mitsubishi was originally created as a shipping firm in 1870. Diversification led to japan's first car, the mitsubishi model a, in 1917. Allied forces fragmented the company into mitsubishi heavy industries and 139 other companies in 1946. Mhi then created mitsubishi motor corp. In 1970, which went on to notable success in rallying with the galant and lancer platforms.
17) Mazda - ahura mazda was the highest zoroastrian god of reason. Conveniently, the word mazda also closely resembles the sound of the founder's name, jujiro matsuda, who started the company in 1920 as toyo cork kogyo co. Mazda's work on the rotary engine began as a technical cooperation with nsu/wankel in 1961. The rotary lives on today as the renesis.
18) Lexus - conceived by toyota in 1983 as a brand to challenge the world's premier cars, the name 'lexus' just sounded great. Lexis, a legal information network, begged to differ and filed suit against toyota just months prior to 1989's introduction of the first car, the ls400.
19) SVT - special vehicle team; ford's in-house tuning arm
20) PVO - performance vehicle operations; chrysler's in-house tuning arm
21) J-Body - vehicle platform in use by gm since 1981 for the chevrolet cavalier and pontiac sunfire
22) viscous - a type of limited-slip differential. A viscous limited slip connects the driveshafts of the driven wheels with alternating plates immersed in a thick, snot-like fluid. When all the plates are turning the same speed, the snot is just there for the ride. When one tire slips, there's a speed difference between the plates. This speed difference causes the snot to grab the slower-spinning plates to accelerate them to the same speed as the faster-spinning ones, thus transferring torque to the wheel with grip.
23) dorifto - "drift" in japanese slang
24) inter Cooler - a heat exchanger located downstream of a turbo or supercharger which cools the heated, compressed intake air down to reasonable levels, promoting a denser charge and better knock resistance
25) after Cooler - despite what your beer-swilling uncle tells you, this is the same thing as an intercooler
26) limited Slip - a type of differential which, when a wheel slips, allows more torque to be transferred to the nonslipping wheel
27) cast - formed by pouring liquid metal into a mold
28) magna Fluxed - nondestructive inspection method used for detection of surface and subsurface flaws in ferrous parts
29) Rock Ford - a reversal of direction done as quickly as possible. While driving in reverse, turn the wheel hard. The front end of the vehicle will pirouette around the rear wheels. As the front end slides around, smoothly engage first or second gear (or put it in "drive" if you're a slushbox-driving sissy), unwind the wheel and drive away as if nothing unusual just happened. Named for jim rockford, fictional l.a. private eye played by james garner in the 1970s tv show "the rockford files."
30) bar - unit of pressure; 1 bar = 0.987 atmosphere = 14.5 psi = 100 kpa
31) heel And Toe - method of downshifting during braking to avoid unwanted engine braking that can upset the car's balance. Brake with the toe and blip the throttle with the heel while letting out the clutch pedal. Also good for avoiding clutch and synchro wear. See #3 "double-clutch."
32) Fairlady Z - nissan's name for the z-car, used in japan
33) composite - consisting of a resin and a fibrous matrix for low weight and high strength
34) apex Seal - the rotary engine's equivalent to a piston ring, these flat pieces of metal seal each rotor's chambers from one another
35) NHTSA - national highway transportation safety administration
36) Final Drive - 1. The ratio of the differential, or how much final gear reduction is thrown in after the transmission, before the power reaches the driven wheels. 2. Riding shotgun with the grim reaper
37) 4g63 - mitsubishi's favorite boost-happy hell-for-stout iron-blocked 2.0-liter four cylinder, found in dsms and lancer evolutions
38) R32 - introduced in 1989, the first nissan skyline gt-r since 1973and the lightest and most lithe of the latter day gt-rs
39) R33 - 1995 to 1998 nissan skyline gt-r
40) R34 - 1999 to 2002 nissan skyline gt-r. The last gt-r to date
41) Renesis - rotary genesis, or the latest version of the 13b rotary found in the mazda rx-8
42) Felix Wankel - the german with the six-dimensional mind who dreamt up the original rotary engine in 1924
43) Weight Distribution - how much flab is pushing down on each end of a car expressed as a percentage of the total
44) Rb26dett - 2.6-liter, twin-turbo inline-six used in the r32 through r34 nissan skyline gt-r
45) Sr16VE - nissan's high-winding 1.6-liter, 175-hp four cylinder, essentially a destroked sr20 with nissan's version of vtec called vvl. Found in overseas pulsars
46) Mags - magnesium wheels
47) B18a - honda's ubiquitous 1.8-liter four cylinder, found in the acura integra gs-r
48) H22 - big-block honda; 2.2-liter four cylinder found in preludes from '92 and up
49) 1zz-Fe - flyweight long-stroke toyota 1.8-liter four cylinder under the hood of the matrix xr, mr2, celica gt and corolla
50) Fogger - nozzle used to mix and deliver fuel and nitrous oxide