Eff Wun opener this weekend
The Formula 1 season opens this weekend
in Melbourne, and many have been champing at the bit
waiting. The new regulations have meant that the 10 teams
all began with a level playing field in January, but not
that the application of the new regulations has produced
identical performance between the teams.
The McLaren-Mercedes team appear to be the worst off at
present. Despite having Lewis Hamilton, the current world
champion, the McLaren has been about two seconds off the
pace in pre-season testing and McLaren have now even
admitted that they are in trouble.
The surprise has been the speed of the Brawn GP, right out
of the box. This car would have been the 2009 Honda F1, but
now, with Ross Brawn having taken over in a management
buy-out, the car is powered by a Mercedes customer engine.
The fact that the Brawn GP is two seconds faster than the
McLaren is amazing. There have been questions asked, as to
whether the Brawn GP car has been running light on fuel, but
since the average times over a 20 lap session are better
than Ferrari over the same distance, this would appear to
make the presumption incorrect.
Second fastest over the testing recently has been Ferrari,
but always remember that Ferrari appears to ‘lose’
championships, rather than ‘win’ championships. Ferrari will
be competitive, but how reliable will the new car be? And
how many mistakes can the pit crew make?
The other top team is BMW, and I think you will find that
BMW will score more wins this season than they did
previously. Do not discount the Pole with the super beak!
Renault, Toyota and Red Bull appear to be around the same
performance, whilst Force India (with Ferrari power) could
be an eye opener. We will have the answers to all the
conundrums by Sunday afternoon, March 29.
Qualifying will be seen on Saturday 28 at 1 p.m. our time
and with the start on the Sunday being delayed until 5 p.m.
Australian time, we will see the start of the season also at
1 p.m. Thai time. I will be watching the big screen at
Jameson’s Irish Pub, Soi AR, next to Nova Park. Join me for
a meal beforehand and a few drinks afterwards.
Ferrari F60,
the 2009 challenger
The Bangkok
International Motor Show
The 30th Bangkok International Motor Show is open
to the public until Monday April 6. Next week I will have a
full section on the show, but as a preview, I can let you
know that there will be the new RHD version of the new
Mercedes E Class, the Mini Cooper S convertible, the new
Mazda MX5, the new Nissan Teana, and the new BMW 7-Series.
BMW
M1 Hommage
Concept cars include the Lexus IS 250C and the BMW M1
Hommage released on the 30th anniversary of the iconic M1,
while the exotics are headed by the 30 million baht Aston
Martin DBS (as used by James Bond, and has only been shaken
and not stirred).
The Chinese invasion has begun with Geely, Naza, Polarsun
and Chery all represented. This low end of the market will
generate much interest in the depressed market economy.
The organizers report 130 companies are exhibiting this year
in the show which has the theme “Green life on wheels”.
Personally I don’t care what color they paint the Aston
Martin DBS, I’ll take it as it is!
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked which car company was
still offering wooden wheels as factory equipment in 1939.
The answer was Mercedes Benz!
So to this week. What was the world’s first successful
radial tyre? Hint - it was 1953.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
Just when you thought
you had it sussed
The FIA has done it again! Just when it looked as
if the teams and the FIA had come to some agreement on the
F1 rules, the World Motor Sports Council (WMSC), a branch of
the FIA, comes in and turns everything upside down again,
with some questionable (at best) and confusing (at worst)
rules for 2010.
Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari president and chairman of the
Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) has said his members
are stunned by the new developments, in particular, the
primary proposal from the World Motor Sport Council for a
voluntary budget cap for next year, primarily in the hope of
attracting new teams.
Teams will then have a choice between freedom to spend, but
forced to adhere to the existing technical constraints, or
enjoy a degree of freedom to innovate technically, but
within the $42 million cap.
The $42 million will cover all expenditure of any kind,
including drivers’ salaries. In addition, anything
subsidized or supplied free will be deemed to have cost its
full commercial value, with rigorous auditing procedures to
be applied. So don’t send vouchers for free dinners to
anyone in the teams, or it will come off the budget!
“It has been carefully costed,” insists Max Mosley, the boss
of the FIA. “The cars will be much less refined in detail,
because the teams will not be able to spend huge sums on
minute advantages. But from the grandstand or on television
they won’t look or sound any less Formula One than the
current, ultra-expensive cars. They will also be more
interesting to the technically-minded because of the special
features which will allow them to compete against teams with
much bigger budgets.”
