AUTO MANIA

by Dr. Iain Corness

China makes more than copy watches and Crocodile T shirts

According to GM Daewoo, China is making copy cars as well, claiming in a lawsuit lodged in mid December that Chery Automobile, a Chinese car manufacturer, has illegally copied the design of the Daewoo Matiz.

GM Daewoo, a South Korean subsidiary of General Motors Corp. (GM), licensed SAIC (Chery)-GM-Wuling Automobile Co., or SGWA, a General Motors joint venture, to manufacture and distribute the Matiz II-based vehicle sold as the Chevrolet Spark in China in 2003 under a technology licensing agreement. They have now sued Chery Automobile for alleged violation of China’s competition law, accusing the Chinese carmaker of violating GM Daewoo’s intellectual rights.

The Daewoo Matiz

In a statement, GM Daewoo alleged ‘extreme similarities’ between the Chevrolet Spark, and the Chery QQ. In a press release GM Daewoo claimed that Chery produced the QQ through copying and unauthorized use of GM Daewoo’s trade secrets, while Chery was claiming that it had developed the vehicle on its own.

GM Daewoo also filed a petition with the Patents Review Board under the (Chinese) State Intellectual Property Rights Administration Bureau to invalidate Chery design patents. It claims Chery copied features of the Daewoo Matiz that was launched long before Chery registered its patents.

GM Daewoo said the two vehicles shared very similar body structures, exterior designs and key components, and the vast majority of parts in Matiz and QQ were interchangeable.

The Matiz was designed and engineered by the former Daewoo Motors and over 1.3 million units have been sold since 1998.

The cheery Chery

The Chinese government advised GM to resolve the issue through mediation, said Ken Wong, general counsel of GM Daewoo. However, he said, “Despite our good faith efforts and the assistance of the Chinese government in the past year or so, Chery has been non-responsive to the mediation efforts, and has even stepped up efforts to export this vehicle to other markets.”

Is this the ultimate ‘badge engineering’? It would appear so. We shall await the outcome of the ‘mediation’.

It was reported that Chery was not available for immediate comment!


More on Sir Stirling Moss

Following my article on Sir Stirling and Juan Manuel Fangio, in which I put forward the idea that Stirling was a car breaker, and it was that, rather than anything else, that stopped him becoming the world champion, one reader (Mike Davies) wrote in.

“Your article brought memories flooding back to me. I was present at the British GP at Aintree in July 1955 when Moss beat Fangio by 0.3 of a second, it was a great race, both driving Mercedes. The race was over 90 laps a total of 270 miles so it was quite gruelling.

I attended every major race at Aintree as I was living in St Helens at the time, but I was doing my National Service in Germany when this race was run, but I requested my leave so that I could attend the race, arriving the night before the race, but I was young and mad in those days.

I also attended the Grand Prix d’Europe incorporating the RAC British Grand Prix in July 1957 again over 90 laps. Moss and Tony Brooks in a Vanwall won with Musso Ferrari second and Mike Hawthorn in a Ferrari third.

There were other great races that I saw and the last major race was in April 1964, the Aintree 200 won by Jack Brahbam from Jim Clark and a young man by the name of Jackie Stewart won the formula three race.

Apart from those I have named above I saw some other great drivers there, such as Bruce McLaren, Wolfgang von Trips, Phil Hill, Richie Ginther and others.

Later when I was more sensible (?) we lived near Oulton Park racing circuit in Cheshire and the manager used to let me try out my sports car of the day and there were many of them, but my favourite for going round the track was the Lotus Elan SE, that car was great and the worst was the Austin Healy 3000 Mark III, it was a pig on corners.”

(Thank you Mike for your reminiscences, and I would certainly agree with you about the A-H 3000 Mk III. The same 6 cylinder (truck) engine was also used in the MGC and I was given a pre-production test drive at Abingdon in the UK, after which I described it as going like a bullet, and cornered the same way! Dr. Iain.)


BMW’s new M Series feature a V10 engine

With the Eff Wun BMW V10 being considered one of the most powerful in the field, BeeEmm have taken some of the technology to build its first V10 engine for their road cars.

