What did we learn from the Belgian Grand Prix?
Well we learned that Spa has very
changeable weather, which in turn leads to a very exciting
Grand Prix. Some viewers would even go so far as to say that
intermittent rain showers should become mandatory for F1 at
every meeting, to spice up the action somewhat.
Let’s deal first with young Vettel (Red
Bull), the pretender to the throne. The bungled pass on
Jenson Button (McLaren) was unbelievable from someone who is
supposed to be the next world champion. The penalty of a
drive-through, meted out by the stewards, was far too
lenient. Michael Schumacher was penalized 10 grid spots for
“threatening” a crash between himself and another car.
Vettel did crash (as he also did into Mark Webber in
Turkey). “It was a very strange incident,” Button said. “I
don’t know what he was doing.” Obviously Vettel didn’t know
what he was doing either. Button’s disappointment was echoed
by his team boss Martin Whitmarsh, with the McLaren chief
suggesting that Vettel ought to receive additional
punishment. The only positive thing that came out of that
crash was just how strong the front suspension is on the Red
Bull. Incidentally, Vettel was also involved in contact with
Alonso (Ferrari) and contact with Liuzzi (Force India). It
is time that Red Bull Racing sat their “star” driver down
and told him a few home truths.
Driver of the damp day had to be Lewis
Hamilton. He showed great maturity, and despite being very
lucky with an ‘off’ where he glanced the wall in the latter
stages of the race, drove well within himself and the
conditions and deserved the win, and now takes the lead in
the championship chase.
Mark Webber (Red Bull) now slips down to
second place in the championship title, but remains a strong
contender. He has many fans out there, as well as the
Aussies, and this will be his best ever chance of winning
the series, provided his team get behind him, rather than
their erratic German “star”.
Another driver who impressed was Robert
Kubica (Renault) who had second sewn up until he tried to
run over one of his own mechanics, caused by a too speedy
entry into his pit. He will also impress at Monza.
Ferrari have chosen between the hare and
the tortoise, making it evident that the speedy Alonso is
their favorite as opposed to the dependable Massa. That
decision may not have been the best one with Alonso crashing
out, and remember the case against them for team orders will
be heard this month. Expect some deductions of points.
Michael Schumacher had a storming drive
from 21st to 7th,
so the fire in the belly is still there, as well as the
reserves of skill needed to handle the circumstances.
Rosberg also drove well in the conditions from 14th
to 6th.
Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) continues to
impress and deserves all his points. Races cleanly, can work
out how and when to pass other cars and shows plenty of
‘tiger’. He should be snapped up by Renault for next year,
despite Petrov’s Lada money.
Team Poppadum’s Adrian Sutil was another
who impressed and his 5th was as much
as the team could expect. Their other driver Liuzzi does not
impress.
Barichello (Williams) was supposed to be
celebrating his 300th Grand Prix -
instead he only celebrated his 300th
start, coming a cropper with Alonso on the first lap. I am
tired of writing, “You do not win the race on the first lap
- you only lose the race on the first lap!”
Expect even more action at Monza
September 12.
Want a
drive in F1? Here’s how!
Argentine driver Esteban Guerrieri needs
eight million dollars to become an F1 Virgin Racing driver
in 2011.
Guerrieri, who races in the Formula
Renault 3.5 series, is eager to enter Formula One next
season and could do so with newcomers Virgin - but only if
he can find the money needed.
The money could come from the Argentine
government with Guerrieri’s manager, Julio Gutierrez,
confirming that he recently held talks with the Argentine
Interior Minister and Virgin team boss John Booth.
“It was a very good meeting,” Gutierrez
told Motorsport-magazine. “The minister has expressed his
interest in supporting us so that Esteban can make it into
F1.”
Quite frankly, this is quite ridiculous.
Motor racing has always been driven by money, but
astronomical sums such as this makes a mockery of the entire
“sport”.
The last word about this from a respondent on one of the
F1 websites: “Do we need any more evidence that Bernie has
finally and completely ruined F1 by making it so expensive
that drivers need more money than talent to compete? It’s a
disgusting mockery of what once was a great sport.”
Autotrivia
Quiz
Last week I mentioned that in France the
Toyota MR2 is pronounced “Emm Air De” which became “merde”
which is French for poop! So, I asked what manufacturer sold
a car called “Penis” in Brazil? This was Ford with the
Pinto!
So to this week. Continuously Variable
Transmission (CVT) is common in cars today. Which
manufacturer used it first on motorcycles?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be
the first correct answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
A “real”
MG in Pattaya
I spied a black MG TF in Pattaya the
other day, windscreen folded flat and two aero screens, and
followed it until he stopped. From the outside, it looked
immaculate, but it was with great trepidation I asked
whether it still had the correct XPAG engine, or had that
become a boat anchor and the ubiquitous Toyota was under the
bonnet. Hallelujah! The correct XPAG was sitting there, with
the after-market finned aluminium rocker cover on it. Now
1300 cc instead of the original 1250 cc, but a proper MG,
with its XPAG engine. (For those with long memories, the
XPEG engines in the later MG TF’s were 1500 cc.)
