I was fortunate enough to be invited by Shell to witness the Singtel Singapore Formula 1 GP up close. I was part of a group which were brought around the track and general area by Shell technical directors from London and KL, we were given free tickets for the day to catch the action up close at the grandstands by turn 1, which is just little off the pit building. Not to mention some pit-action thereafter as well.

The F1 2009 SG GP

Niffy kangarooTV

At the pits

On top of the action, we were also issued these rather cool Kangaroo handheld TV sets which I recall only can be seen in the most hardcore of F1 fans abroad, it’s not really widely used here and it seemed like a novelty to be able to utilise it for the day. It’s like a mini-computer and receive signals via wi-fi. It is perfect if your grandstand seat is tucked away without a giant screen in sight- you can catch all the TV footage, commentary as well a in-car camera views from all the cars on the grid.

After the track action, we were given exclusive entry to the paddock area and were brought around by Shell’s Stuart Humm. Besides a tour of the garage and how the engineers work on the car, such as the tires (and the warmers), spoilers and stuff, we were introduced to various Shell V-power crew working there, such as Lisa Lilley (Shell Technology Manager) and her crew in the Shell brewery and testing lab. There, we got to check out and learn about Shell’s leading fuel research and analysis team for the Scuderia Ferrari.

In the brewery!

Warm tires

And Raikkonen’s ones too

There we were told of Shell’s very close relationship with the Ferrari team in Formula One to develop the highest performance Shell V-Power race fuels. Shell V-Power has been formulated by the Shell scientists who developed Ferrari’s Formula One race fuels. These learnings are used to develop Shell V-Power fuels for road cars, to help power and protect them worldwide.

The fuel used by the Scuderia F60 is formulated very much similar to that used for cars as Shell V-power, a translation from track to road, hence the term “Shell V-Power, Ferrari fuel for your car”. A dedicated team of Shell scientists use the Formula One environment as a laboratory, working on many factors that affect a car’s engine, then use these insights when formulating Shell V-Power fuels, helping to benefit drivers in many countries. Shell V-Power’s is also formulated with various unique cleaning agents and powerful cleaning Friction Modification Technology (FMT) designed to help increase an engine’s responsiveness, deliver more power and improve driving performance.

A view of the turn 1 grandstand

An aerial view

Action at the pit area

I did not manage to catch any of the drivers Fisichella or Kimi around, but the experience was quite an eye opener particularly all the action going on at the pits and considering that not anyone can have access to the paddock area. Glad that I was able to stay in Singapore long enough to witness this event before flying off to UK over the weekend.

When Felipe Massa crossed the finishing line last Sunday, he was the 2008 world champion for a moment, till Lewis came and took it from him 38.9 seconds later.

For the Brazilian, it was a picture perfect finish, maintaining pole from start to finish, it was something Massa could do given the support from his fellow countryman in Brazil, but nothing can change the fact that the world title belonged to Lewis.

All what it needs to make Lewis and McLaren’s day was finishing the bare minimum fifth to win the world championship, ending the season with 98 driver points, 1 point ahead of Massa’s 97, it a complete reversal of the position for the world title one year ago. Kimi Räikkönen finished with 75 points putting the 2 Scuderia Ferrari drivers within the top 3 drivers for this season behind the Briton, with Ferrari themselves at 172 points in the constructors ahead of McLaren-Mercedes’s 151 points.

Sometime, you need not have a perfect finish everytime to see the bigger picture, and win the world champion, it just repaints the saying “losing the battle to win the war”.

Lewis finally did it, etching his name into the record books as the sport’s youngest ever world champion by claiming the fifth place he required to seal the crown, although it came in hugely dramatic circumstances with a pass on Toyota’s Timo Glock at the final corner, which was a typical “do or die” situation and I would say the main decider for the driver’s title this year.

Things are up and coming for the 23 year old Briton, with plenty of playing field and grunt ahead of him, even Michael Schumacher recently commented that he might one day go on winning more than his record of 7 world championships, there is just so much ahead of Lewis.

Short race report
The race tonight was cool, not that it rained (it was a warm night), but the spade of activities which occurred could be one of the most interesting to watch for this whole year- interestingly cool I will put it. Though there is no record for the number of cars which crashed for a race tonight (sorry destruction fans), there were 2 major crashes and the safety car was called out not once but twice due, which to the dismay of many is rather drenching for leading cars to fall back and lose the lead they are trying so hard to maintain.

The favorites for tonight’s race have to be the McLaren and Ferrari, but that didn’t seem much of the case after the race started given the spade of activities which happened for team Ferrari themselves. Given Nelsinho Piquet first spectacular crash at one of the bumpiest high speed corners, the rush for impromptu pits stops by many teams created some rather interesting pit drama (not to mention large re-shuffling of positions as well), such as the Massa’s Car laughingly pulling the fuel line, not only giving the pit crew the full knocks of the sub 700 bhp engine and ripping the fuel line off and trailing off till the end of the pits lane as. Well now that’s entertainment from discord! Massa disappointment on that incident really affected his race performance, dropping from pole to finishing 13th on the race, questioning not only the bad performance as a whole on the team but the reliability of the stop go pit light system (in absence of the lollipop man) as well. Just as you can visualize Michael Schumacher possibly jumping up and down in dismay at while watching the race, Kimi’s crash at Lap 58 gives Ferrari the final blow for tonight’s race for them.

The Renault and Force India made a rather bold moves at the start by cutting the first chicane for position. Being the real rookies, Force India kept on in the race as cars just get plucked off the track one by one, a good start for the newest F1 team this year for a finish tonight. Team Toyota is impressive as well, considering their entry into the sport at 2002 (which I stopped following till now). Timo Glock just simply paint the fact that besides having a German at the wheel this largely Japanese “branded” team is coming up rather quickly and not just one that is just always there, or not “up” there, but one too also never far from from the back either (they are 4th in the constructors now), something I guess you have to ponder to Team Honda (pka BAR) who entered F1 since 1964 but still yet to win a championship.

Lewis was cool and steady, despite pit penalties, but he managed to pull of quite a good sint from the back of the pack to finishing top 3. About the decision not to pull and aggressive stance for the 2nd position at the last 5 laps from his 3rd could largely due to the “play safe” strategy- Lewis has taken many risky overtakes to get up to 3rd, all that could come to an end on just a false move for that 2nd position, and I glad that the team kept to that and secured the points rather than risking it all, nevertheless, a perfect finish for the Brit Rookie as well.

Whether you say Fernando Alonso deserves the race title today is very much open to comments by many. The facts are, despite an engine failure on qualitfying and starting 15th on the grid, it’s not small feat to find yourself slowing inching up to pole and getting the checkered flag, impressive on it’s own. After all he has the 2005 and 2006 championships under his belt, so that is still something not too far fetched and the very large possibility of a win by him as well. The renault team was one the only few who openly came to Singapore early to test out the race, they have a considerable amount of pre-race preparation even before the season started, so it’s only deserving that I say, Fernando to take the chequered flag for Formula 1 first night race.

Now as you can hear all the contractors packing and cleaning up the place overnight for the road opening tomorrow, it will be a year before the race comes back to Singapore, for now, its Fuji speedway (Japan) to go next.

Drivers/teams who did not finish

Interesting notes of the race:

• Various cutting of the chicane at the 1st lap (IMG Renault, Panasonic) – Various pit penalties metted out
• AT&T Williams (Nakajima)- Wheel lock on brake first spectacle and tire flattening smokes
• First crash Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA) Renault after making the Suntec straight- notoriously bumpy area at the junction
• Impromptu pitstops- Ferrari pit-crew failure to disengage fuel line, ripped from station and crew injured as Massa leaves and as Kimi enters
• Impromptu pitstops- Various pit drive through penalties and pit (hold) penalties
• Rubens Barrichello (Honda) – Engine failure, retires in pits
• Mark Webber (Redbull)- Engine failure, retires in pits
• Jarno Trulli (Toyota)- Transmission/engine problem crawling on track, retires in pits
• Minor Fuel hose problem for the Red Bull Team (Coulthard) at the pits, car stopped in time and not ripped off like the Ferrari’s
• Felipe Massa (Ferrari)- Skids trying to overtake Jarno crawling at the floating platform, spins into barriers (No damage) spilling accumated water from barrir onto track
• Adrian Sutil (Force India)- Crashes right into the barrier which Massa knocked into, just seconds after Massa left the area
• Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) Crashes at the Suntec straight- notoriously bumpy corner

Current Driver standings and Constructors on the click:

I believe nobody is any stranger to Toyota, rightly or wrongly, can be is widely considered the greenest automaker. For automotive news, the company hopes to solidify its hold on the title and move beyond oil through a series of plans to produce cleaner, more efficient cars beginning with a plug-in hybrid which we can see rolling on our streets by 2010. Well so now goes my plans for a plug-on Smart Fortwo.

“Without focusing on measures to address global warming and energy issues, there can be no future for our auto business,” Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters in Tokyo, adding, “Our view is that oil production will peak in the near future. We need to develop power trains for alternative energy sources.”

Sometimes old habits are quite hard to kick- That’s not to say the oil wells will run dry anytime soon or the bulk of Toyota’s cars won’t rely upon internal combustion for many years to come. “People often ask us whether the vehicles of the future will be hybrid vehicles or clean diesel cars or electric vehicles,” Watanabe said. “Our answer is that it will not be one technology because energy situations vary from one market to another.” So don’t expect to drive pass laughing at people at the pumps for now…

On the forefront into developing better and more efficient hybrid technology, Toyota is joining longtime battery partner Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. in launching a program to develop batteries it says will outperform lithium-ion batteries. With these plans ahead, Toyota will introduce hybrid versions of every car in its line-up, in other words, having hybrid as a standard component in all Toyota vehicles, private commercial etc. We will only see that sometime between 2020 and 2029 as it is being progressively introduced.

Though I have a whack more for continental cars more than Japanese tuner cars, the recent formula tuner drift held on April 27 was a sold out crowd at the Changi exhibition center, with Team USA’s Ryuji Miki taking the crown in his RX-7. You can check out more on their site at www.formuladrift.com.sg.

So the Japanese who started the drift craze will more or less be the naturals in the field (with the exception of tofu delivery on Akina), here is a small short video of zen in appreciation to just what they do as a pastime back in Japan ontop of the quickest way of turning rubber into smoke:

Well, we’ve seen self parking cars in the Lexus IS series, and Volkwagen with their “Park Assist”, in its Touran, Tiguan, Passat and Passat estate to help drivers parallel park. Now Volkswagen is presenting the next evolution of self parking cars with it’s new “Park Assist Vision”. Now parking a car out of it will definitely turn heads!

Source: VW Release

Fast and Furious (FF) 3 was Tokyo Drift and there is a 2009 sequel coming up right too, was actually in the theaters. Unlike the old dumpy FF2 which was descent and the given fact that FF3 simply screwed up the whole series, FF4 will feature the original cast from FF, well most of them… Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and some new ones. One of the featured cars in the show will be the BMW E92 or the 335 we mostly come to know it as and it officially becomes a Ricer in Fast and Furious 4!

Apparently news of the confirmation of the movie was revealed after some spy shots of filming and the sudden concentration of few tuner vehicles out of the blue. I hope this 4th series won’t be as disappointing as the rest, only time will tell when it hits the silver screen 2009.

For upcoming movies, “21″ looks kind of a nice show with a nice twist of Harvard grade students versus the Casino system- perfect entry movie for “who knows what will happen” with our textbook stricken students and upcoming IR Casino developments.

What do you get when you cross the front of a Liana and the rear a Chrysler Grand Voyager? You get the 2008 Honda Odyssey Touring. Contrary to the 2007’s lower and more sportier Odyssey, the 2008 model had definitely much grown up with more practically as a family MPVs it provides for. Honda’s incrementalist approach to improving its models continues unabated – with a facelift to match it with the new similarly styled Accord.

It seems that the Stream and Airwave models in Singapore will still continue as the lower end MPVs. And while this new this look will come much of a disappointment who those who fell for the 2007 Odyssey looks “with the unmatchable sports handling from an MVP”, it’s time Honda set it crosshairs straight on their flagship people-carrier model to achieve what MVPs are built for – for the down to earth and practical family people.

Practically comes with practical looks – off with the flashy low profiles and glaring front headlamps in place of more conservative looking face which won’t give your children the chills when come to. But the main difference is the engine of the Odyssey EX-L, spotting a more fuel-efficient, 3.5-liter V6 Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) i-VTEC powerplant. This deactivate two or three of its six cylinders when they’re not needed, such as during cruising or deceleration.

The Odyssey comes filled with toys too, with new Bluetooth HandsFreeLink and onboard Navigation just to name afew. Throw the baby in reverse and see the rear-view mirror come to life with video feed from the rear camera display, with memory-linked side mirrors with tilt function.

The 2008 Honda Odyssey Press Release at the bump:
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