Monaco GP this weekend
Monaco round
the houses
The annual parade of the film stars, rock
legends, B List pseudo-celebs and the rich and powerful is
on this weekend in the tiny principality of Monaco. The
harbour will be wall to wall expensive yachts and the villa
car parks will have all the Lambo’s, Ferrari’s and
Maserati’s you would ever wish for.
Somewhere in the middle of all this excess wealth (me,
jealous?) is a supposed motor race. I say ‘supposed’,
because the circuit is now totally unsuitable for today’s F1
cars. Passing is impossible, and other than waiting for the
guy in front to stick it in the wall, you can forget about
passing. Any over-ambitious move like Fisichella’s at the
start of the Turkish GP will definitely lead to retirement.
So the most critical part of this Grand Prix will happen on
the Saturday. And that’s qualifying. He who is on pole, has
a greater than 75 percent chance of winning. So who will be
on P1? Massa has been amazingly quick for the past three
Grands Prix, and will be trying hard to make it four in a
row. However, I am putting my money on Hamilton. He knows
the circuit, has no fear and has superb car control. They
will fuel him light to give him every chance. The Qualifying
is at 7 p.m. on Saturday May 24, with the race at 7 p.m. on
Sunday 25.
I will be watching from my perch in front of the big screen
at Jameson’s Irish Pub, Soi AR, going there at 6 p.m. for
dinner before the race at 7 p.m. Why don’t you join me?
British police read the
Pattaya Mail?
Last week I wrote about the Caparo T1, a 200 mph supercar
for two. This week I read in the overseas newspapers that
the police in the UK could soon give speeding crooks a bit
of a shock by chasing them down in 200 mph Formula 1
supercars. Yes, it was the Caparo T1.
Police
Caparo
If you missed last week’s Automania, the Formula 1 inspired
Caparo T1 was designed by the same engineers who made the
McLaren F1 car driven by Lewis Hamilton and Keikki
Kovalainen.
According to the Daily Star, the Metropolitan Police are
looking to use it as a rapid response vehicle to react to
999 calls after the car was given the all-clear to be used
on UK roads.
A police source said: “The Caparo would ensure officers can
get to the scene of a crime faster. It’s certainly something
we’ll be looking at getting.” I would imagine there will be
a queue a mile long wanting to join the (very) rapid
response team. What with speed cameras every km and pursuit
vehicle like this, what chance has an ordinary motorist got
in the UK?
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked you to identify the car in the
photograph. Clue - it was French. It was a Chapron SM
convertible and called Mylord.
Last
week’s quiz car
These had the Maserati V6 engine shoe-horned into the engine
bay, but did nothing to revive the fortunes of neither
Citroen nor Maserati.
So to this week. Which manufacturer who built the “Rolls
Royce of motorcycles” also built a superior car? Clue - a
play on words.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
The Isle of Man Tourist
Trophy Races - 2008
(The following item is from our motorcycling
editor-at-large, Alan Coates.)
I’m sure you have heard about this unique annual event which
first took place 1907, yes, 101 years ago. The Isle of Man
TT Races for two and three wheeled motorcycles celebrated
its centenary in 2007. It was the biggest and best biker
party the island has ever seen.
So, what is it all about? Well, although they are termed
races, the seven events that occur during Race Week are,
strictly speaking, individual time trials.
The course is entirely on closed public roads. While the
tarmac surfaces are generally good; the roads are more
representative of English country lanes and far removed from
the 14 meters wide purpose made race tracks we see MotoGP
and Superbike racing on TV. The everyday hazards of public
roads are ever present; while lampposts, telephone boxes,
telegraph poles and garden gateposts, etc., are nominally
protected with straw bales, the risk of injury in the event
of an error of judgment is high. There are no run off areas,
air bags or “kitty litter” to ease a falling rider’s contact
with a solid object. Sad to relate but there have been many
deaths over the life of the TT Races.
Entries are up on TV racing with over 100 competitors
turning out in the major events. It would be carnage to
start that number of racing motorcycles at the same time so
riders are now dispatched individually at 10 second
intervals. A lap comprises 37.73 miles (around 64 k) and a
race is either four or six laps. The 226 miles (around 384
k) is completed by the faster riders in less than two hours
and the lap record currently stands at 130.354 mph (around
208 kph). By comparison MotoGP races last about 40 minutes
and the record for the fastest lap ever of any MotoGP race
is still held by Barry Sheene from 1977 at 130 mph.
Each year the TT Races attract about 40,000 people and
12,000 motorcycles to the island. In the main there is no
charge for spectating around the course and there are
numerous vantage points to see riders and machines traveling
at up to 200 mph, in amazingly close proximity, within a few
feet, literally. The course runs through towns, villages,
countryside and over mountains so there is ample opportunity
to view from a grassy bank in the middle of nowhere to the
comfort of a pub beer garden.
For the two week period, Practice and Race Weeks, there is
also a massive social festival with entertainment, club
meets and a large program of activities and events, not all
of which are motorcycle related. The locals, the Manx
people, love the bikers; well do take wallets full of beer
tokens which are inevitably empty save for petrol money home
when we leave!
When does this all take place? 24th May to the 7th June
2008. Will you be there? I will! This will be my 30th year
attending the TT and I will report back with photographs in
June.
Spectators
safe behind motorcycle-proof string!
Anyone for a ZEV?
Yes, there are vehicles currently available that
are called ZEVs. And no, they are not Russian vehicles like
the ZIS and the ZIL. The ZEV is a “Zero Emissions Vehicle”
which is one that produces no emissions or pollution from
the vehicle when stationary or operating. Emissions of
concern include particulates (soot), hydrocarbons, carbon
monoxide and various oxides of nitrogen.
The most stringent application of the ZEV rule is by the
California Air Resources Board (CARB), and for them, a ZEV
is a vehicle that has no tailpipe emissions, no evaporative
emissions, no onboard emission-control systems that can
deteriorate over time and no emissions from gasoline
refining or sales. That gets rid of the catalytic converters
with one stroke of the pen.
At the moment, a number of vehicles fulfill these
requirements. Notable are battery-powered electric vehicles,
vehicles operating on fuel cells, compressed air vehicles
(which probably don’t work as the compressed air tank would
have to be the size of a house) and a number of vehicles
operating on other energy sources, such as human pedal power
(however, these can emit methane, depending upon the last
ingestion of cabbage and baked beans).
Of course, the oil companies are not too happy with the ZEV
movement, since they are raking in their highest ever
profits, despite crying poor-mouth at the pumps.
Since I believe in neither the global warming hysteria (it
is another Y2K scam) nor is the world about to run out of
fossil fuels any day soon, that makes me a cynic, but if we
look at the cleaner air we might breathe, then I’m all
behind the ZEVs.
