Chinese GP this weekend
Shanghai
circuit
Well, China has had their Olympics and
lip-syncing, what will they do for the F1 GP? If nothing
else, the circuit is spectacular, and if it rains like last
year, it will be even more interesting.
The circuit architects Hermann Tilke and Peter Wahl are
reported as saying, “The 5.4 kilometer racing track is
shaped like the Chinese character ‘shang’, which stands for
‘high’ or ‘above’. Other symbols represented in the
architecture originate from Chinese history, such as the
team buildings arranged like pavilions in a lake to resemble
the ancient Yuyan-Garden in Shanghai. Here, nature and
technology are carefully used to create harmony between the
elements.” (That should have put at least another few
million dollars on the price!)
The race will start (I believe) at 2 p.m. on Sunday, but as
always, check your own TV feed, as I would not like to be
held responsible for you missing the start! I’m going to be
in front of the big screen at Jameson’s Irish Pub by noon on
Soi AR next to Nova Park, just to make sure. Join me for
lunch, followed by the Grand Prix.
What did we learn from
the Japanese GP?
Well, we learned (yet again) that being a steward
requires the FIA appointed office bearer to wear a red hat,
and preferably a red jacket, trousers and shoes to go with
it, and a small cavallino rampante.
Let’s look at the steward’s decisions. First off, the first
corner incident. Hamilton out-brakes himself trying to get
back the places he lost in the drag from the line. Steams up
the inside and totally outsmarts himself and loses yet
another few places, ending up fifth. All the other runners
beside and behind him manage to miss the McLaren, some using
the wide run-off area on the outside of the corner. A
typical first corner melee, from which Hamilton gained no
advantage, in fact losing four places. Yet Hamilton was
given a drive through penalty.
The second incident which interested the stewards was on lap
2 when Hamilton spun after being hit by Massa (Ferrari), who
had four wheels in the dirt on the apex of the corner.
Hamilton lost another 15 places, dropping him back to 18th.
Massa gained an advantage. Massa was then given a drive
through penalty, which dropped him back to 13th.
The third incident they investigated was when Bourdais (Toro
Rosso) came out of the pits and Massa attempted an outside
pass on the tight right-hander, tapping Bourdais and ending
up spinning. Massa lost track position to Bourdais, but that
was all. Bourdais was then given a drive through penalty,
elevating Massa to seventh and demoting Bourdais to 10th.
There was a fourth incident, which was not (apparently)
investigated, when Massa passed Webber (Red Bull) by using
the exit lane from the pits, with all four wheels now off
the racing surface (the pit lane exit is not part of the
racing surface). Massa scored an advantage. Rule was broken,
but no action from the stewards.
It is time the FIA stewards took a leaf from Rugby League
rule book, called the ‘advantage’ rule. If an infringement
of the rule does not give the infringer an advantage, then
just play on. It would certainly be more fair than the
current application of rules by the FIA stewards.
So to the race. I take my hat off to the Sulky Spaniard. He
and Renault deserved that win. Alonso did not have the
fastest car, he just drove it better than all the others. He
was definitely my driver of the day.
Second place for Robert Kubica (BMW) was also well deserved,
and his defense of track position against Raikkonen’s
Ferrari was superbly gritty stuff. Bourdais drove well,
eclipsing Vettel for once (but will it be enough for him to
retain his race seat in 2009?). After that, the rest were
mediocre at best to downright pathetic at worst.
Hamilton and Massa drove like amateur weekend racers
attempting to win at all costs, and it cost them (other than
two championship points gifted to Massa by the stewards).
Piquet threw away his (and Renault’s chances) again. At
least this time he didn’t hit anything hard. The only way he
will be retained at Renault is if he buys the seat (not
unheard of, either). Trulli (Toyota) put in a solid, but
uninspired, race, whilst Glock bent his sister car, but
crasher of the day was (yet again) David Coulthard. The
crane drivers will miss him next year.
