Despite hearing and reading the rumours over and over again about the all-new, 5.5 litre, naturally aspirated high revving V8 Chevrolet was putting in the upcoming C8 Z06, I am still completely awe struck by what Chevrolet has done and sticking to a naturally aspirated V8 against all odds. Please take a moment to welcome the most powerful naturally aspirated production V8 the world has ever seen (at least mainstream production). The title previously belonged to the now dead SLS AMG, which had AMG's legendary 6.2 litre V8 making 622 hp and 468 lb-ft of torque. The New Z06 eclipses the horsepower figure with a whopping 670 hp at a scarcely believable 8,400 rpm (with an 8,600 rpm redline). Despite the high revving nature AND the smaller displacement (5.5 litre vs 6.2 litre for the Merc), torque hardly suffers with a healthy 460 lb-ft of torque, only 8 lower the the bigger displacement AMG engine. At a time when AMG, BMW, and even Ferrari have abandoned naturally aspirated V8s, and af
A few weeks ago, I made a post explaining mainstream AWD system types and how they compare , pros and cons, etc. including some simple diagrams to show where the power goes and how much. As promised, this post will focus on specific cars and what AWD systems they use, especially ones that that have more or less been defined by their AWD systems, and the best place to start may be with a bombshell; the Nissan GT-R. Nissan GT-R (R35) The GT-R has built a reputation around having monster traction and very approachable performance, thanks to its AWD system - Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All-Terrain (ATTESA) - and what it can do for you. But the GT-R doesn't actually use the most mechanically sophisticated type of AWD systems discussed in the previous article, namely a "true" AWD with a centre differential. Instead, it uses a clutch pack to transfer power. RWD-based clutch-type AWD schematic - Rams Eye The Track Guy © The R32, R33, and R34 Sky