On the Road

After a week and a half of overseas driving, I missed a few things about Singapore but one thing I didn’t miss were the local drivers. For one thing, it was superbly refreshing to drive without being constantly tail-gated, which is perhaps consistently the biggest driving sin committed by Singaporean drivers.

We have it good here – Singapore’s roads are generally in great condition and we don’t have to put up with things like ice, snow, large animals jumping out of hedges, hurricanes or speeding-obsessed policemen. Perhaps not having to worry about things like that has made people here deteriorate at the helm.

To quote an extremely experienced driving companion, “Singaporeans simply don’t know any better, which is why they go overseas and get themselves killed on foreign roads.” Ouch.

I’ve probably mentioned it before, but hey, if it helps make a few people change their ways, then it’s worth it.

And now I’ll let you in on the secret: how to avoid avoid the vast majority of road accidents, barring being rammed into by tail-gaters, drunkards or things outside of your control (5-10 percent, on any given day).

The idea is, you can logically expect to avoid most accidents if you don’t crash into anything. And you can logically expect to not crash into anything by looking ahead of you and adjusting your speed accordingly. So if you give your constant attention (and not many do) to what’s coming up ahead, you can thus expect to avoid almost any obstacle.

Formula One driver Nick Heidfeld was asked about the best driving advice to give anyone. He said, “Always keep a safe distance and look far ahead.” Simple.

Seeing as to how people can get into five car pile-ups on a two-lane road with a 70km/h speed limit, let alone the highway, more need to take this advice to heart. It’s really as easy as that.

Drive safe!

Toyota – safe, reliable, family-man, inexpensive, buy and forget, appliance-like, the default choice.

That’s more or less been the mantra for Toyota, and its dealer here Borneo Motors, for a long time. Why? It’s because of these qualities that Toyota cars have consistently been best-sellers here, and around the world, for the longest time.

But the competition is catching up – most notably Kia and Hyundai, who are now offering exciting lifestyle products like the Kia Koup coupe, and funky Soul hatchback. Overseas Hyundai has its Genesis coupe, a rear-wheel drive sports car which has been getting rave reviews from the overseas press.

Delivering products people expect is a good middle ground to hold, but as the recession and the destruction of the U.S. pickup truck market shows, it’s those who make the trends (or ‘niches equal riches’) that lead.

After all, Toyota’s official line-up here has four (count ‘em) mu

lti-purpose vehicles (MPVs) to choose from, and the last wholly-novel sports car from the company was the MR-S roadster released nine years ago. Where’s the excitement, you might ask?

There’s hope for the world’s biggest car company though. Akio Toyoda – the recently-installed president of Toyota is the grandson of its founder and a racing fanatic. He’s even taken part in the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring.

And the first fruits of his regime are showing already:

At the Tokyo Motorshow, Toyota unveiled its Lexus LFA supercar (a carbonfibre-bodied beauty with a 500bhp V10 engine, perhaps Japan’s first true exotic sports car) and, in concept form, the FT-86, successor to the AE 86 Corolla of manga fame.

It’s a welcome change for a brand that has been dying for some non-familial excitement. Toyota is a leader in more staid pursuits like manufacturing processes and hybrids, but here’s to it getting its mojo back in a big way.

…unless it happens to be the Grand Prix weekend.

One always dreams of meeting his or her heroes, and with that comes a slight fear of them not meeting expectations. Well, everyone is human, but I found out in a rather different manner when Formula One rolled into town.

I attended a Johnnie Walker event, and because it was a hot day I visited the john (ha ha) more than once. The second time I went some guy in a racing suit lined up one urinal away and I wondered which nuthouse was this, and who does he think he is before realising it was 1998-99 world champion Mika Hakkinen.

In his case there was no sense of disappointment (well maybe some weirdness) as I was a passenger with him. You can read about that exciting trip here.

That wasn’t all because on Saturday I happened to visit the toilet of the media centre at the Paddock and who should I bump into on the way out but another world champion – this time Austrian Niki Lauda (1975,77 and 84).

Sadly being in a toilet leaves little scope for talk – it’s a guy thing. And besides, it would be weird.

I did more walking and less drinking the rest of the weekend, so my luck held up and I also spotted Damon Hill (1996), Jacques Villeneuve (1997) and Jackie Stewart (1969,71,73) – all outside of a lavatory this time.

Sir Jackie Stewart

In some cases I got an autograph  and a quick chat, but that’s the benefit of being a motorsport fan and history buff I guess – leave the squabbling over Lewis to other people.

These are the people who drove the Nurburgring in the fog, and returned from the brink of death (literally) to win championships and a thousand other mad things.

Why go current when there are still legends around?

There’s been a lot of vitriol exchanged between cyclists and motorists (and even between different kinds of motorists, but that’s a different story), not just here but around the world.

A celebrity chef in the UK just got slammed for creeping up on cyclists with an electric car and scaring them silly – certainly not behaviour to be condoned, but the message behind it is clear.

I’m an occasional cyclist myself, but I keep mostly to park connectors and avoid riding on the street – call it a holdover from motorcycling, where the mentality that keeps you alive is the one that says everyone else on the road is a homicidal maniac.

