Car News Articles

RT here’s a tip - carry a spare ECU module and a probe light. - when those ECUs fail, its usually without notice.

The Ballast resistor is also another common issue - but you can bypass the ballast resistor for a short duration, but not the ECU.

Posted by: The Rat Patrol | November 6, 2009 1:34 PM

And they leave a mess when they melt. With over 25 years have not had one go on me yet but it has happened to friends. We usually travel to the car shows in a pack and there is always one car that has something go. Between us I think we’d have enough spares to build a complete car

I should be writing this column from Beijing right now.

I had been invited to represent Australia along with Mick Doohan at the Race of Champions in China, however I decided to pull out. It is disappointing that I’ve missed it, especially since one of the reasons I decided to stay on in Australia for the next three years is because I would be able to weave in some overseas events like this.

However, it is the right decision. Our team boss, Roland (Dane), gave me his advice not to participate, but he said ultimately it was my call.

Glad to see my good friend Chad Reed was able to take up my position for me at the Race of Champions. He’s a real talent on a bike and I’m sure he has a career on four wheels after he’s finished winning everything on two.

There are no other overseas opportunities on the horizon for me that I know of and I have no plans at this stage to go hunting for anything over the Christmas break, so it is kind of disappointing to be missing out.

However, I made the call. I just didn’t need the distraction after the debacle at Surfers Paradise. I was very disappointed with myself because that weekend was clearly my worst performance in three years. Now I just need to concentrate on the next three races, starting with this weekend back at Phillip Island.

It’s going to be like “deja vu all over again” with us returning to the track we very nearly won at just a couple of months ago. Of course, we should be at Bahrain this weekend, but that event got cancelled because it is part of the double header opener next year and it was just too close to this event.

While it might feel a bit like deja vu, Phillip Island’s format will be very different from the last time we were there. For a start it’s only a two-day event. We get a quick 30-minute practice on Saturday morning, then we’re straight into qualifying and a 100km race and 150 points up for grabs.

Even the qualifying is cut short. Sunday is the usual quick qualifying and then a 200km race. The HRT team drivers will have the scent of blood up now after I faltered at Surfers Paradise, but really it’s a four-way struggle with my teammate Craig (Lowndes), Garth (Tander) and my good mate Will (Davison) breathing down my neck.

It’s going to be tight as I think we’re all pretty even. It was a close thing in 2007 and this year feels similar. I learnt a lot from my experiences in 2007 and although it didn’t look like it at the SupergGP what I learnt then will help me in the remaining three rounds.

I’m not really getting worried or concerned about the closeness of the points. I suppose I have more to lose than the other guys, but I’m confident in our ability as a team and I’m just going to go out there and do my absolute best.

We had a very quick car when we were last at the Island, but luck just didn’t go our way with a blown tyre with one lap to go. We’ll be checking the tyres this time to make doubley sure that doesn’t happen again. Another two-wheel champion who is stepping up to the four-wheel challenge is World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss. He’s tested with us and other teams and didn’t disgrace himself at Bathurst.

Now I hear there is a chance he will get a full-time drive next year in some sort of hook-up with our team and Paul Morris Motorsports which we’re working with closely now on our move to Holden next season.

Good luck to Troy. He’s a great talent and a great bloke. We’re right in the silly season now with driver movements and licence changes and team movements going on everywhere. It’s just a great feeling to know we sorted out our move to Holden months ago.

 

It missed the Tokyo Motor Show, but the wraps will finally come off Mitsubishi’s critical new offroader early next year.

In an effort to deflect some of the flak for the Tokyo no-show, Mitsubishi has now released a sketch of its newcomer ahead of its Geneva Motor Show debut in March.

As the sketch reveals, the production version gets the same ‘jet fighter’ front end now rolling out across the brand in the Lancer and new Outlander.  The car will be heavily based on the cX concept, except the rear end has be redesigned to allow a bigger luggage area.

The twin-piece tailgate from the showcar - shared with the Outlander - has been replaced by a one-piece hatch.  The cX, which will have a new global name for Geneva, is tipped to arrive here late next year with pricing around $25,000 for the 2.0-litre petrol model.

A 1.8-litre direct injection turbo is also in the pipeline.

The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 Formula One car wears a set of very special wheels from the Japanese rim manufacturer Enkei. By the very nature of the sport, components must be extremely lightweight and resilient in order to give the teams every competitive edge possible while standing up to spinning at 200 MPH and hitting FIA curbs at triple digit speeds. The wonderful thing about the SEMA show in Las Vegas is that you have a chance to get up close and personal with these types of items, as well as the wide assortment of their everyday offerings. As the Enkei representatives turned their backs, we took the opportunity to lift the wheel from its stand, and because of its size and shape considered playing a game of football with it. The wheel was so surprisingly light, and being significantly wider than it is tall makes for a rare sight to see. To get this kind of contact with a piece of a Formula One race car you would have to risk being shot in the paddock by a mechanic, however in SEMA up close and friendly atmosphere, anything goes.

SEMA 2009: HPP Daytona is one big Hot Wheels toy

by Jonny Lieberman (RSS feed) on Nov 5th 2009 at 9:00PM

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