Asian Festival Of Speed at Bira this weekend
The Bira circuit outside Pattaya is the venue for this next
round of the Asian Festival of Speed (AFOS), which is being
held in conjunction with the local Thailand Super Car
series.
Bira Circuit
There will be three rounds of the Asian Touring Car Series
over the weekend, as well as three rounds of the Formula BMW
Asia, with local Formula BMW driver James Grunwell right up
in the top three. Grunwell wants to do well in front of his
‘home’ crowd.
Grunwell who, despite his English/Dutch parentage, grew up
in Bangkok, speaks Thai fluently and considers himself a
true Thai, also believes that rapid growth in the karting
scene, and a greater understanding of commercial sports
sponsorship will help youngsters make the transition to
competing outside their native country. “As well as BMW
Motorsport, I’m also very fortunate to have the support of
the Pizza Company. The owner is a racing driver himself
(Bill Heinecke) who competes internationally and he and his
company really understand the value of sponsorship,” says 17
year old James.
The challenges, Grunwell believes, are mainly that no Thai
in recent years has made a full career of motor racing, and
many do not yet accept the sport as a bona fide profession.
This, coupled with the strong tradition of family, has meant
many youngsters are reluctant to spend time outside their
country. However, Grunwell is upbeat that this will change,
“Somebody has to make it, and that somebody could be me!”
With six podium finishes so far this season, currently 3rd
in the overall Driver Classification and 2nd in the Rookie
Cup standings, there is no reason to doubt him. Having known
this young man for a few years, I do believe he has the
talent. All he needs is experience, and this is something
that this first year in this formula is giving him.
James Grunwell
The Bira circuit was named after Prince Bira and built on 65
acres of land and as well as the full scale 2.4 km circuit,
it boasts a professional go-kart track at which the Thailand
24 hour event was run successfully. There are also various
facilities provided for other motor sport activities,
including running weekend racing schools, practice sessions,
car tests and other related activities.
It is located just 20 kilometers from Pattaya City on
Highway 36 and is an hours quick drive from Bangkok. The
Asian Festival Of Speed has made it a permanent part of
their racing calendar since its first appearance there in
1997 with the South East Asia Touring Car Zone Challenge and
the Asian Formula 2000 Series (AF2000). Subsequently, the
motor sport fans in Thailand were able to see races such as
Formula BMW Asia, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia and the Asian
Touring Car Championship.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I mentioned that a transverse
engined V4 front wheel drive GP car ran in 1907. I asked
what was it? The correct answer was that it was the WC1,
built by a Walter Christie. This FWD monster had a 19.8
liter transverse engine. By the way, the first FWD vehicle
to win a race was also a Christie at Daytona Beach in 1907.
I am not sure if it were the same car.
So to this week. I mentioned the new Camaro, but think back
to the first Z28 Camaros. What was it that identified the
Z28, over the more humble Camaros?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
Making the right imprezion!
Here it is, the ultimate quad bike has hit the streets in
New Zealand. The country that bred such wonderful eccentrics
as Burt Munro (World’s Fastest Indian and if you haven’t
seen the movie, grab the DVD) has also spawned a Ken Brough
who has made the world’s fastest quad bike.
Ultimate
Quad?
This particular toy has a turbocharged Subaru Impreza STi as
motive power and retains the Subaru AWD as well. So instead
of a comfortable four door, four wheel drive, four place
family rocket, our Ken has made an uncomfortable, one
person, suicide mission rocket.
This is the kind of device you would expect to see in
Mission Impossible IV, but it’s here and now and living in
New Zealand! Ken Brough filled his spare time building this
thing, and his reasoning for it? “Why not?” However, people
have climbed Mt. Everest for sillier reasons.
The 230 bhp turbocharged boxer engine in the 530 kg quad has
a power-to-weight ratio of 434 bhp per tonne, enough to make
the super ATV do wheel stands with a flick of the wrist. And
you probably need Super-Glue on your backside to stay on the
thing.
Since Ken believes he is not the only nutter out there in
the EnZed pastures, he is prepared to make you one as well.
No price was quoted in the report, but I suggest you start
getting fit first before booking your flight to the Land of
the Long White Cloud (NZ)! It looks as if it would be quite
a handful!
Here comes the new Camaro
In another of the retro cars, GM are
bringing back the Camaro, one of the best styled designs of
the 1970’s.
General Motors will build the new Chevrolet Camaro at its
Oshawa, Ontario, plant. Early production versions of the car
will be produced by the end of 2008, with sales starting in
the first quarter of 2009.
Retro
Camaro
GM will begin preparing the plant immediately and will
invest $740 million Canadian ($657.7 million US) in the
program and conversion of the plant to a flexible
manufacturing factory, GM said in a statement.
