Monaco GP this weekend
Monaco
GP
The Grand Prix to be seen at is this
weekend (as opposed to a Grand Prix to see motor racing at).
It is not the GP to go to, unless watching B List
‘super-stars’ is your idea of fun. This may, of course be
just jealousy on my part, not even making the C List… The
harbor will be bollard to bollard expensive yachts and the
villa car parks will have all the Lambo’s, Ferrari’s and
Maserati’s you would ever wish for.
Whatever, it is not the circuit to
encourage passing, despite the fact that the cars rarely get
fast enough to create turbulence, let alone ‘dirty air’.
The most critical part of this Grand Prix
will happen on the Saturday. And that’s qualifying. He who
is on pole has a greater than 75 percent chance of winning.
So who will be on P1? Vettel in the Red Bull has been
pulling rabbits out of the hat at the last second, though
Webber, Hamilton or Alonso could surprise. However, I am
putting my money on Webber. He knows the circuit, has no
fear and has superb car control. They will fuel him light to
give him every chance. The Qualifying is at 7 p.m. on
Saturday May 15, with the race at 7 p.m. on Sunday May 16.
I will be watching from my perch in front
of the big screen at Jameson’s Irish Pub, Soi AR, going
there at 6 p.m. for a carvery dinner before the race at 7
p.m. Why don’t you join me?
Electrifying Mercedes AMG SLS eDrive
AMG states it will display a
closer-to-production version electric SLS eDrive supercar
later this year as it works towards a full production
version in 2013.
The Mercedes-Benz performance arm rolled
out the first eDrive concept at the last September’s
Frankfurt motor show, and many skeptics viewed it as a
one-off green publicity push, but departing AMG managing
director Volker Mornhinweg has told GoAuto in Australia that
the car is much more than that.
AMG SLS
He said the company was deep into the
development process for the car and on track for a 2013
debut.
The SLS eDrive has one 100 kW motor per
wheel fed by a lithium-ion battery pack housed in the same
body shell as petrol SLS models.
Having driven the prototypes, Volker
Mornhinweg is confident the production model will deliver
the same kind of emotion as the petrol version of the
supercar.
“I can tell you that it is an amazing
kind of experience,” he said. “Therefore we are on the way
to transport the same emotion as you can have with the
combustion engine.” Mind you, an electric SLS will have
nothing as soul stirring as the bellow of the mighty V8
petrol SLS.
AMG are aware of this, being the relative
silence of the powerplant, a crucial element of supercar
such as the SLS.
AMG is against mimicking a combustion
engine note and would prefer for it to sound electric, with
the whirring of motors that goes with it.
“I can tell you there is a sound; it is
not the same as a V8,” Volker Mornhinweg said.
“It is totally different. There is some
wind noise, but when you push the throttle there is a sound
that I would describe as interesting - it sounds new and
futuristic.”
Mornhinweg’s AMG is happy with the design
of an electric SLS. “This concept is perfect for e-drive
because we can take (out) a combustion engine and transaxle
(gearbox) and make no changes to the body in white, and we
can put in two motors with the gearbox in the rear, two
motors and the gearbox in the front and we can take the
centre console as a battery place - it looks like a T and it
is perfect,” he said.
Mornhinweg said it was important to build
an all-electric supercar first and could consider other
technology for extending the range. The estimated range is
about 180km.
The make-up of electric vehicles will
depend on battery technology advancements, Mornhinweg said.
“In the long run it depends on what will be the next move in
the battery technology and the whole world is working on
that like hell,” he said.
As previously reported by GoAuto, AMG is
looking at other ways of reducing the fuel consumption of
its cars, including a possible boosted four-cylinder small
car.
It will also move away from its 6.2 liter
naturally aspirated V8, opting instead for a more efficient
twin turbocharged 5.5 liter V8 with direct injection that
manages 420 kW and 900 Nm of torque.
AMG says this engine will use about 25
percent less fuel than the existing one. This engine will
also be introduced in the large S-class sedan before being
spread across the AMG range.
GoAuto asked Volker Mornhinweg if fuel
economy concerns meant the end of the naturally aspirated
engine within the next decade. He agreed: “Without an
e-motor (as a hybrid) I think so, except for very small ones
such as range extenders. The combustion engine we will see
for the next decade, but it will be charged.”
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked what was different
about the pre-1926 Buick and Dodge gearshift gates. They
were the other way round from usual practice, with first and
reverse on the right hand side and second and third on the
left.
Who made this car?
So to this week. To try and beat the
Googlers - which automaker made this car? Clue - it wasn’t
Mazda.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be
the first correct answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
What did
we learn from the Spanish Grand Prix?
Well, we certainly were shown that the
race was held in Spain, with the television director honing
in on anything remotely Spanish, from vintage Hispano-Suiza’s,
to Jaime Algywotsit’s grandmother, veteran Pedro de la
Rosa’s wheelchair, Hispania Racing Team and Ferrari’s blue
T-shirts to commemorate Alonso’s birthplace.
Mark Webber drove a completely faultless
race to win convincingly, and indeed had a faultless
weekend. Will this be enough to get the detractors shut the
f-duct up? The press claiming that he will be dropped by Red
Bull in favor of the nosey Pole Kubica. If you were the team
manager, would you drop the Aussie? His team mate, the
highly fancied young German Sebastian Vettel, had to
acknowledge Webber’s supremacy at this race, and was lucky
to get third spot, nursing his car to the finish. “Fifteen
laps to the end, I lost the front left brakes and had to
back off. I was lucky as there was a gap to Michael
(Schumacher) behind me.”
Alonso in the Ferrari really had luck
riding with him, going from a solid fourth to end up second
as others had misfortunes. “When you gain two positions in
the last part of the race and unexpected positions as well
it feels great and you have a fantastic feeling right now,”
said the modest Spaniard. Lucky lad!
We also learned that race engineers are
becoming the drivers of the future. “You’re half a second
faster with a broken front wing. I think we’ve found the
solution,” said engineer Rob Smedley to Felipe Massa,
proving that aerodynamics is a black art at best and sheer
guesswork at worst. However, Smedley has been telling Massa
what to do all year over the radio. Very shortly he will be
able to do without the driver and do it all from the pit
wall via PlayStation 4.
“Old age pensioner sees off British
youngster in a no-holds-barred conflict.” With Button
proving himself to be a woose, being the quickest car
through the speed trap, but unable to nail the wily German,
what will the British press have to say about that? Up till
last weekend they were deriding Schumacher, deciding that
the multiple world champion was past it, and all but
suggesting he should have stayed home with his pipe and
slippers. Having very effectively beaten Button over 49 laps
of racing, and decidedly trouncing his Mercedes team mate,
no doubt the partisan British press will now decide that
Schumacher’s revival is because Ross Brawn is nobbling young
Rosberg. Schumacher deserved his fourth place.
Hamilton telling his team that DiGrassi
is driving dangerously and please tell Charlie Whiting was a
bit rich. Words like “pot” and “kettle” come to mind.
However, Hamilton drove his usual aggressive race and was
unlucky with the tyre failure on the penultimate lap, when
in a safe second place.
The rest were nowhere. They will all be
mobile chicanes at Monaco this weekend, but at least it
shouldn’t be as boring as Spain.
Huge turnout at Bira last weekend
The first rounds of the SuperCar series
at the Bira circuit last weekend attracted the largest crowd
I have seen there in years. Estimates run between 20-30,000
and parking was at an absolute premium. With the
temperatures being in the 40’s, this produced high attrition
rates in both cars and drivers. However, some drivers are
yet to learn that God does not fix misfiring engines. God
usually throws a hand grenade down the inlet manifold
instead.
The next race meeting at Bira is the 3K
meeting on May 28-30. Great fun, especially with the ‘Retro’
cars and the road-registered series.
Lamborghini to produce a V12 Jota
The Lamborghini branch of VW is to
release another supercar on the well-heeled public at the
Paris motor show later this year. With the Murcielago being
phased out, the V12 Jota will be the replacement.
To get the weight down and under the 1650
kg of the Murcielago, the Jota will have lightweight
carbon-fiber body panels, as well as some aluminium
components, most likely the doors and roof. It is also
rumored to have the same aluminium spaceframe as currently
in the sister marque’s Audi R8.
This new Lamborghini is set to be powered
by a new direct injection 7.0 liter V12 engine pumping out a
massive 525 kW and 700 Nm of torque - replacing the
Murcielago’s 6.5 liter, 471 kW/660 Nm unit, resulting in an
estimated zero to 100 km/h in three seconds, and finally
running out of breath at 360 km/h.
The engine is going to be mated with a
new seven-speed dual clutch gearbox and differential
delivering the power to all four wheels.
One wonders where all this is going to
end? The Audi R8 V10 will only have 333 of them built. No
word on how many of this new Lamborghinis will be made, but
expect it to be a limited number as well.
