Nitto 3K racing this weekend
The first rounds of the Nitto 3K series
is this weekend at the Bira circuit. These race meetings are
more of a club style of meeting, but with a huge diversity
of cars, ranging from current race cars through to what are
known as the “retro cars” category with Mk 1 Escorts, E 30
BMW’s, Ford Capri, Toyota Corolla KE 71’s and even VWs and
the like.
Made in der Black Forest by der Elves
Some have original style engines, while
others have such delectables as 4.3 liter Lexus V8 quad cam
power (I have been watching a Capri being built by Urs
Schonenberger, complete with tube frame chassis and one of
these Lexus engines, and it fits well)!
There is racing and qualifying on the
Saturday and racing on the Sunday from around 10 a.m. Take a
plastic chair and go down to the hairpin at the end of the
straight. Otherwise go to the pits (great canteen these
days) and walk along the back of the circuit around the two
chicanes. Plenty of good spots for some action photography.
Thailand’s
Mazda2
The current Mazda Five Door Hatch built
on the Eastern Seaboard is to be joined by a sedan with a
boot. This may not be sold here, but both of the Thai
manufactured models will be exported to Australia.
Mazda Australia has indicated the revised
range will be well equipped, with alloy wheels and curtain
airbags among the features standard on the sedan - its first
light car with a boot since it discontinued the Mazda 121
‘bubble car’ sedan in 1996.
The switch to Thai manufacturing takes
advantage of Thailand’s free-trade agreement with Australia,
allowing Mazda to slice the five percent import duty from
the vehicle’s cost while bringing it into line with products
from rivals such as Honda, which imports the Jazz hatch and
City sedan from Thailand, and Nissan’s Tiida.
A three-door was added to the Mazda2
range some months after its initial launch as a five-door
model only in 2007, but this was not seen in Thailand.
The Mazda2 will be sourced from the
Ford-Mazda joint venture Auto Alliance Thailand (AAT)
passenger car plant - the same factory that will build the
similar Ford Fiesta in both sedan and hatch forms for
Australia.
It promises a “dynamic new look” and
equipment upgrades, with features including 15-inch alloy
wheels, air-conditioning, power windows and mirrors, front,
side and curtain SRS airbags, ABS and Electronic Brake-force
Distribution (EBD). ESC is already standard.
The Mazda2 range will still be powered by
the 76 kW 1.5 liter petrol engine matched with either a five
speed manual gearbox or four speed automatic transmission.
Thai built Mazda 2 five door and sedan
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I mentioned that between 1920
and 1928, A.B.C. light cars had a peculiar fuel filler cap.
I asked what was it? It was the radiator cap! I wonder how
many garages got it wrong? Remember the 1972 Porsche 911? It
had a “fuel” filler on the right hand side of the rear
guard, which was supposed to be for oil. After filling
disasters, the idea was not used in the 1973 and onwards
models.
So to this week. Ferrari has the name
FIAT on their Grand Prix cars because of the association
between the two companies. However, this is not the first
time the name FIAT has been on Grand Prix cars. When was the
last time a FIAT competed under its own name in a car
designed and built by FIAT. Hint, after this last race the
car was broken up, even though it only raced once.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be
the first correct answer to email via [email protected]
Good luck!
Natter
Nosh and Noggin
The monthly car enthusiasts meeting will
be at Jameson’s Irish Pub on Soi AR next to the Nova Park
development. The car (and bike) enthusiasts meet on the
second Monday of the month, so this time it is Monday March
8 at Jameson’s at 7 p.m. This is a totally informal meeting
of like-minded souls to discuss their pet motoring (and
motorcycling) loves and hates. Many interesting debates come
from these evenings. Come along and meet guys who have a
common interest in cars and bikes, and enjoy the Jameson’s
specials, washed down with a few beers.
Bahrain F1
next weekend
Like most enthusiasts, I can hardly wait
for the first Grand Prix of the 2010 season. Up till now it
has been very difficult to see just which teams are really
strong, it being so easy to confuse the timekeepers by
running on high fuel loads or low fuel loads.
However, having said that, it still looks
as if the top teams are Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and
Mercedes. But we shall see. There is also the questions
regarding rivalry between team drivers. Button versus
Hamilton, Rosberg versus Schumacher, Vettel versus Webber,
Alonso versus Massa.
Roll on Sunday 14 March. The Grand Prix
starts at 7 p.m. our time, but we will be lining up at
Jameson’s Irish Pub nice and early with the carvery and a
couple of beers beforehand. Come and join us next weekend.
