A diesel engine fitted with a turbocharger. Read More »

A mechanism that includes the gears, linking the power produced by the engine to the drive wheels. Read More »

Equipment which secures someone who uses a wheelchair to the floor of the van or bus. There are many kinds of devices used including brackets, straps, wheel locks and belts. Read More »

$6 per $1000 of car value levied annually in Washington State (and others) to support trauma units in hospitals that care predominantly for car crash victims. Read More »

An option on many cars today, especially sports models. When engaged, this device “senses” when a driving tire has no traction, and attempts to compensate by slowing the wheel movement. This is good for getting traction in an area where it may normally be hard to do so (i.e. snow, gravel, rain). Traction Control was developed in Formula One racing ... Read More »

Since there is often a lag while a turbine comes up to speed, some performance cars use two (or more) Turbo units, large and small, driven by different legs of the exhaust. The smaller turbos speed up quickly giving rapid response, and the larger units provide the volume needed for high power at higher rpm’s. Read More »

An oval track with an extra rounded corner. Daytona is a tri-oval track. Read More »

Sometimes called chassis stiffness. It relates to how rigid the chassis is in twisting. Imagine a sport utility vehicle that needs to climb over rocks. Those without long suspension movements sometimes have lower torsional rigidity to allow the chassis to respond to uneven ground. A passenger car, on the other hand, should have high torsional rigidity in order to give ... Read More »

Particularly in relation to motorcycles — means really cool, really hot, really new and unobtainable/expensive, e.g. a rear brake button on the left handgrip is really trick. Read More »

A vehicle collision where one vehicle hits another straight into the driver’s door. Read More »