Malaysian GP this weekend
Sepang Circuit
After the opener of the season in
Melbourne (see report in this issue), the Malaysian GP, held
at Sepang, is on this weekend.
The race starts at 4 p.m. Thai time (5 p.m. in Sepang). I
will be watching in front of the big screen in Jameson’s
Irish Pub (Soi AR next to Nova Park apartments). I will get
there around 3 p.m. to watch the pre-event TV program. Why
don’t you join us for the race, a few beers and dinner
afterwards (I can recommend the Sunday carvery)?
What did we learn from
the Australian GP?
I suppose you could say that brawn combined with
brains is unbeatable! The brilliant mind of Ross Brawn
engineered the almost unbelievable inaugural 1-2 for the
Mercedes-engined Brawn GP team, the previous time being 55
years ago when the Mercedes duo of Juan Manuel Fangio and
Karl Kling demolished their opposition.
Jenson Button drove a well judged race and deserved his
second win of his career. There will be more, now he has a
good car under him. Barichello also drove well, making up
for his goof off the starting line, and the first corner
clash with Webber. Ross Brawn’s cars are not only fast, they
are very strong. He was a bit lucky to see the second and
third placed cars take each other off three laps from home,
to elevate him to second behind his team mate.
To emphasize the dominance of the Brawn GP F1 cars, it
should be noted that their 1-2 in qualifying was done at 664
kg and 666 kg (Button/Barichello), whilst Kubica (4th BMW)
was 650 kg, Massa (6th) was 654 kg and Raikkonen (7th) 655
kg (Ferrari), Hamilton (15th McLaren) 655 kg and Buemi (15th
Toro Rosso) weighed in at 675.5 kg.
Buemi who came in 7th at his first outing in F1 deserves a
mention. He drove an attacking race in a very average race
car and beat his more experienced team mate (Bourdais) both
in qualifying and in the race. The youngster has talent.
The other young talent is Sebastian Vettel, putting his Red
Bull 3rd on the grid after qualifying and running the entire
race in what looked like a secure 2nd position, until three
laps from home. At that point his inexperience showed when
he tried to defend his position (on shot race rubber)
against the much faster BMW of Robert Kubica (on good
tyres). The resulting, and avoidable crash, put them both
out of the race. Vettel receives a 10 grid places demotion
for the next race in Malaysia. To compound his youthful
indiscretion, he (and his team) also copped a $50,000
penalty for driving around on three wheels, trying to finish
behind the safety car!
Vettel’s more experienced Red Bull team mate, Mark Webber,
was taken out on the first corner when Kovalainen (McLaren),
Barichello (Brawn), Webber, Sutil (Force India) and Heidfeld
(BMW) collided. The resultant damage putting Kovalainen out
and making the damaged cars of Heidfeld and Webber
uncompetitive. It is about time the F1 drivers learned that
you do not win the race at the first corner, you only lose
the race at the first corner. Lesson 1 from the Old Driver’s
Almanac!
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton’s 3rd from starting position 18 was
a sterling effort and does show the youngster is prepared to
race, not just tour around in a quick car. The lack of
performance in the McLarens will be keeping their design
team working nights and weekends, but do not write them off.
Ferrari had a weekend to forget, and despite two quick
drivers, the Maranello red cars are currently not
competitive. Massa’s car retired with a mysterious failure
and Raikkonen admitted his driver error in scoring an
unforgiving wall. Do not write Ferrari off either. Remember
their debacle last year in Australia, and the nail biter of
the season’s finish to lose the championship by one point.
Toyota lost their qualifying positions having been judged to
have illegal rear wings, but both finished well and in the
points. Toyota will get that elusive win in 2009.
Williams and Renault in the hands of Rosberg and Alonso ran
strongly mid-field. In the hands of Nakajima and Piquet they
were nowhere.
The Malaysian GP this weekend should be even more revealing.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked what was the world’s
first successful radial tyre? Hint - it was 1953. It was the
Michelin X, and what a breakthrough that was!
So to this week. The first manufacturer to produce a million
cars anywhere was Ford in 1922. What was the first British
car to sell over one million units?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
Bangkok International
Motor Show
The Bangkok International Motor Show was again
held in BITEC at Bang Na, and will continue on until April
6. The theme chosen by the organizers was ‘Green Life on
Wheels’, but the theme chosen by the show goers was ‘What
can I get into at the cheapest price?’