A real MG TF
The car is cosmetically TF, with the only
deviations being triple-laced chrome wire wheels, one inch
smaller in diameter from an MGA, the fitment of disc brakes
to the front, and an oil cooler and electric radiator fan.
The owner said that with the Pattaya roads full of
motorcycles, he felt he needed better stopping power than
the old TF drums would give him.
Apparently, he had purchased the car in
Chiang Mai and had done a complete body-off restoration,
with many small items actually re-manufactured in Pattaya,
such as door hinges, for example. There is also a black
sister car in Bangkok!
My flat mate had a black MG TF in 1964 (I
had a green MG TC), and for me it was literally stepping
back 46 years in time to see this car.
Road
deaths
Almost 4,000 people are killed on the
world’s roads every day, according to the campaigning
charity RoadPeace which is marking National Road Victim
Month. So who was the UK’s first fatal car accident victim -
114 years ago - and what happened?
There were little more than a handful of
petrol cars in Britain when Bridget Driscoll, 44, took a
trip to the Crystal Palace, south-east London, on 17 August
1896. She could be forgiven for being bewildered by Arthur
Edsall’s imported Roger-Benz which was part of a motoring
exhibition taking place as she attended a Catholic League of
the Cross fete with her 16 year-old daughter, May, and a
friend.
Road
accident way back then
At the inquest, Florence Ashmore, a
domestic servant, gave evidence that the car went at a
‘tremendous pace’, like a fire engine - ‘as fast as a good
horse could gallop’.
On the other side, the driver, working
for the Anglo-French Motor Co, said that he was doing 4 mph
when he killed Mrs Driscoll and that he had rung his bell
and shouted.
One of Mr Edsell’s two passengers during
the exhibition ride, Ellen Standing, told the inquest she
heard the driver shout “stand back” and then the car
swerved.
Mrs Driscoll had hesitated in front of
the car and seemed “bewildered” before being hit, the
inquest heard.
Edsell had been driving only three weeks
at the time and - with no license requirement - had been
given no instruction as to which side of the road to keep to
(very similar to some of the drivers in Pattaya).
With conflicting reports about the speed
and manner of Mr Edsall’s driving, the jury returned an
accidental death verdict.
Nonetheless, the National Motor Museum’s
libraries officer Patrick Collins admits there was “quite a
lot of anti-car feeling” in the UK at the time. “A lot of
people didn’t want drivers running around the country
scaring horses,” he explained, adding that there were fewer
than 20 petrol cars in Britain at the time.
These first cars were subject to strict
safety laws which had been designed for steam locomotives
weighing up to 12 tonnes. Each vehicle was expected to have
a team of three in control; the driver, the fireman - to
stoke the engine - and the flagman, whose job was to walk 60
yards in front waving a red flag to warn horse-drawn traffic
of the machine’s approach.
The flag requirement was ditched in 1865
and the walking distance reduced to 20 yards, although speed
limits of 2 mph in towns and 4 mph in the country remained
in place.
Mrs Driscoll died just a few weeks after
a new Parliamentary act - designed for the new and lighter
petrol, electricity and steam-driven cars - raised the speed
limit to 14 mph, while the flagman role was scrapped
altogether.
The coroner told her inquest that he
hoped hers would be the last death in this sort of accident.
Little did he know how times would change over the following
century, with the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Accidents estimating more than 550,000 people have been
killed on Britain’s roads since then (and Thailand’s road
traffic accident experience is even worse).
NZ
invasion at Bira
NZ
Corvette and Thai Toyota Altis
A couple of weeks ago, the Bira circuit
saw its largest roll-up, both entrants and spectators, that
it has seen for many years. The main races were the SuperCar
championship, rounds 5 and 6, with the NZ GT1 cars mixed in
with the Thai entries. Some of the NZ cars had never been
seen racing in Thailand before, including a Jaguar XKR with
a 6 liter Cosworth V8, a Ford Falcon Down-Under SuperCar
with a 6 liter Ford V8, a Chevrolet Camaro with a 5.8 liter
V8, a Dodge Viper with an 8 liter V10 and a Chevrolet
Corvette with a 5.25 liter V8.
On the final round on the Sunday, it was
a very close fight at the front with Grant Brennan in the
high revving Corvette a close winner from Natavude and
Nattaphong in their works Toyota Altis.
This was one of the few times I have seen
Natavude locking brakes into the hairpin at the end of the
straight, indicating he was really trying, but the sheer
grunt of the V8 was enough to keep the New Zealander ahead.