Kia launches the K9 - do you want one in your kennel?

Kia K9.

Kia has released their flagship, known as the K9 in Korea.  For all the dog lovers, it will get another name for its export markets.  The Kia Kitty perhaps?  (Pussy was rejected on obvious grounds.)

Currently on sale in Korea, the model has more than a passing resemblance to the BMW 6 Series, for my money.  It has the prominent grille reminiscent of the 6 series, LED headlights and a dual exhaust system.  Overall, it measures 5090 mm long, 1900 mm wide and 1490 mm tall with a wheelbase of 3045 mm.

It is Kia’s first modern rear-wheel drive vehicle which combines stylish design with luxurious comfort, engaging driving dynamics and advanced high-tech features, so you can see who they are aiming at.

The cabin is equipped with premium leather upholstery, metallic trim and an infotainment system.  Features include a 12.3 inch full size Thin Film Transistor (TFT) LCD cluster, a HUD (head-up display), twin 9.2 inch monitors to entertain rear seat occupants and a 17 channel, 17 speaker Lexicon (by Harman) sound system and Smart Cruise Control (SCC) which adjusts the vehicle’s speed to maintain the distance from the vehicle ahead.

Other technical features include a lane departure warning system, a blind-spot detection system and an around-view monitor with four cameras.

“K9 is all about elegant simplicity, balanced proportions and simple surfaces,” says Kia’s Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer.  “The class-leading long wheelbase, the prestige distance, large wheels, sharply upright short overhangs and a long sweeping shoulder line all work together in a harmony to give K9 a sporty, athletic proportion and a confident stance quintessential to a premium large rear-wheel drive vehicle.”

“While embodying a new generation of Kia design, K9 is a clear signal of our intention and determination to compete head-to-head with the European luxury brands (read BMW in there).  And for Kia, our customers, and for me - this car is like a dream come true,” concludes Schreyer.

The K9 is powered by a 3.8 liter MPI V6 that produces 213 kW (286 hp), with the more powerful 3.8 liter GDI V6 with 246 kW (329 hp).  Both engines drive through an eight-speed automatic transmission that sends power to the rear wheels.

Four driving modes (Eco, Normal, Sport and Snow) enable the driver to choose a preferred set-up of suspension, steering, engine and transmission ideal for various road conditions or driving styles.

With Korea’s Hyundai doing very well on the world automotive stage, Kia obviously feels that the time is right to expand as well.  It will be interesting to see just how the K9 performs on the same world stage.

What did we learn from the Spanish GP?

Well, before we even saw them line up in the grid on Sunday, we had already seen that Qualifying has become a total farce.  Cars doing one lap because they have to save their tyres for the race!  Schumacher has gone down on record to say that the “racing” is no longer full on, but just tyre management.  I agree, and so do millions of other spectators.  It is the difference between “racing” and a high speed parade.

It is impossible to write about the Spanish GP without heaping praise on Pastor Maldonado in his Williams.  The Venezuelan has shown speed before, but rather erratic, but this time he drove an exemplary race, able to stay in front of Alonso’s Ferrari quite comfortably, as the Spaniard’s tyres went off song (see the opening paragraph!) and he was unable to mount a challenge.  His team mate Felipe Massa may as well have been in some other team as he did not provide anything for Ferrari, other than embarrassment.  Massa must go, and he should fall on his sword before he gets given the DCM (Don’t Come Monday) by Ferrari.

Maldonado’s team mate was another dragging the chain, qualifying amongst the hopeless tiddlers and finally getting rear-ended by Michael Schumacher on lap 12.  This is the second time Schumacher has done this and I wonder if his depth perception is going off.  Quite possible at his age.  However, the stewards were not impressed and Schumi has been given a five grid place penalty for the next Grand Prix (Monaco May 27).  Nico Rosberg in the other Mercedes trundled round and round finishing seventh before falling asleep.

The Williams team celebration was cut short on the Sunday night when there was a fire in their garage.  The weekend was also Sir Frank’s 70^th birthday.  Perhaps an errant candle from the cake?

