The F1 season kicks off – at last!
Bahrain has a Grand Prix circuit constructed in a country with
no tradition of motor racing, but with a desire to enjoy the
prestige of being host to a major international sporting
event. And the necessary financial wherewithal to be able to
do so. How times change – the best driver’s circuit (Spa in
Belgium) unable to host F1 this year through being bankrupt,
but the sandy deserts can!
Bahrain
(Sakhir) is not a single circuit but a complex of six
individual tracks which includes a drag strip and an oval test
track. From the beginning Bahrain was clearly interested in
more than an annual event because it incorporated the
infrastructure to run club races and to become a centre for
motor sport in the Middle East.
The test oval suggests that Bahrain is interested in
attracting motor manufacturers who might wish to test
prototypes at sustained high speed in very hot conditions. The
drag strip suggests a use for all those supercars which are
bought by wealthy Arabs and which otherwise receive little
serious use. There is no shortage of interest in cars in the
Middle East, and no shortage of money, and no shortage of
interest in competition with camel and horse racing being
immensely popular, but until the complex opened in March 2004,
there were no bespoke motor sport venues.
To judge from the flexibility of the complex, which cost USD
150 million to construct, Bahrain hopes to become the driving
force of motor racing in the region. Read those numbers again
– USD 150 million. That is why you will not see an F1 track in
Thailand, unless a certain gentleman with very clever
telecommunications children decides he wants one!
The Sakhir track is quite superb, but Bahrain must sort out
issues such as hotel accommodation if it is to be taken
seriously and not merely regarded as a race-track in the
desert.
The race begins at (I think) 2 p.m. in Bahrain, which would
make it 6 p.m. here, but please check your TV guides. I am
setting up in front of the big screen in Jameson’s Irish Pub
(Soi AR, next to Nova Park) at 5 p.m. just in case it starts
early! Why don’t you join me for early dinner, a couple of
ales and some spirited conversation?
Will it be
Renault again this year?
In pre-season testing, the Renault has looked very
strong and again almost bullet-proof. As was shown last year,
reliability wins races, and championships.
Barichello and
Button
However, it is a different ball game in
2006, and this could change the order. To start with, current
world champion Fernando Alonso will be going to McLaren at the
end of the year, so will not be Renault’s favorite son in
2006. Having made the decision to move, without telling Flavio
Briatore, the Renault team boss, was a very silly (and
immature) move in my books. There is also the query as to
whether Renault are prepared to tip in the millions of dollars
needed to stay at the top, while the parent manufacturer is
not doing all that well.
There is also the fact that Michelin, Renault’s supplier, is
pulling out at the end of the year. Do you think that they
will continue to pour millions of dollars into tyre
development in 2006? I doubt it.
This year it also looks as if there will be three other teams
at the top of the league. Honda has a strong pairing with
Button and Barichello, but this could come undone if both of
them start tripping over their own egos. Button has done more
than 100 races and is still waiting to win, while Barichello
needs to justify leaving Ferrari, where he was always going to
be Number 2, to try and be Number 1.
Ferrari will also be there. 2005 was such a disaster after
being unbeatable for many seasons, that they will be trying
even harder in 2006. They have the driver in Michael
Schumacher, they have a happy Number 2 in Massa (who is
probably just a seat warmer for Valentino Rossi in 2007) and
they have the infrastructure and mental ability to win races.
McLaren look like they have the pace again – but will they
suffer from the unreliability which lost them the 2005
championships? Make no mistake, Renault did not “win” in 2005
– McLaren-Mercedes “lost” the championship in 2005. However,
Raikkonen is hungry and although Mercedes have improved since
Raikkonen’s outburst in January where he said, “The biggest
part of the problem is the engine,” the Finn is still cautious
about his chances in Sakhir. “We have had a productive couple
of days in Valencia this week, we had some good pace with the
car and I set the fastest time,” he said. “But testing is very
different to being on the race track. I am now looking forward
to getting back behind the wheel in Bahrain and driving the
car in a competitive environment to see where we really are
performance-wise.”
And that really says it all. Until the cars get to Bahrain, it
is still a matter of conjecture as to who is the quickest.
However, please do not put your money on Yuji Ide in the (not
so) Super Aguri. At last count he was seven seconds off the
pace. I really doubt whether he should be there at all, while
his team leader is super-crunch Sato, and is also another
driver with no chance of winning anything, other than a wall.
