Since the motorized vehicle came into the world sometime during the 19th century, it has become an almost integral part of all of our lives. Today, many of us have our own private car, and even families living in one house often own several vehicles. In general, the number of vehicles in the entire world is increasing by huge numbers every year. The automobile industry has long since become one of the largest and most important in the world, and the motoring world attracts many who get addicted to the thrill and adrenaline of traveling and driving various types of vehicles - some of them even go in-depth and develop into real experts and devoted followers.
So in honor of each of you who loves his car, likes to travel and drive on the congested roads of our country or anywhere else, and in general, is "car sick" - we have collected 8 fascinating facts that you may not have known about cars in general, about different car manufacturers and everything related to the motor world, and you are welcome to discover them here.
A Guinness World Record was broken when Irving Gordon's 1966 Volvo 1800S went a total of 4,828,032 km! This is the most extensively driven car of all time. Shana Irving, an automotive enthusiast, has taken many long trips; with her most distant one being a 4,810 km journey from New York in the USA to Vancouver in Canada. On average, she drives around 160,934 km to attend car shows.
It is truly astounding that the car's original clutch managed to endure 724,205 km! To provide some context, the usual lifespan of a standard clutch is usually between 20k-150k miles (32k-240k km). Consequently, one can only speculate how Gordon Irving kept his car in such impressive condition with such immense mileage. It is possible that he is a diligent car owner who understands the importance of regularly replacing transmission fluid and engine oil.
In the realms of sports and luxury automobiles, a battle has been raging between two of Italy's most prominent manufacturers - Ferrari and Lamborghini. This intense competition has a fascinating origin story: it began with a single insult in 1958. Ferruccio Lamborghini owned a prosperous tractor business in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and was passionate about cars. Ferruccio used his wealth to buy Ferraris and participate in races with them.
One day, Ferruccio realized that his Ferrari car required some modifications. He approached Enzo Ferrari, the proprietor of the esteemed Italian manufacturer that bears his name, to detail the issues he had found with the car. However, Enzo did not take kindly to Ferruccio's remarks, harshly reprimanding him: "You're a tractor driver, you're a farmer. You don't have any right to criticize my cars since they are the best in the world." Ferruccio accepted the insults and mockery that Enzo threw at him as a clear indication that he should take his mechanical hobby and use it to create a professional business that would rival Ferrari - and the rest is history.
You might have witnessed an upside-down car accelerating on the roof of a tunnel in an action movie or video game, but you never thought that it was possible in reality. Well, you'll be amazed to know that it is possible; modern Formula 1 racing cars can absorb a maximum lateral tilting force of 3.5 G - which is 3.5 times higher than the weight of the car itself! This is because they are designed with aerodynamic elements that increase their downforce - thus, theoretically, they can drive upside down on the ceiling at a high speed.
Gerry Anderson, a past Formula 1 racing technical director, shared with the BBC that an F1 vehicle could potentially drive on the roof of a canal and even maintain a speed of 120 mph (190 kph). This has not been tested yet, but any car enthusiast would be excited to witness such an experiment.
Volkswagen, the German car maker, has been around since the 1930s and is well known, not just among car aficionados. It is responsible for several popular models, such as the Beetle, Golf, and Passat. What people may not know, however, is that Volkswagen Group is one of the biggest automakers in the world, and owns twelve different car companies, including Seat and Skoda in the mass-market segment and Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Porsche in the high-end segment.
If that's not enough, then it's interesting to know that Volkswagen doesn't just make cars - but also sausages. Since 1973, the company has become a manufacturer of traditional German curry sausages, and it produces in its factory no less than 20,000 of them a day - when in recent years the production of the food exceeds the production of the company's cars! Volkswagen hot dogs are currently available in 11 different countries, and there is even a vegetarian version of them. In some places, for every purchase of a Volkswagen vehicle, you can also receive a portion of sausage made by the company as a gift.
Cruise control is one of the most popular modern systems in cars, as it allows the driver to set a desired driving speed by pressing the accelerator pedal and setting the speed automatically as soon as the requested point is reached. In 1974, when such a system was assembled for the first time in a passenger car, it was considered an innovative and revolutionary step for the time, but today, as mentioned, it is very acceptable.
Intriguingly, the creator of this system was visually impaired since birth. His name was Ralph Titor and despite his blindness beginning at the tender age of 5, he accomplished a great deal as an innovator. After getting his mechanical engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Ralph built the steam turbine propellers utilized by the US Navy on its destroyers. Later on, he became the president of a large auto parts firm, where the idea of cruise control was conceived. This happened when he was traveling with his legal counsel who was driving. He saw that his companion sped up when he was listening and slowed down when he was talking. This caused Titor a lot of difficulties and, from that point, the way to future development took shape in his mind. This was a plan to stop the speed vacillations he was experiencing.
If a policeman ever stopped you and gave you a report for an offense you think you never committed, or if the amount of the fine seemed excessive to you - what would you say if you were the Swiss citizen who received the highest speeding report ever, for a million dollars?!? Yes, you heard correctly. The man was driving a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG car, and was arrested after the police measured his speed at 300 kph (186 mph) - 2.5 times more than the speed limit on the road he was driving on!
In Switzerland, the amount of the fine for speeding reports is not uniform. Instead, it is based on parameters such as the driver's income and how much he exceeded the speed limit. Police reported that the Mercedes car with 570 horsepower - whose maximum speed is 195 mph (315 kph) - was traveling so fast that it took her almost 500 meters to brake. So in addition to the world record for the highest fine ever, the driver also broke the speed record for a car on Swiss roads.
It may surprise you to learn that it is possible to perform an exceptionally complex mechanical operation on a car in under 60 seconds. On November 21, 1985, five members of the Royal Marines in the British Army managed to take apart and reassemble a Ford Escort engine in a mere 42 seconds! The feat was the result of two weeks of preparation and training. It is not known if the Ford Escort engine is the simplest to disassemble and reassemble out of all the car engines, but these soldiers deserve recognition for their impressive achievement.
You can find video evidence of this record-breaking performance in this video:
An incredible Guinness World Record was achieved by Steve Mueller and his team in 2008 when they successfully took apart and then reassembled a Volkswagen Beetle in just 64 seconds:
This car had around 30,000 parts, with 2,600 feet (800 meters) of copper wires among them. It's truly amazing that the vehicles we use today are so intricate yet reliable, and their life expectancy is increasing with each passing year. For example, in 1995, the average lifespan of a car was 8.4 years, but today it stands at more than 11 years.
Nowadays, automobiles are more reliant on electrical and computerized systems, which necessitate the installation of numerous conductors. In some luxury cars, the total number of copper conductors can reach up to 1,500, and their total length, when connected, is about 5,000 feet (1.6 kilometers). Even the most basic cars feature a considerable amount of conductors that, when connected together, create a length of around 2,600 feet (800 meters). For comparison, cars from the late 1940s had more than 50 conductors and their total length was merely 150 feet (45 meters).
Photo source: Monstourz, Michael Sheehan
