Is Horse Power an Outdated unit of Power !!?!!

Is Horse Power an Outdated unit of Power !!?!!

  15:03    Jimboyrulez

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I've never understood why we use the term Horsepower. We don't calculate a bulb's life in Candle Hours or an air plane's thrust in Eagle Power, so why do we calculate an engine's output in Horsepower? In order to understand how outdated and idiotic Horsepower as a unit is, we need to understand two things: first, the history of how horsepower as a unit came to be, and second, the definition and formula to calculate Horsepower. I learned the definition of Horsepower and the formula to calculate work and Horsepower while I was studying engineering at the University of Hertfordshire. In this article, we will analyze the work of James Watt, the inventor of Horsepower, and we will determine whether or not Horsepower is a good means of measuring how much power an automobile has. 

To understand this, we need to look into the history of the unit. Until the 18th Century, before machines became popular, the majority of laborious work was done by horses. With the invention of the steam engine, horses slowly started being replaced with machines. But, the steam engines at the time were not that efficient. In 1763, Scottish engineer, James Watt, took this as an opportunity to make a more efficient steam engine. During this era, some people were beginning to warm up to steam engines, whereas the vast majority still believed in horses. Watt started selling his more efficient steam engine to farmers and miners, but he needed a marketing strategy that proved that his steam engine was more efficient and powerful than other steam engines, as well as horses. To market his invention, Watt needed a unit that helped him do a measurement comparison that potential buyers could relate to the power of horses. But, instead of figuring out exactly how much power a horse really produced, he estimated. If he could successfully make this comparison, he could prove his invention was not only more efficient, but more powerful than the current means of producing energy. It didn't matter if his estimation was based on a pony, a weak horse, a race horse, or a super strong work horse. As long as his measurement was close enough to be believable, his strategy would be successful.
 

Now, before we go more in depth, it's important to understand horsepower and how it is calculated.

So then, what is Horsepower?

Horsepower is a unit of power. 

Well, then what is power? 

Power = work / time

So, then, what is work ?

Work = force x distance

So, 

Power = (force x distance) / time

Coming back to the question, "What is Horsepower?" 

As we learned in the above history lesson, Horsepower is a unit of power that was invented by James Watt. He invented Horsepower to market his steam engine. 

His sales pitch would be, "This steam engine replaces 2 horses." 

The American Journal of Physics 4, 120 (1936) claims to have derived the below photograph from the original James Watt notes. The photo has been digitally reconstructed for the sake of clarity.

It shows a horse mill with a 12ft radius and a horse churning it. The horse applies force to the mill, turns it around, and keeps going round and round. His notes talk about force and all his formulas. It claims that the horse applies 180 foot-pounds of force to turn the mill. But, here is an interesting fact: the journal doesn't explain how he derived the 180 foot-pounds number.

So, let's put his numbers in the formulas.

Power= (180 x 2π x 12 x 2.5)/minute

Power= 33,929 ft pound force/minute

However, in reality, this is the correct calculation: 2.5(2π x 12ft) = 188.5ft

In Watt's World: 2.5(2π x 12ft)= 180ft (60yds)

When we use his napkin math: Power = 32,400 ft lb force/minute.

In an absurd twist, he and his business partner, Matthew Boulton, standardized the figure at 33,000 ft lb force/minute. 

That is how we get our calculation of Horsepower today of one Horsepower equaling 33,000 ft lb force/minute, or 550 ft lb force/second. 

You might be asking yourself, what does this all actually mean? Well, it means that if there was a horse that was pulling a 550lb object with a pulley attached, it would pull that object 1ft per second. 

In the automobile industry, if there is a car with 200 Horsepower, it would pull the same load of 550lbs 200ft/second (or 110,000lbs 1ft/second). That being said, there are other things that need to be taken into consideration in terms of calculating a vehicle's top speed like aerodynamics, inertia by accelerating, rolling resistance, internal friction, etc. We won't be fully diving into all that in this article.

To further illustrate how ludicrous the concept of Horsepower is, we need to cover Metric Horsepower.

 

So in Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) units, we are looking at ft lbs force/second.

In metric, it would be m kg force/second or kg force x meters/second.

1 Horsepower = 550 ft lb force/second. 

Or, 1 Metric Horsepower (1PS) = 75 kg force m/second 

 To explain why European, or metric, Horsepower numbers are different to American Horsepower, numbers we have to do some crazy math. 

Don't be scared, just take a deep breath. All we are doing is multiplying it with gravity. 

1HP = 550 x (lbs)(32.17ft/s²) = 17,694 lb ft²/s³ 

If we convert this to metric, we would get 745.6 kg m²/s³

Lets do the same calculation with metric numbers.

1PS= 75 x (1kg)(9.807m/s²)  

Then it's 735.5 kg m²/s³

As we can see, both the numbers are not the same despite it being the same thing. In fact, 1 Metric Horsepower = 98.6% of American Horsepower. That is why you will see the difference in Horsepower rating figures in America and Europe. 

For example, the Ferrari 812 Superfast is 800CV (Metric Horsepower) or 789HP (American Horsepower)

The McLaren 600LT is 600PS (Metric Horsepower) or 592HP (American Horsepower)

So, we learned that Horsepower, as a unit of power, was invented to market the steam engine. Math used in deriving Horsepower was inaccurate and approximate. The unit, if derived with metric values, is inconsistent. The idea of Horsepower is archaic. In today's world, we rarely get to see horses, so no one knows what the power of a horse is in order to compare it to the modern combustion engine. Moreover, in this day and age, where we plan to have commercialized space travel, do we want to rely on a unit with so many inaccuracies?

It's an error in basic math due to rounding up numbers. But, despite the Watt being a more accurate unit of power, the world is just comfortable with using the more barbaric unit of power- Horsepower. So, we will keep using Horsepower as a unit of power until we have combustion engines. If you want to use a more accurate, modern, and precise unit of power, use the Watt. It's not a huge change, neither is it difficult as we have been using Watt to measure power of bulbs and speakers since its inception. 

Do let me know if you enjoy these controversial technical articles and if you would like me to keep doing them. If there is a mistake in this article or if you disagree with this article please feel free to comment below. 

If you would like more detail here is the link to Horsepower's Wikipedia page.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower

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Carbon Fiber VS Fiber Glass VS Kevlar

Carbon Fiber VS Fiber Glass VS Kevlar

  14:25    Jimboyrulez

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 Carbon Fiber vs. Fiber Glass vs. Kevlar

In this article we are going to compare Carbon Fiber, Fiber Glass, and Kevlar. We are going to discuss key differences, and see which one is right for your particular application. I have some background in Motorsports Engineering, so I am going to explain this from the motorsports perspective.  However, the same fundamentals would apply to any application- be it motorcycles, airplanes, or boats. 

In talking to a lot of people about this, I have come to understand and realize that there are a lot of misconceptions and myths about these three materials, and most of the time people have it wrong. For example, people often argue that Carbon Fiber is stronger then Fiber Glass. That is a misconception. People often mistake strength for stiffness. I'll explain this a little bit more in detail. 

The definition of strength is the capacity of an object or substance to withstand great force or pressure. Whereas stiffness is an indicator of the tendency for an element to return to its original form after being subjected to a force. Strength measures how much stress can be applied to an element before it deforms permanently or fractures. Hardness measures a material's resistance to surface deformation. This is actually the key to understanding the differences between the three different materials in question. 

I am going to explain, once again, in a simpler way. If you take an object and apply pressure, pulling two ends of it in opposite directions, the point at which it breaks indicates its tensile strength. If you apply force that is larger than the strength of the material, the material would break. This is known as the ultimate tensile strength. Strength has nothing to do with how far the material can flex or deform. It is only defined by when it breaks. I hope this clears up any confusion around the concept of strength. 

Stiffness is calculated by how far something stretches. The stiffness of a material is the ability of a material to resist deflection or deformation. It is important to understand that stiffness and strength are not related. You can has a very stiff material that is not very strong, or you can have a very strong material that is not very stiff. This brings us to elongation. The definition of elongation is the amount of extension an object has while under stress. This is usually expressed as a percentage of the original length. Elongation is basically how far the material will stretch before it breaks. So, if you have more elongation, you can essentially get a tougher material because it would stretch more before it breaks. 

Imagine a plastic that is not very strong but stretches a long way. You hit it with a hammer, and the hammer would just bounce back or deform it. It's not going to snap it or shatter it. Now, imagine you do the same thing to the same size piece of glass. This may not be lot stronger than plastic, but it's a lot stiffer, so it doesn't deform as much. So, when you hit it with a hammer it will shatter in to thousand pieces. 

Lastly, density is basically just how much a material weighs per unit area. Since we have established the basic definitions of what constitutes our material properties that we're interested, we can now actually start to have a look at the differences between the materials we are comparing.

Composite materials always have fibers sitting within a resin matrix. This basically means that we have a whole bunch of straight aligned fibers being held together by some sort of epoxy resin. We are not going to go much in depth on the epoxy resin for this article. 

Let's take a look at the tensile strengths of different materials. First, let's bust some myths here by noticing that fiber glass is stronger then Carbon fiber. Ultimate tensile strength is defined by force over area, and glass is stronger than carbon fiber and Kevlar both. S-Glass is stronger than E-Glass, but it's a much more expensive grade of Fiber Glass.

In reference to the above graph, Carbon Fiber is stronger than High Strength Steel, but Kevlar and Fiber Glass are both stronger than Carbon Fiber. 

So, the question is: why do so many people have the misconception that Carbon Fiber is stronger? Carbon Fiber is incredibly stiff and it is low density. The main problem is that people tend to confuse themselves between stiffness and strength. 

If you check out this stiffness graph here, you will notice that Carbon Fiber is incredibly stiff, but don't confuse that with strength. 

The second reason for this confusion is density. As you can see from this graph, Fiber Glass has more density than Carbon Fiber and Kevlar. Kevlar is the least dense because it's like a regular polymer.

Now, let's look at this as horsepower and weight. A lot of horsepower and a lot of weight on a car doesn't help go fast. To go fast you need a healthy power to weight ratio. Similarly, what you need to understand is the strength/weight ratio and stiffness/weight ratio. 

Let's look at relative strength to weight ratio in comparison to the stiffness to weight ratio.

As we can see over here in terms of relative strength to weight, Kevlar is strongest in tension. It's an awesome material- it's very strong but it does have its drawbacks. 

S-Glass is also stronger in strength to weight when compared to Carbon Fiber. S-Glass is a high quality material- it's very expensive, but it's not weaker than Carbon Fiber. 

Generally, when people deal with E-Glass, people think that Carbon Fiber is stronger than Fiber Glass because they have E-Glass in mind. However, it's important to realize that the difference in terms of percentage is not all that different when looking at carbon fiber, E-Glass, and S-Glass. They are all pretty similar. 

What I am trying to say here is that if your use or if your structure is only strength critical, then Fiber Glass might be the way to go as it's comparatively a lot cheaper. And, even if you go with E-Glass, it is not comparatively that much weaker. 

