The BMW Driving Experience headed north to Lakeside Raceway last weekend to deliver enthusiasts a taste of the new BMW 2 Series Coupe.
On hand for laps of the circuit were the hot new M235i and bigger 428i, as well as a trio of BMW 220i M Sport models for a timed motorkhana challenge. We can’t think of a better way to work up an adrenaline rush.
After driving the brilliant M235i at Phillip Island a few weeks ago, we couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel again.
Send out an invitation to a race track and we’ll be there. Throw us the keys to a few brand new BMWs and you won’t get us to leave.
Today, 1 May, marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Ayrton Senna, the triple world champion who inspired millions and whose infamous rivalry with Alain Prost was central to an award-winning documentary titled Senna.
His death in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in Italy shocked the motor racing world, and remains the last fatality in a Formula One race.
The accident – immediately after a restart following a safety car period in which Senna was visibly upset by the pace set by the inadequate official car, an Opel Vectra – has never been satisfactorily explained, despite lengthy trials in Italy.
Senna, who had started from pole position in his Williams-Renault and was leading the race, left the track at what was normally a flat-out curve, called Tamburello.
It could not have been a mistake on his part, but may have been the result of his car bottoming-out unexpectedly (this was only the third race under new technical rules), a problem with his cold tyres or a sudden steering failure.
Whatever the cause, it should not have resulted in his death.
It was only fate – the exact angle of a suspension arm piercing his helmet as the car smacked a concrete retaining wall – that robbed the sport of its most alluring, intriguing and controversial star at the age of 34.
And the circumstances of his death were eerie.
Two days earlier during Friday practice for the race, fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello narrowly escaped death in a sickening crash. Then, on Saturday, Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger – teammate of Australian driver David Brabham – was killed in another high speed crash that disturbed the deeply religious and thoughtful Senna, who spent considerable time at the crash site.
Senna was still clearly upset about Ratzenberger’s death on race day and his friend, safety guru Sid Watkins, suggested he skip the race, and even consider retiring. After Senna crashed, Dr Watkins in the medical car was one of the first people on the scene and immediately knew his friend was dead.
It has been reported that an Austrian flag was found unfurled in the cockpit, for Ayrton to wave after the race in honour of his fallen comrade.
Ayrton Senna was born in Sao Paulo on 21 March 1960 and was a prodigious talent in karts before moving to England to race cars, quickly moving through the ranks to F1 with Toleman and then Lotus.
Moving to McLaren brought three world championships – in 1988, 1990 and 1991 – before his switch to the now-dominant Williams team for 1994 that would almost certainly have brought more titles.
Pole position for his last race was his 65th – a record that was ultimately broken by Michael Schumacher, the driver sitting in his slipstream at the time of the accident – to go with 41 Grand Prix wins.
Senna was a hero to most of today’s F1 stars, none more so than 2014 championship favourite Lewis Hamilton, who wore the Brazilian’s helmet colours from his junior karting days through to his world title win in 2008.
No doubt there will be many more tributes when the F1 world reconvenes in Spain at the end of next week.
Old cars are rubbish. There, I’ve said it. After recently spending two days driving a bunch of classic cars for Unique Cars magazine, I realised that you should never go back.
You see, when they were new, these were among the Great Cars of their respective eras: E-Type Jaguar, 1275 Cooper S, Bolwell Nagari, Falcon Phase III GT-HO, E34 M5, Bentley Turbo R, Holden Torana A9X, Aston Martin DB4 and 930 911 Turbo, heroes all.
I have road-tested most of the classics collected for the story and, bloody hell, went to the launches of many. And loved them all, even if the E-Type — a 4.2 coupe — was 20mph (32km/h) shy of the legendary, if fabricated, 150mph (241.5km/h) of the original.
Of the 5.0-litre A9X, I wrote in a 1978 Wheels, “…the result is a taut, neutral handling sports sedan that can out-run virtually any similar car from Europe. It has the brakes and the roadholding to back up the power and is astonishingly quick point to point”. Today, its 15.8-second 400-metre time is blown away by a humble 1.6-litre Fiesta ST hatchback that also steers, rides and handles, and is equipped at a level beyond the imagination of the Torana’s creators.
Classic cars demand a totally different outlook. Somehow you must ignore contemporary standards in just about everything: performance, brakes, handling, refinement, crash safety, service intervals, reliability, fuel consumption and technology. Expectations lowered to the level of the 1960-1970s, before 40 years of engineering skill, modern electronics and computer wizardry transformed cars to the level we enjoy today, and you may come to terms with their obvious deficiencies.
I don’t remember E-Type doors being so small that easy access to the roadster demands the roof to be lowered so you can climb over the doors; likewise, entry to the Nagari calls for a contortionist. Was the Aston’s driving position so appalling — a painful relationship of low wheel, out-of-the-floor pedals and flat seat — that driving it quickly away from a straight road demanded a weightlifter’s muscle power? I remembered the tiny seats of the Cooper S, but not how uncomfortable they are and the gearbox whine of the heavy and slow Moss-box in the Jag, but not the crudity of the Torana, or the massive weight of the 911’s steering at low speeds and the wait-for-it turbo lag. And, mostly, before galvanising and decent rust-proofing, old cars rusted.
Primarily, I decided you own classics to enjoy their visual beauty, not for the driving. Nothing now approaches the sheer sexual desirability of an E-Type, the classic proportions of a DB4, the simple delicacy of the Nagari’s surfaces.
Contradiction time: yes, they are rubbish to drive, but old cars were lighter in weight, especially compared to huge and clunky SUVs. They also offered real visibility, with deep glass and near-vertical, far thinner windscreen pillars that mean being able to see each corner from the driver’s seat, and interiors that were light and airy.
The sophistication of modern engine management systems and computerisation of just about everything inevitably means repairing failures often runs to four figures. Fiddling with cars, as we did, is a lost art, in part because cars are now so complicated nobody dares do anything beyond ‘chipping’ the engine’s ECU, and you almost need a PhD degree in I.T. to do that successfully.
And you can argue — as Toyota has done so successfully with the 86, and before it Mazda with the MX-5 — that today’s cars are too powerful and too grippy to be fun, at least at legal speeds, while pedestrian safety requirements have forced blunt front ends and higher bonnets, so that too many of today’s look-alike cars verge on ugliness.
JACK Brabham almost single-handedly put Australia on the international motor racing map, and made his name legend with a remarkable all-Australian F1 world championship victory in 1966.
What Brabham and Melbourne-based engine company Repco achieved that year is unique in the annals of the sport’s rich history and today appears even more improbable than it must have seemed those 48 years ago.
It also made Brabham a household name in Australia, up there with Dawn Fraser and the big names of cricket and football, even though television coverage of the sport at the time was non-existent.
It is hard to comprehend the magnitude of that historic title, which made Sir Jack the first – and still the only – driver to win the title in an essentially self-built car carrying his own name. It’s an achievement unlikely to ever be repeated.
Brabham was already a big name in Europe after winning world titles in 1959 and 1960 with the revolutionary rear-engined Cooper-Climaxes, cars he also played a vital role in developing, but as he approached his 40th birthday – ancient by racing standards, especially in such a lethal era for the sport – his greatest achievement was still to come.
New rules for 1966 gave Brabham the engineer an opportunity, and a challenge, especially as Coventry-Climax had decided not to build an engine for the new 3.0-litre formula. Jack started thinking hard and early about a suitable engine, looking around the world before learning of an alloy-block Oldsmobile V8 engine that GM had developed for a stillborn project.
Brabham bought a block in America for a few dollars and took it back to Australia. He had asked Repco – which did good business reconditioning Holden as well as race engines – if it would be interested in turning the Olds into a Formula One engine with its own cylinder heads.
Repco management and its talented engineers, many of them already experienced in local motor sport, took the bait.
In hindsight, it seems a crazy undertaking. Big operations such as Ferrari, Maserati, BRM and even Ford were on the case, too, and Repco had no previous F1 experience. And they not only had to produce an F1 engine from an American block, but build and service it with all the logistical disadvantages of being on the other side of the world.
Repco’s local technical guru, Phil Irving, cigarette permanently dangling from his lips, decamped to a small flat in suburban London near Brabham’s workshop. Working late every night, with Brabham and his chassis designer, fellow Sydneysider Ron Tauranac, at his shoulder advising on installation, he designed the first engine.
Incredibly, Repco’s engineers then built, tested, shipped and installed the first engine in little more than six months. In classic Brabham style, it was as simple and practical as the BT19 chassis into which it was installed.
“I believed the new formula’s opening races would see the big teams in development trouble with over-sophisticated new engines,” Sir Jack explained some years ago.
“The Oldsmobile block could provide a modest unit with chain-driven single overhead camshafts and two valves per cylinder, but it should provide decent torque and driveability – we might just get lucky.”
Brabham was not just lucky, but he had been right. The Repco-Brabham was fast enough, and more reliable than the opposition.
Old man Brabham – he uncharacteristically donned a fake beard and walking stick on the grid at the Dutch GP to mark his 40th birthday – turned the world championship into an advertisement for old-fashioned practical Aussie engineering and know-how.
He should have won again the following year, too, but chose to test new components that often let him down, allowing young team-mate Denny Hulme to steal the title using proven components from the year before. More glory for Repco-Brabham.
With the imminent arrival of the more sophisticated Ford-Cosworth that would dominate the sport for the next 15 years, Repco and Brabham felt they needed developed a four-cam 32-valve V8 but it proved unreliable. In hindsight, Brabham believes he could have remained conservative and taken his championship tally to five.
“Repco produced tailor-made block castings for 1967 and we should have continued with that year’s two-cam 16-valve V8s through 1968 as well. In retrospect, I’m confident that if we had just relied on the old unit, we could have run hard for a hat-trick of world championship titles.”
It was a remarkable period and Brabham has no regrets. As he reflected late last year, at the opening of the Victorian Historic Racing Register’s Sir Jack Brabham Annexe that houses his 1966 winner and trophies: “If I could do it all over again, I’d do it exactly the same.”
That is a fitting epitaph for a man who truly was a legend.
They’re a hedonistic orgy of horsepower, burning rubber and speed, but why should you spend your hard-earned cash on a drive day? Wheels tagged along to BMW’s 2 Series Coupe Driving Experience at Eastern Creek to find out.
In the meantime, here’s five reasons why you should – no, need to – get along to a drive day:
Reason 1: You’re not Michael Schumacher
It’s hard to believe, we know, but no matter how many lap records you’ve set on the PlayStation, you’re not a Formula 1 driver. Sure, you might be a good at the wheel, but even the world’s top racers need to constantly hone their skills.
BMW had a team of experienced instructors on hand to make us faster.
Far from pointing out our flaws, the instructors’ job was to flatter us when we nailed it, and point us in the right direction when we didn’t.
Pitched at all skill levels, our course taught us everything from how to follow the correct racing line to how to brake correctly, with the day focussed on perfecting the basic skills of track driving.
Sound too tame? Happily, track days are becoming big business, meaning hoards of brands, not just BMW, offer programs, with some advanced courses even slotting customers into proper racing cars at some of Australia’s best tracks.
Reason 2: It’s better than karting
Well, better than hire-karting anyway. Typically, hire karts are slow, beaten up and wonky to steer, so why waste a fortune in a kart when, for about the same cash, you can spend an entire day pushing a real car to its limit?
BMW had its new M235i coupe and 428i on hand for us to steer at Eastern Creek, but if the Bavarian marque isn’t your thing, these days almost every brand – including Audi, Porsche, Lotus, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and HSV – offer track days.
And then there are the tracks themselves. Forget pokey little hire kart tracks built in giant tin sheds, drop a few hundred bucks on a track day and you’ll drive on some of Australia’s best circuits – meaning you could find yourself flying over Lukey Heights at Phillip Island, keeping it pinned through Sandown’s Dandenong Rd Corner or squirrelling under brakes into Turn Two at Eastern Creek.
Reason 3: The car isn’t yours
No need to take your own pride and joy to the ragged edge. Sign up to a track day and mechanical sympathy isn’t something that will even enter your mind. The cars aren’t yours, neither are the tyres or even the fuel, so you’re free to drive as hard and fast as you like.
Of course, if fanging someone else’s car isn’t your thing, most tracks around Australia offer Arrive and Drive packages, which, for an even smaller outlay than a manufacturer track day, allow you to test the limits of your daily drive.
Reason 4: It’s fun
Remember fun? That weird sensation that makes you smile and feel all fuzzy? Track days are dripping in the stuff.
Whether it’s the thrill of hitting 200km/h-plus on the straight, feeling the back step out through the bends, or nailing a perfect lap, a track day is sure to leave you grinning like an idiot.
And the best thing? No matter how hard or how fast your drive, there’s no chance of getting a speeding ticket and it all happens in a safe and controlled environment.
Reason 5: You can race
Well, maybe not on the actual circuit, but most drive days offer a motorkhana element for the competitive types.
Usually held on a skidpan, the motorkhana challenges drivers against the clock on a tricky, and usually very slippery, course.
Our day used BMW’s new 2 Series coupe, but sadly there weren’t any trophies on offer, just a BMW hat and bag for the winner, and the knowledge you’re the quickest of your group.
Want more info on the BMW 2 Series coupe? Head here:
http://bmw2coupe.ninemsn.com.au/?DBC=2774&gclid=CKyZlPiBr74CFYiWvQodXlwAbg
To sign up for a track day, click here:
http://www.bmw.com.au/com/en/insights/driving_experience/
The Kia Sorento SUV has received its first upgrade and the new model will appear in Australian showrooms in the third quarter of this year.
