Italian Grand Prix this weekend

Monza

Think of the great race at Spa in Belgium last week, and now pray for the same at Monza in Italy. This is another driver’s circuit; however, like many other circuits, Monza has not been a single layout, but a series of more than a dozen layouts which have ranged in length from 2.4 km to 9 km.
 
The circuit was opened in the Monza Royal Park, near Milan, in 1922 and featured bankings, though these were demolished in 1939. The bankings which featured in some races, 1955-69, were new structures built on the format of the original. Bankings were used for the Italian GP in 1955, ‘56, ‘60 and ‘61, and were last used for racing of any form in 1969 when the concrete became in need of substantial resurfacing and rebuilding.

The 1971 Italian GP holds the record for the fastest-ever Formula One race but, emphatically, that is not the same as saying the fastest race for Grand Prix cars. That honor remains in the possession of the 1937 Avusrennen with Rosemeyer in the Auto Union recording a 276 km/h lap (that’s about 165 mph).

After 1971, the circuit underwent some revisions to discourage slipstreaming and to lower the average lap speed. Chicanes were added in 1976 and, in 1994, the second Lesmo Bend was tightened and the Curve Grande was re-profiled.

The World Championship which Alonso has his eye on, is not a 100 percent surety yet and is still quite open, with seven more GPs after this one (175 points up for grabs). We can expect that the main protagonists will still be trying very hard, in particular Alonso, racing in front of the passionate Ferrari fans. We will be watching from our perches at Jameson’s Irish Pub (Soi AR, next to Nova Park) and the racing commences at 7 p.m., but join us around 6 p.m. for dinner (I do recommend the Sunday specials), and a beer and a chat before the race begins at 7 p.m. We watch on the giant screen, with the dedicated F1 telecast which is of top value and there are no adverts during the race!

What did we learn from the Belgian Grand Prix?

What a start! If crashes are your game, then the Spa GP gave you that within 10 seconds of the start, with Grosjean (“Lotus”) clipping Hamilton (McLaren) then flying over Alonso’s Ferrari who then took out Perez (Sauber). Much deliberation by the stewards resulted in Grosjean being banned for the next race (Italian GP this weekend). A fair penalty? Review of the video footage shows Grosjean coming across Hamilton’s line, and his rear wheel hits Hamilton’s front. I would contend that despite Grosjean’s poor judgment, if Hamilton had braked and let him in, then the incident would not have occurred. Remember that this was on the run to the first corner, the corner where you do not win races, you only lose races. Asked about the accident by the BBC, Grosjean said, “It was a good start, then a big boom.” It certainly was!

The other enfant terrible Pastor Maldonado (Williams) looked as if he had done the start of the century from the third row of the grid, but like most things which look to be too good to be true, generally aren’t! It was judged to be a jump start, and the FIA has sophisticated electronics which can show this. That alone gave him a five place grid penalty for this Italian GP, but then Pastor had another of his brain fade moments and clobbered another car, putting himself out of the race and garnering another five place grid penalty on top of the other one. I am quite sure that it is only Maldonado’s USD 46,000,000 contribution to the Williams budget that keeps him in the seat. Or am I being cynical?

The star of the show was Jenson Button who was a clear head and shoulders above the rest at Spa. He was the only driver to dominate all three sections of Qualifying and then just ran away and hid, and was never challenged in the race. His team mate Hamilton really had the pouts all weekend, something he is good at. A wrong choice of wing left him floundering, but then he went public on Twitter where he posted a series of angry comments following the decision to use a different rear-wing to that of Button. “Damn, WTF!! Jenson has the new rear wing on, I have the old. We voted to change, didn’t work out. I lose 0.4 tenths just on the straight.” If that wasn’t enough he then published the data-logging sheets, where according to BBC Sport, “the telemetry sheet not only contained traces of the two drivers’ laps, showing where Hamilton was losing time to Button, but also information about the car’s settings, including sensitive data such as its ride height.” Hamilton is petulant and impetuous, I am afraid.

Other drivers worth a mention included “The Finger” Vettel (Red Bull) who scrapped his way into second and Raikkonen (“Lotus”) who fought a car which was not to his liking into third.

An interesting fight between Vettel and Schumacher (Mercedes) with both drivers giving everything. Vettel stating that “it doesn’t matter where you get Michael on the circuit, he will fight like hell - he hasn’t lost it.” He certainly has not, and if Ross Brawn could only come up with a half decent race car, you could expect to see Michael Schumacher on the podium top step.

Other drivers of note include Hulkenberg (Force India), Vergne and Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) who all finished in the top 10 and deservedly so.
Now let’s see what happens in Italy this weekend!

