SPORTS CAR CENTRE PRESENTS
Motoring news from around the world - April 2019
Jaguar’s new XE has a diesel that’s as clean as the petrol
What would you say to an engine that gives you 25 per cent better fuel economy and is cheaper to tax than a petrol unit, emits 15 per cent less CO2 and – crucially, these days – chucks out no more nasty NOx emissions than the petrol engine? That’s the headline offer from Jaguar with its new XE.
&width=1600)
Did we mention that it’s a diesel? Contrary to popular belief and the endless talk of electrification, car companies are still building diesel-engined cars and some people are still buying them, and will be for years to come. The latest Ingenium unit in the Jaguar XE D180 promises to be one of the best. For starters it’s the only diesel car in its class that meets the tough new NOx emission limit that doesn’t come into force for another 22 months.
Its clean-living credentials bring not just overall emissions that beat or match the latest petrol engines, along with up to 57mpg, but also cheaper road tax and – if your company provides the car to you for business use – avoidance of the punitive four per cent benefit-in-kind diesel surcharge. In short, it’s the familiar cost-effective diesel story but updated for a more environmentally aware new world.
&width=1300)
The new engine is just one part of the new XE story, one that sees the new version mature into a proper little Jag – and at prices that undercut equivalent models from the outgoing range by as much as £1,700. The new range is going straight into the showrooms and not via next week’s Geneva Motor Show, Jaguar Land Rover having decided to give that a miss this year.
The XE’s design has been made more impactful, the interior has had a luxury makeover, there’s more kit as standard and there’s been an injection of new tech. Available features now include the twin-screen infotainment system from the all-electric I-Pace and a digital ClearSight rear-view mirror, a first in class, says Jaguar.
&width=1300)
You can tell the new XE by its redesigned front and rear ends, along with new LED lights with signature ‘J’ running lights. Admittedly they aren’t huge changes but they combine to give an already smooth looking small saloon a more assertively Jaguar flavour. It’s the same inside, with an injection of Jaguarness shown by new soft-touch materials, premium veneers, and new door trims to complement the (standard on all) leather.
From the F-type comes the SportShift gear selector and JaguarDrive Control switch, while the I-Pace donates its trick steering wheel as well as the Touch Pro Duo infotainment system. The camera-based rear-view system, ClearSight, is technology first seen on the latest Land Rover Evoque. Unlike the camera-based system available for the Audi e-tron, it shows an unobstructed wide-angle view to the rear on a high definition screen incorporated in the rear-view mirror.
&width=1300)
It all adds up to an XE that’s a bit more special, and where it needs it most. The aluminium-intensive XE was never short of ride and handling prowess, after all. Engine choices so far are 250PS (247bhp) and 300PS (296bhp) versions of the 2.0-litre petrol Ingenium engine, and the clean new D180 diesel with 180PS (178bhp) and, predictably, a mountain of torque, at 430Nm (317lb ft).
10 years on: the miracle of Brawn GP
A new set of regulations never fails to shake up Formula 1. Following the first week of winter testing and heading into the second, it’s too early to make many judgements about the effects of the latest raft of changes. But the 2019 revisions to front and rear wing shapes, brake ducts and bargeboards is a cast-iron opportunity for teams to forge performance gains that could well define their seasons. We’ll see.
&width=1600)
The purpose behind the changes for this year differs from the usual need to slow down or, in the unusual case of the 2017 revolution, actually speed up grand prix thoroughbreds. This time it is simply to make F1 racing cars more true to what they are supposed to be: literally better racing cars. Overtaking should be more plentiful this season – if the rule changes work.
Exactly 10 years ago, a new technical rulebook – with changes that also included higher rear wings and wider front wings – was introduced with a similar purpose at its heart. And it certainly shook up the world order.
It’s hard to believe a full decade has passed since 2009, when a team that should have been extinct won both drivers’ and constructors’ world titles, and also happened to sow the seed for what is fast becoming the greatest force ever to blow through grand prix history.
This is the story of one-season wonder Brawn GP – and the birth of what would become five-time consecutive world champion super-team Mercedes-Benz F1.
