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1989 Mitsubishi HSR II
The bubble-top shape of the 1989 Mitsubishi HSR concept car was meant to predict a look when highway speed limits are 200 mph.
Unlike many concept cars of the time, the 1989 Mitsubishi HSR concept car was fully drivable.
The HSR hugged the ground tighter as speed increased with the help of flaps that raised automatically to provide stabilizing downforce.
The 1989 Mitsubishi HSR concept car had a production-based turbocharged 2.0-liter twincam 4-cylinder engine and all-wheel drive.
Part of the HSR concept car's appeal was the fact that many of its features existed in some form on Mitsubishi production models, such as the Eclipse.
Ground-effects spoilers that looked like side running boards showed how the 1989 Mitsubishi HSR concept car blended styling and technology.
A rear-view video monitor was just one of the many near-future-think gadgets inside the 1989 Mitsubishi HSR concept car.
With Mitsubishi a technical leader in electronics, it was no surprise the cockpit of the 1989 Mitsubishi HSR concept car was packed with video displays.
Bilder: Mario Buonocunto Concept Cars Page; Publications International, Ltd.; eye-love.jp
The Mitsubishi HSR (Highly Sophisticated-transport Research) is a range of concept cars exhibited by Mitsubishi Motors through the late 1980s and 1990s. There were six distinct iterations of the vehicle released biannually to coincide with the Tokyo Motor Show, with each model after the original identified by a Roman numeral suffixed to the name.
The second generation had a heavy emphasis on active aerodynamics, with a series of movable fins and spoilers offering a drag factor which varied from 0.20 to 0.40 depending on setup. Much of the technology found its way to the Mitsubishi HSX, the precursor to the company’s GTO sports car.
Wiki
The 1989 Mitsubishi HSR concept car body design was first seen in public at the Tokyo Motor Show, and the fully drivable car proved to be a virtual show-stopper.
Audiences at American exhibitions in 1989 cast a similarly excited eye at the bubble-topper's organic, functional shape. Near-future drivers, they learned, might be "enclosed in a reinforced, space-age skin, with expansive visibility all around." Better yet, they would revel in a "solid sense of confidence and well-being."
Aerodynamics had been the buzzword in the auto trade for several years already, so the Mitsubishi HSR concept car appeared to be the next logical step forward. Even showgoers who knew (and cared) little about a car's coefficient of drag, not to mention the coefficient's impact on high-speed stability and fuel efficiency, could imagine a vehicle like this barreling down tomorrow's open highway — and probably without having to stop at every other gas pump along the way.
Sounded great, in theory. Onlookers might be excused for temporarily forgetting the traffic jams and crazed drivers they might have encountered on the way to the auto show. Dreams can't be bothered by such tiresome realities.
In fact, what Mitsubishi created was not quite as futuristic as it appears. Many of its elements and features weren't "maybe" devices at all, but real technological developments that were close to completion.
Several already existed in some form on contemporary cars. A number of HSR's powertrain and suspension components, in fact, were shared with the company's Galant and Eclipse models.
Mitsubishi's Eclipse coupe, for instance — built at the new Diamond-Star plant in Illinois — benefited from the same research that produced the HSR. According to the company, the Eclipse gained a startlingly low drag coefficient of 0.294, along with the lowest frontal-lift coefficient of any production car.
Drag coefficient of the Mitsubishi HSR concept car itself dropped to an unheard-of figure of 0.2, an amount more appropriate in an airplane than a road vehicle. Moreover, the flowing form created a useful down-force that increased road-hugging capabilities at high speeds. It actually held tighter as speed rose, maneuvering as precisely at 200 miles an hour as at more modest velocities.
auto.howstuffworks.com
Концепт-кар Mitsubishi HSR-II – это испытательная лаборатория на колесах. Именно на концептах серии HSR (Highly Sophisticated-transport Research ), которых было сделано шесть поколений, в компании отрабатывали свои перспективные технологии. А HSR-II был самым скоростным из них.
Машина оснащалась 300-сильным V6 с двумя турбинами, разгонялась до скорости свыше 320 километров в час, а ее изюминкой стали активные аэродинамические элементы. Их у HSR-II было целое полчище: два активных спойлера сзади (причем при движении по скоростной дуге они работали независимо друг от друга), активный задний диффузор, передний сплиттер и боковые элементы. Коэффициент лобового сопротивления, таким образом, варьировался от 0,20 до 0,40.
Задачей HSR-II было продемонстрировать возможности автомобиля будущего – причем под будущим японцы, похоже, понимали ограничения на дорогах в 300 километров в час. Автомобиль умел распознавать линии разметки, дорожные знаки и препятствия, используя видео-, инфракрасную камеры, а также ультразвуковые сонары. А еще мог мчать на большой скорости практически в автоматическом режиме.
Влад Клепач - motor.ru
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