European Grand Prix at Valencia this weekend
Valencia,
racing around the docks
A return venue this weekend, with the
‘round the houses’ of Valencia for the European Grand Prix.
This was a new circuit last year for the F1 circus and it
was universally boring. Monaco without the boat harbor. Or
the mystique. Yet, here it is back on the calendar, when
circuits like Montreal have been left off. Money has been
paid under the table, I would imagine. (Or was that
pesetas?)
After last year’s boring race in Valencia, our editor at
large, John Weinthal even suggested there must have been a
street sign saying “Welcome to Valencia - please drive
carefully - no overtaking!”
Of course, we had all hoped we would be watching the Michael
Schumacher return, but sadly that is not the case. Luca
Badoer is a nice chap, but he’s no Schumi. I have the
sinking feeling that we will all be annoyed at the lack of
racing, but, ever the optimist, I will be watching.
The Qualifying is at 7 p.m. on Saturday 22 and the race is 7
p.m. on Sunday 23. We watch the racing, using the South
African feed, which does not stop the telecast for
advertisements, on the big screen in Jameson’s Irish Pub,
Soi AR, next to Nova Park. We get there around 6 p.m. and
have something to eat (the weekend carvery is great value)
and a small drink or two before the start. Why don’t you
come and join us.
500 bhp road-going
Porsche Turbo
Are you ready for 500 bhp under your right foot?
The next version of the Porsche 911 Turbo has enough grunt
to pull City Hall all the way to the beach. It is powered by
an all-new 3.8 liter, direct injection, twin turbo flat six,
delivering 500 bhp and driving all four wheels.
New
Porsche 911 Turbo
The new Turbo returns 0-96.5 kays in 3.7 seconds (three
tenths quicker than the current Turbo) and has a top speed
of 312 kph. To put that in perspective, when I drove a Lola
T430 F5000 racing car, it had 550 bhp but ran out of breath
just before 300 kph, and you couldn’t take a passenger and
luggage!
Externally, the only changes are chrome headlight surrounds,
restyled fog lights and new wheel designs. And as if we
cared, Porsche says that while improving performance it has
also managed to cut CO2 emissions and fuel consumption by
about 18 percent. Quite frankly if you can afford to buy
this car, you can afford to buy the petrol for it, no matter
what it costs. The presumed price for the Porsche is 24
million baht. Sorry, no change.
I also see that VW have completed the negotiations to take
over Porsche, after Porsche’s ill-advised and finally failed
takeover bid for VW. Talk about the tail trying to wag the
dog! It is being said by VW that Porsche will continue as an
independent marque, but in the long run it will not. The
individual spirit that became Porsche will be lost in the
corporate parts bin. The best that can happen is that one
day VW will spin off Porsche and people with the same vision
as Dr Porsche and his son will take control. Otherwise,
Porsche will be another lost auto manufacturer.
And all that reminded me of the best Porsche joke I’ve ever
heard. A lady walks into a Porsche dealership. She browses
around, then spots the perfect car and walks over to inspect
it. As she bends over to feel the fine leather upholstery, a
loud fart escapes her. Very embarrassed, she looks around
nervously to see if anyone has noticed her little accident
and hopes a sales person doesn’t pop up right now.
As she turns back, there standing next to her was a
salesman. “Good day, Madame. How may we help you today?”
Very uncomfortably, and to try and draw attention away from
what she has just done, she asks, “Sir, what is the price of
this lovely vehicle?” He answers, “Madam, if you farted just
touching it, you are going to s**t yourself when you hear
the price!”
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I stated that the Issigonis Mini is
usually thought of as the first transverse engined car,
but it wasn’t. I asked what was the first? The answer
was DKW (Dampf Kraft Wagen) in 1931. Quite a few of you
got this right, but it was Ivar Hoyem from Norway who
was first in with the correct answer.
So to this week. What car is this? It had a side valve
engine which developed 10 bhp. It had a top speed of 42
mph (67 kph). It had 4 wheel cable operated brakes. It
sold over 375,000 and its designer was knighted. So what
was it?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first
correct answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
BMW follow Honda out
the door
Now the second manufacturer team has pulled
the pin on F1, with BMW crying ‘enough’ to follow Honda
out of motor racing. However, BMW will still be running
in the World Touring Car series (in which they are front
runners) as opposed to F1 where their results this year
have been abysmal.
I had a chat with Anothai Eamlumnow, the publisher of
ASEAN Autobiz magazine, at the Bira International
Circuit the other day. We discussed, amongst other
things, the future of motor sport in Thailand and Asia,
and as far as he was concerned, he was quite sure that
motor sport would continue to grow - but that growth
would be at a different level compared to before.