Retro Racing this weekend at Bira

racing at Bira.

The Nitto 3K series is on again at the local Bira circuit (Highway 36, about three km past the Regents School heading towards Sattahip). We were racing against time with our Securitas Retro Escort Mk 1 which was severely damaged at the last meeting, requiring a full rebuild, both chassis and body. We had hoped to be there, but as I write this it looks highly unlikely. The spirits conspired against us sending down the rain which delayed undercoat and painting until it will be too late. The racing is always exciting in the Retro Classes, but this time I am sure the little white Securitas Escort will be missing!

Dual-clutch Transmissions

Kegresse Half Track.

You may have noticed the appearance of “double clutch” technology recently. What is this new breakthrough? DCT or PDK, both refer to dual clutch transmissions, or for Porsche it is “Porsche Dual Klutch” and hence PDK (the Germans like to be different - especially Porsche). However, like most things automotive, this ‘new’ development in transmissions is anything but new.

The man who invented the dual-clutch gearbox was Adolphe Kégresse, the automotive engineer to the Russian Royal family, who is best remembered for developing the half-track, a type of vehicle with military applications, equipped with endless rubber treads allowing it to drive off-road over various forms of terrain. That was 1902. In 1939, Kégresse conceived the idea for a dual-clutch gearbox, but unfortunately, adverse business circumstances (call it WWII if you like) prevented further development.

How does DCT work? A dual-clutch transmission offers the function of two manual gearboxes in one. In a standard manual gearbox there are usually five gears and one clutch to split the transmission from the engine torque input. A dual-clutch gearbox, by contrast, uses two clutches. Instead of the left foot clutch pedal, sophisticated electronics and hydraulics control the clutches, just as they do in a standard automatic transmission. In a DCT, however, the clutches operate independently of each other. One clutch controls the odd gears (first, third, fifth and reverse), while the other controls the even gears (second, fourth and even sixth - in a six speed). Using this arrangement, gears can be changed without interrupting the power flow from the engine to the transmission. In some ways this is similar to Captain Wilson’s ENV pre-selector gearbox (remember it?), where one ratio could be selected whilst you were still in another ratio. Even reverse, though this was frowned upon.

The way DCT works is quite unusual. A two-part transmission shaft is at the heart of a DCT. Unlike a conventional manual gearbox, which houses all of its gears on a single input shaft, DCT splits up odd and even gears on two input shafts. To be able to do this, the outer shaft is hollow, making room for an inner shaft, which is nested inside. The outer hollow shaft feeds second and fourth gears, while the inner shaft feeds first, third and fifth.

With DCT, no left leg or left hand is needed and it can do upshifts in a mere 8 milliseconds, and many drivers now feel that the DCT offers the quickest acceleration times of any vehicle on the market. It certainly offers smooth acceleration by eliminating the shift shock that accompanies gearshifts in manual transmissions and even some automatics. Best of all, it affords drivers the luxury of choosing whether they prefer to control the shifting themselves or let the computer do all of the work. And in most instances, the computer knows best!

With the world’s attention on fuel economy, perhaps the most compelling advantage of a DCT is a claimed improvement in economy. Because the power flow from the engine to the transmission is not interrupted followed by a call for more fuel by the engine, fuel efficiency increases dramatically. It is claimed that a six-speed DCT can deliver up to a 10 percent increase in relative fuel efficiency when compared to a conventional five-speed automatic. That is impressive numbers!

Natter Nosh and Noggin

The next car club meeting will be at Jameson’s Irish Pub on Soi AR next to Nova Park. The next meeting is on Monday September 10 at Jameson’s at 7 p.m. A totally informal meeting of like-minded souls to discuss their pet motoring (and motorcycling) loves and hates (plus lies and outright exaggerations). Come along and meet the guys who have a common interest in cars and bikes, and enjoy the Jameson’s specials, washed down with a few beers. Always a fun night. Be prepared to laugh a lot at some of the antics of the members (when they were younger)! The Car Club nights are always on the second Monday of the month (not every second Monday)!

Autotrivia quiz

Last week, I mentioned the mighty Mercedes W 125. I noted that they ran a leather strap over the bonnet at Donnington and not at the German GP. I asked why? Very simple, it was British scrutineers who insisted that all bonnets had to have a leather strap, even though the Mercedes closing system was better than a bit of cow across the bonnet. The Europeans accepted the Mercedes technology, while the Brits didn’t. There you are, ‘real’ trivia!

So to this week. What car carried its own commuter bicycle beside the driver and passenger?
For the Automania free beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected]