EffWun season over for 2007
At the final Grand Prix in Brazil, we learned that motor
racing can be very cruel. There is no room for sentiment, or
“if only”. Lewis Hamilton’s brave assault on the World
Championship, as a rookie, failed with gearbox electronic
gremlins, while the strongest team was again Ferrari who
garnered another world driver’s championship, this time for
their new driver Kimi Raikkonen.
We also learned that the normally expressionless Finn can
smile occasionally, well at least after winning his first
world championship. Make no mistake, Raikkonen is a good
driver who made no real errors all year, and if Ferrari had
given him a reliable car for the first few outings, he would
have won the title by much more than the one point lead that
he had in the end.
It was a bad weekend all round for the Brits. England came
second in the football world cup and then second in the F1
world championship. It was a valiant attempt by young Lewis
Hamilton, but losing 30 seconds with the gearbox problems
could not be overcome, and McLaren-Mercedes’ strategy of
then putting him on to a three stopper beggars belief. Since
it takes approximately 25 seconds to come in, refuel and
change tyres and then go out again, this extra stop for
Hamilton automatically put him 25 further seconds behind the
leaders. Can nobody do simple sums in the McLaren pit? With
that decision and the one to keep Hamilton out on canvas
tyres in China, they effectively lost the championship for
the young driver. A classic example of snatching defeat from
the jaws of victory.
And what about Alonso, the sulky Spaniard? He remained a
sulky Spaniard, demoted to third in the championship, behind
Hamilton. He is expected to return to Renault next year
(with his tail between his legs?), but Ron Dennis still
holds his contract for 2008. I would not let him go, if I
were Ron, but keep him and use him as a test driver only.
After all, Alonso has shown his true selfish character this
year, and ended up costing Ron a cool $100 million for his
part in the spy scandal. Letting him go is too light a
penalty.
Ralf Schumacher went out with his usual whimper and a
wheelbarrow full of carbon-fiber shards. I still say he
should go to NASCAR. They like the full body contact sports
over there.
Kubica and Rosberg had a great scrap. It seems that it needs
the young drivers with fire in the belly to put the
excitement back into F1. It is possible to pass despite the
unlaundered air, as they and Hamilton demonstrated very
well. “Dirty” air can be overcome.
Mark Webber must be wondering just how many Chinamen he ran
over in his last life. He has become the king of qualifying,
but never finishes. Reliability and Red Bull only start with
the same letter. Shame, as he is rapidly approaching his
‘use by’ date, and needs a good reliable car to show his
talent.
Honda! What can you say? A double retirement, complete with
a wonderful display of pyrotechnics by Barichello. It was
rumored that the Hondas were fitted with cigarette lighters
to be used on the cars after the race. Rooby must have used
his early!
Flavio Briatore must be wondering whether Renault will
bother continuing with F1. The previously championship
winning team ended 2007 with nothing other than two wrecked
cars. Fisichella suffering from brain fade and after an off
on lap 2, driving straight back onto the racing line and
being used as a launching ramp for Yamamoto’s Spyker.
Briatore will be saying “Goodbye Fisico” very shortly.
So now we wait for March 2008. Let us hope we get more
racing, less intrigue and fewer lawyers!
STOP PRESS: McLaren Mercedes have protested the
result of the Brazilian GP following fuel irregularities
found in the Williams and BMW teams. If successful, this
would give the title to Lewis Hamilton! More intrigue.
Honda Racing Fest
Honda Motor promoted another of their very
successful Honda Racing Fest meetings at the Bira circuit
recently. It certainly brought the Honda owners out of the
woodwork, and I felt I had to sneak in with the
corporation’s Daihatsu Mira. Fortunately I managed to hide
behind a Toyota minivan, so the Daihatsu didn’t feel too
threatened.
The predominant car in the car parks was the Honda Jazz,
plus its Honda Fit brothers from Japan. Many different
styles of wheels and body kits as the owners personalize
their cars. It reminded me of the old MG Car Club events of
many years ago, with all the MG’s with different
modifications, and the same club spirit for the marque.
Happy
Jazz
I was also pleased to see the organizers had listened to my
advice and had shortened the races somewhat. Two 12 lappers
is better for the spectators than one 25 lapper, as it helps
keep the field together, is kinder on the cars and kinder on
the drivers in our tropical conditions.
Although there will be a new Jazz coming out by the Motor
Show in 2008, the current crop of Jazz race cars will be
continued into the 2008 season. This is a good idea and will
keep costs down. Having driven the current One Make Race
Jazz, I can tell you that they are great little jiggers in
race form.
However, there is one area they could improve upon.
Currently their Jazz muffler system is so good, you can
hardly hear them, even in a massed pack. I suggest they
allow modifications to the final pipe and do away with the
last muffler. A little noise will make them (appear) much
quicker and more exciting to watch.
Jack
Lemvard
In the other Honda categories, one of the stars of the show
was Jack Lemvard, sponsored by Ocean 1 Racing. A rookie
driver in a 1.6 liter car, he qualified second against a
full field of 2 liter cars, and finished second as well,
despite being appreciably slower down the straight than the
2 liter touring cars, though he was much faster through the
wriggly bits!
However, Lemvard’s running mate (and tutor) was the other
star. Thomas Raldorf popped an engine in practice and had to
start 18th on the grid for the final race after the
mechanics changed engines in the pits. He was rewarded with
a 4th place overall at the end and first in his category
(also 1.6 liter) while his protégé Jack Lemvard was forced
to retire with brake problems.
When the two heats were combined, with points for qualifying
counted in as well, Raldorf came second overall in the 1.6
liter class, and Lemvard 4th. Not bad for a team that had
two DNF’s.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I wrote that the De Lorean had
stainless steel panels, and I asked which current vehicle
has a stainless steel panel too? The answer was the new
Rolls-Royce drophead with the stainless steel bonnet.
So to this week. I mention Lotus this week, so here is the
Lotus question. Which Lotus driver won a three hour
sportscar race by driving the car across the line on the
starter motor?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
Local auto
manufacturing scene
Despite many sectors of the business community
looking down in the mouth this year, the auto industry
overall is in good shape. The local market, like all the
domestic markets is depressed, with figures between 10-20
percent down for passenger cars and pick-ups, but the Thai
exports are looking in very good shape, earning 180 billion
baht and being more than half the total production of
vehicles in Thailand, and generally up between 17-30 percent
year on year. If you add in the motorcycle production from
this country, you are looking at 295 billion baht earned
from exports.
The main export players remain Toyota and Honda, with Ford,
Isuzu, Mitsubishi and Mazda the minor players, with the
quality of the Thai made vehicles getting top marks from the
export destinations. Make no mistake about this, vehicles
originating in Thailand are not looked upon with the
suspicion that hangs over the Chinese produced vehicles. And
we don’t do “copies”.
Lotus blossoms
Lotus has launched its fastest accelerating
toad-going sports car ever - the 1.8 liter supercharged
Exige S. This is the car for someone who might want a
supercar, but cannot afford the Porsches, Lambos, Ferrari’s
and such. Based on the current Exige, Lotus claims the S is
a race-derived road car designed for true enthusiasts.
The Lotus Exige S will hit 100 kph in 4.3 seconds, 160 kph
in 11.1 seconds and has a top speed of 238 kph.
Lotus
Exige S
The Exige S uses a Toyota 1.8 liter four cylinder mated to
an air to air Roots supercharger. This is the Toyota 16
valve with variable valve timing and twin front mounted oil
coolers. The Roots supercharger is driven from the
crankshaft and has a sealed internals that do not require
use of the engine’s oil.
A roof-mounted air intake and center roof scoop has been
added to the car to ensure the air-to-air intercooler works
efficiently.
Lotus claims the engine develops 162.5 kW at 7800 rpm and
215 Nm of torque at 5500 rpm. This makes it one of the most
powerful production cars in the world for its size with a
power to weight ratio of 174 kW/tonne and a specific power
output of 91 kW per liter.
Fuel consumption figures are 9.1 L/100km on the combined
cycle and 7.2 L/100 km on the highway cycle. These figures
again reflect the extremely good power to weight ratio. With
the strong epoxy-bonded aluminium chassis with a lightweight
glass-fiber composite body, allows the car to tip the scales
at 935 kg.
The basic Exige S costs around $115,000 in Australia, so I
would expect it will be around eight million landed here,
but that is still significantly less than other supercars.
