Bangkok International
Motor Show closes April 8
When you are picking up your Pattaya
Mail this Friday, I will be getting ready to leave for
the Bangkok International Motor Show, in company with other
overseas motoring journalists. Over the next few weeks I
will give you the run-down on the motor show itself, plus
what is happening in the motorcycle arena, courtesy of Alan
Coates, my motorcycling source of information.
However, if you wish to see what is in
the show yourself, it will be open until April 8, but I am
sorry, they do not sell finger-marked samples at throw away
prices on the final Sunday!
Last year 1.6 million people went through the turnstiles
for our Bangkok Motor Show. This year there will be more.
There is parking in the BITEC grounds (Km 1 Bangna-Trat
road) as well as parking areas on LaSalle Street for another
4,000 vehicles. If you are coming by public transport, then
go to On Nut Skytrain terminal and catch one of the 10
shuttle buses going to BITEC.
Local
Motorsport Calendar
Many of you ask for the local motor sport
calendar, and to be honest, it has always been very
difficult to get this information. Many reasons, some tied
up in language barriers, and others through a delightful
penchant of the promoters for changing the dates at
seemingly a moment’s notice! However, for what it is worth,
here is the calendar, which came to me courtesy of Thomas
Raldorf from the Pizza Company Racing Team.
Go-kart: Thai National Championship Race series
Round 1: Saraburi February 25 (already run, results can
be found on www.kartthai.com)
Round 2: Korat April 1
Round 3: Bira May 20
Round 4: Bira July 8
Round 5: Saraburi August 26
Round 6: Saraburi September 30
Round 7: Bira November 18
Go-kart: Superkart Thailand Race series (Club race
series)
Round 1: Bira March 11 (already run)
Round 2: Bira April 29
Round 3: Bira June 3
Round 4: Bira August 5
Round 5: Bira October 28
Round 6: Saraburi December 9
Supercar Thailand Race Series
Rounds 1 and 2: Bira April 28 and 29
Round 3: Squadron 206 Watthananakhon Srakaew July 8
Round 4: Bira September 16
Rounds 5 and 6: (Street Race, on provisional course) Bang
Saen Beach, Chonburi November 10 and 11
Toyota Vios and Yaris One Make Race Series
Round 1: Chiang Mai (Provisional Track at “Sanam 700
Phi”) May 5/6
Round 2: Ubonratchathani (Street race) June 23/24
Round 3: Phuket (Street Race) August 18/19
Round 4: Udonthani (Street Race) October 20/21
Round 5: Bang Saen Beach (Street Race) November 10/11
Honda Racing Festival (note these are all on Saturdays)
Round 1: Bira April 21
Round 2: Bira June 16
Round 3: Bira August 11
Round 4: Bira October 13
Round 5: December 15
Ever been to a Car Party?
Car party
Stumbled across the greatest example of
extreme automania the other evening. There, in the middle of
one of the car parks at the Pattaya Indoor Sports Stadium
was the most amazing collection of people, cars, dancers,
and lights, all wrapped up in thousands of watts of totally
distorted sound.
This party was a get-together of likely
lads who had spent untold hundreds of thousands of baht to
convert their pickups (though there were a few sedans) into
mobile sound lounges, or known locally as “boom cars”. These
have the capacity to turn your eardrums inside out and
dislodge your kidneys if you stood too close.
Walking around, being buffeted by the
decibels, I counted one pickup’s loudspeakers, and gave up
at 40. Some added to the aural effects with visual effects
with neon and tracer lights bouncing in time with the
“music”. On the back of the pickup was a dance stage, with a
sweaty, nubile young lady on each one, gyrating to the music
as well. It was something that you could not even begin to
imagine if you haven’t been there.
What made this even more incredible was
the fact that every one of these pickups, generally less
than two meters apart, were pounding out the music, in
almost a noise competition. And each one was playing
different music. He with the largest amplifier is the
winner! One pickup had so much electronic equipment that
there was no passenger area in the vehicle. One driver’s
seat, and cubic meters of electronics and audio-amplifiers.
But that was not all. The owners of these
mobile sound lounges paid for the privilege of being there!
Yes, 3,000 baht for the parking space, plus another 2,000
baht for the sweaty lady. Incredible.
Autotrivia
Quiz
Last week I asked where did the name
Aston Martin come from? It came from the hill climb at Aston
Clinton in the UK and Lionel Martin, one of the founders of
the company.
So to this week. Who was known as the
Tigress of Turin? Clue: she at one stage drove the car which
had previously won the 1977 Australian Grand Prix.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be
the first correct answer to email
[email protected]
Good luck!
Malaysian
Eff Wun GP next weekend
With the F1 season having kicked off in
Melbourne, we now have had the opportunity to see and
compare the various teams and the performances of the new
cars (and drivers).
