Australian GP this weekend

F1 season commences.

We finally get the 2011 F1 season off and running, with the Australian GP at Albert Park in Melbourne. Incidentally, the Oz GP has had problems itself, with much opposition from various groups in Melbourne, but nobody has been seen waving an AK 47 near the pits.

This weekend we will find out just which team has the fastest car, as you cannot put much credibility on the times set during testing. Fuel levels are not known, some times have been set on super-soft (qualifying) tyres, other teams have been sandbagging, and so it goes on. At one stage we had Sauber setting the fastest times with the rookie Maldonado at the wheel. However, it turned out that these were one lap wonders, running on a sniff of petrol only, and in Maldonado’s case, by missing the chicane altogether.

With the different time differential, the race begins at 1 p.m. on Sunday 27th and we will be watching in front of the big screen at Jameson’s Irish Pub (Soi AR, next to Nova Park) but come up Soi 4 off Second Road on your right hand side (just past Greg’s Kitchen on the right - note: Soi Half-Dozen is on the left and further up) and follow Soi 4 round to the right (about 100 m) and you will see Nova Park and Jameson’s on your left. Come and join us and try the new Sunday Roast Dinner.

Saving money at the pumps

With the price of fuel going up with the increases in crude oil prices, we are all going to need more money at the pumps to fill the family chariot. It is then probably worthwhile looking at ways to increase the kilometers you can get out of one thankful.

1. Slow down - stick to the legal speed limits and see how much you save! (You can save even more at lower speeds - driving at 80 kph instead of 110 can cut your fuel bill by 30.)

2. Check your tyre pressures often. Under-inflated tyres can cost you eight percent more fuel (and they’ll wear out faster too).

3. Drive smoothly and consistently. Fierce acceleration and harsh braking both cost money. You’ll save wear and tear on brakes, tyres and suspension too.

4. Turn off the air conditioning system when not needed - the engine has to work harder to power them.

5. Have your car serviced in line with the manufacturer’s recommendations. A well-maintained engine is more efficient and less polluting.

6. Remove roof racks and boxes when you don’t need them - even empty they can increase drag and therefore fuel consumption. Remove heavy items from the boot, too.

These recommendations came from the Haynes Publishing group whose manuals are very well respected in the world.

Bangkok International Motor Show open

The 32nd annual Bangkok International Motor Show will open to the public from today. Now held at the Challenger Hall (Impact Muang Thong Thani), Bangkok, it is the greatest auto spectacular in Thailand. I will be there covering the show and will report further next week.

How did we go at the Nitto 3K meeting last weekend?

Round 1 of the Nitto 3K Retro Series was held at the Bira Circuit on Highway 36, just outside Pattaya last weekend, and our last minute entry in the Securitas Mk 1 Escort was not without dramas. The Retro Series is for pre 1978 cars, and to find 40 year old cars in Thailand that are not rust-buckets is difficult. However, we did find one, but the Securitas team only took possession of the 1973 Mk 1 eight days before the meeting.

The car was basically an unfinished project of the previous owner, with much of the modifications done, but the whole package was still not in race trim.

In the eight days, the mechanic Simon managed to bend up a roll cage and weld it in place, find a race seat and fit it complete with three inch race harness, machine the wheels for better location on the hubs, while the car was in at the paint shop being transformed into the Securitas corporate white.

With assistance and advice from one of the other competitors, Gavin Charlesworth (E30 BMW), we completed all the formalities of registering the race car for the Nitto/3K Series and managed to get out on the Bira circuit for a shake-down on the Friday afternoon. Nothing fell off so that was considered an auspicious start to the weekend’s racing.

What it did show was that without the wider 15 inch wheels and the Nitto NT 01 compound tyres, we were really up against it. However, we consoled ourselves that if nothing else we were setting our benchmark and we will be able to see how we can improve during the 2011 Retro season.

After qualifying, we found ourselves in 17th position (out of 24 starters) and that was better than we had hoped. In the race on the Sunday we had some spirited dices and finished 14th, beating a much younger and heavily modified BMW to the line, much to the delight of our fans.

The car certainly did look the part and generated much interest and nostalgia in the spectators and I must thank our main sponsors Securitas, ESC, CEA Projects, AA Insurance Brokers and Cromwell Tools.

Autotrivia Quiz

Last week I tried to thwart the ‘googlers’ again, and asked you to identify this car. The year was 1954 and there is around 200 left in existence. The name is Italian, but the car was not. It was a Swallow Doretti.

Swallow Doretti Quiz car.

So to this week. What was the first production car to be fitted with Bosch fuel injection?

For the Automania free beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected].

Good luck!