THE evo ENCYCLOPEDIA
In the second instalment of our new series of enlightening motoring definitions, we dissect a carefully curated collection spanning from C-pillar to dry sump
C-pillar
The rearmost pillar on many cars, and the one on which car designers can really go to town with sculpting and fancy window shapes. Or, in the case of the new Mazda3, installing an area of metal the size of a football pitch.
C-segment
How very boring people refer to Golf-sized cars. (Unless you are actual Volkswagen, in which case C denotes large saloons. Guys, you didn’t leave yourselves enough letters. That’s why you have to call the Up an AA car.)
Cab-forward
Car design philosophy in which the passenger cabin sits as far forward as possible, giving a short bonnet and greater interior room. Much seen on Chryslers in the 1990s until Merc gave them some rear-wheel-drive hardware to play with, at which point their cabins moved backwards again.
Cadence braking
PRE-ABS braking technique in which the pedal is pumped in rapid succession with the aim of achieving high retardation without locking the wheels. Not to be confused with people who jab the brakes every 20 seconds while driving on a clear motorway. The technical term for these drivers is ‘morons’.
Cadwell Park
Leafy and undulating east-of-england circuit. Sort of like a British Nürburgring. But smaller. And nearer to Lincoln.
Camber angle
The angle of a car’s wheels away from the vertical. If the bottom of the wheel sticks out more than the top, that’s negative camber, as seen on the rear axle of BMW M-cars and madly modified VWS. If the top of the wheel sticks out more than the bottom, that’s positive camber, as seen on the rear axle of Triumph Spitfires shortly before an accident happens.
Camshaft
A shaft with multiple lobes for the purpose of converting rotating motion into reciprocating motion in order to open inlet and/or exhaust valves. Also the name of Scotland’s most badass private detective of the 1970s.
Carbonfibre
Reinforced plastic material offering a high strength-to-weight ratio. First used to make a Formula 1 car monocoque in 1981 (Mclaren MP4/1), it began appearing in road cars soon after, featuring in the construction of the Ferrari 288 GTO and F40 and, obscure British sports car fans, the Panther Solo. Full carbon monocoques followed in the early ’90s on the Mclaren F1 and Bugatti EB110, although technically the first on a road car was on the Jaguar Sport XJR-15 (above).
Car boot sale
Quaint tradition in which a local rugby club or school playing field is taken over by people selling old DVDS and slightly broken things while sitting near the boot of their car. The natural nemesis of the Toyota MR2 Mk3.
Carburettor
Device for blending fuel and air into nice raspy noises and crisp throttle response.
Car park
Vehicular repository not to be confused with a large biblical boat full of large freshwater fish.
CART
Defunct American car racing formula known in Britain as ‘that one Nigel Mansell did’.
Castor angle
The angle of a car’s steering axis away from the vertical. Not to be confused with Castor Angel, who tested for Williams in the late ’70s. Probably.
Catd
Former car insurance classification and reason why that M135i on ebay is so temptingly cheap. Now called Cat N.
CATS
What Jaguar used to label its active damping system, supposedly standing for Computer Active Technology Suspension, though that’s really just a word salad to reach a felinerelated pun. Imagine being the person in the meeting who came up with this one. They probably got the rest of the afternoon off.
Cd
Drag coefficient. A measure of how much air resistance an object presents, much favoured by car marketing departments in the ’80s.
Central reservation
Area between two carriageways where bumper shards and old shoes are stored.
Central steering wheel
Car layout offering an enhanced sense of control and a lack of requirement to tool for right- and left-hand drive, but also disadvantages such as compromised ingress/egress and an inability to talk about it without referencing the Mclaren F1.
Chicane
Short S-shaped feature on a road or track, often introduced to reduce speeds. From the French verb ‘to spoil the Mulsanne’.
Clocks
Word for car instruments used by people trying to sound like pilots. See also ‘Cockpit’.
Close ratio
A gearbox boasting short ratios and small gaps between them. Something Porsche seems to have forgotten about recently.
Cockpit
The operating compartment of an aircraft, sometimes applied to the driving seat of a car by people who want to sound more impressive/like a bit of a berk.
Co-driver
A car passenger who has a job to do, part of which is not being sick. In rallying a codriver is typically a calm man with a stoically sturdy British name such as Bob or Don, strapped into a seat next to a monosyllabic Scandinavian with little apparent regard for their own mortality.
Coilover
Suspension component comprising a coil spring encircling a damper and the thing American people on the internet immediately tell others to fit in order to improve their car’s handling.
