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Notes on Jaguar and TATA |
An interesting collection of notes from two motor journalists who have been around long enough to have seen it all before …. |
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Greece to Grease |
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Vauxhall Insignia |
Rüsselsheim – sneak preview |
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Love ‘em, hate ‘em …. |
Flashback no. 1: Traffic wardens may soon man radar speed traps under new powers to give them more power as police auxiliaries, as I wrote in The SUN on May 5, l967, more than 40 years ago. |
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HYBRIDS |
According to the dictionary, a hybrid comes from crossbreeding. |
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CLEPA Technology Day 2007 (part 3) |
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62nd Frankfurt Motor Show - Afterthoughts |
An A-Z of those manufacturers, at the 62nd Frankfurt Motor Show, who left an impression..... |
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2008 North American International Auto Show Detroit |
If it hadn’t been for the snow, and the 120 head of Texas longhorn cattle being driven down Congress Street, visitors to the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit (Jan 13-27, 2008) might have thought they were at the LA Auto Show. |
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Environmentally friendly DLC coatings – the way to greater engine longevity and efficiency |
Engine development has progressed from the long stroke, low revolution engines of the 1920s to the high revving short stroke Formula One machines of today. This evolution has pressured manufacturers into providing components that can survive in this increasingly harsh operating environment. |
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Renewables for the Automotive Generation |
When autocars and motorwagens first appeared, they were full of renewable materials such as wood and leather, and Rudolph Diesel’s first eponymous engine ran on peanut oil. These days the average car uses more than 100kg of plastics made from oil (although frequently pretending to be wood or leather), so it’s becoming increasingly urgent to find renewable replacements... |
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Births, Deaths & Marriages -
Jaguar Obituary? |
In spite of its inconsistent performance, Jaguar continued until it was privatised once again in 1984 only to be taken over by Ford Motor Company on December 1, l989. |
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Future Perfect -
Richard Seymour, Bugatti Lecture,
Coventry University
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If the eagerness of the assembled audience was anything to go by, then this was going to be a humdinger of a talk. In all the years that I have spent attending University lectures, I have never seen a storm of students once the doors to the auditorium opened, and the rush was for the front seats..... |
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CLEPA Technology Day 2007 (Part 2) |
The eighteen exhibitors at the Technology Day offered a lot more than can be described here. If your interest is aroused, their website can often give more detail. The Internet is a very rich source of information but you must define the area of interest. We contribute the excitement... |
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A CRUDE AWAKENING - Film Review by Glen Smale
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The Oil Crash - A movie about the oil industry – and us.
Oil is a finite resource, we all know that, but are we being told the truth by governments and big business about just how finite these resources really are? |
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Rhodia Automotive - Reducing Emissions and more |
An interview with Jean-Claude Steinmetz, Rhodia Group Vice-President in charge of Automotive and Transportation
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Perodua - When 'Number Two' is Number One They Still Try Harder |
Malaysia's Perodua has been the nation's car market leader and top vehicle maker for almost two years. This 14 year old company whose full name literally translates as Second Automobile Manufacturer, produced its first car in 1994. Any suggestion that this should justify a name change is laughed off by managing director Datuk Syed Abdull Hafiz Syed Abu Bakar..... a feature by John Weinthal |
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How is a classic designed? A book review by Pim van der Veer |
‘Jaguar E-type; Portrait of a Design Icon’. Written by Glen Smale, the theme of this book does not repeat the well-worn history of this famous car, but it is unique in the sense that the author has researched thoroughly the background through interviews with those involved in the development of this legendary model, referring back to the time around the car’s introduction in Geneva in March 1961. |
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CLEPA Technology Day 2007 (Part 1) |
CLEPA is the European Association of Automotive Suppliers. Its headquarters are located at the Boulevard Brand Whitlock in Brussels, close to the various offices of the European Commission. CLEPA is co-ordinating campaigns and study groups with participants from the European automotive suppliers and the directorates of the E.C. which are involved in aspects like the competitive position of the European industry, traffic safety, environment and energy policies... |
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Made in USA – Alive and Well in Sweden! |
• Power Big Meet: a unique nostalgia event
• 15,000 cars and a sub-culture that lives on
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Geneva Motor Show 2007 |
An article by Glen Smale and Anne Hope with photos by Glen & Elke Smale covering the A to Z of the 2007 Geneva Motor Show. |
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Taming the Monster : Into the Silly Seventies |
Part 3 : We left the story at the point that the Morris Marina had been launched, in 1971. It was another two years before the ‘advanced engineering’ counterpart from Austin appeared in May 1973. Developed under the code name ADO67, the Allegro... |
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Spyker Formula 1 Launch - Silverstone 5th Feb 2007 |
The name Spyker is at best, a fairly unknown name to many motoring enthusiasts. In the Formula 1 pitlane, it is definitely not a familiar badge – but all of that is about to change. |
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American brands heading for the UK market |
American brands are heading for Europe, and iconic badges such as Hummer, Cadillac, Chrysler and Dodge now gleam from the forecourts of official dealers. |
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The Sound of Music - Porsche's Carrera Heritage |
Actually, the word carrera in Spanish means race, but in Porsche’s workshops in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen in 1953, the dedicated engineers were making music with their new four-cam engine. The ‘sound of music’ was coming from the company’s new secret weapon, the Ernst Fuhrmann designed four overhead camshaft engine designed for their lightweight 550 Spyder race car. |
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RENAULT – A Century of Winning |
You could probably count on one hand the number of automobile manufacturers still around today who were at the forefront of the industry at the start of the twentieth century. You would need even fewer fingers to count those who can boast a Grand Prix win at either end of that time span. |
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Taming the monster: British Leyland, 1968-71 |
In Part 2 of his series, IAN ELLIOTT recalls the challenging early years of the ‘big merger’, never attempted before, and the product engineering it initiated, beginning with Austin Morris… |
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First Japan, then Korea, now China. Who’s next? |
BARRIE WILLS looks to the East and foresees some intriguing outcomes, for example in Iran, India and Indonesia… |
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Keeping it in the family |
Not so long ago Porsche was haemorrhaging cash and vulnerable to takeover. Now it has created shockwaves by boldly buying into VW, becoming the group’s largest shareholder. MICHAEL COTTON guides us through the Byzantine twists and turns of the saga. |
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Servicing the Oil Industry - A Pilot's View |
Anne Hope leapt at the opportunity of accompanying a crew on a rotation to one of the many production platforms keeping the wheels of industry lubricated. Here is an account of the process by Mo Jones. |
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E85: a win-win fuel? |
Though old-hat in Latin America’s largest country, biomass fuels are a novelty in Europe. As PETER DE NAYER reports, incentives in Sweden are encouraging take-up, but the picture is less clear-cut in Britain… |
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David Richards : The force behind Prodrive |
John Griffiths of The Financial Times reviews what Dave Richards hopes to do in the future. That is to set up a motor sport proving ground and R & D centre. And, of course, he plans to be involved with his own F1 team - and to be as successful as he was in the World Rally Championship. |
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Detroit muscle cars lead battle against invaders |
LIZ TURNER takes a cruise across the American automotive landscape and reviews how tough times are bringing out the best from the Big Three and invoking a glorious past... |
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Small car of the year? |
Technical editor MICHAEL SCARLETT, a former Car of the Year juror, returned to Silverstone to observe the final selection process for 2006. Here he examines the seven finalists, and ponders whether current voting over-emphasises low pricing at the expense true overall excellence… |
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Long road to perdition: the MG Rover chronicles |
In Part 1 of this fascinating series IAN ELLIOTT applies his insider knowledge to spelling out the exact sequence of mergers that led to the formation of British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), and reviews the product engineering story... |
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Weight watchers drive for greater efficiency |
Most of us would not immediately associate the Chinese automotive industry with the price of baked beans in UK supermarkets. But ROBIN WAGER finds the connection as he investigates the ingenious quest for lighter, leaner cars... |
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South Korea faces tough motor cycle market |
Only time will tell if it will succeed, says KOSTAS GAZIS, fascinated by the East - with its mixture of culture and technology, its very different mentality and its replication of Western ideas… |
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Diesel emissions: this far and no further? |
In Sweden for an SAE gathering, JOHN DICKSON-SIMPSON observes that political pressure for ever tighter exhaust emission limits seems to be easing. Economic priorities are shifting as the soaring oil price frightens governments… |
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John Zachary DeLorean - If an idea was clear in his mind, it was done |
BARRIE WILLS recalls his time working with the charismatic car maker as an amazing four and a half years - painful towards the end, but very, very educational.. |
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Low-key celebrations in land of the riding Yen |
At the 50th-anniversary Tokyo motor show, BRIAN LONG sees a multitude of domestic and foreign hybrids as evidence of more concern with global warming than fun behind the wheel… |
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Impressive array of production technology |
Technical editor MICHAEL SCARLETT on tour around the French motor industry. Centred in Lille, Day 1 and Day 2 focused on companies in the Pas de Calais. Day 3, with Metz for a hub, took in Lorraine, France's mid-eastern region. Day 4 and Day 5, pivoting on Nice in the south, concentrated in the extraordinary Sophia Antipolis development in the hilly country inland from the Riviera… |
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