But I also have seen professional-looking cyclists in a huge peleton on public roads, which is honestly, shameful behaviour. Bicycles aren’t paying road tax, and they’re not allowed on the footpath, so it’s kind of an in-between issue here, but taking up whole lanes of traffic is just silly, dangerous and bound to cause more ill will.

People who behave without thinking of others are always infuriating. But whether its a group of cyclists, an illegal U-turner or a taxi who decides the best place to pick up a fare is the middle of the street, we always have to keep the safety of everyone else in mind.

We return to our inquiry on whether the Nissan GT-R, a super-fast technological marvel, is a supercar in the classical sense of the word.

Helping us in this quest, if you read last week’s edition of Weekend Living – Car, was being able to take a (very) short spin in the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni awhile back (read about it here). It’s a Lamborghini in the vein of the old, pre-Audi/VW days, with a little more excitement and rawness to it. Unlike the GT-R and normal Gallardo it doesn’t have all-wheel drive, only the rear wheels are driven.

And now having seen the other side of the story, I think yes, the Nissan GT-R is definitely a supercar. Purists (or the very rich) might not agree, but there is simply no arguing with the design, performance and, most important, the way it makes you feel. With the Lamborghini you get a more recognition on the street for sure and it’s as much a recognition of the Italian design and drama as it is the big price tag.  But loud engine and ferocious gearshifts aside, very little separates the two.

What I like best about the GT-R is the price, $297,500 with COE – it’s relatively inexpensive (not that I could ever afford one) because all the cars which offer similar performance cost three to five times as much. You’d have enough to buy a nice condo with the change leftover from a Ferrari F430 Scuderia, for example…

The GT-R’s over-efficiency, as nay-sayers see it, reminds me of another lesson from history: in 1969, Honda launched its CB750 motorcycle which, like the GT-R, forced the whole  industry to relook things.

Great acceleration, brakes, handling, a 200km/h top speed – exhilarating figures for the era, and it was labelled a superbike. 40 years on, it’s hailed as a classic, and I suspect the GT-R will have a similar fate.

Tags: CB750, GT-R, Honda, Lamborghini, Nissan, superbike, supercar

Well finally the Nissan GT-R has arrived through official channels (dealer Tan Chong Motor Sales), almost two years after it’s Japanese world in the end of ‘07.

You’ve surely read the copious amounts of literature on the nature of Godzilla, and having test driven it (read the full review in the Car section), we can say it’s mostly true: it’s as fast as blue blazes and flexible too, so you can drive it like a complete nutbag or a nun if the mood so strikes.

Godzilla!

But the main debate is whether the GT-R has a soul – some motoring writers have criticised it as being simply too efficient and clinical.

Sure it uses technology to go fast – lots of engine electronics, a twin-turbo 3.8-litre V6, Nissan’s super-advanced ATTESA-ETS all-wheel drive system, a dual-clutch gearbox that sits in the rear.

But that’s like saying an F-16 isn’t as good as an F-15 because it uses fly-by-wire instead of hydraulics. What’s more important, and this goes beyond pedantic thinking, is if it provides that sense of control coupled with edginess – it’s arguable that the supercar patina is acquired by crashing!

For example, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X  is a very similar car (turbo engine, AWD, smarter than your average bear electronics) and undoubtedly quick. But driving it one gets a sense of being mediated by the computer.

The GT-R provides a lot more directness, maybe because it’s smarter, but still the electronics also won’t catch you all the time. It’s drivetrain also has a rear-wheel bias so it feels like a traditional supercar.

We’ll be sampling something else in the coming week that’ll help put some perspective on things. All I can say for now is, it’s Italian.

But in the mean time what do you think makes the soul of a supercar?

Design? Racing heritage? The sense of being flung into a tree at any moment? A tendency to rust? The complete lack of civil amenities? Should a supercar be about mere, brute performance or technical supremacy? Let us know!

Tags: Evolution, GT-R, Japan, Mitsubishi, Nissan, supercar

Our National Day themed story this weekend in Speed chronicles the life and times of Singaporean racing driver Ringo Chong, you can read it here.

Ringo of course, isn’t the only racer here, there are others like Melvin Choo, Denis Lian, Hafiz Koh and drift driver Ivan Lim who have achieved a fair measure of success.

What unites them, besides the obvious urge to drive cars very fast, is determination. Singapore, with its lack of proper road circuits, is not exactly the best place on earth if you’re ambition is to be a professional racing driver.

Singapore drivers in the 1980-90s, literally had nowhere else to race but the car park.

Motorsports, like music, did have promising roots.  But sadly, like rock music and discos, racing was outlawed here (in 1973, the year the last Upper Thomson GP was held) which more or less spelt its doom.

We are certainly making up for lost time though, with F1 finally here and the Changi Motorsports Hub on track for completion in 2011. The scale and speed of the IR’s construction shows just how much Singapore can accomplish when it really wants to.

Hopefully it’ll signal an new era and a burgeoning motorsports industry. But in the meantime, to those who have fought hard and long to enjoy motorsports here, we salute you!

