Sports car 1

Sports car

Mazda MX-5, the world's best selling sports car

A sports car (sportscar or sport car) is a small, usually twoseat, two door automobile designed for spirited performance andnimble handling. Sports cars may be spartan or luxurious buthigh maneuverability and minimum weight are requisite.

Early History

Prince Henry Vauxhall—3-litres

Prince Henry Austro-Daimler—5.7-litres

The basis for the sports car is traced to the early 20th century touringcars and roadsters. These raced in early rallys, such as the HerkomerCup, Prinz Heinrich Fahrt, and Monte Carlo.

Though the term sports car would not be coined until after World WarOne, the first sports cars are considered to be the 3 litre 1910 PrinceHenry (Prinz Heinrich) Vauxhall 20 hp (tax rating) and the 27/80PSAustro-Daimler designed by Ferdinand Porsche.

These would shortly be joined by the French DFP (which becamesporters after tuning by H.M. and W. O. Bentley) and the Rolls-RoyceSilver Ghost. In the U.S., where the type was variously called roadster,speedster, runabout, or raceabout, there was Apperson, Kissel, Marion,Midland, National, Overland, Stoddard-Dayton, and Thomas amongsmall models, while Chadwick, Mercer, Stutz, and Simplex wereamong large models.

In 1921, Ballot premiered its 2LS, with a remarkable 75 hp (56 kW)DOHC two liter, designed by Ernest Henry (formerly of Peugeot'sGrand Prix program), capable of 150 km/h (90 mph); at most, onehundred were built in four years. This was followed by the SOHC 2LTand 2LTS. The same year, Benz built a supercharged 28/95PS four forthe Coppa Florio; Max Sailer won.

Simson in 1924 offered a Paul Henze-designed 60 hp (45 kW) DOHC 2 liter four, the Simson Supra Type S, in along-wheelbase 120 km/h (60 mph) tourer and 115 km/h (71 mph) twin-carburettor sporter; only thirty were sold,against around three hundred of the SOHC model and 750 of the pushrod-six Type R. Duerkopp's Zoller-blown twoliter in 1924, as well.

There was a clear cleavage by 1925. As four-seaters were more profitable, two-seaters increasingly turned over tospecialist manufacturers, led by Alvis, Aston-Martin, and Frazer-Nash, with shoestring budgets, fanatic followers,and limited sales (today exemplified by Aston and Morgan): between 1921 and 1939, 350 Astons were built; 323Frazer-Nashes in the period 1924–39.

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By the end of the 1920s, AC produced a 2 liter six, the 3.5 liter Nazzaro had a three-valve OHC (only until 1922),while French makers Amilcar, Bignan, Hispano-Suiza, and Samson had the typical small four-cylinder sporters andDelage, Hotchkiss, and Chenard-Walcker the large tourers. Benz introduced the powerful SS and SSK, and AlfaRomeo, the Vittorio Jano-designed 6C.Two companies would offer the first really reliable sports cars: Austin with the Seven and Morris Garages (MG)with the Midget.[citation needed] The Seven would quickly be "rodded" by numerous companies (as the Type 1 wouldbe a generation later), including Bassett and Dingle (Hammersmith, London); in 1928, a Cozette blower was fitted tothe Seven Super Sports, while Cecil Kimber fitted an 847 cc Minor engine, and sold more Midgets in the first yearthan MG's entire previous production.

1900 NW Rennzweier (The Double Racer) 1934 Aston Martin Ulster

Layout

1990s Lotus Elan M100, a front-engine, frontwheel (FF) drive sports car

The drive train and engine layout significantly influences the handlingcharacteristics of an automobile, and is crucially important in thedesign of a sports car.The front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout (FR) is common to sportscars of any era and has survived longer in sports cars than inmainstream automobiles. Examples include the Caterham 7, MazdaMX-5, and the Chevrolet Corvette. More specifically, many suchsports cars have a FMR layout, with the centre of mass of the enginebetween the front axle and the firewall.

