Motoring Tech

Lithium-ion batteries attract all the headlines, but the humble lead-acid type still has an important role to play today… and tomorrow. Two thousand. According to Kelvin Naidoo, group technical executive at AutoX, that’s how many times a vehicle engine is started every minute in South Africa. ...

Traffic congestion and convenience considerations heavily favour an automatic transmission when shopping for a new vehicle. Modern autos are a far cry from those sluggish units of yesteryear and, in most cases, outperform manual transmissions in terms of performance and fuel consumption. Therefore, a ...

“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 ...