Hey! Track my car, Amigo!
With the average price of the cars we
drive being around one million baht, a tracking device could
be a godsend. Despite all the smart anti-theft devices the
manufacturers put into your vehicle, the thieves just get
smarter! Remember the movie “Gone in 60 seconds” with
Nicolas Cage and the Shelby Mustang called “Eleanor”? That’s
about how long it takes for a professional thief to steal
your pride and joy.
Tramigo
tracker unit
Sure, you can report the theft to the police who will
assiduously search the whole of Thailand, plus Cambodia,
Laos and Burma for several minutes. You should get your car
back some time in the next lifetime around three in the
afternoon!
Imagine the chances of successful recovery if you could go
to the police, report the theft and tell the friendly man in
brown that it is parked 100 meters south from Big C! The
policeman’s job is more than somewhat easier, and you will
get your car back. All this is now possible and is available
here called the Tramigo.
This tracking device is apparently the best selling tracker
in the world, and is exceptionally easy to use. If you want
to know where your car is, then you just ring the tracker
with your mobile phone - and any old mobile will do - you
don’t need a fancy 3G or iPod.
Now we have all heard of GPS positioning which gives a
location in coordinates, which means that you need a set of
surveyor’s maps to then convert the magic numbers into
something you (and the policeman) can understand, but the
Tramigo unit not only gives coordinates, but relates
position to local landmarks, for example, 0.7 km south from
Carrefour.
There are many other features which the Tramigo can carry
out, such as letting you know if your driver exceeds the
speed limits you set for him, a panic button in case of
being hijacked and you can use the unit to send a mayday SMS
to a preprogrammed number or you can even listen to your
children with the Nanny mike accessory.
The portable unit sells for 15,300 baht, whilst the fully
hidden installed model is 16,300 baht and they come with a
two year guarantee. Considering you will lose a lot more
than 16,000 baht if your car is stolen (even if you are
insured, which is only ‘market value’) this accessory makes
much sense to me. If you are interested ring Karl
Kittelberger at E COS Co. Ltd, 038 227 364 or mobile 089 923
6845, email karl. [email protected]
Stanley Steamer’s
record
In the Autotrivia Quiz last week I had asked
about an aerodynamic racer which set records in 1906 and it
was the Stanley Steamer driven by Fred Marriott who left the
figure at 203 km/h. Amazingly, that record still stands
today, but a British team has gone to America to try and
grab the 100 year old record.
The
British Steamer.
However, breaking the record set by the Stanley Brothers’
steam car is proving to be difficult. After numerous
technical problems, the British Steam Car team successfully
carried out its first test run on US soil last week. The
team has been working tirelessly to get the car ready for
the record attempts to break the century-old world land
speed record for steam-powered vehicles.
The log from the challenger reads, “The team was in position
by 7 a.m. ready for their first run. Test Driver Don Wales
was strapped into the 25 ft long car that he has nicknamed
‘the lean, green, mean machine’ - because of the technical
issues the team has had to overcome. The goal was to
replicate the test program that took place in April at
Thorney Island in the UK.
Fred
Marriott and the Stanley Steamer 1906.
“Project Manager Matt Candy said, ‘We reached 77 mph over a
very short distance of just 1 km which was comparable to our
tests at Thorney. We were due to do a high speed return run
but the gas rig had trouble refueling and so we had to abort
it. We will replace this gas pump tomorrow and resume the
testing program. The software has since confirmed that the
vehicle produced more steam on the test run than in the UK,
a bypass valve was open for approximately 1/5 of the test
and the majority of the steam was wasted. This can be
rectified, and knowing that it’s not performing to its full
capacity is really encouraging news, as we can utilize the
steam to generate more power than we thought we had.’
“Despite the successful test run, the team has taken the
decision to delay the record attempt to the week commencing
17th August. Candy continued, ‘It’s important that the
technical issues with the support rigs are resolved before
an attempt is made, and these things can’t be rushed.’ In
addition, the FIA officials have to leave on the 4th August
to attend Bonneville Speedweek. However the FIA are free
from the 17th August after they have carried out their
duties at Bonneville and can join the team at Edwards to
calibrate and record the attempts.”
