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Is this the
future for world open-wheeler Motorsport?
With all the complaints about F1 (and
justifiable in my book) there is a very interesting
‘alternative’ looming, and just around the corner too.
This is the A1 Grand Prix championship.
The concept has been bankrolled by an
enthusiast with the (unbelievable) name of His Highness Sheikh
Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum and is reputedly his idea.
He is part of the Dubai Royal family, and has more than a
couple of shekels in his hip pocket.
The series will be a World Cup of
Motorsport with up to 30 franchises available, limited to one
per country. Each national team will be represented by a
driver native to that country, engendering strong local
support and presence for the team. So instead of Ferrari
against BAR, we will have Italy versus the UK. Good thinking.
It works for the Olympics, why shouldn’t it work for
motorsport? So far, six countries have taken up franchises,
including the UK, South Africa, China, Pakistan, Lebanon and
Portugal, with John Surtees, ex world champion on two and four
wheels at the helm of the British franchise. Other country
franchises are in the discussion stage and include India that
I know of.
Now here’s the next bit of the package.
Italy doesn’t get a ‘better’ car than the UK, the cars
are identical single-seater A1 racing cars, built by Lola, and
powered by a 550 bhp Zytek A1 Grand Prix V8 Engine. The idea
is to provide a level playing field with no driver aids
allowed. No driver aids! Is this not what we have been calling
for? We, the viewing public, want to see the drivers change
gear and use the clutch, just like we do. We want to see them
manage their own starts, none of this “Renault have better
starts than the other cars” rubbish. We want to see if
driver B can get the drop at the start better than driver D.
The races are scheduled to take place
during the European winter in countries enjoying summer
weather conditions such as Dubai, Bahrain, South Africa,
Indonesia, Malaysia and South America, according to my sources
from A1 GP, and might even include Australia. TV coverage is
also in place with Sky Sports taking up broadcasting rights.
Full coverage from each round of the international FIA
sanctioned series will be broadcast exclusively live, with
practice sessions, qualifying and the race itself.
To maintain the level playing field, so
there is no more of the “Bridgestone are better in the
wet” or “Michelin have been better at this circuit”
nonsense, there will be one tyre supplier, which is Avon (who
have been supplying Formula 3000 for the past years), so they
know what they are about too.
Each three day racing weekend will have the
same format. Day one, a Friday, will be free practice, day two
further practice followed by qualifying and day three a 15 to
20 minute sprint race which will determine the grid positions
for the longer main event, which will be for between 50 to 60
minutes.
So what our Sheikh has produced is a
framework that could actually work. It pits countries against
countries, and provides another opportunity for drivers all
over the world to compete on the world stage in equal
motorcars. Lola will provide the chassis, Zytek will provide
the engines and Avon have the tyres. The ultimate winner will
be a driver of ‘real’ class.
The F1 wallahs should be looking very
carefully at this new category which will commence around this
time next year. It could very easily overpower the current F1
establishment. Mark my words.
The price of buying a franchise will be
based on the population and wealth of the country, with the
United States, Britain, Germany and China costing more than a
team for Portugal or Greece. As a comparison, Ferrari has an
annual budget of about USD 400 million but the average team in
A1 Grand Prix would operate on a budget of about USD 40
million.
Now is there anyone out there who would
like to buy the Thailand franchise? I have the driver for you.
He’s a little older than most, but he’s very well
experienced, with his own weekly motoring columns, and the
race suit still fits!
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Autotrivia Quiz
Last week, I asked what was the first
750 cc engined MG to break 100 mph? It was EX 120, a
special M type Midget, de-stroked to 745 cc, with the
engine force-fed by a chain-driven supercharger.
So to this week. This should be simple.
What 7.5 litre V8 engined production sedan car connected
the torque convertor to the gearbox via a chain? Clue -
think of the late 60s.
For the Automania FREE beer this week,
be the first correct answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
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Is this the end for
Silverstone?
Every day I become more and more
discouraged by the direction that F1 is heading. With all
these flash new circuits, costing squillions, are we
forgetting just where F1 came from? The answer is a very
resounding “Yes!”
Did you know that the very first F1 race
was held at Silverstone in the UK in 1950? Did you know that
before there was an F1 world championship, the British Racing
Drivers Club (BRDC) awarded a Gold Star each year for the most
successful driver, which was the ‘unofficial’ world
championship? (By the way, Prince Bira of Siam won the Gold
Star three times on the trot before WWII.)
