Tasmanian Sojourn: How Does The Southern Isle Drive?
My spouse works for a university and has a role which requires her to attend interstate conferences. Last week it was a ride to Hobart; three days of work then a bit of down time.
Day one: arrival on a cloudless Sunday and hotel right next to Constitution Dock (finish line for the Sydney to Hobart yacht race). Do the basics of unpacking and walk around the immediate harbour precinct; some wonderful fish and chips (bad luck if you’re a vegetarian seeking anything other than fried potatoes though, as my partner is) and a topless double decker bus ride around to Wrest Point, to the base of Mt Wellington and the Cascade Brewery, through town and back to the harbour. What becomes increasingly obvious is Hobart is a living museum, locked in a time bubble with regulations forbidding development and buildings of a residential nature past a double storey. Being Australia’s second oldest city is one thing, making it look like a time traveller’s paradox is another.
Why The Motor Racing Industry Is Better Than The Yacht Racing Industry
I guess a few of our readers will have been taking at least a passing interest in what’s been happening with the America’s Cup yacht race and the attempts of Team New Zealand to get the Auld Mug down on the right side of the equator, even if it’s not coming back to Australia… yet. Back in the 1980s when the Americas Cup race was held in Fremantle, the yachts looked a lot different to those catamarans with hydrofoils they have today.
And that got me thinking about the motor racing industry. It’s time for a small rant. You see, a lot of the things that designers and engineers tinker about with and fine-tune in racing cars eventually find their way into regular production cars driven by the average Joe and Jane Smith. More and more cars these days are tested on racing circuits to make sure that their handling’s perfect (the Holden VF Commodore and its recent feats on the Nürburgring circuit, for example). Paddle-shifters and carb-fibre components were the sole preserve of racing machines, but now they’re everywhere. Even something as simple as a spoiler – back in the 1980s, you hardly ever saw a regular car on the road with them, even though you did see them on racing cars. Nowadays, lots of cars incorporate them into the design.
Should Petrol Cars be Banned?
Should petrol cars be banned?
The UK’s Liberal Democrats have recently proposed that petrol and diesel cars be banned from the country’s roads by 2040. The idea that any nation could be using vehicles fuelled by alternative fuels by 2040 seems like a very remote possibility and Australia is no exception. As of 2011, there were almost 12.5 million passenger cars, with New South Wales and Victoria making up around two thirds of that figure. The environmental necessity of replacing these vehicles has seen many potential solutions offered, from the sensible (better public transport) to the weird (dolphin-shaped cars) so we asked ourselves the following questions: what are the possible alternatives to petrol and diesel cars; and will they be any better for the environment?
What do those lights mean…?
Do you know what those dashboard warning lights mean?
There are currently more than 15.5 million drivers on Australia’s roads. While a growing population expects to see an increase in motorists, it doesn’t necessarily expect to see an increase in traffic accidents. But that’s what has happened. Research shows that by June 2013 19.6% of motorists had been involved in at least one accident, a figure up from 18.7% in 2008.
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