“Lotus” (nee Renault) is certainly now in the top group, with laughing boy Raikkonen keeping everyone amused with his quips in the post-race interviews.  When asked what he said to Finnish viewers he replied, “It's Mothers' Day in Finland.  I had nothing else to say to Finnish viewers.”  Third and fourth (Grosjean) shows that they are now very close to a win.

Sauber had a mixed day, but Kobayashi’s fifth place was the result of KK’s usual spirited driving.  Sergio Perez did not have a good day.  A mechanic tripped over a tyre during a pit stop, delaying his release and then the transmission failed.

Normally front running McLaren did not have a good weekend.  Lewis Hamilton was demoted after qualifying on pole as he did not return to the pits under his own power, to line up for fuel sampling.  OK, so it is an FIA rule, but in my opinion, a stupid one (to add to the other hundred or so nonsensical rules) and the penalty far too heavy.  Hamilton’s running mate Jenson Button had more than a bad hair day, it was a bad hair weekend.  Was it the car?  Was it Jenson?

And what happened to the famous Red Bull finger?  Current WDC Sebastian Vettel was another of the trundling team.  Always in the top 10 but not shining in any way, and collecting a drive through penalty for not slowing for a yellow flag.  Team mate Mark Webber did another of his now famous reverse gear starts and then slowly made his way towards the top 11, but could not pass a Force India.

The rest were never really in the race, and Charles Pic in the Marussia won’t be getting a Xmas card from Alonso after holding the Spanish driver up for one complete lap.

BMW E30 for anyone?

Gavin Charlesworth’s wide-body E30 - pic credit Dr. Jeff Harper.

The Retro Championships have been flooded with BMW E30’s this year.  The drive(r) behind this is Gavin Charlesworth from EBC Brakes who presented six E30’s at the Nitto 3K Retro meeting at the beginning of this month.

These were:

BMW E30 Wide body - 4.0 V8 M60 - Gavin (Team EBC Brakes)

BMW E30 Wide Body - 3.0 6cyl S50 (M3) - Frank (team B-Quik Racing / EBC Brakes)

BMW E30 - 2.7 6 cyl M50 - Peter (Team EBC Brakes)

BMW E30 - 2.5 4 cyl M10 - Vinay (Team EBC Brakes)

BMW E30 - 2.0 4 cyl M44 - Kaz (Team B-Quik Racing)

BMW E30 - 2.0 4 cyl M44 - Pong (Team Grilliku Gulf / EBC Brakes)

After the first meeting, I received an email from Gavin saying, “A fantastic weekend was had by I think all.  As always at the beginning of the season there were some gremlins in the cars that had to be chased away leaving us very little time for practice on Friday.

“We qualified in the wet on Saturday morning which allowed us to brush up on our car control skills.  We have a clip up on You tube of most of the field going either in the wrong direction or parked in the woods.

“Saturday afternoon dried out putting us back up to speed for Retro and open RWD and Sunday amazingly stayed dry too.

Here is a link for some You Tube channel clips from Gavin’s V8 and Peters straight 6 E30's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHgdcrZ20wU

It is worth a look at the clips which were taken through the windscreen of an E30 and will give you the driver’s eye view of the twisty Bira circuit.”  (You will also catch a glimpse on a couple of clips of a certain white Securitas Mk1 Escort fighting with some rather quick newer race cars.)

Ford’s Rayong plant open

Thai built Ford Focus.

The new Ford plant at Rayong has had its official opening and production has commenced of the Ford Focus and derivatives from the Focus platform, such as the small SUV Kuga.

The new Ford Thailand Manufacturing plant will have a production capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year, boosting the annual Ford Thailand production to 445,000 vehicles.

The new Rayong plant is capable of producing up to six models from the one Focus platform, with the latest Kuga compact SUV going into production in Rayong alongside the Focus from 2013.

Export Focus vehicles have been mainly coming from Ford’s Saarlouis plant in Germany, but by September, exports for Australasia will be coming from Thailand.

For Australia, this allows Ford to take advantage of Australia’s free trade agreement with Thailand, which will reduce the import price by five percent.

Ford Australia already gets its Australian-developed Ranger pick-up from Thailand, where it is produced for global markets alongside the related Mazda BT-50.  These are not produced in the new plant, but are manufactured in the Ford-Mazda joint-venture Auto-Alliance plant that is also set to get a $27 million expansion to lift production by 20,000 units a year.