Fisker
Karma EV
The name Fisker may not mean much to most
people, but Henrik Fisker is a former Aston Martin and BMW
designer who founded Fisker Automotive in 2007 with partner
Bernhard Koehler. When you look at the Fisker cars, there is
more than just a slight hint of Aston Martin in them, and
even the grille opening is very A-M.
Fisker Karma
After building conventional engined cars,
Fisker is now entering the plug-in hybrid field with its
inaugural Karma four-door plug-in hybrid sedan, which is due
for release in Europe in September. This will offer
“world-class ride and handling characteristics” and, to
prove it, has released details of the vehicle’s aluminium
space-frame chassis.
Currently being shown at the Geneva motor
show, the Karma’s underpinnings are engineered around the
so-called Q-Drive series-hybrid powertrain, which drives the
rear wheels via two 150 kW electric motors mounted on the
rear differential, with extra performance derived from a
GM-sourced 2.0 liter four cylinder ‘Ecotec’ petrol engine
that acts as a generator rather than a drive unit (very
similar to the Chevrolet Volt concept).
Described as the “world’s first luxury
plug-in hybrid vehicle”, the Karma is claimed to be able to
accelerate from 0-100 km/h in “about six seconds” and will
have a maximum speed of 201 km/h when operating in hybrid
‘Sport’ mode. It will also have a 2.4L/100 km combined fuel
consumption rating and a total driving range of 483 km.
In pure-electric ‘Stealth’ mode, Fisker
claims the Karma will have an 80km range, a seven-second
0-100 km/h time and a 153 km/h top speed.
Full specifications are still to emerge
for the Karma, which will be built in Finland by contract
manufacturer Valmet Automotive, but the information released
at the Geneva show does add some important detail.
Fisker claims that the space frame -
which is said to be all-new rather than adapted from another
manufacturer - incorporates “new levels of rigidity and
strength” that will guarantee world-class vehicle dynamics.
It said “few cars match its statistics”,
with static torsional rigidity measuring more than 33,000 Nm
per degree, static bending rigidity at more than 23,000
N/mm, and dynamic stiffness “also world-class”.
“Our top priorities when we designed the
Karma’s aluminium space frame were that it have extremely
high torsional rigidity and could be easily modified to
accept Karma model variants,” said Fisker Automotive CEO
Henrik Fisker, referring to the four-door and the two-door
Karma S convertible shown at the Detroit motor show last
year.
According to Fisker, a “super-structural”
tunnel running down the car’s centreline acts as the Karma’s
backbone, housing the lithium-ion battery pack and also
acting as a torque tube connecting front and rear sections.
Fisker said the Karma’s space frame will
also provide high levels of occupant safety and will exceed
global crash protection standards.
Frontal protection includes a
(patent-pending) multi-cell tempered aluminium crush box
that can absorb an impact and is also designed to be easily
replaced to reduce repair costs.
Side-impact protection includes
dual-phase 600-series steel reinforced components in the
doors and B-pillars. The battery’s location in the centre of
the car is also well removed from common impact areas.
Apart from the Karma S, there is another
Karma-based model variant in the pipeline, along with a
second line - understood to be a medium-sized family vehicle
- due for release in 2012.
Car of the Decade
Forget Car of the Year, we now have the
Car of the Decade, according to the press release from
Bugatti (owned by VW these days).
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 and its
‘brother’, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, has been
announced as Car of the Decade by two of the world’s most
respected automotive media.
BBC Television’s Top Gear presenters, led
by Jeremy Clarkson, announced at the beginning of this year
that, “It was a car that rewrote the rule book, an amazing
piece of engineering, a genuine Concorde moment… the Top
Gear Car of the Decade is the Bugatti Veyron.”
The Robb Report, a leading US journal on
luxury brands, also confirmed today that the open top
version, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, had
established an entirely new precedent as ‘Car of the
Decade’. It earned uniform praise from the judges who
praised it for fulfilling Bugatti’s mission “to celebrate,
unapologetically, beauty and power.” (That, of course, is a
matter of opinion, as personally I find it to be a very ugly
and expensive piece of auto-engineering.)
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4, first launched
in the middle of the last decade, has a top speed of 407
km/h reaching 0-100 km/h in 2.5 seconds. It is certainly
fast, even if not aesthetically pleasing to my eyes. With a
price of €1.2 million (excluding tax) only 300 units will be
made. Available from March 2009, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4
Grand Sport has a top speed of 407 km/h reaching 0- 100 km/h
in 2.7 seconds with a price tag of €1.4 million (excluding
tax).
By the way, most of the production will
undoubtedly go to the Middle East!
