ZR1 in the Wild

People who race Mazdas like Corvettes apparently, the ZR1 in particular. I found this example parked in the Mazdaspeed pits at California Speedway during a NASA event. It would have been nice to see it on the track, but it was brand spanking new and shiny. I can understand the desire to let it break in a little bit longer before stretching its legs on the track.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Equinox

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Equinox

Recently I finally got the chance to drive the Chevrolet Hydrogen Fuel Cell Equinox (try saying that 5 times fast). Sitting still in the parking lot the vehicle emitted noises one did not expect to hear from an automobile, at least not yet. It produced a quiet whir and a bit of clicking from the power electronics. All it all it wasn't very audible over the sound of traffic driving by. Once inside though, with the doors closed, the exterior noise was blocked out. I took the passenger side initially, while a coworker took the wheel. I used the opportunity to poke around at buttons and listen to the vehicle. Mostly the interior followed that of a normal Equinox. Although in place of a tachometer sat a kilowatt gauge. As a reminder that this wasn't a typical vehicle, or even a mundane hybrid, the shift knob featured the GM water droplet badge and the navigation screen displayed the fuel cell power flow. When leaving the parking lot the Equinox accelerated up to the speed of traffic with no drama. The ride was also very smooth, no jarring shift points. After a few minutes of driving I swapped spots with my coworker and took over the helm.

Being an Equinox the vehicle was significantly larger than what I am used to. For just that reason I did not expect it to perform anything like my BMW 335i. Pulling out into traffic I got on the accelerator and, while by far not the fastest thing I have driven, it wasn't the slowest either. It weighed somewhere in the range of a decent mid-sized sedan in terms of get up and go, meaning I wouldn't fear for my life merging onto the 405. I stayed on the pedal for a little bit and it hit me that I had lost a connection to the vehicle. I am tuned to feel for speed through gear changes and audible rpm. However, a fuel cell vehicle does not have such feedback. The sound of the electric motor was somewhat audible, but with music playing and people talking it just wasn't enough of a factor. I had to glance at the speedometer to get my bearings back straight. The smooth, uninturrupted, acceleration was a great experience though. The one possibel downside was that when coming to a stop, the brakes required more input that I was used to. The system transitions from regenerative braking to mechanical braking depending on the amount of depal depression. I probably would have been more comfortable with the braking if I had not come from mainly driving a sporty vehicle with a stiff and sensitive pedal. The brakes were in line with those of a standard Equinox, not that that is necessarily a good thing.

In the end I wish I could have had more drive time. Maybe then I could have found some Priui (plural for Prius) to drag race.

Fuel Cell Equinox

The picture above features a Chevrolet Fuel Cell Equinox. The vehicle is part of GM's Project Driveway program. 100 fuel cell Equinoxes get to be tested by the hands of general consumers. The vehicle recipients are in varying parts of the United States, but at least have access to hydrogen fueling stations.

The fuel cell vehicles are interesting. The powertrain has significantly less moving parts than a traditional ICE powered vehicle. However, of course that means trades offs to more exotic materials and newly developing technology. I love improving emerging technology though. That is why I do what I do... I hope this Equinox will teach me some new things too.

Chevrolet Cosworth Vega

Like many large corporations GM asks its new employees to become familiar with the company's history and product lineup. That means the GM web is vast full of interesting information, and I am actually supposed to kill time browsing through it all. However, of course I got myself off on a bit of a tangent focusing on the history of small projects I find fascinating. One such project is the Chevrolet Cosworth Twin Cam Vega. Not only do I like limited edition vehicles, but Cosworth USA happens to be located just around the corner from the GM facility at which I work. I also have a few friends that work over there. In fact this blog post is inspired by a recent post made by Cosworth employee, Eric Hsu, on his blog.

To me it is no surprise that the Cosworth Twin Cam Vega came to fruition during the tenure of GM General Manager John Delorean. Delorean had a hand in some of the greatest designs to come out of General Motors. He was always the type of engineer to not compromise his vision just because it did not mesh with what was considered publicly acceptable. That also led to his ultimate demise in the auto industry. Anyway I digress...

In 1969 GM had the plans for the 1971 Chevy Vega in their sights. The vehicle was intended to fight the small imports beginning to invade the United States. The engine was to feature a new block design. An all-aluminum, high silicon content, 4-cylinder engine block. Keith Duckworth of Cosworth fame was approached with the design to detect interest in a possible racing application, he was intrigued. By 1971 Cosworth began testing their first editions of the race engine. It wasn’t long before inherent weakness in the engine block lead Cosworth to develop a street version of the engine as opposed to an all out race application.

The Cosworth Twin Cam Vega engine featured a DOHC 16 valve head developed by Cosworth of course. It also had electronic fuel injection as opposed to the standard carburetor. It even featured a stainless steel exhaust header. Unfortunately the engine’s performance was significantly hindered by then new CAFÉ standards and EPA requirements. The power output was only 110 hp.


The car itself had unique features. It came in only black with gold striping and gold cast aluminum wheels. It had special interior trim such as instrument bezels, steering wheel, serial number plaque and limited fabric choices. The total production run was only 3,508 vehicles with a rather different marketing approach. The slogan for the Chevrolet Twin Cam Cosworth Vega was, “Cosworth, One Vega for the Price of Two.”


More information can be found at CosworthVega.com. The pictures also belong to the GM Archives.