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AUTO MANIA: by Dr. Iain Corness
 


Tesla leading the way

I don’t know if any of you noticed one of the course cars at the Macau Grand Prix in November? It was a Tesla sports, with the bonnet painted green to underline the ‘green’ nature of the electric vehicle (EV).

Electric Rav’s

Tesla are also now firmly in bed with Toyota, and the American branch of the world’s largest car maker has combined with Tesla to produce an EV RAV 4, which is slotted for public release in 2012.

Toyota are producing 35 of the EV RAV’s for testing, and the plan is for the small RAV’s to be able to cover 160 km on one charge, making the EV a genuinely practical transport.

Toyota conducted the integration work in-house using the drive train and power management parts from Tesla. The RAV displayed at the LA show uses a lithium metal oxide battery, but that could change as the pace of battery technology continues to increase.

To keep the weight down, always a problem with the large battery packs, Toyota claims that the RV RAV weighs just 100 kg more than the normal RAV4 V6 and the 0-100 km/h times are similar. The EV RAV has had suspension and steering modifications, and a number of components have been moved to balance out the added bulk of the battery pack.

With the battery pack being under the floor, there is no intrusion in cargo space, as opposed to the problems reported with the Prius and the hybrid Lexus.


278 mph on two wheels

278 mph hero

Remember the name Bill Warner. He is a mild-mannered tropical fish farmer and marine biologist who turns into a mad scientist on race weekends, and has just recorded 278 mph (around 450 km/h) to push the performance envelope and boundaries of two-wheeled insanity that is land-speed racing, and the Texas Mile in particular.

Bill Warner rode his turbocharged, 1299cc Wild Brothers Racing Suzuki Hayabusa to 278.6 mph at the Texas Mile on October 25, a new record that upped its “World’s Fastest Streetbike” status by 5.3 mph over a July, 2010 run in Loring, Maine.

Out of 76 motorcycles and 173 cars, Bill Warner was also easily the fastest vehicle at the Texas Mile, an annual event which is held at an industrial airport in Goliad, Texas. In this mechanical madness, competitors leave from a standing start, have a mile to reach terminal velocity and another half mile of tarmac to get their machines stopped. The ideal motorcycle has to have plenty of power, brakes like an F1 car and a rider with big cojones!

This guy Bill Warner is a real hero!


Riding like Rossi - without breaking a leg!

For all the motorcycle chaps out there who would like some track time to learn just a little more, Graham Knight from HighSideTours is running another of his very comprehensive track courses.

Due to popular demand he will be running an end of year three day HST event on Dec 30, 2010 - Jan 1, 2011 providing they can fill the seven spaces available in this week (and provided the riders don’t celebrate the New Year to excess). Try the all new ER6’Ns or say good bye to the remaining 2 GSX-R 750’s. All the usual faces will be there plus Gary Johnson (3rd in the BSB EVO class and 5th in Macau 2010) who will be putting in a special guest appearance. Prices as per normal, 56,000 baht for Standard and 40,000 baht for Basic. Join with your own bike for 4,000 baht day, includes 91 grade fuel and lunch.

Strictly first come first served on a deposit received basis. Contact Graham through www.highsidetours.com.


Local lads F1 scrutineers in Abu Dhabi

Patrick Weir and Terry Wilson, scrutineers in Abu Dhabi.

The Abu Dhabi Experience by Patrick Weir.

“Having been picked to be F1 scrutineers, Terry Wilson (AVO Turboworld Asia) and myself were invited to attend the Abu Dhabi F1 event as scrutineers. The following is a brief précis of the time in Abu Dhabi.”

Wednesday November 10:

Met up with the Chief Scrutineer and the rest of the crew and received our tickets, T-shirts, tabards and found out what our responsibilities were to be for the weekend. Terry and I were “Pushers”. What it means is that us and three others will be working in the Weighing Station. This is where the Race Cars are checked for weight, height and all the other legal requirements.

The other Scrutineers work in the F1 garages and are responsible for all the safety aspects of the cars and to also write down any changes carried out on the vehicles while in a Parc Ferme situation.

Thursday November 11:

This day was spent just looking around and watching each team in action as they brought their cars to the weighing station to do their own checks independent of the FIA team and scrutineers.

Friday November 12:

There were two practice sessions for the day and things started to get interesting near the end of Session 2. FIA told us they would be bringing in three cars for random checks and for us to get ready to learn the ropes.

The three cars selected were Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Robert Kubica (Renault). It was very interesting to see Michael Schumacher making mental notes of the Red Bull car as he was getting out of the Mercedes.

All three cars were weighed and then we were instructed in what templates to use and what measurements to check while the cars were on the weighing platform. After weighing, the Vettel car was subject to more stringent series of tests by the FIA guys to test flex and rigidity of the front wing and front body structure.

Saturday November 13:

We had a very comprehensive briefing for the Garage scrutineers, tyre checkers and to us, the weighing station team. The FIA would also select two cars from the seven dropped from qualifying session 1 and another one from session 2.

Qualifying started at 5 p.m. and at the end of session 1, FIA bought in a Lotus and a Toro Rosso and we did weights and measurements on these two cars. At the end of session 2 a Force India was bought in for checking and no problems found in these three cars. From the end of session 1 of this qualifying practice all cars are now considered to be in Parc Ferme. This means no changes are to be made on the vehicles unless approved by the FIA. Some activity such as cleaning, replacing oils and brakes can be checked, etc. Mainly safety items can be addressed but no component changes or adjustments unless approved by FIA.

As session 3 drew to a close the final 10 cars were pulled in. Seven of the cars went through the normal weighing and measuring and the leading three got the ‘Royal’ treatment.

First was Alonso’s Ferrari and the FIA techs went to work trying to pull the car apart. Nose deflection is checked using 2,500 Newton Meters of force and the rear wing got the same treatment. All three got through OK and it amazed Terry and I how strong Carbon Fiber components are.

Sunday November 14:

We had another briefing on the day’s activities and the garage scrutineers went to their respective garages at 12 noon. About 30 minutes before the race one of the lead scrutineers came running up, grabbed me by the arm and said “Can you be a Flag Marshall?” I was given a flag and some instructions and left to it overlooking Christian Klien’s grid. If Christian Klien stalled his car or had some other problem I was to wave the yellow flag. Thankfully the race started OK and the flag was not needed.

After the race ended, we went to work. The first three cars were checked behind closed doors and as well as weighing we then saw FIA do other checks. Each car took about 15-20 minutes.

Observations:

Being an integral part of F1 is a real eye opener and a great experience. The organization is fantastic as is the technology in the cars and the dedication of the race teams. (Thanks Patrick for the ‘insider’s view’. Dr. Iain)


Where’s the closest Venucia dealership?

The Venucia dealers are at the center of automotive production, and are destined to become even bigger, along with Baojun and Sail. Where is this hub? In China, the world’s number 1 automaker.

Here’s your Baojun 630

These brands are low cost models associated with joint ventures between Nissan and Dongfen (Venucia), SAIC-GM-Wuling (Baojun 630) and SAIC-GM (Sail). And those are just the ones that are currently in the news - there will be more.

With China the largest producer of automobiles since 2009, when it took over from the USA, the main targets have been the main cities, but now the smaller cities in China look as if they are taking over as the principal sales regions. Estimates from China’s GM operations are that the smaller towns will have the majority of domestic sales within five years.

This is where the joint ventures products will be in direct opposition to indigenous brands such as Geely and BYD (Build Your Dream).

The products earmarked for the smaller cities are all very much at the budget end of production, with the GM Sail, for example retailing in China for $8,600 (around 250,000 baht on direct exchange).

China has turned out to be a very important market for GM, which has seen its domestic (US) market shrinking, but the Chinese marketplace has been expanding exponentially, with now over 500 Chevrolet dealers in China and sales of over two million vehicles this year alone.


Autotrivia Quiz

Quiz Car

Last week I asked what does woven camel hair have to do with the early days of motoring? The answer was that this was one of the many materials used for brake linings.

So to this week. Look at the photo. I want the car, the year and the man. Clue: GM.

For the Automania free beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected].

Good luck!


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