This V10 is a 5 litre, and produces a maximum output of 378 kW and a maximum torque of 520 Nm, making the new M5 the most powerful production model in BMW’s extensive vehicle line-up. The previous M5 engine was a V8, which developed 25 percent less power than the new V10, a difference that all drivers will be able to appreciate.

The cylinders of the V10 are arranged at the now usual angle of 90 degrees, which BMW claim decreases vibration. To ensure maximum stiffness and resist the high loads resulting from combustion pressures, engine speed and vibrations, a bedplate design has been chosen for the crankcase, which has integrated cast iron inserts. The crankshaft has six main bearings, and the engine spins up to 8,250 rpm, fairly high for a production engine, but still a long way short of the 19,000 plus used in the V10 F1 application.

The cylinder heads have four valves per cylinder, with flow-optimised five mm shafts, spherical valve tappets with hydraulic valve play compensation and single valve springs.

The engine uses natural aspiration, with 10 intake trumpets and 10 individual throttles which are electronically controlled to make the engine highly responsive in the lower speed range, as well as to achieve an immediate response at the higher end.

BMW M5

The V10 engine has an exhaust system that is dual-flow, right to the four tailpipes, one way of picking the ‘real’ M5’s from the imposters, of which there will be many in this country! I am prepared to bet that BMW Thailand will sell more M5 badges, than they do M5’s!

The M5 gets its power to the ground through a new seven speed sequential gearbox which allows gears to be changed using the central gearshift lever or via steering wheel paddles so you can play F1 drivers. There are 11 gear change options, depending upon how ‘sporty’ you feel that day.

The transmission also senses gradients and adjusts the shift points on gradients and descents, to prevent hunting when going up a long hill, and holds the lower gears for longer to make effective use of the engine’s braking power going down hill. It also uses the anti-creep feature to stop rolling back when stopped on gradients.

Knowing the attention to detail that BMW put into the road holding dynamics, the new M5 will be one helluva motorcar. I want one!

But then, there is another option. That is the M6!

BMW M5

Reports from Down-under say that they Aussies with enough money are already putting deposits down for a vehicle which will not be available until the end of the year 2005. “We have been getting inquiries about the car ever since the rumours surfaced earlier this year,” said BMW Australia’s general manager for marketing and communications, John Kananghinis. “I think it is safe to say that the 20 or 30 examples of the car we will get next year will go pretty quickly.”

The current 6 Series Coupe retails for AUD 203,000 (12 million baht in Thailand) plus on-road costs. The M6 is likely to be approaching the 18 million baht range.

“It is going to be a car aimed more at the type of buyer who would consider a Porsche 911, and not just an ordinary 911, but the GT3 style of buyer,” Kananghinis said.

The M6 gets the same high-tech V10 as the recently launched M5, along with the seven speed sequential manual gearbox, which includes launch control. The new owners of an M6 will be able to hang a sign on their doors, “Gone to launch!” I think I want one of these even more than the M5, but if I can get my backside in either, I won’t complain. Are you listening to me, BMW Thailand?


Autotrivia Quiz

Last week, I mentioned that in South Australia, if you find an old car built before 1930, the chances are that it will be partially dismantled. I asked what is the reason for this? The clue was to think of government regulations! The answer was that before 1930, any car had to be registered if it were complete, whether it was in use or otherwise, and an annual tax applied. However, to get round this, owners would partially dismantle the cars so they did not have to pay tax!

So to this week. How and when did the terminology “the pits” come into common usage in motor racing?

For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected]

Good luck!


100 horses per litre

In the BMW M5 and M6 V10 engine, much has been made of the fact that this is delivering 100 bhp per litre in a road car. Indeed this is an output that was originally the aim of pukka racing engines. However, I should point out that motorcycle engines had been achieving this magic figure long before car engines.

Evo VIII

Getting back to the M5/6 V10, this is nowhere near the first road engine to get to these numbers. In 1985, the RS Cosworth Escort from Ford had 204 bhp from its 2 litre engine and even the mini-cars had this by the end of that decade with Daihatsu dropping a turbocharged 1 litre engine in the Charade which developed 100 bhp per litre. Others that are currently on sale include the Ferrari 360 CS which gets 116 bhp per litre and Mitsubishi’s Evo VIII, which churns out an unbelievable 170 bhp per litre. Yes, 340 bhp from the well worked over 2 litre Mitsu engine!