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Convertible owners: Enjoy it year-round!
With autumn finally providing those crisp, clear, blue-sky mornings in Melbourne, my thoughts have turned towards how best to enjoy them. Of course, with a mind so focused on motoring, there is the inevitable “I should take a car out for a country drive today” scenario which, as I sit tied to my desk this morning, has its merits. But which car would I take on my ideal autumnal morning drive?
I’m lucky enough to be looking after a friend’s early Mazda MX-5 this week, so the answer to that question is somewhat foregone. The car has to have a removable roof…
In Australia, we have a long tradition of enjoying open-topped motoring, but it is largely a summery endeavour. Moreover, many convertible owners are actually more concerned with looking good as they crawl through peak hour in Double Bay or Brighton than enjoying the unique thrill convertible motoring can provide.
Despite the weather clichés, our friends in the UK are generally more devoted to ‘sports cars’ than we are. They also have a certain pride for their home-grown products, which sees scores of ‘classic’ (I prefer to call them wheezy, but that’s a story for another day) MGs and Morgans out and about throughout the year, regardless of weather. (As an aside, I find it interesting that, despite our climate and love for the outdoors, I can’t think of a locally produced convertible (feel free to add any nominations in the comments)).
If you do have access to a convertible, I urge you to follow the UK’s lead. If the sun is gentle and the sky clear, get up early and rug up completely. Remove the car’s roof, switch the heater to full blast and enjoy the ever-changing scenery our great country has to offer. It’s a truly invigorating way to spend a day, and the elemental exposure really awakens the senses…especially if it rains!
More Geneva Motor Show Highlights
So the Australian Motor Show has been cancelled, which means that we’re back to talking about the Geneva one instead of building up the anticipation. So let’s dive on in, having already rambled on about the weirdness that this year’s show produced.
The Geneva Motor Show wouldn’t be the Geneva Motor Show without some hot and exciting new cars put on display to an eager world. These days, we all know that frugality and fuel economy and reducing the carbon footprint are very in things indeed. But behind the doors of the Geneva Motor Show and under the bright lights, you can leave that behind and return to the fantasy of the muscle car and the sports car in all its glory… well, almost!
As expected, there were some drool-worthy new offerings unveiled by lots of the major European designers. Lamborghini has a new in-your-wildest-dreams car that looks like Batman should be behind the wheel, the new Veneno (they say that it’s named after a fighting bull but is the Spanish for poison. Go figure). McClaren had a bright yellow sports number that looks as though it’s escaped from the racing track, apart from a few extra curves or so; this was the MP4-12C. The MP4-12C has a nod towards being eco-friendly, as it is a hybrid car… but it certainly doesn’t look like your typical Nissan Leaf , to say the least. Rolls-Royce also decided to get sporty with the Wraith (someone’s been reading Lord of the Rings) and has put out what it considers to be a rival to Bentley’s Continental GT. Alfa Romeo has turned the concept of the 4C that was shown as a prototype at the 2011 show into a reality, with the 4C now entering production and going on sale in the UK in September this year (fingers crossed – it might make it Down Under, too).
Volkswagen also got on the sporty bandwagon (bandwagen?) with the XL1, which claims to have the lowest drag coefficient ever seen on a car. Again, VW has gone for the eco-friendly thing and has made sure that the XL1 has low emissions and a hybrid engine. It also claims to be the most efficient car in production and was discussed in an earlier post .
Volkswagen also had a more down-to-earth offering with the latest incarnation of the Golf. Audi has also got something worth waiting for. Three somethings, in fact, in the form of the RS Q3, the S3 Sportback and the A3 e-tron, which we’re confident will make it down here and be added to our reviews page when the time comes.
Subaru managed to turn a few heads with a new concept. This was the Viziv. Now, how do you describe the Viziv (the name’s supposed to be derived from Vision for Innovation)? Well, when I first started writing car reviews for Private Fleet, many years ago, a mess-up in the list to be reviewed asked me to describe a “Subaru Impreza Forester ”. The resulting query from my end as to which model was to be described was clarified soon enough (both of them, of course) but also attracted the comment that the blend of the sporty Impreza with the sturdy AWD Forester would be an interesting crossover. Well, that pretty much describes the Viziv, which has the 4×4 drivetrain and the super-sporty handling (and looks). Oh yes – it’s a hybrid vehicle, too
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Alternative fuels and the human intestine
It’s interesting to see that, on a global scale, just 2% of the gas fuel resources are used for powering the world’s transport industries. Obviously, oil is the big natural resource that’s being used to power transportation needs, with 47% of annual oil production being tied up with powering the world’s transport industries. Biofuels on the other hand, while a great idea, are still in the infant stages of being a major player. So biofuels make up a pretty tiny proportion of the world’s transportation fuel requirements. What would make using gas and biofuels more attractive, and what is holding them back? There are researchers who are working hard to overcome the downsides of Biofuels and gas.
