Silly Season in Detroit brings out a monster!
The Chrysler arm of DaimlerChrysler is
certainly making sure it throws off any stuffy images, with
its latest offering seen at the Detroit Motor Show this month.
The concept vehicle in question is an 11.4 litre V16 Jeep.
Mind you, this is not a new V16, as the
Hurricane actually has two 5.7 litre V8’s, with one at each
end! Featuring Chrysler’s Multi-Displacement System (MDS),
the Hurricane driver can select four, eight, 12 or 16
cylinders, depending on the mood of the moment. This is also a
Jeep that can do the 0-100 clicks in under five seconds, when
using all 16 of the cylinders. Power is delivered through a
central transfer case and split axles via a mechanically
controlled four-wheel torque distribution system.
Jeep
Hurricane
To add to the unique nature it also has a
steering rack at each end to give four wheel steering, and
then some, with both front and rear axles capable of extremes
of steering lock. Forget the four wheel steering brought out
by Honda about 10 years back. This is real four wheel steer.
In addition to skid-steer capability and
toe steer (the ability to turn both front and rear wheels
inward), Hurricane features two modes of automated four-wheel
steering: a traditional system in which front and rear wheels
point in opposite directions to reduce the turning circle and
an off-road crab-steer mode in which all four wheels turn in
the same direction. Confused? You probably would be, trying to
control this monster!
The
suspension is totally independent, front and rear, with 50 cm
of travel and the Hurricane has around 36 cm of ground
clearance. (That’s around 14 inches in the old money.)
There is no chassis or floor pan, as the
Hurricane’s one-piece carbon-fibre body is used as a one
piece unitary construction, with suspension and powertrain(s)
mounted directly to it, while an aluminium spine runs
underneath as a skid plate.
“Jeep Hurricane is simply the most
manoeuvrable, most capable and most powerful 4x4 ever
built,” said Trevor Creed, senior vice-president - Chrysler
Group Design.
“It pays homage to the extreme
enthusiasts’ Jeep vehicles in form and off-road capability,
but is a unique interpretation of Jeep design. Simply stated,
it is the extreme example for the Jeep brand,” he said.
It certainly is, Trevor. It certainly is!
Here comes the car of the
future
If Ford has read the signals correctly, we
are in for a fairly torrid future. The Ford Synus was released
at the same Detroit Motor Show as Chrysler’s Hurricane.
While the Hurricane lets you escape from pursuers, Ford’s
attitude to terror on the roads is to tough it out.
Ford
Synus
Ford’s concept vehicle, called the Synus,
resembles a miniature Brambles-Brinks van, the size of a
Daihatsu Mira, complete with bullet-proof windows. Not only
that, it has driver activated shutters that come down over the
windscreen and sidescreens. The rear hatch can only be opened
by a rotating dial, similar to a bank safe.
Synus, which stands for “synthesis urban sanctuary” is
how Ford believes we will get around the suburbs in 2010,
sheltering from dive-by shootings and car-jackings. Ford’s
design chief, J Mays (and that’s all you get from FoMoCo, so
I have no idea whether he’s John, Jack or Jonas) says,
“Many people over the years have confused small with
fragile, and I said there is a difference between a small
poodle and a small bulldog. This (vehicle) certainly falls off
the fence, clearly on the side of the bulldog.”
The Middle
East - the new motorsport centre of the world?
While Europe, and in particular the UK, has
long been thought of as the centre of ‘pukka’ motorsport,
that is now all changing. Nothing emphasizes this as much as
BMW, one of the great marques in sporting motoring for scores
of years has now opened a BMW Performance Center in Bahrain.
Formula
BMW
The BMW Performance Center Bahrain threw
open its gates for the first time at the Bahrain International
Circuit in January this year, with more than 40 junior racing
drivers from all over Asia taking part in two three-day events
at the Gulf region’s most modern circuit - running a license
course and Scholarship Qualifying for aspiring Formula BMW
Asia racers.
The aspiring drivers, some as young as 15,
were first introduced to the theoretical foundations of the
art of motor racing at the Formula BMW Racing Center Bahrain.
They then had an opportunity to put their freshly acquired
insights into practice in ten brand new FB02 BMW Formula cars
churning out 140 bhp and a top speed of almost 230 kph.
The BMW Performance Center in Bahrain is a
new home not only for Formula BMW but also for BMW Driver
Training. Starting in spring of 2005, a variety of training
courses will be on offer to all-comers. The range of cars
involved extends from the BMW 1 Series to the BMW M3, and the
safety training courses at varying levels of difficulty will
be held within the Performance Center as well as on the race
track.
