Singapore sleep-fest this weekend
I have never met any A, or even B, list
celebrities. What’s more, I don’t care what they do, think
or eat - especially at Grand Prix meetings. I represent that
group of people in the world who enjoy wheel to wheel, cut
and thrust, supreme car control, motor racing. So
undoubtedly I will be disappointed by the Singapore GP.
“Famous” Singapore celeb Kit Chan
Why? Just look at last year, and for now, we will forget the
Renault ‘race fixing’ melodrama. The GP gained all sorts of
praise after the inaugural night meeting. Glitz, glamour and
gorgeous babes filled the newspapers. However, did the
street circuit give us good motor racing? Did it hell. If I
want glitz, glamour and gorgeous babes I can find that in
certain areas of Pattaya or Chiang Mai. Not only see, but
touch as well. I don’t need to stand behind barriers or con
a pit pass to stand close to a B lister.
Last year I wrote, “I can only hope that it is not a track
layout such as Valencia which was one of the most boring
races ever inflicted on F1 fans. If it is another one of
those impossible to pass situations like Monaco, all we can
hope for is tropical downpours. In fact, I think rain (or
water at least), should be made compulsory.
Singapore
Grand Prix program
Yes, water sprinklers which get turned on
for 10 minutes every half hour would have the tyre choice
experts scratching their heads, other than McLaren’s who
would send Hamilton out on the wrong tyres anyway.”
After seeing the circuit and enduring the woeful racing on
it last year, I see no reason to change last year’s
statements. However, there will be no deliberate kamikaze
efforts this year.
Qualifying on the Saturday is at 9 p.m. our time, and the
race starts on Sunday at 7 p.m. Thai time. Join me in
Jameson’s (Soi AR, next to Nova Park) in front of the big
screen around 6 p.m. for some food and a natter before the
race.
By the way, do not be fooled into thinking this is just the
second Singapore Grand Prix. There were others before this.
The Renault F1 affair
Much will have been in the popular press over the
past few days, so nothing I can write about it will be
“new”; however, I can perhaps shed some light on the
subject.
Last year, Renault were poised to pull the plug on the
Renault F1 team. The Renault F1 team had not had a win for
two years, and like most F1 teams was a giant hole in the
ground, into which the manufacturer poured money, and for
Renault nothing good had floated to the top.
Now comes the information that an ingenious plot had been
hatched to get their lead driver, Fernando Alonso,
leap-frogged up from 15th to leading the pack after a
‘fortuitous’ safety car period.
According to the accusations which have now surfaced, the
Renault F1 team manipulated the ‘fortuitous’ side of things
by determining when, where and how a safety car period could
be arranged, by telling the second driver, Nelson Piquet
Junior, just where he had to hit the wall. About the only
thing they didn’t do was paint a big X on the wall, with a
sign saying “Hit Here”.
To all intents and purposes it had worked well. Junior
crashed, a safety car appeared, and Alonso was now head of
the bunch and won the 2008 Singapore race, thus appeasing
Renault. But then, after Junior was fired by Briatore,
Junior opened the can of worms.
The FIA called Renault F1 to task, showing they had a prima
facie case for Renault F1 to answer. Pat Symonds, the
Renault F1 head of engineering tried fudging and all but
claimed the 5th Amendment, while Renault F1 team boss Flavio
Briatore tried to bluster his way out of it, waving writs in
the air.
At that juncture, Renault removed both Symonds and Briatore
from the Renault F1 team, and said they (Renault) would not
contest the charges. The phrase “Guilty as charged, yer
Honor” comes to mind.
What this effectively does is give Renault the power and
reason to divorce itself from Renault F1, and make a quick
exit left at the end of the year. It will also make it
easier for Alonso to then go to another team. But finally,
it will have given great delight to FIA boss Max Mosley who
detested Flavio Briatore, who ended up not falling on his
sword, but rather had it inserted painfully in a fundamental
orifice. That’s what you call a win-win-win solution!
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked what prototype car was
driven by Ayrton Senna who declared it to be “a little
fragile,” so the manufacturer increased the rigidity by
50 percent? Clue: this was not an F1 car. It was the
Honda NSX.
So to this week. How many of the famous Bugatti Royales
were sold to the crowned heads of Europe?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first
correct answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
Lexus limo for 2010 -
the LS 600h and LS 600h L
Lexus unveiled their top of the line
limousines at last week’s Frankfurt show, denoting a
total commitment to hybrid engineering. This may be so,
but to me it looks a lot like an overweight Bangkok
“Limo” taxi.
