[ds.raikkonen]

Having always obsessed with the 'Instrument Clusters' in vehicles, I thought of having some fun with 'Guess the vehicle from its instrument cluster' questions.

Here are some of them! (Hint: All belong to either powerful sportscars or supercars, all from '80s, '90s, '00s and some from the last decade)

ID1



ID2



ID3



ID4



ID5



ID6



ID7



ID8



ID9



ID10



ID11

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by ds.raikkonen

Having always obsessed with the 'Instrument Clusters' in vehicles, I thought of having some fun with 'Guess the vehicle from its instrument cluster' questions.

Where are the needles in that Lambo's yellow instrument cluster

[DrANTO]

The white coloured dials are from McLaren F1

[meta]

Hmmm, let us see:

• Porsche Carrera GT
• Ferrari F40 (USA version with Catalytic Converters)
• Lamborghini Diablo (one of the numerous variants)
• Porsche 959
• Porsche GT2 RS
• Pagani Huayra (Coupe)
• Ferrari F40 LM
• McLaren F1
• Lexus LFA
• Enzo Ferrari
• Ferrari 575 Maranello

[ds.raikkonen]

Originally Posted by Bibendum90949

Where are the needles in that Lambo's yellow instrument cluster

Probably photo of a spare dial, if there used to be one at Lambo's warehouses that is!

Originally Posted by meta

Hmmm, let us see:

Nailed it! All of them

Just out of curiosity, was the euro spec F40 faster without the catcon?

[meta]

Originally Posted by ds.raikkonen

Nailed it! All of them

Just out of curiosity, was the euro spec F40 faster without the catcon?

The catalytic converters aren't the only, or even the key difference between the USA and the Euro (or rather, anywhere-but-USA) F40s.

Off the top of my head:

• USA F40s are heavier: up to 250 lbs heavier compared stock to stock. This is because of additional structural reinforcements and other mechanical differences.
• USA F40s have rigid aluminum gas tanks with fuel pumps inside the tanks. Euro cars have soft fuel bags with external fuel pumps.
• USA F40s have reclining seat backs (two-piece), whereas the Euro cars have fixed-rake single-piece bucket seats.
• USA F40s have motorized seat belts, whereas the Euro cars have manual 3-point belts.
• USA cars have catalytic converters and secondary (smog) air injection. Euro cars could be optioned with catalytic converters.
• Euro cars could be optioned with adjustable suspension, that is, adjustable ride height that could switch between low, medium, and high (raised) heights. The USA cars had a fixed ride height that corresponded to the medium setting of the Euro car.
• There were some cosmetic differences: USA cars had larger black front bumper trim, extra black rear bumper trim, third brake light below the wing, side reflectors, twist-off gas caps (instead of lockable), different tow hook attachment, etc.
• There were 211 USA F40s made (1990-1992), whereas there were a little over 1,110 Euro F40s made between (1987-1992).
• There are minor differences in the gear ratios and the final drive ratio between the USA and Euro F40s.
• Although the USA and Euro owner's manuals both specify a horsepower of 478 PS, people like to think that the USA cars are a little bit more powerful (like, 500 PS or so), presumably to compensate for the extra weight. The manuals do note that the torque curves are slightly different.

The Euro cars are certainly more unfiltered and raw to drive, but both versions feel explosively fast, even if you are used to modern supercars, which are obviously much faster objectively but the F40 is on a different plane when it comes to communicating that "fastness" to you. When it comes to car experiences, be it as a driver or a passenger, there is a before-F40 and an after-F40. I have both the USA and the Euro versions.

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Originally Posted by meta

Hmmm, let us see:

• Porsche Carrera GT
• Ferrari F40 (USA version with Catalytic Converters)
• Lamborghini Diablo (one of the numerous variants)
• Porsche 959
• Porsche GT2 RS
• Pagani Huayra (Coupe)
• Ferrari F40 LM
• McLaren F1
• Lexus LFA
• Enzo Ferrari
• Ferrari 575 Maranello

So I could only get these correct:

- I was able to identify all the Porsche ones, but didn't knew the specific models

- Ferrari F40

- Pagani Huayra

- Lexus LFA

- Enzo Ferrari

[GTO]

Originally Posted by meta

Hmmm, let us see

My god, that is an insane-level of knowledge. I consider myself to be an expert on the mass market sedans & hatchbacks sold in India, but I'd never be able to identify them by their instrument clusters. At least not the rare ones in less than 2 hours like you have.

This community never fails to amaze me in some way or the other, every single day .