Motor racing would continue because it is a very
pleasurable field of personal endeavour. However, with
decreased funding, some drivers would have to shelve
their ambitions and compete at lower (affordable)
levels. I think that is a very believable scenario.
This is where categories like the Honda Jazz one-make
series and the similar Honda Civic formula will be the
way to go. Expenditure can be predicted and budgeted
for. Close competition is there, it is fulfilling for
drivers and spectators alike, and will carry Asian motor
sport through tough times. Another formula is the Asian
1500 Touring Car series, for which cars like the Toyota
Vios can be modified to compete at a reasonable budget.
I was at the Bira circuit myself to track test another
type of racing car, which could also be the start of an
affordable formula. This was the Westfield S2000. A
Lotus Super 7 clone, running a Ford Duratec 2 litre
engine and gearbox and equipped with road tyres. With
190 bhp on tap and weighing around 600 kg, this is a
good enough performance package to suit most drivers,
and one in which skills can be honed cheaply. Being on
road rubber meant that the car would move on its tyre
footprint, and correction of oversteer added to the fun.
A fully built-up turnkey Westfield is around 1.5 million
baht, but kits are available from 300,000 baht upwards,
and a racing Westfield kit would be around 600,000 baht.
In the UK, there is already a Westfield formula, and the
drivers in it say, “We believe no other race
championship offers such a variety of opportunities to
both novice and expert drivers alike, provides as much
fun for as little cost and has such close racing.” The
championship is run to a controlled specification based
on the lightweight SE race chassis and body with only
very limited modifications. Typical races can be seen on
the Westfield website (http://www.wscrda.co.uk). The
local agent is Julian Dobrijevic who can be contacted
through his website
www.westfield-sportscars-thailand.com.
It is a cheap formula. You can drive it as daily
transport, and you don’t need a rich uncle, or corporate
sponsorship. It is worth thinking about.
Should we be making
batteries?
The end of the oil era is approaching. The pimps
at the pumps who raise prices through the OPEC cartel are
losing their stranglehold as the battery/electric era comes
closer.
Last week we featured the new Nissan Leaf, and there is also
the Mitsubishi iMIEV and the Chevrolet Volt, all due to be
released within the next couple of years. Real world
electric cars from mass producers for the mass markets.
Now initially they will be expensive. Remember the first
mobile phones and the first personal computers? Only the
rich could afford one - and now everybody has at least one
of each.
Here is a name to remember - Shai Agassi. This gentleman
runs a company called ‘Better Place’, a US-based company
that plans to roll out the infrastructure necessary to
recharge electric cars at home, at work and at battery-swap
roadside stations.
A visionary or perhaps just an optimist, he believes that
any country switching to manufacturing electric vehicles and
lithium batteries will have a head start in many ways.
“A billion electric car batteries will need to be made -
that is the biggest industrial opportunity in the world
today,” he states.
He predicts all new cars would be electric within two
decades, and he also said most countries are well behind the
US, China, Korea and Japan in embracing a potentially
lucrative industry. With that potential, other countries,
especially ASEAN countries which have lower wage and
infrastructure costs should be seriously considering this
option.
Agassi’s company plans to roll out the infrastructure across
any country which has plug-in electric cars. Australia is
the third country in its sights after Denmark and Israel.
In many ways like the oil companies, Agassi will not be
selling electric cars, but plans to make its money through
selling electricity via recharging outlets that look like
parking meters.
The second wing of its business is to establish swap-and-go
battery exchange stations. Similar in appearance to existing
service stations, they will allow depleted electric car
batteries to be swapped by driving over a robotized pit. The
claim is that the swap for a ready-charged battery takes
less than the time usually taken to refuel a petrol engined
car.
The Better Place business model predicts electric cars will
be about six cents a kilometre cheaper to run based on 2008
fuel prices.
However, battery swap stations depend upon a manageable
number of battery sizes and configurations, and electric car
manufacturers building standardized battery access bays and
connectors. That is something that conventional cars, which
have had electric starter motors and batteries for more than
half a century, are yet to achieve. It is the old Beta
versus DVD technology again, with now with the addition of
Blue Ray.
A few interesting cars
for sale
Chris Locke is attempting to regroup his garage
and offers for sale a 1973 MGB GT (restored but Toyota 4AGE
motor) B. 550,000 ONO; 2005 BMW 323 auto B. 990,000 firm;
1969 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV complete restoration B. 695,000
ONO; 1967 Volvo 122S daily driver B. 245,000 ONO. Contact
Chris on 081 834 3260.
MGB GT
