Germany’s E-Wolf Is Targetting Ferrari With New Electric Supercar

It seems these days that a new electric sports car concept is announced almost every month but it’s not often that we get to see the actual concept in the metal, so to speak, or in the case of the new E1, in the carbon-fiber composite. The E1 electric roadster is the latest creation of German firm E-Wolf and it is just one of two new electric vehicles from the company, with the latter vehicle set to compete with the likes of Ferrari in the performance arena.

Working in partnership with the Saxony Lightweight Center and the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Polymer Technology at the Technical University of Dresden, E-Wolf unveiled its street-legal E1 roadster at the recent 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show and plans to add the E2 supercar to its lineup in about two years.

The key to the cars’ performance is a light weight structure. In the case of the E1, the entire chassis weighs in at just 1,102-pounds but this comes at a cost as the vehicle can only accommodate drivers weighing up to 150-pounds.

Power comes from a 150-horsepower AC induction motor with 185-pound-feet of torque. This is enough to propel the E1 from 0-62 mph in less than five seconds and see it reach a top speed of 143 mph. An array of lithium-ion batteries will see the E1 drive up to 200-miles on a single charge.

While the E1 can be bought today at a price of €150,000 (approximately $218,818), E-Wolf is also working on an E2 supercar due in 2011.

The E2 will feature four electric motors, one in each wheel, delivering a combined output of 544-horsepower and 737-pound-feet of torque–All this in a chassis that is expected to weigh around 2,000-pounds.

So far the E2 only exists in computer-generated rendering form but its designers promise the car will be able to reach a top speed of 155 mph. Hopefully the production version will stay true to the concept’s lines.

Originally post at Motorauthority.com

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Black Beauty Wrecked!!

Did Kato wreck the Black Beauty? Yes. Was it supposed to be wrecked? Hm.

Although this looks like an accident on set, it also looks planned. As in, “we menat to do that.” And since there were several Black Beauty’s built for the film, there’s a good chance that this is a set up. The only givaway is the fact that for an accident, it’s kinda cheesy. Keep you posted.

Source: Jalopnik and JustJared

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KillerBees Slant Six Drag Racing

How about a cheap way to get into drag racing? Bracket racing is the ticket and slant sixes are probably the cheapest engine to get the job done.

I had met a couple of the KillerBees guys down in Redding, CA last year and they convinced me to race with them at Champion Raceway in Medford, OR this year. I have done plenty of autocrosses but never a drag race (Kind of backwards for an old car guy I guess). I was curious what the Dart would run after my SuperSix intake conversion.

Continue reading after the jump!

I literally mowed lawns just to afford to go racing. I planned to do the test and tune on Friday night and just watch the slant sixes race on the next day- due to lack of funds. But in the staging lanes, I met Edd Jesiolowski. Within five minutes of talking, he offered to pay my way to race the next day. Edd turned out to be invaluable over the weekend, giving me tips on bracket racing and slant sixes in general. I’m very grateful for his help- thanks Edd. (Edd owns Pace Fabrication in Paradise, CA and his work is top notch, check it out.) His wife’s Demon is pictured below.

That first night, the fastest my Dart ran was a 20.182 @ 66.65 mph. I was a bit disappointed to tell you the truth. I thought it would at least run in the high teens. I was told later that for a mostly stock slant six in a street car, this was decent. Besides, bracket racing is about reaction time. Friday night, my reaction times were all over the map, so I left pretty disappointed and almost didn’t come back.

I did come back though and I wasn’t disappointed. I got to meet most of the KillerBee crew. There was some serious machinery present. Andrew Howards is pictured below in the near lane with Wayne Erickson in the far lane-both of these cars have run in the 13’s.

The fastest car that day was this Swinger pictured below owned by Aric Erickson, he was running in the 12’s.

I made a couple more test passes before we started the bracket race. To my surprise, the Dart clicked off a 19.806 at 68.15 mph. My reaction time was a decent .073- I was feeling pretty good. We set up the ladder and I was paired up with Mike Bjerklund. His ‘68 4-door was a second faster than me, so it was a good match up.

I got him at the light with a .104 reaction time to his .261 but I made a newbie mistake and picked too slow a dial in. The car made its fastest pass of the weekend with a 19.802 @ 67.88 mph- and I even let up at the finish. So, I broke out and Mike got the win. The eventual winner of the day was Wayne Erickson pictured below:

I had a good time and I highly recommend checking out the KillerBees when they’re in town. Because the slant six isn’t as popular to hot rod as a V8, there’s a lot of impressive backyard engineering on these cars. The next race is September 13 in Sacramento, CA. Check out the KillerBees website here.

The rest of the pictures are here.

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Bad Drivers

Recently I had a run in with a bad driver. This idiot was tailgating me for about 2 miles, then decided to hit my rear bumper and drive off, but enough about my Close Encounters with the Idiot Kind, let’s here about yours. We all have had these type of run-ins whether they made contact or not, whether it be with a tailgater, non-signaler, brake rider, cell phone user, etc, etc.. No matter what type of horrible multi-tasking driver you have encountered, tell us. Just let it all out!

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Craigslist Pick of the Week: Burly Ford F350

Lots of the diesel performance guys strut their stuff on the drag strip. We’re completely entertained by 7,000lb trucks that can outrun late-model Mustangs and totally humiliate most everything that lines up next to them. That being said, there is another arena where these trucks really put on a show and that’s at the truck pulls. The “super stock” and “pro stock” type pulling divisions have exploded in popularity as diesel performance has spread like wildfire across the land.

As cool as it is to watch a truck running 100 at the strip, watching it snort, strain, rumble, and groan while attempting to pull a sled weighing tens of thousands of pounds is even cooler. Those type competitions are total drivetrain stress tests. Every piece of every assembly on the truck is being worked to within an inch of it’s life. You simply need a bombproof rig if you want to win.

This is one of those rigs.

It’s a 2000 Ford F350 dually that has been beefed in lots of ways, but still retains the stock, 173,000 mile 7.3L Powerstroke that it rolled out of the factory with! That’s amazing stuff. The rest of the truck has been wrenched on with stuff like a monster Dana 80 axle being put in the rear, a custom 4-inch-diameter driveshaft, and custom suspension among other extensive modifications.

For us the best part of the whole deal is that the thing looks like a stocker. No wild paint scheme or weirdo graphics. A true wolf in sheep’s clothing! Click here to see the ad.

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Not Found on Ebay: A Large Freightliner Pickup Truck

The years between 2003 and 2008 were known for a lot of things, but will most likely be remembered as the era of extravagance. Everything had to be big: movies that routinely grossed over $100 million, homes that had bathrooms bigger than most houses of the 60’s, celebrity salaries that outpaced the gross national product of most small countries, and everything from luxury yachts to exotic cars were reaching unheard-of prices. It was true that nothing created success like excess. So in honor of the era of excess, I give you an excessively large pickup. Is this a personal vehicle? Why yes, it is.

This creation was commissioned by a rather well off contractor as a toy. Unlike the similar International CXT, it was created as a two-wheel-drive truck with a full locking rear differential offering similar traction on the street without the excess weight of a front drive axle. But why commission this vehicle, when you could have purchased an International? Well, when new, the CXT retailed at over $120,000. The Freightliner, based on the current Freightliner Business Class M2-106, sold new for a little over $93,000. Yes, Freightliner has an option of a crew cab as well as an extended and regular cab. Read more on what makes this truck so special, and how you now have the chance to own it, over at Automotive Traveler.

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