... o more aerodynamically efficient bodyork. This meant that a cartrquote s styling as contoured to assist its passage through the air in order to minimize petrol consumption. This had hitherto been the preserve of sports-car makers.tpartparT Performance and Four-heel Drive tpartparLamborghini GTV 350 The Lamborghini 350 GTV as introduced to the public at the 1963 Turin Motor sho. It as made of steel and aluminium panels over a chassis of round tubes. Despite many critics, the car got a lot of attention from the press because of its very modern chassis.Farabolafoto tpar tparFrom the 1970s the performance of such vehicles had also been enhanced by the development of the turbocharger. Driven by otherise asted exhaust gases, it is a small, high-revolution pump that forces air into the cylinders at pressure and is invariably used in conjunction ith an intercooler. This cools incoming air to make it denser, further increasing engine poer.tpartparPerformance cars ere usually front-engined and sometimes rear-engined until the appearance, in 1966, of the Lamborghini Muira, hich had a mid-located poer unit. This meant a better-balanced car, but at the expense of greater interior noise and loss of rear seating.tpartparYet a further development in performance as the four-heel drive ith superior road holding. This as a luxury fitment until the arrival, in 1980, of the Audi Quatto, a make that had also introduced, in 1976, the petrol-fuelled five-cylinder engine. Four-heel drive had already been incorporated in the cross-country Land Rover, its design inspired by the American Jeep. It first appeared in 1948 and paved the ay to the better-equipped Range Rover.tpartparU Further Developments tpartparU1 Reducing Car Emissions tpartparTraffic Pollution The orlds roads currently accommodate over 500 million motor vehicles. Most concern about traffic pollution has been expressed in relation to busy inner-city areas, here high vehicle flos and large numbers of pedestrians share the same streets. The orst conditions are experienced hen there is a combination of dense traffic and hot eather ithout inds.esley BocxePhoto Researchers, Inc. tpar tparIn recent years environmental considerations and groing concern over traffic pollution have had a profound effect on car design. The United States introduced the first regulations on noxious car emissions in 1967 the California Clean Air Act requires that, by 2003, 10 per cent of all ne cars sold in that state must have zero exhaust emissions. Hoever, as these restrictions become more rigorous, their effects on the poer and efficiency of car engines gro more adverse. Noxious emissions include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and particulates. In 1986 the Japanese Toyota company introduced the more efficient multivalve tin overhead camshaft engine, a unit more usually associated ith high-performance models. This concept has no been idely adopted by the orldtrquote s motor industries.tpartparAll ne cars sold in Europe since 1990 have had to be capable of running on unleaded petrol. Lead has been added to petrol since the 1920s to improve engine performance, but as found to be a health hazard hen emitted from car exhausts. In Britain unleaded fuels account for 67 per cent of petrol sales.tpartparSimilarly, the exhaust systems of all ne cars have had to be fitted ith catalytic converters since 1993. In its basic to-ay form, the catalytic converter uses platinum and palladium to catalyse the carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons that are produced by the enginetrquote s combustion process into carbon dioxide and ater.tpartparManufacturers are currently undertaking research into tldblquote lean-burntrdblquote engines, hich use less petrol and therefore produce a loer level of harmful emissions. The diesel-engined car has gron in popularity but recent evidence shos that the minute specks ... Download