AUTO MANIA: by Dr. Iain Corness [email protected]

Bangkok International Motor Show open

Bangkok International Motor Show.

The Bangkok International Motor Show at Impact Arena is well underway, having been opened to the public since the 27th of March.
As usual, Mercedes has used our motor show to release the RHD version of one of their models, this time being the new E Class.
Other manufacturers also have either new models or concept cars on display. This is the motor show not to miss! It closes on 7th April.

What did we learn from the Malaysian GP? - “Silly” Sepang

The Malaysian GP certainly had amazing weather with rain and heat, plus the addition of frost on the podium. Current world champion Sebastian Vettel displayed what might just be his true colors with his “win at any cost” attitude, ignoring his team’s instructions and risking taking both the Red Bull cars out of the race. (More on that later.)
In the Mercedes team garage there was a similar situation with team instructions to the drivers to hold position, much to the annoyance of Nico Rosberg who had to sit behind Lewis Hamilton, their expensive new driver, who now knows he is definitely Number 1 and Rosberg will have to wear the Number 2 hat, and bad luck Nico! Despite Rosberg’s pleas to the pits to let him pass Hamilton, he was firmly put in his place by Team Manager Ross Brawn and told to hold position. In Hamilton’s favor was the fact that he was uneasy standing on the third spot on the podium and even said that Rosberg should have been up there and not him.
Ferrari had a weekend to forget as their star driver Fernando Alonso lost the plot on the first lap, knocked his front wing askew and ran off the track, deep into the kitty litter, never to be seen again. Felipe Massa in the other Ferrari who had secured second on the grid seemed to be asleep for the first 90 percent of the race, but bucked up towards the end to come fifth.
And so to Red Bull and their driving buddies Vettel and Webber. For once, Webber had a blinder of a start, shook off Vettel and Alonso and had the race well in his pocket long before half distance. With the final stop out of the way for both Webber and Vettel, Team Manager Christian Horner told both drivers to turn their engines down and go easy on the tyres and cruise to the finish. This meant that Red Bull would safely come first and second, with the win going to Webber. However, Vettel decided he wanted the win, ignored his team’s orders, battled with Webber (who had already turned his engine down) and jeopardized the perfect finish. Adrian Newey, the Red Bull engineering genius, tore strips off Vettel afterwards, with Vettel assuming a hang-dog appearance and the bottom lip was starting to pout. Christian Horner did not come to Vettel’s rescue either, and amazingly, Team Advisor Helmut Marko (Vettel’s greatest proponent) was left where he could not justify Vettel’s actions in public.
Webber was furious, but has been in these situations before, saying, “In the end Seb made his own decisions today and will have protection as usual, and that’s the way it goes.” At the post race press conference Vettel did offer an apology, but a rather hollow one. This race has left a stain on Vettel’s character, but I am not surprised, having shown a rather immature side of him previously.
Force India had identical wheel nut failures on both cars. With the financial woes being experienced by team owner Mallya, were they cheap copy ones from the back streets of Mumbai?
One other aspect shown in Sepang is the ridiculous tyre situation, where drivers have to pussy-foot around with tyres that self destruct after six laps. This is nonsense. Pirelli should be told to make tyres that last the entire race distance, and that is it. The public are being robbed of the spectacle of drivers giving it their all, and are getting turned off by it. Are you listening FIA?

Road toll in Thailand among highest in the world

Lawrence of Arabia.

The Nation newspaper has reported that up to 26,000 people get killed in road accidents every year in Thailand, which puts the country sixth in terms of road casualties. Of those killed, up to 70 or 80 percent are motorcyclists or their passengers.
These statistics were released at a press conference by Vice Interior Minister Silapachai Jarukasemratana last week.
He told the press that the key causes for the deaths were speeding, drunk driving or the failure to wear safety belts or crash helmets - all of which are offences under traffic laws.
Now while I congratulate officialdom on keeping statistics, I can assure you that these are not the complete figures, as in Thailand, to be counted as a road death you have to die right there on the bitumen. Those who die later in hospital are not counted.
However, you don’t need to be an Einstein to see that if you attack the 70-80 percent, you would see a dramatic reduction in the road toll.
So why do motorcyclists get killed? It certainly isn’t from road-rash, but from brain damage, all of which can be reduced by the wearing of a proper helmet. This is not something new, but is something that has been proved all over the world for the past 80 years. Yes, 80 years, making Thailand quite behind the times.
However, it is interesting to look at the history surrounding the use of helmets, starting with motorcycle helmets, going back as far as T.E. Lawrence, otherwise known as Lawrence of Arabia, who died from brain injuries in 1935 following a motorcycle accident.
One of the neurosurgeons who attended Lawrence was Australian Dr. Hugh Cairns. He was profoundly moved by the tragedy of this famous First World War hero dying at such a young age from severe head trauma. Having been powerless to save Lawrence, Cairns set about identifying, studying, and solving the problem of head trauma prevention in motorcyclists.
In 1941, his first and most important article on the subject was published in the British Medical Journal. He observed that 2279 motorcyclists and pillion passengers had been killed in road accidents during the first 21 months of the war, and head injuries were by far the most common cause of death. Most significantly, however, Cairns had only observed seven cases of motorcyclists injured while wearing a crash helmet, all of which were nonfatal injuries. His 1946 article on crash helmets charted the monthly totals of motorcyclist fatalities in the United Kingdom from 1939 to 1945. The obvious decline in the number of fatalities took place after November 1941, when crash helmets became compulsory for all army motorcyclists on duty. His article concluded, “From these experiences there can be little doubt that adoption of a crash helmet as standard wear by all civilian motorcyclists would result in considerable saving of life, working time, and the time of hospitals.”
It was not until 1973, 32 years after his first scientific article on the subject, were crash helmets made compulsory for all motorcycle riders and pillion passengers in the United Kingdom. And many, many years after that for the use of crash helmets to be legislated in Thailand, and some SE Asian nations are yet to follow.
However, legislation alone is not enough. Helmets have to be of a sufficient standard to give the protection needed. The plastic bucket favored by some motorcycle taxi riders is worth very little as far as saving lives is concerned. There needs to be a standard, and the US Snell Foundation is one such organization, for example.
So what should be done here? The answer is two-fold. One -all helmets to be sold in Thailand have to meet international standards. Put a date on this such as Jan 1, 2014, so that shops can clear their current stocks. Very easy to police this by snap visits to stores selling helmets. And Two - the Thai Police have to crack down on the non-use of helmets by motorcycle riders and pillion passengers.
The latter is easy to do, and should not be just another revenue gathering for the BiB at the end of each month. The legislation is already there, enforce it properly.
If this were to be done, Vice Interior Minister Silapachai Jarukasemratana would be able to proudly announce a reduction in the road toll of at least 50 percent. But does the government have the tenacity and ‘will’ for this to happen?
Don’t hold your breath!

Porsche GT3 RS is coming

1973 Porsche RS Carrera.

Following on from the Porsche 911 GT3, which has enough performance to get anyone in trouble, Porsche has now announced the ultimate derivative, the Porsche 911 GT3 RS.
Much has been made of the fact that the original RS Carrera of 1973 was the forerunner of special models, all derived from the road-going 911. For my money the 73 RS Carrera was the ultimate Porsche, naturally aspirated, stripped lightweight and capable of 240 kph off the showroom floor.
However, we cannot live in the past, and the new 911 GT3 RS is just around the corner, this one being related to the Type 997 911 GT3 RS launched in 2010, being called ‘Rennsport’ models being some of the best examples of race cars built for the road, or even vice versa.
According to Andreas Preuninger, the head of Porsche’s GT production car department, said work was already well underway on a new 911 GT3 RS and that we could expect to see the new car early next year. “The RS is always three-quarters of a year behind the GT3, so we’ve already begun,” he said.
Once again hearkening back to the halcyon days of 911’s that took full concentration from the driver, or else it would bite you when you least expected it, you were presented with clutch, brake and accelerator pedals and the rest was up to you. However, these days technology has come up with what Porsche call their PDK dual-clutch transmission. Superfast - the new 2014 Porsche 911 GT3 shifts gears in about 100 milliseconds, but that’s not fast enough and the unit in the 911 GT3 RS will be tuned for even faster shifts. On top of this, the electronic steering may also be tweaked so that it matches the brilliance of previous models, with regular hydraulic steering.
Preuninger explained that the slightly tamer nature of the 2014 Porsche 911 GT3 meant that its RS variant will be made even more extreme to help its performance. Expect a stripped lightweight, more aggressive aerodynamics and increased output from its engine. A figure of around 500 horsepower is likely.

Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked how did a newspaper delivery boy for W H Smith & Son get to own a Rolls-Royce? Quite easily, the delivery boy’s job was the first employment for Sir Henry Royce.
So to this week. In 1956 a new range of cars started production in Europe with a wide variety of models based on a common engine/chassis configuration. This included a saloon, two estates, a coupe and convertible, plus a two seat sports car and sports convertible. What was the manufacturer?
For the Automania free beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected].