AUTO MANIA: by Dr. Iain Corness automania@pattayamail.com

Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend

F1 at Sepang

Sepang is the host for the second round of the 2014 F1 calendar. Will we have a repeat of the Australian Grand Prix, or will this be another year of different winners, such as we had in 2012?
The Malaysian Grand Prix is being held once again at the Sepang circuit. Hopefully we will miss the late afternoon monsoons which are so prevalent in Malaysia this time of year. But will we miss the FIA’s next attempt at being heavy-handed.
Qualifying is on the Saturday at 3 p.m. and there will have been some feverish work for a couple of the teams to get ready for Malaysia, with only a few days break since Melbourne two weeks ago. Red Bull will be fitting new fuel flow sensors!
The race begins at 3 p.m. (Thai time) on the Sunday and we will be watching as usual in front of the big screen at Jameson’s Irish Pub, Soi AR, next to Nova Park. Join us for lunch and a couple of beers before the GP starts. The easiest way to find us if you haven’t been to Jameson’s is to turn right into Soi 4 from Pattaya Second Road and follow it up and around for 200 meters and Jameson’s is on your left hand side. You can’t miss it.
The next Grand Prix is at Bahrain on April 6. Don’t miss it!

Stop-Start traffic is the answer?

Nissan Almera

A couple of weeks ago I tested a Nissan Almera, fitted with Idle-Stop technology, and I began to wonder if the Bangkok traffic has had the answer to fuel economy? Sit in any of Bangkok’s thousands of taxis and watch the driver turn off the engine when held in traffic. The simplistic approach being that the vehicle uses no fuel when the motor is turned off, therefore the fuel economy improves.
Bosch call this a micro hybrid system, and is a crucial middle step between combustion engine cars and more advanced hybrid models and will soon be picked up by most manufacturers. “Idle-stop” switches off a petrol engine when the vehicle comes to a halt and re-starts it when the driver is ready to move off. (Bangkok’s taxi drivers currently do this manually with the ignition key!)
Already, this technology is being used in some models by Toyota, Citroen, Fiat, BMW, Mini, Nissan, Hyundai, Mazda, Kia, Mercedes and Volkswagen, and available in different areas of the world.
One example of the fuel consumption that can be recorded with idle-stop is in the Mini Cooper D, a diesel model that uses just 3.9 L/100 km.
Dr Huebner admitted that initial idle-stop systems had drawbacks including fluctuations on re-start that could momentarily dim the lights and cut the radio, but said a recent DC converter advancement, as introduced on the European BMW 1 Series, had cured that problem.
Other fuel saving improvements would include smaller capacity engines with turbo or supercharging, cylinder deactivation, variable valve actuation, improved ignition control, direct injection, better exhaust gas treatment including re-circulation and better transmission controls.
There would also be savings to be had with electric control of some engine auxiliary systems such as cooling fans and pumps. You can add power steering to that list and perhaps electric air-conditioning.
Bosch predicts petrol and diesel engines will still dominate sales around the world in 2016. Its data suggests hybrids will grow, but will not outsell ethanol flex fuel and LPG/CNG in Europe and the US.
Another example is in the BMW 1-Series when fitted with hybrid technology, in this instance called Stop-Start. This is the Bosch system again, by which the engine shuts down at idle when making frequent stops during city driving.
BMW projects an eight percent improvement in fuel economy with this system, and a significant drop in tailpipe emissions. Simplicity of the components was specified by the BMW engineers; fancy batteries or sophisticated drive-train components were not considered. The engine cycling on and off had to be seamless, with durability to match.
According to BMW’s press release, the only mechanical change needed to implement Stop-Start is a slightly different starter motor: “The starter’s improved-performance electric motor, low noise and stronger pinion-engaging mechanism ensure that the engine starts reliably, quickly and quietly.”
If course, while this technology might work well in the colder climates in Europe and Japan, in South East Asia with high ambient temperatures all year round, the comfort zone in the traffic has to be maintained. As mentioned before, if it is possible to turn an air-conditioning compressor with battery power, air-conditioning no longer depends upon the running of a petrol engine, but as described by Honda, even in their Economy mode, the engine may have to restart, making the idle-stop system not as applicable here.
With the price of crude oil having fallen again, and the current depressed state of the global marketplace, the drive for all-electric vehicles has certainly slowed, and mainly because of the high capital cost in getting into one of these vehicles. Consequently, stop-gap measures such as Bosch’s Stop-Start have become financially viable.
The Nissan Almera with Idle-Stop was quite eerie to drive initially. Pull up at the lights and you suddenly found that the engine was stopped. Looking in the rear vision mirror and seeing a size 14 tour bus about to savage the rear bumper produced a little anxiety at first. Would it really restart when I took my foot off the brake? After a few traffic lights I learned that prayer was not necessary and I could relax and think about all the money I was saving!
Of course, this system is really not new either, and indeed most ‘new’ technology is merely refinement of an older one. The following was sent to me by auto enthusiast Jerry Coffey, suggesting I hearken back to 1933 and the Auburns in the US. Jerry wrote, “The 1933 Auburns had a key start. All one had to do was turn the key. You didn’t even have to twist it over further. It was an electrical device called “Startex” mounted on the firewall under the hood. It not only activated the starter, but would restart the engine if the engine stalled. For example, if the engine was cold, or you let the clutch out too quickly on a hill and stalled it. It was great when it worked as intended, but it sometimes got out of adjustment. Startex was used on other premium American cars of the era for a couple years but was later discontinued. I had a 1933 Auburn and remember working all afternoon with my dad trying to adjust it!”

