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

Monaco Grand Prix this weekend

Tight squeeze in Monaco.

Following on from the win for Fernando Alonso and Ferrari in Spain, is there anyone willing to hazard a guess for the winner at Monaco this weekend? With the limitation in passing opportunities round the Monegasque houses, pole position becomes very important. The most critical part of this Grand Prix will then happen on the Saturday. And that’s qualifying. He who is on pole, has a greater than 75 percent chance of winning. So who will be on P1?
Mercedes has built cars that are very fast over one lap (Qualifying), resulting in two pole positions, but their cars cannot keep up the pace and fall back, as could be seen in Spain, with Rosberg ending down in 6th and Hamilton 12th. I predict a lot of cars tripping over Mercedes by one third through the race!
However, Monaco is the Grand Prix to be seen at this weekend (as opposed to a Grand Prix to see motor racing at). It is not the GP to go to, unless watching B List ‘super-stars’ is your idea of fun. This may, of course just be jealousy on my part, not even making the D List… The harbor will be bollard to bollard expensive yachts and the villa car parks will have all the Lambo’s, Ferrari’s, Bentleys and Maserati’s you would ever wish for. If you go for the atmosphere, then this is the GP for you. If you go for GP racing, forget it and go to Spa. Monaco has been processional for the past decade.
I will be watching the dedicated F1 channel, with no adverts, during the race, from my perch in front of the big screen at Jameson’s Irish Pub, Soi AR, going there at 6 p.m. for a meal and a beer before the race at 7 p.m. Why don’t you join me?
Qualifying is at 7 p.m. on the Saturday 25 May, with the race at 7 p.m. on Sunday 26.

Road safety (or the lack of it)

Brazilian road toll.

Drivers fail to obey traffic laws, which many of the region’s governments notoriously don’t enforce. Cars must navigate crumbling roads and poorly designed highway systems that all but make gridlock and accidents unavoidable. And many drivers simply value perks such as alloy wheels and sound systems over unseen crumple zones.
Does all that seem to be obviously Thailand? Well, it is not. In Brazil, an analysis of Health Ministry data shows that 9,059 car occupants died in vehicle crashes in Brazil in 2010, according to the most recent statistics available. That same year, 12,435 people in the U.S. were killed in car crashes, though the U.S. passenger car number is five times larger than Brazil’s. The result is again easy to predict - Brazilian automobile crash victims died at four times the rate as those in the U.S.
However, to get the figures to make a bit more sense and be able to be compared with one another, it is better that we should look at fatalities per 100,000 head of population. Brazil’s is 19.9 per 100,000, while Thailand’s is 19.6 per 100,000. The USA by comparison is 12.3 per 100,000.
However, we are not the worst in the world - Eritrea’s stats are 48 deaths per 100,000 of the population, but I can’t think of any good reason to go there!
Nevertheless, our figures are scandalous, and even more galling is the fact that in Thailand, the group most killed are young motorcyclists, not wearing a helmet and full of hooch. The target group is known, but nothing is being done, other than lip service.

20 year batteries here already

A US study has indicated that batteries used in electric and hybrid cars could have a lifespan of up to 20 years - much longer than car-makers are guaranteeing.
Some brands, including General Motors and Toyota, will only guarantee the batteries in their cars for up to eight years.
The American Chemical Society investigated the question of battery life in cars but only looked at the more expensive lithium-ion units, and not the nickel-metal hydride types used in the Toyota Prius in some markets.
The results are interesting. “The (lithium-ion) battery pack could be used during a quite reasonable period of time ranging from five to 20 years depending on many factors,” Mikael Cugnet, a project manager at France’s Atomic and Alternative Energy Commission, told the society’s meeting in New Orleans.
“That’s good news when you consider that some estimates put the average life expectancy of a new car at about eight years.”
Toyota introduced its Prius hybrid to Australia in 2001, however, since its launch there the car has used the cheaper, less energy-dense nickel-metal hydride batteries, though the recently introduced Prius V petrol-electric hybrid people-mover, uses the more expensive batteries.
Dr Cugnet’s study noted that deterioration in lithium-ion batteries was affected most by heat, with temperatures above 30 degrees affecting performance “instantly and even permanently” if it was for an extended period, which is not good news for Thailand, with the tropical temperatures well over 30 degrees at present.
Dr Cugnet also said electric vehicle owners needed to closely monitor a battery’s charge in hot weather, as a fully charged battery was “more vulnerable to losing power”.
The study ranked a battery as beyond its useful life after it had lost more than 20 percent of its original charge capacity.
Nissan’s Leaf electric car came under close scrutiny last year after US owners started to complain about big drops in the lithium-ion battery pack’s ability to hold a charge.
Owners in warmer parts of the US, including Arizona, Texas and California, started noting that their Leaf was losing up to a quarter of its battery capacity in a matter of months.
The website mynissanleaf.com estimates the rate of battery deterioration in Leaf electric cars worldwide and predicts that a car driven in Melbourne would fall to 82 percent of charge capacity - just above the study’s cut-off of a 20 per cent loss of charge capacity - within five years, and would fall to 70 percent in 11 years.

