What did we learn from the Belgian GP?
What a difference a track makes! After
boring Valencia came Spa, a track universally liked, and a
track that delivered passing, intrigue, subterfuge,
suspense, action and drama.
I will get straight to the point. I do not believe that Kimi
Raikkonen won the Belgian GP fairly, and since I was not the
only person to spot the first corner pass, I just wonder
where the stewards were looking when Raikkonen went off
whilst in fourth place, drove around with all four wheels on
the run-off area, cut the corner and rejoined the race in
third and had enough momentum to carry him through to
second. At the last count, a pass has to be done on the
racing surface, and the run-off area isn’t it. Oh, I forgot,
he drives a Ferrari…
A wonderful result for Team Poppadum! “Veteran” Fisichella
scores pole position and (really) won the Belgian GP. A
magnificent effort. There is, however, no truth in the rumor
that the Vindaloo curry he had at lunchtime made him go that
little bit quicker. His team mate Sutil, by comparison, was
nowhere. Perhaps he stuck with the samosas.
There is rumor that Fisi will be driving the second Ferrari
at Monza in place of Badoer, who has proved he is most
certainly out of his depth. If Fisi doesn’t take the seat
there are several hundred drivers who would be ready, and
quicker than luckless Luca. The Scuderia can get me on
[email protected].
Renault had an interesting time in the pits. The chap who
didn’t get the right front wheel on properly in Hungary was
reprieved and switched to the left front wheel for Spa. Same
result, ending with frantic calls to Alonso to come back in
before another wheel fell off for another $50,000 fine. His
team mate Grosjean tangled with the lack-luster Button
(Brawn GP) with both blaming each other. It doesn’t really
matter, neither was going to get into the points.
While still on Renault, the FIA are investigating whether
Piquet Junior was told to crash at Singapore last year so
that the safety car would be deployed to allow Alonso to be
safe out front and enable the win. Has Junior been opening
the Renault closet, I wonder?
Back to Spa, Button started on 14th while Barichello, the
pensioner, was on fourth grid slot. What is wrong with
Button? I think he has simply dropped his bundle as the
thought of perhaps winning the driver’s title keeps him
awake at night. Again a mighty drive by the Brazilian,
though the starting problem must be fixed. This was not the
first time this year.
Red Bull scored a third with Vunderkind Vettel, to bring
himself back into contention, while Mark Webber joined the
bundle droppers after scoring a drive-through penalty for a
lapse by the lollipop man. Actually the situation is simply
fixed by having a two lane pit exit.
BMW were up there, though not podium material. Are Kubica
and Heidfeld trying to get brownie points before a new owner
comes along for the team?
McLaren-Mercedes scored some points with Kovalainen, while
Lewis Hamilton ended up in the wall with Button, Grosjean
and Algy for company.
Rosberg scored another point for Williams, while Knuckles
Nakajima and Luckless Luca provided good opportunities for
the other drivers to practice passing.
Roll on Monza. Another good track.
The Brits finally blow
the steam record
At a cost of several millions, the British Steam
Car Challenge team has finally smashed the 100 year old
steam land speed record. By a whole 26 km/h. The ghost of
Fred Marriott, the driver who drove the Stanley Steamer to
its record of 205.5 km/h in 1906, must still be laughing.
After 103 years, is that the best that modern British
technology can do? Apparently it is, as the new record
holder is being retired to a museum.
New
record holder (just).
British Steam Car Challenge confirmed that it had hit a peak
speed of 219.04 km/h on its first attempt and 243.15 km/h on
its second run along a dry lake bed at Edward’s Air Force
Base in California.
These speeds, which are yet to be accepted by the Federation
Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) which oversees record
attempts, betters the 205.5km/h record set in a Stanley
Steamer in 1906. Once ratified, the record run will be an
average of the British Steam Car’s two runs - 231.09 km/h.
So how did the much vaunted British technology beat the
Stanley Steamer? The three-tonne, 7.6 meter streamlined
‘‘Inspiration’’, as the car is named, was made from a
mixture of carbon fiber and a steel space frame chassis.
The steam came from purified water that was superheated to
400 degrees Celsius in 12 LPG-fuelled boilers filled with
more than three kilometers of tubing, at the rate of 50
liters a minute. It was then fed into a turbine at twice the
speed of sound, generating only a meager 268 kW of power at
12,000 rpm but an enormous amount of torque.
The car took about four kilometers to reach its peak speed,
and another four kilometers to stop. To set the new record,
the BSCC team had to turn the car around within an hour to
make the second run. They made it with eight minutes to
spare.
Driver Charles Burnett said the steam car handled
beautifully, making it a “true testament to British
engineering. All systems worked perfectly - it was a really
good (first) run,” Burnett said. “The second run went even
better and we clocked a speed in excess of 240 km/h.”
