US GP at Indy this weekend
The US GP is held at a special
‘stadium’ circuit built inside the famous ‘Brickyard’
Indy circuit and incorporates one straight and one corner of
the American classic.
The ‘Indy’ circuit, more correctly
known as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (there is also a
circuit called Indianapolis Raceway Park), opened in 1909 as a
2.5-mile track paved with bricks. Each of the long straights
is 3,300 feet long, the short straights are 660 feet. Each
turn is 1320 feet long and banked at 9 degrees and 12 minutes.
The track is now surfaced with tarmac and there have been
subtle changes made to the turns to slow down cars - or to
speed them up when the Indy Racing League took over the
Indianapolis 500. The ‘Brickyard’ held its first 500 mile
race in 1911 and the Indianapolis 500 is now the world’s
oldest continuously run motor race. It is also the richest
motor race and the world’s largest single day sports
spectacle.
Tony
George, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was
almost single-handedly responsible for bringing F1 racing back
to the United States. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway had to
be brought up to standard in order to host the United States
Grand Prix, including a new Paddock area which would allow
cars to exit from the garage directly onto Pit Lane. Also, in
a major concession to the traditions of F1 racing, the 2000
USGP marked the very first time that a race had been run in
reverse (clockwise) direction at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway!
Despite the hour (1 a.m.) I will be at Jameson’s Irish
Pub on Soi AR (Sukrudee) next to Nova Park. Join me for a beer
or three!
So what did
we learn from the Canadian GP?
Well we learned that the Gilles Villeneuve
circuit still has magnetic walls, able to attract wayward F1
machines, claiming this year, World Champ hopeful Alonso in
the Renault, World Champ wanna-be Jenson Button in the BAR and
‘hopeful of staying in F1’ Narain Karthikeyan in the
Jordan.
The
Ferrari boys back on the podium
It was also a race of attrition, with just
over half the drivers actually seeing the chequered flag.
First back to the showers was Sato in the BAR with gearbox
problems after a shunt up the rear from famous barger Jacques
Villeneuve, but he was to reappear 24 laps later, only to
terminally seize the rear end on lap 41. Karthikeyan in the
Jordan was in for good on lap 24, then Fisichella in the
leading Renault ran out of hydraulic pressure and was unable
to change gears on lap 33 out of 70. The Roman got out of his
car mightily unimpressed; however, to compound Renault’s
problems, golden-boy Alonso clouted the wall five laps later.
Unnoticed by the TV cameras, Freisacher in the mobile chicane
Minardi ran out of hydraulics as well and entered the pits,
never to leave again on lap 39. Heidfeld in the BMW Williams
cooked his engine and was out on lap 43, followed three laps
later by Button’s barricade bashing. Montoya in the Mercedes
McLaren got too excited on lap 52 and left the pits against a
red light. There’s no disputing these crimes and he was
black-flagged and promptly disqualified. The failures
continued with Trulli in the Toyota exploding a right front
brake disc and getting an early shower eight laps from the
end.
Button’s
mistake
The Canadian GP also showed that you ignore
Ferrari at your own peril. Schumi and Rooby Baby both on the
podium gives you something to think about. They’re still not
dominant in any way, but they are climbing back up. Mark my
words.
Raikkonen’s win was deserved. He never
really put a wheel wrong, he was the quickest driver on the
day, and deserved his 10 points.
The various championship tables, with 11
races to go (110 points for the wins) are:
1 F Alonso (Spa) 59
2 K Raikkonen (Fin) 37
3 J Trulli (Ita) 27
4 N Heidfeld (Ger) 25
5 M Schumacher (Ger) 24
6 M Webber (Aus) 22
7 R Barrichello (Bra) 21
8 R Schumacher (Ger) 20
9= G Fisichella (Ita) 17
9= D Coulthard (GB) 17
11 JP Montoya (Col) 16
12 F Massa (Bra) 7
13 A Wurz (Aut) 6
14= J Villeneuve (Can) 5
14= C Klien (Aut) 5
16 P de la Rosa (Spa) 4
17 V Liuzzi (Ita) 1
Constructor Standings
1 Renault 76
2 McLaren 63
3= Toyota 47
3= BMW-Williams 47
5 Ferrari 45
6 Red Bull 22
7 Sauber 12
New Porsche
Cup race car for 2006
Porsche have been trotting the new GT3
Porsche Cup race cars around the world for enthusiasts to
drool over. Last week we had the “old” (current) GT3’s
performing at the Bira circuit, and let me tell you that the
2005 GT3 is certainly no slouch, but the 2006 model certainly
has some more features.
According
to the pundits, the six-speed sequential gearbox makes gear
shifting faster, while the 2005 ABS brakes are replaced in the
new car by tandem racing master cylinders and an in-car brake
bias adjustment control. If the driver knows what he is about,
this could mean even shorter braking distances, and more
opportunities to pass for the bold ones!
The revised front-end aerodynamics will
further improve handling, and the full digital readout data
logging dash (MOTEC) will assist drivers and engineers by
providing more data.
The Carrera Cup series around the world
have long been recognized as the pinnacle of ‘one make’
sportscar racing, with the concept for drivers to compete in
identical racing Porsche machines with only minimal
modifications permitted.
“The famous reliability of Porsche
technology ensures that it is driver and team skill which
dictates success on the race track, resulting in the thrilling
racing for which the series has become so well known,” said
Porsche Cars Australia Managing Director Michael Winkler.
Autotrivia
Quiz
Last week, I mentioned the YCC Volvo, the
concept car designed by women for women which has what was
described as a unique feature. This was the ability to park
itself, and you can just picture the lady driver telling her
car to “go park yourself” can’t you! However, there was
a vehicle produced around 20 years previously, that did just
that, wriggling itself into parking spaces, complete with
four-wheel steer. I asked what was this car? It was the VW
Futura, designed by Professor Ulrich Sieffert. This car had
gull-wing doors and a supercharged 1.7 litre engine as well.
So to this week. Who holds the Land Speed
Record for electric vehicles? And when?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be
the first correct answer to email automania@pattayamail .com
Good luck!
GM to cut 25,000
jobs in US over three years
It has been well reported in the financial
pages of newspapers that GM, the world’s number 1 automaker,
is having to take some drastic measures to try and get itself
back on track financially.
It is only a few weeks ago that the world
press had a field day with the fact that both Ford and GM had
their financial credibility severely dented, both being
reduced to ‘junk bond’ status.
This was followed up by GM Chairman Rick
Wagoner having to tell shareholders at GM’s annual meeting
that jobs must go, and plants will most certainly have to
close. Cost reduction and capacity utilization is essential
for GM to turn around its North American operation, said
Wagoner.
“In order to achieve full capacity
utilization based on conservative volume planning scenarios,
we expect to close additional assembly and component plants
over the next few years,” Wagoner said, “and to reduce our
manufacturing employment levels in the US by 25,000 or more
people, in the 2005 to 2008 period.”
Wagoner said that this unpopular move
would, however, generate annual savings of approximately USD
2.5 billion. He also said that GM was in talks with the United
Auto Workers (UAW), the union representing the workers, and
was honest enough to say, “We have not reached an agreement
at this time, and to be honest, I’m not certain we will.”
This year, GM investors have seen their
shares fall to their lowest level in more than a decade as the
GM’s market share has inexorably slipped and GM’s bond
rating has been cut to junk, or non-investment grade, status
by two ratings firms. Losses topped USD 1 billion in the first
quarter, and sales for the profitable, high-margin SUVs have
slumped.
However, this should not be taken as GM
being on the way out, or that GM is building ‘bad’ cars.
Quite the contrary, as GM in some areas of the world are going
ahead in leaps and bounds, with Thailand being one of them.
The Thailand GM plant on the Eastern Seaboard is on target
with its development and in Q1 this year had snared almost 13
percent of the export market, for example. This is a company
that did not really exist in Thailand less than ten years ago.
Discussion is around as to whether GM will assemble an
‘eco’ car here, as the Zafira line is stopping. Personally
I hope they will, as the world in general needs smaller
eco-cars, and Thailand in particular certainly does if we are
to reduce petrol consumption and traffic jams.
The advantages in buying
German technology and build quality
For many people, they have a pre-conceived
idea of what they are buying in their motor car. Germany for
example, is considered one of the best countries for
automotive engineering, after all, look at Porsche, BMW, Audi
and Volkswagen.
Unfortunately, in this age of
globalization, buying a “German” car does not necessarily
mean that you are buying a car built in Germany. In fact, it
may not even have been designed in Germany!
Take VW as an example. They produce many
models, and it is of interest to see just where the following
15 VW’s come from:
Fox Brazil
Polo Hatch South Africa
Polo Classic China
Golf South Africa
Bora Germany (at last!)
Bora 2006 Mexico
Passat Germany (hooray again!)
Touareg Slovak Republic
New Beetle Mexico
Phaeton Germany (hooray, hooray)
Caddy Poland
Kombi Poland
Transporter Germany (three hurrahs!)
Transporter CC Poland
Multivan Germany
So out of 15 VW’s, five were made in der Faderland. Makes
you think?
However, you should also remember that when the first
BMW’s began rolling off the line here in Thailand, the boss
of the plant reminded everyone that these were not “Thai
BMW’s”, but were “BMW’s made in Thailand”.
Internationals such as BMW have corporate standards, against
which all assembly plants and product is evaluated, and the
local (Thai) BMW plant has consistently scored higher than the
majority of BMW plants world-wide. I have seen a vehicle
rejected for paint faults that I could not see! They are that
stringent.
