KTM DUKE 200

A Small teaser Pic to my review of the KTM Duke 200 – Stick around 🙂

TOP GEAR’S RICHARD HAMMOND CRASHES HIS MORGAN

 

Top gear presenter mr. Richard hammond was involved in a minor car collision, when he crashed his brand new £ 110,000 morgan aeromax car into the back of a nissan. The accident happened due to a pile up involving a small number of cars, as the car in front of hammonds braked sharp, richard hammond happened to drive into its rear and heavily damaged the aeromax’s front end. since hammond was the last person involved in the pile up, atleast the morgans rear end was saved from damage. although no one was hurt in this accident, mr. richard hammond wud have been deeply worried about crashing his morgan, which he had lovingly purchased only few months back.

it was not very long that hammond was critically injured in a 280mph dragster crash during filming for the popular BBC Two show TOP GEAR.
We at redliners wish a speedy recovery for the aeromax

– CRANKSTER

NEW BAJAJ PULSAR 220 DTSi Vs YAMAHA R15 COMPARISON

So you are in the market to buy the latest performance bike. there arent many options for you to choose from. Its bang on, either
the yamaha R15 or the bajaj pulsar 220 DTS Fi. Bajaj realised that yamaha had really eaten up on their tail in the sales chart even
with a rs. 1Lakh plus bike, and decided to fight it back their own way. Thats how the 2009 pulsar 220 DTSi was born. you may wonder
about the new pulsar loosing the Fi letters from its name tag. It is true the new pulsar now makes do without a fuel injection system and in
its place is a 32 venturi CV carburettor. so can this bike really hold a candle to the yamaha’s performance and can it prove
at the right place where it matters the most “SALES”. we present the first comparison test report between indias most wanted performance bikes.

LOOKS, APPEARANCE & FEATURES:
First thing that catches your attention on the new pulsar 220 is the all black treatment. Although now common with almost all of the bajaj bikes
this is the first time it is appearing on the pulsar 220, and it really adds up to the sporty character of the bike. Once seated on the bike you are greeted
by a nice looking digital display with a new carbon coloured tacho.

Other than the small “F” logo on either side of the front semi fairings and golden
finished brake calipers, rest of the bike remains unchanged. One fine thing about the pulsars switch gear are that they are back lit, and it is a very nice touch I must admit.

On the other hand, the yamaha R 15 looks more like a scaled down R1. The full fairing with twin head lights lend it a supersports look. Although the bike feels a tad tiny compared to other bikes, it is sleek for the job it does. The R15 also has the best looking digital speedo in the market, the well marked tachometer and the tell tale lights are easy to read and have a cool blue back lighting.

RIDE, HANDLING & BRAKING:
Sit on the Yamaha R15 and you immediately feel the need for speed. Such is the seating position, low and lean. The sporty clip on handle bars and nicely rear set foot rest give the R15 the most sportiest riding position ever. The R15 is the first and only Indian motorcycle to come out with a twin spar steel frame and a monocross link rear suspension. The front is a twin telescopic unit, which is usual on most Indian bikes. The suspension is set a little soft keeping in mind the Indian road conditions, but the overall geometry of the chasis has been tuned to offer best in class handling. Around a race track the R15 can not be touched in the handling department. Turn in is razor sharp and so is the mid corner stability. The bike feels extremely agile and safe around a fast corner. On the road too the R15 feels at home, except for the crouched seating position, that takes people some time to get used to.

Things are now a little different with the new pulsar 220. this bajaj bike has never been know for its handling prowess. Mainly due to the soft shock absorbers and a chasis geometry which is more relaxed compared to the sporty R15. To handle all this, the bajaj engineers have made the front shocks a little stiffer, by changing the valves inside the telescopic forks. This change really makes its presence felt when u grab that strong front disc brake and haul the bike down from crazy speeds. The older pulsar had a problem of excessive dive under braking, which is almost non existent in the 2009 model. But this has taken a toll on the ride quality as the stiffer shock absorbers don’t really cushion the road undulations as well as the older pulsar. The bike comes with the same broad tyres, although now with a softer compound rubber that helps increase the grip levels. While all these modifications have improved the pulsars handling, it can never compete with the R15 on a race track or even a twisty ghat road. The R15’s handling is simply light years ahead of the pulsars.

Both the bikes come with a front as well as rear disc brakes. Although the new pulsar now comes with a steel braided front brake fluid hose which reduces hose flex and gives a sharp as well as direct feel to the braking.

ENGINE, GEARBOX AND PERFORMANCE:
The R15’s single cylinder 149.8cc engine is filled to the brim with pure technology. Liquid cooling, 4 valve head, fuel injection, diasil coated engine cylinder, forged piston and what not. But the engine still develops only 17ps of power and 15nm of torque much lower than expected. The engine is mated to a 6 speed gearbox, which is well spaced and has a nice actuation feel to it. Once on the move the R15’s 17bhp can be felt only after 7000rpm or so, such is the engines tuning and setup, it makes power only at higher rpm’s. low rpm pull is decent but not good enough to poter around town or for stop go traffic.

On a slight contrast the pulsar 220 has a air and oil cooled single cylinder engine. Fuel injection has been scraped and is replaced with a newly developed UCAL UCD 32 size carburetor, in other words the largest carburetor ever to be used on an Indian bike. in addition to this, other modifications like graphite coated piston to reduce friction, high lift camshaft, bigger exhaust resonator(exhausTEC) has helped increase the output of the engine to 21.04ps with torque remaining the same 19.12 nm. To improve the cooling system bajaj has also increased the size of the oil cooler by about 33%. Now all this translates to unadulterated performance on the road. Touch the throttle and the engine revs like nobody’s business, the amount of thrust in the midrange puts every other bike to shame. Pin the throttle at about 3000rpm and iam not exaggerating the P220 surges ahead like a mini superbike. In 0 to 100kmph the P220 is the quickest in the country, infact 100 kmph comes up flashing on the digital speedo much more often. The 5 speed gearbox felt a bit notchy compared to the R15 with 1 or 2 mishifts in between, but we think the gearbox will set in properly once it piles on some miles. The 5th gear ratio has been made taller to increase top speed and aid cruisability. So out on the highway the bike easily cruises at 110 kmph or even 120kmph without much stress. We reached a speedometer displayed top speed of 141kmph with more rpm left. so we can safely assume the real speed to be more than 135kmph, which is the fastest in the country. But only gripe about the engine is the amount of vibration it produces. Right from the lower rpm’s the bike starts vibrating a lot, mainly surfacing through the front fairing and handle bars, but it is not something that you cant live with. Other than this the engine is a real beauty. The performance simply leaves the R15 in dust!!!

PRICE & VERDICT:
People buying a bike from this segment usually don’t give a second look at the fuel efficiency figure of these bikes, but still both the bikes would easily manage to give about 35kmpl with the R15 slightly higher due to the fuel injection system. So to cut it all short and simple, the R15 costs 1,07,XXX rs , where as the Pulsar 220 costs 79,XXXrs both OTR Chennai almost 30,000rs of difference. The R15 may have a better technology in the form of liquid cooling and fuel injection system and better handling package to justify the 1lakh rs plus price tag, but the pulsar with almost all the bells and whistles and actually better performance than the Yamaha beats it flat on the power to money ratio. All said if I were in the market to get a performance bike I would close my eyes and head to the bajaj showrooms.

Story & Photographs- CRANKSTER aka Badri

WE ARE BACK AND BETTER NOW!!!

hello people, redliners were down without attention for a long time now. we regret it! but now we are back from the hibernation. with the visiotrs list growing higher and higer day by day we have decided to add new columns to the existing website. you can now read first ride reports of cars and bikes and latest news in the indian automotive sector that will be updated time to time. we will be happy to have your support back with us. THANK YOU

-CRANKSTER aka Badri

FAST/FURIOUS…. EVEN MORE RED HOT !!!!!!!

REDLINERS ! WILL BE BACK FROM MAY 16 th 2008 !

Lookout for more professional reviews ! articles and everythng your motor-run-brain needs as fuel !!!!!

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN !!!!

till then catch these wallpapers for u uploaded everyday !

-PoweRband

Suren

wall 1 :

WALL 2 : 28/10

Who said only cars or bikes should drag…

Continuing the line of wacky videos here is a video of planes dragging…..

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/161200/drag_racing_planes/ 

Wacky as it gets…. 900HP NOS

hey ppl… as usual was jobless and browsing video clips… check what i found… it is as wacky as it gets… that too on a van….!!! sorry embedding is not possible on metacafe plz visit the link below to get to the video it is worth it….

