McLaren-Mercedes found guilty!
The last week has seen much written about
the verdict and 100 million dollar fine and loss of
Manufacturer’s Championship points as punishment given to
McLaren-Mercedes in the Ferrari dossier affair. Until the
full context of the findings was released, I was under the
impression that there had been a witch-hunt, a travesty of
justice. After reading the FIA report, I have changed my
mind.
However, I do not believe that Ron Dennis, the boss of
McLaren-Mercedes to be guilty. I consider him to be an
honorable man, but others in his team are not so honorable.
The problem is that in any large organization, the man at
the top cannot possibly know everything that goes on inside
that organization - but, unfortunately, the buck stops with
him.
Three employees of the McLaren-Mercedes organization were
directly indicated and also indicted. Mike Coughlan, the
chief designer, and drivers Fernando Alonso and Pedro de la
Rosa. Coughlan has been suspended by McLaren for some
months, but what should be done about Alonso and de la Rosa,
who have brought McLaren into disrepute (as well as the
organization copping huge fines)? Remember too, that de la
Rosa and Alonso were given assurances by the FIA that the
information they might give the enquiry would not be used
against them (by the FIA), for them to spill the collective
beans.
If I were Ron Dennis, and I am glad I am not right now, I
would suspend both Alonso and de la Rosa forthwith. You do
not need a viper in your bosom. The problem, of course, will
be that the press (and particularly the Spanish media) would
then state that McLaren was favoring the young British
driver Lewis Hamilton (who incidentally knew nothing of the
use of Ferrari technical details and race information), and
thereby probably handing him the world championship on a
plate.
It will be interesting to see McLaren and Ron Dennis’s next
move.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked you to look at this
photo, taken at Spa. I wanted to know what were the cars?
They were Borgward Isabellas, which if I remember correctly,
had a swing axle rear end, similar to the early Volkswagen.
Trying to correct that amount of oversteer would have been
more than exciting!
So to this week. What car was called the ‘sticking plaster’
car?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected].
Good luck!
What did we learn from
the Belgian Grand Prix?
We learned that despite all the acrimony in the law courts,
the drivers are still the best yardstick as to the
competitiveness of the teams. Ferrari was way above McLaren,
and Raikkonen was a worthy winner, not putting a wheel wrong
for the entire race.
We also learned that behind the Kimi wooden face there is
actually a ‘real’ person. The donut after the end of the
race was a spontaneous display of high spirits and his
reply, when questioned about it at the press conference, was
even better. “I lost it,” said Kimi!
In a race where there was little to get excited about, it
was good to see Webber (Red Bull), Kubica (BMW) and Sutil
(Spyker) demonstrating that F1 drivers are able to think out
passing maneuvers and make them happen. Sutil, in particular
in the Spyker, was superb, up as high as 12th at one stage.
A spirited drive from the youngster, and a star of the
future.
What else? I am honestly surprised that Sir Frank Williams
continues to soldier on with Alex Wurz. Undoubtedly he is a
lovely chap, but that’s where it ends. His team mate Nico
Rosberg saying after the race, “I am absolutely delighted
with the result because today we were again the fourth
placed team and it really shows that we are making progress
from one race to the next. It’s also positive for me because
a good car allows me to show what I can do and I am now
collecting points consistently.” And Alex? “Starting from
15th on the grid was anything but ideal and it was terribly
frustrating. But it was all uphill because we had some fuel
pressure problems during the race. The problem got worse and
worse, so I had to do an extra pit stop and try and recover
fuel pressure, but it didn’t work, so the team called me in
before things got worse. I think it is easy to understand
why I am not happy with today’s result.” He’s not happy? Sir
Frank hasn’t been happy all year, Alex!
The Japanese auto giants Toyota and Honda must be building
portable ritual hara-kiri booths by this stage. Rubens
Barrichello said it all, “This has been a pretty frustrating
weekend for us because we have been struggling with the car
from start to finish.” This is not the first season for
these two teams and they are now consistent back markers.
Time for a clear-out and start again, beginning with the
drivers.
The next GP is at the Fuji circuit in Japan. A new venue for
the current F1 circus. Let us hope we get a better race than
that from Spa.
Is your chauffeur
awake?
The World Sleep Conference 07 has been held and the global
experts warned that prolonged sleep depravation can lead to
heart problems, diabetes, “burn out”, road accidents and
even cancer.
