Retro Racing this weekend at Bira

Henk Kiks B-Quik Porsche 944.

Finally the ‘Retro’ season kicks off again in the Nitto 3K Retro series for 2012. The ‘retro’ (pre 1985) category has become on of the most popular categories, with several other promoters incorporating a retro class.

The Nitto 3K Retro Series this year looks to be even more competitive than 2011 as drivers can see that the Retro Series represents the most fun for the money, and remains one of the most affordable classes in racing.

Basically the cars have to be manufactured before 1985, and the classes are then divided on engine types (naturally aspirated or Turbo/supercharged) and whether you run on radials (F5) or racing slicks (F6).

The older styles of car feature less complicated engineering, making it possible for ‘home mechanics’ to prepare and maintain their racing cars. Most of the cars also comply with road registration, so expensive trailers are not the norm, as most drivers simply drive to the circuit.

There are many makes involved in the series, right from Porsche 944s, through to BMW E30’s, hordes of rear-drive Toyota Corolla DX and many other Toyota types including the AE 86 Levins, a couple of Mk1 Ford Escorts and more.

Henk Kiks’ B-Quik Porsche and Gavin Charlesworth’s EBC Brakes E30 V8 BMW will be amongst the top runners this year. The Urs Schoenenberg’s team of two E36 BMWs (one driven by US racer Bobby Brooks and the other by Urs) and another Mk 1 Ford Escort, driven by Riccardo Neri (Valentino’s restaurant) are welcome additions this year.

Our Securitas Retro Escort Team which came third last year in the championships has had an upgraded engine for the 2012 season and is now hopefully race-ready, thank you Terry at AVO. The Escort was taken to the South Pattaya B-Quik workshop to have the wheel alignment set on racing specifications, and they certainly were “quick”. Thank you K. Mai and your technicians.

Practice is on Friday 4, then Qualifying and a couple of races Saturday 5 from about 11 a.m. and another couple of races Sunday 6, generally one around noon and the other around 2 p.m. Of course there are other events/categories, so expect a full day.

And if you want to really make a picnic of it, join us in the AA Insurance Brokers hospitality tent on Sunday May 6 where we offer cold drinks, some shade, seats and a sausage sizzle courtesy of Barry Main, the Sausage King.

The tent is on the outside of the hairpin at the end of the straight and has good views of the cars going through that corner and up the hill, then down the back through the difficult and dangerous sweeping right hander.

To find us, come into the circuit via the back gate leading to the pits, about 200 meters before the main entrance off Highway 36. Go through the tunnel and then turn immediately hard right and follow the dirt road around the outside of the corner and up the incline and look for the red AA hospitality tent. Say the magic words “Securitas Mk1 Escort” and you’re in!

Thailand in the box seat with Suzuki

Suzuki Swift.

Word is out that the Suzuki Swift and Alto (the down-market eco car version) will be produced in Thailand, with a world-wide export base.

Suzuki’s new $250 million Thai plant opened on the Eastern Seaboard last month to produce Swift, initially for local markets, but that looks as if it will certainly change.

Japan has been the source of much of the world export Suzuki’s, but with the Rayong plant coming on strongly, and with the FTA’s with other ASEAN countries and Australia, it makes good sense to have the production base here in Thailand.

It was reported in the daily press last week that Suzuki’s new Thai plant would build a second small car alongside the Swift, saying it would be “based around the next-generation Alto”.

With the Alto going into production in Thailand under the ‘eco-car’ scheme that rewards manufacturers with a range of benefits, it makes sense for Suzuki Australia to switch its source from the current Suzuki Maruti factory in India. Suzuki Australia recently lost hundreds of Alto sales due to a prolonged strike at the Indian plant.

If Suzuki Australia does sign up for our local Thai production, it will join Honda, Ford, Nissan - and from later this year Mitsubishi - to source small or light cars from this country.

Toyota Australia has also expressed a desire to switch its small vehicle production to Thailand from Japan to cut costs, should production slots become available. Toyota are also looking at the Fortuner going to Australia, as well as the Vigo 1-tonner pick-up.

Suzuki have another new plant being built in China as a joint venture with Changan Automobile in the western Chinese city of Chongqing. Due to open in the third quarter of 2013, the new plant will double Suzuki production in China to 500,000 units a year. However, Suzuki expects all of the production from this plant will go into the Chinese domestic market.

China firmly in control

It is only a decade ago that the mode of transport in China was a bicycle. Those days have really changed, and China is now the dominant marketplace in the world’s auto industry. Last year Porsche had a 22 percent increase in profits, riding on the back of a 22 percent increase in sales in China. In fact, they sold more Porsches in China than anywhere else! The starving millions in China that we were told about as children are now the well-fed millionaires!

New Ford Ranger.

The latest manufacturer to pledge itself to China is Ford, which is spending USD 760 million to build a new plant in Hangzhou, which should be able to produce 250,000 vehicles, which is one of the eight plants that Ford has committed to Asia (including our new one on the Eastern Seaboard). Ford expect that the new plant will bring them close to full strength in Asia by 2015.

When you look at the number of vehicles produced and sold by GM and VW, you can see just why Ford had to join the race. GM sold 2.55 million cars, and VW close behind at 2.26 million vehicles. Ford sold under 400,000. The aim with the new plants is to increase sales to 1.2 million vehicles in 2015, but even at 1.2 million, they are still a long way behind rival GM.

With Ford’s stated aim of increasing global sales by 50 percent in this decade, it will need a very strong presence in Asia, and China in particular. Ford estimates that by 2020, 33 percent of its sales will come from Asia and Africa.

On the local front, the new Ranger and its mechanical twin, the Mazda BT-50, have been racking up such strong sales (8,500 delivered since December/January) that the Ford Mazda Alliance is further developing the AAT plant in Rayong with an injection of USD 27 million.

The extended plant will increase the output of their pick-ups by another 20,000 units. With the combined factors of the 300 baht minimum wage, and a shortage of trained labor, Ford/Mazda’s new plant will feature robotics to counteract this, and they also claim that this will reduce production time and increase total output. (The auto industry has the potential to be in a state of flux over the next 18 months.)

Why Go-karts are not the go in my household

12 months ago I was inveigled by Gavin Charlesworth (the EBC Brakes man) into a social evening of playing with Go-karts. I am never doing it again.

EasyKarts to choose.

I have to say that the organization by the EasyKart people of the racing track and karts at the Bali Hai pier was excellent, complete with a TV monitor showing you which kart you had been allotted.

Before you go out, you grab one of the several helmets from the racks, each one rather well used and sweaty. Being a doctor, I also hoped that the previous wearer did not have any communicable diseases, giving it a good shake to dislodge any nits it might have been harboring.

And so we all got into our respective karts, and quite honestly, I didn’t have a care in the world up till that point (other than the nits), and other than the fact I had to beat this young whipper-snapper called Gavin Charlesworth. After all, I had been a racing driver for 45 years and he had been a racing driver for about 45 minutes. There was pride at stake here. And I had the famous T-shirt emblazoned with the motto “The older I get - the faster I was!”

Now, since we all went out in single file, it was a little difficult to see just where GC was in the line, but I did know he would be going for it, but so was I. “Age, experience and animal cunning beats youth and enthusiasm any day,” being another of my mottos.

Now you also have to understand that this was a night race. Never mind the Singapore Grand prix held under the lights, this was the Pattaya Grand Prix under lights. However, the local lights were not quite as bright as Singapore, so I had difficulty spotting the back of the Charlesworth head in the semi-darkness. Or perhaps it was my age?

But wait! Yes, there he was, and I set off in earnest. That he had a faster kart was without doubt, pulling away from me down the straights while I closed up under brakes, as any crafty old driver would do.

And now comes the episode with a certain chap in a blue shirt. I was braking for a hairpin, while concentrating on how I was going to pass our trusty organizer, when I suddenly received a go-kart up my rear at full noise, using me for brakes.

After recovering my breath and desperately squeezing the kart away from the wall on the outside, I looked ahead and Charlesworth and his mate were gone. He was in a blue shirt, and if we had any more laps I would have waited for him to extract revenge, but time was up. I looked for blue shirt afterwards, but in typical Thai way, he had “fled the scene”. But I can wait, oh yes, I can wait!

Autotrivia Quiz

Last week I asked what did British Leyland have to do with Hyundai in the mid-70’s? It was a BL executive called George Turnbull who defected to the East and showed Hyundai how to build the factory and actually make the cars. He did very well!

So to this week. A 1912 manufacturer built cars alongside domestic appliances. What was the name and how many did they build? OK ‘Googlers’ over to you!

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