That being said, the minute you put stiffness in the picture, it's a whole different story. If you see the same graph and look at the stiffness to weight ratio, there is a huge difference. Compared to S-Glass & E-Glass, Carbon Fiber is a lot stiffer. Compared to E-Glass, Carbon Fiber is five times stiffer. In fact, Carbon Fiber is stiffer than everything else by a lot more. Yes, even Kevlar!

If we were to reverse the direction of our loading and put the material in compression, all the other materials do quiet well except Kevlar. 

When you look at this graph what you'll notice is that Kevlar looses by a considerable amount when you put it under compression. 

So, if you are considering a material for a composite structure that might bare aerodynamic load, like a rear wing for a lot of downforce, then considering S-Glass or Carbon Fiber might be the best way to go. You might be able to get away with E-Glass depending on your particular structure and use, but you definitely should not risk it with Kevlar. 

Let's take elongation into consideration. What catches your eye is that carbon has almost no elongation what-so-ever. This creates a problem with material toughness.

If you look at a stress/strain line graph you would understand it better. The stress/strain curve line means how much a material would move for a given amount of stress. 

If you look at S-Glass, it has a really high tensile strength, and it has a really high elongation as well. This makes it the toughest material. 

So, if you need a material with the best load bearing strength, S-Glass might be the way to go. 

Kevlar is not bad either, coming in at second best place in the graph. It has really good abrasive qualities, and that is why it's used in bullet proof vests. It is a very good quality material for under body or skid plates of race cars.

So, the question is, what material body kit should you order for non competitive race or street cars. I would recommend Fiber Glass because it's the strongest, it has flex, and it's a seventh of the cost of Carbon Fiber. Additionally, it's not that much heavier.

Now, if you compare the weight of Carbon Fiber vs. Fiber Glass without Epoxy resin, Carbon Fiber is 30% lighter. But, once you make it into the structure, there is hardly a noticeable difference. This is because Fiber Glass needs a much thinner layer of Epoxy resin. In reality, it's only a 15% weight savings when compared to Fiber Glass. 

The question you need to ask yourself while comparing Carbon Fiber and Fiber Glass is if a 15% weight difference is worth seven times the cost for your application. For most applications, it isn't worth it, and that money can be well spent elsewhere. 

The reason why I am not addressing Kevlar here is because, for most applications, you would not need Kevlar considering Carbon Fiber and Fiber Glass would be the two best options for the most part. Fiber Glass is best used in areas where you need flex and strength. For structural parts, the underbody of the car, or tubing that requires strength, you don't want to have any flex. Carbon Fiber would be best for these areas. 

I hope this article was useful. Leave a comment below, and let me know what you agree/disagree with, or if you would like me to write more informative stuff like this one. 

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Top Ultimate Luxury Convertibles

Top Ultimate Luxury Convertibles

  00:39    Jimboyrulez

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Now this list is the Ultimate in Luxury Convertibles. These cars are palace on wheels. They have all creature comfort and luxury one can imagine. It has a big powerful engine and they are very sturdy in terms of handling. They have more space and legroom than any other convertible ever made. 

So without any further ado lets dive straight into it.

1. Get ready to refinance your home and take out a second mortgage For the Rolls Royce Dawn. The pinnacle of Luxury, Elegance and Style. There is no other brand that comes even close to a Rolls Royce.

2. Bentley Continental GT Convertible is almost at the same level as the Rolls Royce, in terms of Pure Luxury. It's not a Rolls Royce but its the next best thing. Almost as iconic and luxurious as the Rolls Royce. When you get in your Bentley and take it out for a spin, the only thing people looking at you are thinking is you couldn't afford a Rolls Royce (despite negligible to no price difference)

3. S class convertible is the entry-level to the Luxury convertibles. You want to buy a luxury convertible but don't want to break the bank to buy the Rolls Royce or the Bentley than this might be the Answer for you. And just to make you happy they have thrown in the same v12 power plant as the Pagani Huayra in their Amg variant.

4. Maybach Vision 6 is 18.7 ft of redefined luxury. It looks like the finest superyacht from the Monte Carlo Harbor. It has a 750 Hp all Electric Motor. This is the only car that comes close to the luxury and Beauty of the Rolls Royce.

5. I would like to add a car on this list that never existed. That is the Cadillac Ciel. They only made a concept car and it never made it to production although used the design cues of this beautiful machine on some of their other cars. If this car would have made it to the market, it would have single-handedly changed the future of Cadillac.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this Article/ Note. I tried to keep it as brief as possible and refrained from rambling on like I usually do. If I have missed out on any car that you think should have made it to this list, please comment below and let me know. And if you have like this article please give me a thumbs up and also consider subscribing to my YouTube Channel “JIMBOYRULEZ”, all one word.

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GT3 Race car VS Road car

GT3 Race car VS Road car

  14:29    Jimboyrulez

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Have you ever wondered what is so special about a GT3 car vs a production model road car?

In order to understand the difference we need to first understand what GT3 is. Cup Grand Touring Cars is commonly known as GT3. These are basically a set of regulations set and maintained by the FIA for the grand tourer racing cars, racing around the world. GT3 class was initially created in 2005 as a 3rd rung in the ladder of GT motorsports. Approximately 20 Automobile manufacturers have built or been represented with GT3 machines.