The Auto-Alliance plant also produces the Ford Fiesta for Australia, alongside the similar Mazda2.  Initially the Thai Mazda2 was exported to Australia before Mazda Australia switched its sourcing back to Japan due to supply constraints in Thailand as a result of the flooding stopping production of the parts suppliers, even though the Auto-Alliance plant was not inundated.

Ford Asia, Pacific and Africa president Joe Hinrichs said Ford remains committed to Thailand as a production hub; however, Hinrichs has also announced a major expansion of Ford’s Chinese manufacturing operations, with a plan to double production there from the current 600,000 units a year to 1.2 million by 2015.

The age of self-deploying cup-holders is here

The J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Automotive Emerging Technologies Study has shown that vehicle owners have come to expect additional safety features and are now turning their attention more to infotainment technologies in their vehicle.

The attach anywhere cup holder.

The study measured vehicle owner interest and purchase intent for emerging automotive technologies, with the clever rider that the interest was taken both before and after market price was revealed.

The top-five considered technologies, based on vehicle owners who indicated that they “definitely” or “probably” would purchase in their next vehicle, both pre-price and at market price were:

Pre-Price Feature Interest

Light emitting diode (LED) headlights      70%

Natural language voice-activation             69%

Next-generation heads-up display           69%

Wireless connectivity system     68%

Remote vehicle diagnostics         65%

However, when the price was revealed the interest changed:

HD radio (at $100)            52%

Collision mitigation system (at $750)        46%

Wireless connectivity system (at $300)   45%

Surround-view rear-vision camera (at $550)        44%

Personal assistance safety services, $15pcm        41%

I am sure multiple cup-holders would have come a close sixth, as purchase interest fell across all features when the price was introduced.

According to Mike VanNieuwkuyk, executive director of global automotive at J.D. Power and Associates, “While vehicle owners remain very interested in technologies that make their vehicle safer, they are turning their attention more and more toward features and technologies that allow them to be productive, connected and entertained while in their vehicles.  Given the variety of interests from consumers, automakers will be challenged to pursue technologies that fit their consumer’s interests in order to attract them to their products.”

You have been warned, the self-deploying cup-holder is almost here!

Thai Auto Book 2012 predicts a good auto year

The best and most authoritative e-publication available on the Thai auto industry is the Thai Auto Book 2012 (thaiautobook.blogspot.com) compiled by the Automotive Focus Group president Uli Kaiser.

The statistics on the Auto Alliance plant are interesting, with the combined plant having the capacity of 195,000 units (pick-ups) and 100,000 cars.  Forward bookings for the new Ford Ranger are 16,500 and 13,500 for the Mazda BT-50.

Saudi Arabia is also an interesting market for Thai made vehicles.  According to Thai Automotive Institute, approximately 20 percent of Thai car exports go to the Middle East.  Thailand exported about 750,000 cars in 2011 and 20 percent of that is 150,000.  Saudi Arabia recorded sales of about 550,000 vehicles in 2011 - so roughly every third car sold in Saudi Arabia is made in Thailand.  The popular makes are Toyota (41 percent and 230,000 vehicles), Hyundai (19 percent) and Ford (eight percent).

Hyundai are certainly on a roll.  Now 5^th largest automaker it is showing double digit growth in Europe, where the overall market is in decline.  One reason is their quality, regularly out-performing the better known brands in the quality stakes.

Add those predictions to the news from David Nardone (CEO Hemaraj) that they have revised their land sales and ready-made factories figures upwards for 2012, with the bulk of the purchasers being involved in the auto industry.

Provided the manufacturers here can find (and keep) skilled labor, it would seem that the Eastern Seaboard is in for a record year.

The development of the brain bucket

Safety helmets have been shown to reduce road fatalities.  A quick ‘Google’ returned, “Motorcyclists are at high risk in traffic crashes.  A 2008 systematic review examined studies on motorcycle riders who had crashed and looked at helmet use as an intervention.  The review concluded that helmets reduce the risk of head injury by around 69 percent and death by around 42 percent.”  These are statistics happily ignored by most of Thailand’s motorcycle riders, unfortunately.  Helmet use at Songkran would halve the annual fatality figures.

Guess whose helmet.

The ultimate helmets are worn by F1 drivers, as the highest potential for injury lies there.  Although its fundamental shape may look very similar to those worn by drivers in the 1980s and even the 1970s, the underlying design and construction technology has changed radically over the years.

In 1985 a typical F1 helmet weighed around 2 kg.  That amount increased dramatically under high-G cornering or deceleration, adding to the risk of 'whiplash' type injuries in big accidents.  As head and neck trauma has been identified as the greatest single risk of injury to race drivers, helmet manufacturers place the greatest importance on reducing the mass of helmets, while increasing their strength and resistance to impacts.

Current F1 helmets are massively strong, and also considerably lighter, now weighing approximately 1.25 kg.  Helmets are constructed from several separate layers, offering a combination of strength and flexibility (vital to absorb the force of large impacts).  The outer shell has two layers, typically fiber-reinforced resin over carbon fiber.  Under that comes a layer formed of vastly strong plastic, the same material used in many bullet-proof vests.  Then there is a softer, deformable layer made from a plastic based on polystyrene, covered with the flame-proof material used in racing overalls and gloves.

The visor will be made of a special clear polycarbonate, combining excellent impact protection with flame resistance and excellent visibility.  Most drivers use tinted visors, the insides of which are coated with anti-fogging chemicals to prevent them misting up, particularly in wet conditions.

In recent seasons the actual shape of helmets has gradually evolved, as more aerodynamically efficient shapes are brought into use.  Sitting directly below the main engine air intake, helmets are increasingly shaped to assist in the process of reducing drag in this notoriously high-turbulence aerodynamic area.  The modern designs also reduce the lift produced by more traditionally shaped helmets - which can be anything up to 15 kg at racing speeds.

The helmet design must also provide ventilation for the driver. This is achieved through the use of various small air intakes, though in tropical Thailand I have never found they work too well.

As you would expect, the FIA have strict ‘super helmet’ requirements for F1 racing.  To gain approval for Grand Prix use, a helmet design must pass a number of tests, covering factors such as crush and penetration resistance and surface friction.  It must also work correctly in conjunction with the mandatory HANS (Head and Neck Support) device.

Top helmets here will set you back around 30,000 baht, but there are cheaper models available from good manufacturers.

Audi copy Porsche in Asia

Audi Series racing.

The very successful Porsche Asia Cup series has been joined by Audi with there “me too” series in Asia.  One of the top drivers attracted to the new series is Malaysia’s Alex Yoong, scoring the top step on the podium in his first race in China.

Rene Koneberg (director of Audi Sport customer racing China) said, “We set out to raise the bar on standards of motorsport in Asia, and our fantastic field of drivers, and fleet of superb Audi R8 LMS Cup cars, have done just that.  We could not have hoped for a more exciting first weekend of Audi one-make racing, and for us to debut here in China makes it all the more special.  The enthusiasm with which the Audi R8 LMS Cup has been received by the motorsport fraternity has been extraordinary, and we have no doubt we will go from strength to strength this season.”

Thailand in the box seat with Suzuki

Suzuki Swift.

Word is out that the Suzuki Swift and Alto (the down-market eco car version) will be produced in Thailand, with a world-wide export base.

Suzuki’s new $250 million Thai plant opened on the Eastern Seaboard last month to produce Swift, initially for local markets, but that looks as if it will certainly change.

Japan has been the source of much of the world export Suzuki’s, but with the Rayong plant coming on strongly, and with the FTA’s with other ASEAN countries and Australia, it makes good sense to have the production base here in Thailand.

It was reported in the daily press last week that Suzuki’s new Thai plant would build a second small car alongside the Swift, saying it would be “based around the next-generation Alto”.

With the Alto going into production in Thailand under the ‘eco-car’ scheme that rewards manufacturers with a range of benefits, it makes sense for Suzuki Australia to switch its source from the current Suzuki Maruti factory in India.  Suzuki Australia recently lost hundreds of Alto sales due to a prolonged strike at the Indian plant.

If Suzuki Australia does sign up for our local Thai production, it will join Honda, Ford, Nissan - and from later this year Mitsubishi - to source small or light cars from this country.

Toyota Australia has also expressed a desire to switch its small vehicle production to Thailand from Japan to cut costs, should production slots become available.  Toyota are also looking at the Fortuner going to Australia, as well as the Vigo 1-tonner pick-up.

Suzuki have another new plant being built in China as a joint venture with Changan Automobile in the western Chinese city of Chongqing.  Due to open in the third quarter of 2013, the new plant will double Suzuki production in China to 500,000 units a year.  However, Suzuki expects all of the production from this plant will go into the Chinese domestic market.

China firmly in control

It is only a decade ago that the mode of transport in China was a bicycle.  Those days have really changed, and China is now the dominant marketplace in the world’s auto industry.  Last year Porsche had a 22 percent increase in profits, riding on the back of a 22 percent increase in sales in China.  In fact, they sold more Porsches in China than anywhere else!  The starving millions in China that we were told about as children are now the well-fed millionaires!

New Ford Ranger.

The latest manufacturer to pledge itself to China is Ford, which is spending USD 760 million to build a new plant in Hangzhou, which should be able to produce 250,000 vehicles, which is one of the eight plants that Ford has committed to Asia (including our new one on the Eastern Seaboard).  Ford expect that the new plant will bring them close to full strength in Asia by 2015.

When you look at the number of vehicles produced and sold by GM and VW, you can see just why Ford had to join the race.  GM sold 2.55 million cars, and VW close behind at 2.26 million vehicles.  Ford sold under 400,000.  The aim with the new plants is to increase sales to 1.2 million vehicles in 2015, but even at 1.2 million, they are still a long way behind rival GM.

With Ford’s stated aim of increasing global sales by 50 percent in this decade, it will need a very strong presence in Asia, and China in particular.  Ford estimates that by 2020, 33 percent of its sales will come from Asia and Africa.

On the local front, the new Ranger and its mechanical twin, the Mazda BT-50, have been racking up such strong sales (8,500 delivered since December/January) that the Ford Mazda Alliance is further developing the AAT plant in Rayong with an injection of USD 27 million.

The extended plant will increase the output of their pick-ups by another 20,000 units.  With the combined factors of the 300 baht minimum wage, and a shortage of trained labor, Ford/Mazda’s new plant will feature robotics to counteract this, and they also claim that this will reduce production time and increase total output.  (The auto industry has the potential to be in a state of flux over the next 18 months.)

Why Go-karts are not the go in my household

12 months ago I was inveigled by Gavin Charlesworth (the EBC Brakes man) into a social evening of playing with Go-karts.  I am never doing it again.

EasyKarts to choose.

I have to say that the organization by the EasyKart people of the racing track and karts at the Bali Hai pier was excellent, complete with a TV monitor showing you which kart you had been allotted.

Before you go out, you grab one of the several helmets from the racks, each one rather well used and sweaty.  Being a doctor, I also hoped that the previous wearer did not have any communicable diseases, giving it a good shake to dislodge any nits it might have been harboring.

And so we all got into our respective karts, and quite honestly, I didn’t have a care in the world up till that point (other than the nits), and other than the fact I had to beat this young whipper-snapper called Gavin Charlesworth.  After all, I had been a racing driver for 45 years and he had been a racing driver for about 45 minutes.  There was pride at stake here.  And I had the famous T-shirt emblazoned with the motto “The older I get - the faster I was!”

Now, since we all went out in single file, it was a little difficult to see just where GC was in the line, but I did know he would be going for it, but so was I.  “Age, experience and animal cunning beats youth and enthusiasm any day,” being another of my mottos.

Now you also have to understand that this was a night race.  Never mind the Singapore Grand prix held under the lights, this was the Pattaya Grand Prix under lights.  However, the local lights were not quite as bright as Singapore, so I had difficulty spotting the back of the Charlesworth head in the semi-darkness.  Or perhaps it was my age?

But wait!  Yes, there he was, and I set off in earnest.  That he had a faster kart was without doubt, pulling away from me down the straights while I closed up under brakes, as any crafty old driver would do.

And now comes the episode with a certain chap in a blue shirt.  I was braking for a hairpin, while concentrating on how I was going to pass our trusty organizer, when I suddenly received a go-kart up my rear at full noise, using me for brakes.

After recovering my breath and desperately squeezing the kart away from the wall on the outside, I looked ahead and Charlesworth and his mate were gone.  He was in a blue shirt, and if we had any more laps I would have waited for him to extract revenge, but time was up.  I looked for blue shirt afterwards, but in typical Thai way, he had “fled the scene”.  But I can wait, oh yes, I can wait!

The new Viper - fangs and a sting in the tail

Viper - a man’s car.

Many years ago I had the opportunity to drive the first version of the Dodge Viper on a race track.  Eight liters of V10 engine up front producing more horsepower than the chassis could handle, brakes an optional extra, and I returned to the pits with a smile that would have taken a team of undertakers two weeks to get rid of.  Since then, along with many others, I have remained a dyed-in-the-wool Viper fan. However, a couple of years ago the Viper production was halted and enthusiasts feared the worst.

However, at the New York Auto Show this month, Chrysler revealed the fifth iteration of the Viper.  With the take-over by Fiat, the Dodge Viper is now called an SRT Viper, but it is the same Viper formula.  Great big engine up front (now 8.4 liters of V10 with 640 BHP), a long bonnet, strictly two seats, sidewinder exhaust system and is a real man’s car.

The new Viper will go on sale at the end of 2012 and is officially a 2013 model year car.  LHD again, and we will be unlikely to see any examples on our local goat tracks, more’s the pity.  I’d like to give another one a fang around a circuit.

What did we learn from the Bahrain GP?

Well, we learned that the “days of rage” did not actually happen, and despite the calls for the race to be cancelled, the F1 circus did what it does best - putting on a show and entertaining the fans.  Mind you, there were not many fans in the grandstands…

We also learned that even if you have seven world titles and over 90 pole positions, if your car lets you down in the first part of qualifying you won’t make it through to Q2.  Hence Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) starting at the back with the embarrassing company of HRT, Marussia and a Caterham.  However, we also saw that Schumi went from 22^nd on the grid to the final point-scoring position in 10^th.

The Finger was waved again in Bahrain, both in Qualifying and in the race, where Vettel (Red Bull) was not headed, and other than a scare mid-race with Raikkonen sniffing his backside, it was a stroll in the desert for the current world champion, now at the top of the table.

Raikkonen (“Lotus”, nee Renault) won a huge number of fans for his dogged determination to catch Vettel and he deserved his second place.  His team mate, the young Frenchman Grosjean also showed lots of tiger and was delighted with his first podium finish.  “Lotus” is certainly a strong team and Raikkonen seems to have lost none of his touch following his two year stint of crash testing for Citroen.

Mark Webber did not look happy at any stage and it was a lack-luster 4^th for the Australian Red Bull driver, finishing over half a minute behind Vettel.  However, on the plus side, his start was OK, so all that practice on the Red Bull factory forecourt was beneficial.

Rosberg (Mercedes) was 5^th at the end, but was up before the stewards for two instances of moving over on other cars that were trying to pass him.  This form of blocking is far too prevalent in F1 of late (and in some other categories unfortunately).  I believe that the stewards should have penalized him but their letting him off means that this dangerous behavior will continue - until someone is launched into the wall, or over the fence and into spectators.  There are times when a faster car is going to pass you on the straight, there is nothing you can do about it, so just accept it and try and outbrake him at the end of the straight.  Moving over to try and block the maneuver shows poor sportsmanship and is very dangerous.  Rosberg went right down in my estimation.

One of the stars of the race was DiResta in the Team Poppadum Force India.  Working on a two stop strategy he managed to save his tyres enough to hold off Alonso in the Ferrari over the final few laps and claim 6th.  His team mate Hulkenberg (12^th) is being overshadowed by his Scottish partner (though I doubt if you will find a DiResta tartan in any of the books on the Clans and Tartans of Scotland).

McLaren had a dreadful weekend, with Button expiring and Hamilton finishing in 8^th after the left rear wheel problem experienced on Button’s car in China recurred on his - twice!  TV pundits claimed it was a wheel nut problem, while I believe it is a hub design problem.

Massa (Ferrari), only two places behind Alonso.  Has he won a reprieve?  We shall see.

It was an exciting race with plenty of action as the DRS worked and by tyres that last less than 10 laps at racing speed.  Strategy has become as important as the driver.

Another boost to the local vehicle production

Suzuki Alto.

News through this month of another new car from Suzuki’s Rayong plant.  Following on from the downsized engined Suzuki Swift eco-car, comes word of the Suzuki Alto, an even smaller vehicle which will also be eligible as an eco-car.  Currently the Alto is built in India, but the production will shift to Thailand after next year.

Projected prices for the Alto are below 350,000 THB, and with the 100,000 THB rebate for first time car buyers, this puts motoring within the reach of more people, and along with the increase in the minimum wage, expect roads full of Alto’s.

Whilst this is all good news for the new car buyers and the new car dealerships, the same cannot be said for the used car industry.  With so many new eco-cars under 450,000 THB, how much is a second-hand car going to be?  You will be seeing some bargains coming up very soon.

True stories!

Even boats fall off trailers!

Having been involved in motor sport for far too many years, I have seen some of the funny situations that have occurred.  By the way, all the following tales are totally true.

Getting race cars to the circuit always produces some whimsical moments as well.  An incident happened with one crew on the way to the Mt Cotton hill climb circuit.  They arrived and got out to drive the car off the trailer - except there was no car on the trailer!  They knew they had put it on the trailer, so they hurriedly retraced their route and there it was, sitting in the middle of the road at a set of traffic lights.  Obviously they had not tied it down and it just quietly rolled off backwards after they had taken off.  Fortunately no damage, and nobody had hit it.

Motor racing may be serious, but the people involved in it are all “characters” in one way or another.  By the way, all the following tales are totally true.

One relates to one of the top motor racers in Australia, who brought his Holden sedan racer from Sydney to Brisbane to compete against the best that the Brisbane teams could offer.  On paper, the cars were very similar in all respects, but the Sydneysider was quickest after the first practice.  It was then that one of the local crews spotted the opposition sawing off the end of the exhaust pipe.  Being a quick thinking young lad, he noted that the other team had dropped it in the rubbish bin and retrieved it.  Rushing off to his team, they sawed exactly the same length off their exhaust pipe, this obviously being some sort of demon tweak.  However, while they were doing it, the Sydneysider came past.  “Why are you doing that?” he asked.  It was then that he also revealed that the reason they had sawn the end off theirs was they had changed trailers and the exhaust pipe was sticking out and catching on the side of the trailer!

This next one happened to one of my team members, and I was the witness to it, and we still laugh about it.  We had been invited to do some promotional laps at the local dirt speedway with our four car team, running them between each race.  Our fourth member was running late and rocketed in with just five minutes to spare.  “She’ll be right,” he said, after releasing the tie-downs holding the car on the trailer, and then neatly reversed the race car off his trailer, but he had forgotten to put the ramps in position, and it jumped off the end.  Luckily no damage, despite its one meter drop-off.

The next true (and amazing) tale happened when I was on a Porsche club rally, and we were coming back from Adelaide, a 3,000 km trip.  Australia is a big place!  We had pulled into a motel for the evening, and we were 11 cars, every one a Porsche 911.  I got out, pushed the locking button down on the driver’s door and swung the door shut.  As it clicked into place, to my horror, I saw that the keys were still in the ignition.  What to do?  Porsches are just about thief-proof, and none of us were accomplished car thieves like Nic Cage in the great movie “Gone in 30 seconds”.  In desperation, I asked for the other 10 driver’s keys and tried them in my door lock.  Amazingly, the keys from the 911 parked closest to mine opened my door!  And just as amazingly, my key would not open his, though his would open mine.  But neither key would operate the ignition of the other car.  I was certainly lucky that evening.

The final story is about a motorcycle racer who used to travel to meetings with his race bike in the sidecar of his outfit.  It blew a piston on the way to a meeting but the resourceful rider turned up a new piston out of hardwood, fitted the rings, fixed a metal plate to the top of the piston and carried on motoring!  That’s what we call ‘bush’ engineering.