Motoring Tech

“Power is how fast your car hits a wall at full throttle; torque is how far it moves the wall after impact,” is one description of the two units I recently heard. Unfortunately, this explanation is not entirely accurate, but it is a way of making sense of the concepts in simple terms. Although ...

An all-electric Porsche? I have to pinch myself as I climb into the Porsche Taycan for my shotgun ride around the carmaker’s Düsseldorf test track. Is this a sign the electric-vehicle (EV) revolution has truly started? There is not much time to philosophise before the Porsche test driver mashes ...

The modern camping trailer is a prime example of practical engineering. We go behind the scenes to find out how one is designed and built... What load-shedding? Camping on the South Coast in the luxurious Bushwakka Sundowner, I’m oblivious to the national energy crisis. The battery pack, charged ...

Ever wondered exactly how an engine works? Now you can play with this interactive model and have a little fun while you learn. Local company DigiSoft has given us a taste of its simulation capability by bringing the famous Toyota 1,6-litre 4A-GE engine to life in digital form. The user can change parameters ...

A vehicle’s motive and cornering forces are generated at the tyres’ contact patches. We attended the Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport launch at Spain’s Ascari Circuit to learn more... In the tyre industry, UHP stands for “ultra-high performance”. It accurately describes the ...

The cars may be small but their performance is remarkable. We investigate the sport of radio-controlled racing... I am standing with a controller in my hand connected to a 1:10-scale racer on the track below. This can only end badly… To preserve the expensive toy from a rookie mistake, Francois ...

We got the inside track from Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa’s team principal on what makes the Hilux racer special... Three hours. Provided there’s no damage to the bakkie, that’s how long the team works on the Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) Hilux when it stops in the bivouac ...

Few things are sweeter than the sound of a well-tuned car engine. How does this cylinder-born symphony reach the driver? Moving from the rural ages to the industrial, the sounds around us gradually progressed from the animal to the mechanical. Although never as versatile, scary or enjoyable as nature’s ...

Headlamp performance has improved drastically over the past few decades. We investigate the different technologies available today...Can you believe there was a time when headlamps were optional on vehicles? Not that they were of much help, anyway: early versions (powered by candles, oil or acetylene) ...