Range Rover takes pothole fight to digital realm
Potholes. They are the bane of motorists’ existence around the globe.
They damage tires, wheels, nerves and cause accidents. While programs like the CAA’s Worst Roads campaign do a great job of bringing broken roads to the attention of municipalities, the engineers at Jaguar Land Rover have undertaken a pilot project to change the way we deal with potholes.
The British luxury brand’s “pothole alert” research project uses a Range Rover Evoque, which is able to spot a pothole or broken manhole cover and immediately adjust the suspension settings to lessen the impact.
That, in itself, is important but that data is then sent to the cloud, where other vehicles can access the information to slow down and avoid the pothole or adjust their suspension settings to minimize the impact.
Jaguar Land Rover is working with the Coventry City Council in the U.K. to determine how this data could be automatically relayed to authorities so that the road infrastructure could potentially be repaired before it becomes too big a problem.
Engineers are looking to an evolution of this technology to lay the groundwork for the company’s autonomous vehicle research, according to Dr. Mike Bell, Global Connected Car Director of Jaguar Land Rover. Father, daughter head west in a track-ready Mustang While filling the tank of a bright orange Jaguar F-Type about this time last spring, I was approached by a father and daughter who were driving a pair of late-model Mustangs.
One was a black 2005 model, while the other was one of my favourite driving machines, a “Race Red” 2013 Boss 302. As I ogled the pony, Ross and Emily Davidson checked out the Jag. I learned that the elder Davidson had a long connection with the iconic British brand.
Growing up in Winnipeg in the ’60s, Ross Davidson has memories of driving his Austin-Healey to nearby Interlake Dragway to watch the races. That early passion for cars saw Ross go into the car industry, first with Honda in 1977 and then Nissan, before becoming the vice-president of customer service at Jaguar Land Rover in Canada for close to two decades.
To round out his career, Ross did a stint at Grand Touring Automobiles here in Toronto.
Unlike some in the industry, he remained passionate about motoring and in 2012 embarked on a solo motorcycle trip beginning in Spain, crossing the Sahara Desert, with intentions of winding up in the Congo. That trip came to an end when Davidson became “unable to shake” the exhaustion that the gruelling ride induced.
In December of that year, Ross was diagnosed with Peripheral T Cell Lymphoma, an aggressive and incurable autoimmune cancer. Given two years to live, Davidson underwent aggressive chemotherapy treatments and agreed to a trial with an experimental drug and the determination to continue experiencing life to the fullest.
Our paths crossed again this week, early on Monday morning, as Ross and his daughter were about to embark on a road trip to Vancouver in that crimson pony car.
Davidson has passed along his passion for wheeled travel to his kids. Emily enjoys making passes on a drag strip and also rides motorcycles to spend time with her dad. She was excited to report that at last year’s Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame charity lapping day at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, she had the pleasure of having racing legend Bill Brack as an instructor.
To prepare the already potent Boss 302 for the trip, a couple of minor modifications were made. To help the big V8 breathe better, an electrically controlled exhaust cutout that allows exhaust gases to exit more efficiently was installed. With the help of “how-to” videos on YouTube, Ross and Emily installed a short shift kit themselves, which will allow quicker and more accurate shifts on track.
These modifications may seem counterintuitive for a cross-country road trip, but the Davidsons plan to stop in at that same drag strip where dad grew up and have a bit of a friendly competition to see who can hustle down the strip fastest.
As of this writing, the Davidsons have almost reached Winnipeg and are averaging an impressive 11.l/100 km fuel economy.
Track-ready from the showroom, the Boss 302 has fully adjustable shocks which, when set to soft, have proved to provide a comfortable ride, made even more comfy by the Recaro racing seats that are coddling the occupants.
All this shows that a high perfor- mance car can be the perfect choice for a road trip.
A celebration of the fun things in life, and in the spirit of cruising the drive-in, Emily and Ross plan to make a stop at every Dairy Queen they see as they cross the country.
If you’re interested, you can follow their adventures on Instagram at @nitrosundae. June weekends heat up with classic car action
If a road trip is more your style than the in-town hustle of the Honda Indy weekend, you might want to head out to Oakville Saturday for the Ontario Camaro Nationals, being held at the Holiday Inn & Suites near Bronte. Get all the details at ontariocamaroclub.ca
Next Sunday, which also happens to be Father’s Day, is the annual “Roar by the Shore” in Port Perry, on the streets of that community’s historic downtown, which also promises to offer a huge gathering of classics.
Of course the highlight of Father’s Day weekend for motorsport enthusiasts has to be the Canadian Historic Grand Prix on the Grand Prix circuit at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The title event this year is a celebration of the history of Formula Ford racing, with Canadian racing legend Gary Magwood acting as Grand Marshal.
This event is a great opportunity for fans of old racing cars to get up close and personal with the cars and stars of racing in this country.
Be sure to take in the “Legends of Mosport Drivers’ & Racers’ Reunion” at lunch hour on Sunday, where readers can meet up with many of the racers of 40-plus years ago.
The event will be MCed by Wheels editor Norris McDonald — if he can ever rip the microphone out of Magwood’s hands.
Learn more at varac.ca Gary Grant is a regular contributor to Toronto Star Wheels. For more Toronto Star Wheels stories, go to thestar.com/ autos. To reach Wheels Editor Norris McDonald: nmcdonald@thestar.ca