You’ve all heard about a ‘good night’s sleep’ and the
researchers really do believe in it. Professor Charles
Czeisler of Boston’s Harvard Medical School said not
sleeping for 24 hours slowed down reactions to the same
extent as a 0.1 blood alcohol reading. “In Australia it is
estimated that driver fatigue accounts for 20 percent of all
crashes and 30 percent of all single-vehicle crashes here
are thought to be related to driver fatigue,” he said.
Professor Czeisler continued, blaming ‘24/7 culture’ and
modern work stresses for the problem. “There are individuals
who are working long hours and then staying up all night
playing video games or doing internet chatting,” he said. No
wonder the sales of caffeine based boosters is so high.
Check any taxi motorcycle stand, and then remember these are
the guys you are handing your life and livelihood to!
So how much sleep should you be getting (and your taxi
motorcycle rider)? According to the Professor, you need
seven and a half hours every night. So, G’night. Sleep well!
Will we get the Aveo
hatch?
The Aveo hatch was revealed late Monday by
Chevrolet Europe ahead of its official public debut at the
Frankfurt motor show on September 11 and its European
release in March 2008.
Aveo
Hatch
Taking its name from the Kalos sedan, the Aveo hatch will
replace the Daewoo Kalos, which is known in Europe as the
Chevrolet Kalos and in Australia as the Holden Barina.
Confused? Don’t worry, so is everyone else.
GM says the updated Kalos/Barina/Aveo hatch is a “completely
reworked” model with an all-new exterior and a “high-class”
interior.
Far from all-new, the exterior appears to bring a new
front-end with a large, horizontally-split grille (complete
with Chev bow-tie badge) and large, curved clear-lens
headlights similar to those on the Epica medium sedan.
Australia’s Barina (read Aveo) currently offers a 77 kW/145
Nm 1.6 liter four cylinder, and it is unknown whether it
will be joined by a new, more efficient 62 kW 1.2 liter
petrol engine, which will be offered in Europe alongside the
existing 73 kW 1.4 liter petrol four, mated to a four-speed
auto. What will we get?
Although not released yet, the pundits are saying that this
new hatch will give Chevrolet something to lure sales away
from the Toyota Yaris and the (now aging) Honda Jazz.
Try this for
performance!
Zero to 100 kays is not the yardstick you need
when dealing with supercars. It is zero to 200 miles per
hour (320 kays) to sort the men from the boys. Yes, only in
America could a magazine come up with such a comparison
test, but Road and Track rose to the challenge. They took
over the 15,550 foot runway of a US Navy air station in
California and brought together six of the world’s fastest
and rarest supercars to see how quickly they could get from
a standing start to 200 mph. And the results were startling.
The first startle came with the Lamborghini Murcielago and
the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. Their zero to 200 mph times
were unrecordable! They couldn’t get there. Scratch two,
only four left.
Next up was the Ruf 12, basically a Porsche Turbo on
steroids. This rocketship took 35.5 seconds to reach 200 mph
and according to the tester, it was a very comfortable
drive. If you are not au fait with the Ruf name, Alois Ruf
has been modifying Porsches for 33 years in the quaintly
named Bavarian town of Pfaffenhausen. I have raced a Porsche
Carrera against a Ruf Porsche and can only tell you what the
rear end looks like. I didn’t get to see any more of the
car.
Faster than the Ruf 12 was the Lingenfelter C6 Corvette.
Similar to Alois Ruf, but on the left hand side of the
Atlantic, John Lingenfelter has been taking US muscle cars
and giving them even more muscle for 24 years. The
Lingenfelter C6 Corvette has a 7.0 liter 650 kW V8 in the
business end of the car and only took 26.5 seconds to get to
200 mph.
The Bugatti Veyron was next, and with 740 kW under the
bonnet did zero to 200 mph in 24.2 seconds, which is around
the time the company Daihatsu Mira takes to 100 kph.
The big winner had 814 kW and a V10 up front, showing
there’s no substitute for cubic inches. This was the John
Hennesy prepared V10 Dodge Viper which did the 0-200 mph in
20.3 seconds. Apparently, according to R&T, it will sit on
400 kph, and costs $300,000 ex-factory in Houston.
However, if you are looking at doing the ‘double ton’ on a
budget, the Lingenfelter C6 Corvette will only set you back
around $160,000. So, what will it be, Sir? One Viper or a
pair of Corvettes?
Into RV’s? Try this one
for size!
Our ‘Editor at large’, John Weinthal, sent over
this photograph of the super RV, complete with its Mercedes
runabout. This would have to be the ultimate in RV snobbery,
and the item did mention the cost. Built in America (where
else?), this super RV can be yours for only 2.5 million
dollars. The price does not include the Mercedes.
Super RV
