So what did we learn from the British Grand Prix?
Well, we learned that the Brawny duo are
not invincible, and the Red Bulls are charging. Vettel
deserved his pole, fastest lap and win, with Webber also
driving a faultless race to come second, despite his problem
in being held up in qualifying, which he described as
another of Raikkonen’s ‘vodka moments’.
UK’s new white hope, Jenson Button, did not cover himself
with glory all weekend. Apologies came from his team that
Jenson’s driving style didn’t suit the circuit. Come on,
this is the presumptive world champion! He should be able to
drive a billy cart downhill, blindfolded with his hands tied
behind his back! Perhaps there were too many right handers
and Jenson prefers left handers. Apologies not accepted.
Team mate, the supposedly geriatric Barichello, qualified
second and finished third.
One of the other Brazilians, Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
qualified 11th and finished fourth, easily beating his
ex-world champion Raikkonen who was nowhere all weekend.
Perhaps he should change his brand of vodka?
Williams did reasonably well, with Nico Rosberg (I don’t
really look like Leonardo DiCaprio do I?) a strong fifth.
Knuckles Nakajima was a star in qualifying but it plunged on
the Sunday. “That result was not ideal for me (agreed - 11th
is far from ideal). There weren’t any particular reasons for
it (he was just generally off the pace, then). I was pleased
with my start and I thought it was going to be a good race
for me, but I was held up by the car in front before my
first stop and then it was difficult to keep up with the
cars ahead of me for the rest of the race.” Perhaps we have
lost something in translation!
Toyota finished 7th and 9th with Trulli besting Glock, but
neither covered themselves with glory.
Alonso (Renault) had a day to forget. Dicing with Heidfeld
(BMW) but unable to get through and even ended up behind his
team mate Piquet.
The BMW’s of Heidfeld and Kubica were another duo that was
nowhere, other than scrapping for umpteenth places. They did
have company, with current world champion Lewis Hamilton
(McLaren) who started 18th and finished 16th. How the mighty
have fallen.
One team that is quietly improving is Force India and
Fisichella in 10th finished above both BMWs, both McLarens,
both Renaults, both Toro Rosso’s and one Williams. Sutil, on
the other hand wrote off his car in qualifying and did not
really feature after that.
Toro Rosso remained bottom of the board all weekend, with
Bourdais’ moment on TV being when he ran into Kovalainen,
ending both of their chances of coming nowhere. Do not
expect either to be in the GP circus next year.
But the racing at Silverstone was almost secondary to the
politics. Note the very pointed comments made by Vettel and
Webber, about Silverstone, “It is a brilliant place for a
Formula One car and certainly destroys a lot of the other
venues that have been picked in the last few years,” said
Webber. That was to counter the decree of Bernie (bless his
silver locks) Ecclestone, that this was the last GP at
Silverstone. (Cop that, Bernie!)
But Bernie’s thumbing his nose at Silverstone was nothing
compared to the FIA’s Max Mosley describing the eight
breakaway teams as ‘loonies’. That Max should use the
Silverstone GP to carry out this kindergarten name-calling
shows just to what level the administration of the sport has
descended. The sooner he goes, the better. Or, the sooner
the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) organize the
alternative series (Formula One Plus?) the better.
Anti-collision
technology
The anti-collision technology has actually been
developed over the last 10 years, but as the modern car
becomes more electronic, it has become easier to incorporate
the anti-collision technology into the car’s electronics.
Take electronic cruise control for example. This works
through the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and adapts the
pre-set road speed to the fuel/air mixture the engine
receives. As speed drops, increased fuel/air is called for
and the car speeds up. And vice versa when the road speed
exceeds the pre-set level. Going downhill, the ECU can even
tell the brakes to apply light pressure to bring down and
control the road speed.
So the vehicles have had the ECU ‘smarts’ for some time, and
all that is needed is to hook an anti-collision system in
with the cruise control ECU. The human anti-collision model
relies on visual interpretation of the distance and
previously stored knowledge of how much distance it will
need to pull up from that speed. Some of us are better than
others at this! There is also the problem that when you
leave two car lengths to the car in front, that space is
very quickly filled with two cars and several motorcycles!
To do this anti-collision calculation electronically is done
by using a form of radar. The message comes back to the car
to indicate that at the current road speed, there is not
enough distance in which to pull up without ‘rear-ending’
the car in front. The ECU can then shut down the fuel/air
and instead of just getting the brakes pre-charged, can now
apply the brakes (independently from the driver) to slow the
car enough to avoid the rear end collision.
