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| Looking at rovers technical documents of past prototypes and patent's then there's very interesting reads that suggest they were well ahead of the game.
I'll start with the mgtf hpd200 a hybrid version of the mgtf demo in 2003 with a vvc lump in the boot and a 28kw electric motor upfront for a boost to 60mph in under 6seconds and part time 4wd rover seen the hybrid as a performance boost not a range extender well ahead of the time with the pruis still in development at the time and it will be over 10 years till a car uses this principle in production McLaren p1 etc.
The freevalve/camless engine was on rovers mind after developing the vvc rover had learnt enough to know it was not the end all and be all answer it showed that the valves still relied on the round lobe of a cam giving progesive opening rather than aggressive near instant open and close cycles of an oil feed hydraulic actuator on each valve so they patented a design giving ultimate valve control I think the problem would have been electronics was not fast enough and compact enough to get reliable accurate switching speeds.
A camless engine hydraulic valve if fails stays in a closed position so the engine can lose many valves and still run in a safe mode home amazing tech and rover was on it.
Knowing what we know now and current advances in tech mean a mgtf hpd would be more like 350bhp and use the same energy as a 1.8 turbo engine alone, current f1 tech uses an electric motor on the turbo for instant spool and regain energy when at full boost that would be lost out the exhaust, so a mgtf with a 1.8k turbo running and electric setup in the front and regen on the turbo would be a nasty bitch if engineer correctly.
I run a stand up goped type scooter with 3.7kw electric that reaches 50mph so current advances show the mgtf is prime meat to be a one of a kind hybrid monster, its just a shame that a k series engine will never get to see a camless head for the engine  |
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| <- oh no picture of my old car spewing. |
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Location: Hamburg, Germany | i remember that hybrid. it was said "who needs this" and "pointless system" and all such claims. but as a couple of years later Porsche offered such system it was the holy grail .... |
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Location: Jelling, Denmark | I didn't know that story, but unfortunately there is a lot of "what if's" in rovers history that would have been interesting to have seen in production. this certainly sounds like one of those moments. |
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| Admiditly the battery's used where lead acid and the motor belong to a milk float but it was put together with skill, I would love to buy an mgtf just to do such a thing it would soon be showing s2000 and mx5 the rear lights with battery's harvested from a Nissan leaf and a 100kw bldc motor running a turbo lump in the boot would be a rocketship, and the good thing about turbo is its easier to harvest the waste energy out of the exhaust just be a damn shame freevalve never got put on a k series lump the company was run by a bunch of thieving twats with no interest for improving the brand just ripped the piss out of it, I bet these patents have been leaked in a suspicious manner from the phenoix five when they sucked the guts out of the company and the government give them the screw told us buy diesel at the same time then introduced the scrappage scam a few years screwed ourselfs like usual. |
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Location: Wolverhampton | I reckon most of this kind of stuff was down to the Engineers whod seemed to be very forward thinking but on a budget of pence. If you read some of the history about engine development such as the G-series MGR management didnt want to develop diesel engines and put them into sporty cars and drop tops as they thought they'd never sell. Now a massive proportion of sporty cars all have a derv option |
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| It seems to be the case all to often amazing forward thinking and development gets watered down by the shitty marketing team that say they understand the market but they are the same as civil servants bought off and sell an image of what should be in the interest of making the most money for their client, Doesn't matter about what actual makes sense or they could corner the market with a brave ballsy move generally companys do not have guts no more its just turn a quick buck and make share holders profits larger each year or declare a loss while scamming massive earnings.
Rover was chasing the high mpg dream with a small petrol hatchback not diesel back in the late 70's, I drive a diesel now and it grips my shit with all this electric car bullshit even though I'm an electrician and my hobby is building powerful electric scooters, The way I see it is they want cars in city's to be ultra clean electric only mode so the poor's out for a start and the energy for these cars is coming from nuclear and gas powerplants inland green energy meets very little of the demand at the moment. So this means the city's air quality will become cleaner for the rich to breath and the energy will be coming from powerplants in poorer areas moving the pollution from the ground zero centre of it in UK London to the areas around it, this country has become heavily biased to the rich, zero hour contracts rents and lack of help is choking millions this brexit bollocks has divided the country we all need a track day with a metro gti I think sort our heads out.
Edited by Ians r100 gta vvc 19/12/2016 7:32 PM
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| Brexit? All a load of shit. The remoaners will get their way and we'll stay in the fooking EU |
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Location: Jelling, Denmark | Ians r100 gta vvc - 19/12/2016 8:23 PM
...we all need a track day with a metro gti I think sort our heads out.
I like the ending of your long write there
Regarding Dings comment about brexit. That is a long discussion right there but with the amount of stuff I buy off ebay from the uk I wont be looking forward to the EU import tax when you leave. |
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| I can not get started on brexit either I'll proberly crash the forum with my frustration.
My first car was a metro gti spi back in 2005, black it was with icon chip, piper exhaust and the panel filter direct on the inlet, For what it was it went really well I'd keep up with saxo vts no probs and showed a BMW 525i just how ballsy it was one early morning young blood flowing in veins slipping it through bends 90+ feel it sliding for joy it was like that car had my back I should be dead things I done with it but it was always watching over me with a flick off the limiter pulling to 130mph it was a quick car to just get behind the wheel for first time and enjoy learnt all my skills from that car first cut is the deepest.
Edited by Ians r100 gta vvc 20/12/2016 7:10 PM
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Location: Wolverhampton | A metro gti felt like a rocket ship when coming from a 1.1S, it was amazing how much of a character change a slight increase in displacement and 16vs made to the car. I'd love to have a drive of one nowadays to see if the magic feeling is still there |
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| Gandi69 - 22/12/2016 12:29 AM
A metro gti felt like a rocket ship when coming from a 1.1S, it was amazing how much of a character change a slight increase in displacement and 16vs made to the car. I'd love to have a drive of one nowadays to see if the magic feeling is still there
I'm sure its still got its flair I remember hearing one when I was about 15 bouncing off the limiter down the street and it left a 2.0 cav sri off the mark it was eating its dust I was like I need one of them I always liked the styling too, I had it whem i past my test at 20 for 3 years and left it go to the breakers yard no word of a lie lighting strikes close by thunder and it started to bucket down, then when I got in my mates car to go home on the radio comes Phil oakey and electric dreams with the destruction notice in my i felt like i just destroyed herbie so that's our song nw me and my first real love.
If I could get another I'd be all over it, |
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Mg rover amazing engineers ahead of their time.