The GT3 group allows for a wide variety of car types to be homologated with almost no limit on engine sizes and configurations or chassis construction or layout. But there is one prime rule, that is, The GT3 cars must be based on a production road car model that is in production. Performance of all the group GT3  cars are regulated, either by the GT bureau fo the FIA or by a series specific ruling body, through Balance of Performance formulae that adjusts limits on horsepower, weight, engine management and aerodynamics to prevent a single manufacturer from becoming dominant in the class.

The cars in GT3 are designed to have a weight between 1200kg and 1300kg (2645lbs and 2866lbs) with horsepower between 500hp and 600hp. All cars have a very similar power to weight ratio but achieved either by high power and high weight such as the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG or low Power and low weight such as the Porsche 911 GT3. GT3 cars also have traction control, ABS and built in air jacks for quick pit stops.

So is the Porsche 911 GT3 a GT3 race car? 

The simple answer to the question is no. Porsche 911 GT3 takes the name from GT3 racing as it wants to suggest low weight, a more powerful engine and a great power to weight ratio but a racing team would not go to a Porsche store and buy a production model 911 GT3. Porsche does sell GT3 race cars but the production model is not the one. The production model weight 3153 lbs. The race cars has to be under 2866 lbs according to the FIA guidelines. Although the production model shares a lot of parts with the race car. 

GT3 race car vs road car, what is the difference?

Lets look at the Audi's GT3 LMS car and compare it with Audi's limited production(1/999) RWD car where Audi claimed to share 60% parts between the limited production RWD R8 and the R8 LMS race car.

GT3 racing is bucking that trend, championing the idea that the cars filling the grids share the same backbone and heart as the road versions with which they share an outward likeness.

Approximately 7 Audi GT3 LMS R8 race in GT3 competition at the time I am writing this article and they are amongst the strong runners and win contenders, so I think its a great example to put it under the knife and see the similarities between the GT3 racer and the RWD R8 V10 plus coupe.

Both cars are born on the same production line with their chassis manufactured in Böllinger Höfe industrial park in Heilbronn. The GT3 chassis has aluminum cast joints and a steel roll cage, but is otherwise identical to the road car. 

The 5.2L V10 that powers the GT3 is produced on the same production line as the road cars V10. Apart from the air-ristrictor to meet GT3 regulations and a new manifold to cope with the added stress of Racing in the LMS, both the engines are identical. 

On their LMS car Audi losses the All wheel drive system to comply with the GT3 rules. It also adds wishbone suspension, carbon fiber bodywork and a different six speed gearbox. A stripped out interior, bigger brakes, slick tyres and a racing aero complete the transformation of the 24hour racer. 

So why don't these companies give the lighter, faster race car as production models?

These companies have to comply with local road laws which are very different to GT3 rules. Every country and states have their own road rules and the production vehicle has to comply with that. Emission rules, exhaust sound db etc.

Not even 1 percent of these original cars, supercars, hyper cars make it to the race track through out their life time. At most they might go on a spirited drive once in a while on a back canyon road no where reaching its limits. The transmission, engine and brakes on GT3 race cars are made to be pushed and don't perform well if driven slow. If you have driven the first generation R8 you would know how jerky the transmission was. The fact is the transmission wasn't faulty but it needed to be rev'd till the red line before changing gears to feel a smooth up shift. On city roads that might result in a ticket if not worse. The carbon ceramic brakes and tires on GT3 race cars don't perform well when cold. No sound deadening and no air conditioning might be a problem for majority of the buyers. A lot of countries wouldn't let you sell a new car if it doesn't have a back up camera, sensors and airbags. 

So looking at all of these issues GT3 race cars are different from production model but Porsche has done an amazing job at making the 911 GT3 race car in to a road legal car. The 911 GT3 production road car is an excellent example of how close to the real race car it is.

Can one take a Road Car and build a GT3 race car. Or even better, Can one buy a road car and build a road version of a GT3 race car ? If these automotive giants can do it why cant an individual?

Well in theory it can be possible. One can buy a production Lamborghini, Aston Martin, or a Viper and try stripping the interior out, putting in a roll cage, changing the whole body to a carbon fiber body to save weight, put wider wheels and tires with better brakes on and turn it in to a GT3 road car. But who would want to buy an expensive vehicle and then strip it apart and change it to a bare bone race car to use on the road. But as I said in theory it is possible todo. GT3 cars main concept is being light and having an awesome power to weight ratio. If one wants to keep it road legal once can keep the air bags and all the safety features the same way Porsche has made the 911 Gt3 road car. So yes in theory yes it can be done if you have deep pockets.  The car in the Picture is TJ Hunt's 458 Italia with a carbon fiber wide body kit from a GT3 car. Knowing the cost of these original kits I can safely say including labor, bodykit, Paint, suspension, wheels and tires this would have not costed TJ under $50k in upgrade. (not considering endorsements, sponsors or discounts) TJ didn't do anything to the engine because the 458 is a powerful car to begin with. I think he upgraded the exhaust but didn't do any further weight reduction or roll cage.

How much might it cost to convert a road car to a road legal GT3 car?

Everyones definition and build specs might be different. But if you do it like the way the 911 GT3 has done it, it would cost you as much as the real race car. If you get a race engine the way the 911 GT3 has a Metzger engine, if you get all carbon fiber body parts , roll cage , labor, weight reduction, aero package. You will have spent the same money as a real race car. But the only benefit you would have building a GT3 road car is that you can use it on the road and you would be the only one with something that exotic. And if done correctly, you will be having supercars for breakfast. 

The car in the picture was built for Jens Byggmark. This car is as GT3 race car like as it gets. Full carbon fiber upgrade, full aero, suspension, tires wheels, roll cage, seats , steering wheel, BMW S66 v8 motor with a sequential gearbox. Our estimation is this would cost nothing under $100k in upgrades if you already have the donor vehicle. 

