Spanish GP
Spain has a long history in GP racing, and Jerez was used for
many years. However, the Jerez circuit was blighted by being
too far from centres of population to attract crowds, so the
Catalunya circuit (aka Montmelo) was built just 20 km from
Barcelona. It was actually the fourth circuit in, or near,
Barcelona, which has some claim to being Spain’s capital of
motor racing.
The Circuit Catalunya was built on land owned by the Real
Automobil Club de Catalunya, and they took over the Spanish
GP. Opened in 1991, the 5 km circuit was quick and had both
a wide range of corners and excellent facilities and viewing
points. A temporary chicane was built at ‘Nissan’ (a very
shallow curve) in 1994, but for 1995, ‘Nissan’ was
straightened reducing the length of a lap to the 5 km
length.
Ferrari seem to be confident again, but the proof of the
pudding is always in the eating!
I also received a fax from Mike Mayne regarding the
Eurosports coverage, and this is available on several cable
networks. StarSports are also televising qualifying, at 7
p.m. on the Saturday and the race at 7 p.m. on the Sunday.
The South African feed I watch should then also be at those
times. Thanks Mike.
Blinder at
Bira
A couple of weeks ago we were treated to some of
the best racing seen at Bira Circuit for some time. Promoted
by Thailand SuperCars, it featured the two One-Make series –
the Vios and the Yaris and a motorcycle race as well. The
cars were well presented, with the bright red Pizza Company
cars standing out well in the field of around 30 drivers.
The fact that Go-Karts are a stepping stone to other
formulae was very evident, with the eventual Vios winner
(Jack), also racing Go-Karts on the same day, and being a
winner there too.
In the feature race, Grant Supaphongs in the Honda Civic
managed to keep all the mechanicals going to stay in front
of Natavude in the works Toyota Corolla despite much pushing
and prodding by the Toyota driver. It was the best day’s
racing at Bira that I have seen for some time.
The next two meetings at Bira will be in June. The RAAT
promoted meeting will be on June 3-4 and the SuperCar
meeting one week later June 10-11.
What did we learn from
the European GP?
Well the first thing was that you never write off
Mickey the Shoemaker. The mental powers of the elder
Schumacher are prodigious, and it was obvious right from the
start that MS was never going to settle for second place.
When he took the lead after the second pit stop (by dint of
lapping for three laps around half a second quicker than
anything Alonso had recorded), plus a very quick pit stop,
showed the combined talents of Schumacher and strategist
Ross Brawn. A brilliant display from the red cars. The
world’s press seems fixated on will he retire at the end of
this season. Why should he?
Red Bulls
charge each other
We also learned that perhaps Massa has
matured. A great back-up effort and he deserved his third
step on the podium (which was also his first).
Messrs Honda and Toyota left Germany licking a few wounds.
Ralf and Jensen Button stopped out on track, as did Montagny
in the Honda engined (still not very) Super Aguri. However,
I was pleased to see (as did 21 other drivers) that Mr. Ide
was told by the FIA to go back to school and learn how to
drive.
Another sterling (or Aussie dollar) drive by Mark Webber,
having come from 19th on the grid to 12, when yet again, the
hydraulics let go in his WilliamsF1. Young Rosberg in the
other WilliamsF1 also did well, but the strategy was hard to
understand. He did 33 laps of the 60 lap race on his first
tank of fuel, so why make him do another two stops? He
sacrificed 5th place because of this.
Fisichella continues to have “bad luck” in the second
Renault. It is time he realized he is not performing, when
his team mate is always at the sharp end. Even if he doesn’t
realize this, I am sure Flavio Briatore does. Do not expect
Fisi at Renault next year.
McLaren-Mercedes are not having a happy year so far. Only
Raikkonen is performing consistently in their driver
line-up, and with Alonso moving to McLaren next year, and
Michael Schumacher going to continue at Ferrari, could see
Raikkonen stay put. I expect that the Colombian will be
looking for a job next year. Renault perhaps?
Red Bull with four cars between their A and B teams must be
heartily sick of their drivers running into each other.
It is time their management sat them down and gave them my
first lesson for new race drivers: “You never win the race
on the first corner. You can only lose the race at the first
corner!”
Autotrivia Quiz
Mel Kenyon
Last week I mentioned that the Model T
Ford is usually thought of as the first mass-produced
vehicle, but this is not strictly correct as many other
manufacturers also did this (Leland, De Dion Bouton and
Lanchester). Henry Ford is also credited as being the
designer of the Model T, but this is not strictly correct
either! Who did design the Model T?
The answer was James Couzens.
So to this week. Which car company called their first car
the Model 92? Clue: It was produced in 1949 and was based on
a German design, though the car company was not German.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
By the way, a couple of weeks back I mentioned the great US
speedcar driver Mel Kenyon. Reader John Stanley sent me a
couple of photographs, and here is one, taken last year in
Brisbane Australia of the man himself, about to go out and
do some demonstration laps. He will be back there this year
to do it again! What a man!
Are we ready for
alternate fuels?
With all the general brou-ha-ha about the
increasing oil prices per barrel and the police department
owing money to gas stations, there appears to be a
groundswell towards alternate fuels, including biodiesel,
LPG and NGV, as well as hydrogen. But is this a realistic
concept?
Have you ever stopped to think about all the advances that
technology has brought us in the last 100 or so years?
Telephones that are now so small they fit in your ear, TV
coverage that is brought to us in real time via satellite,
motor cars that can travel all over the world with multiple
functions governed by an on-board computer, planes that can
carry 500 people from capital cities, the list is endless.
However, there is also a limiting factor for the wide-spread
use of our technological creativity. Infrastructure!
Everyone understands that you cannot fly from Bangkok to
Manila without an airport at each end, complete with
refueling capacity. You likewise cannot drive all over the
world unless there are some fuel pumps liberally dotted
along your route.
The auto manufacturers have had alternative fuel vehicles
running on the roads for years, be that EVs (Electric
Vehicles), hydrogen cars and other sorts of fuel cells. We
have the technology. These vehicles run and will carry
people in a non-polluting manner and do not need gasoline.
So why are we still dependant upon oil? At $75 a barrel of
crude! The answer is simple – lack of infrastructure.
We have shown that the vehicles work, but how do you refuel?
Take for example, the press release from Chevron in the US
in the early part of this year. The headline was “First
Chevron Hydrogen Energy Station Unveiled” and went on to
say, “ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures LLC (CTTV), a
subsidiary of ChevronTexaco Corp., unveiled its first
Chevron Hydrogen energy station today at the Hyundai-Kia
America Technical Center in California. The project is part
of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Controlled Hydrogen
Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and Validation
Program.”
Wonderful! But one station is quite useless. You need
another one to give you somewhere to go to! It reminds me of
the (in)famous Bristol Brabazon plane, which when it was
built in the immediate post WW II period, complete with
eight engines (four pushing and four pulling), found that
there was only one airport that was strong enough to support
its weight. That was the airport it was built at! It flew,
taking off and landing at the same location, and totally
useless for the overall concept of transporting people from
point A to point B.
So back to the hydrogen pump and the “Controlled Hydrogen
Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and Validation
Program.” Provided you live in California, within driving
distance of the Hyundai-Kia Technical Center you might be
right. But forget driving to Texas, or even the next big
town. The infrastructure isn’t there to support your new
technology vehicle.
Yes, I hear you say, but surely there are others? Yes there
are, including the world’s largest hydrogen filling station
which was formally opened in Berlin, last year. Hydro
supplies the equipment for hydrogen gas production and has
worked with eight other companies in the Clean Energy
Partnership (CEP) project, which is supported by the Federal
Government of Germany. The aim of the project is to
demonstrate that hydrogen can function as an everyday fuel
with a view to future sustainable mobility. Sure they can,
but you need more than one large hydrogen filling station.
However, there are some more. There’s one in Toronto and
another in Singapore, none of which are going to be much
good for the hydrogen powered car owner in Manila, Beijing
of Bangkok. We have the technology, but we do not have the
infrastructure.
Mine is not the only voice in the wilderness. Yoshio Kimura,
a senior official with Toyota’s fuel-cell systems group,
expressed concerns that lagging infrastructure could slow
hydrogen momentum. Kimura said in 2004, “We need a real
breakthrough in hydrogen production and delivery systems.
While the Fuel Cell Hydrogen Vehicle (FCHV) is a real-world
working vehicle, we’re still far away from seeing this at
your local Toyota dealer.” Toyota’s FCHV can travel less
than 300 km on a single hydrogen fill-up. At today’s
hydrogen rates, consumers would pay $1 for every 16 km
traveled - in other words, nearly 30 percent more than what
they would pay per km in a car with a moderately efficient
gasoline engine.
Certainly there would be the usual economies of scale with
multiple hydrogen refueling stations, but we do not have
this infrastructure. So to purchase a hydrogen vehicle right
now, you have to be a very strongly committed
environmentalist, be prepared to pay for your beliefs, and
not want to travel too far from home (which had better be
close to a hydrogen station).
We already have the technology so we would not be dependent
upon oil. Unfortunately we are then dependent on
(non-existent) infrastructure!