The British Steam Car Team hopes to achieve the official FIA
Land Speed Record for a steam-powered vehicle. The current
official FIA record was set by American, Fred Marriott,
driving a Stanley steam car in 1906.
Schumi returns!
In a move that can only assist in
resuscitating the Formula 1 series, Ferrari have asked
Michael Schumacher to drive again for the Scuderia. With
Felipe Massa likely to be out for the rest of the
season, there was much conjecture as to who would fill
the vacant seat for the rest of the season’s seven
Grands Prix. It had been expected that neither of the
two test drivers (Badoer and Gene) would be invited and
many names were being put forward, including Kubica (now
that BMW have announced their withdrawal at the end of
the year) or even Alonso to jump ship from Renault
mid-year. However, it was Niki Lauda (an ex-Ferrari
driver himself) who suggested that the only driver up to
the job was Michael Schumacher.
Michael
Schumacher
Last year’s champion, Lewis Hamilton has said, “Michael is
one of the sport’s greatest competitors and a legend in his
own right and it would be great to compete against him. The
whole world will be watching his return to the cockpit in
Valencia and it will not only be fascinating to see how he
readies himself for his grand prix comeback but also an
honor and a privilege to race against him for the very first
time. I wish him well.”
Hamilton is totally correct where he says the whole world
will be watching, but in some ways it is an enormous task
that Schumacher has taken on. He has not raced for two and a
half years, so has to be rusty, as well as in questionable
fitness for F1.
Jenson Button, the current championship leader has also
welcomed Schumacher back to F1, but said, “In a way Ferrari
are very lucky because they’ve someone working in their team
who can jump straight into the car and be competitive, and
Michael will be. It’s an interesting one, though, because if
he wins people will say they expected him to, and if he
doesn’t, they will say he should not have come back. So it’s
a tough position for him to be in, although I’m happy he has
taken up the challenge. It’s very brave of him.”
In many ways this could be seen as a lose-lose situation for
Schumacher but knowing the type of man he is, he will indeed
rise to the challenge and acquit himself very well. Will we
see the famous Schumacher leap once more?
Some old books
I was rather chuffed the other day when
David, one of the English ex-pats dropped off some old
books for me. These were small pocket books which were
printed by the Sunday Times in the UK in 1961, in a
series of 20 books covering the motor car from Cugnot’s
steam tractor of 1770 through to 1957. Each book cost
two shillings and six pence!
Some
old books
The concept was good, and the information, though not
extensive, still very interesting and informative. For
example, the first enclosed car was a Renault built in 1899
and had a single cylinder De Dion Bouton engine with a
maximum rev limit of 1,500 RPM. Or how about the Invicta 4.5
liter Low Chassis Black Prince of 1930? This was the car
whose owners manual suggested the ordinary driver take off
in top gear as there was too much torque for him to handle
in the lower rations!
David brought me books 1-7 plus 19. Anybody got the others
lying around somewhere?
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I mentioned that aerodynamics
has become very important in today’s racing cars. I asked in
what year did the first aerodynamic racer compete? The clue:
“twins”. It was the Stanley Steamer of 1906, built by the
twins F.E and F.O. Stanley, with a body designed to be
aerodynamically more efficient than cars had been up to that
time. It was driven by Fred Marriot and set the official
Land Speed Record at 127 mph (203 km/h).
So to this week. An easy one - where were the window winders
situated on the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
Natter Nosh and Noggin
The monthly car enthusiasts meeting will be at
Jameson’s Irish Pub on Soi AR next to the Nova Park
development. The car (and bike) enthusiasts meet on the
second Monday of the month, so this time it is Monday
(August 10) at Jameson’s at 7 p.m. This is a totally
informal meeting of like-minded souls to discuss their pet
motoring (and motorcycling) loves and hates. Many
interesting debates come from these evenings. Come along and
meet guys who have a common interest in cars and bikes, and
enjoy the Jameson’s Steak night special, washed down with a
few beers.
