by Dr. Iain Corness
Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend
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
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
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
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
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
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 firstname.lastname@example.org
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
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
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
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
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
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
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