A Return to Turbos for F1?

Could it be? The legendary turbo 1.5 liter monsters returning to the pinnacle of the sport?

GP1 Bankrupt and Up For Sale

It was bound to happen eventually. Not even Ferrari coming into the fray was going to help this titanic of a race series from sinking.

It was, as always, an issue surrounding money and controlling rights with the people at the center of the series unable to broker a deal.

As it now stands everything is being sold off in this remarkable auctioning of the entire paddock of GP1 racecars and support vehicles.

Anyone for 20, V8 Ferrari powered open wheelers?!

McLaren Wing is Legal

I love the way Webber just goes in and has a peer into the cockpit while Lewis and Jenson sit there and smile knowingly…

…and smile they would too because the ingenious device gives them an extra 15 kph down the straight and when closed, more down force in the corners! Amazing work from McLaren that is sure to be emulated all the way down the grid.

Girls of TAS 2010: WALD

No Tokyo Auto Salon would be complete without some delectable female eye candy there to spice things up and the quality at this years show was outstanding.

2009 Audi RS6

We’ve got half a million dollars worth of cars here at our disposal with over 1100 angry horses between them and the weather is perfect. Thanks to the recent typhoon, all the smog that is indicative of Tokyo during a typical autumn day has been swept away, replaced by a more vivid shade of blue and refreshingly crisp winds. The elusively mercurial Mount Fuji is especially clear today plus the absence of humidity makes conditions all the more important when you consider that we also have 4 turbos to feed and 16 cylinders to fill with force injected air and fuel.

Todt Becomes FIA President

I’m actually really distressed right now…

People who are neither fit enough for it nor deserve it, are obtaining positions of power and yet others still are going out of their way to turn people who were once friends against each other!!

Wow.

Amazing…what a first.

“Climb Dance” immortal, Ari Vatanen, lost the FIA presidential to Jean Todt by a landslide – 49 votes to a massive 135.

Ari, God bless him, not only lost the election – he was decimated by it.

This is tragic news for anyone who cares enough about the sport any more. Oh wait… did I just say sport?

I have never liked Jean Todt enough to envision trusting him with the keys to the future well being of Formula One and least of all when a sado-machochistic sex fiend FIA president is in full and open support of him. The fact that Max “Ze Punishment” Mosley even went as far as to formally tell Prince Feisal of the country Jordan, ROYALTY I might add, that his support for Vatanen was misguided and that Ari would “lose the election and lose badly…” indicates a sinister and underhanded overtone to the elections proceedings.

Nothing is straight in Formula One anymore.

Jean Todt was the man at Peugeot who decided the winner of one of the 1989 WRC rallies on the banks of the Niger river with the flip of a single, lousy 10 franc coin.

Jean Todt is also the man who at Ferrari decided the winner of the 2002 Austrian Formula One GP with the toss of a single, lousy 10 franc coin…maybe. Rubens Barrichello had this to say about the new President elect…“For me it was pretty clear. Take my foot off the pedal or get fired. When I asked Michael if he knew what was going on he said he had nothing to do with it but I have documents at home to prove that he was very well aware of everything that took place.”

Yep…Jean Todt is without a doubt the right man to take over the mantles of the future of F1…

2009 Tokyo Motorshow Girls

One for the boys – not everything at the 2009 TMS was metallic or heavy although a bit of silicone may have been involved somewhere!

2010 Lexus LFA

World Premiere for the Lexus LFA at the 2009 TMS ( 7-Tune marked photos shot by Peter Horniak )

The new Lexus LFA is all about numbers, some of them truly mind numbing, depending on your angle and inclination.

Weighing in at a scant 1480kg and flaunting a brand new DOHC 4.8 liter V10 developing 412kw @ 8,700rpm and made from exotic and expensive materials such as magnesium and titanium; the all new $375,000 dollar hyper Lexus is very firmly being pitched at the pinch hitters in the Lamborghini, Audi Ferrari and Porsche camps.

The LFA makes a maximum 480nm of twist available at a heady 6,800rpm, propelling it from 0-100kph in a factory claimed 3.7 seconds. Inside the 1LR-GUE donk, titanium valves and ultra light rocker arms can be found along with a fully integrated crank casing that not only reduces power loss at high rpm but also will allow the engine to spin to extreme amounts of revs.

Without pausing for breath, the Lexus will go all the way to a wailing 9000rpm redline, driving through all 6 of its Automated Sequential Gearbox cogs ( ASG ) and onto a top speed of 325kph, ( 201 mph ) making 90% of its peak torque between 3,700rpm and 9,000rpm along the way.

Employing 4 selectable shift patterns, the seven-staged ASG box shifts between cogs at 0.2 seconds in turn providing a more solid shift feel to the driver by way of strengthened actuators and heavy duty synchronizer rings.

