Model T Ford at Le Mans 2010 Classic
Ford T Montier
The fifth edition of the Le Mans Classic
will be held on July 9, 10 and 11 and it will welcome the
Ford T Montier. This exceptional car first participated in
the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1923, marking the arrival of the
Ford name on the Sarthe’s oval. In 2008, the Ford T Montier
was back in the race during the 4th edition of the event
finishing at the 49th place in its category. An impressive
feat for this ancestor of the 24 Hours, as just finishing is
a dream of many competitors.
The legendary Model T revolutionized
industrial production, and during 24 years, 15 million cars
came out of the factories. The Ford T became the first
worldwide car in the automobile history.
GT40 1-2-3 in 1966
Ford, of course has also seen much
success at Le Mans with the legendary GT40’s. Ford dominated
the classic sports car endurance race in the 1960s, when the
GT40 won four years in a row between 1966 and 1969.
The Ford GT40 was designed by a team of
engineers from Britain and the United States, led by Eric
Broadley. It debuted in April 1964, less than a year after
the first engineering drawings were penned. After retiring
from the 1964 Le Mans race, Carroll Shelby was handed
control of the race program.
Fire-breathing Ford Focus RS 500
The GT40 retired from the lead in 1965
but claimed a spectacular and highly memorable 1-2-3 win in
1966, led by Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren. The following
year Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt cruised to victory by 32 miles
in the famous seven-liter red Mk IV, setting an average
speed record of 135.40 mph. Ford’s official factory program
at Le Mans closed at that stage.
Revised rules capped engine size at five
liters in 1968. Private team John Willment Automotive
converted a Mirage - a lightweight GT40 derivative - back to
GT40 bodywork and Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi claimed
the car’s hat-trick at the Le Mans Sarthe circuit in 1968.
The 1969 race had an especially strong
entry. Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver fought a thrilling duel
with the Porsche 908 of Hans Herrmann. The lead changed
hands repeatedly in the last three hours as the lightweight
GT40, dressed in the famous blue and orange Gulf Oil livery,
frequently used its weight advantage to dive into the lead
under braking. Ickx eventually crossed the line with a
slender two second lead, which equated to just 120 meters
advantage, after 24 hours of racing.
This year, as well as the Model T Montier,
Ford will be showing the latest iteration of the Focus, the
new Focus RS500. This Focus has 350 hp for a zero to 100
km/h in less than 6 seconds. Only 500 of this limited
edition will be available; of which 56 for France.
The Focus RS500 will open the track for
the three rounds of the “Grid 5” made up of cars having
raced at Le Mans between 1966 and 1971. This will include
the legendary GT40s.
What did we learn from the Canadian GP?
Well, we learned that the Red Bulls can
be beaten. We learned that given the right circuits there
can be plenty of action, we learned that Lewis Hamilton has
a rare talent, and we learned that Sebastian Vettel is a
dreamer.
Hamilton’s weekend started with a
sensational pole lap on the Saturday, edging out Webber in
the Red Bull who looked as if he was on for another P1. A
gearbox change for Webber before the race meant he ended up
being penalized five grid positions anyway, so all the hard
work was for nothing.
In the race, Hamilton and the McLaren pit
managed the tyre situation very well, and the young Brit
deserved his win. Mind you, he also deserved a drive through
for his arm wrestling with Alonso (Ferrari) as the two left
the pits side by side. Naughty!
Jenson Button once more showed that he is
riding shotgun for Hamilton. He has talent, but at McLaren
he is definitely number two. And deservedly.
In the Red Bull camp, Webber got over his
seventh grid slot and worked his way up to the lead, and
built up a 12 second gap back to Hamilton, but then his
tyres started to go off. The Red Bull pit then obviously
thought that God was going to come down and fix the tyres
and left Webber grinding around, losing around one second a
lap until he was caught and then passed. If they had brought
him in ten laps earlier he still would have stood a chance
of a podium. Red Bull designer Adrian Newey is certainly on
top of his game. You cannot say the same for the rest of the
Red Bull executives.
Vettel has now decided that he is
invincible. Running in fourth and just hanging on he radios
the pits with, “Do I have to pass Button to win?” and was
then told “Yes.” That was not the answer he was expecting.
Later he demanded, “What is the fastest lap?” to be told,
“Don’t even think about it! We are managing a problem.” Red
Bull has a problem with the driver, as well as the car.
Ferrari looked good with Alonso, and he
deserved his third place, but Massa? Was there anyone Massa
didn’t manage to get involved with physically? From lap 1
till lap 70 he was in the wars. “This was a horrible race,
in which everything happened to me,” said Felipe. Everyone
is still sorry for him after his skull fracture last year,
Ferrari even giving him a contract extension till 2012, but
that means nothing. Raikkonen had a contract as well,
remember. With the Ferrari budget they can do anything.
Team Poppadum did very well, with Liuzzi
even out-qualifying Sutil, and both drivers giving Michael
Schumacher’s Mercedes a black eye.
MS had a race to forget. Up to third at
one stage, but a puncture and an additional pit stop dropped
him back and then his tyres went away completely. That
didn’t stop him fighting, however. Wheel banging was not
invented by Schumacher, but he did perfect it.
Renault-Lada’s Kubica thought he had his
nose in front and sliced across Sutil to enter the pits. Has
officially had his hand smacked 40 times with a wet tram
ticket. The stewards were apparently on happy pills.
The rest were also rans, especially HRT
who were still running from two weeks ago. Not very mobile
chicanes at best.
The Canadian circuit gave us great racing
action. The next race is Valencia which won’t, but at least
it will be televised at a sociable hour (7 p.m.).
Autotrivia
Quiz
Last week I asked which helicopter
factory became one of the most significant makes in
motorcycle racing. Clue: it was owned by an Italian Count.
It was the MV Augusta.
So to this week. What is the name of the
Chevrolet Spark “clone” and sold in Thailand?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be
the first correct answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
India
starts to flex its muscles
India’s Mahindra & Mahindra has made a
fresh move to expand its stable beyond SUVs and utilitarian
vehicles, buying a majority stake in the Reva Electric Car
Company and announcing its intention to become a “strong
global player in the electric vehicle space”.
Mahindra electric Reva
The Reva purchase, under which Mahindra
takes a 55.2 percent stake in Reva (to be renamed as the
Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle Co), comes as the Indian auto
manufacturer this week also confirmed its intent to bid for
the troubled SsangYong Motor (and if successful will
hopefully burn down the SsanYong sstyling department).
Mahindra has joined seven companies
worldwide in preparing an offer for SsangYong, including
Nissan and Renault (with South Korean partner Samsung), and
will now do due diligence over the next six weeks to
determine if it will submit a binding bid before the July 20
deadline.
SsangYong has been under court-ordered
bankruptcy protection since early 2009, with a preferred
bidder for the company to be announced in August.
Mahindra has declined to put a dollar
figure on a potential deal with SsangYong - said to be worth
around $3 to $5 billion - and likewise has not disclosed the
value of the deal with Reva, although in a statement it said
that its majority stake in the Bangalore-based EV firm came
from purchasing equity from the promoters and providing 450
million rupees ($A11.4m) in fresh equity.
Mahindra said it would adapt Reva’s EV
technology for a range of its vehicles, including an
electric version of its Maxximo mini-truck already in
development.
It is unclear whether its first foray
into passenger cars, the Renault-sourced Mahindra Logan,
will also gain an electric powertrain.
Under its ‘sustainable mobility’ program,
Mahindra says it has been working on green technologies for
the past 10 years. It has developed a diesel-electric hybrid
version of its Scorpio SUV and an electric three-wheeler,
and has introduced Bosch-developed “micro hybrid”
(idle-stop) technology on a range of vehicles in India.
Reva was formed in 1994 as a joint
venture between India’s Miani Group and US firm AEV and has
become a leading player in low-cost EVs, with more than 3500
EVs on the road across 24 countries including Europe, the
UK, Asia and South America.
Under the new Mahindra Reva organisation,
the Miani Group will hold a 31 percent share and AEV will
hold 11 percent.
Reva has also been working with General
Motors to develop a plug-in version of its Chevrolet Spark
mini-car. However, GM, which unveiled the Reva-powered
Chevrolet e-Spark at the Delhi motor show in January, is
believed to have since pulled out of the partnership
following Reva’s deal with Mahindra.
Mahindra Reva’s chief of technology and
strategy, Chetan Maini, said that as a result of Mahindra’s
investment, Reva will be now able to “scale, innovate and
accelerate and so to deliver better products to more
customers in more places”.
“The EV market is poised to grow
significantly and we concluded that in order to seize the
opportunity we needed the resources and experience of a
major automotive manufacturer,” he said.
“In Mahindra we have found a company that
not only shares our vision of principled and sustainable
growth but one that also has a reputation for good corporate
governance.”
Mahindra president (automotive) and newly
elected chairman of Mahindra Reva, Pawan Goenka, described
the deal was a “key strategic acquisition for Mahindra in
its march towards sustainable mobility”.
“Mahindra and Reva bring together
complementary strengths,” he said. “With Mahindra’s vehicle
engineering expertise, global distribution network, sourcing
clout and financing support, Reva’s vehicles have the
potential to significantly gain in market penetration.
Mahindra will also benefit from Reva’s EV technology for its
own products.”
Dr Goenka told journalists at the
announcement that he expected India to produce 80,000 to
100,000 EVs by the year 2020, with global sales projected at
1.5 to two million cars.
The message is clear. The two most populous countries,
China and India, are the coming forces in the automotive
market.
