Terminology

Many uncommon terms are encountered with the interest in cars,such as Teutonic Engineering.

How many of these do you know?

  • Carbon Fiber
  • Direct Injection
  • Hemi
  • Carbon Ceramic Brakes

While originally the term coupé, described any cut-down coach body, it later became associated with a specific type of truncated coach body that came into general use in western Europe and America in the mid-18th century. In the 20th century the name was given to the closed, two-door, two- passenger automobile. In more recent time the term includes 2 and 4-door automobiles with sloping rear profiles á la Mercedez-Benz CLS, Porsche Panamera, Aston Martin Rapide, Audi A7 etc...

Glossary

Carbon Fiber
A very strong, lightweight synthetic fiber used primarily as high performance, weight saving materials in:
  • Racing vehicles
  • Spacecraft components
  • Protective clothing
Direct Injection
A type of fuel system in which fuel is injected at extremely high pressure (29,000 psi), directly into the combustion chamber to distribute the air/fuel mixture in very fine particles for greater performance and efficiency. Examples of such systems are:
  • TFSI (Audi)
  • Ti-VCT (Ford)
  • TFI (Porsche)
Hemi
Hemispherical combustion chamber on OHV engines, Made popular by Chrysler/Dodge in the 50's and 60's; also obscurely used by Ford. Popular Hemi Engines:
  • 426 Hemi (Dodge)
  • 6.2L Hemi (Chrysler, Dodge)
Carbon Ceramic Brakes
Also known as Carbon Ceramic Matrix; high performance braking systems usually consisting of the rotor and pads; capable of unrivaled heat dissipation, light weight and excellent performance. Main benefits:
  • Shorter stopping distances
  • Excellent resistance to brake fade
  • Reduced unsprung weight which affects rotational mass and handling
Dual Clutch Transmission
An extremely fast shifting automated manual transmission which achieves its speed by usually using one clutch for even numbered gears and another to engage the odd numbered gears. utilizing a system like this it can theoretically disengage one gear while it simultaneously engages the next.
  • S-Tronic (Audi)
  • DSG (Volkswagen)
  • PDK (Porsche)
  • F1 Gearbox (Ferrari)