The circuit was designed by German
architect Hermann Tilke. It took only 16 months from the
official start of construction in December 2002 to the
inaugural race on 3rd April 2004 when it hosted the F1 Bahrain
Grand Prix, with the Formula BMW Asia being on the support
programme.
“We are delighted to have won the Bahrain
International Circuit as a partner of the BMW Performance
Center,” said BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen. “The
race track is brand-new and boasts first-rate safety
standards. The Gulf region, moreover, offers good climatic
conditions in winter as well.”
Formula BMW is the world’s leading
entry-level class in single seater racing. In 2005 the series
will be held in Germany, Britain, Asia and the USA. Up and
coming drivers, as young as 15 years of age, are given the
opportunity of entering motor racing with the high-tech, FB02
race car.
In 2005, Formula BMW will be staged five
times as part of the Formula One support programme. Formula 1
drivers who have come through the ranks of Formula BMW include
Ralf Schumacher, Christian Klien and Timo Glock.
BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen
says, “Formula BMW offers talented young drivers more than
just a car. In the Education and Coaching Programme we have
designed specially for them, they learn everything they need
to know to hold their own in the big wide world of motor
racing. Formula BMW has shot out of the blocks to become the
top entry-level class for Formula racing worldwide.”
The race car itself is a very safe, but
high-tech race vehicle. It is a single-seater with a 140 bhp
BMW motorcycle engine that can produce speeds up to 230 kph.
It exceeds by far the safety requirements for its class. BMW
Motorsport has developed the FORS Formula Rescue Seat
especially for Formula BMW, and the HANS safety system is also
mandatory.
We may have a young Thai based driver in
one of these this year, and if so, we will be watching with
great interest.
Qualifying
format for 2005
Here we are. A few weeks only until the
Australian F1 Grand Prix on March 6, and the final format for
Qualifying will be decided upon by a meeting today (January
28). The multi-gazillion dollar F1 motor racing show has
shown, yet again, that it is being run by self-serving
businessmen with no regard for the paying public.
A couple of years back, 20 drivers would
get out on the track on the Saturday and had 12 laps to set
their best times. The fastest wins the coveted ‘pole’
position. Unfortunately the drivers would all hang about,
waiting for the rubber to be built up on the track and there
was nothing for the spectator to see for the first 30 minutes
of the hour.
So the powers that be changed this into
‘shotgun’ qualifying on the Saturday, whereby it all hung
on one quick lap, single car at a time, to find the starting
order. It was hoped that this would mix up the grid somewhat,
and it did to a small extent, but not by much, and was fairly
boring from the spectator viewpoint.
So the same powers that be decided that to
spice it all up even more, Qualifying should take place on
Sunday morning, before the GP, and it would consist of two one
lap blinders, with the fastest aggregate time giving the pole
position. So now the spectators have nothing to see on
Saturday and have to be mathematicians to add both laps
together, to work out who is on pole.
For those of us not actually at the
circuit, we have to rely on TV coverage. Will the TV channels
devote an extra two hours to F1 on Sunday? I doubt it very
much, and since there will be nothing important happening on
Saturday, they will not be showing F1 then either. So we will
get less than before. Brilliant!
The only decent rule changes so far has
been the adoption of a one set of tyres rule for qualifying
and the race, so perhaps there will be less of the pit
“strategy” than was mind-numbingly done last year. Of
course we may now get a series of very opportune
‘punctures’ around re-fuelling time, so that new tyres
will have to go on.
It is as plain as the nose on Eddie
Jordan’s face that the tyre rule should include carrying
enough fuel to last the race, as well as enough rubber to go
the distance. This way, anyone coming in to the pits will lose
time, compared to the other cars in the race. But then, the F1
hierarchy has never consulted the ordinary spectator. More’s
the pity!
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week, I asked who “invented” pit
signals and why? It was none other than the legendary pit
manager for Mercedes, Alfred Neubauer. He introduced pit
signals in 1926 after his star driver Rudi Caracciola had been
driving the wheels off his Mercedes at the previous event,
thinking he was behind the other drivers, when actually he was
well in front.
So to this week. And let’s get right away
from motor racing. Which motor car designer described his
gearbox as follows, “C’est brutal mais ca marche!” Clue:
he was French! Another clue: the car was made in Paris.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be
the first correct answer to email auto mania@ pattaya mail.com
Good luck!