In search of improved handling and weight distribution, other layoutsare sometimes used. The RMR layout is commonly found only in sports cars—the motor is centre-mounted in thechassis (closer to and behind the driver), and powers only the rear wheels. Some high-performance sports carmanufacturers, such as Ferrari and Lamborghini have preferred this layout.

Porsche is one of the few remaining manufacturers using the rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout (RR). The motor'sdistributed weight across the wheels, in a Porsche 911, provides excellent traction, but the significant mass behindthe rear wheels makes it more prone to oversteer in some situations. Porsche has continuously refined the design andin recent years added electronic driving aids (i.e. computerised traction-stability control) to counteract these inherentdesign shortcomings.The front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout (FF) layout which is the most common in sport compacts and hot hatches, and cars in general, is not generally used for sports cars. This layout is advantageous for small, light, lower power

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sports cars, as it avoids the extra weight, increased transmission power loss, and packaging problems of a longdriveshaft and longitudinal engine of FR vehicles. However, its conservative handling effect, particularly understeer,and the fact that many drivers believe rear wheel drive is a more desirable layout for a sports car count against it. TheFiat Barchetta, Saab Sonett and Berkeley cars are sports cars with this layout.Before the 1980s few sports cars used four-wheel drive, which had traditionally added a lot of weight. Although nota sports car, the Audi Quattro proved its worth in rallying. With its improvement in traction, particularly in adverseweather conditions, four-wheel drive is no longer uncommon in high-powered sports cars, e.g. Porsche,Lamborghini, and the Bugatti Veyron.

Porsche 911SC, a rear-engine,rear-wheel (RR) drive sports car

Fiat X1/9, a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel(RMR) drive sports car

Lotus Super 7, a front mid-engined,rear-wheel (FMR) drive lightweight

sports car

Seating

Bucket seat combined with a Schroth six-pointharness in a Porsche GT3 RS

Some sports cars have small back seats that are really only suitable forluggage or small children. Such a configuration is often referred to as a2+2 (two full seats + two "occasional" seats). The more typical seatingarrangement is two-seats.

Over the years, some manufacturers of sports cars have sought toincrease the practicality of their vehicles by increasing the seatingroom. One method is to place the driver's seat in the center of the car,which allows two full-sized passenger seats on each side and slightlybehind the driver. The arrangement was originally considered for theLamborghini Miura, but abandoned as impractical because of thedifficulty for the driver to enter/exit the vehicle. McLaren used thedesign in their F1.

Another British manufacturer, TVR, took a different approach in their Cerbera model. The interior was designed insuch a way that the dashboard on the passenger side swept toward the front of the car, which allowed the passengerto sit farther forward than the driver. This gave the rear seat passenger extra room and made the arrangement suitablefor three adult passengers and one child seated behind the driver. The arrangement has been referred to by thecompany as a 3+1.[citation needed] Some Matra sports cars even had three seats squeezed next to each other.

Sports car 4

Terminology

"Sports car: an open, low-built, fast motor car,"like this Ariel Atom

A car may be a sporting automobile without being a sports car.Performance modifications of regular, production cars, such as sportcompacts, sports sedans, muscle cars, hot hatches and the like,generally are not considered sports cars, yet share traits common tosports cars. They are sometimes called "sports cars" for marketingpurposes for increased advertising and promotional purposes.[1]

Performance cars of various configurations are grouped as Sports andGrand tourer cars or, occasionally, as performance cars.

References[1] Crossa, Robert G. and Dixit, Ashutosh. "Customer-centric pricing: The surprising secret for profitability" Business Horizons, Volume 48,

Issue 6, November–December 2005, pages 483–491.

External links• "Best All-Around Sports Car" (http:/ / www. roadandtrack. com/ article. asp?section_id=31& article_id=1949),

Road & Track, March 2005.• "What is a Sports Car?" (http:/ / www. casact. org/ library/ astin/ vol18no2/ 175. pdf), Jean-Francois Ingenbleek,

Universitd Libre de Bruxelles & Jean LeMaire, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.• Donovan, Sandra (2007). Sports Cars (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=OZ5oB0ZlrY0C). Lerner

Publications. ISBN 0-8225-5928-5.

Article Sources and Contributors 5

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