The last BMW Z4 Gt3 race car sold for $130k at the auction and that included enough spares to assemble another race car. 

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Top Convertibles for Golfers

Top Convertibles for Golfers

  00:21    Jimboyrulez

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Now despite the title, these are the most fun and the best convertibles on the market. The reason behind the name, Golfer’s Convertible is due to the lack of space in the rear seats. The rear seats in these cars are not really meant for people but are more or less for a golf bag or maybe a Miniature Poodle. Having said that, do not discount these cars from your shopping list, as these are the ultimate convertible sports cars you would come across.

1. Now the first one is my absolute favourite, Be it a Coupe, Targa or a Cabriolet. Yes, you guessed it right, It is the 911. It could be a base 'Carrera', 'S', 'GTS' or a 'Turbo', as far as its a 911. It is subtle yet powerful. The only rear-engine car to perform and handle the way it does.

2. Aston Martins DB11 is a stunner. Its hands down one of the prettiest car available and the best part is that it comes in a convertible version. The convertible variant is called DB11 Volante. It comes with a 503 horsepower twin-turbocharged v8 borrowed from their friends at Mercedes.

3. There cannot be any list of cool convertibles without the mention of the Prancing Horse. An absolute bombshell is the Ferrari Portofino. Decent luggage space makes it the ultimate convertible Grand tourer.

4. The cute and cuddly Mini Cooper only gets more fun with a drop-top. The same handling and fun but without the roof. Thousands of customizing options the mini definitely makes it a lot of fun to drive.

5. This might be a widely known as a girls car but it all depends on what country you are in as I have seen men drive this car in some of the eastern countries. It is the VW Beetle. While the production has been discontinued there are some dealers who still have them in stock.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this Article/ Note. I tried to keep it as brief as possible and refrained from rambling on like I usually do. If I have missed out on any car that you think should have made it to this list, please comment below and let me know. And if you have like this article please give me a thumbs up and also consider subscribing to my YouTube Channel “JIMBOYRULEZ”, all one word.

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Top 4 Seater Convertibles

Top 4 Seater Convertibles

  00:02    Jimboyrulez

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The best way to go around on a long drive or a road trip exploring the sunny country side is in a convertible. But there are very few convertibles that will take you and your friends with your luggage comfortably, without breaking the bank. Here are some 4 seater convertibles that actually have 4 useable seats.

So without any further ado lets dive straight into it.

1. The BMW 4 series convertible. The same BMW handling and suspension that we all love. It's one of the few rare hardtop convertibles on the market today. Although its been on the market for a while and is due for an upgrade sooner rather than later.

2. Next on the list, is the all American Ford Mustang. Available in pretty much all engine sizes. This one has a lavish heritage and comes in many variants to suit every budget.

3. Another German on this list is Audi's A5 cabriolet. Recently updated technology and gadgets on the car are very futuristic. And the Quattro (all-wheel drive) system of the Audi is one of the very best in the world right now.

4. Just Like the BMW 4 series and the Audi A5, the Mercedes C-Class is a four-seater convertible. But apart from the AMG version, the C-Class isn't much fun to drive.

5. The slightly bigger and better version of the C-Class is the E-Class but unlike the 'C' the E-Class sings a different Tune. It is as Classy as a four-seater convertible could get. It has a similar classiness to the bigger more expensive S-class convertible but in a comparatively smaller, cheaper package.

6. The BMW's new 8 series convertible is an absolute cruise missile. Made for ultimate stability whilst going high speeds on the Autobahn. A convertible that doesn't really compromise on space and shouts out luxury from within a sports car.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this Article/ Note. I tried to keep it as brief as possible and refrained from rambling on like I usually do. If I have missed out on any car that you think should have made it to this list, please comment below and let me know. And if you have like this article please give me a thumbs up and also consider subscribing to my YouTube Channel “JIMBOYRULEZ”, all one word.

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Top Convertible Supercars

Top Convertible Supercars

  23:46    Jimboyrulez

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Some of the sexiest Supercars are convertibles. But convertible variants of the supercars are not very popular. The reason for the drop top not being popular with the Supercars is because

1.It adds weight and slows the supercar down.

2. The engine is not visible from the rear window of the car.

3. Its more expensive for a lower performing car.

But if I was spending, north of a Quarter Million, on a car it has to be capable of going top less.

So without any further ado lets dive straight in the top convertible supercars.

1. The Porsche Carrera GT is like Jennifer Aniston. A little older but doesn't look even a little bit outdated. It is as desirable as it was the first day of its Launch. One of the very few cars that hasn't aged even a bit.

2. How can we talk about Porsche without talking about its younger wanna be sibling, the Audi R8! Now unlike before only comes in a v10 version but if you don't mind getting something a little older you can even opt for a v8 version that Audi offered. But right now you can go for a 180k v10 or a v10+ starting at 210k.

3. Another supercar the made it to our list is the Mclaren 570s Spider. Mclaren is a true peoples champion. The Brand that made a name for itself not only on the track but also in its owner's hearts by showing ultimate handling and performance. Its a convertible with scissor doors. 

4. Lamborghini, the King of Scissor doors, make the Aventador to look like an absolute spaceship. Italian design and Engineering doesn't fail to impress. And the raging bull is yet a head-turner that makes the laziest of beings more ambitious. 

5. The only Italian car manufacturer that outperforms prancing horse and the raging bull both, in its design and craftsmanship, is Pagani. The Pagani Huayra raises the bar so high that nothing comes even close. 

