Malaysian GP this weekend
Sepang Circuit
The season is now well underway with the second of the 18
race series being held in Malaysia at the Sepang circuit.
The red lights go out at 2 p.m. Thai time. Why not join us
at Jameson’s Irish Pub where we watch the South African feed
which does not stop for adverts and the commentators are
better than the ones on the other feeder channels. The
carvery is open by then so you can eat and drink all
afternoon!
Some interesting drives
AA Insurance Brokers held their first advanced
driver training day at the Bira Circuit on Highway 36 and
everyone seemed to enjoy the experience (there is a separate
article elsewhere in the newspaper).
For me, it was an opportunity to drive a different selection
of vehicles and this included a BMW X3, the new Honda
Accord, an AVO modified Ford pick-up, and the latest Toyota
Yaris racer, brought up to the ‘Super 1500 class’
specifications.
The BMW was a real eye-opener. Much larger than I expected
and with much more performance than I expected. It also had
a radio whose volume you could turn down via a simple knob.
Thank you Mr BMW for listening. Now please apply it to the
ridiculous iDrive 5 Series models as well. The X3 was a
sports car in every respect, other than it would carry an
entire family and the kitchen sink. It stuck to the road,
had great feel through the steering wheel, and amazed
everyone who came round the circuit in it, seated front or
back.
The new Accord is a smooth looking luxury car, and the
styling is individual, with just a hint of Alfa-Romeo,
especially the side fluting. It was the 2.4 liter model I
drove and the straight line speed was breathtaking. The
interior is most luxurious, and a very nice motor car. I did
not like the lack of response or feel through the steering
wheel, and it all felt a bit vague in that department, and
the brakes felt just adequate to cope with the performance
of this vehicle.
The AVO modified Ford pick-up was a bit of a fun drive, and
it was exceptionally powerful - and quicker at the end of
the straight than the X3, for example! The steering was very
good and there was enough feel through the wheel to make it
easy to point it where you wanted. Unfortunately, like all
pick-ups, it suffered from axle tramp on severe acceleration
out of the bends, but this was under conditions that would
not happen on the roads. The pigs in the back tray just
loved it!
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked what year did the Corvette Stingray
come out? Hint, think hard, it revolves around the name! OK,
this was a bit of a trick question. The Chevrolet “Sting
Ray” came out in 1962, and in 1969 the name was changed to
“Stingray”. As I said, it all revolved around the name, so
1969 was the correct answer.
The Corvette story revolves around Zora Arkus-Duntov, a
Belgian who grew up in Russia and studied in Germany before
moving to the USA, where he designed the Ardun cylinder
heads for Ford V8s. He then joined Chevrolet and began
improving the basic design and ‘his’ first Stingray came out
in 1969, with the body designed by Bill Mitchell, who
succeeded Harley Earl as the GM stylist. The combination of
Mitchell and Arkus-Duntov produced a stunning car, capable
of over 150 mph (240 km/h) in a head-turning body. So even
though many think that the Corvette is all-American, it also
owes a fair bit to Europe.
So to this week. What was the only British GP to be
abandoned because of the weather?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
What did we learn from
the Australian GP?
Well, we learned that out of the 22 best motor
cars in the world, only six could finish the first Grand
Prix of 2008. Some of the retirements were mechanical or
electrical (Trulli’s battery failed in his Toyota, but he’ll
get a new one under warranty), but the majority were through
driver error. It appears that once more I have to tell the
so-called best drivers in the world that you do not win the
race on the first lap, you only lose the race on the first
lap!
We also learned that Ferrari is not invincible and World
Champion Kimi Raikkonen can kokk it up like an amateur,
while Massa, the mauler, can still be relied upon to attempt
to pull off impossible moves. For the manufacturer’s
championship winners of 2007 to finish with two dead engines
for the first race of 2008, is a very poor start to the
season; however, Ferrari will bounce back.
Hamilton in the McLaren Mercedes was the star of the show
all weekend. There was no way he was not going to get pole,
and likewise no way he was going to lose the Melbourne race.
It was a perfect performance. Kovalainen was unlucky to lose
his secure second place with the safety car period, but the
unexplained loss of speed on the straight after passing the
sulky Spaniard was caused by his knocking the pit lane speed
limiter button! He won’t do that again. He did set the
fastest race lap, but that is small consolation.
The surprise of the weekend was Barichello in the Honda.
This was a car that has run like a poisoned three legged
temple dog with terminal mange during the lead up to the
season and everyone was sure it was going to be a rear of
grid race car. Barichello was the quicker of the two Honda
drivers, outpacing Jenson Button in qualifying. However,
despite all his years in F1 Barichello managed to leave the
pits while the lights were red and got himself disqualified
from what had been a well fought 6th place. Rooby, it is
only in Thailand that you can ignore the red lights. Not in
Australia!
BMW did well all weekend and although it was Heidfeld
scoring second place, Kubica deserved better than he got,
ending up with a DNF after Ralf Schumacher’s heir apparent
Kamikaze Nakajima ran into him. Naka has been penalized 10
grid positions for Sepang for that, meaning he will be
starting from grid position 27!
Apart from Nakajima running into several cars (but missed
the crew this time), Williams had a good weekend, with
Rosberg driving a carefully controlled race to finish third.
This looks like a team with potential, even if it only has
one driver in contention.
As for the rest? Bourdais in the Toro Rosso ‘almost’
finished, stopping three laps from the end and had done a
good job up till then. His (much faster) running mate
Sebastian Vettel went out on the first lap along with
Webber, Button, Davidson and Fisichella.
Hopefully some of the drivers learned a lesson from the
Australian GP which they can apply to Sepang, otherwise it
will be another demolition derby.
Bangkok International
Motor Show
Our Motor Show starts on the 28th of this month. Held in the
large BITEC exposition halls (Km 1 Bangna-Trat highway),
this is the world’s accredited motor show for this region.
In fact, it is the largest motor show in SE Asia and is
approved by the Organization Internationale des
Constructeurs d’Automobiles.
Alfa
Romeo 8C Spider
For many people, there is great interest in the Europeans
who are trying to gain footing in this country, such as
Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Peugeot and Citroen, but I hope to
see Alfa Romeo. The 8C Spider is sensational and I do want
to see one in the flesh.
The Japanese invasion will continue with concept cars and
luxury numbers from Toyota and Lexus as well as cheap and
cheerful items as the new Toyota Vios and hopefully the tiny
iQ concept car which the reports say can carry three adults
and one child (and this would also mean a complete Thai
family of six), plus some interesting models from Honda who
will not be outdone by the Toyota people across the street!
The new Honda Accord is a stunner and the variable cylinder
technology in the V6 is amazing.
As well as all the cars, there will be many motorcycles on
display in their own exposition hall, and after-market
equipment in both go-faster items and sound systems.
Toyota
iQ
Last year 1.5 million people went through the turnstiles for
our Bangkok Motor Show. This year there will be more. There
is parking in the BITEC grounds as well as parking areas on
LaSalle Street for another 4,000 vehicles. If you are coming
by public transport, then go to On Nut Skytrain terminal and
catch one of the shuttle buses going to BITEC.
I will be there for the first two days, and will have my
resident motorcycle scribe to review the two wheel
offerings. More reports on the show over the next few weeks.
Are you worth a $2.2
million salary?
One of the world’s largest car manufacturers has
increased their chief executive’s salary to $2.2 million, up
from the paltry $1.65 million stipend he received in 2007.
The increase was in view of his performance in 2007, a year
for which the automaker reported a loss of $38.7 billion.
Yes, you read that correctly - thirty eight billion dollars.
By the way, he also received 1.68 million in stock entities,
on top of the $2.2 million.
The salary increase was disclosed in a Securities and
Exchange Commission filing, so has become public knowledge,
and is now being mulled over by the United Auto Workers
(UAW) union President Ron Gettelfinger who has questioned
the fairness of big payouts for executives coming after
workers agreed to concessions. And can you blame them? The
upgraded salary comes only six months after the UAW agreed
to a new labor contract in which workers accepted
substantial wage and benefit cuts for new workers, as well
as buyouts and early retirement plans to further reduce
employee numbers.
The salary increase, and its obscene amount, would have to
be the PR blunder of the year. And the company? Well, it
starts with the letter G.
Its shares were down 2.7 percent at $22.35 on the New York
Stock Exchange, 48 percent down from its 52 week high of
$43.20 set shortly after the UAW deal was completed. I
wonder why?