The most obvious update for the Sorento is the addition of Kia’s all-new grille and headlight design, but interior upgrades are in abundance too.
These include standard leather seats, dual-zone climate control, a colour infotainment system and satellite navigation.
Engine options should remain the same with the only two choices being a 3.5 litre V6 petrol and a 2.2 litre diesel.
Jaguar has revealed the 2012 XF Sportbrake station wagon prior to its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show next Tuesday.
Jaguar has developed the load-lugging XF Sportbrake estate to compete in a popular and ever-growing executive car sector. Wagon-type cars are particularly popular in Europe, where BMW has offered Touring models and Audi has sold Avant versions for years.
The Sportbrake is only Jaguar’s second station wagon (following the 2004 X-Type), but easily its most thoroughly developed: despite sharing the sedan’s wheelbase, it is different from the B-pillar rearwards, and has been the product of several years’ conception.
The Jaguar XF Sportbrake boasts a diesel-only engine range. The four-cylinder and V6 engines are exactly the same as the XF sedan: it comprises 2.2-litre four-cylinder and a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 in either 140kW or 202kW guise. All are mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox.
MINI has revealed a new John Cooper Works (JCW) version of its Countryman. The car is the first JCW car to have four-wheel-drive. Powered by a newly developed 1.6-litre 160kW turbocharged petrol engine, the car will be formally unveiled at next week’s Geneva Motor Show.
The car also features a new six-speed automatic transmission. Standard features include an advanced aerodynamic kit, lowered sport suspension, 18-inch light alloy wheels, sports stripes and other JCW design features.
The engine reaches its maximum output of 160kW at 6,100 rpm and generates peak torque of 280Nm from 2,000 rpm. An Overboost function briefly pushes this up to 300Nm.
The Countryman accelerates from 0-100km/h in 7.0 seconds with either the manual or automatic transmission. The MINI JCW Countryman is the most powerful MINI production model ever made.
The JCW Countryman will cost around $60,000 when it goes on sale in Australia towards the end of the eyar.
Hyundai has released the first picture and details of its new i-oniq range-extending hybrid concept set to debut this week at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.
The i-oniq is an electric sports hatchback, according to Hyundai, and is powered by a petrol engine and electric motor combination.
An on board 1.0-litre three-cylinder motor is mated to a generator that can charge the car’s batteries or supply the “lithium-ion electric motor” (we think there’s some battery/electric motor confusion over at Hyundai) with electricity.
The motor produces 80kW and in electric-only mode gives the car a theoretical range of 120km. This rises to 700km with the aid of the small petrol unit, producing just 45g/km CO2 emissions in the process.
Hyundai is billing the i-oniq as a sports hatch, and at 4.4 metres long it’s only 120mm longer than the firm’s i30 five-door. However, the i-oniq seems to sport a crossover-esque stance – but maybe that’s just the high shoulder line and low roof tricking our eyes.
The i-oniq is intended to show Hyundai’s future thinking and evolves the Korean firm’s current “fluidic sculpture” styling.
Inside, there’s plenty of high-tech equipment on offer in the form of a new driver interface and controls, although Hyundai is not yet saying what’s so special about it.
The four-seat interior has been designed around a “lounge-style” theme to optimise comfort and features sculpted surfaces inspired by musical instruments intended to contrast against the sporty driver area.
Senior Vice President of Hyundai Motor Europe, Allan Rushforth:
“The i-oniq concept has been created to reflect the new thinking that runs through the Hyundai brand. It provokes contemplation on the future of automotive possibilities, and a powertrain that highlights ways in which we could power future products.”
Mercedes has revealed its all new A-Class range which features a design overhaul, six new engine choices, improved emissions figures and technological upgrades.
The new exterior features body-hugging lines along the side of the car and a ride height that sits 18cm lower to the ground. On the inside, customers can option the A-Class with either “Urban”, “Style” and “AMG Sport” equipment levels.
Petrol engine choices for the new range include a 90kW, 115kW and 155kW options, while the diesels can be powered by 80kW/250Nm, 100kW/300Nm or 125kW/350Nm. Mercedes say the most economical of the diesel engines should be able to achieve 3.7 l/100km which converts to 99g/km of CO2.
The new A-Class will also be the first car on the market to offer full integration with the iPhone 4S’s personal assistant, Siri. Also being introduced is Collision Prevention Assist, which warns drivers of impending rear-end collisions and prepares the car for impact.