The thinking is that you can opt for the budget cap, but get
some engineering freedoms, or you can spend what you like,
but have far tougher mechanical limitations.
This might have sounded fine around the table, but to
exploit the allowed freedoms will cost big bucks - but the
$42 million cap will effectively stop this happening.
The other rule is that the World Championship will be
decided on which driver has the most wins in the season, not
the most points. This can mean that the driver who comes
second can have more points than the championship winner!
With a win being 10 points, any driver who scores nine wins
from the 17 races will be the world champion, even though he
may have only scored 90 points. If, for example, another
driver comes second for 17 races, he will have scored 152
points. Brilliant thinking FIA.
Service centers - or DIY?
Have you noticed the expansion of non-dealer
service centers springing up around us? Two new ground up
centers within two km of my house cannot be ignored.
With the downturn in new vehicle sales, people have been
hanging on to their current vehicles, which are now more
than two years old. And more likely to need minor repairs.
Even though the costs involved in repair centers are still
much lower than overseas (the UK is now at 4,000 baht per
hour) there will be those who realize they can do much
themselves, including regular 10,000 km services, with just
a little help.
Well, help is at hand if you have the Haynes Manual for your
particular model. And if Haynes have a manual for your
particular vehicle. They do have manuals for the Toyota
Yaris, for example, but not for the Fortuner. Honda has the
Jazz included, but the Civic is not the same as the Civic
which was sold here. However, there are traps for the
unwary!
The more common repairs/replacements can be done by the
average driver with some sense and a few hand tools. As cars
age and accumulate more miles, components inevitably need
replacing. In many cases, these are items such as bulbs,
windscreen wipers and brake pads which can be replaced by
someone competent in DIY.
It’s not all downhill
The world’s two fastest-growing car markets
bounced back last month, with total vehicle sales up 24.7
percent in China and 12 percent in India over the same
period last year.
Chevrolet
Spark
Too soon to be called a global recovery, the figures are the
first sign of an upturn and will gladden the hearts of
embattled car-makers around the world.
India’s passenger car sales grew for the first time in five
months (rising 22 percent) in response to a cut in lending
rates, but commercial vehicle sales declined by 32 percent.
Businesses are hurting in the Indian sub-continent.
Ten of India’s 13 car-markers posted gains, and two - Maruti
Suzuki and Hyundai - set records, according to figures
released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
China surpassed the US as the biggest car market in the
world almost by default last month, but the China Passenger
Car Association reported on Monday sales of 607,984
passenger cars in February, up from 456,901 in February
2008.
Official market figures released last night by the China
Association of Automobile Manufacturers show total vehicle
sales of more than 800,000 units for the first time in eight
months.
As well as selling 827,600 units in February, vehicle
production in China also rose in February - by 23.1 percent
to 807,900 units.
These figures point to a significant response to government
sales incentives, including halving the purchase tax on cars
with engines smaller than 1.6 liters, from 10 percent to 5
percent. Is there a message here for the Thai regulators?
GM China, which will launch 10 new models in the next two
years, had previously predicted the Chinese market would
grow by only three percent. GM, despite being on a US
government cash lifeline, had reason to celebrate with
Indian sales of its Chevrolet Spark and U-VA hatchbacks
rising by 19 percent in February.
Ford expects to exceed the industry growth rate in China
after exceeding sales expectations for its recently launched
Fiesta light car by 17 percent in January and February.
Last year, the Chinese market recorded single-digit growth
after a decade of double-digit growth, but the market
appears to have responded to government incentives aimed at
encouraging buyers to trade polluting vehicles for more
fuel-efficient ones.
Scrappage - is this the way to go?
Many years ago, to buy a new vehicle in Singapore
you had to hand in another vehicle for scrap. This was done
to keep the motor car population at sensible levels in the
small island state. Of course, the question was ‘what do you
do if you haven’t got a car to scrap’? The simple answer was
that the dealer would supply it, to comply with the
regulations, and you drove away in your new (first) car.
A similar incentive scheme is being offered in Europe today
for vehicles more than nine years old, but not to keep the
number of cars down, but to stimulate new car sales, with an
additional spin-off that the new cars have to be ‘greener’
than their ten year old forebears.
Sales in Germany rebounded in February in response to the
$100 billion government program offering a scrappage bonus
of about $5000 for cars over nine years old and this has
also been followed by some other countries which are
offering similar subsidies to boost sales of new cars.
