You learn something new... - Cars you didn't know existed, until now!

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de Macross Epique GT1
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So I've been watching Charles Leclerc's streams - not the whole thing though, just skipping here and there, and paying attention to a few parts:



...nope, not talking about the Honda-engined lawnmower. Spotted it in a Top Gear article a while ago. Just skip to 2:10:45.

Interestingly it has a baguette on the dashboard (was it a baguette delivery vehicle or something) and it kinda looks like a golf cart, So, after googling with the key words "Assetto Corsa French Golf Cart", I came to the Ligier JS8, a microcar:

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Well, that's quite interesting, since to me Ligier is known more as a constructor of Grand Prix cars, although further googling suggested otherwise. Feeling lazy so I suppose I'm not dumping the specifications here, you'll have to google it. Also, apparently, the JS8's predecessor, the JS4, was already mentioned in this thread.
 
A car I didn't know existed until this year when I saw this one. The Ferrari 364 GT/4 BB, I originally thought it was a 512 BB, but the rear end looked different.

Based on having BB in the name and looking like a B12 BB, I initially guessed that it contains a Boxer engine. When doing a brief look on wikipedia, the engine shares internal dimensions with the Daytona, but spread out 180 degrees like Ferrari's F1 car at the time. In addition, the boxer engine supposibly isn't a true boxer, but a flat engine instead. Also, there were only 387 of these built; I'm not sure if that's fully true.

If it is true, then cool. This would be one of the rarest cars I've seen.
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In addition, the boxer engine supposibly isn't a true boxer, but a flat engine instead.
This is correct. A "boxer" is a flat engine configuration, but not all flat engines are boxers. True boxers possess a crankshaft wherein each connecting rod gets its own journal and each opposing pair of pistons is opposed by 180 degrees, resulting in pistons that reach both the bottom of their stroke and top of their stroke in unison. It is on the downstroke that the pistons are said to be boxing one another.

In a 180-degree "V" or non-boxer flat engine, pairs of connecting rods share crankshaft journals and the pistons are always the same distance from one another save for in an engine failure such as a thrown rod.

The advantage to a true boxer is the internal balance inherent to having such a fluid movement, where the non-boxer is dependant upon multiple pairs of pistons to achieve balance and may still require additional balancing by way of a counterweighted shaft, or balance shaft.

One drawback of the true boxer is that they do tend to be long for their capacity. The individual rod journals on the crankshaft result in a greater staggering effect of the pistons than you see in a typical V engine, and it's because of this that guys can pull the boxer six out of the back of a Porsche and replace it with a Chevy V8 with minimal fuss.

...

I also want to add that the Ferrari BB's drivetrain configuration was unlike other mid-engine cars in that the engine sits longitudinally on top of the gearbox rather than at one end of it, either transversely or longitudinally. The configuration was later utilized by the Testarossa and 512TR.

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[Edit] Fun fact: Ferrari first utilized the engine-above-gearbox configuration in a production car with the Dino and its V6, though the gear stack was offset to one side of the oil pan. They continued to use it with the early V8 cars equipped with 2.0, 3.0 and 3.2 liter engines, but abandoned it for something slightly* more conventional with the 348.

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*Slightly because the gear stack was still transverse though the engine was longitudinal. It employed a bevel drive from the input shaft. And the clutch was at the opposite end.

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Based on having BB in the name and looking like a B12 BB, I initially guessed that it contains a Boxer engine.

Further to the excellent post from @TexRex - the BB originally stood for dual camshaft ("Berlinetta Bialbero"), but the Boxer name stuck after it was coined and popularised by a journalist.

Having the motor above the gearbox was a feature (as far as I know) first pioneered by Alec Issigonis with the Mini - although in the Mini it is in the sump sharing the engine oil with a magnetic sump plug to reduce engine wear.
 
Having the motor above the gearbox was a feature (as far as I know) first pioneered by Alec Issigonis with the Mini - although in the Mini it is in the sump sharing the engine oil with a magnetic sump plug to reduce engine wear.
The Mini was the first practical implementation of the configuration, but Issigonis got the idea from engineer Ian Duncan who'd sold the design to Austin. Duncan's design utilized an air-cooled parallel twin mounted above the transmission, but prototypes of his Duncan Dragonfly prior to the sale utilized a motorcycle engine and 'box with a chain drive.

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I'm not certain it's even a real photograph. It looks like it could be a digital paint-by-numbers work.

:P
 
I'm not certain it's even a real photograph. It looks like it could be a digital paint-by-numbers work.

:P
Best picture I could get of it I tried to follow it but lost it. It did have a white stripe across the hood. I was exiting a highway and was at a red light when he crossed the intersection.
 
Best picture I could get of it I tried to follow it but lost it. It did have a white stripe across the hood. I was exiting a highway and was at a red light when he crossed the intersection.
I'm just teasing, and I wouldn't know a real one from a fake if I was walking around it; I really know nothing about it other than it appears to be an F-Type.
 
I'm just teasing, and I wouldn't know a real one from a fake if I was walking around it; I really know nothing about it other than it appears to be an F-Type.
Regular F-types don’t have that hump by the spoiler this is a project 7 but has a dot which mine doesn’t have.
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Mine was the same green though.
 
1995 Jimenez Novia W16. This French car designed and built by professional motorcyclist Ramon Jimenez was the first supercar ever to be powered by a W16 engine; it was a 4.1L W16 made from four Yamaha FZR1000 engines making 559hp. It could reach a top speed of 236mph.

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That's a short rear overhang. Presumably it's got the 4-pot because those PRV V6s are long.
 
Had never heard nor seen anything of Jannarelly before... possibly because they're relatively new. Stumbled over it whilst googling GT's LM Edition cars...

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I love those more than I can understand

Also, I feel like the Asphalt devs just browse this forum for a while when deciding what cars to put in the game. Some of the rare super cars in here have been later put into the games
 
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