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

Thailand Super Series at Bira this weekend

Super Series Porsche.

The Super Series cars will be at the Bira circuit this weekend, with a line-up never before seen in Thailand. Lamborghinis, Ferrari, Porsches, V8 Holden, Toyota 86 and more high performance race cars. The grid will be packed, believe me.
This weekend Races 3 and 4 of the season will take place at the Bira Circuit. For everyone - drivers, teams, stakeholders, fans and the organizers, it is time for the final preparations. Not only that, they will be working out how they can pass each other on the very narrow and twisty Bira raceway.
In the Porsche brigade, Henk Kiks (B-Quik Porsche) will be someone to watch in the second category, along with Craig Corliss in the V8 Holden.
Amongst the other drivers at this meeting will be Tin Sritai campaigning his powerful BMW in Super 2000 this year and after winning the opening two races at Sepang he is looking forward to defending his early points lead at Bira.
One exciting new car that unfortunately won’t be at Bira next weekend is the new Mazda RX-8 of Pete Thongchua. The shell, which recently arrived from the U.S., is now starting on the build program at Rotary Revolution’s workshops.
There is also a first look at the Mitsubishi Evo VIII that Bhisanu Busitarnuntakul will debut at Bira.
And before you ask - my BBX/Acorn Retro Mk1 Ford Escort will not be racing this weekend, as there is no category for the Classic cars.

Chauffeur sacked!

The New RR Wraith.

The new Rolls-Royce Wraith coupe is being promoted as a driver’s car, making an army of Rolls-Royce chauffeurs redundant.
The car looks ‘sporty’ as opposed to the usual Rollers which are all stately sedans, with Sir in the back seat and “Home James” behind the wheel.
The fastback-styled Wraith coupe has the most powerful engine ever installed under the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot, with the twin-turbo V12 producing 465 kW/800 Nm to the rear wheels to give the luxury coupe a zero-100 km/h time of 4.6 seconds. Gone are the days when Rolls-Royce specifications did not show the actual power developed. “Enough” was the official figure.
The platform for the Wraith is a shortened and widened Ghost platform and has a teardrop silhouette transforming the Ghost’s stately sedan looks into a genuinely sporty vehicle. Rolls-Royce Asia Pacific general manager Dan Balmer says “We believe the Wraith will be the preferred car in the range and our Australian customers also have a very high uptake of bespoke personalization.” However, personalization comes at a price. Beespoke treatments - ranging from the expected custom interior and exterior colors to almost any whim the buyer decrees - will add to the $645,000 base price and extend the delivery time beyond early 2014.

The original pre-war Wraith.

As an option you can ask for a birds-eye camera and satellite-assisted eight-speed automatic transmission. The former is to ensure the Wraith isn’t damaged when parking, while the latter provides a predictive application of gearing: matching the transmission to the terrain and the vehicle’s velocity.
The doors are hung ‘suicide’ fashion (rear-hinged) and close with the push of a button while the interior has half a forest of open-grain wood veneer paneling, plus the “starlight” headliner that uses tiny LEDs to simulate a night sky and a multifunction screen.
The air suspension has been adapted to provide a more engaging drive when going hard without sacrificing the Rolls-Royce cruising comfort that isolates the four occupants from potential jostling on back roads - spilling one’s Veuve Clicquot vintage champagne would spoil not just the mood but leave marks on the herd of cow’s leather throughout the cabin.
This new Wraith is even more collectable than the pre-war Wraith.