Toyota have been developing their concept of this system,
which is designed to not only stop rear end collisions, but
to stop you running red lights as well (it will never be
accepted in Thailand where running red lights is a national
pastime).
The British Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre,
Thatcham, has put three of the car industry’s most hyped
collision prevention technologies to the test last year -
and they have emerged with flying colours. The Volvo City
Safety, Mercedes Distronic Plus, and Honda CMBS use radar
systems to mitigate and prevent low speed collisions -
which, as a category, make up 75 percent of all motor
accidents.
While all three systems use radar technology to create
impressive, and effective, collision prevention systems,
they are also vulnerable to radar’s weaknesses. Weather
conditions like fog and rain can undermine its
effectiveness, and dirt can obscure the sensor.
So, at this stage, we have the technology, but it still
needs a human behind the wheel. Thank goodness!
Nissan 370 Z coupe
looks at the Porsche Cayman
Being a Porsche 911 fan, I must say that I
find the Porsche Cayman looks ugly. In fact, I don’t
like it at all. I am sure that it goes well, handles
well, is put together well, all the things that Porsche
is good at - but it still looks like a squashed frog.
370
Z
However, probably not too many sports coupe buyers will be
looking at a Nissan against a Porsche. But perhaps they
should, as in most markets you can get two 370 Zeds for the
price of one Cayman.
The 370 Z does not have the pedigree of the Porsche, but
does date back to 1969 when Nissan (then Datsun) produced
the original 240Z which proved Japan could make decent,
affordable sports cars.
Unfortunately, the 240Z was followed by a series of vehicles
that became progressively heavier, more cumbersome and less
attractive. However, Nissan did learn and the new 370 Z
weighs 1471 kg, which is 15 kg less than the model it
replaces. Engineers saved weight by replacing the steel
doors, roof and lift-back with aluminium panels to match the
bonnet, which was already made from the lightweight
material.
Going against the trend of most new models growing larger,
the new Zed is smaller in most dimensions. It is 65 mm
shorter from bumper to bumper (4250 mm), the roof is 8 mm
lower (1315 mm) but it is 30 mm wider (1845 mm). Weight
distribution is 53 percent at the front and 47 percent at
the rear.
Both front and rear suspension have been beefed up and the
car sits on 18 inch alloy wheels (as did the last model of
the 350 Z).
The new 370 Z comes standard with stability control, ESC and
front, side and curtain airbags.
Nissan has also fitted the new car with a pedestrian
friendly bonnet that pops up when it senses a collision,
apparently to prevent the pedestrian’s head hitting hard
points by creating a buffer between it and the engine and
strut towers.
The new car’s engine is 3.7 litres. It is essentially the
same as the previous VQ 3.5 V6, but has been stroked and now
features a new inlet valve control system. Nissan says 35
percent of the components are new.
Power has been increased from 230 kW to 245 kW which is now
achieved at 7000 rpm. Torque has only been improved by 5 Nm
and the peak of 363 Nm is now extracted at 5200 rpm rather
than 4800 rpm as was the case with the 350 Z.
It all means the 370Z is now capable of doing the 0-100 km/h
dash in 5.4 seconds. Fuel consumption has also been reduced
and both the manual and the automatics return 10.4 L/100km
for a combined cycle.
The 370Z also has keyless entry and start system which means
you don’t have to get the key out of your pocket to open the
door or fire up the engine. You just hit the centrally
mounted Start button.
The only problem comes when you lift the garage door. Nobody
says, “Wow, you’ve got a Nissan!” Porsche wins that one
hands down!
Porsche Cayman
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I mentioned that BMW is
developing a SmartSenior system to stop the car for you when
you are having your heart attack. I asked which famous
racing driver actually died from a heart attack while
driving a BMW M3 in a 1000 km race? The answer was Denny
Hulme, who was the world champion in 1967, driving for (now
Sir) Jack Brabham. He died at Bathurst in 1992, his car just
slowing as he came down the straight and slowly running
along the fence until it stopped. Hulme had died before the
car even touched the wall.
So to this week. What did the first Cooper 500 have to do
with Fiat Topolino’s? This was the start of the rear engine
revolution. The gearbox, by the way, was a Triumph 500 cc
motorcycle unit.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
First 500
Cooper with John Cooper at the wheel
