Ferrari Italia surfaces
The latest Ferrari, the 458 Italia coupe,
is doing the rounds of the Ferrari dealerships before its
general release around June of this year.
Ferrari
458 Italia
With Tesla in the US releasing its all-electric supercar,
there was talk that Ferrari would do the same, but not to be
says Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa. According to him, Ferrari
will not produce an all-electric supercar, but it will
reveal the first hybrid development program cars in the
shape of a petrol-electric 599 at the Geneva motor show next
month.
The 599 hybrid’s debut at Geneva on March 2 was also
confirmed by Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo at the
recent launch of the Ferrari 2010 Formula 1 car.
CEO Felisa said the full parallel hybrid drive system, which
has been fitted to a Ferrari test mule for 12 months, would
reduce fuel consumption and emissions in the 599 by up to 25
percent.
“We will present the new concept of the hybrid at Geneva. It
will be based on the 599, but that doesn’t mean it will
debut on that model,” he said. “We have a plan to introduce
on our cars new technology that will reduce consumption and
emissions. The next step is to apply the technology on
Ferrari cars without changing the characteristics they are
famous for.”
Somehow, I cannot see a hybrid petrol/electric having the
wonderful exhaust note that Ferrari has had for years, but
we shall see. He did say, “If you look at global warming,
the right solution is not full electric. It’s more a
marketing solution than a real one. Sound is just as
important as design and performance for Ferrari. We will not
make engine sounds with speakers.” The Ferrari chief,
however, cautioned that Ferrari’s first hybrid model, which
would carry a weight penalty of 80 kg, was at least five
years away from production.
How did Toyota get in
such a mess?
Toyota Motor has just gone through the worst year
in the 70 year history of the brand, losing billions of
dollars (not yen). However, 2010 has started to look just as
bad, if not worse, with the recall of millions of their
vehicles world-wide with an accelerator problem.
Toyota
troubles
What’s more, the part was not even made by Toyota, but by
one of their suppliers, though I would imagine to the Toyota
design.
What must be taken into account is the fact that recalls and
corrections cost big money for major manufacturers like
Toyota. Let’s, for the sake of the exercise, imagine that it
only costs $10 to fix the problem. That’s not much, but now
multiply that by one million vehicles. That $10 fix just
cost the company 10 million dollars! And since the estimated
number of vehicles Toyota has to fix is somewhere around
eight million, that’s not small change. What’s worse, that
does not take into account the loss of the good name of the
company, especially Toyota who has worked hard for many
years to give the impression of being bullet-proof in the
minds of the motoring public.
The chairman of Toyota, Mr Toyoda, has been criticized in
some sections of the media for not apologizing sooner. Poor
bugger is in the situation of damned if he does and damned
if he doesn’t. And even if he committed hara-kiri kneeling
on the sacrificial mat on prime time television it doesn’t
alter the fact that there was a screw up affecting millions
of their cars across several of their models.
What is also being conveniently forgotten is that the
sticking throttle pedal does not affect every Toyota. It is
only a very, very few drivers in amongst the millions of
owners who have had this problem, but now every Toyota is
looked upon as if it is a mobile hand grenade, just waiting
to go off - which is not the real scenario.
No, I feel sorry for Mr. Toyoda, who has found himself in a
lose-lose situation, but he should take heart in the fact
that within two model years the press and the public will
have forgotten about it all. In the meantime I am quite
happy to see my wife drive the children to school in our
family Toyota. They have more chance of being hit by a bus
than they have of the accelerator sticking, and even if it
did, I am confident that my wife would apply the brakes and
then turn off the ignition.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I mentioned that Wayne
Eckersley was a famous F1 engineer and one of the drivers he
fettled won the world championship. Eckersley also made a
six wheel F1 car. I asked what manufacturer did he make it
for? A bit of a trick question, as Wayne Eckersley was the
chief engineer at Williams when Australian Alan Jones won
the world championship in 1980, but he built the six-wheeler
for March Engineering. Unlike the six wheel Tyrrell which
had two extra front wheels, the Eckersley concept was two
extra rear wheels.
So to this week. In one family there was a very successful
racing driver and his sister was a very successful rally
driver. Who were they?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
F1 teams begin the
annual bluffing routine
The F1 teams have shown their 2010 contenders to
the press, and are now involved in testing the new designs
before the first Grand Prix (Bahrain March 14).
The major difference for this year is that refuelling is no
longer allowed during the race, so the fuel tanks have to be
roughly twice the size. This has meant that the cars are
longer in the wheelbase to accommodate the larger tanks.
Mercedes
F1
This is where the bluffing begins. There will be probably a
one second difference in lap times between full tanks and
empty tanks, so when a team’s driver sets a lap time, was
the fuel tank full or was he running on a sniff?
If they want to impress a would-be sponsor, lap times at the
top of the list will look good, so low fuel is the answer.
If the team is trying to sandbag, and not show their real
potential, then the driver will always be going out on full
tanks. So the new fuel tank size is even more important than
ever.
Whilst we will all look at the Formula 1 websites to see if
Button is quicker than Hamilton or quicker than Schumacher
or Rosberg, it really does not mean much at this stage. The
final qualifying session in Bahrain is when we will really
see just which team has the upper hand, and which driver in
that team.
Asian Motor Sport
becoming stronger?
Over the years, I have tended to watch
‘professional’ meetings, but the professional meetings do
not really show true, grass roots, motor sport.
This was really hammered home the other day when I clicked
on the website for the Super Club race promoters and looked
through the events which were coming up for the meeting. On
the Sunday there were a number of practice sessions up till
10.30 and then the racing started with 16 races up till
around 5.30 p.m. The races were generally around six laps
and there were 10 minutes between races. What a race feast!
Fire-breathing
Mira
Now there are those who say that we should be concentrating
on Formula 1, and if we don’t have a Formula 1 track then we
aren’t a motor racing nation. I’m afraid I don’t agree.
Formula 1 is the tip of the pyramid, but if there isn’t a
wide base to support it, then it will all fall in a heap.
Guaranteed! Take China, for example. They have an F1 track,
but no real grass roots base. Motor sport is then not in the
DNA of the community. The end result could be seen in
Shanghai, where the promoters were giving away tickets to
try and make the stands look less empty. This was also the
case in Malaysia. Some sections might try and deny it, but
the TV camera doesn’t lie.
We are still suffering from what has been described as the
Global Economic Downturn, and high level motor sports
require high level funding. In fact, the funding levels in
F1 have become so high that even manufacturers such as
Honda, BMW and now Toyota, have withdrawn from the top
echelon. Having said that, what corporations in Asia are
prepared to put millions of dollars into a sport, where
there is no guarantee of a return? In fact, it is generally
the opposite. It should not be forgotten that there is only
one race team still in F1, which has been there since the
1950 Silverstone Grand Prix, without a break. Yes, that is
Ferrari.
So back to the real base for motor sport in any country, not
just Asia or ASEAN. There needs to be affordable classes in
which drivers can compete without it costing an arm and a
leg. Literally ‘Run what you brung’ categories.
Those initial and very inexpensive race categories will
bring on another class of racing, as those who get ‘hooked’
will want to move up. Not to a fully sponsored top class
drive, though it may be an ambition, but to one where the
cars are a little more modified, a little faster, and only
(hopefully) a little more expensive to run. These will still
be essentially road cars. Race on Sunday and drive to work
Monday.
Did you know that Pattaya even had a two cars at a time
‘hill climb’ using the public road at Pratamnak Hill? About
12 years ago, it was a great event - an uphill drag race
with one right and one left hand corner, with the cars
staying on either side of the white line. Sa Keow also has a
temporary track and Chiang Mai has a public road section it
uses for the Honda and Toyota one make races.
This is good in many ways. It brings motor sport to the
notice of the people in the provinces, and allows local
drivers to “have a go”. If there is no opportunity to try
motor sport, then once again, with no grass roots, there is
no base for faster (and more expensive) categories. I cannot
emphasize enough the importance of the ‘novice’ classes to
the health of motor racing in all countries as a whole.