Branson finally graduates as an AirAsia flight attendant

A sultry, lipstick-wearing Sir Richard Branson finally earned his stripes as an AirAsia flight attendant, when he honored his friendly wager on board AirAsia X’s flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur.
Sir Richard shaves his legs, if not his chin.

The Virgin Group founder and chairman shaved his legs, slipped into a sexy red skirt and took to the skies as a female flight attendant on a special AirAsia X charity flight.
The event came more than two years after losing a bet to AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes. Sir Richard and Fernandes had wagered on which one of their Formula One racing teams would finish ahead of each other in their debut season of the 2010 Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, and the stakes were that the loser would serve as a female flight attendant on board the winner’s airline. Fernandes’ team finished two spots above Sir Richard’s team in the final rankings.
The flamboyant entrepreneur spent the five and half hour journey pouring coffee or tea, serving meals, distributing goodies, entertaining and making in-flight announcements for the lucky guests and international media on the flight which helped to raise money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
Fernandez said, “He is an entrepreneur, visionary, knight and adventurer, and Sir Richard can now also add AirAsia flight attendant to his long list of credentials.”
Sir Richard Branson said, “This has been a real first for me but I have enjoyed the experience and I have nothing but respect for what our fabulous flight attendants do every day to keep us safe.”
In preparation for his new role, Sir Richard had his legs publicly shaved during a cocktail event in Perth; however, I think our Thai transvestites are much better looking.

Thailand to continue as an auto hub

Thailand’s automotive industry showed its strength in 2012, manufacturing 2.45 million vehicles. This represented a 68 percent increase from 2011 and saw Thailand elevated to 10th place among car producing countries. However, it should be remembered that following the floods, production nose-dived, with some factories inundated, so it was natural that huge increases in production would be seen.
With the government backed incentive scheme for new car buyers last year, this pushed domestic car sales to 1.43 million vehicles last year, up by 81 percent. Car exports increased by 40 percent to over one million units, a record high making Thailand the world’s seventh-largest car exporter.
With the world economic woes, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) forecasts that production will be only marginally improved at 2.5 million vehicles this year. 1.4 million of which is destined for domestic sales. The FTI also expects to see export sales drop by six percent if the strong baht keeps around 29 to the dollar this year.

Tesla goes to the top of the quality tree?

The new Tesla Model S is bringing the electric sedan within the reach of more of the public with a starting price of about US$70,000.
Not only has the Model S contributed to a profit bottom line for the electric car company, in addition, Tesla Motors Inc.’s all-electric Model S sedan ranks as the influential magazine Consumer Reports’ highest rated vehicle.
This publication rated their US$89,650 Model S a 99 out of 100, the first time since 2007 that CR has rated a car that high.
Apparently CR thought so highly of the Tesla that they said that it was very close to being the best car ever!
The Model S, when equipped with an 85 kilowatt hour battery, could get 320 kays on one electric charge. The US$ 70,000 base model only has a 60 kilowatt hour battery. However, even at US$ 70,000, this is still expensive for a vehicle built in the US.

Autotrivia Quiz

Last week, in an attempt to confound the Googlers, I asked you to have a look at the photo. I asked what is it and who built it? It was the Kettenkrad made by NSU.
So to this week. Which record breaking drivers towed a portable petrol bowser, so they could refuel on the run?
For the Automania free beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected].