by Dr. Iain Corness |
RX-8
I openly admit that I am impressed with the
Mazda Rotary series. Mazda in Japan took an engine (the
Wankel) that NSU could not make work in the NSU Ro 80, and
turned it around (I stopped the temptation to say they rotated
its fortunes).
Initially it was not plain sailing for
Mazda. The early rotary engines were well known for being
thirsty and wearing out the seals on the rotary piston, but
Mazda persevered where NSU did not, and made the thing work.
Not only make it work but make it work sensationally well. I
watched an episode of Top Gear, the UK TV motoring series the
other night (thanks for the tape, Alan) and presenter Jeremy
Clarkson, not known for lavish praise, was just in awe of the
new RX-8. 9,000 rpm from a standard road engine, producing 250
bhp from a nominal 1.3 litres swept volume is a large number
of neddies.
 Mazda
RX-8
However, the 1.3 litres is not quite
correct, as you cannot calculate the capacity as you would a
normal reciprocating engine, each piston having three
‘cylinders’ that it sweeps every revolution. All very
tricky, but whatever, the Mazda rotaries return the
horsepower. I was one of the first racers in Oz to throw away
his Lotus Twin Cam and install a Mazda 12A rotary in its
place. The difference was enormous, and the reliability was
incredible. From those days on (1980) I have been a faithful
convert, even to the point of buying a second hand RX-7 as my
daily drive car. It never missed a beat either, and in two
years of ownership I spent absolutely zero on repairs. (I
replaced it with an MX-5 Mazda which was also dead reliable.)
 Wheels
magazine in Australia runs that country’s COTY awards (Car
Of The Year) and the winner was the RX-8, beating the new BMW
5 and Z4, Nissan 350 Z, the Audi A8 and a host of others
down-under.
The main reason for the RX-8’s garnering
the top prize was the fact that it has brought in a new
category of car - the 2/4 door sports coupe.
With the tricky ‘suicide’ doors for the
rear, it has all the advantages (and looks) of a sportscar,
but has rear doors and (usable) rear seats. I always called
the rear seats on my Porsche 911 series the jump seats for two
legless midgets, and while the RX-7 series did have slightly
larger rear seats, my children grew out of the space by the
time they were five years old. Perhaps I had large children.
 No,
the RX-8 goes a long way towards being the right car for all
reasons (and seasons) and despite our down-under correspondent
John Weinthal not finding it his cup of tea writing,
“Drawbacks - for some - will be the relatively torque-free
rotary engine and its great thirst. On the other hand it sits
far back and low in the body. This contributes to the
outstanding handling, and the rotary sounds fantastic nearing
its 9,300 rev limit. For my money, however, the rotary still
delivers more as a talking point than as a must-have benefit.
The RX-8 ensured a very special motoring week, but I am unsure
that its large novelty appeal would endure.”
For my money, the RX-7 endured where many
said it would not, and the RX-8 will do likewise. Mazda
deserves all the accolades that the RX-8 will get. Including
mine.
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6.9 billion to be spent on road
safety
Read an item the other day that the
government will spend 6.9 billion baht on road safety as the
road toll costs many hundreds of billions, according to some
pollie or other. With the 6.9 billion they will buy more speed
guns and breathalyzers and let’s hope it works. If they can
do something about the road toll (one of the worst in the
world) then fine. Only thing is I still don’t think they are
looking hard enough at the statistics. With 80 percent of
fatalities from motorcyclists falling on unprotected heads,
there’s a good place to start and I doubt if speed guns and
breathalyzers are going to dent those statistics. As I have
written somewhere else about helmet standards I won’t repeat
it, but if every motorcycle rider and the passenger(s) were
wearing good helmets, that were done up correctly, the road
toll would fall by about the same 80 percent. And it
wouldn’t cost 6.9 billion.
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What did we learn
from Imola?
Well the first thing we had learned by
Saturday evening was that Michael Schumacher can make
mistakes and Michael Schumacher can be beaten in
Qualifying. A brilliant lap by Jenson Button gave himself
and BAR their first Grand Prix Pole position.
The second thing we learned was that
whilst Michael Schumacher might have been beaten in
Qualifying, he wasn’t beaten in the race. Another
totally dominant performance by the German, faultless in
every respect.
 Jenson
Button - “I couldn’t have done it without my Mum.”
