EXTREME MACHINES MILLION DOLLAR MOTORS ~ PART4

The Cadillac Sixteen was a prototype of a stylish and high performance automobile first presented by Cadillac in 2003. The vehicle was equipped with a 32-valve V16 concept engine displacing 13.6 liters (~830 cu. in) and was mated to a four-speed, electronically controlled, automatic transmission driving the rear wheels. The engine featured fuel-saving Active Fuel Management technology, much improved from its notorious ancestor, debuting in 2004 on some 2005 GM models. On the Sixteen, it would seamlessly shut down twelve cylinders in light driving, eight during strenuous driving, and only awaken the entire engine under full acceleration. With this type of system, the engine was capable of 20 mpg Imperial under normal conditions. The engine was said to produce 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) using no form of forced induction. The car itself weighs about 2,270 kilograms (5,000 lb). The car was conceptually related to the Cadillac V-16 of the 1930s. The actual design of the car was a combination of Cadillac's current "Art and Science" design theme and 1967 Cadillac Eldorado cues. Additional original design elements were provided by an in-house design competition led by GM Vice President Robert Lutz. The Sixteen has the Cadillac logo carved out of solid crystal on the steering wheel and a Bulgari clock on the dashboard. Although the Sixteen fell short (narrowly, by some accounts) f production approval, its legacy is alive in Cadillac's future product planning. The subsequent generation of Cadillac products, particularly the revised CTS, have incorporated elements of the Sixteen's design. A scaled-down version of the car, referred to as the ULS (Ultra Luxury Sedan) or XLS, with a standard V8 and an optional V12, has been rumored for production since 2005, but was shelved in favor of the Cadillac XTS.

The wheels features disc brakes with 16-inch rotors and six piston calipers on the front and back wheels that ensure safety handling at higher speeds. The exteriors feature the stylish body structure, mirrors, LED head and tail lamps. The interiors feature the Tuscany leather seats, Bose sound system, silk carpets, sporty steering wheel, instrument panels, navigation system, vehicle safety system and DVD information system.

Untold zillions of molecules of iron, aluminum, and plastic composites awoke at the flick of a human wrist on an ignition key. They were compressed or stretched by the forces of combustion, they transferred heat from cylinder walls to coolant, they transformed vibrations into noise, and they were lubricated against the forces of friction. But before these molecules were crafted into modern engines, virtual facsimiles of them were subjected to vivid, lifelike simulations of these actions, the whole shebang conjured by an artificial intelligence as sophisticated as anything conceived of in The Matrix.

A year ago, the luckiest of these virtual alloy molecules were grooving and grinding to the synthesized machinations of the first V-16 engine of the millennium. The mission to build an actual running engine for the Detroit-show-stealing Cadillac Sixteen concept was launched in mid-March 2002. At that point, Cadillac could have simply FedEx's a couple of V-8 crate motors to a prototyping shop and subjected them to a welding-torch wedding. That process could have produced a V-16 that would start, idle, and move the concept car onto and off its auto-show runway.

Instead, GM decided to flex its advanced engine-engineering muscle and highlight technology that would soon be appearing on the Gen IV Corvette V-8 by designing and building a real V-16 from scratch-one that could operate under load at redline on a dynamometer. No weld-'em-up motor could ever withstand that.

The engine's refinement and output were supposed to get folks thinking again of Cadillac as the Standard of the World. It's hard to beat a smooth-firing sixteen for refinement, and it's tough to top 1000 horsepower and 1000 pound-feet of torque. But the engine also had to achieve the fuel economy of a competitive V-12 while running on regular-grade fuel.

This daunting mission fell to Larry Cooper and about 10 people from the Power train High Performance Vehicle Group. They started with the basic architecture of the next-generation Corvette's V-8, including its variable cam timing-a first among pushrod engines-and a Displacement on Demand system that shuts down cylinders to save fuel under low-load conditions.

Calculations of the cylinder pressures required to hit the output targets suggested the need for a big bump in per-cylinder displacement, so the bore and stroke were both increased by 6mm relative to the current 5.7-liter V-8. Small-block cylinder walls don't have 6mm to spare, so adjacent cylinders ended up touching each other, and coolant could no longer flow in between the cylinders. This complicates the cooling system, sometimes causes the cylinders to go out of round as the engine heats up and cools down, and presents dozens of other problems that don't spring instantly to the human mind at the outset of such a project.

This is where the team engaged the General's considerable computer-engineering might by sending the basic engine design off to be thoroughly modeled, developed, and tested in the digital realm. In this cyber world, the V-16 would be cold-started, over revved, bogged down, blown up, and otherwise abused to the point of repeated destruction-all without ever staining a floor.

The Rolls-Royce Phantom is a saloon automobile made in England by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, a BMW subsidiary. It was launched in 2003 and is the first model introduced during the BMW era. The Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé, and the Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé, are both based on the 2003 Phantom. It also won the Top Gear Car of the Year Award for 2003.

The Phantom uses a unique chassis platform, body, interior, and retains traditional Rolls-Royce design cues. The body is mostly aluminum. Final assembly, including all body, paint, wood, and leather work, is completed to each customer's individual specification at the Rolls-Royce plant in Goodwood, West Sussex. The plant is close to the historic Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit. The plant contains the paint shop, body shop, leather shop, woodworking shop, assembly line, and executive offices under one roof. There are only three robots in the factory. The robots paint the body, the paint is polished by hand after the robots spray each coat. The coach lines, which are exactly 3 mm (0.1 in) wide, are done, as well as all other work, by hand, in keeping with the Rolls-Royce tradition. It has a 6.75 litre, 48-valve, V12 engine that produces 453 bhp (338 kW; 459 PS) and 720 N·m (530 lb·ft) of torque. The engine is derived from BMW's N73 V12 power plant and is assembled by BMW. It uses direct fuel injection, and is a drive by wire design, using valvetronic technology. The power output is regulated by infinitely varying valve lift by moving the rockers and rocker fulcrums via electric servos, rather than using the throttle body. The throttle body is maintained for fail-safe operation.

The aluminum extrusions that are used to construct the aluminum space frame are produced in Norway using hydroelectric power, shaped and machined in Denmark and finally hand-welded in Germany. Car has a power reserve dial indicating how much of the engine's power is left available to the driver. The instrument cluster is not shared with any other vehicle. Doors are remote operated. The rear doors are rear-hinged, a style commonly referred to as suicide doors, but called 'coach doors' by Rolls-Royce. Because of the rear-seating position in relation to the rear inner-door handles, buttons are mounted on both C-pillars which operate hydraulic motors in order to close the rear doors. An electronic lock prevents the doors from being accidentally opened when moving. The car will automatically brake to a walking speed if a coach door remains open when driving off. The rear doors also house umbrellas that are stored within the doors, and can only be accessed when the front or rear doors are open. The fabric of the umbrella is coated with Teflon to assist in shedding water when the wet umbrella is stored within the door. The traditional Spirit of Ecstasy ornament has an automatic electronic retraction mechanism to prevent theft and protect pedestrians in the event of an accident. It may also be retracted by the driver at the touch of a button, and retracted when the alarm is armed. The base contains a sensor which detects movement, and will retract if tampered with.