AUTO MANIA: by Dr. Iain Corness [email protected]

Italian GP this weekend

Monza!

The GP circus moves to Italy, the home of Ferrari and the Tifosi. Spa was a good race two weeks ago, so let us hope that Monza will give us some real racing as well, and hopefully the Mercedes duo will avoid running into each other. Rosberg has a cool head, Hamilton does not.
Monza is another driver’s circuit; however, like many other circuits, Monza has not been a single layout, but a series of more than a dozen layouts which have ranged in length from 2.4 km to 9 km.
The circuit was opened in the Monza Royal Park, near Milan, in 1922 and featured bankings, though these were demolished in 1939. The bankings which featured in some races, 1955-69, were new structures built on the format of the original. Bankings were used for the Italian GP in 1955, ‘56, ‘60 and ‘61, and were last used for racing of any form in 1969 when the concrete became in need of substantial resurfacing and rebuilding.
The 1971 Italian GP holds the record for the fastest-ever Formula One race but, emphatically, that is not the same as saying the fastest race for Grand Prix cars. That honor remains in the possession of the 1937 Avusrennen with Rosemeyer in the Auto Union recording a 276 km/h lap (that’s about 165 mph).
After 1971, the circuit underwent some revisions to discourage slipstreaming and to lower the average lap speed. Chicanes were added in 1976 and, in 1994, the second Lesmo Bend was tightened and the Curve Grande was re-profiled.
The World Championship which Rosberg has his eye on, is not a 100 percent surety and is still quite open, with seven more GPs after this one and the silly double points for the last GP of the year. We can expect that the main protagonists will still be trying very hard, in particular Alonso, racing in front of the passionate Ferrari fans. We will be watching from our perches at Jameson’s Irish Pub (Soi AR, next to Nova Park) and the racing commences at 7 p.m., but join us around 6 p.m. for dinner and drinks (I do recommend the Sunday specials), and a chat before the race begins at 7 p.m. We watch on the giant screen, with the dedicated F1 telecast which is of top value and there are no adverts during the race! That’s right - no ads!
 

Nitto 3K races this weekend as well

Bira grid

The previous Nitto 3K meeting was held at the Kaeng Krachan circuit out near Hua Hin last month. The big winners were the BMW’s of Rogero Carletto and Armin Buschor who led the fields in the Retro division. Our TBX Retro Escort Mk 1 came home with a 2nd, 4th and 5th trophies.
However, the races at Bira this weekend might show some differences in results, as suspension settings that suit Kaeng Krachan often do not suit Bira.
There are two days of racing with multiple categories ranging from Daihatsu Mira’s to hopped up pick-ups and everything in between.
The Retro group is racing Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon, which works out well in that we can go to the Jesters Fair Sunday morning with the kids and then go to Bira after lunch.
Because of the Jesters Fair we will not be running the AA Insurances hospitality tent this meeting, but feel free to come and join us in the pits. If you are handy with a wheel brace, you could even find yourself in the crew!

Tripping quietly through the weeds

My clumsy parking.

I logged on to one of those YouTube sites with 10 minutes of race car crashes, some of which were just incredibly spectacular. In my many years of motor sport I have had a couple of never to be forgotten examples of awkward parking, one fire and even a triple barrel roll at the Kaeng Krachan Circuit two years ago. After all of these, I stepped out without a scratch, even though the car didn’t look too good.
That led me to thinking about the roll cages inside my cars, and how they stopped the distortion inside the vehicles, which when combined with seat belts meant I was only shaken and not stirred!
The roll cages in most race cars generally have hoops to incorporate the A pillars, the B pillars and the C pillars. The bottom of the hoops goes to the floor chassis rails, making a “cage” which is securely tied into the shell of the vehicle itself.
Thinking further, look at the twisted wrecks that occur on the Thai roads after fatal road accidents, at probably around half the speed of a racing crash, in which the driver steps out without major injuries.
Surely it must be possible to incorporate a roll cage in a body shell at the original design? The extra cost would not be much at all, where the “cage” is just part of the shell.
Of course it is necessary to be wearing a good seatbelt as well, to avoid being thrown around inside, or out of the wreck. The car in this photo had done three barrel rolls down the track before coming to rest upside down.

How quick is your dream car?

Dreaming

Most ‘rev-heads’ have a favorite car, and most of those are performance machines. Mine’s a Dodge Viper. However I was sent a link to a site where the performance of various vehicles was concerned. Most had zero to 100 clicks in the 3 to 4 seconds class, and if they could reach 300 kph they took 20-30 seconds to get there.
One of the quickest, as you would imagine, was an F1 car, but you will not imagine just how fast those cars really are. Zero to 100 kph took 3.2 seconds, to 200 kph 5.9 seconds and to 300 kph 12.1 seconds, but that was nothing compared to the times set by a Double A Fueller drag racer where zero to 100 kph took 0.4 seconds, on to 200 kph took 1.03 seconds and to 300 kph took 1.57 seconds!
Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/photo. php?v=625747924150290
Enjoy!
 

Natter Nosh and Noggin

F1 scrutineers.

The Pattaya car club meets at Jameson’s Irish Pub on Soi AR next to Nova Park. The next meeting is on Monday September 8 at Jameson’s at 7 p.m. A totally informal meeting of like-minded souls to discuss their pet motoring (and motorcycling) loves and hates (plus lies and outright exaggerations). Come along and meet the guys who have a common interest in cars and bikes, and enjoy the Jameson’s specials, washed down with a few beers. A couple of the members were scrutineers at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, so they may have some scuttlebutt about the F1 scene, though one is currently driving around Australia towing a caravan! Always a fun night. Be prepared to laugh a lot at some of the antics of the members (when they were younger)! The Car Club nights are only on the second Monday of the month (not every second Monday)!
 

Some looks at longevity of a nameplate

The Mustang is one of the few cars in the world to clock up 50 years of continuous production. The other is the Ford Falcon (to be retired in 2016 after 56 years), the Volkswagen Kombi (retired after 56 years, 1957 to 2013), the Volkswagen Beetle (retired after 65 years, 1938 to 2003), the Chevrolet Suburban SUV (79 years and counting, since 1938), the Ford F-Series pick-up (66 years and counting, since 1948), and the Toyota Land Cruiser 4WD (60 years and counting, since 1954), and the Porsche 911 Carrera sports-car (51 years and counting, since 1963).

Autotrivia Quiz

Last week I mentioned that a novel powerplant was used in a car driven by Graham Hill at Le Mans, where it was placed 10th outright. I asked what was the registration number? An easy one - it was JET 1. This registration number was used on another jet engine Rover as well. Some manufacturers often moved the number plates around, and Aston Martin Lagonda has been using AML 1 for years, while VW has used WOBL 1 as well!
So to this week. Remember the Hindenburg? It had 16 features which it shared with a race car entered in the 1931 and 1932 Indianapolis 500, and with the Wartsilia 46F engine that produced 25,700 BHP. What were the 16 features?
For the Automania free beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected].