The Doctor goes back to Yamaha

After a couple of fruitless years with Ducati, Valentino Rossi is returning to Yamaha.

In a Yamaha Factory Racing Press Statement, Lin Jarvis - Managing Director, Yamaha Motor Racing said, “This announcement is once again excellent news for Yamaha. In June we were able to sign Jorge Lorenzo for the 2013-14 campaign and now we are able to confirm Valentino Rossi for the next two years. In doing so we have been able to put together the strongest possible team to challenge for victories and to promote the Yamaha brand.

“We have run this ‘super team’ together in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and during that time we achieved the ‘triple crown’ titles with Rider, Manufacturer and Team World Championship victories for three consecutive years.

“The target for the future is obvious and we will do our utmost to achieve our goals.

“I have no doubt that with the experience, knowledge, skills and speed of these two great champion riders we will be able to challenge for many race wins and for the 2013 and 2014 World Championship titles.

“The signing of Valentino completes our future planning for the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Team. Now that this is done we will put our 100 percent efforts into completing the job at hand and to supporting Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo in their search for race victories and for Jorge’s 2012 World Championship title challenge.”

So in 2013, we will be able to judge Rossi’s performance against Lorenzo, the young charger. Personally I think he will again be back to the old Rossi we cheered for in his previous days at Yamaha.

Taxi performance crisis?

“Comfortable” Bangkok taxis.

In the Bangkok Post I read with interest the item stating that the Transport Ministry is likely to scrap a proposed eco-taxi scheme after a preliminary study suggested service standards would fall.

The Deputy Transport Minister Chatchart Sithipan yesterday said the Land Transport Department’s findings suggested passengers may not travel in comfort in taxis with small engines, so he agrees with the taxi industry in opposing smaller engine sizes.

The taxi industry spokesman was Withoon Naewpanich, the chairman of the Bangkok Taxi Cooperatives Network, who said he was against proposals to register vehicles with 1.3 liter engines. Currently, the minimum engine requirement for taxis is 1.5 liters.

Despite the fact that the government has been pushing the eco-car concept of smaller engine cars, the findings of the study suggested that passengers would still find it hard to get comfortable in vehicles with small eco-fuel driven engines.

It is difficult to imagine anything more ridiculous than this statement. Comfort is not a function of engine size, but is a factor in cabin size. They do not need legislation on engine capacity, but if they really are thinking about the customer, make sure that the interior is adequate to ferry adult humans around (including giant farangs) without being too squeezy. The world is moving towards high efficiency, low emissions, economical engines. Just the ticket for cities like Bangkok, but no, we are not going to get these engines. We will get up to nine year old cars, belching hydrocarbons!

By the way, there are 28,455 taxis registered as owned by private operators and 75,780 are registered as cooperative-owned.

Next year’s Honda Accord revealed

2013 Honda Accord.

The new 2013 Honda Accord has surfaced in images sourced from the US. This is the 9th generation Accord, and follows a very successful progression of the model.

The Thai-built version will be going for export to countries such as Australia, but it will not be available till mid 2013. In addition to the four-door sedan version, there will also be a coupe, but built in the USA and LHD only.

Accord sales have been down due to the devastating Thai floods that crippled production for months, but the production is back up to pre-flood levels.

The Accord powertrain is expected to remain much the same as the current 2.4 liter four cylinder and the 3.5 liter V6 petrol engine range. It is rumored that a hybrid engine is in the pipeline somewhere, but that is not expected to be seen till 2014. The 2.4 liter develops 135 kW of power and 240 Nm of torque - 2 kW and 14 Nm more than the four-cylinder in the current car. The 3.5 liter V6 is said to produce 231 kW of power and 359 Nm of torque - an improvement of 29 kW and 17 Nm over the current V6. However, these are the US figures, and cannot be confirmed at this stage for Thailand. A continuously variable transmission (CVT) is expected to replace the five-speed automatic, at least on the four cylinder variants.

The sedan design is mainly evolutionary, with a prominent chrome grille surround and slimmer headlights, though the front of the Accord is often changed for the Asian markets, which likes lots of chrome!

While still on Ducati …

High flying Ducati.

Ducati wins Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for third consecutive year.