GM chose the Oshawa plant because of its strong
relationships with the Canadian Auto Workers and federal,
provincial and local governments, said Arturo Elias,
president of GM Canada, in a statement. Oshawa also has a
reputation for “the industry’s best quality and
productivity,” Elias added.
“Earning the mandate for the new Camaro is a huge
accomplishment and is due in part to the reputation of our
members for producing great quality vehicles,” said Buzz
Hargrove, CAW president, in a statement. He said CAW Local
222 has offered an “innovative local agreement” that helped
build a viable business case for the Camaro.
GM unveiled a concept version of the Camaro at the Detroit
auto show in January this year. This month, GM said it would
build a production version of the vehicle. GM executives say
the production vehicle will strongly resemble the concept
car.
“The interiors will actually be better on the production
version,” said GM CEO Rick Wagoner during an event on
Friday, Aug. 18. Wagoner said the goal is to keep the
exterior design intact, have a great price point and a great
powertrain.
Wagoner declined to say if Pontiac might receive a similar
product or perhaps revive the Firebird, but hinted that John
Larson, GM’s general manager of Buick, Pontiac and GMC, is
pushing for it.
What did we learn from
the GP in Turkey?
First off, it was a good race, there was
passing on the track and a nail-biting finish. Two great GPs
in a row! Let us hope that the Italian GP will be as good on
September 10.
Well there certainly was some Turkish delight for Felipe
Massa, who capped off his first F1 pole with his first F1
win. And he won it fair and square. He was never headed
after his pole position and cruised through to the end. A
superb performance from the driver that many thought was
only at Ferrari as a ‘make weight’ until somebody better
came along. He has definitely come a long way under the
encouragement of Jean Todt.
However, the Ferrari team did not do so well for Michael
Schumacher. The two red cars were pulling away from third
placed Alonso at about one second a lap until the safety car
was brought out on lap 14, forcing both Ferraris into the
pits, with Schumacher being held up queued behind Massa.
This allowed Alonso to leap-frog Schumacher to take second
spot, a position he hung on to till the end. Schumacher was
gentlemanly at the end, saying, “But first of all my
congratulations to Felipe who did a superb job and opened up
a gap at the start of the race. I managed to close it a bit
before the safety car but nevertheless he didn’t make a
mistake and brought it home.”
The McLaren Mercedes team did not fare so well, both in
qualifying and the race, and Raikkonen looks to me as if he
has given up trying in the car. Reading between the lines,
it would seem that McLaren Mercedes have also given up on
Raikkonen. Norbert Haug saying, “It’s a pity for Kimi – the
crash at the first corner was not his fault, but if you
start lower down the grid you are in danger of such
incidents.” Norbert expected better from Kimi in qualifying
it seems. I think Haug, who is getting larger each GP, is
wishing to take on the mantle of the great Mercedes team
manager Alfred Neubauer. I would not be surprised to see MB
take the majority shareholding in the team, and Ron Dennis
taking a backwards step. Where will Kimi go in 2007? Try
Renault. It makes more sense.
Jenson Button showed that the win in Hungary really was a
fluke, as despite finishing fourth, he was really nowhere
near the Ferraris or Alonso’s Renault. Barichello showed
once again why he is a number 2 driver. I think he is
rapidly reaching his ‘use by’ date. Honda will have got as
many secrets as they can from the ex-Ferrari driver, and he
certainly is not much use to them as far as scoring points
is concerned.
Porsche: There’ll be no
Cayenne for 2007 model year
With sales of its Cayenne SUV slowing and a
restyled model on the way, Porsche has decided to skip the
2007 model year rather than offer run-out specials.
Dealers must sell 2006 models of the Cayenne until the 2008
model debuts in early 2007 after a midcycle update.
A spokesman for Porsche Cars North America Inc. says dealers
have adequate stock, including a special high-trim model
that went on sale in July. It is called the Cayenne S
Titanium edition because of the special exterior paint
finish. “We have produced so many Cayennes that this will
tide them over,” says Porsche spokesman Bernd Harling.
“We’ll keep producing the 2006 until the end of the year.”
Harling says Porsche will skip the 2007 model year because
it doesn’t want “to confuse our customers with a short-lived
or abbreviated model year.” And if you believe that you will
also believe that the moon is made of cheese. There has been
no positive movement in the SUV market in America, even at
the upper end where the Cayenne sits. Last year US sales
fell 24.9 percent, to 13,607 units. In the first seven
months of 2006, Porsche has sold 6,629 Cayennes, down 14.3
percent from 7,735 a year earlier. Porsche can see the
numbers on the wall and does not want to be left with unsold
Cayennes.