Tags: drivers, motorsports, Ringo Chong, Singapore

Did you know that speed regulating strips are dangerous?

Yep, you know the kind, those more numerous, shorter versions of the ’sleeping policeman’ (more like a sleeping Gordon Sumner I say. Inside joke, prizes for guessing.) that make you talk funny:

“Hey Jim, what kind of fa-uh-uh-uh-uh-ah-ah…”

Evidence? Last Sunday’s MotoGP race at Donington Park, England, the race winner being not Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo or Valentino Rossi but the second Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso. It was raining lightly at, as it so often is in England, but not so heavy as to warrant rain tyres i.e. a rider’s worst nightmare.

Lorenzo and Toni Elias were challenging for the lead at one point in time but were taken down by white lines on the track kerbing.

Advanced riding clinics often tell riders to avoid these white lines because they’re far more slippery than concrete. And with two postcard-sized patches being all the contact a bike has with the road, losing traction even for a split second is disastrous.

It also highlights another factor about circuit racing (take note wannabe motorcycle street racers): it’s safer than riding on the street. Rossi himself has said he doesn’t dare hop on a scooter and pop down to the shops for stuff because on the road, a rider has far less control over other factors than he would on a circuit. And Rossi echoes the sentiments of other top-level bike racers. They might do 290km/h in a race, but not even 0km/h on the road!

Watch the line Vale!

And avoiding white lines isn’t just advice for bikers either. In wet conditions (or even dry ones) sometimes all that’s needed for a complete loss of traction is an initial upset – which white lines can provide.

But while white lines are a possible danger, speeding will put in a lot more trouble than you can get out of a lot quicker than they can, so above all, ride or drive with a cool head and stay safe.

Tags: Donington, MotoGP, Rossi, safety, traction, white lines

I actually didn’t plan to write about Formula One again but the unexpected victory of Mark Webber I simply had to mention. I’ve always preferred to support underdogs, those whom circumstances rather than skill let down – Kimi Raikkonen before his ‘07 championship was another.

130 GPs is a long time to wait for victory (a new record too, if I’m not wrong) and Webber fully deserves it. Watching him overcome a drive-through penalty and have a little luck fall his way via people impeding Barrichello had me off my seat for the first time this season.

On the subject of firsts though, I also want to talk about my first urban spin in a plug-in electric vehicle, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV – you can read more about it in this weekend’s Speed pages.

It’s basically a version of the Mitsubishi i city car powered by a big lithium ion battery, recharged by plugging into a wall socket. Nifty. Find out more about it here (along with cute paper craft models for the deft of hand).

While I’ve tried out fuel-cell and plug-in electric vehicles before, I’ve never done so in real life conditions or for anything longer than a spin around the block.

I don’t want to repeat too much of what I said, but the bottom line is the i-MiEV is great fun to drive despite the fact that the batteries run out very quickly (it took me only 70km to go from 3/4 til a recharge reminded popped up, quoted range is 160km).

Complete non-pollution aside, my mind couldn’t stop thinking what if I got stranded by the road with no juice left since you can’t siphon a charge like gasoline.

Problems like these (and how flat-dwellers will charge their EVs) is what the recently set-up government task force is working on.

But even with those surmounted, some argue that EVs merely shift the load from burning fuel on the spot to power stations – if electricity isn’t cleanly produced then it’s still polluting in the end.

Until mankind masters cold fusion or something, there won’t be a magic bullet for energy issues. So despite the appeal of EVs, petrol-heads needn’t worry as the internal combustion engine will be around as part of future mobility options for a long time to come.

Tags: electric cars, i, Mitsubishi MiEV, Webber

Of course there never is really any resolution to arguments like these. It’s like arguing whether Schumacher or Senna was the better world champ – there might never be a definitive answer but getting there is half the fun.

But here are my two reasons as to why two-wheels are better than four:

1. Skill is required to survive

To put it rather brutally, in order to enjoy a long and safe riding career you need to have lots of luck and lots of skill because if you don’t, you’ll have to give up riding, whether by choice (scare the bejeezus out of yourself) or circumstance (accident, or death).

Everyone runs out of luck sooner or later, while most people get more skilled the more they ride. Skill lets you avoid the accidents you can anticipate, which is 95 percent of them. Luck (and safety gear) lets you survive the ones you can’t.

So by way of survival of the fittest, the average biker is inherently more skilled than the average driver.

2. Bikers usually want to improve

Read any motorcycle magazines lately?

If you do, you’ll notice tag lines like these: ‘Ride better today’, ‘Better cornering in 10 easy steps’, ‘Ride like Rossi – we show you how’. This isn’t just for racing bravado, most motorcyclists are aware of point number one, and actively try to improve their skills. When’s the last time you tried to actively improve your driving skills?

I could go on but I’m aiming to keep this post short. The important thing to take away though, is that driving and riding are both skills that can be improved daily by applying yourself no matter who you are or what you drive.

Try it. It could save your life, or someone else’s some day.

But to lay rest to the argument, Senna was the better champion and getting there is more always more fun on a bike.

Tags: motorcycling, road safety, skills