Energy recovery systems for road cars

Renault Sport F1 engine

The recent advances in Formula 1 technology is to extend Renault hybrid and EV range to the road going vehicles.
The new for 2014 F1 V6 engines such as the Renault Sport F1 which develops 567 kW/500 Nm from the 1.6 liter V6 turbo engine captures energy from the waste exhaust gasses and turns it into electricity to drive a hybrid power system.
A turbocharger is also connected to a dual-purpose electric motor which converts up to 40 percent of the waste energy into power.
However, this system which combines a turbo with an electric-motor/generator will also filter down to road cars, predicts Renault Sport F1 head of track operations Remi Taffin.
“We get something like 100 kW from the engine just from the exhaust gas. That’s the part we would like to see on road cars,” he said.
“We have 30 or 40 people at Renault Sport who developed our engine because direct injection and turbo-charging is all used in road car technology,” said Remi Taffin.
The return to turbo-charged engines in Formula 1 has seen a dramatic cut of up to 40 percent in fuel consumption, but with only a minor loss of power over last year’s normally aspirated V8 engines and Remi Taffin believes it is just the start of advances in both race and road car technology.
“There is one area that has not been explored and where Formula 1 is going to get the most out of for lap times - energy recovery systems. If you look at the extra systems and the electric motors… that is where we are going to get the extra performance. That’s what we are focusing on.”
This engine technology may be fine for the F1 circus, but I believe there is (currently) not so much of an application to road vehicles. Performance is a factor, and so is a decrease in fuel consumption, but at what cost to the end user? If the technology costs more than it saves in running costs, it will be very difficult to sell this concept to the ordinary motorist.

Motor Show snippets

Quite a few interesting vehicles at the 35th Bangkok International Motor Show. Ford has a concept car built on the EcoSport, Suzuki a Limited Edition Swift, Mitsubishi a plug-in Asian Cross Country Rally car, another concept car from Toyota, SAIC have the MG6 on their stand, Porsche has their new Macan (silly name), Hyundai has two new models and an i40 concept, Subaru will unveil the 2015 WRX and Aston Martin has their Q Model.
Over the next few weeks I will expand more on the directions the manufacturers are taking, so expect to see many photos taken at the show.

Autotrivia Quiz

Last week I asked what post war German car was named after the designer’s wife? It was the Borgward Isabella, and quite a few of you got that correct. I’ll have to make this week’s quiz a little harder.
So to this week. What car is this? Built partly in Germany and partly in Italy, V8 with twin Zenith carbs, front disc brakes and the clue is early 60’s.
For the Automania free beer this week, be the first correct answer to email viacars@gmail.com.