Looking back, there’s the odd parallel between now and 2009 that strikes a chord, beyond those tech reg changes. First of all, Brawn GP was forced into existence by the shock decision by Honda to pull the plug on its F1 team. It was a pure business decision, made in direct response to the debilitating credit crunch that was rocking the world in late 2008 – and seemingly took no account of the employees and their families who were left high and dry by Honda’s cold calculation.
Today, 3,500 families in Swindon will be all too familiar with that feeling of desolation, following Honda’s out-of-the-blue announcement to close its UK car-making plant in 2021. Pulling the rug is becoming a company habit.
&width=1300)
Ten years ago, Honda dropped its bombshell on 5th December 2008. Ross Brawn had joined the team that year following a hard-earned sabbatical in the wake of his era-defining spell at Ferrari. Now he and fellow director Nick Fry faced the high-odds prospect of saving an F1 team in just three months. OK, Honda at least left them a hefty war chest, said to have been £100 million – but what would they do about the small matter of an engine?
How Mercedes stepped in, after a push from McLaren’s altruistic team principal Martin Whitmarsh, has become the stuff of F1 legend. If you were cruel, you could say it also became Whitmarsh’s most significant act in his time working in F1…
&width=1300)
Incredibly, the car that had been developed as the Honda RA109 under a technical team led by chief designer Jörg Zander and aerodynamicist Loïc Bigois, could be adapted reasonably easily to accept the Mercedes V8. There were compromises – of course there were – but after hard years with only a single race victory as a return, Honda was about to discover it had given up a fantastic chassis with a feature that might have made it a world champion constructor for the first time: the infamous double diffuser.
The team had cottoned on to the idea early in the car’s development, as a way to claw back much-needed downforce and grip from the new regulations, which had slashed levels by 50 per cent. How air was blown through a double-layered rear floor wasn’t an original idea and indeed, Adrian Newey still fumes over how he was told such a device was illegal. But rules loopholes allowed Brawn, Williams and Toyota to run double-diffuser designs, without censor from the FIA – and Brawn nailed it best.
Much of the credit for what became the Brawn BGP001 has gone down to the horror of its predecessor. Honda hit awful new lows with the dreadful RA108 and its controversial ‘Earth Car’ livery, and it led the team to scrap all development for 2008 and concentrate solely on the carfor the new regulations. That decision now paid off.
Once Mercedes agreed to fill the Honda engine void, Ross Brawn concentrated early in the New Year on the technical challenge his team now faced, made tougher by Honda taking back its Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), set to be introduced that year. Meanwhile, Fry worked on the finances, but a new buyer could not be found – and it was only as late as 6th March (yes, the anniversary is next week) that it was confirmed the team would be named after one of its bosses. Ross was a little red-faced, but the team had to be called something.
The Brawn flew out of the box in pre-season tests and on this occasion we could believe the times. Just 23 days after being officially founded, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello completed a Brawn one-two at the Australian Grand Prix having locked out the front of the grid. F1 had never seen anything like it.
&width=1300)
Seinfeld now suing dealer which sold him a Porsche 356 Speedster GS/ST that may be fake
Renowned Porschephile Jerry Seinfeld is suing a California classic car dealer, arguing that the company has failed to verify the authenticity of a 1958 Porsche that he purchased from them in 2013 and sold three years later.
The firm that bought the car from Seinfeld, Fica Frio Limited, sued the comedian earlier this month, claiming that the 356 Speedster GS/ST is not an authentic GS/GT. It wants Seinfeld to refund the $1.5 million it paid for the car at a Gooding and Company auction in 2016 and other costs incurred in the purchase.
The legal tit-for-tat came after Seinfeld, who according to his lawsuit owns one of the world’s largest collections of Porsches, tried to sort out the car’s provenance. So far, no one has said for certain why the car in question should be considered a fake.