6. The 488 Spider and the older 458 Spider are still the poster child of convertible supercars. You cannot think supercar without imagining the prancing horse.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this Article/ Note. I tried to keep it as brief as possible and refrained from rambling on like I usually do. If I have missed out on any car that you think should have made it to this list, please comment below and let me know. And if you have like this article please give me a thumbs up and also consider subscribing to my YouTube Channel “JIMBOYRULEZ”, all one word.

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Top: Indians who made Headlines in Motorsports

Top: Indians who made Headlines in Motorsports

  21:03    Jimboyrulez

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I am writing this article to bring awareness about Indian Motorsports. We claim there is a lack of infrastructure or lack of awareness etc. The truth is Motorsports is and always has been an expensive affair so there are very few who pursue it. Aryton Senna came from Brazil and Brazil is bad now but back then it was even worse. But Senna triumphed over all challenges and became one of the greatest of all time. India is in a way better position now with a lot better infrastructure in Coimbatore and not to mention the Buddha Circuit. This is article isn't a debate over our infrastructure but to celebrate Indian nationals in Motorsports as the majority cannot name more than 2 stars, that is Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok. So here is a list of Indians who have made headlines in Motorsports.

So without any further ado lets dive straight into it.

Alisha Abdullah is an Indian racing driver who not only races cars but motorcycles too. Alisha, born on July 24th 1989 has racing in her DNA. Her father RA Abdullah was himself a seven-time National motorbike champion. Alisha is Indias first female national racing champion. Not to mention the countries prettiest National racing champion.

Sandeep Kumar Ambalavanan has been racing since he was 14years old. Born on November 9th 1992 in Chennai, he started Karting at the age of 14 and later progressed to Formula cars and Saloons. In 2012 he won the VW Polo R Cup National Pro Championship which got him a scholarship to participate in the VW Scirocco Cup Europe for 2013. He currently races in the MRF F1600 formula series, the VW Ameo Cup and the LGB F4, but the more commendable thing is that he is a title contender in all of them.

J.Anand currently runs a rally car team and he provides Automobile R&D services to several Automobile Manufacturers. But he is a former racing driver from Coimbatore who raced in the 80s and 90s.

Yash Aradhya is only 17 years old from Banglore and has achieved 65 podiums and 13 championships in various racing series in the last 8 years. He is definitely a rising star with a very promising future.

Karun Chandhok as mentioned earlier doesn't require much introduction. Born on 19th January 1984 who has now become a TV presenter after retiring from F1. Karun raced for Hispania Racing in 2010. Karun is the son of veteran racing driver Vicky Chandhok who has done a lot for Indian motorsports. A lesser-known fact is Vicky Chandhok raced with Vijay Mallya and are great friends. So when Karun was racing for Hispania, there were rumours of him joining Force India which was Vijay Mallya's F1 Racing Team. Fortunately/Unfortunately It never happened. Never-the-less Karun has raced Formula E and Lemans both. I have personally had the chance of meeting Karun and sharing a few laps around a go-kart track with him years ago before he ever made it to F1.

Advait Dheodhar is an Automobile Design student from Mumbai who raced Jk Tyre and MRF racing series. For whoever says "you can't make a career in racing if you didn't start early", Advait proves them wrong. Advait didn't start his racing career till he was 22. He graduated Automobile Design from Turin, Italy and then competed in India from 2012 to 2014. In 2015 he got on a plane with a one-way ticket to London with the dream of making a Motor-Racing Career. I find it admirable as I never took my racing career seriously and gave up at the age of 17 thinking I was too old and I wasn't getting anywhere. So when I see someone get into Motorsports at 22 and make into the European Nascar Championship by 28 is really really admirable to me personally. Not sure about his choice of socks though.

Jehan Daruwala is a racing driver competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Carlin Motorsports. He was a protege of the Force India F1 team, after being one of the winners of a 'One in Billion hunt' organized by the team in 2011. He is now a member of the Red Bull Junior Team. Jehan has already made waves in the global Karting scene. He has won the British KF3 championship and has been in a runner up in both the CIK FIA World Championships as well as the DKM Championship. He was one of the best prospects we had for the next Indian F1 Driver, but the demise of the Force India F1 Team hit his career progress chances.

Armaan Ebrahim was born in Chennai on May 17, 1989. He is the son of Formula 3 champion Akbar Ebrahim. He was racing in the FIA GT series for BMW Auto service Team India. He Also Raced and won 7 Races for Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia (Champion Pro-Am)in 2016. In 2019 Ebrahim and Aditya Patel created X1 Racing which is the world's first franchise-based professional motorsports league.

Gaurav Gill is the First Indian Driver to win the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in 2013. Gaurav(Born Dec 2nd 1981) has become the first-ever Indian Racing driver to win the Arjuna Award in 2019. Gaurav Gill is not only quick in a Rally car in the dirt but also on the track in a single-seater, and as if that was not enough, he is quick on 2 wheels around the track too.