We also learned that McLaren Mercedes
are still in deep doggy-doo, with Raikkonen needing yet
another engine. The fourth in four meetings. As reported
in the pulp press, Hans-Ulrich Maik, managing director at
Mercedes -Ilmor (the engine designers/builders) was given
the DCM (Don’t Come Monday) and Martin Whitmarsh moves
from being managing director of McLaren Racing to take
over the operational management of the entire
McLaren-Mercedes F1 programme. Nobody’s head is safe as
there is reputed to be a question mark over the future of
technical director Adrian Newey, following the team’s
catastrophic start to the 2004 season, despite Raikkonen
scraping into the points in 8th place. Hero to zero in
five months! Chief designer Mike Coughlan and executive
director of engineering Neil Oatley, are also said to be
under pressure to deliver. With Montoya already having
signed to join McLaren Mercedes next year, he must be
wondering if it was such a smart move!
 Montoya
and Schumacher
Williams BMW were always in the top
half of the field, but not in a position to do anything,
other than crash into people, if your name is Ralf
Schumacher. A complete replay of the Sato incident, but
this time with Alonso. Other than the first lap, Montoya
wasn’t anywhere either. 3rd from go to whoa, other than
some wheel banging on the first lap with Schumacher (the
elder). This provoked some heat in the press room
afterwards, with Montoya accusing Schumacher of pushing
him off. The drivers were shown a video clip of the
incident and Jenson Button was asked for his opinion. The
Englishman, in true diplomatic styles, said he didn’t
see the incident.
Asked about the fact that he appears to
be attempting to go around the outside of the Ferrari,
Montoya replied, “I’m amazed, I actually got in front
of him when we were braking,” he studied the TV monitor
and continued, “oh no he didn’t see me there
(laughter). No chance. You’ve got to be either blind or
stupid not to see me. But you know it is racing.”
Asked if the move was “optimistic”,
Montoya said, “I’ve done it before and it has got
quite a lot of grip. I managed to get above my position
there and when I was driving out of the corner he just
pushed me wide. I’ve done it before at the Nurburgring
passing him on the outside. You know he had very little
grip on the first few corners. I understand he has got to
defend his position, but how far do you go to defend your
position, that’s the question. Or how far are you
allowed to do so.”
Asked about the gesture he made to
Schumacher on the ‘slowing down’ lap, Montoya replied,
“I just said ‘what happened, what were you
thinking’. That’s all.” At which point Schumacher
said, “I thought you were congratulating me.”
“I never do,” said Montoya! So I
think Big Schumi’s off the Colombian’s Xmas card list.
Personally I would consider the tactics just hard close
racing. There was wheel banging, no car damage (only ego)
and manoeuvres that Montoya uses all the time (especially
on Little Schumi).
What else did we learn? Well, we saw
why Rooby Baby Barichello is always going to be number two
at Ferrari. When one driver is unchallenged in the lead
and the other slips backwards from 4th to 6th, you have
the answer. Barichello may be a ‘good’ driver, but
he’s not outstanding.
Renault? While 4th and 5th for Alonso
and Trulli looks good on paper, Alonso only passed Trulli
in the pits, the site of most of the action, other than
lap 1. It was, unfortunately, another high speed
procession.
Jaguar? We learned that Mark Webber can
qualify quicker than the car can do. He lost engine power
after lap 15 and it was a long slow frustrating race for
the Aussie. Jaguar have still got a long way to go before
they are competitive. Klien, their second driver, was
nowhere at any time.
Dull, dull, dull!
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Money well spent
I notice that Bangkok and Pattaya are
moving into the digital countdown traffic lights that are all
the go in Malaysia, according to those who went to KL for the
Malaysian GP. These are a great idea, and the best ‘traffic
calming’ measures I have seen. When you know you have only
another 33 seconds to wait, there’s no need to get feisty,
and when you are 100 metres away and there’s five seconds to
go, there’s nothing to be gained by rushing. Let’s have
more and see them universally used throughout Thailand. The
small change left from the 6.9 billion (above) would be well
spent.
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Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked who imported a 3.5
horsepower Peugeot in 1896 and won a gold medal with it in the
Thousand Miles Trial? The answer was The Hon. Charles Stewart
Rolls. Later to become famous as the Rolls of Rolls-Royce.
So to this week. I will also say that it is
a hard one - but do try. I want to know where the chequered
flag, denoting the finish of a motor race, came from. Why was
it made of alternate black and white squares, and when was it
introduced?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be
the first correct answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
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