2009 September | Idle Musings

Archive for September 2009

With the second best record in the NL (90-65), two of the best pitchers in the league in Adam Wainwright (19-8, 2.58 ERA) and Chris Carpenter (16-4, 2.30 ERA), the best player in baseball in Albert Pujols (.329 ERA, 47 HR, 129 RBIs, .446 OBP, and .671 SLG), maybe the best defense in baseball, one of the top managers in Tony La Russa, and the ability to score a lot of runs from anyplace in the lineup, this is going to be a fun set of playoff games to watch. Here is looking forward the the Yankees in the World Series!

Called the L1 and feature a carbon-fiber body wrapped around a 0.8-liter twin-cylinder turbodiesel engine developing 36 horsepower and matched to a 7-speed dual-clutch DSG and a 14-horsepower E-motor hybrid electric drive system. With a curb weight of just 1,100 pounds and a super-slippery aerodynamic body thanks to its tandem seating layout, the L1 is claimed to return a fuel economy of 157.8 mpg (1.49L/100km)—we think this is low enough to warrant the L1 or ‘1-Liter’ name.

The 800 cubic centimeter turbodiesel engine in the L1 is essentially half of the 1.6-liter unit found in the Golf and Polo BlueMotion vehicles, meaning it is a series-engine-derived mill. Performance isn’t as terrible as you might expect from a hyper-frugal hybrid, either: top speed is 100 mph and it can reach 62 mph in just 14.3 seconds—not so far behind some standard cars on the road today.