[Mpower]

Originally Posted by ram

Rajeev owns a company in Pune that does vehicle engineering, prototyping and testing.

We could call him the potential Caroll Shelby of India.
He is India's first OEM-certified converter, building limited-edition niche vehicles around popular volume-prod cars.
Automotive OEMs are his customers. His company is NRI venture-capital funded and has a plant near Mulshi, Pune.

Sounds great Ram. Looking forward to see more cool projects. What is the name of the company? Maybe you can do a plant visit and feature some of the concept cars.

[hellspawn]

Originally Posted by iraghava

Also, Ram both of us know that Supercharging is a more lossy process than Turbocharging if both are done properly of course. IIRC the Supercharger in the SL55 consumes about 100bhp (the engine produces 500bhp) just to drive itself & those losses really hurt Supercharged engines.

yes but superchargers also take less space inside the engine bay,are easier to install than a turbocharger,no plumbing required,constant power compared to the on/off boost disadvantage of a turbo.

[1100D]

Not trying to undermine anything/person but what was the difference of acceleration (say 0-100kmph time) between a normal SRV vs the Supercharged one?

[Ram]

Originally Posted by 1100D

Not trying to undermine anything/person but what was the difference of acceleration (say 0-100kmph time) between a normal SRV vs the Supercharged one?

My thoughts...

In 1964, Ford Motor Co. requested Carroll Shelby to enhance the performance of their new Ford Mustang design.

He founded his company called Shelby-American. And the Shelby Mustang GT-350 went on to catapult brand "Mustang" into the world of high performance.

While the legendary GT350 was yet to be launched, and still undergoing trials, would Shelby American have published the results?

Sure, Ford would be tracking the results but the press and the common man would just have to wait until the product launch.

Just my two bits.

[-GS-]

Originally Posted by 1100D

Not trying to undermine anything/person but what was the difference of acceleration (say 0-100kmph time) between a normal SRV vs the Supercharged one?

The supercharger boosts the SRV's performance by around 25 percent. It has been engineered to increase the performance by 25 percent only, so that there is no damage to the engine. 0-100 time was not the major factor here, they have taken day to day driving and reliability into consideration. I will try to find the exact acceleration figures.

If I remember correctly, GM was supposed to offer this supercharged version for an additional 1L or something. Don't know if they are still in the planning process or already launched it.

[BUSA]

With that fantastic TCDi engine who needs a supercharges.

BTW the performance figures were highly small by any standards of a SC, not worth the extra dough!!

[Ram]

The two-seat Cielo coupe ...
... fully equipped for people with a camping lifestyle...
...compressor for pressure shower...

Here's a pic.

Completely caught my imagination. After all, how many vehicles in India (those that don't run on rails) have this convenience.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by ram

Completely caught my imagination. After all, how many vehicles in India (those that don't run on rails) have this convenience.

Customised touring/camping vehicles as done by many 'designer workshops'. In fact the Tempo Traveller (both SWB and LWB) lends itself very well to such mods and 'retro-fits'.
And you'd be having your shower 'indoors' and not outdoors.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

Customised touring/camping vehicles as done by many 'designer workshops'.

I am fascinated by the fact that this vehicle is built by an actual user with a personal taste in touring and camping.

Originally Posted by anupmathur

In fact the Tempo Traveller (both SWB and LWB) lends itself very well to such mods and 'retro-fits'.
And you'd be having your shower 'indoors' and not outdoors.

Isn't the Tempo Traveller a big, ungainly lumbering giant? This Cielo coupe is quick (as in acceleration), fast (as in top speed) and a pleasure to drive (as in great cornering on mountain roads).

Love those fully reclining red Recaros. The grey and red unit between them is a refrigerator. Above the refrigerator is a little cubbyhole for stowing blankets.

It supplies chilled drinking water to a little faucet in the console.

[nitrous]

With all due respect, I would call him the "Xzibit of India" rather than "Caroll Shelby".
This guy is just pimping the ride .
From the review of the supercharged SRV,I dont think he's a high performance tuner.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by ram

Isn't the Tempo Traveller a big, ungainly lumbering giant? This Cielo coupe is quick (as in acceleration), fast (as in top speed) and a pleasure to drive (as in great cornering on mountain roads).

Ram, it's all a matter of choice.
Here is another point of view from a mountain lover (as opposed to a performance freak): I go to the mountains to enjoy nature and the views. All I ask for from my car is reliability, so that it does not start demanding time from me for it's maintenence or repair. Sometimes I drive 10 to 12 hours a day on mountain roads or non-roads.
Regardless of the car I'm using, I proceed at a speed of typically 25 kmph, max 40 kmph at stretches. Almost all of the time in second gear. This enables me to take my eyes off the road sufficiently for me to also enjoy the scenery and vistas. And I NEVER do mountain journeys after dark as this basic requirement (of enjoying the views) is not met in the dark.
As for road conditions, I would recommend a look-see at the so-called roads in the interior regions of our himalayas. To your surprise, you'll find many Tempo Travellers in use there, and making surprisingly good time - often better than cars can manage under those conditions. Despite their seemingly underpowered engines, very tall stance and other such negative attributes, these do the Manali-Leh and Leh-Srinagar journeys with amazing success. A highly 'suitable' vehicle for travellers. I have, strangely, yet to see a broken down Tempo Traveller.
I see your point and admire what has been done to the Cielo. I'm just presenting another point of view.

[Ram]

@nitrous, this engineer's automotive robotics company specializes in technology transfer from global players to Indian OEMs & Tier 1 suppliers. They manufacture prototype engines, transmissions, electronic systems, integrate these with car prototypes and do testing and validation.

Which of these activities count as "pimping"?

Their projects include:
Supercharged Car Prototypes, Actuators for Automated Manual Transmissions, Power Train Engg, Active Suspension Tech.,
Hybrid Engine Systems, Vehicle Integration, Supercharger Kits, Two-Seater All-Terrain Car Prototype,...

Where do you see commonality with Xzibit, the rapper and TV personality, who hosted MTV's "Pimp My Ride"?

Xzibit never had to design a production run of 100 identical cars. He never had to worry about homologation. And he was never aligned to an automotive OEM.

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by hellspawn

yes but superchargers also take less space inside the engine bay,are easier to install than a turbocharger,no plumbing required,constant power compared to the on/off boost disadvantage of a turbo.

This is news to me.

tontytonty

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by nitrous

I dont think he's a high performance tuner.

You could be right, but, with all due respect, there is a lot more to automobile engineering than high performance tuning of cars.

[V-16]

I had a chat with MR. Ranadive when the SRV was displayed in a n auto show here in Mumbai and I am amazed to see what he has done to the Swift and the Cielo. I would definately not rate these works as Pimping the ride. Pimping is what DC does to his rides. How many pimpers does one know of who can alter the wheel base of a car without affecting its handling and super charge a swift and also add auxillary injectors. I think we can safely conclude that Mr Ranadive is a master engineer which can be verified once we get figures on his car's performance.