900 Horsepower On NOS

Most recalled Brands

BusinessWeek has trolled the NHTSA files to find out which automakers have had to recall their brand new 2007 models the most, and the winner is Volkswagen thanks to a recall of just over 1 milion 2007 New Beetles because of potentially faulty brake light switches. Of course, Ford announced a major recall of 3.6 million vehicles earlier this month for defective cruise control switches, but none of the vehicles affected were 2007 models and so don’t count for this list.

We’ve complied the rest of the data for you in a handy list after the jump, because we hate having to click through BusinessWeek’s 15-part slideshow, and we suspect you might, too.

[Source: BusinessWeek]

Most Recalled Vehicles of 2007

2007 Volkswagen New Beetle
1,002,000 units affected
On certain passenger, wagon, and convertible vehicles with or without cruise control, a brake light switch may malfunction if it was installed incorrectly.

2007 Toyota Sequoia
533,124
On certain trucks and minivans, due to possible improper finishing of the front suspension lower ball joint, some ball joints may experience an incidental deterioration of the internal lubrication. This may cause the ball joint to wear and loosen prematurely, which could result in increased steering effort, reduced vehicle self-centering, and noise in the front suspension.
2007 Jeep Liberty
149,605
On certain passenger vehicles equipped with Valeo heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, the blower motor may overheat.

2007 Nissan Altima
140,582
On certain vehicles, if a sufficiently hot object enters the air filter housing through the engine fresh-air-intake system and comes in contact with the engine air filter, the air filter may ignite.

2007 Hyundai Tucson
128,300
On certain sport-utility vehicles, static air-bag deployment testing-conducted by NHTSA using fifth-percentile female dummies-indicated if a small-stature adult driver, not wearing a seat belt, is involved in a frontal or near frontal crash, deployment of the driver air bag may result in an insufficient margin of compliance as measured by the test dummy used in the NHTSA test.

2007 Dodge Nitro, Jeep Wrangler
80,894
On certain vehicles, the totally integrated power module was programmed with software that may allow the engine to stall under certain operating conditions.

2007 Suzuki Forenza, Reno
75,697
On certain passenger vehicles, the front seat-belt tongue will not latch into the buckle and, in rare cases, the locked tongue will pop out under low stretching force. If the buckle does not latch completely, the buckle could release without the release button being pressed.

2007 Volkswagen Passat, Passat Wagon
58,800
Certain passenger vehicles equipped with a 2.0-liter engine with 147kw may have a vacuum line that may fracture and become disconnected at low ambient temperatures. On certain sixth-generation passenger vehicles, the wiper motor may fail during heavy rain due to excessive moisture in the wiper motor.

2007 Chrysler Sebring and 300; Dodge Caliber, Magnum, Charger and Nitro; Jeep Compass, Liberty, Commander, Grand Cherokee, and Jeep Wrangler
50,665
On certain vehicles, the antilock-brake-system control module software may cause the rear brakes to lock up during certain braking conditions.

2007 Infiniti G35 Coupe
23,934
Certain vehicles fail to comply with the vertical gradient and headlamp photometric values requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108.

2007 Chevrolet Aveo
17,676
On certain passenger vehicles equipped with a 1.6-liter engine, during a severe frontal crash test, the fuel line in the engine compartment developed a fracture. In addition, the crash damage caused four short-circuits in the fuse block, the combination of which allowed the fuel pump to continue running and fuel to leak onto the ground.

2007 Nissan Versa
16,309
On certain hatchback vehicles, the terminals for the passenger-side seat-belt tension-sensor harness connector may have been damaged during the manufacturing process. This could result in a loss of electrical continuity causing the occupant detection system to become inoperative.

2007 GMC Acadia, Saturn Outlook
13,032
On certain vehicles, the sensing and diagnostic module, which controls the function of front air bags, may not operate properly. As a result, the front air bags may fail to deploy in a frontal crash. Also, the air-bag warning lamp on the instrument panel may fail to provide warning that the system is inoperative.

2007 Ford Expedition
10,061
On certain sport-utility vehicles, the front and rear tires on the driver’s side of affected vehicles may have been damaged at the center tread during production.

