And what fuels our thirst for oil? (Autoblog.com)

With the Gulf blowout spewing oil, talk of a resurgence in renewable energy development, a restarting of talks about carbon trading, and all the blame placed on big bad oil and big stoopid government (they actually think that replacing BP is a better choice - yea, right, they have the professionals), what about the demand side of that equation? We all need to take a look in our own rearview mirrors. The muscle car era of the 50'-60's-70's created horsepower wars, but NOTHING like we are experiencing today. A 627hp Corvette? 1001hp Bugatti Veyron? To the auto sector's credit, there have been dramatic changes in the development of hybrid and electric power. But the horsepower war continues. Now the real comparison needs to be the efficiency of those horses. My guess is that today's engines run cleaner and more efficiently, with the development of variable valve timing, direct injection, variable turbo geometry, and advanced electronics and engine management software. But for now our demand for horsepower continues, the culture change is not likely to ever be complete, for now the world still has far too many Car Crazies.

Engine power has increased 112% since 1980... and other fun facts about the Horsepower Wars

by John Neff (RSS feed) on May 25th, 2010 at 11:01AM 

The Horsepower Wars – Click above to view infographic

325diggsdiggIn this day and age, even the average sedan is packing some serious heat under the hood. It didn't use to be like this and there was a time when even "sports cars" were listed under 150 horsepower. For those unfamiliar with the history behind the horsepower wars, follow the jump for an infographic primer from the 1960s to the present day.

[Source: Auto Insurance for Autoblog.com]

Read more →