Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend

Malaysian GP.

Following on after Australia, is the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit. Hopefully we will miss the late afternoon monsoons which are so prevalent in Malaysia this time of year.

Qualifying is on the Saturday at 3 p.m. and there will have been some feverish work for a couple of the teams to get ready for Malaysia, with only a few days break since Melbourne two weeks ago.

The race begins at 3 p.m. (Thai time) on the Sunday and we will be watching as usual in front of the big screen at Jameson’s Irish Pub, Soi AR, next to Nova Park. Join us for (very) late lunch and a couple of beers before the GP starts. The easiest way to find us if you haven’t been to Jameson’s is to turn right into Soi 4 from Pattaya Second Road and follow it up and around for 200 meters and Jameson’s is on your left hand side.

What did we learn from the Australian GP?

Well, we saw right from the start of Qualifying, that the old order had changed. Red Bull was no longer dominant, Mercedes was no longer just a middle of the field runner, “Lotus” (nee Renault) had a quick car in the hands of Romain Grojean, Ferrari were nowhere, even with Alonso and Massa? Forget him!

Qualifying belonged to McLaren, with Hamilton on pole and Button alongside, then the first sensation, with Grosjean in the “Lotus” in third and then Schumacher in fourth. It all promised an exciting GP on the Sunday.

Right from the start, it was Button in the McLaren with a class act all the way. Outdragging team mate and pole-sitter Hamilton, Button was never headed, seemingly winning as he pleased, even with the artificial bunching up caused by a safety car period.

The safety car allowed Vettel (Red Bull) to leap-frog Hamilton, knocking him back to third, a position he did not like, visibly tripping over his bottom lip on the podium.

Fourth was all Webber (Red Bull) deserved, after another of the miserable starts for which he is now famous. Is there nobody in the Red Bull organization that could take him out one weekday and teach him how to start? Hero after Qualifying and zero after the red lights went out.

Another in the lower lip club was Alonso, battling with a Ferrari which has been defective since the first practice session and was no better under race conditions. As mentioned above, Massa put in another very poor showing, and quite frankly, Ferrari should drop the Brazilian now and put a young driver in from the GP2 ranks. There is no room for sentiment in F1. Ask Bernie.

Mercedes began the race well, but Schumacher was forced to retire on lap 11 from third place with a gearbox problem, whilst Rosberg just never seemed to be on the pace all day, finally ending up 12th after a puncture on the final lap. Once again, Mercedes showed great potential, but did not deliver.

The Sauber drivers had a great day with Kobayashi in sixth and Perez in eighth, and always in the middle of some sort of action. Killer Kobayashi (the paddock pit bull) being well known to attack anything. Perez came from last to eighth, a drive that many commentators missed.

Another driver who looked as if he was going to rewrite the record books was Grosjean in the “Lotus” who unfortunately only managed two laps before ending up with bent suspension and out of the race, whilst his team mate Kimi Raikkonen did well to come from the back of the grid up to seventh. When interviewed after the race he reputedly said, “It was OK. I didn’t spill my vodka.”

After Williams’ dreadful 2011 season, 2012 looks a lot better, with Maldonado harrying Alonso’s Ferrari for much of the race, only to overcook it on the last lap and collect a wall, but was still classified as finishing 13th. Unlucky 13th.

The also-rans did provide good racing, but are really off the pace, especially Marussia, Caterham and HRT (which was so slow they were not allowed to start).

The safety car protocol deserves a mention of its own. The FIA has decreed that the ‘lapped’ drivers have to pass all the drivers in front, and then drive all the way round the circuit and rejoin ‘unlapped’ at the tail. This is a time wasting exercise if ever I saw one. All that has to be done is to pull the lapped drivers to one side and then let them rejoin at the tail. A much quicker solution.

Autotrivia Quiz

Citroen Mehari.

Last week I asked what rare French car was associated with a hump? Lateral thinking was needed here! It was the Citroen Mehari, named after a dromedary, and as you all knew, camels have two humps, while dromedaries have one. And for interest’s sake there is a Mehari (car) running around Pattaya, and I have seen it.

So to this week. Which racing driver won a 10 mile scratch race, collected $1,000 and promptly retired, saying “Once is enough”?

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

The Ferrari F12 Berlinetta shown in Geneva

Ferrari F12 Berlinetta.

Ferrari’s fastest and most powerful road car ever was revealed at the Geneva motor show in the beginning of March.

The Ferrari engine is a 6.3 liter naturally aspirated V12 that develops 730 hp (544 kW) that develops its peak power at 8500 rpm and can cover zero to 100 km/h in 3.1 seconds.

Ferrari sources also claim the F12 Berlinetta covers zero to 200 km/h in 8.5 seconds on its way to a maximum speed of “more than 340 km/h”.