Biofuels should be the fuel of the future with crop fuels sounding like they should be a win-win scenario. Biofuel is mostly made from plant-based materials, and Biodiesel and Ethanol are the two main fuels that vehicles are able to run on. In a perfect world, we would grow masses of crops for obtaining the material used in biofuel production. However, the shortage of grain stocks and the surge in food prices has led to a big problem in the viability of sustainable production of biofuels. Corn and soy are correspondingly used for flour, baked goods, meat, dairy and processed foods containing corn syrup and soy, and most economic analysts agree that the increased biofuel production has contributed to the rise in food prices. This isn’t the sort of news we need to hear. Ideally, land needs to be separated and portioned for biofuels over and above the land needed for food production.
To gas we go, and, certainly, you can’t argue with the very low CO2 emissions that come from burning gas as a transport fuel. Researchers are finding ways for making gas a better option to use as a transport fuel – as there has been one or two issues with gas powered vehicles. A more positive finding shows researchers are looking at a gas fuel tank based on the serpentine tubes of the human gut. Now that’s cool.
Emissions from natural gas engines are 10% lower than those of an equivalent petrol engine. However, there is a practical difficulty for gas because the combustion-ready density of methane is lower than for petrol, and about 30% more fuel is needed to cover the same range as a petrol equivalent vehicle. To cope with a higher volume of gas fuel, the reality is that the high-pressure fuel tanks need to be fatter and heavier, which not only takes up a lot of space but it correspondingly dents what could be a better fuel efficiency. It also increases the price of producing the car.
To save space, “Otherlab of San Francisco”, with funding from the US government’s energy research arm, ARPA-E, has found that the human body maximises storage capacity by folding the intestines back and forth. They’ve endeavoured to design a gas fuel tank mirroring the serpentine intestine, so in place of the big, bulky, single large, high-pressure tank, multiple banks of thin, pressurised metal tubes are bent and distributed throughout the car. So a close up of the new gas fuel tank would reveal it folding back and forth, hugging the inside of the wheel arches, roof supports and front wings. They are also looking at designing a gas fuel tank with a flexible honeycomb-like assembly that is able to conform to any shape within the car. This technology, they reckon, could make cars running on natural gas a whole lot more attractive to motorists. I’m not so sure, though, if I would want a potentially explosive gas fuel tank any closer to my body than necessary!
Some V8 competition at last!
At last! I can see some wider interest building in the V8 Supercars, particularly for those of us who enjoy a V8 rumble that’s not necessarily burbling from underneath the bonnet of a Holden or Ford. For over a decade, Holden and Ford have been the two marques battling it out for supremacy in the V8 Supercars Championship. Thankfully, the pin has been pulled on only allowing Ford and Holden to race in this championship and we’re going to see other cars entering into a very competitive V8 racing series.
Nissan has had big success in past years when the regulations for the racing allowed Turbo power and AWD. The Nissan GTR cleaned up in the early nineties. Authorities changed the format soon after Nissan’s success, only allowing Class A racing to encompass Australian-produced Holden and Ford 5.0-litre V8s to race each other. Class B racing included 2.0-litre cars that observed the FIA Class II Touring Car regulations. In my view, the spectacle was never quite as good. I enjoyed watching Volvo’s and Commodores battling it out alongside a BMW 635 CSi, M3 and Jaguar – to name a few of the cars involved in what was a highly entertaining series. I guess, that just shows my age!
Things have changed, and CotF (Car of the Future) is the naming for the new Class A racing format for 2013. The welcome changes in regulations have now loosened to open the door to other car manufacturers that are RWD, V8s that are based on a current four-door sedan shape which is a production model.
So who’s joining the racing party, which has now started? Mercedes are racing their Erebus Motorsport V8 racing car that’s based on the E-Class sedan. Race 1, The Clipsal 500 Adelaide, had Tim Slade finish 15th for Mercedes. Race 2, on the same track, had Lee Holdsworth finish 17th for Mercedes.
Nissan have their V8 racing car which is based on the Nissan Altima four-door sedan. Race 1 had Rick Kelly finish 11th for Nissan, while Race 2 had James Moffat finishing 13th.
Craig Lowndes finished race 1 in first place seated in the cockpit of a Holden Commodore race car, while race 2 had Shane van Gisbergen place first in another Commodore. At present, Holden dominate the standings.
I have heard rumours of Lexus entering the championship, and wouldn’t it be good to see a BMW back in the competition, again.
Catch up with the racing action at http://www.v8supercars.com.au.
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