Autotrivia Quiz
Quiz car
Last week I asked what cars had four reverse
gear speeds? (And the answer is not Italian!). The correct
answer was Delage, Delahaye, Salmson and Voisin. These cars
had the Cotal electric selection gearbox, and a forward or
reverse lever on the floor. This gave four forwards or four
reverses! There was also the Maybach (which had eight forward
gears as well) and the Messerschmitt (thank you Peter Eades
for the info on the bubble car).
So to this week. Take a look at these fine machines. What is
it, and what is it based on?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
More Doggy Doo in the
American auto scene
It really looks like the house(s) of cards is
tumbling down in the US. With volume sellers GM and Ford
cutting back, all their suppliers are also feeling the pinch.
Delphi, a major GM supplier, was the first to seek bankruptcy
protection last year, and now Dana Corporation is doing the
same.
Auto News in the US reports that Dana, the 100 year old
company that supplied parts to the Model T, the World War
II-vintage Jeep and the classic London taxicab has sought
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York.
The filing ended several weeks of speculation about the
deteriorating financial condition of the axle, driveshaft and
heavy components manufacturer based in Toledo, Ohio.
Dana supplies components for a significant number of platforms
at Ford Motor Co. and GM. About 25 percent of Dana’s business
in 2004 was with Ford, according to Dana’s annual report.
Another 11 percent of its business was with GM that year.
CEO Mike Burns, who took Dana’s helm in March 2004 after a 34
year career at GM, has been restructuring the company for the
last few months, but Dana’s stock has continued to slump.
Burns said last week that the company was in negotiations with
its bankers and hoped to reach an agreement on new lines of
credit in two weeks. Dana missed a USD 21 million bond
interest payment on March 1.
Dana has been beset by multiple challenges in recent months,
including a federal accounting probe, declining business from
Ford and GM and higher raw material costs. The company posted
a USD 1.23 billion loss through the first nine months of 2005
with all but USD 20 million of the loss stemming from one-time
charges and write-downs.
Without new lines of credit, the Chapter 11 filing was
inevitable for the company, analysts said. “Failure to obtain
a new (credit line) facility would lead to default and likely
bankruptcy,” S&P analyst Daniel DiSenso wrote in his report.
Both S&P and Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Dana’s
credit ratings for the second time in a week last week.
The missed interest payment prompted the second major sell-off
of Dana stock in five trading days. Shares in the company were
down 44 percent, in massive trading on the New York Stock
Exchange.
Dana, which employs about 45,000 people globally, would be the
third-largest automotive bankruptcy case in history, based on
total assets, behind Delphi and Federal-Mogul Corp. Dana ranks
No. 15 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global
suppliers with worldwide original-equipment automotive parts
sales of USD 9.06 billion in 2004. It listed USD 7.88 billion
in assets on Sept. 30, 2005.
F1 fuel can make a fool
out of you
VMany years ago, I was racing a “production” Isuzu
Gemini sedan and was back to running 97 octane pump fuel. The
compression ratio of the engine was not high enough to warrant
thinking about anything else, but when the Formula 1 circus
came to Adelaide, for the Australian Grand Prix, I wondered if
here was a source of “instant” horsepower.
After the GP weekend, somehow, a drum of the special F1 fuel
was left behind by the Williams team, and made its way to
Brisbane, 2000 km away, where I was waiting. This fuel was
really special, very much more efficient thermodynamically
than 97 octane, or even 115 Avgas.
Taking Gemini to the rolling road dynamometer we tipped in the
F1 fuel and looked at the horsepower numbers. Instant
horsepower, and big grins all round. The weekend would be very
successful, we predicted.
We rolled out for practice, and I could feel the extra urge
immediately. However, the extra urge only lasted three laps.
The crew set about working out why it stopped, and it turned
out that the fuel was not getting to the engine. But why not?
There was plenty in the tank, and so we began to take out each
fuel line looking for the blockage.
It was then we found that the F1 fuel was eating the inside of
the standard fuel lines, making gummy deposits all the way
along the hoses. F1 cars, of course, do not run
rubber/neoprene fuel lines, like production Isuzu Gemini’s do!
We had outsmarted ourselves, but at least we did find a good
use for the F1 fuel. It was the greatest way to get the BBQ
coals burning. After dousing in F1 fuel, you tossed a match at
the BBQ from about 20 paces away. Whooompa, and the BBQ was
ready! Fuel technology wins again.
Natter Nosh and Noggin
The monthly car enthusiasts meeting will be at
Jameson’s Irish Pub on Soi AR next to the Nova Park
development. The car (and bike) enthusiasts meet on the second
Monday of the month, so this time it is Monday (March 13) at
Jameson’s at 7 p.m. This is a totally informal meeting of like
minded souls to discuss their pet motoring (and motorcycling)
loves and hates.
