The Perfect Equation: Super Touring Cars and Brands Hatch
Photo taken from: supertcc.com
On any normal occasion the end of the month is a time of relief, happiness and impending financial gain. But this is no average month. On May 24th, the HSCC Super Touring Car Trophy returns to Brands Hatch for the Masters Historic Festival. With an expected bumper grid of over 25 cars, the glory of the 90s will once again flood back to Brands Hatch. After a strong opening race for the field at Donington Park, the excitement builds for Brands. And did I mention that there are two legends of the BTCC competing as well?
BTCC 2015: Home Advantage for Honda at Thruxton?
Image Credit: 2015 Honda Yuasa Racing Press Office
The first two rounds of the British Touring Car Championship have already more than proven the sensational form the series has returned to. If Brands Hatch and Donington Park proved anything, its that the old guard of the touring cars are anything but safe; the new generation of drivers are encroaching on the top positions. Heading to Thruxton however, the established teams remain on top, and it looks like it may well remain that way on Britain’s fastest and most daunting circuit.
Private Fleet Car Review: 2016 Subaru Outback 3.6L.
Australia has had a love affair with station wagons for decades; sadly, new Aussie made wagons will cease in 2017 when Holden closes local manufacturing. Happily, there’s still wagon options available and Subaru’s evergreen Outback is a classy choice for the discerning driver. A Wheel Thing’s garage had the company of this classic for a week.
Powersource.
3.6L. Horizontally opposed “boxer” engine. 191 kilowatts at 6000 revs and 350 torques at 4400. Economy levelled out at 8.5L per 100 in predominantly suburban driving (Subaru quotes 7.5L highway, 9.9L combined and an exceptionally unhealthy 14.2L per 100 km urban, from a 1700 kg wagon!) The fuel tank is 60L in size and can be filled with 91RON.
The transmission is a CVT, a constant variable tranmission, allowing the Outback 3.6L to run to 100 klicks in around eight seconds. You can choose to shift manually via paddles at the rear of the steering wheel, with six programmed shift points to choose from.
The Suit.
There’s just over 21 cm of ground clearance to play with; the wagon body has been given the polyurethane add-on treatment, with front, rear and sill panels copping a lashing of black, allowing some good softroading thanks to the height and extra panel safety.
The extra sheetmetal at the rear allows some usable cargo room, at 512 litres with the seats up and a gargantuan 1801 with the seats down. Staying with the rear, the tail light design echoes the sedan’s design plus continues the curve on the leading edge of the cluster. Both ends also get a aluminuim strip in the centre.
The front features the Outback’s traditional look, with globe lit driving lights pushed to each bottom corner and surrounded by acres of plastic. The redesigned front features a smaller (and far better looking) head light cluster, with a more integrated shape, trimming the overly edgy shape the previous model suffered.
Holy Roller: The Popemobile
Not too long ago, I did a wee post telling you all about the fancy-pants limo used by the President of the US of A, known as The Beast. The research for this led me to odd bits and pieces about the Popemobile, so I thought that the opportunity was too good to pass up.
The Beast at least looks like a car. The Popemobile… doesn’t. Maybe that’s the real reason why the current pope, Pope Francis, doesn’t like it, as well as his apparent preference for keeping things simple. And I have to say that I’d prefer to drive myself around in a Ford Focus or a Renault 4 , too, like he does, rather than sit in what looks like a glass box on the back of a ute.
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