Monaco GP this weekend
Monaco -
around 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 bollard to bollard expensive yachts and the
villa car parks will have all the Lambos, Ferraris and
Maseratis 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 Trulli’s at the start
of the Spanish GP will definitely lead to retirement (as it
did in Catalunya).
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? Button has been pulling rabbits out of the hat at the
last second, Barichello could surprise, Massa has a quick
car again and has been on pole before, Vettel and Webber in
their Red Bulls also have the speed and determination.
However, I am putting my money on Webber. 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 the Saturday 23 May, with the race at 7 p.m. on
Sunday 24.
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 a
carvery dinner before the race at 7 p.m. Why don’t you join
me?
London to Brighton
Veteran Car Run
This event is the other end of the speed
scale. If you have a pre-1905 car sitting in your driveway,
put some fuel in it and set out for London. However, it
might just be better to take yourself there, as the entries
are already up to 500, six months before the event.
The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (LBVCR) is the
world’s longest running motoring event with this year’s
London to Brighton Veteran Car Run being held on Sunday 1
November, 113 years after the first run held in November
1896.
Lovely
weather for it!
Of the entries received, sixteen veteran cars have never
taken part in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run before,
including a new entry from Mexico with a 1904 Decauville.
Over 20 percent of the entries are from outside the UK.
Roger Etcell, LBVCR Event Director said, “Once again we have
a significant number of overseas entries coming from as far
away as Australia, USA, China, South America, South Africa
as well as most of Europe represented. This year we are
celebrating Belgium as the pre 1905 manufacturing nation and
we have received a significant increase in the number of
participants from there.”
The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is held over three
days. The first car leaving Hyde Park (London) at official
sunrise (06:54hrs). An estimated 500,000 spectators attended
the LBVCR Run and Concours last year, making it the UK’s
largest free-to-view motoring event.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I mentioned that the first
overland trip from the UK to Australia by car left London 19
October 1927 and finished in Sydney 15 July 1928. I asked
who was it, and what car did he drive? The answer was
Francis Birtles, driving a 14 hp Bean.
The Birtle’s
Bean
I think he should have been locked up,
but his legacy is very impressive! The Bean was three years
old before he started on the trip and was a four cylinder
right hand drive two-seater with a long engine cowling and
boat tail. It had a low two-panel glass windscreen. The side
covers of the engine cowling are missing and there is a
large diameter exhaust pipe without muffler running along
the left side of the vehicle. It has a full steel channel
chassis, which has been drilled for lightness, leaf sprung
suspension, and four wheel drum brakes.
So to this week. What did the radiator badge of the Packard
look like?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
Marchionne the magician?
It is not so long ago that Fiat was all about
poorly made motor cars that bred rust before they left the
factory floor. However, all that has changed and the new
Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne has changed all that.
With one stroke of his magic wand he seems to have turned
Fiat into a financial powerhouse, and it seems there is no
stopping him.
Sergio
Marchionne
Marchionne is now attempting to take over General Motors’
Opel subsidiary and other parts of GM so he can create a
global industry leader second only to Toyota in annual
production.
Success with the Opel unit would create a multinational
group with extensive production operations in Europe (Fiat,
Opel and Saab) and the US (Chrysler). He is also keen to
wrap in GM’s South African and South American operations,
although GM does not want to relinquish South America, as
this is one of the GM overseas plants that actually makes
money!
Marchionne believes this expanded Fiat/Chrysler/Opel group
would be able produce around six million cars and light
commercial vehicles a year, which he thinks will be the
threshold for a viable mass producer in coming years.
Marchionne, who has confirmed he will head the combined
group once Chrysler comes out of bankruptcy proceedings, is
convinced that combining Fiat/Chrysler with the
Opel/Vauxhall business would be the best result for the
struggling GM subsidiary, which would be sub-economic on its
own in coming years.
“I am offering the German government a car business that
will effectively be debt-free and I will take on Opel’s
liabilities, including pensions,” Marchionne declared after
presenting his plan to the German government this month.
However, in the same breath, the magician said that he
needed up to 7 billion euro in loan guarantees to cover GM
Europe’s unfunded pension liabilities and debts.
Is it now Ta-Ta for Jaguar?
Those with long memories will remember that eight
years ago, GM was attempting to buy a controlling interest
in Fiat. How the mighty have fallen.
I think everyone in the auto industry must wake up thinking
“What did I do to deserve this?” One of those is Ratan Tata
the head of the Indian Tata family conglomerate.
Twelve months ago, Tata bought Jaguar/Land Rover (JLR) from
Ford for something over one billion sterling but rather than
dip into the piggy bank, such as you and I have to do, took
out loans in April 2008, most of which is due to be repaid
to financiers in June, as well as payments due to suppliers
and general running costs.
With the credit crunch that has beset the world, poor old
Ratan Tata has found he is going to come up short. Very
short. As new owner Tata has admitted he could not have
bought JLR at a worse time and that the Tata group is now
short of cash.
Tata has applied to the British government, but has not had
the response he wanted. “It’s not a bailout,” he told The
Sunday Times. “I would like to see the British government
playing only one role. It controls the banks, and all I seek
is the facilitation to provide access to credit on
commercial terms. We’re responsible for the fortunes of the
company, but this is a bone-dry situation in terms of access
to credit. Nobody can operate on that basis unless you have
large cash balances, which we don’t.”
JLR had been expected to receive government support in
return for developing more efficient fuel-saving technology,
but those programs - along with new models such as an E-Type
revival - are now under threat, along with the company’s
15,000 workers.
However, one program already too advanced to be threatened
is the long-awaited new XJ saloon, which was largely
developed under Ford and will be revealed in July before
going on sale at the end of this year.
Pandemic claims five million lives!
No, this is not about Swine flu, this is about
road deaths. In the new report by the Commission for Global
Road Safety launched in Rome last month, it calls for
governments in all countries to combat the world’s fastest
growing public health emergency. This is not the swine flu
pandemic but global road deaths.
If all governments committed to a road safety ‘Decade of
Action,’ five million lives and 50 million serious injuries
would be prevented. A coordinated UN action plan for road
safety is urgently needed with road crashes set to become
the leading cause of disability and premature death for
children aged 5-14 across developing countries by 2015.
F1 Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was present at the report
launch in Rome to highlight the hidden epidemic of road
traffic injuries and to urge UN action on road safety.
The statistics are not pretty. Road crashes already kill
more people in the developing world than malaria, at an
economic cost of up to $100 billion a year, equivalent to
all overseas aid from OECD countries.
More than one million people are killed on the roads of
developing countries every year, and tens of millions are
injured, a toll set to double by 2030. Road crashes are
already the leading global cause of death for young people
aged 10-24.
Interim targets and strategies should be established to
promote 100 percent helmet and seat belt use in every
country by 2020, together with other road safety
interventions. That would certainly save lives in Thailand.
You only have to look at the carnage every year called
Songkran, with 80 percent of fatalities in the national
total coming from motorcycles and failure to wear a proper
helmet.
Felipe endorsed the proposals, saying, “We must do more to
tackle road traffic injuries, the biggest killer of young
people around the world. By promoting seat belt and helmet
use, enforcing drink driving and speeding (legislation), and
improving road and vehicle design we can really make a
difference. I am pleased to support the Make Roads Safe
campaign and the call for a Decade of Action for road
safety.”
Jaguar XF