Proton
Neo CPS
The lower price range was very well catered for with brands
that were mainly Chinese, though Malaysia was also a strong
player at that level. Proton from Malaysia had several
models on display with prices as low as 399,000 baht for the
1.2 liter Savvy, available on a 5 percent deposit of 1,950
baht and repayments of less than 7,000 baht over 72 months.
If you wanted to make the deposit 20 percent, repays can be
as low as 5,391 baht per month. Small change. Whilst the
Savvy does very little for me, the Proton Neo CPS is a
wonderful little pocket rocket, which reminds me of the
original Cooper S. Derived from a fairly pedestrian sedan,
but looking great with wider wheels, bolt on flares, sporty
interior, and the CPS also has a roof-mounted wing! It comes
in only two colors - white and black. The white looked
better.
Chery
QQ
Adjacent to the Proton stand is the Chery, with its budget
QQ (yours for only 379,500 baht) having pride of place.
Looks quite cute from the outside, but don’t open the door,
or you will have to face meters of cheap buff colored
plastic. The Chery concept car (the Faira) looked like a
scaled down Audi TT without the cleanliness of line, and had
one of the most nauseating interiors ever, looking as if it
was designed by Walt Disney on LSD.
A Chinese import, which comes to Thailand via Malaysia, is
the Naza Forza and handled here by the revamped Yontrakit
Corporation. Not only is the price low at 389,000 baht, but
the 19,450 baht deposit can also be split into 10 payments
of 1,950 baht. However, like the Chery QQ, don’t open the
door. Also on the Yontrakit stand was the Kia Picanto, in
which you could drive away by leaving a deposit of 2,950
baht. You spend more than that on a dinner and a good bottle
of wine!
Kia
Picanto
Still in the budget end of the market is Wuling, now in
their third year in Thailand and represented by PVA Motors.
The Wuling Scorpion small truck has been around for a while
now, but at a show price of under 300,000 baht has to be a
bargain in anyone’s language. And you don’t have to speak
Mandarin. The Wuling Hongtu is a new seven-seater minibus,
which is yours for 399,000 baht, definitely worth a look if
you are in the hospitality business, with sliding doors on
each side as well as the rear tailgate.
The ‘green’ part of the show was covered by Toyota with a
concept car called the A-Bat and their new Prius, and by
Honda with the new Insight and Lexus with the SUV LX 450h.
These were all hybrids. There were a few electric vehicles
as well, but most of the enlarged open golf cart variety,
and not practical as far as urban transport is concerned.
Wuling
Hongtu
If you are only looking for high end and exotics you will be
disappointed in the main halls, as there was no official
representation from Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Bentley,
R-R, Porsche and the like. This is understandable in the
light of the world’s economic woes. Who is spending 20
million baht to park at the side of the road these days?
However, for all the Daniel Craig / James Bond fans, you can
rent a black Aston Martin DBS from Master Car Rental people
and impress the girls in several sois in Pattaya. However,
your dream has a price - 455,000 baht rent per month, with a
contract of five years.
In the audio and accessories sections there were a few
exotics, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Ford GT, a
wonderful black Nissan Skyline, Porsches, a Hummer H3 and
even a Fiat 500.
One manufacturer which had some really desirable vehicles
was VW, represented by Thai Yarnon. Unfortunately, they had
the “new” (now old) Beetle at the front and it was easy to
miss the very svelte black Scirocco. This looks like an
enlarged Golf and would be my pick if I had to choose
anything around the 2.5 million baht range. Far nicer than
the Mini variants, for example. Along from the Scirocco was
the new Passat CC, which at 2.59 million is any match for
the BMW 3 series as far as looks is concerned.
BMW
1 Series
BMW had their usual large display with elegant women and
cars arranged in rows, but lacking any imagination. The 1
Series is not just plain, it is plain ugly, looking like a 3
Series that had a head-on and repaired by a backyarder
up-country who didn’t quite get it right. The new 7 Series
was presented in white, with larger nostrils and the Bangle
Bustle toned down. Nothing to go ‘gasp’ over, I’m afraid.
More of the Bangkok International Motor Show next week, plus
a rundown on the better motorcycles from the Isle of Man
specialist Alan Coates, but you have until April 6 if you
want to see the show before it closes.
VW Scirocco