However, the record run was well short of the team’s
ambitious 320 km/h speed target that it set before making
the attempt.
Late news: I have just been given a very secret memo that a
team from Thailand will attack this new record next year.
The basis is a three wheeled noodle cart, using a gas ring
and a kettle on top. The steam produced will be used to
drive a turbine to assist the man on the pedals. The Thai
engineers estimate that 240 km/h should be well within its
sights, but are worried about the turnaround time of one
hour, as the preparation for the lunchtime som tum will
probably be the deciding factor.
The sad part about this new land speed steaming “record” is
the fact that the Brits are shaking hands with themselves,
having nudged the speed up by a whole 26 km/h. The entire
effort is more like a Monty Python sketch, rather than a
really great engineering achievement.
The old record
holder.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I wrote about the 1936 Rolls-Royce
Phantom III, a motoring legend in many ways. Wonderful
engineering, silky smooth engine and a modern suspension
- and I asked who developed its front suspension? It was
General Motors!
So to this week. What RPM was the red line in an E-Type
Jaguar?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first
correct answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
Best Bargains
If you are looking for a bargain, forget all
about new cars and discounts or better specs offered
free by the sales people. Quite frankly, there is no
such thing as a ‘cheaper’ new car. The price is fixed
but you can get some minor price lowering with heavy
bargaining, all of which isn’t worth it in the end.
No, the way to find bargains is to look at two to three
year old secondhand vehicles. The initial depreciation
is over and there are plenty of models in the second
hand car lots for you to compare.
I came across the following figures in a UK source and
there are some lessons to be learned, even though some
of the vehicles listed are not available here - but the
principles are the same.
The 10 models which retained the least of their original
list price (as a percentage) after three years and
64,000 kays were as follows:
1. Alfa Romeo 166 - 14.4%
2. Rover 45 / MG ZS - 20.3%
3. Rover City Rover - 20.4%
4. Rover 75 / MG ZT - 21.3%
5. Proton Impian - 22.0%
6. Mitsubishi Space Star - 22.5%
7. Nissan Terrano - 22.9%
8. Alfa Romeo 156 - 24.2%
9. Renault Laguna - 24.3%
10. Cadillac CTS 24.8%
Alfa Romeo’s 166 holds the dubious honor of being the
worst depreciating car in the UK, retaining a mere 14.4
percent of its original price after three years. Rover
and MG cars, such as the 45/ZS and 75/ZT, fare little
better, just managing to hold on to 20 percent of their
values over the same period. Models from a number of
other manufacturers feature in the ‘bottom 10’ -
including Proton, Mitsubishi and Nissan - and none of
these achieves a residual value better than 25 percent.
The 10 worst-performing cars all shared one feature
which has a negative impact on their low retained
values: they were superceded models. But it’s not all
bad news for the cars at the bottom of the depreciation
pile. This is an area where bargains really do abound.
Many of them are not “bad” cars, but tend to be
semi-orphans, without service centers locally. For
example, just where do you go to get your Alfa serviced
here? Likewise, a Renault? These are not bad cars and at
the lower end of the depreciation stakes make good
bargains.
The above also holds true for popular makes/models. For
example I saw a fully loaded three years old diesel
Fortuner, for 500,000 baht less than its new price. Why?
Because there was a model upgrade between then and now,
and another upgrade planed in a couple of years time.
If you are in the car market, I suggest you spend a few
weekends just finding the average prices of late model
vehicles and contrasting the price with the price that
was paid at the showroom. You will find a bargain.
Here comes the Mini
Coupe
To be released at the Frankfurt show, BMW have
sent the teaser shots of the new Mini Coupe. Now, who
remembers the Mini Jem? It was built in 1968 and was also
available as a kit car. There is a certain similarity here,
in concept, if nothing else.
New
Mini Coupe
While the new Mini concept car has a luxurious leather-lined
interior, production versions of the Coupe will come with
the same materials and trims as existing Mini models.
The Coupe uses the same front wheel drive platform as well
as the aluminium intensive strut (front) and multi-link
(rear) suspension and electro-hydraulic steering system from
existing versions of the Mini -which means it should drive
just like the ordinary Minis.
Old
Mini Coupe
The engine in the Frankfurt concept is the same turbocharged
1.6 liter four cylinder engine used in the performance top
of the range John Cooper S Works, which develops 155 kW of
power and 280 Nm of torque.
Factory figures indicate 0-100 km/h inside 7.0 seconds and
reach a top speed of around 240 km/h.
Production versions of the new car should also be available
with the less powerful 128 kW turbocharged 1.6 liter four
cylinder engine from the Cooper S.
