British GP at Silverstone this weekend
The British GP is on this weekend at the
famous Silverstone circuit, and is supposedly the last time
it will be used for F1. Bernie Ecclestone, bless his silver
locks, has given the event to Donington Park for 2010, even
though the developer is in trouble financially, and it is
quite likely that the track might not be ready in time.
Silverstone was actually the venue for the first World
Championship F1 Grand Prix which was held on May 13, 1950
with the British Royal family in attendance, and has been
there ever since, but Bernie, bless his bank account, has no
feeling for 59 years of history.
The circuit has been having continuing development. During
WW II Silverstone was a bomber station and it was pressed
into service as a motor racing circuit in 1948. The three
pre-war British circuits, Brooklands, Donington Park and
Crystal Palace were all out of commission and ex-military
airfields offered ready-made road surfaces, other basic
facilities such as primitive toilets, and they were usually
a long way from densely populated areas.
In 1950 came a layout which was unchanged for many years. An
additional corner, Bridge Bend, was added just before
Woodcote for 1987, and the chicane was removed. This altered
the length to 2.969 miles. A major revision of the layout
was undertaken for 1991 which tamed the awesomely fast
Maggotts curve and Stowe and Club corner and added a
sequence of bends prior to Woodcote. These revisions
increased the length to 3.247 miles and remained in force
until 1995 when further details were made which decreased
the overall length of a lap by a few yards leaving it at
3.210 miles.
The race will begin at 7 p.m. here, with the pre-amble
starting at 6 p.m. We watch at Jameson’s Irish Pub where we
get don’t get the idiotic Eurosports talking heads, nor do
we get the breaks for adverts. Join me at around 6 p.m. for
a bite to eat (carvery is good value) and something to wet
the whistle, and then settle down for the race.
With Jenson Button being the clear leader in the
championship at this stage, the circuit will be packed to
capacity, and Union Jacks will be everywhere! If you’re a
Brit, you can bring yours too.
Will Fiat-Chrysler be a
“Fisler”?
It’s all done and dusted, with Italy’s Fiat
buying into the previously bankrupt Chrysler. I have written
before about Chrysler’s problems, exacerbated by being
bought by bean-counters, but now we are led to believe that
with Fiat holding a 20 percent stake in Chrysler, everything
is going to come up rosy.
New Fiat-Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne has already shown
that he is a real magician, dragging Fiat from the depths,
to become now one of the biggest auto companies in the
world. A few years ago, you couldn’t give a Fiat away!
Marchionne is a lawyer and chartered accountant, so for him,
Chrysler is just a business, and he will apply a business
model to the combined company. Will this work? Only time,
and the acceptance of Fiat engineered Chryslers by the
American public will tell.
Chrysler has had too many great cars in its past to be
allowed to disappear, so let’s hope Marchionne can pull
another rabbit out of the hat.
And now an electric
Tata
Chairman of India’s largest conglomerate has
confirmed that Tata Motors will produce its first
electric vehicle in just three months.
Tata Group chief Ratan Tata was quoted as saying, “We
will have an electric car in the market in September.”
Tata Motors, which acquired British automotive icons
Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in March 2008 for 50
billion baht (give or take a satang or two), had
previously said it was developing hybrid and
alternative-fuel vehicles, plus an electric vehicle (EV)
called the Indica Vista for Europe in 2010.
It was previously reported that Tata would launch its
first EV in Norway, where EV recharging infrastructure
already exists, but it is not known if the September
release date refers to the Indian or Norwegian markets.
Meantime, according to a report by Automotive News last
week, Tata’s Nano will be sold in the US within two and
a half years, making Tata the second Indian car-maker to
release a vehicle there. Atlanta-based company Global
Vehicles USA Inc plans to import Mahindra pick-ups later
this year.
Tata launched the sub-$2500 four-seat hatchback in India
on March 23, with more than 200,000 orders received for
the world’s most affordable car during a two-week
booking period in April. First deliveries begin in July
after a “lucky draw” to decide which orders would be
filled first.
Europe is expected to receive a larger version of the
Nano in 2011, powered by a more powerful version of the
existing 3.1 meter, 580 kg car’s rear-mounted 623 cc
twin-cylinder engine and costing less than about 150,000
baht.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I mentioned that in 1907 you
could buy a four cylinder, shaft drive, continuously
variable transmission (CVT) motorcycle. I asked what was it?
It was the FN, long before its time with its technology.
So to this week. I mentioned above the BMW SmartSenior
system to stop the car for you when you are having your
heart attack. Which famous racing driver actually died from
a heart attack while driving a BMW M3 in a 1000 km race?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck
VW does it again
It used to be that the most silly names given to
cars were usually Nissan. How many red blooded blokes would
buy a car called Cedric, for example (and apologies to all
those chaps called Cedric by their parents, nothing
personal)! In the past few years, Nissan kept up their silly
names with things like a “Queen cab” (what a friend of mine
bought because he was gay) and then there was the Tiida, and
the best of the unpronounceables, the Quashqai! While still
in Japan, Mitsubishi managed to come up with the Canter Guts
light truck and the never to be forgotten Mitsubishi Mum 500
Shall We Join Us?
VW
Amarok
However, Volkswagen have now applied to join the society for
silly names, too. Firstly there was the Touareg, then there
was the Tiguan, which VW said was a cross between a tiger
and an iguana - I am not making this up - but I would have
loved to watch the mating of its parents. But now, VW has
released the Amarok, a pick-up, and we are told the name
means “wolf” in the Inuit language which is used by the
Eskimos at the North Pole when they’re not clubbing the odd
seal cub! It will have to end up being called the “Anorak”.
VW believe this will be a direct competitor for the Toyota
HiLux, in itself a pretty stupid name as well, when you
think about it.
I wouldn’t be seen dead
in one!
It looks as if BMW took the above to heart and is
now making sure you don’t drop dead in a Beemer, with a
system that takes control when the driver has a health
emergency.
BMW
SmartSenior project
BMW is working on an innovative system that will
automatically stop a vehicle at the side of the road when it
detects that the driver has a serious medical problem.
Called Emergency Stop Assistant, it is initially being
developed for motorways and similar roads due to the reduced
number of variables with making a controlled stop in such
environments.
The German company’s engineers say the system will have the
capacity to safely bring a car to a halt at the side of the
road with the hazard lights flashing in a health-related
emergency with little or no assistance from the driver.
It employs existing driver assistance systems combined with
extra sensors designed to monitor the driver’s vital data.
If a medical emergency is detected, the control system
switches on the hazard warning lights and maneuvers the
vehicle to the side of the road, taking into account the
traffic around it, then sends out an emergency call
containing the data required to initiate the necessary
medical and traffic-related assistance measures.
The system is being developed by BMW Group’s Research and
Technology department as part of a €125 million German
government project called SmartSenior, which was launched in
February this year to help Germany’s growing number of
elderly and chronically ill continue living independently in
the future.
Project manager for SmartSenior at BMW, Ralf Decke, said the
primary aim of the new system is to “avoid accidents caused
by a health-related loss of control, or at least to reduce
the severity of such accidents.”
Expansion on the
Eastern Seaboard
While the world’s motor industry is still in the
doldrums, especially in the US, Thailand may be turning the
corner.
With so much of Thailand’s auto production going for export,
when the destination country stopped ordering because of
poor local sales, this had an enormous backlash on the
Eastern Seaboard.
However, Ford in particular has now stated it is looking at
expanding its local production and has even ramped up the
release date of the Ford Fiesta. And Mazda, the other part
of the Auto Alliance is still on track with the release of
its Mazda2 Fiesta clone.
New
Ford Fiesta
Of course this brings in the banks and the requirement for
credit facilities to be able to do this, but the Thai
Finance Ministry and local banks such as the Exim Bank seem
to be quite happy to be involved. If so, that is good news
all round.
GM is also looking for credit facilities to finance the new
engine plant in Rayong, but this is complicated by the fact
that the parent GM in the US is now under bankruptcy
protection. Figures of 15 billion baht are being touted for
this project.
The Board of Investment (BOI) is also offering incentives to
the auto manufacturers to build the next generation hybrids
in Thailand. These have to be new technologies and new
assembly lines, not using existing lines as per the Toyota
Camry hybrid, which is being built on the current Camry
production line.
Whilst it is still too early to be confident, it does look
as if Thailand, at least, is seeing a resurgence in the auto
sector.