Seinfeld bought the Speedster from European Collectibles for $1.2 million. According to the Associated Press, Seinfeld says he relied upon the dealer’s certificate of authenticity verifying the car is indeed a Speedster GS/ST. He contacted the dealer after Fica Frio filed suit, hoping it would resolve the situation. But the company has so far refused to get involved, according to the suit, so Seinfeld sued to “reveal the extent to which European Collectibles deploys fraudulent practices in connection with its restoration and sale of classic cars.”
.ashx?modified=20190204185907&mw=1920&hash=3260CEF5012F2BBC67BF5CB7643B8BCA80B03AEA)
“Jerry has no liability in this matter, but he wants to do the right thing, and is therefore bringing this action to hold European Collectibles accountable for its own certification of authenticity, and to allow the court to determine the just outcome,” Seinfeld’s lawyer, Orin Snyder, said in a statement to the AP.
The nature of the car’s certification remains unclear. As we’ve reported, Porsche’s certification is less scrupulous and does not require meticulous inspection as is the case with, say, a Ferrari Red Book certification.
That said, Fica Frio could be in a difficult position, as auction agreements of the sort that Gooding and Company employ are often quite explicit in their terms and make it exceedingly difficult to reverse a sale if everyone involved in the sale acted in good faith. Seinfeld insists that he did.
“Mr. Seinfeld, who is a very successful comedian, does not need to supplement his income by building and selling counterfeit sports cars,” the lawsuit said, according to the AP.
Which side of the road is the “right” side?
Considering a trip to the UK to immerse yourself in the country’s long and prosperous automotive history? With all that the UK has to offer, you may wonder why the Brits insist on driving on the wrong side of the road—or the correct side, depending on your point of view.
Driving on the left—like they do in Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland, and most British colonies—made sense hundreds of years ago. According to worldstandards.eu, swordsmen rode their horses on the left side in order to fend off adversaries with their right (usually-dominant) hand. That logic prevailed throughout Europe and into the New World.
The left-side tradition began to change in the U.S. in the late 1700s when farmers hauling heavy equipment behind a team of horses would sit behind the left rear horse so they could lash the entire team with their right hand. To better see oncoming traffic, the driver would move the wagon from the left side of the road to the right, and before long, single riders followed suit.
The first law mandating which side of the road was the “correct” side may have been instituted by Russian Empress Elizabeth (Elizaveta Petrovna), who in 1752 declared that riders should travel on the right. In Europe, the French Revolution also impassioned this “right” way of thinking. Traditionally, French aristocracy stayed to the left—forcing peasants to the right—but after the revolution broke out in 1789, the nobility wisely thought it prudent to blend in, and that meant sticking to the right side with the peasants. Right-hand travel became a law in 1794.
Most of Europe (and the rest of the world) came to the same conclusion when picking a side—some much later than others. For example, in the 1950s and ’60s, Sweden relied mostly on left-hand-drive American vehicles, which made driving on the left side of the road difficult since drivers were closer to the shoulder than they were to oncoming traffic. That made negotiating tight squeezes problematic. In the name of safely, and to be consistent with their Scandinavian neighbors, in 1967 Sweden made the switch from driving on the left to driving on the right.
The Swedish word for “right traffic” is “Högertrafik,” and September 3, 1967—the date of the changeover—is remembered as Dagen H (H Day). More than 350,000 road signs were changed during the night, and an additional 130,000 signs were posted to remind drivers that the law was about to take effect. That morning, all non-essential traffic was banned while crews busily reconfigured intersections. The driving ban lasted just a few hours in some areas, but in larger metro areas it dragged well into the next day.
When drivers were ultimately given the green light, there was still some confusion, but overall it went better than expected. Only 157 minor accidents were reported, resulting in 32 personal injuries and zero deaths.
Today, 65 percent of the world’s population drives on the right side of the road, which is an amazing statistic since that means 35 percent of the world drives on the left—a much higher percentage than most Americans would guess. Notable left-hand-drive nations include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Japan. You can check out the complete list here.
So which side is the “right” side? As the saying goes, “When in Rome…” For the record, the rest that sentence is: “drive on the right”— Italy sides with the majority.