It has also turned in a lap time of 1 min 23 sec at Ferrari’s Fiorano test circuit - faster than any other Ferrari road car before it, including the previous benchmark-setting 599 GTO which took a second longer to complete the lap.

The engine is based on the same 6,262cc direct-injection 65 degree V12 found in the somewhat ugly four-seater Ferrari FF, the F12 Berlinetta has more bhp than the FF (485 kW) or the previous 599 GTO (500 kW), with maximum torque of 690 Nm at 6000 rpm, 80 percent of which is available from 2500 rpm and which provides “an unrelenting surge of acceleration” all the way to its 8700 rpm redline.

If consumption figures are your bag, the closer-ratio version of the F1-style seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, the F12 super-coupe boasts a 30 percent reduction in fuel consumption compared with the 599, down to 15 L/100 km when fitted with “lightweight options” and the factory-fit HELE (High Emotion, Low Emissions) pack that combines an idle-stop system with ‘intelligent’ controls for the engine fans, fuel pump and air-conditioning compressor.

The F12’s dry weight is 1525 kg - down 70 kg compared to the 599 - and its drag coefficient drops to 0.299 Cd. The body style is a collaboration between the Ferrari Styling Centre and Pininfarina.

Overall dimensions place the F12 shorter (at 4618 mm long), narrower (and 1942 mm wide) and lower (at 1273 mm high) than its predecessor. A wheelbase length is still to be specified, although Ferrari has confirmed it is shorter than the 599’s 2750mm.

Ferrari says the F12 is built with an all-new spaceframe chassis and bodyshell that has 12 different kinds of alloys as well as new assembly and joining techniques. The result is a claimed 20 percent increase in structural rigidity.

The F12 uses Ferrari’s latest generation carbon-ceramic brakes (CCM3) and an evolution of the magnetorheological suspension control system (SCM-E). It also has the full complement of electronic control systems such as E-Diff, ESP Premium, F1-Trac and high-performance ABS.

The cabin has full ‘Frau’ leather trim, new carbon-fiber and aluminium detailing and uses Ferrari’s ‘Human Machine Interface’ driver control layout. With the performance that the F12 is capable of, the human has to hang on to his machine.

007 drives an Aston Martin in new Bond movie

Aston Martin DB 5.

Daniel Craig, as British spy James Bond, is set to jump back behind the wheel of an Aston Martin for the next 007 movie, Skyfall, due out in November.

Speaking at the Geneva motor show, design boss Marek Reichman confirmed that Bond would be back behind the wheel of an Aston Martin.

While 007 typically drove Bentleys in the original Ian Fleming novels, he has long been associated with Aston Martins in the blockbuster movies.

Aston Martin claims it has never paid to be featured in the films - as other brands such as BMW have previously - instead, getting heavily involved in building special stunt cars. “Q” will be having a field day designing ejection seats and cars that come to heel, a la the Johnny English Bond spoofs.

The ultimate sound system?

The BMW 3 Series F30 Sedan presents perfect entertainment on the road thanks to its Harman/Kardon premium surround sound system. Launched in late 2011, this latest model of the 3 Series has been claimed to have the ultimate in-car audio experience, and with 625 watt output, there’s enough to blow you through the sunroof!

Harman/Kardon say that their 16 speakers and a Class-DSP amplifier in the BMW F30 Sedan provide an excellent listening experience to every passenger, as if sitting in a concert-hall. Taking consideration of the particular acoustic conditions of the BMW 3 Series, Harman/Kardon installed seven 100 mm ALumaprene midrange speakers on the dashboard as well as in the front and rear area. Their specially developed membranes and magnet systems create major sound dynamics and increased effectiveness than usual speakers. Additionally, seven 26 mm metal-matrix dome tweeters are placed in the mirror triangles and midrange speakers in the front doors, plus an additional midrange in the instrument panel of all models, completed through two powerful 217 mm central bass subwoofers below the two front seats. The acoustically highly transparent speaker grills support a crystal clear sound experience and their design exhibits brilliantly to the style of the BMW 3 Series.

With a total power output of 625 watts, the sound of the Harman/Kardon Logic 7 surround system is shaped by its fully automatic AuraVox equalizing system. Harman has brought its knowledge of acoustics and psychoacoustics in this brand new car sound technology, which evaluates hundreds of parameters and independently generates the appropriate filters, corrects speaker delay differences, and sets optimum volume levels of individual channels. As a result of this acoustic tuning, amended by manual fine-tuning by acoustic experts, all 16 precisely positioned high-end loudspeakers develop their full tone potential in interplay. No matter where passengers are seated, they are able to enjoy a fascinating three-dimensional listening experience.

Only one problem - you have to buy the new 3 Series to get it!