Phonically, the sound of the naturally aspirated 1LR-GUE at full noise really made the hairs on the body stand at attention and no Toyota has ever sounded as remarkable as this, save the actual program that donated some of its DNA to the LFA, Toyota’s own F1 program.

Stopping the car is being well taken care of by CCM ( Carbon Ceramic Material ) discs front and rear along with 20 inch wheels wrapped in 265/35 and 305/30 Bridgestone rubber.

It is in the chassis department where some of the most remarkable progress has been made. Toyota, through their Lexus brand, have used their vast resources and engineering prowess in Formula 1 to design and create a CFRP composite cabin, mixing together a concoction of carbon fiber and reinforced plastic; saving more than 100kg in the process when compared to more conventional aluminum chassis construction techniques. Pioneering this technology has enabled Lexus to create unique CRFP to metal fabrication processes akin to the way tendon and muscle joins bone to form a working, flexible and strong connection that has almost perfect weight distribution percentages front to rear of 48:52.

It was with baited breath that the worlds press awaited its unveiling and as the covers were taken off, everyone there was suddenly confronted with something unexpected. Finally, after countless years of fruitless wandering, we were all looking at a hardcore, balls out super car from a manufacturer responsible for some truly legendary vehicles.

At long last, Toyota are back.

There is no denying Toyota lost their way. No one will dispute this, not even a member of the founding family, Akio Toyoda. He even went as far as to offer an apology for the lost dreams of the automotive youth, pledging to make a change. The FT86 and LFA are fruits of this change. Young people have fallen out of love with the car, realizing that cars lack a certain something that brings out in them some emotion. Owning a car is all about emotion and Toyota has been of the misguided perception that people would rather own listless and vapid appliances. Fans of Toyota have been yearning for a cheap 2 seater rear wheel drive coupe that will make the blood boil and finally, something this way cometh.

The LFA, being leagues more exclusive than its baby brother the FT86, is only going to be produced in a strictly limited run of 500 units – not a single more or less. Pre orders are being taken as of now but the official final 500 owners will be hand picked from the list of pre orders so you can imagine you will not only need an excessively large pile of money to part with but a damn good reason for Toyota to take it as well!

The LFA was amazing to behold and I got to have a really good look at it inside and out. There is a hint of Supra about it in the silhouette, a whiff of Lamborghini in the front bumper, a tinge of Veyron in the extendable rear wing but there is no denying this was a clean sheet design. The interior is functional and formal and struck me as very similar, utilitarian wise, when compared to the Nissan GTR. Color choices in the cabin were even reminiscent of the R35. There was no word on what exterior choices were being made available but lets hope Toyota sticks with its design philosophy in offering a wide splashing of hues to choose from.

The jury is out at the moment on whether or not Toyota has the right to charge such an exorbitant amount of cash for such a product but word is that Toyota will be making a loss on every single LFA it sells. With a price tag double that of one of its natural enemies, the 5.2 liter V10 Audi R8, you have to wonder what this is an exercise in for Toyota but there is no denying the LFA’s presence, wow factor and a list of numbers that go some of the way in supporting the outrageous price tag. I like Lexus, always have but don’t love it that much to shell out money approaching half a million dollars to own one.

2009 Tokyo Motor Show

“Racing Otaku visited the opening Wednesday press day for the 2009 TMS and was very disappointed to learn that virtually none of the European manufacturers had decided to come to the party. All the big Japanese names were there with some exciting products including the new LFA Lexus and FT86 Toyota but the hole that is Europe was glaring and impossible to patch.”

I’m not going to lie to you. The 2009 Tokyo Motor Show was a pretty big letdown punctuated by pockets of expectation and amazement.

Without doubt everyone was expectantly anticipating the arrival of cars like the Lexus LFA and the Toyota FT86 but there was no denying the fact that the Makuhari Messe was empty, especially by TMS standards. The Makuhari Messe is a massive venue and became even more cavernous with the absence of almost every European and American automotive manufacturer.

Not wanting to sound too critical, this was the smallest TMS I’ve been to by a long way and with the current economic climate in the state its in, this is cause for concern on a number of levels. I have it on good stead through a contact high up the ladder that the European arm of the automotive world gave the Japanese event the thumbs down due to the economic crisis. Make of that what you will but keep in mind all those absent from the TMS were present at the Shanghai Motor Show. If there was a single action that would bring about the most consternation within the TMS, this was it. My contact tells me that Chinas market for one particular manufacturer is a massive 10 times that of Japan and this went some of the way towards the decision not to attend. Amazingly, it was conveyed to me that when one of the manufacturers baulked at staging a display at this years TMS, the rest followed suit, en masse. Quite extraordinary and with costs for staging an event like this reaching astronomical figures, quite understandable.

