by Dr. Iain Corness |
Where are the
world’s fastest go-karts for hire? In Pattaya!
Pattaya has just had a visit from one of
the drivers competing in the British Formula 3 series. Young
Aussie, Julian Harburg, previously the Australian Porsche Cup
star spent an afternoon at our local Pattaya Kart Speedway
(next to Bungee Jump Thepprasit Road) with owner Andy
Scheidegger.
Julian,
who drives karts in the off-season to keep his eye in, said
that Andy’s Pattaya Kart Speedway’s karts are the quickest
hire karts he has seen in the world after sampling both the
2-stroke units and the V twin 500cc “monster” karts built
on site by Andy.
What many local motorsport enthusiasts may
not know is that Andy Scheidegger is a brilliant
“practical” engineer, whose go-kart parts are sent all
over the world. His centrifugal clutches, adapted from
standard motorcycle braking items are even run at the famous
and very large Eastern Creek go-kart circuit in Sydney,
Australia.
Andy
also has a penchant for discovering young talent, with his
latest “find” being Anna, a young 13 year old Thai girl,
who is pint sized but enormously determined and very talented
to boot.
She and Julian had a spirited “race” on
that Sunday afternoon and Anna showed she was not afraid to
bang wheels with the Aussie star. She will be competing in the
Thai championships this year in the Yamaha Class and will
definitely be one to watch.
Last year, through this column, we ran a
fun afternoon at the Pattaya Kart Speedway for some of the
enthusiasts here and after speaking with Andy we will do the
same again this year. I will keep you informed and we will
probably make it such that we put some vouchers up for grabs
for lucky readers. Watch this space.
No sex
please - we’re British!
Aston Martin, that British marque, but
now owned by Ford Motor Company, well known for the DB
series of sporting saloons, complete with half a tree
nailed on the dashboard, a herd of Guernsey cows in the
interior and trimmed with a cricket pitch of quality
Wiltshire carpet has really come out of the closet. Or
rather, it did for a short time!
Someone, in the cloistered mews where
Aston Martins are built, came up with some rather novel
marketing ideas. These included silver handcuffs and racy
leather - no, not gear knobs - but underwear! The
controversy erupted after Aston Martin sent catalogues
featuring handcuff belts, “perforated leather boxing
shorts” and “denim suede boxers” to 3,800 customers.
Unfortunately, one recipient of the so-called prurient
mail-out was one Edsel Ford, a member of Ford’s founding
family and non-executive director of FoMoCo. Edsel, it is
reported, is a regular church-goer and strong advocate of
family values, and was said to have been outraged at the
racy nature of the merchandise and insisted that some of
them be withdrawn. Aston Martin management has confirmed
that it was abandoning large parts of the collection,
including belts, cufflinks and key-rings modelled on
handcuffs, along with the afore-mentioned underwear and
dumbbells. The original catalogue, featuring scantily clad
models, is also being reprinted.
According
to the article in the Autorev newsletter (I quote), “One
executive involved in the project said the dispute went to
the heart of cultural differences between Ford and its
luxury brands. ‘On the one hand you have a go-ahead,
multi-brand, international company and on the other a very
blue-collar, conservative carmaker from Michigan,’ said
the executive, who declined to be named. (I wonder why?)
‘This shows the Michigan side has won out.’ “
“Earlier this month, Bill Ford -
Edsel’s cousin and current chairman of the carmaker -
unveiled a $9bn restructuring under the theme of ‘back
to basics’. At the time, he said Ford had been
distracted by non-core activities, and needed to rebuild
profits at ‘the Blue Oval’ by closing five plants and
shedding 22,000 jobs in North America.
“Ford’s decline in its home market
was blamed partly on costly expansion in consumer services
and internet ventures. Among those services, merchandising
has been dubbed ‘trash and trinkets’ at Ford’s world
headquarters. The group’s emphasis on customer-services
and growth in luxury brands was led by Jac Nasser, who was
ousted as chief executive in October.” (Once again, poor
old Jac cops it in the neck. I wonder how much FoMoCo paid
him for “scapegoat” duties?)
