Tag: volkswagen

Bio of Ferdinand Porsche - icon of automobile history

19 January 2010

No matter how you pronounce Porsche, Porsh or Por-sha, the overwhelming consensus is that it’s one of the greatest sports cars to ever surface on the planet. Of course, the car is only considered so great due to the man behind it all, Ferdinand Porsche.

The Austrian automotive genius was born September 3, 1875 in Vratislavice, Austria-Hungary and is responsible for the Volkswagen. Ferdinand’s son Ferry would be the Porsche to create the sports car, but one could have never happened without the other. The origins of Porsche are intertwined with the history of Volkswagen, the design of the former being based on that of the latter, and both car companies have a storied history.

From a young age, Ferdinand made it a point to work on various mechanical components, and at 18 years of age, his aptitude for mechanical engineering landing him a job at Bela Egger in Vienna. After five years with the company, Porsche decided to go his own way, entering into the automobile industry by way of Jakob Lohner & Co. Ferdinand joined the company in 1896, and by 1898, his name was already attached to a concept vehicle, the System Lohner-Porsche.

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The Bugatti Veyron, super fast, super car

01 May 2009

In the world of fast sports cars, there’s fast, and there’s ridiculously, crazy fast. The Bugatti Veyron is the latter. This exotic sports car is one of the smallest around, even smaller than the Porsche 911. But what this car lacks in size, it makes up for in shear power.

The Veyron has a top-end speed of 252-mph, making it the fastest production car in the world. Its W16 engine puts out an amazing 1,001 horsepower, which also makes it the most powerful. With a carbon fiber and aluminum body and frame to help reduce the car’s weight, it checks in at 4,500 pounds - which is still surprisingly heavy for its size.

W16 refers to the Veyron 16.4 cylinder and turbocharger engine. This quad-turbo 8-liter monster is one of the most powerful engines ever constructed for an automobile. The “W” refers to the two narrow-angled Volkswagen V8s that are joined together. The Bugatti Veyron literally has two Corvette engines.

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