Finally, to assist the stewards in the future I have devised
the following table which should make for consistent
penalties:
Poking out a tongue at another driver - loss of 5 grid
positions
Poking out a tongue at a Ferrari driver - loss of 15 grid
positions
Passing a Ferrari too closely - drive-through
Beating a Ferrari to the finish - castration
Beating a Ferrari to the finish a second time - death
penalty.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I noted that a maker of
aeroplanes decided to go into production of cars, after WW
II. The body was made of alloy, with thicker panels on the
top of the front wings, where mechanics would lean during
servicing. The engine was a two liter six cylinder which was
appropriated from a German auto manufacturer as part of the
war reparations. The body shape was very aerodynamic and in
tests done in 1973 (20 years after the car had been
discontinued), only four current production cars were found
to have marginally better drag coefficients. What was this
car? Answer: it was the Bristol 401, with the old BMW six
cylinder engine.
Bristol
401
So to this week. Not all ‘replicas’ were made by other
manufacturers. Sometimes the original manufacturers built
their own replicas. Confusing? There was one famous
‘replica’ which came out post WWII and the design team and
most of the mechanicals were ‘liberated’ from Germany. This
replica was very expensive and cost six times the price of
an MG TC for example. It also came third at Le Mans, and
after that effort, the factory then made its own replicas of
the Le Mans car. What was the name of these cars? Think
hard, it’s not too difficult.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
The ‘green’ disease
We are all going mad (other than me). The latest
corporation to join the ‘green’ movement is Bridgestone,
which proudly announced that the grooves in the F1 race
tyres for Japan would be green. Are they pulling my leg? And
yours? I suppose it is biodegradable paint.
The official stance was provided by Bridgestone, saying, “We
hope that the launch of the ‘Make Cars Green’ tyre will draw
public attention to the many environmental initiatives in
and around Formula One,” explained Bridgestone CEO Shoshi
Arakawa. “Environmental preservation is at the centre of our
work at the Bridgestone Group and we hope that this
collaboration with the FIA will help to spread this ethos
worldwide.”
“New rule changes, alongside the support for
awareness-raising initiatives such as the ‘Make Cars Green’
campaign, will change the face of motor sport and place it
at the very heart of environmental developments in the
automotive sector,” explained Max Mosley, president of the
FIA, Formula One racing’s governing body. He’s pulling our
legs too.
The world has entered this ‘guilt’ phase. As Chicken Little
said, “The sky is falling” (through the hole in the ozone
layer), but “I’m not to blame! It’s the other polluters! I’m
green.” So we have the ludicrous situation of Honda claiming
that its F1 cars are promoting green technology and now
Bridgestone with its green tyres. Total fatuous nonsense.
When you sit down and think about it rationally, just how
much does F1 affect the polar ice caps? The words ‘bugger’
and ‘all’ seem to leap into the forefront of my mind.
Particularly when you contrast the two days of running every
fortnight against the 24 hours of baht buses all day and
every day in Thailand.
Give us a break! Give us good clean racing with plenty of
passing, and forget the green rubbish. Leave that for
governments (and Honda and Bridgestone).
The Pugs are coming
back
News is through that Peugeot is to be re-launched
in Thailand, following the dividing of the Yontrakit Group,
with the Peugeot brand being taken over by Ponkrit
Leenutaphong and his brother Phasupong. Their father
Attaphong Leenutaphong and uncle Attaphorn Leenutaphong
founded the Yontrakit Group and which has been the
authorized importer and distributor of Audi and Volkswagen,
Citroen and Peugeot, Skoda and Seat. It recently also took
on Kia and Mitsuoka.
Peugeot
Expert
An assembly plant is to be built at Lat Krabang at a cost of
100 million baht to build Peugeot Expert 11-seat vans from
semi-knocked-down (SKD) kits.
The Leenutaphong brothers say that the Expert will be the
first locally built model and the plant will assemble about
200 vans each year. They will also be exported to Malaysia
and Indonesia to take advantage of low tariffs under the
Asean free trade area (Afta); however, how that fits in with
the Malaysian distributor the Naza Group is not explained.
The report says that all Peugeot centers will adhere to the
company’s uniform-look global ‘Blue Box’ template, with
original parts and services, Peugeot Planet System (PPS)
diagnostic equipment and a 24 hour call centre.
Peugeot (France) is not investing capital in the new Thai
venture, but is supporting its distributor in operating
systems, especially software, and it will work with other
Peugeot producers in the region on coordinating exports
(which is where Naza also comes in).