Carlin Dunne dominated the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, setting the new course record for motorcycles from pole position for the second year in a row on a Ducati Multistrada 1200 S. This win marks Ducati’s third-straight victory at the historic “Race to the Clouds”.

Both Dunne and Spider Grips Ducati teammate and six-time winner Greg Tracy finished the race under the 10-minute barrier, which is a first for any motorcycle in the race’s 90-year history. Dunne crossed the finish line at the 14,110 foot summit of Pikes Peak with the record-setting time of 9:52.819, beating his previous record of 11:11.32, while Tracy was less than six seconds behind, placing second with 9:58.262.

“Today was an emotional day,” said Dunne. “The year of work the Spider Grips Ducati team put into preparing for Pikes Peak got us across the finish line in under 10 minutes, an achievement we’re very proud of. When we heard that we won and broke the record for the second time, I was speechless. The one-two finish proves the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S is the ultimate bike to conquer Pikes Peak.”

Rhys Millen world record Pikes Peak Hyundai Genesis.

Dunne reached speeds above 144 mph (230 kph) throughout the mountain’s straights, and traversed 156 turns, ranging from hairpin, blind, decreasing radius, and multi-apex turns, while consistently gaining elevation up the technical 12.42 mile (20 km) course. The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, or “Race to the Clouds”, is situated in a range of the Rocky Mountains, 16 km west of Colorado Springs and races from a start line altitude of 2,862 meters (9,389 ft) to a finish line at 4,300 meters (14,100 ft).

“Ducatisti around the world are celebrating the victory of Carlin Dunne and the Spider Grips Ducati Team - we are all very proud,” said Dominique Cheraki, General Manager of Ducati North America. “Three years ago we chose the Multistrada 1200 S to compete at Pikes Peak to showcase its on-and-off road capabilities, class-leading ergonomics, handling, and performance. When we were alerted that the entire course would be paved in 2012, there was no doubt that the Multistrada 1200 S was still the right choice and breaking the record today proves this.”

Pikes Peak is a phenomenal hill climb with sheer drop-offs on both sides of the climb on its way to the top.

However, that sub-10 minute time was beaten by the four wheel entrants, with outright winner Rhys Millen claiming yet another world record and overall victory. Millen set a blazing pace in his race-prepared Hyundai Genesis Coupe, setting the new record time at 9:46.164.

The Millens have had almost a mortgage on this event, with Rod Millen (Rhys’ father) also a winner many times over.

The race is on!

Not Pikes Peak, because we have just had that, but the next race for the Retro cars is at our local Bira circuit on September 9. At the last meeting at Kang Krachan I managed to clout a wall after having gear selection problems and had a one and a half barrel roll in mid-air and another one and a half on touch-down.

Initially it looked as if the body shell would be a write-off, but never underestimate the skills of Thai panel beaters. One little chap said it would be no problem, he had a jig and he would do it. His jig turned out to be a long piece of 8" RSJ with brackets welded on and he chained the shell to the RSJ and then with block and tackle proceeded to wind the roof back up, pull the rear guards out and simply do an amazing job. As you read this, it should be painted and back in our workshop, where the full extent of the mechanical damage is becoming (painfully) obvious - bent rear axle, bent steering rack and steering arms, bent tramp bars at the rear, bent front suspension arms, the gearbox still to be pulled down and rebuilt, windscreen smashed, one side window smashed - and so the list goes on. We are racing against time with now two weeks till the meeting.

The Nitto 3K Retro meetings are lots of fun, and you will see older E30 BMW’s, a few Ford Escort Mk1’s, several Toyota DX models and much more. I will give more details next week, but cross your fingers for our Securitas Retro Team. We need some luck. In the meantime my crew has demanded I write out 100 times “I must not crash!” Go to this link and you will see what I mean <http://oldfordparts.blogspot.com/2012/07/mk1-escort-circuit-car-crash-repair.html> not a pretty sight!

Autotrivia quiz

Last week, I wrote that in 1959 a driver in the UK was found guilty of a charge and fined three pounds. I asked what had he done and how did they catch him? He had been speeding and was the first driver in the UK to be caught by radar.

So to this week. What pre-war race car weighed in at 750 kg and had an engine that developed around 600 plus horsepower from its eight cylinder engine?

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