In The Lap Of The Gods: Titanic Trucks Set Sail at Brands Hatch
All good things must come to an end. It’s time to go out with a bang. There is truly an ocean of clichés that could be used to describe the final race weekend of a motorsport series. We cannot forget however, that clichés are named thusly for a very important reason; repetition of events across time. The closing race weekend of the year represents one final chance for the competitors to prove their worth, to settle the rivalries that have raged all year and to prove once and for all who deserves to walk away as the ultimate victor.
The action in the British Truck Racing Championship had raged with a blazing intensity throughout the year; one final battlefield lay before them. The BTRC has one of the most exciting race formats throughout the known motor-verse; the field is split into two divisions with the slower division two trucks starting at a set time ahead of the brutal division one beasts. Race order is decided purely on track position so the division one trucks must catch and overtake those in division two to achieve victory. This format is similar to that of banger racing and BTCC 2001, and in many ways is the perfect combination of the two, what with the hard racing and ‘no panel left straight’ approach.
Kia Sportage Diesel AWD
Kia’s Sportage is, possibly, the one vehicle from the Korean company, that exemplifies just how far they’ve come in a comparatively short space of time. The first Sportage was an average looking, average performing, plasticky mid sizer when released in 1993 and is now a great looking, sensationally performing, non plasticky mid sizer in 2014.
It’s been on the shortlist to review the Sportage and was eventually lobbed the keys to the diesel powered SLi, clad in Kia’s “Sand Track” metallic paint. The question was, simply, is the Sportage worth the fuss?
Powersource.
As Tom Jones said, it’s not unusual. What he meant is that diesels have more torque than their petroleum powered siblings, with 392 torques on offer from the 2.0L diesel, as opposed to almost half that in the same sized petrol donk. It’s available between an immensely usable 1800 to 2500 revolutions per minute rather than 4000. What is unusual is the power; it’s 135 killerwatts at 4000 rpm, 
with the petrol throwing out 122 kW at 6200 revs. Hooked up to the six speed auto (the only flavour available with the diesel), it means near perfect power availability, with the get up and go turning into a low revving grunt factor. The auto itself is seamless in its changing, smooth and rarely anything other than delicious. With a surprisingly hefty 1700 odd kilos to move, it’s disconcerting to see the speedo swing around so easily. Even with an AWD system (part time and lockable), it’ll cause the front tyres to scrabble for grip before hooking up and moving the bulk with alacrity.
Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Apologies to Mr Bradbury for pinching his title, but it’s so incredibly appropriate for this contribution.
Driving a car appears to be, for some, more of an act of witchcraft than an ability; more an act of guesswork than education. It’s not a black art, it truly isn’t, it’s a simple mix of being observant, being coordinated and exhibiting common sense. Yes, yes, I understand the laughter at that last one, as it’s been legislated into obscurity, courtesy of political correctness and idiots.
The Car That Started The War
Today is November 11th – Armistice Day and the UK’s day for remembering soldiers who were killed in the wars, kind of like ANZAC Day here in Australia and New Zealand. So in honour of the day, let’s take a little look at a particular car that played a role in detonating World War 1.
The car in question was a Gräf and Stift Double Phaeton built in 1911. It was smooth, large and luxurious, having the grand total of two cylinders and having a maximum power output of 32 horsepower – heady stuff back then! Gräf and Stift was a company that was just breaking into the new field of automobiles, and was based in Vienna, Austria. They specialised in luxury cars popular with royalty, and buses and trams. Over the years, the luxury cars have dropped by the wayside, and Gräf and Stift kept on going with the buses. In fact, they still do make the buses, although the company got the new name MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Österreich AG courtesy of a bunch of mergers (a bit of a mouthful but probably easy to say if you speak German).
Level 2, 9 Help Street