Electrifying discounts Electrifying discounts

Tesla Model S

Many conflicting headlines in the business pages of the newspapers these days. On one side are the traditionalists and on the other the ‘new wave’. The traditionalists are stating that there is enough fossil fuel to go around, and by 2014, the demand will have actually increased, and what is even more important, the supply will still be there. On the other side of the coin, the new wave followers are thought of as the prophets of doom as they call out “the end of the oil supplies is coming”, but there is salvation, called ‘electric’ power.
At this early juncture I shall not get involved in the ‘global warming’ issue, other than to say it has nothing to do with the debate on global energy supplies vis-à-vis oil and electric. In fact, I am prepared to go down on record that ‘global warming’ is today’s Y2K scam - and scam that certainly was.
Electric motor cars have not taken off as it was predicted. Threats that there would be no more oil pushed some people into cars like the Toyota Prius; however, it has become increasingly obvious that there is enough oil for my lifetime - and yours!
Global consumer demand for hybrid and electric vehicles looks to be overhyped and is likely to account for only a small proportion of total vehicle sales over the next decade, despite multi-billion-dollar investments and fast-paced development in the car industry, according to a forecast by global marketing information company JD Power and Associates.
In a report titled ‘Drive Green 2020: More Hope than Reality’, JD Power expects that hybrids and EVs will account for just 7.3 percent - or 5.2 million units - of the 70.9 million passenger vehicles forecast to be sold in 2020.
“While considerable interest exists among governments, media and environmentalists in promoting HEVs (hybrid electric vehicles) and BEVs (battery electric vehicles), consumers will ultimately decide whether these vehicles are commercially successful or not,” said JD Power’s senior vice-president of automotive operations, John Humphrey.
“Based on our research of consumer attitudes toward these technologies - and barring significant changes to public policy, including tax incentives and higher fuel economy standards - we don’t anticipate a mass migration to green vehicles in the coming decade.”
In the US, the main players in the electric wars are slashing the price for their electric offerings, and lowering interest rates to make leasing even cheaper. They would not be doing this if customers were standing in a queue for an electric vehicle.
So how many are being sold right now? National US figures reported that total US vehicle sales were 9.1 million for the first seven months of this year. Electric cars? 49,000 only, which is 0.5 percent of total sales.
To try and stimulate sales in the ‘green’ arena, GM have cut USD 5,000 from the price of their Volt, while Daimler Benz have reduced the leasing costs on their electric Smart Fortwo to a deposit of USD 1,995 and monthly repays of USD 139 for 36 months. Renault have already slashed the price on their Leaf, with a USD 6,000 reduction earlier this year.
Despite these major players fighting for the green dollar, the best selling electric car in the US is the Tesla Model S and which sold 12,200 Model S in July.
GM are still very hopeful of an electrifying future, with plans to manufacture 500,000 cars a year (batteries included). Quite frankly, I do not believe it.

Performance cars?

I started driving in the 1950’s, and I have to admit that it was my father’s car, and he didn’t know about the mischief I would get up to when my parents were away for the weekend. The car? A 1939 Austin 12, made at the beginning of the war. Remember that war? That was the one the Germans lost, so they could come back later and take over Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Mini. What was left, like MG and Rover ended up in China.
But back to Dad’s Austin 12. It was a large four door family saloon produced by the Austin Motor Company and was launched in August 1939 and produced until replaced in 1947 by the similar sized but larger engined Austin A70 Hampshire. With beam axles front and rear and mechanical brakes, it was more comfortable at rest than when in motion. It would not pass any of today’s design rules. Definitely one of the worst cars I have ever driven.
My first ‘real car’ however, which was mine and mine only, was a 1949 Austin A40 and was 10 years old when I took ownership. It was not a good buy, blowing up after two weeks. These days I would be more careful in pre-ownership checks; however, it was repaired and did serve me for the next 10,000 miles without too many hiccups. But it was painfully slow.
The A40 was actually considered a power machine in its day. A 1.2 liter straight-4 OHV engine produced 40 bhp (30 kW) at 4200 rpm. It also had front coil sprung independent suspension but retained a rigid axle and semi elliptic leaf springs at the rear. The Girling brakes with 9 in (229 mm) drums were operated hydraulically at the front and mechanically at the rear.
An A40 tested by The Motor magazine in 1948 had a top speed of 70 mph (110 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 37.2 seconds. Read that again - 37.2 seconds! To record those sorts of times, I think they probably had to use a calendar! Another in the ‘worst car’ category? Well, certainly in the slowest car category.

Autotrivia

Last week I asked what is the connection between the singer Sam Cook and the pre-war Frazer Nash sports cars? And no, he didn’t own one as far as I can ascertain. The answer was to remember Sam Cook’s hit “The Chain Gang”.
So to this week. Sticking with R-R - how many body styles did Rolls-Royce make pre-war?
For the Automania free beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected].

An ode to older drivers

I’ve sure gotten old!
I’ve had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement,
New knees, fought prostate cancer and diabetes
I’m half blind,
Can’t hear anything quieter than a jet engine,
Take 40 different medications that
Make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts.
Have bouts with dementia.
Have poor circulation;
Hardly feel my hands and feet anymore.
Can’t remember if I’m 85 or 92.
Have lost all my friends. But, thank God,
I still have my driver’s license!
(Yes, how many of those chaps do you come across driving to work each day, but don’t flash your lights and blow your horn - it might be me!)