The Autorev Newsletter continued,
“While distancing himself from Mr Nasser’s record,
Bill Ford acknowledged this month that up-market
subsidiaries including Jaguar, Volvo and Aston Martin
could contribute a third of Ford’s total profits by the
middle of the decade. Last year, Aston Martin made only
modest profits of about $10m-$15m, although it hopes to
double annual output to 3,000 cars in three years.
“Merchandising is regarded by
Ford’s Premier Automotive Group (PAG), which manages its
luxury brands, as a key area of expansion. Wolfgang
Reitzle, the former BMW director hired two and a half
years ago to head the PAG, is understood to have approved
the Aston Martin collection. (Has anyone checked his
underdaks, I wonder?) Mr Reitzle and senior colleagues had
hoped to emulate the merchandising success of Ferrari,
Aston Martin’s Italian rival, which sells branded
luggage and clothing. Aston Martin declined to comment
yesterday on the controversy. But a spokesman confirmed
that it would be reprinting up to 5,000 catalogues with 20
new items. ‘We are re-evaluating the range and will come
out with new products, including pens and briefcases, that
are more conventional,’ said an official.”
Aston Martin, meanwhile, has officially
suggested that some of the products were being withdrawn
“because of sourcing difficulties”. That should
probably have read, “saucy difficulties.”
|
A “Classic” car
Reader Brian Parkinson recently took me to
task somewhat over my stand on “classic” cars a couple of
weeks back. I had said that when spending countless thousands
in restoring old cars what you end up with are “new”
vehicles with 40 year old technology. However, Brian did say
that many of these vehicles do represent a milestone in
motoring development, and he is indeed correct. Having been
lucky enough to drive half a million dollars worth of Ferrari
195 Inter, Lambo’s, Cords and the like, in my time, I will
as Brian suggested pop in the occasional “classic” piece.
Other enthusiasts should note the Automaniacs night out - the
2nd Monday of the month where we meet at Shenanigans at 7 p.m.
for the two hour Natter, Nosh and Noggin nights. All welcome.
Reggie Renno
is back!
The first Renault Formula One car in 17
years built for the 2002 season represents a landmark
moment for the company and the team. The huge strides
taken at the end of the 2001 season by the then Benetton/Renault
showed promising development under the guidance of
technical director Mike Gascoyne and engine guru
Jean-Jacques His.
Last
year’s Benetton B201 was mated to the radical wide-angle
Renault V10 engine, and the new, Renault/Renault maintains
that line of development.
“We took time to put the aerodynamic
and research programmes in place,” said Gascoyne.
“They started delivering dramatically at the end of
2001, but what you saw at the end of last year was just
the start of this process, and it will bring us real
benefits this year.”
Jean-Jacques His and his engine team,
based in Viry-Chโtillon in Paris, have focused on
lowering the centre of gravity of the power unit to
improve the car’s overall performance. The concept was
developed throughout 2001, and the latest evolution is
part of the continuation of that initial project.
“Re-entering Formula One as a works
team is a core strategic decision for Renault,” said
Gascoyne. “We are here to deliver, but I think the
senior management are also aware of the amount of time we
need.”
Renault pioneered the turbo concept and
produced a winner and even the V10 layout. I would watch
the Renault team this year. We could have a surprise.
|
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week we looked at Count Van Der
Straaten and his race cars that were known as the “flying
brackets”. I asked what was the model of these cars, and why
did they get that strange title? I even gave you a photo of
one of the race cars which had the name plate “Lola” on
it. What I wanted was the model of the VDS Lola cars. It was
in fact called the Lola T 430 and was dubbed the flying
bracket because they had brackets where the chassis’
suspension pick up points were, because they were most likely
Formula 2 chassis modified to take the Formula 5000 (V8)
engine and running gear. Of course “Lola” got that name
from Eric Broadley, the founder, after the hit song,
“Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets.”
A couple of weeks ago I wrote that it was
time for Mark Webber to get his long awaited F1 drive, and
this has finally happened with his getting the second seat at
Minardi “alongside” Alex Yoong. I firmly believe the only
time young Alex will be alongside Webber is when the cars are
sitting in the garage, the rest of the time Webber will be a
disappearing dot on the horizon. However, let’s get to the
quiz question! During the early part of Webber’s career he
was supported financially by another Australian sporting hero
to allow him to keep going. Who was that person?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be
the first correct answer to fax 427 596 or email [email protected]
Good luck!
|
|
|
|
|
|