Ferrari is again the cream of the crop.
Obviously fastest in qualifying trim, and even more
obviously the fastest in race trim, with Raikkonen over 1
second a lap faster than the McLarens of Alonso and Lewis
Hamilton who had 4 hundredths of a second difference between
them. This is why Hamilton’s race debut was so impressive.
He matched the current world champion in equal machinery.
Hamilton is the star of the future.
0.3 of a second behind the McLarens were
the BMWs, with Kubica marginally quicker than Heidfeld.
Obviously an equal pairing.
Right in there with the BeeEmms was
Rosberg in the Williams, but he was almost 2 seconds quicker
than his team mate Wurz. Sir Frank Williams will be looking
for an improvement, or things for Wurz will get worse.
Down in the Renault camp, Heikki
Kovalainen was almost a second slower than Fisichella, and
he has been told in no uncertain terms that he has to
improve. Briatore describing the young Finn’s performance as
“rubbish”. Fisichella was much slower than Alonso last year,
so it’s not as if Kovalainen is being compared to the World
Champion either. Heikki must improve or he’ll be hitchhiking
out of the Renault motor home.
The “works” teams of Toyota and Honda
will have been contemplating their futures in the past two
weeks. With both teams having been beaten soundly by
‘customer engine’ outfits (Toyota engines in the Williams
and Honda engines in the Super Aguris) it will be ritual
hara-kiri if it happens again. Heads bowing in apology will
not be enough. Heads will roll, literally.
The rest did not do much, other than the
Red Bull team which managed to crash (Coulthard) and spin on
the way into pit lane (Webber). There is definitely a common
bond between these two drivers, as Coulthard managed to
crash into the pit fence in Australia a few years ago when
he was driving for Williams.
Let us see what improvements have been made next weekend in
Sepang.
Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren
AMG stands
for hand built Benz
E 63 AMG
I have had the opportunity to sample a
couple of the offerings from DaimlerChrysler’s AMG stable.
The offshoot of the parent company that produces the
rip-snortiest motor cars you could ever imagine. These
things are race cars you can drive on the road, yet are
docile enough that mother could go down to Tesco’s and buy
the groceries in them.
However, these are not MBs with a few
tarty flares and spoilers. These are hand built Benzes. You
even get a nameplate on the rocker cover to tell you who
screwed the engine together.
The latest, and most powerful is the E63
AMG V8. I am told that this is the car that was responsible
for the term “bahn blaster” due to its ability to rapidly
gobble up large tracts of German autobahn. They are so
potent that they have made plane travel between some
European cities redundant.
It is easier (and quicker) to trundle
your E63 out onto the autobahn and fire it in the desired
direction than to muck about getting to, parking and waiting
at airports, boarding, waiting, flying and landing on a
plane then getting a cab to your destination.
AMG is responsible for a swag of high
performance Benzes from the littlies to the biggies
including an awesome ML63 4x4. One presumes there will also
be an AMG version of the big GL 4x4.
Now I mentioned that the engine is
hand-built, but it doesn’t stop with just an exceptional
engine. The rest of the car is purpose-built as well. AMG
even has its own special assembly line.
The E63 is a four door, five seat sedan
with a whopping 378 kW/680 Nm output. That is sufficient to
propel the weighty beast from 0-100 kph in well under 5
seconds. That is nudging on supercar territory, and
according to those who have tested these projectiles in
Europe, there is just no peakiness in the performance at
all. It is just one solid push in the back all the way.
That’s what 680 Nm of torque can do for you.
Like the AMGs I have driven, the new E63
remains capable of dribbling around in the traffic, just as
easily as it can whoosh past lesser mortals in lesser
machines on the autobahn.
The 6.2 litre engine is a techno
tour-de-force as is the chassis which features airmatic
adaptive suspension and huge brakes. There is even a ride
height raise function to get driveway clearance for the
low-slung front end.
Drive goes to the rear wheels via a seven
speed auto transmission with sequential change including
steering wheel paddles for those who imagine they are
Michael Schumacher.
In addition to the performance side of
the car, there’s also a luxury and safety side. It is
blessed with an astonishing array of luxury goodies
including gorgeous Napa leather, Harman Kardon audio system
with massive sub woofer, TV, DVD, satnav, comprehensive
computer, bluetooth and electrically operated everything.
It has adaptive bi-xenon headlights,
sonar cruise control and 360 degree park assist.
It also has an anti tamper, anti tow
function that sounds the horn if a vehicle comes within a
meter of the E63 when parked. It is a stunning drive,
composed, firm, responsive and sounds fabulous.
In many ways, the perfect sedan, other than one minor
problem. The price. In this country, expect to pay over 30
million baht, by my estimation.
