Have a quick gander at the bridge crossing picture with
this article. Would you believe it is Sukhumvit Road? Well, better
believe.
This
photo was taken last month and is Sukhumvit Road in Cambodia, and what you
are seeing is a scam. The villagers dismantle the bridge and then, for a
fee, rebuild it enough for you to cross over - then they dismantle it
again, waiting for the next intrepid traveller.
Captain Sitthichoke, from Asia-Pacific Motorsports, has
just come back from a “short” 10,000 km journey through all of
Indochina with the Petronas Indochina 2000 expedition. This was a group
“tour” which began in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and then came through
Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. This was the first time
that one group had visited all the five countries in one swoop.
Mind you, having seen other photographs that
Sitthichoke brought back, it was no easy amble either. Bridge crossings
like this were a piece of cake compared to flooded river crossings in
Laos, where one of the 4WD’s “drowned”.
The good Captain runs other 4WD trips so if you are
interested in joining him you can contact him on 01-865 5878.
Automania Quiz
Last week I asked about the Sunbeam Tiger, which was
the Ford V8 engine car from the Rootes Group, whose prototype was built by
Carroll Shelby (yes, the AC Cobra Shelby) but I asked why was it given the
name “Tiger”?
The Sunbeam Tiger V8 was actually called after the
World Land Speed Record holding Sunbeam Tiger V 12 of 1926. A few other
interesting details about these cars - two people were asked to produce a
prototype - Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles, the great 7 litre Shelby Cobra
racer, but the Rootes Group who had inherited the Sunbeam name obviously
liked Shelby’s the best.
Interestingly, the Tiger was killed off some time after
Chrysler took over the Rootes group because they didn’t want a Ford
engine car in their line-up! Stands to reason, I suppose.
So to this week. When Ron Taurenac sold Motor Racing
Developments to Bernie Ecclestone, he inherited the Brabham name (that’s
a clue). The question is: what was the connection between Bernie E and the
Great Train Robbery? For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first
correct answer to fax 427 596 or email [email protected]
By the way, many thanks to all those who write in - as
the column is actually written in advance, it is not possible to print the
name of the winner each week, but these people are contacted directly. So
far, Sean Jehan is winning by miles.
The Eff Wun Championship dates for 2001
The tentative dates have been released for next year,
and as before it kicks off with Australia on the 4th of March, but from
then on it is quite radically changed. The final GP of 2000, the Malaysian
at Sepang becomes the second GP on the 18th of March and then on to Brazil
on the 1st of April, then San Marino 15th April. This year the circus then
had the wet Silverstone round, but next year the 5th round will be in
Spain on the 29th April, then another big change, bringing the Austrian
round in next on the 13th of May, followed by Monaco on the 27th, then
Canada on the 10th of June and back to Europe for the Nurburgring on the
24th.
Another change, with the French GP being held just one
week later on the 1st of July, then over the Straits of Dover to the
British GP again at Silverstone (and hopefully it won’t be raining) on
the 15th and then the German GP on the 29th of July.
Once again a deviation from the normal two weeks in
between, stretching out to 3 weeks and the Hungarian round on the 19th of
August. After this it is much like this year, with two weeks between each
and the order being the same - Belgium (2nd September), Italian (16th),
United States (30th) and finally the Japanese on the 14th of October, back
to its usual slot as the last GP, before Malaysia got a round.
Generally it looks as if it makes some sense, with it
being reasonably easy to go from Australia to Malaysia, then across to
Brazil and then back to Europe. The two separate crossings of the Atlantic
for Canada in June and the American in September seem a little odd, but I
am sure Bernie Ecclestone has his reasons!
When is a Mrs. a Mr.?
You see, it’s not only in Pattaya that there can be
some gender confusion - poor old Toyota have got themselves in a bit of a
muddle too. Their Porsche Boxster copy, sold in most places as a MRS, is
being sold in Oz as the new MR 2.
While I was in Oz last week I took the opportunity to
have a steer of one of these little jiggers. The looks department is more
than reminiscent of the Porsche, even to the clear flat screen behind the
driver and passengers’ heads to stop buffeting - which, by the way, it
doesn’t.
The seats are very low “on the floor”, and with
very high doors, you are really given the feeling of sitting IN, rather
than ON this car. The cockpit does tend to be a little cramped too, and I
found it difficult to get really comfortable in MRS/MR2. I could not get
the seat far enough away from the pedals, so always ended up with my knees
knocking the steering wheel.
The really tricky thing with the car was the
transmission. It is a clutch-less manual. Sorry, not an automatic - it
does not change gears by itself, you manually shift gears but there is no
clutch. The way you shift gears is also quite different, as you have a
couple of options. You can either use the short stick shift on the central
console, which works like a sequential (motorcycle) shifter. Forward for
going down the box and back towards yourself to come up the box. The
clever folk at Toyota actually programme the downshifting so that the
engine gives a little blip to equalise the revs - you don’t do it - it
does!
However, the other tricky way to shift gears is on the
steering wheel with a couple of pressure pads. The one on the front of the
wheel shifts down when you push down on it, and the one behind the wheel
shifts up when you pull up on it. Not quite F1 paddles, but the same sort
of concept.
Mate
in Oz, John Weinthal, whose words often grace these pages, loved it, but I
was not so enthralled. For me, the changes were too slow, and I could have
beaten it with a standard clutch/gearbox, stick shift combination any day.
It was actually difficult to say how fast the car really was, because the
shifts were so slow. With good traction you could get the jump on the
others at the lights, but then lost out while you waited for the thing to
find second gear after pad pushing.
For a company that has made so many original and
distinctive designs (look at the Celica range as well as the early MR2s),
I felt this one, with its copy Boxster body, really came across as just
that. It wasn’t a real Rolex - it was just a copy watch. Sorry Mr
Toyota, I didn’t like it, no matter what sex it was.
