What did we learn from the Turkish Grand Prix?
In my opinion, the best GP we have had
this year. The usual complaint of “high speed procession
with no passing” could not be leveled at the Turkish GP.
There was plenty of passing and repassing and the interest
was high, right to the final flag. Massa deserved his win (I
shall refrain from using the “Turkish Delight” header) and
has elevated himself into a world champion contender again.
But with the little Brazilian’s history of dropping the
ball, I would still put the money on the deadly dull
Raikkonen (though he does let his hair down in private, I am
assured).
For the GP there was additional staff hired - dog catchers!
In the GP2 race before the GP, not one, but two, stray dogs
came on the scene, with one bowled over by young Senna,
ending Senna’s charge through the field, and not much good
for the dog either! This is probably the main reason why we
will never see a Grand Prix in Thailand!
The usual first corner carnage. Will they never learn that
you do not win the race at the first corner, you only lose
the race at the first corner? Fisichella is definitely a
slow learner, that being the third Turkish GP that he has
crashed out on the first lap. This time it was a kamikaze
move on Nakajima, as a payback for Pearl Harbor or
something. Fisi should have learned to control the ‘red
mist’ by now.
Honda were celebrating the 257th race for Rubens Barichello
(and about the 200th since he was competitive). The Honda is
no front row competitor, but neither is Rubens. This has to
be his last year in Eff Wun, surely!
Sebastian Vettel in his Roaring Tosser actually managed to
see the chequered flag after four successive retirements on
the first lap. However, he did manage to pick up a puncture
this time, and the fuel hose didn’t. He will be wondering
what he has to do to get a clean race. Joining another team
might be the only answer.
Those who can drive do not seem to suffer from the ‘dirty
air’ that lesser drivers do. Hamilton in particular did not
appear to have that problem, and neither did his team mate
Kovalainen. Perhaps McLaren have invented an air filter for
the front wing. Trulli, on the other hand, had so much dirty
air, saying, “With these cars as soon as you get two lengths
behind the other car you just lose grip and start going off.
I kept pushing as hard as possible all race but this was as
good as we could do today.”
We learned before the race that the (Not So) Super Aguri
team had become yet another F1 statistic, joining that long
list of teams that were no longer on the F1 grid. That list,
as long as your arm, includes Alfa Romeo, Arrows, AGS, ATS,
Benetton, Brabham, Ensign, Fondmetal, Hesketh, Jaguar, Lola,
Lotus, Minardi, Penske, Prost, Simtek, Stewart, Tyrrell and
Zakspeed. That is just a few of them, and almost every one
of them went bust. F1 eats racing teams and spits out the
bits like a North-eastern betel nut chewer! Team principal
Aguri Suzuki said of F1, “It’s a piranha club and I kind of
feel that I don’t want to stick my fingers back in.” You are
correct Aguri-San. Farewell Super Aguri, the scrap heap is
just behind the Armco fencing.
The Max Mosley saga continues, with Max suing anybody who
looks sideways at him. But what has been forgotten (or
ignored), is who set him up? The News of the World doesn’t
put a pin in the London phone book and say, “Let’s get him!”
Somebody knew, and somebody wanted to get even. Ron Dennis
swears on a stack of bibles it wasn’t him. So which of Max’s
enemies was it?
Our Hilux Vigo
impresses the Aussies
Toyota Australia was very quick to trumpet the fact that the
Toyota Hilux Vigo became the best selling vehicle in
Australia last month: the first time a pick-up has achieved
the feat.
Export
Hilux Vigo
Sales of Hilux 4x2 and 4x4 models totaled 3,814 vehicles in
April, an increase of more than 27.1 percent on the same
month last year. “Demand has been running hot for vehicles
such as Hilux because of the mining boom and the easing of
the drought in many places,” said the company’s divisional
manager of national sales, Tony Cramb. “Consumers are
clearly turning to vehicles with a proven track record of
reliability and durability along with a reputation for fuel
economy and affordable running costs,” he said.
There can be no doubts left in anybody’s mind as to the
quality of the Thai auto industry’s products. With all the
major manufacturers now with manufacturing divisions in
Thailand, the auto industry is certainly one of Thailand’s
leaders in the export market.
However, not everybody is happy. There is pressure on
Australian politicians to review the Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) with Thailand because whilst the Hilux gets into
Australia through the FTA with minimal duty, Australian
vehicle exports to Thailand have not been as fortunate, with
the Thai government slapping on high duties because the
Aussie made vehicles such as the Holden Commodore and Ford
Falcon all have large engines. This is against the spirit of
an FTA say the Aussies, and they want the terms of the
agreement reviewed. So far, all the export traffic has been
one way, and local Australian manufacturers are still priced
out of the Thai market. This year, for example in January,
the Thai vehicle exports were 38,000 vehicles, an increase
year on year of 40 percent. I can guarantee you have not
seen 40 percent more Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons over
here.
Autotrivia Quiz
ast week I mentioned Jaguar and its new XF. Think
back to when Jaguar was winning Le Mans, three times in a
row, with the first two times being factory entered racers
and the third victory was from a privately entered Jaguar.
After Jaguar officially withdrew from racing, the factory
had some racers left over. The question last week was, what
did they do with them? An easy one - they became the Jaguar
XKSS. A wonderfully impractical road car, of which only 16
were completed by November 1956 after the fire at the Jaguar
Brown’s Lane factory in February. It had no boot (or trunk
if you are from the left hand side of the Atlantic Ocean),
all you got was a spare wheel and twin 164 liter fuel tanks.
You luggage was held in a single suitcase perched on the
luggage rack on the tail of the car. But I would certainly
make room for one in my garage.
So to this week. Identify the car in this photograph. Clue -
it is French.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
Jaguar XKSS
What is my
name?
Zero to 100 kph under 3
seconds, with passenger
What has to be the fastest road car ever, has
been released in the UK. Called the Caparo T1, an English
road racer that features safety systems and materials
developed for F1. Caparo T1 is described by the manufacturer
as a track-biased production car. With zero to 100 clicks
under three seconds, it has to be!
The T1 has a 2.4 liter V8 aluminium engine, generating 358
kW of power at 10,000 rpm. It weighs 570 kg and is rear
engined and rear wheel driven with a six speed sequential
gearbox with the now universal steering wheel paddleshift.
It is built as a right hand drive in its tight, two-seat
cockpit (although you could probably get two go-go dancers
in it as well as yourself, making it a three seater for
Thailand).
It’s just 1076mm high and most of the bodywork is well under
that level and it can produce cornering forces of 3G. It has
a carbon-composite tub with a carbon nose cone designed to
absorb energy in a crash and protect the driver and
passenger.
“Even though the T1 is exceptionally light, the very high
speeds it is capable of means that conventional road car
safety systems can’t manage the extreme levels of kinetic
energy that could be involved in a crash,” says Ben
Scott-Geddes, a co-designer along with Graham Halstead. “To
solve this we have incorporated many of the safety systems
proven in F1, where drivers regularly walk away from
horrific accidents that would be fatal in normal road cars,”
(which worked very well for Heikki Kovalainen a couple of
weeks ago in Spain where he crashed his McLaren at around
200 kph).
Caparo insists that its customers have to attend a training
course that will help them safely enjoy the car’s
performance.
Caparo T1