Nazir Hoosein was not only a Racing Driver but was a motorsports administrator too. In 1980 Hoosein founded the Himalayan Rally Association and started the Himalayan Rally. My mom's brother was a rally driver in the Himalayan Rally in 1980. Yes for the people who didn't know this about me, I am the nephew of Himalayan Rally Driver, Tanay Parikh. The Himalayan Rally ran through the world's highest mountains in the north of India. In 1988 Hoosein organized the Great Desert-Himalaya Rally. This Rally wan from the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, Ran through Shivalik Hills, Himachal, Ladakh and ended in Srinagar. Hoosein was elected to the World Motorsports Council in 1993. In 1999 Hoosein formed the Motorsports Association of India. Hoosein was a big part of getting Max Mosley votes from Asia and get him elected as the FIA president. In 2000 when FIA recognised Motorsports Association of India as the Governing body in India to which the Indian Government refused to recognise MAI. This meant that Hoosein was unable to represent India at the FIA. But when you help Mosley it does pay off one way or the other. Later a deal was made allowing Hoosein to be a member of the World Motor Sport Council representing China. He was later elected a VP of the FIA for sport in 2005 as a member of the candidacy list of Max Mosley who was re-elected. The following year he was appointed as the chief steward of the World Rally Championship. Hoosein died on May 12th 2019 at the age of 78. Hoosein is a less known Motorsports figure of India who did a lot for the sport in India despite all the politics he faced in India. You all might have known him as the owner of Liberty Cinema

Karna Kadur is a National Rally Champion who was born on June 24th 1988 in Banglore. He was a motorsports manager and development driver at Red Rooster Performance. He was also a driving instructor for them. He currently is a driver for Team Yokohama India and Red Rooster Performance according to his Linked-in account.

Sundaram Karivardhan Naidu Or Kari was not only an Indian Formula racing driver but also a designer and a business executive. Hw was one of the Pioneers of Indian Motorsports. He designed the Formula Maruti open-wheeled race car which exists and is a platform for all the upcoming drivers in India. Formula Maruti was the entry to motorsports for Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandhok and Armaan Ebrahim. Sundaram supported all three of them in their careers. Sundaram was killed at the age of 41 in 1995 in an aviation accident.

Narain Karthikeyan is another driver who requires no introduction. Narain born on January 14th 1977 was the first Indian to make it to Formula1. He has competed in A1 Gp and at Lemans. He made his F1 debut with Jordan Team in 2005 and was a Williams test driver in 2006 and 2007. Then he went on to race stock cars. in 2010 he raced Nascar Camping World Truck series before returning to the F1 in 2011 with the HRT team. He continued with HRT in 2012 as well and was expected to drive for them in 2013 but HRT never made it to the FIA's entry list for 2013. From 2014 to 2018 Narain raced in Japanese Super Formula series. In 2019 he joined SuperGT series in Japan. Narain in 2010 won the Padmashri Award which happens to be the 4th highest civilian honour.

Lee Keshav who is born on December 27th 1992 is not only a racing driver but is also an entrepreneur and a UX designer from New Delhi. Being interested in automobiles, technology and speed from an early age when Keshav discovered F1 on tv, he decided to pursue motor racing. Keshav has quiet low media presence so finding his details were a little more challenging than some of the others. Being passionate about MotoGP Keshav went to Superbike school in Thailand at the age of 16. He trained for formula racing under Akbar Ebrahim. Keshav debuted in the very competitive JK tyre VW motorsports. He won the fastest and fittest young driver of 2013. After this Keshav has had a very lavish motorsport career and has competed against the likes of Freddie Hunt and Mathias Lauda amongst other top racing drivers from around the world.

Rajini Krishnan became a national road racing champion in 2011. In 2013 he became the first Indian winner of an international road racing event by winning at the Losail Asian Road Racing Championship in Qatar. He has also won the Malaysian Superbike Championship in 2015. Rajini has also raced for Motorev India as a Junior Driver in 2011 FIM Asian Road Racing championship.

Ajith Kumar Subramaniam who is widely known as Ajith, Tamil cinema Actor is lesser-known a Motorsport driver. Ajith raced in the MRF racing series in 2010. He has starred in over 50 films, predominately in Tamil cinema. In addition to his acting, Ajith participated in the 2004 British Formula 3 season as a Formula Two racing driver and was ranked the third best motor car driver in India at his peak.

Sarath Kumar (Left) makes it to this list very fewer achievements than most on this list is because, in a sport where you have to be rich or need to be backed by giant-sized sponsors who have a very short attention span and take a lot to be dazzled, Sarath Kumar was a very promising star. At one point financial difficulties made him think about taking up taxi driving. We don't know if he actually did or not but he disappeared from the face of motorcycle racing post-2014.

N. Leelakrishnan widely known as Leela in motorsport circles is a 6time INRC motor rally champion and has won Formula 3 Indian Championship in Coimbatore, India. He also tunes rally and race cars and is the chief technical director of Red Rooster Racing. His tuned cars have won 15 National championship titles.

Arjun Maini who is born on December 10th 1997 is currently racing in the Adian LeMans Series for RLR MSport Team. He has competed in FIA F2 Championship with Trident Racing as well as Campos Racing. He is one of the rising stars of our country and a great F1 prospect for India. He has raced in BRDC F4 Championship as well.

Shahan Ali Mohsin, born on July 13th 2004 is an Asia max Karting Champion and a 2-time JK Tyre National Champion in the micro max category. Being always interested in cars, engines and speed he drove a recreational go-kart at the age of 7 and then was encouraged to take up competitive Motorsport. Mohsin made his debut in 2013 with JK tyre National Rotax championship. He made it to the podium 3 times out of 7 races in his maiden season, under the mentorship of Akbar Ebrahim, where he was racing against more experienced drivers About to turn 16 Shahan of Taj City Agra has become the youngest driver to win the senior category JK tyre National Karting championship in 2019.

Aditya Patel is the kin of a Veteran driver Kamlesh Patel. He has years of Karting, F-BMW, VW scirocco-R cup, ADAC GT Masters, International GT open and racing in the Audi R8 LMS Cup across Asia. Aditya Patel represents Audi India in Motorsports now. He has also competed in 24 hours of Nurburgring.

Akhil Rabindra born on May 22nd 1996 is a graduate from University of Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2019 Akhil chose the Aston Martin Racing Academy driver and raced in the GT4 European Series and drove the Aston Martin Vantage GT4. He was a part of the FIA Institute's 2014 young driver academy and participated in the JK Racing Championship & Formula masters series.

Mahaveer Raghunathan born on November 17th 1998 is a driver who competed in the 2019 FIA F2 Championship. Mahavir has also competed in F4 and FIA F3. But he isn't making it to this list for his awesome driving skills but for making a joke of himself on the international motor racing circuits time and again. He is a prime example of someone who has zero talent but a guardian angel getting him sponsors. So without a single fastest race, podium, points, wins, poles or anything he progressed in the world of motorsports. He is always 2-3 seconds slower than the person ahead of him and he is usually last. Because he starts and finishes lasts he doesn't care much and gets further penalties which makes him finish 2 laps down. Because of such a shameful career he doesn't really give interviews or update his social media. So learning about him and getting information about him was impossible as if he was a KGB or a MI5 agent.

K. Rajini has been on the global biking circuit for a while now. Previously he has participated in the entire season of the Qatar Superbike Championship and Malaysian super series in the 1000cc class.

Anindith Reddy became the National champion driver in the 2016 Euro JK 16 championship and also in the Euro JK 2017 championship. He got Motorsport person of the year 2017 at the FMSCI. He won VW Vento cup in 2015 in Delhi. He received outstanding achievement in world motorsport award from FMSCI in 2019.

Tarun Reddy made it through the Force Indias Driver Hunt program, Just like Arjun and Jehan and had made lots of progress. He has been a regular at the MRF series in India and other countries and has performed pretty well in the prototype Formula Renail Championship. Tarun has moved up to F4 in the FIA MSA Formula Championship.

CS Santosh is another popular name in the world of Indian Motorsports. He is the first Indian ever to participate in the very demanding and gruelling Dakar Rally. With Redbull behind him, he has done Abu Dhabi and Morocco rounds of the WCCRC, Ruta 40 in Argentina and Atacama Rally in 2015.

Sneha Sharma is a Pilot with IndiGo Airlines since 2012. Sharma born on August 1st 1990 competes in F4 National Racing championships. She is now known as Indias Fastest F4 Racing Driver.

Gautam Singhania a name very popular in the Business world is equally a big name in the World of Indian Motorsports. He is known for his passion for cars and has driven an F1 car at an international circuit, supercars on ice, has participated in the gumball rally and is India's only Drift License holder amongst other achievements in Motorsports. Singhania participated in Ferrari challenge Europe and scored a double podium finish and continues to race across legendary circuits like Imola, Monza, Mugello etc. I believe he is also one of the founding members of Supercar Club of India.

Ashwin Sundar born on July 27th 1989 in Madras(Chennai) was most active during 2005 till recent years winning several nationals titles in Go-Karting, single-seater Formula cars, motorcycles and Saloon cars. Sundar died on 18 March 2017 as the result of an auto accident. His BMW caught fire after hitting a tree and got stuck between the tree and a wall on the roadside. He and his wife were killed in this unfortunate event.

Parthiva Sureshwaren raced in the 2006-07 A1 GP Season for A1 team India at the Australian round replacing Karthikeyan. He proxied for injured Karthikeyan again at Durban during 2007-08 season. He also competed in the Formula V6 Asia in 2007 and got 2 podium finishes.

Raj Bharath Swaminathan, born on November 20th 1994 who has raced in Formula 2000 MRF Challenge where he was a regular on the podium. He has also raced Formula masters cup in China.

Prashanth Tharani was a runner up at VW Polo R cup in India in 2013. Later he competed in 24 hours of Dubai Endurance, 12 hours of Zandvoort, Three rounds of the Creventic Endurance Championship in a Seat Supercopa and 24 hours of Paul Ricard in the seat Eurocup Car

Karthik Tharani during his time has competed in F1600 MRF and the Polo R Cup and Poland's Castrol Cup. During his time he has secured the National Championship 4 times.

Ameya Vaidyanathan was born on July 29th 1996 in Pune. He competed in Japanese F3 Championship in 2019 with B-Max Racing with Motopark. He has previously raced in BRDC British F3, Castrol Toyota racing series, Euro Formula open, F3 European Championship, BRDC F4 amongst others.

Bani Yadav born on September 7th 1971 is the last one on this list. But she has been the first Indian woman to achieve a lot of the firsts on this list. She opened the gates for women in Indian Motorsports by showing its possible. She is a rally driver and motorsports promoter. She has been a National AutoCross Ladies champion for 2019 and 2018. The only woman to win most of the cross country Rally titles in the Women's class in India. She is also the first Woman to stand 2nd in the IRC Rally De North. The same year she received the FMSCI outstanding woman in Motorsports Award for rallying. She was the 1st Indian woman to drive F4 on the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi. Bani has also been awarded an International Doctorate in Motorsports.

Doing the research for this article saddened me as a lot of promising stars of India just disappeared after showing a very promising career and that is because motorsports is and always has been a very expensive sport. One cant survive without major sponsors or really deep pockets. While there are stars like Sarath Kumar who disappear despite having the talent drivers like Mahaveer Raghunathan cling on and make a mockery of themselves and our country. The purpose of this article was to bring more awareness so that Indian motorsports gets the love and attention it deserves.

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