Michael, Author at OVALNEWS.com - Always fanatical; Occasionally interesting Land Rover & Range Rover News

2013 Range Rover, Queen Mary funnels and 900mm of wading depth #NewRangeRover

From all we’re reading the new Range Rover doesn’t let us down in off-road capabilities, one of the surprises was the increase in wading depth over its predecessor, up 200mm to 900mm or almost 35 inches.

Back in the 2013 Range Rover media dark ages, I posted these pictures showing some interesting vents along the edges of the hood. I had thought they may have had something to do with a functional yet decorative hood vent.

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They are functional and were known as the “Queen Mary funnels”

As we learned from the PistonHeads.com:

Ingesting intake air via the gap between bonnet and wing permits this, circulating it within the clamshell bonnet before entering intake funnels dubbed ‘Queen Marys’ after their resemblance to ship funnels. The earlier QE2 nickname was dismissed when it was discovered only one of the ship’s funnels functioned, trivia fans!

And a few more shots from the cut away:

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Michael2012-09-09T22:09:34-04:00September 11, 2012|

2013 Range Rover, the little things, part four, Computer Controlled Active Vanes #NewRangeRover

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It was this image that lead to this post, can you guess which item caught my interest?

Computer Controlled Active Vanes, described as such:

Active vanes in the main grille optimize aerodynamics by blanking off the grille when cooling airflow isn’t needed.

We’ve actually heard about this before on the Land_E back in 2010:

The ITP Intelligent Thermal Program controls engine parameters including exhaust heat management and cooling system function. Through heat exchangers, the EHRS (Exhaust Heat Recovery System) utilizes what is normally wasted heat from the exhaust system to promote faster engine and gearbox warm-up from cold, with several advantages. In a production application, ITP could also control Active Aero Vanes, which would allow specific sections of the radiator aperture to be closed under certain operating conditions. That would reduce high-drag airflow through the radiator core and engine bay when cooling air is not needed – for instance at low ambient temperatures and when running in low-load conditions. The vanes would also be closed during engine warm-up, again to ensure that the engine reaches optimum operating temperature as quickly as possible. Faster engine and catalyst warm-up significantly reduces emissions in the first minutes after a cold start, and by bringing engine and gearbox oils up to operating temperature more quickly, it reduces mechanical frictional losses.

And a note from the 2013 Range Rover Owner’s Handbook:

To improve aerodynamics, the vehicle is fitted with active vanes that open only when the
engine temperature rises or when the air conditioning is turned on. The active vanes
must be opened manually to allow access to clean any debris from the radiator and the air
conditioning condenser after off-road driving.

1. Start the engine and allow it to run for a few seconds..
2. Switch off the engine.
3. Switch on the ignition.
4. Select Sand mode on the terrain response system.
5. Switch off the ignition.
6. Using a hose pipe, direct clean water through the front bumper (where shown)
to remove mud from the radiator and air conditioning condenser.

Michael2012-09-11T23:52:05-04:00September 10, 2012|