Compound
What tyres are made of, typically a blend of actual rubber and other ingredients such as carbon, acid, zinc oxide and oil. Also a kind of large yard where American lunatics in cults always seem to live.
Compression ratio
The ratio between the volume of a combustion chamber when the piston is at the bottom of its travel versus the top. Released a couple of decent albums on Factory Records in the early ’80s.
Concours d’élégance
Event where extremely rich people gather to look at each other’s extremely valuable cars and admire how little they have been driven.
Con rod
Connecting rod. The part of an engine that connects a piston to the crankshaft. Will cause a failure to proceed if thrown.
Convertible
The version that’s not as good unless it was designed to be one in the first place.
Coupe
A sporty two-door car and not, despite the best efforts of many car makers to convince us otherwise, a lumbering and pig-ugly SUV with a slightly more slanted tailgate.
Courtesy car
The strange-smelling Vauxhall Corsa with the wafer-thin clutch that you have to drive while your actual car is being mended.
Crest
A hump in the road, ideal for the getting of air and the breaking of sump. Also a brand of toothpaste popular amongst rally drivers.
Cross spokes
Style of alloy wheel very popular in the 1980s, and with good reason, because they look excellent and take a mere nine hours each to clean.
Cruise control
System capable of maintaining a given speed, although whatever that speed is will feel like 400mph the second you come up on some much slower-moving traffic.
Cyclist
Road user for whom traffic lights are just a suggestion.
Daily
A car in frequent use for mundane tasks such as commuting. Extra points if it is something conventionally considered unsuitable for this, such as an Ariel Atom or 1972 De Tomaso Pantera.
Dakar
Place that Parisians with rally cars needed to get to quite urgently, apparently.
Damper
Tube of oil (and sometimes also gas) mounted between car body and wheel as part of the suspension with the purpose of controlling the movement of that suspension, thereby steadying the body and helping to maintain the tyre’s contact with the road. Also called a shock absorber, although absorbing shocks is really the spring’s job.
De-badge
To remove indicators of model and/or power output from the rear of a car. As a general rule, the higher the horsepower, the cooler the act of de-badging, e.g. BMW 520d: not cool; BMW M5: very cool.
De-icer
Thing you can never find during the first cold day of winter. See also ‘Scrapers’.
DFV
Double Four Valve racing V8 by Cosworth and the most successful F1 engine in history, with 12 drivers’ titles and ten constructors’ trophies (plus two wins at Le Mans, ten at the Indy 500 and countless others).
Distinctive
A polite way of saying a car’s styling is ugly, e.g. ‘the new BMW M4 is expected to be extremely distinctive, building on BMW’S latest design language, which has made most of its cars look so terribly, terribly distinctive’.
Diesel
A frequently noisy type of engine. Also a frequently whispering type of actor.
Dog leg
A gearbox in which first gear is located down and to the left, so named because this pattern looks a bit like the shape of a dog’s hind leg.
Double clutch
Increasingly popular transmission system, the idea of which dates back to the 1930s, though it took until the ’80s for Porsche to make the idea work on its 962 endurance racer. The Porsche tech was also fitted to Audi’s Sport Quattro S1 with less success since drivers complained it threw off their natural driving rhythm. Commonplace in fast cars today, though many companies still offer a manual alternative that no one orders.
Double wishbone
Suspension design using two wishboneshaped arms, an upper and a lower, the chief pluses of which are an increase in negative camber as the suspension compresses, to the benefit of tyre contact patch and grip, greater flexibility on damper placement, and lower height than a strut for potential sleekness of styling. Also, it sounds quite cool.
Downforce
Air resistance pressing down on a moving car. In a race car it has the benefit of increasing grip during cornering. In a road car it has the benefit of giving the marketing department something to talk about.
Drivetrain
The collective parts of a car that deliver the output of the engine to the wheels. Also what a train driver does.
DRL
Daytime running lights. Once the preserve of Volvos and Saabs, now a legal requirement on all new models as of 2011. Research suggests DRLS are likely to reduce daytime multivehicle accidents and fatalities by six per cent, once all vehicles are so equipped. There hasn’t been any research into the effects of those who, as a result of DRLS, forget to put their headlights on after sundown.
Dry sump
Engine lubrication system in which oil lives in a separate reservoir rather than in the sump under the engine. Dry sump is crisp and oaky, and goes well with fish and chicken, unlike a sweet sump, which is better with pudding.