Did you know that today the BRDC runs
Silverstone? Did you know that Bernie Ecclestone wants
millions of dollars from the BRDC for the ‘rights’ to hold
the British Grand Prix? Millions of dollars that they don’t
have, but if they can’t find then our Bernie will pull the
plug on the British GP.
Now I am not canvassing support for the
BRDC, what I am suggesting is that it is high time someone
pulled the plug on Bernie. He has become a dangerous,
power-hungry despot, who can only see the money that the
developing countries can bring him. To hell with the past!
If there is no history, there will be no future. To ensure
the future, you have to preserve the past. This is where the
British teams, which include McLaren, Williams, Jordan, BAR,
Jaguar - half the entire field, ignoring the fact that Renault
F1 is headquartered in the UK, have to come together. Forget
their selfish financial aims and tell Bernie there will be a
British GP, and it will be held at Silverstone.
Koenigsegg or Curate’s
egg?
Surely the strangest name for a car has to
be the Koenigsegg, built in Sweden. The reason they called it
that is because the car was built by Christian Von Koenigsegg,
who called the latest creation the Koenigsegg CCR.
 Despite
the funny name, this little jigger has a top speed of 395 kph
(250 mph in the old money) and does the 0-100 kph in an
unbelievable 3.2 seconds.
Grunt (with a capital G) comes from a
4.7-litre V8 that produces a massive 600 kW of power and 920
Nm of torque. That is enough torque to tow city hall through
its car park!
The chassis and body have been made
entirely of laminated carbon fibre and epoxy composite, and
the reported weight is 1180kg. Koenigsegg’s international
head of sales, Patrik Nilsson unveiled the AUD 1.25 million
car at the Sydney Motorshow. (I would expect one to cost
around 70 million baht in this country.)
The KACS (Koenigsegg Advanced Control
System) allows the driver to adjust road-holding, suspension,
aerodynamics and braking to suit personal preferences.
Now I am a truly dyed-in-the-wool
enthusiast, but even I cannot see the need to build cars like
this. Just where can you run these supercars? Almost 400 kays
at full noise? Come on Mr. Koenigsegg, this is not a car,
it’s a lethal weapon in the hands of anyone who has not done
their apprenticeship behind the wheel of an F1 car. As a
design exercise it is totally superb. As a car for today it is
totally impractical.
Like I said - The Koenigsegg is like the
curate’s egg - good in parts!
BMW Hydrogen powered Boomer
BMW set nine speed records in France last
month. So what? The “So what” factor was the fact that
these records were set with a hydrogen powered BMW.
BMW’s new hydrogen car, the H2R, is
powered by a hydrogen fuel 6 litre V 12 power unit that
produces 210 kW, clocking zero to 100 kph in six seconds with
a top speed of over 300 kph.
BMW works drivers Alfred Hilger, Jorg
Weidinger and Gunther Weber set the records including a 14.9
second quarter mile, an 11.9 second flying kilometre and a
standing-start kilometre in 26.5 seconds.
“BMW technology has come a long way. Now,
together with politicians and the energy industry, we must
turn our vision of sustained mobility into reality,” said
BMW board member Professor Burkhard Goschel.
BMW have decided not to go down the
‘hybrid’ petrol/electric route, but have been developing
hydrogen fuelled engines instead.
The company expects to produce a production
version that will be a dual mode 7 Series built some time
during the production cycle of the current car, which ends in
2009.
Run-flat tyres are here
Well, even if not here, they were in Paris
at the Motor Show there. Michelin unveiled an early prototype
of their tyres without air. “No more pressure checks, no
more flats, no more spare wheels,” said Daniel Laurent,
Michelin director of conception and development.
The new tyres have a rated maximum safe
speed of 270 kph. Made from 115 rings of tough resin laced
with glass fibre it continues to give adequate roadholding
characteristics, even when shot with a rifle.
When will it be available? Sorry, but
Michelin did not give the date for the commercial launch, but
anyone who has ever had a puncture (and who hasn’t) will be
waiting expectantly.
Mind you, this is history repeating itself,
as the first rubber tyres were solid too. It was John Boyd
Dunlop who came up with the idea of putting air in them.
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Evo
VII