Despite these setbacks, the TMS proved to be a success in other ways, underscored by the continued and more urgent push toward alternative fuels, bringing with it scores of rabid journalists hanging on the every word of Japans automotive top brass.

One thing that was immediately noticeable was the army of Chinese and Korean visitors to this years event, scores flocking to the stands of each major manufacturer to pick, pry and poke at each design no doubt taking in vital aesthetic and engineering based intel to transfer to their own product lines back home. Japan is going to have to really get a move on if it wants to stay in the race. Another thing that is equally apparent is that China is still playing catch up in this game and needs as much information as it can get. How the Japanese giants will respond to this is unknown but what is clear is that they are market leaders in this field with the technology and resources to back up the products. Japan, remember, is at the forefront on the development of alternative fuels and has been for many years. Making this technology cost effective is proving to be the major stumbling block. For example, it is reported that replacement battery prices for the Toyota “Plug in” Hybrid concept showcased this year at the TMS top out at a jaw dropping 650,000 yen. With a base cost of more than 3 million yen for the vehicle, neither these batteries nor the vehicle itself make sense financially.

It gets more interesting. The milliamps needed to feed the juice to the battery packs are reported to be capable of blacking out an entire street if a mere 5 of these cars were plugged in at the same time, not withstanding charge times up to an entire day. This is why recharging stations are being planned for as normal electricity grids won’t be able to cope.

All the major Japanese makers were there, with each of them sporting a heavily accentuated hybrid / alternative energy theme. I like the idea of hybrid technology and am not against it but until costs can be brought down, the technology will remain somewhat impractical on a global scale. Remember that with some forms of alternative fuels such as bio fuel, it takes energy to make energy, which in turn means that conventional resources such as oil and gas are still crucial in making the shift happen.

On a more hopeful note, Toyota appears to have restarted the small sports car war with what was arguably the star of the show; a fire red FT86. Nissan really should remove the designs for the Silvia from the bin and restart the project because Japan has been sorely missing a fight between small, 2 door RWD sport cars for years now. The fans have waited long enough and Nissans decision to scrap the project was ill advised.

It wasn’t all chrome, steel, aluminium and the combination of elements though. There were plenty of obliging ladies to ogle at, with designs arguably more appealing to the masses of men there than the cars themselves. The Rizla Suzuki stand, Nissan, Toyota and Mazda booths sporting some fine models. I certainly appreciated the way my 10-24mm super wide angle lens made them look leggier! Without these girls to soothe the waves of testosterone prevalent in events like this, who knows how long it would have been before a riot broke out.

There was plenty of fun to be had as well, with Sony bringing along a GT5 stand complete with at least 10 machines to try out – each one locked onto a different car. The FT86 was one of these cars and was a real hoot to take around the track. I tried out the Scuderia 438 on full manual controls and more aggressive competitors and was shocked when I got tagged and spun around by a pissed off AI. I think the level of involvement in this game has gone up another notch but sadly there is still no damage model so we wont be seeing broken bits and pieces of our favorite cars flying around.

While there were noticeable absences this year, I still made the most of the occasion, securing some quality time with the cars there and taking home with me a wide list of future contacts who have agreed to throw me the keys to some of their cars for performance testing so you can be sure of follow ups in the near future.

2010 F1 Calendar

The FIA released the provisional 2010 calendar for our perusal.

Some interesting things here. Firstly there is the Canadian GP with Montreal to make a much anticipated return. The down side is that this is provisional, with details for the event still being sorted out.

A surprise entry is the Korean GP and to be honest, since when has Korea even been remotely interested in F1? Will we soon be seeing Daewoo or Kia badged engines in the back of a Williams? Call me a sceptic but I can see this race turning out to be utter garbage. I hope they prove me wrong.

I suppose for me it is quite handy location wise because living in Japan gives me access to 3 tracks instead of one; Suzuka, Shanghai and now Korea.

But, seriously, whats next? The Ethiopian GP?

Interestingly, there are 11 races outside Europe and 8 within, with the last 5 races back to back, making travelling not only stressful but also extremely expensive for the teams.

Updates on the final calendar to come.

March 14, Bahrain

March 28, Australia

April 4, Malaysia

April 18, China

May 9, Spain

May 23, Monaco

May 30, Turkey

June 13, Canada

June 27, Valencia

July 11, Britain

July 25, Germany

August 1, Hungary

August 28, Belgium

September 12, Italy

September 26, Singapore

October 3, Japan

October 17, Korea

October 31, Abu Dhabi

November 14, Brazil