Thursday 13 November 2014

The Fastest Car in the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSFX9vrwJf8&feature=player_embedded

This is Top Gear taking the official worlds fastest car, the Bugatti Veyron SS, the car we looked at earlier, to it's top speed.

Sunday 9 November 2014

Why Certain Cars Developed in Certain Places

Transportation is a huge part of what we do and is a huge part of geography. Why however is America known as "the home of the muscle car" and why does it produce some of the biggest cars? Well there is a clear answer for why cars come from certain areas on the globe. 

The Muscle car originated from America for a clear reason. Long, flat, straight roads. Not a lot of corners. They needed cars that went in one direction really fast and not be a dream in the corners. This resulted in the classic American Muscle car. The wide Roads of the U.S.A resulted in them bringing out big cars built for comfort and intimidation. This can be seen in the likes of Chevrolet, Ford, Cadillac and Chyrsler.

When we go to the other side however we see a different story. The likes of the American muscle car would not at all be suited to the streets of Italy. With the tight corners and narrow roads they needed small cars with very good handling. The likes of Fiat, Lamborghini and Ferrari were born. They produce some of the best handling cars and of course this is due to the environment.


I think it's really interesting to look into where car manufacturers originate from and see why they predominately make a certain type of car like a muscle car or a super car.
http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/latest-reviews/2015-lamborghini-huracan-lp610-4-ray-light-streaking-horizon-article-1.1783156

Disadvantages of Electric Cars

Now we will look at some of the disadvantages of electric cars.

Disadvantages:


1. Recharge Points: There are not a lot of charging stations around as they are still in development and this could result in you being stranded on a long car journey.

2. Short Driving Range and Speed: They are limited by range and speed. They usually range 50-100 miles and then need to be charged again which can take a while.

3. Recharge Time: An electric car can take 4-6 hours to charge and you will need a dedicated power station for this which can be hard to find

4. Silent While driving: This can be a disadvantage as the car wont be heard when coming around corners and coming up behind other cars which can cause an accident.

5. Cities Facing Power Shortages: Cities already facing power shortages are not suited for the use of electric cars and it could hamper their daily power needs.

Advantages of Electric Cars

Firstly, what is an electric car? Petrol and diesel cars produce a lot of carbon emissions, leaving us vulnerable to greenhouse gases and pollution. An electric car runs of electricity leaving no pollution or greenhouse gasses. It is a great step forward but there are two sides to the argument.


Advantages:

1.       Savings: They can be fuelled for very cheap. Some new cars might offer incentives like getting money back from the government for making the change and going green.

2.       No Petrol:With petrol prices rising frequently, You can save quite a bit by switching to electric.

3.       Emissions:They are 100% eco-friendly and run on a clean energy source. They don’t emit any fumes or toxic gas.

4.       Low Maintenance: There is no need to lubricate the engines as they are electrically powered. Other expensive engine work is non-existent with electric cars as well reducing the maintenance cost. 

5.       Reduced Noise Pollution: Because of the electric motor, there is almost no noise.

6.       Popularity: With electric cars growing in popularity there is a growing variety of them for you to choose from.

Sunday 12 October 2014

FAST CARS

Today I'm going to talk about the fastest cars in the world. There is the official fastest car in the world, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, and the unofficial fastest car in the world, the Hennessey Venom GT. Firstly I am going to talk about the Bugatti. It has an 8.0 litre W16 engine producing 1,200bhp and costs an astonishing €1.9 million. Its top speed is 267.8mph / 430.9km/h. The reason it is officially the fastest is you have to drive both ways on the track it is being tested on and take the average. What I am going to look at is how long it would take the Bugatti to drive the entire length of the equator at top speed. The circumference of the earth at the equator is 24,902 miles / 40,075 km. this means it would take the Bugatti only 93 hours to travel the entire equator. At its top speed, the Veyron Super Sports engine consumes 45,000 litres of air a minute so on its journey around the equator it would consume a total of 251,100,000 litres of air! It also only doe 11.6 mpg so it would use 2,146 gallons of petrol on its journey.

The Hennessey Venom GT hit 270.49mph / 435.3km/h. It is not official however as it did not go both ways on the track it was being tested on. It has a 7.0 litre twin turbo V8 engine which can produce 1,244bhp and costs €792,041. The Venom GT would take 91 hours to travel the length of the equator, a whole 2 hours less then the Veyron. It does 15.9 mpg and would use 1566 gallons of petrol, a massive 580 gallons of fuel less then the Veyron.



Thursday 2 October 2014

INTRODUCTION

Hi, this is my blog about the geography of cars, including the origin of cars, how materials are acquired for the production and how far they have come today.