[meta]

Originally Posted by GTO

My god, that is an insane-level of knowledge. I consider myself to be an expert on the mass market sedans & hatchbacks sold in India, but I'd never be able to identify them by their instrument clusters. At least not the rare ones in less than 2 hours like you have.

This community never fails to amaze me in some way or the other, every single day .

To be honest, it is less impressive than it seems given that I have unfair advantage. I have had seat time in all of these except for the F40 LM, and I also have some of these in the garage.

[dr.aviansh]

This is a very interesting thread. Can we have some Indian cars to feel right at home?

[ds.raikkonen]

Originally Posted by meta

To be honest, it is less impressive than it seems given that I have unfair advantage. I have had seat time in all of these except for the F40 LM, and I also have some of these in the garage.

Any idea why the McLaren F1 instrument cluster had the tacho and speedo needles at 4 o'clock resting position instead of the usual 6 o'clock onwards?

I had previously imagined that it might be to keep the rev limiter (of the road going version, not LM) at 12 o'clock position for the driver's benefit, but that also is not the case since the rev limit was 7500 rpm (beyond 12 o'clock). My second guess would be to keep the needle at 6 o'clock position when the engine is idling.

Found a lovely article about a McLaren employee talking about the incredible design of the F1.

The instrument cluster is another nice one. I designed the instrument pack, and again, it seems so old fashioned now, but it was all done by hand. Pen and ink, and typography. I’d lay the letterset out, and then position the individual numbers by eye. It was a real challenge to get the visual balance right. Then, we photo-etched them into aluminum. On XP5, it’s just in kilometers per hour. The master one has miles per hour on the outside, which you can see on the XP1 LM. Graphically, it looks much nicer, because its proportion is just better. This version came later. Obviously, just like a race car, we wanted a big rev counter in the middle, because that’s your real focus. And you only need to see the key numbers, the 1-2-3-4-5, and then, to balance out over on the other side, the little warning lights. Maximum revs 7500 on the road car, slightly higher on the LM. Acid-etched into aluminum, it’s a beautiful lightweight piece. On the LM, it looks even cooler. I did it in carbon, engraved it and then filled it with white, so it’s reversed. Some customers chose those for their road cars. The hands are all machined.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...-9th-employee/

[meta]

Originally Posted by ds.raikkonen

Any idea why the McLaren F1 instrument cluster had the tacho and speedo needles at 4 o'clock resting position instead of the usual 6 o'clock onwards?

It was just a judgment call on the designer's part based on visual clarity and aesthetics. (The idle is not at 6 o'clock, by the way.)

Note that since the speedometer goes to 400, even with speeds numerically indicated in 20 kmh intervals, you need to use the majority of the dial's circumference.

The tachometer is comparatively sparser, but using the same circumference for markings allows for a clean and crisp look, with sufficiently granular (100 RPM increments) markings for the idle/low-RPM range, which is useful for keeping an eye on engine health.

With this design, if you were to place the 0 at 6 o'clock, you would lose the symmetry along the horizontal axis and it wouldn't look as nice. The "F1" logo on the tachometer would also have to be asymmetrically placed in the bottom right, instead of in the center of the empty space where it is.

They could also have rotated the layout so that the empty space would be at the bottom, but I think it's looks cool and unusual the way it is.

[ds.raikkonen]

Originally Posted by meta

It was just a judgment call on the designer's part based on visual clarity and aesthetics. (The idle is not at 6 o'clock, by the way.)


With this design, if you were to place the 0 at 6 o'clock, you would lose the symmetry along the horizontal axis and it wouldn't look as nice. The "F1" logo on the tachometer would also have to be asymmetrically placed in the bottom right, instead of in the center of the empty space where it is.

They could also have rotated the layout so that the empty space would be at the bottom, but I think it's looks cool and unusual the way it is.

I think that makes sense, they didn't want the tacho needle to interfere with the iconic 'F1' logo on the dial and making it symmetric along the vertical axis would have mandated to keep the logo at the bottom to avoid any interference.

What is the idling speed of that BMW V12? just curious

[meta]

Originally Posted by ds.raikkonen

What is the idling speed of that BMW V12? just curious

A healthy, unmodified engine will idle at close to 1,000 RPM.

[ds.raikkonen]

Originally Posted by meta

A healthy, unmodified engine will idle at close to 1,000 RPM.

Correct, idling limit is normally around the 1000 rpm mark.

Is that true for V12s as well (more reciprocating components but with lesser inertia like in similar displacement V8s), especially high performance ones with less fly wheel effect like in the McLaren?