Most early cars used a rear axle that was one unit, solidly linking both rear wheels, the differential and brake assemblies. Sports car competition showed that if the wheel assemblies can be made lighter, including brakes, hubs and axle parts, the car will ride and handle better. As a result, manufacturers have unlinked the wheel assemblies using jointed axles so ... Read More »

The inter-cooler chills each specific charge of incoming air before it reaches the turbo-charger. Cooling the air increases the air density but also the amount of oxygen in the air. More oxygen condensed into a specific quantity of air enriches the mixture of oxygen and fuel that’s required for combustion and ultimately generates more power with each cycle of ignition. ... Read More »

The wheels on opposite sides of the vehicle are linked by a solid member, usually an I-beam but sometimes a tube. This minimizes the pieces needed for the suspension, but weighs slightly more, so is seldom used on high-performance vehicles. It was most common on older car front suspensions, but is now most commonly used on the rear of front-wheel-drive ... Read More »

An engine where fuel is burned internally to produce power, such as the gasoline or diesel engine. External combustion engines burn their fuel outside the engine — for example, in a steam engine, oil or coal is burned in a boiler, and the steam from the boiler is used to power the engine. Read More »

Sanctioning body of sports car prototype racing in the United States. Current categories include World Sports Cars (WSC) a series for purpose-built race cars, GTS-1 for vehicles resembling street cars but which have custom-made chassis and highly modified engines and GTS-2 which are race cars made from street cars but with modified engines, transmissions and suspensions. Major events sanctioned by ... Read More »

A fold-down child safety seat located in the center of the rear seats that is part of the original car. This seat includes seat belts, and are generally not as good as aftermarket safety seats. They are not as adjustable or comfortable. There is generally little or no side protection and the child normally must sit with their legs sticking ... Read More »

Air intake system used to cool the car. Read More »

Configuration where all cylinders are in a single row. Most common in four-cylinder engines, but there are currently high performance six-cylinder (BMW, Lexus), economy-three cylinder (Suzuki), and low vibration five-cylinder (VW, Audi and Volvo) engines in modern cars. Read More »

Tubing attached to the engine through which the air/fuel mixture reaches the cylinder. Read More »

The capacity of the usable area in the vehicle’s interior. It is defined by cubic feet. This includes the seating area for passengers as well as the cargo space. Read More »