Bangsaen success
for Pizza Company
Raldorf pressing hard
The Pizza Company Racing Team was present at the round the
houses event in Bangsaen a couple of weeks ago. As a new
venue, it did well, and spectators and drivers were happy
with the meeting.
In the Toyota Yaris class, Thomas Raldorf, who is sponsored
by the Pizza Company, proved to be the man to beat. On both
the Thursday and Friday Practice sessions, he was the
fastest man on the track, but in qualifying found himself
blocked by slower cars and ended up third on the grid for
the feature race.
Thomas got a good start, and challenged for second place in
the first corner, but was not able to get by, and
remembering my dictum that “You don’t win the race at the
first corner, you can only lose the race at the first
corner”, he bided his time and seized the opportunity on the
fourth lap to slip into second when the car in front was
pressured into braking too late and kissed the wall.
By this stage the leader has a comfortable lead of 100
meters, but Raldorf hauled him in at 20 meters per lap,
setting the fastest lap of the race almost half a second
quicker than the pole time from the day before. As Raldorf
got within striking distance, the leader was taken off by a
lapped vehicle, thereby handing the lead to the Pizza
Company driver, which he held all the way to the finish.
This win also moved him up from 4th to 2nd in the overall
standings for the year.
In the Super Radial class, up and coming driver Jack Lemvard
(sponsored by Ocean Tower 1) looked to be the man to beat,
who in a 1.6 liter Honda Civic, outpaced everybody in his
class, and was and on the Thursday practice sessions was a
full two seconds faster than both the 2.0 liter and 1.6
liter cars.
However, in qualifying, the flywheel shattered and he ended
up 26th on the grid. In race one on the Saturday, Jack got
of to a great start, and was up into 17th place after one
lap, but then the gear selector broke, and he had to retire.
In race two on Sunday, Jack was again starting 26th and once
again, got a great start, and was up into 20th place after
first corner, and then he took one car in each corner the
rest of the first lap.
By the end of first lap he was in 16th place, and still
moving up. By the end of lap 2 he was now up into 2nd in his
class, and 12th overall, but then his gearbox, broke again,
ending another dream run.
Jack Lemvard has been busy since getting the Ocean Tower 1
contract and will be representing Thailand, along with our
other young charger James Grunwell, at the world Formula BMW
finals in Europe this month.
Electrifying Subaru
Bucking the industry trend towards hydrogen fuel
cells, Subaru has released a vastly improved plug-in battery
powered electric commuter car. The 65 kilowatt, five seater
G4e’s new high energy-density lithium-ion batteries give it
a 200 km range from a charge (more than double the previous
R1e’s range) and using a quick-charger it can be topped up
to 80 percent in only 15 minutes.
Sunary
G4e
40 units of Subaru’s older EV R1e battery-electric vehicle
are already out and being evaluated, Subaru surprised the
market by announcing the arrival of the updated five door
version with more than twice the range thanks to the recent
advances in lithium-ion battery technology.
The G4e (which apparently stands for “Good 4 Earth”) has a
65kw maintenance-free electric motor. The aerodynamically
efficient exterior helps to get the most from the battery
pack, which is located under the floor of the vehicle to
keep a low, stable center of gravity.
Range and charging times are the only real problems with
plug-in battery-electric vehicles, and Subaru has taken a
strong step forward in this area. Using a new high-capacity
vanadium battery material, they are able to load two to
three times more lithium ions onto the positive battery
terminal, resulting in an energy density about double what
was possible on the previous model.
A normal full charge requires nothing more than a power
point and takes around eight hours to reach full capacity,
which will deliver around 200 km of normal driving. Subaru
envisages that quick-chargers could be located in car parks
outside supermarkets and other public facilities. Either
way, energy per mile is a lot cheaper than gasoline - as low
as a tenth of the price if using off-peak overnight rates.
As battery technology seems to be advancing rapidly, these
electric concepts already look more than viable for the
majority of commuters, and could possibly be seen in the
showroom of a major manufacturer in the not too distant
future.
I have written before about electric cars, and how I believe
that they are the vehicles for the future. Only electric
vehicles have the ability not to pollute the planet or
produce greenhouse gasses, and do not need an expensive
public fuel delivery system to get the fuel to the vehicle.
We already have power grids to our homes. Reticulation is
free.
Electric motors have been around for well over 100 years,
and the technology in converting electricity into rotational
movement is well known, and becoming increasingly more
efficient. All that we need now are lightweight,
rechargeable batteries to power the on-board electric
motors, and we have the power source that does not pollute,
and can be recharged in our own homes, using the electricity
grid. Just like our mobile phones. It seems that that day is
getting closer.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked who was the first manufacturer
to fit a six cylinder engine to their passenger cars? Clue -
it was 1902. It was Spyker!
So to this week. Synchromesh gearboxes are universal these
days, but it was not always the case. Which was the first
car to be offered with a synchromesh gearbox, and when?
Clue, it was not Britain.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
A ‘crash’ course in
panel and paint
(or: When in doubt, use a bigger hammer!)
My introduction to the noble art of panel and paint came
shortly after my first motor car, an Austin A 40 of 1949
vintage, the first of the ‘roundy’ shaped Austins of the
post-war period. If you have one, sell it. I have it on good
authority it will never be granted “classic” status, no
matter how long you might keep it.
However, the not-so-classic A 40 will be remembered for the
thickness of the metal used in its production, if nothing
else. One rainy afternoon I managed to slide gracefully into
the rear of a stopped tramcar (trolley car if you came from
the left hand side of the Atlantic Ocean). This was caused
by excessive enthusiasm and a lack of suitable experience. I
refuse to admit I was going too fast! The damage to the
tramcar was zero, but the A 40 had a severe dent on the
passenger side rear mudguard.
Removing the mudguard was not difficult, being held on by
several (far too many) bolts, and it was then I appreciated
just how thick those guards were. My one rear mudguard would
make two complete Honda Jazzes and enough left over for a
Toyota Yaris!
Of course I had a complete set of panel-beaters hammers. Of
course I didn’t. I had one flat head hammer which I had
quietly stolen from my Dad’s tool box. A panel-beaters
dolly? The only ‘dolly’ I knew of at that stage in my life
belonged to my little sister.
However, with unbridled enthusiasm I turned the mudguard
upside down and attacked said mudguard from the inside with
the hammer. There was a little remembered law of physics
which would be brought painfully to the forefront of
consciousness. Something that went “For every action there
is an equal and opposite reaction”. The hammer struck the
dent and sprung back forcefully, enough to hit my nose and
spill blood. I was obviously doing this all wrong. There had
to be a better way.
Still without a dolly to absorb the action, I thought about
what could be used instead, and ended up up-ending the
mudguard in my baby sister’s sand pit. There was still a
large reaction, but the hammer-head was controllable and my
nose at a safe distance. The dent also slowly came out,
though the outside of the guard showed liberal hammer marks.
This was when I learned about body filler, known in the
trade as “bog”. This claggy material hides a multitude of
sins, or in my case, a multitude of hammer marks. All that
was needed now was a blowcoat of paint and it would be like
new again.
Unfortunately, my father’s tool kit did not go as far as a
compressor and spray gun. So it was a small tin of black
enamel and a paint brush. The final job had more runs than
Brian Lara scored in a lifetime of first grade cricket, but
at least it was black. My pride of achievement was not even
dampened by one friend who asked if I had drunk the paint
and pee’d it on! One’s first achievement in any field of
endeavour is always memorable.
Schumi shows them the
way without driver aids
Ferrari tester Luca Badoer claims F1 is more
enjoyable when driver aids such as traction control are
prohibited and marveled at Michael Schumacher’s pace in
testing, and Ferrari’s test driver believes that this will
make racing more of a challenge.
Michael
Schumacher
“The F1 cars had become too easy: if a new guy came in and
did some good lap times, a star was born,” Badoer told
Gazzetta dello Sport. “Now, by contrast, they are harder, so
more enjoyable: you need sensitivity and capability in
managing the throttle. Of course, by the end of winter we’ll
lap on the same times as this year, but we’ll see the
difference between who is truly good and the rest.”
Schumacher topped the time sheets on his return to the
cockpit of this year’s championship winning Ferrari, but the
26 year old Italian was not surprised at the seven-time
World Champion’s performance. “I’m not surprised, I know
him, he is a superhero,” he added. “Everybody knows he is
the fastest driver in the world, so I don’t see what upsets
that can cause. Raikkonen is quick too, but Schumi in his
career has demonstrated to be something else.”
Whilst Schumacher is reported as being very happy with his
race pace, he is (currently) ruling out any return to the F1
World Championship fray.
