Sunday 16 is the 3rd Round of the Thailand Touring Car
series which will be held at the Bira circuit (Km 14 on Highway 36). So
what a better place to go to than an enjoyable Sunday afternoon at the
motor racing. All the usual stars, plus the biff and bash artists will be
there, so there’s bound to be plenty of action and excitement.
For the main event, put your money on Natavud, the lead
driver (car 1) for Toyota in the Corolla Altis. Very smooth, very neat and
very quick. His team mate, “Pete” the film star, is almost quite the
opposite, but is still a quick driver. However, he rarely comes back in
with straight panels.
The heavily modified Hondas will be out to stop the
Corolla charge, last time by bulldozing Pete! As I said - there will be
action plus.
In last week’s column I spoke about the AIM Concept
cars - a race series featuring 20 identical race cars, built right here in
Thailand. The standard of workmanship in the vehicles is excellent, and a
credit to all concerned.
As well as having a gander at the cars, I was invited
to have a steer by ex-race driver Prutirat who has masterminded the
concept, and it didn’t take two requests to get me into the driver’s
seat!
One
of the most important factors in driving any race car quickly, is to be
comfortable in the seat. The AIM people are well aware of this, and each
car has the seat individually made and tailored to suit the 20 drivers who
have rented the cars for the season. Unfortunately, that doesn’t go the
same for ex-racer journalists doing a few test laps. As soon as I was
settled into the car I felt uncomfortable - the seat was built for someone
of very different proportions, but I certainly wasn’t going to jump out
straight away, was I?
The steering wheel is removable, a la Grand Prix F1
cars, and when snapped back into place after you do up the 4 point
harness, still affords view of the tachometer and temperature gauge.
Gearshift is on the left side of the single seater
cockpit and is standard 5 speed Toyota pattern, but I did notice that the
1-2 and 3-4 slots were very close to each other. Clutch was very light as
was throttle actuation.
Now when you drive out of the pits in a race car for
the first time - with all the mechanics watching - you are just so gentle
with the throttle/clutch balance. Reason for this is purely the fact that
they are all standing around waiting for you to stall the engine!
After managing not to disgrace myself, we headed out
onto the track proper. Bira is quite a tricky circuit, 2.4 kays around and
very tight in places, especially the hairpin left-hander at the end of the
straight. First few “sighter” laps I felt that I was one gear too low,
but it did not matter at that point.
After checking back into the pits after 2 laps, to make
sure everything was fine, it was off in earnest to see just what this
locally designed and built race car could do. The first thing that was
very obvious was that the AIM Concept car is a purpose built race car - a
no compromise machine, designed to go round race circuits as quickly as
possible.
The steering is very direct and no more than one third
of a turn was needed anywhere to negotiate any of Bira’s corners. In
fact, for the chicanes it was more just a case of a quick flick of the
wrists to get the car to negotiate the esses.
Brakes were light, but in retrospect not with as much
“bite” as I am used to. For me, the biggest problem lay in gear
selection. At least once on every lap I managed to select 5th after 2nd,
instead of 3rd. This was not the fault of the car, let me assure you - it
was ham handedness on the part of the driver. Relaxing a little and
slightly pausing between 2nd and 3rd on the up-change helped.
The handling of the AIM Concept was a dream. Totally
controllable and throttle responsive. Going into a corner too quickly just
needed a quick lift-off on the gas with some steering correction and then
full throttle again. That easy!
After half a dozen laps, however, the fact that the
seat and I were not designed for each other began to become even more
obvious. Acute discomfort in the lower back region began to become more
important than the fun of driving. I came in and returned the car to the
AIM mechanics, who were probably very pleased that the farang did return
the vehicle in one piece, and no frantic rebuilds were necessary! Don’t
laugh. I’ve seen more than one motoring journo do untold damage to race
cars and to their own reputations!
So that was the drive. The cars are excellently
engineered and the concept is fabulous. They are great fun racers and are
the ideal starting off point for anyone who might feel that they would
like to “give it a go.” With all the preparation and transport details
taken care of, all the driver does is arrive with his helmet and goes
racing. This concept and the AIM Concept cars should be given serious
consideration in many countries all over the world, where it is so often
claimed that it is too expensive to get into the sport.
Last week’s question was what American in an American
car scored the first major American victory in Europe at the French Grand
Prix. I wanted the driver, the car and the year!
Now most of you immediately started thinking Andretti,
or Gurney, Phil Hill and all. Wrong! It was Jimmy Murphy, driving a
Duesenberg in the 1921 French Grand Prix. And for the real collectors of
trivia - his riding mechanic was Ernie Olsen. Good on yer, Ernie!
And so to this week. Study the photograph. This was
taken at the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb in the UK in 1946 and the car is
being driven by Basil Davenport. Davenport starred both in pre-war and
post-war climbs in a car called the Spider. What was so notable about the
car when it competed in 1946 when this photo was taken?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first
correct answer to fax 427 596 or email [email protected].