-need4nos

Top 10 Car chases

One of the key elements of a perfect “guy movie” is a good old fashioned car chase. We don’t care whether it’s the cops in hot pursuit or bad guys trying to run someone down to bust a cap in them. What we do care about is squeeling tires, screaming engines and a driver who will drive it til he hears glass and smells poo poo.

We’ve put together a list of ten movies containing what we think are the best chase scenes ever put on film. It was tough, we had to prune some fender bending classics, but if you’re looking for a good chase you wont be disappointed with any of these ten. So here we go, the Top 10 Movie Car Chases in no particular order.

Bullitt
Ask anyone over the age of 40 about car chases in movies and this one is likely to come up. This Steve McQueen classic came out during the peak of the muscle car era and imagine the fun of 400 horse power on the streets and hills of San Francisco. At the time it came out, this was without question the best car chase ever filmed.

Vanishing Point
This 1971 cult classic stars Barry Newman as Kowalski. His task? Drive a Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours. A bit of a post-Easy Rider hippie flair, but the chase sequences set against the back drop of the open territory of the western states are spectacular.

Smokey and the Bandit
The movie that made Burt Reynolds one of the biggest stars in Hollywood in the late 70’s and helped Pontiac sell a ton of Black Trans Ams with fire breathing chickens on the hood. Reynolds stars as “The Bandit” running block in the Trans Am for a truckload of bootlegged Coors beer leading to the destruction of dozens of cop cars spanning from Texas to Georgia.

Ronin
John Frankenheimer set out to make the chase scenes in this movie be the ones that future directors would study when they wanted to create an incredible chase sequence of their own. We think he succeeded. You’ll have white knuckles from gripping the arms of your recliner in this one. And between the chases you get a darned good action flick.

Thunder Road
Robert Mitchum stars in this 1950’s classic. This thing played in drive-ins for years and years. Mitchum plays a bootlegger being pursued by the revenuers. The 1950 Ford in this movie has a wonderful rumble when he puts the spurs to it.

The French Connection
Although this is not a car movie, the chase sequence is largely credited as being responsible for one of this movie’s 5 Oscars (best editing). This is a crime thriller about cops on the trail of a heroin shipment. But it contains a chase scene that was heralded as the best ever at the time it was filmed. Many of the stunts in this chase were actually real and unintentional such as the lady with the baby carriage who nearly gets mowed down.

Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
Arguably the best pure car chase movie ever filmed. It spends maybe half of the movie setting it up, and the rest of the movie is one long chase with some outstanding car stunts. Most people had never heard of this movie until the year 2000 when Nicholas Cage starred in the Jerry Bruckheimer remake of the movie. But the remake doesn’t compare to the original which boasts 93 wrecked cars in a 95 minute movie. If you liked the 2000 version of the film, you’ll love the original.

Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
This is the remake of the 1974 classic. However, about all it shares in common with the original in terms of storyline is that it is about a band of car thieves who have to steal alot of cars. This is a big movie with big stars, big stunts and a big budget, but the big chase scene is much much much shorter than the original. It’s still great and well deserving of a spot in our Top 10, but get yourself a copy of the 1974 version if you wanna really see Eleanor tear it up.

The Fast and the Furious
Based on the contemporary world of street racing, in this movie you’ll find souped up ricers with turbos and NOS trying to turn 10 second quarters instead of the classic muscle cars from the 60’s and 70’s. This action packed movie also has a rocking soundtrack that combined with the burning rubber should really get your heart pounding. This is the best car movie of the new millenia so far.

The Road Warrior
The movie that made Mel Gibson a major star. After the apocolypse one of the toughest things to find is gasoline. So what do these guys do? They ride up and down the highways at very high speeds looking for it. These highly modified vehicles have such toys as nitrous and super chargers and their drivers will stop at nothing to run their adversaries off the road to claim their fuel.

The Best of the Rest
There are alot of other great chases which didn’t make our Top 10, but we just feel we can’t neglect completely. These include The Rock, White Lightning, The Blue Brothers, To Live and Die in L.A., Cannonball Run, and Mad Max.

-need4nos

Courtesy of : http://www.moviesforguys.com/articles/top10chases.shtml

Dumb car names

Sometimes car companies stumble on a great car name. But sometimes they balls up in a big way – like the Mazda Bongo Friendee, Honda Vamos and Mitsubishi Starion…

Finding a name for a new car can never be simple for manufacturers, but it is easy to suspect that some try harder than others.

 

Witness the litany of strange, inappropriate or just plain side-slapping car badges that have appeared over the years and you have to wonder whether some car makers are lacking in imagination or have far too much.

Because for every made-up but inoffensive Camry or profound Mondeo or Statesman there are others that seem to have been inspired after a long lunch at the pub.

The list below offers a few quickies – if anyone can add some more then please feel free.

Honda Vamos Hobio Travel Dog – The obvious name for small people mover designed specifically for those who like to have a canine on board.

Mitsubishi T-Box – Move the hyphen and the space around a bit after the second “i”. I’m not making this up.

Mitsubishi Starion – Legend has it the someone in marketing called the badge-maker telling them the new car was to be called a stallion. Accents did the rest. As legends go, it’s a beauty.

Volkswagen Polo – Only slightly funny, unless you’re Italian and it sounds a lot like “Volkswagen Chicken” (pollo).

Lancia Y10 – Only slightly funny, unless you’re English and it sounds a lot like “Lancia White Hen.”

Volkswagen Touareg – Unpronounceable to most people. Name has been taken from a North African Bedouin tribe who haven’t litigated presumably because the styling of this German 4WD also uncannily resembles a camel.

Chevrolet Impala – Inappropriate zoological imagery is popular with car makers, but this should have been called the Chevrolet Tapir. Or Three Toed Sloth.

Mazda Bongo Friendee – Nonsensical, but strangely charming appellation for another small van. Possibly indicates Japan’s drug problem is worse than first suspected.

Ferrari 575M SuperAmerica – Sounds more like a new cartoon hero based on the chin of Michael Schumacher. At least it leaves no doubt about the country Ferrari designs most of its cars for.

Holden Calais – Luxury car named after a French seaport featuring a tunnel entrance and some huge duty free booze shops. Evocative, really.

and the dumb car name list continues.

Make	Name	Comments
Ford	Edsel	Sort of like calling a car “Bob”, “John” or “Frank”
Daihatsu	Rocky	Did they name it after the movie or the mountains?
Daihatsu	Charade	It’s pretending to be a car.
Mitsubishi	Aspire	It’s ambition is to be a car.
Ford	Escort	It goes wherever you go.
Dodge	Neon	What’s tacky-looking and glows in the dark?
AMC	Gremlin	Was this car full of them?
Toyota	Stout	Maybe they’d sell more if it was “Big & Tall”
Datsun	Cherry	Having it stolen is like losing your virginity.
Subaru	Justy	Justy whaty?
Dodge	Scamp	This car is either a rogue, or it moves in a stop-and-go fashion.
Dodge	Swinger	This is the perfect car for wife-swappers.
Plymouth	Reliant	Ironic, considering it was marketed as a “disposable car”.
Hyundai	Accent	Does it’s engine make odd inflection noises?
Kia	Mentor	Does this car teach you how to drive it?
Mitsubishi	Mirage	The car that you only think you’re driving.
Daihatsu	Applause	When you buy it, the salespeople cheer for you.
Daihatsu	Rugger	The perfect car for Carpet installers or Rugby players.
Honda	Acty Crawler	Does it have wheels or 6 legs?
Honda	Jazz	Like, cool, man…
Honda	Joy-Machine	Like driving an orgasm
Isuzu	Big Horn	For people who hate the sound of those little beep-beep horns.
Isuzu	Forward	Does it have a reverse gear at all?
Mazda	Bongo	*
Mazda	Bongo Brawny	*
Mazda	Bongo Friendee	* Maybe if they keep trying, they’ll figure out what’s wrong with the name…
Mazda	Titan	It’s either a really big SUV, or a condom…
Mitsubishi	Guts	That’s all they’ll find of you, after you crash it.
Nissan	Big Thumb	???
Nissan	Fairlady Z	Possibly inspired by a Giant Robot show for girls.
Daihatsu	Town Cube	Yes, it’s a small, square minivan, advertized like it was a wardrobe or closet on wheels. I’m not kidding.
Plymouth	Duster	I suppose it’s better than “Mop” or “Broom”.
Dodge	Demon	Who do you think would drive a car with a name like that? Could it be… Satan??
Dodge	Drifter	A car for Transients?
Dodge	Rampage	The Road-rage car.

-need4nos

Courtesy of : http://www.weirdcrap.com/scholarly/carnames.html