Donkervoort D8 GTO-40
The D8 GTO-40 is the crowning glory of 40 years of Dutch car manufacture Donkervoort history and the culmination of Donkervoorts DNA. An exclusive anniversary model in a limited edition of only 40 pieces.
Unfiltered and instinctive, insisting to achieve its unique goal: to overwhelm the enthusiast of real driving with the unmatched and most pure driving experience. With at heart the sportive and powerful Audi 2,5L R5 TFSI. Combined with the recognizable design, achieving top performances and dedicated craftsmanship.
Let us introduce you to the lightest, fastest and most versatile GTO ever.
Weight: 678KG Acceleration: 7.7 seconds 0-200 Km/Hr.
THE LIGHTEST GTO EVER.
Lightweight. This has been the most important of Donkervoort’s core values for 40 years now. A variety of innovations have enabled significant weight savings to be made in the design of the D8 GTO-40. Making this the lightest GTO ever.
To this end Donkervoort developed its patented carbon-fibre EX-CORE® technology in-house, which ensures that components are even lighter and yet more robust. So innovative is this technology that it was even awarded for the European Union Innovation Grant for High-tech Materials recently. EX-CORE® is extensively used in the D8 GTO-40.
Thanks to a collaborative effort with the R&D department of the renowned steel producer Tata Steel, the basis of the D8 GTO-40 – its steel tubular chassis – has been made even stronger. The torsional rigidity of the chassis has been increased by at least 15%, despite the overall weight having been reduced even further. Combined with the EX-CORE® body parts, the upshot is unrivalled safety and torsional rigidity.
In terms of the design of the D8 GTO-40, Donkervoort focused on increasing downforce and aerodynamic balance. This can be seen in the striking design and in the details of the aerodynamic elements.
From the integrated front spoilers to the diffuser at the rear. Extra cooling for the powertrain, rear wheels and brakes is realized by means of the extra air channels in the nose, rear fenders and bumper.
THE MOST VERSATILE GTO EVER
Aside from all the technical and optical innovations, the D8 GTO-40 is above all a versatile Donkervoort. As well as being pure and fast, it’s also ideal for touring in comfort. To this end, the driver can select from a wide range of options.
Varying from a lightweight air conditioning system – an entirely new option in a Donkervoort – to a brand-new titanium exhaust and exhaust system giving the driver the option of switching between a racier or more comfortable sound. Another first is the unique, 100% carbon-fibre rims.
Each and every feature personal and bespoke, yet never making sacrifices in terms of the top performance and ultimate driving experience for which Donkervoort has been renowned for 40 years now.
INTERIOR
Even more aesthetically refined and sophisticated yet more functional than ever is the new interior of the D8 GTO-40. The eye is immediately drawn to the new visible carbon fibre bottom structure, consisting of the floor plate and tunnel. With this design element the 40 interior reflects the car’s no-nonsense, high-tech character. Additional functionalities have also been added inside, some of which can be found on the steering wheel.
Goodwood 77th Member meeting
This year’s Goodwood MM77 enjoyed some fine weather, thanks to the new early April date of this annually run event. The resulting clear but brisk weather was a welcome escape from the snowy blizzards which threatened to blight last year’s event. We were in attendance over the three days enjoying the relaxed, and less formal format of this Members meeting, soaking up the friendly atmosphere with some like minded friends.
During the entire weekend there was as usual a fully booked program, with races for pre-war machinery up till mid seventies touring cars, high speed demonstrations by the featured mark, this year the honour was by Porsche.
In the Graham Hill trophy, our TVR partner, Nigel Reuben Racing, had entered there TVR Griffith 400 after some early battles with a very fast Jaguar E-type they were leading the race comfortingly when they were black flagged and had to visit the pits with a broken exhaust hanger, the victory went therefore to the E-type and the TVR finished still a very respectable fourth.
When interested in this weekend full of speed, there are some very nice video's with highlights from most of the races on YouTube.
Contact Us
|
Hours
|
||||||||||
Authorized Dealer
Sports Car Centre also designs and manufactures custom and enhanced parts for some vehicles.