The full hybrid Lexus Hybrid Drive system in the LS 600h
has a new ECO mode, which modifies the throttle action
and performance of the air conditioning system to
support fuel-efficient driving.
The relationship between movement of the accelerator
pedal and system output is automatically controlled,
reducing response to aggressive inputs to improve fuel
economy and promote smoother driving. The load on the
engine is also reduced under acceleration, which also
helps improve fuel efficiency. In other words, the
electronics will cancel out all attempts at emulating
Michael Schumacher. Mind you, in a Lexus limo do you
really want neck-snapping acceleration?
New Lexus LS
600h L
With battery size in all hybrids being a
problem, repackaging of the full hybrid system’s battery
into two sections of six and 14 modules has reduced its
overall size and freed up more luggage space in the boot.
Further development of the Lexus Hybrid Drive system has
been revised to meet Euro V exhaust emissions standards, but
with no change to the car’s performance: the combination of
the 5.0 liter V8 petrol engine and 165 kW electric motor
produces a maximum 439 bhp and 520 Nm of torque, giving zero
to 100 km/h acceleration in 6.3 seconds.
The LS 600h has larger, 380 mm ventilated front disc brakes
with six-piston calipers, rotors and pads developed jointly
with Brembo.
Both front seats are equipped with new, inflator operated
active headrests. Activated by a signal from the airbag ECU
in the event of a rear impact, the inflator slides a piston
into the headrest, unlocking a mechanism that projects the
headrest forwards and upwards, reducing the risk of whiplash
injury.
The driver’s seat also has a new return/away function.
Linked to a similar function that moves the steering wheel,
this automatically slides the seat back by up to 50 mm when
the driver unbuckles the seatbelt and turns the engine off.
The seat returns to its selected driving position once the
car is started again. This reads well, but is merely a
gimmick. The Lexus is large enough to get into and out of,
even for Billy Bunter.
The rear seats recline, with fully retractable leg and
footrest and lower back massage function, all operated using
a remote controller. It also offers different levels of
massage using an array of eight pneumatic chambers built
into the seatback, and lumbar and shoulder areas. I wonder
if the Thai spec model also comes with a masseuse?
In common with other Lexus models, the LS 600h is adopting a
new hard disc drive (HDD) navigation system with the 40 GB
capacity, giving Europe-wide coverage with traffic
information data capture in each country. Nothing was
mentioned about the one way sections of Sukhumvit Road.
There is an automatic high beam system. A camera sensor in
the rear view mirror detects oncoming traffic, street lamps
and vehicles traveling ahead and automatically switches the
headlamp high beam on and off according to driving
conditions.
Undoubtedly a triumph of engineering, but with so much being
done by electronics, hardly a ‘driver’s’ car. But again, it
will certainly be value for money.
VW gee-up with E-Up!
Having seen that the Scandinavians can produce an
electric car called the Think! has prompted VW to call their
new electric car the E-Up! A singular lack of original
thought in VW’s ad department I think!
VW
E-Up
This little buggy was also shown in Frankfurt and with a
range of 130 km from its lithium-ion batteries, the plug-in
EV is just one of a range of Up! variants.
Unveiling the E-Up! in Frankfurt, VW Group chairman Martin
Winterkorn said that to be a genuine success, an electric
car must be both affordable to a broad customer base and
uncompromisingly practical in everyday driving.
The E-Up! is just 3.19 meters long - 726 mm shorter than the
Polo light car, and the E-Up! has what VW describes as 3+1
seating. This is three real seats and one possible seat for
a small child or - more likely - a baby seat or carry bag
(or legless midget). They do this by putting the front
passenger’s seat 50 mm ahead of the driver’s seat, allowing
room for the sole rear seat passenger immediately behind.
The “+1” seat is behind the driver, but with minimal
legroom.
The 60 kW electric motor drives the front wheels, propelling
the 1085kg car from 0-100 km/h in 11.3 seconds and on to a
top speed of 135km/h, which is more than enough for a city
car.
A quarter of the car’s weight is taken up by the 18 kWh
battery, which is under the floor and needs to be
mechanically cooled by fan.
VW says the battery can be charged from a home powerpoint in
five hours, but like most other EVs coming on to the market,
it also can be fast-charged at up to 80 percent of capacity
in one hour at higher voltage. Like the Toyota Prius, the
E-Up! has photovoltaic solar cells on the roof, but cover a
larger 1.4 square meters to top up the car’s electrical
system and power a fan to ventilate the car when parked.
