Category: RPM Extras!

2018 Mass Cruisers Engine Build-Off

The brisk Fall air has moved in, school shops have dug into their sessions, and the New England Patriots are on their way to another winning season. But, it wasn’t that way when the Mass Cruisers Engine Build-Off Competition took place at Patriots Place in Foxboro back in June.

Six teams, 12 students highly skilled at engine repair went head-to-head, each team tasked with breaking down a Briggs & Stratton engine – like the engine often found in go karts such as the one Rich Taber is standing beside in the video – and putting it back together… in working condition.

What’s featured in the video are highlights from the competition – a fascinating glimpse into the amazing field of talented students coming out of today’s vocational-tech and agricultural high schools.

Contestants:

Blue Hills Regional Vocational Technical High School

Teams:

  1. Alex Gonzalez, Chris Mesner
  2. Rob Baker, Mark DeCristofaro
  3. Shalaya Smoot, Aden Johnson

Norfolk County Agricultural High School

Teams:

  1. Ben Colangelo, Kalie Cummings
  2. Emma Gonneville, Jacob Mathieu
  3. Noah Axberg, Christian Giorgio

All-New 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

Well established in the European automotive marketplace, but just now making its way to America, the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle arrives for the 2018 model year, offering crossover shoppers a unique combination of EV efficiency and all-wheel drive SUV capabilities.

Currently the only PHEV crossover in its class with all-wheel drive, and the only PHEV with DC Fast Charging capability that enables a quick 25 minute 80 percent recharge, the Outlander PHEV is aiming to stir up the slow response the American market has shown for just about any electric vehicle that doesn’t have the name Tesla attached to it.

With its efficient 2-liter gas engine and front and rear high-performance electric motors, the Outlander PHEV is rated to provide 310 miles of total range with about 22 miles of that being all electric with a 74 MPG equivalent in combined city/highway driving.

Long term, this vehicle will likely save owners at least $1,250 in fuel costs over five years compared to what their non-hybrid crossover owning neighbors spend.

Formula E from NYC to Montreal

Formula E wraps up its 2017 race season this weekend in Montreal, Canada with the Renault e.dams team holding a dominating 65-point lead in the competition. Ten teams, twenty drivers have been battling it out across the globe in the sport’s 12-race third season that commenced last October in Hong Kong.RPM News Weekly was on hand, last week, for all the excitement and energy these all-electric super cars brought to the streets of Red Hook in Brooklyn, New York with the city’s first-ever Formula-e races.
Having transformed several blocks of a gritty, industrial neighborhood on Brooklyn’s waterfront that faces the Statue of Liberty into a 1.2-mile race course, Formula-e is destined to leave its mark, not only in New York but around the world.
The idea of all-electric racing is still new and building an audience. There’s something to be said, too, about who’s been attracted to participate. With teams from Audi Sport, Panasonic-Jaguar Racing, Virgin Racing, Venturi and others, that are sponsored by some of the most invested names in electric vehicle development, it’s clear that there’s a message about sustainability to be found in the not so typical, high-pitched whirring of the powerful electric motors motivating these vehicles.Alejandro Agag
Described by Formula-e CEO Alejandro Agag as the “noise of the future”, the sound of the motors as the cars whiz down the track at speeds up to 140 miles per hour speaks to a new era of racing.
A Formula-e race is as much spectacle as it is entertainment. Out on the grid before the race, there’s a rarefied mix of anticipation and awe, tension and intensity where color and charisma collide. But once the race is underway, the energy is pure adrenaline.
Much of the excitement gets focused in the tight turns where a driver’s skill and determination create opportunities for advancing in the pack. It’s also where contact often happens.
In New York, Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird put on a supercharged performance winning 1st place trophies in both Saturday and Sunday races.
The season finale in Montreal this weekend features races Saturday and Sunday on one of the ePrix’s longest tracks. To take a simulated ride around the track, go to fiaformulae.com. Meanwhile, here are more highlights from Formula-e New York City.