With Happy Hakkinen back on top of the leader board for
the World Champs (or is that “World Chumps”?) we could be looking at
an interesting race here at Spa this weekend.
Let’s face it; it has to be better than the last one
two weeks ago in Hungary. As Jerry Carpenter said, “All parades are
boring.” Couldn’t agree more. The bloke sitting next to me in the bar
at Delaney’s even fell asleep mid-race!
So what did we get out of it? Well, for starters that
BMW engined Williams is starting to look like a real race package. Schumi
Junior is driving well, and young Button is learning fast. Pity that Sir
Frank, the great benefactor of race drivers, has a five year contract on
Jenson Button. Sir Frank will probably have him driving the transporters
for the next four years after he gives up his seat for Montoya, rather
than let him drive for anyone else, or put a ridiculously high price on
the transfer fee. I’d trust Sir Frank as far as I could throw the
Dolphin roundabout statue.
Poor old Johnny Herbert has really lost the plot, I’m
afraid. He is one of the genuine Mr Nice Guys, but a year’s supply of
unreliable Jaguars has taken its toll. Johnny will actually do well in the
USA next year where he will be racing in the CART series.
A driver who is impressing quite a few people this year
is Pedro de la Rosa. Definitely outdoing Jos Verstappen.
And what about BAR? Baah, is about all I can say. They
must have offered Jacques Villeneuve a huge salary to stay there for the
next three years. However, Zonta is getting a plane ticket back to Brazil.
Join me trackside at Delaney’s in front of the big
screen for the race. By the way, I suggest you get there early as all the
prime seats were gone by 6.30. There must have been at least 50 people
there I reckon.
Fancy a cheapie?
Came across the list of new cars for sale
(theoretically, I might add) in this country, and it was actually quite
interesting to see how “cheap” or otherwise cars are in Thailand. Did
you know you can get into a Beemer for just over 1.1 million, for example?
Or that the cheapest Ferrari for sale here is a mere 17.6 million, which
roughly equates to about five average houses.
So let’s look first at what you can buy for under
500,000 baht. There is quite a choice with nine vehicles (I shudder to
call them “cars”).
If price is of the utmost concern, then Mr Mazda can
get you into the bottom of the line B2500 pick-up for 363,000 baht. 86
horsepower as well from the 2.5 litre OHC engine.
Throw another 3,000 baht on the table and Mitsubishi
will have you in the driver’s seat of a very basic 2WD Strada and you
get 90 horses under the hood, or you can nick over to Nissan and try on
the NV SLX for size for the same money.
Stack another 5,000 on the table to bring you up to
371,000 baht and you’re driving away in an Isuzu Spark EX, with 79
available horses to drag you down the yellow brick road.
For 378,000 baht you have just slotted a bottom of the
range Ford Ranger pick-up in your garage or with another 6,000 baht on top
you’ve managed to get yourself a Toyota Tiger by the tail.
Of course, if you’re willing to throw 400,000 baht at
the salesman, you can actually get a CAR instead of a pick-up! The nice
man at Hyundai will fit you into a 1.5 litre Accent and even give you
1,000 baht change as well. What a bargain!
The next vehicle I could find under half a million was
the bottom of the line Toyota Soluna at 431,000 baht. The top of the line
Soluna being 141,000 baht more expensive, so don’t look for too many
luxury accessories in the bargain basement model.
The next (and last) car in the bargain line-up comes
from Mr. Honda, but you’ll have to put 432,900 baht in the man’s
pocket to get the most basic Honda City Li. “Li” probably stands for
“Lacking Items” - well I’m sure you won’t get A/C and Fast Glass
for that money when the next City model up, the EXi MT retails for
527,900.
So there you are, there are actually quite a few
choices under the magic half a million mark, but whether you would want to
drive one is another matter. After reviewing the offerings, I think I’d
probably go for the Nissan NV, which is a sporty little pick-up and the
most powerful (at 110 BHP) of the cheapies. Reliability shouldn’t be a
problem either, Nissan having a good build quality these days.
Jamboree time for the 4x4 brigade
The Malaysian 4x4 Jamboree is going to be held at the
Shah Alam Stadium Off Road track Selangor on October 6th-8th this year.
Sponsored by the Silverstone tyre people, there is a strong contingent of
Thai 4x4’s going down for the trip and the activities.
If you want to know more about this 4x4 experience
contact my old mate Captain Sitthichoke at the Asia Offroad Centre (038)
431 672, or 01-855 4858. He knows the full score and can handle all
aspects and is totally reliable. A good guy to know in the 4x4 bizz!
Old Racers never die
It has been said that old racers never die, they just
slip backwards down the grid. That ain’t necessarily so (as the song
went) and I was reminded of this by an email I received the other day from
an old Aussie mate, John English. John and I go back a long way with the
pair of us competing against each other in 1976, then forming one of the
most successful racing partnerships in Queensland, where between us, we
built the first pair of rotary engine, “winged” space framed sports
sedans seen locally in 1980. They were real giant-killers in those days.
We
always kept in touch, and two of his boys actually got their start in
motor racing through my QUIT Team five years ago, with John coming on
board as the Team Manager.
John wrote that he had just set the new lap record at
the Lakeside circuit, while getting the top spot on the podium yet again.
While trailing me in the age stakes by five years, he’s still no spring
chicken to be still appearing at the top of the grid. Perhaps I should
slot myself into one of those AIM Concept Cars at Bira and have another
bash myself. The revenge of the wrinklies!
