The F1 circus has gone to America to race at the specially designed F1 circuit inside the famous Indy 500 oval track. There has been much talk and noise about getting another American driver into F1 to stimulate interest from the American public, but so far there are no serious offers, or serious applications, from the US. Names are being thrown in the air like Bryan Herta, Townsend Bell and Cristiano Da Matta (now there’s a good American name for you), but I would not be waving the Stars and Bars just yet!

With the time difference between here and Indianapolis, the start will be at a most uncivilised hour here, around 1 a.m. in the early morning as far as I can work out. Watch it from home, as Shenanigans would have to shut before the telecast ends (2 a.m. is still the official closing time).

Last week I mentioned the Russian GAZ "A" which was a carbon copy of the A model Ford and the 1962 Tchaika, the dead ringer for the 1956 Ford Customline. However, they did build a horrible chromium plated car for their VIP’s, which was called the ZIS, and then later renamed the ZIL. I asked what did the initials stand for, and why did they change the S to an L? The answer was Zavod Imeni Likatjova (ZIL) and the previous "S" had stood for Stalin. And "Dos vidanya" to you too!

So to this week. Japanese automaker Jitsuyo Jidosha Seizo took over a Japanese car company in 1927. The name of the cars he built was later changed in 1931 and again in 1932 and again in 1935. What were these cars called? I want all four names. A clue - this company is still manufacturing cars today!

For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct answer to fax 038 427 596 or email automania @pattayamail.com

Automotive News reported recently that the new Nissan Moco is not really a Nissan at all. It is, in fact, a re-badged Suzuki MRwagon, built at Suzuki’s Kosai plant near Tokyo. Shock! Horror! How can this be?

The answer is actually fairly simple. Suzuki are so adept at building cars for other manufacturers that in the first six months of this year over 90% of the production went out the door, wearing a non-Suzuki nameplate. That included 27,609 "Mazdas" and 6,627 "Chevrolet Cruzes" (See our report on the Cruze Pattaya Mail Vol. X, No. 35).

Nissan Moco

Suzuki is just one of the car manufacturers that is willing to be an important part of other manufacturer’s line-ups. Take, for example, at the launch of the Moco mini car in April, Nissan Motor Co. President Carlos Ghosn called the 660cc vehicle "an essential part of our entry-level strategy" for gaining market share in Japan. The important word here was "our" entry-level. "Our" really meant Nissan’s money and Suzuki’s product, because Nissan turned to Suzuki, Japan’s No. 1 mini-vehicle maker, to develop and build the Moco.

What Suzuki did was to re-badge the Suzuki MRwagon, and Hey Presto, Nissan has its "essential part of our entry-level strategy". And everybody is happy.

Suzuki MRwagon

Meanwhile, at the same Suzuki Kosai plant outside Tokyo, Japan’s best-selling car, the Suzuki Wagon R, is re-badged for Mazda Motor Corp. for sale as the Mazda AZ-Wagon mini-vehicle and for General Motors as the 1.0-liter Chevrolet MW. Suzuki also builds the Cruze for GM, which badges it as a Chevrolet, or as a Holden for Down-under.

I have mentioned the incestuous relationships between car manufacturers the world over, and the Suzuki-Nissan is typical of what is happening. The interesting factor that comes from this is where then does the customer loyalty lie? Let’s look at the person who swears by their "Nissan" Moco. At model change time, do they look at another Nissan product, or go to Suzuki, the "real" manufacturer? According to Nissan President Carlos Ghosn, in July, the Moco accounted for nearly 7 percent of all Nissans sold in Japan and helped Nissan’s July sales jump about 10 percent from a year earlier. Nissan hopes that Moco owners today will return to Nissan showrooms to look at its larger, higher-margin cars in the future, but I wonder.

Suzuki are also in a bit of a quandary. While the good news is that they are keeping the factory going with the "foreign" manufacturing, these re-badged cars are then sold as competitors to the Suzuki line-up. What Suzuki are gaining on the swings, they might almost certainly be losing on the roundabouts!

The www.pitpass.com website has just held a poll to see who the internet readers thought was the most exciting prospect amongst the ranks of the newer drivers. 52% voted for the "ice man" Kimi Raikkonen, comparing the McLaren driver with former McLaren and Ferrari legend Gilles Villeneuve. After the Monza GP qualifying crash with Sato, Raikkonen showed no remorse at all. He is just focussed on racing, I think Sato will wait a long time for a real apology.

Kimi Raikkonen

Although Gilles Villenueve’s statistics don’t make it into the record books too often, having won only six GP’s in his short career, Gilles is still widely regarded as one of the most exciting racers, a man who wished to win every lap, not just every race.

According to the pit pass.com poll, Kimi Raikkonen is the 2002 equivalent of Gilles, for 52% of those that voted believe the Finn to be the most exciting driver in Formula One, and its brightest prospect. Juan Pablo Montoya came in second, with the ‘ballsy’ Colombian pulling in 39% of the votes.

Showing the editor’s humour, pitpass.com reported, "Clearly a certain Japanese gentleman has a sore index finger, either that or his fan club has been in action, for Takuma Sato is next up with 4% of the votes cast. Mark Webber polled 3% and poor old Felipe Massa could only manage 2%. It might be worth coming back to this in a couple of years," said the report. I agree. A total of 9257 readers voted in the website’s poll.