Aussie Motoring

After holding down third place for most of the race at Monaco Mark Webber’s Williams burst into flames as he approached the first corner on lap 49. An exhaust failure is said to be the cause of the fire.

You can read a full report of the race here

Aussie Mark Webber is sitting on the front row of the grid at Monaco after Michael Schumacher tried to pull an unbelievable stunt that would have seen all other drivers at least considerably slower than him in qualifying.

Let’s hope that Mark Webber’s car can hold together for the full race because he certainly has the ability to win.

For the full story on Schumacher’s incredible lack of sportsmanship go to the ABC report here

Over the last little while Aussie Motoring has been reporting on some of the ways that GM in the US has been struggling to make a profit. I guess that might give you the idea that GM is the only one of the big car manufacturers who is really having a problem but that is definitely not the case.

Ford in the US is also struggling to stay afloat and some analysts suggest that it’s only their ‘truck’ division - and the F series in particular that are keeping them in business.

Just how desperate they are can be seen from a peek inside their truck division’s war room. You can get that peek at “Ford’s War Room Not a Substitute For Judgement“. It makes interesting reading and gives a rare insight into just how Ford sees its customers.

Transport for London - the intergrated body responsible for London’s transport system is invetigated technology that will automatically limit a vehicle’s speed to whatever the speed limit might be in a given area.

I wonder how long it will be before technology like that will start to appear on Australian roads.

It’s been quite some time since Fiat sold anything smaller than a truck in Australia and that’s hardly surprising since Fiat almost disappeared in a cloud of financial dust back in 2003.

So bad did their future look back then that General Motors paid a cool $2 billion to buy their way out of an agreement they had with Fiat dating back to 2000. Perhaps now GM might be wishing that they had a little more faith in Fiat because, after five straight years of financial losses, the company is about to post a substantial operating profit.

Not only is Fiat about to post a profit but financial analysts are suggesting that there are even better times ahead. And those good times are, in part, due to this car:

the Fiat Punto.

If you can cast your mind back to the 1950s you’ll see that there is a certain amount of history in that small car and it’s helping Fiat back onto the road to recovery.

It may be sometime before we see Fiat back in Australia but they will certainly add interest to the local motoring scene if they do return.

I come from back in the time when any self respecting Aussie teenager spent Saturday’s working on his car. Back then a dual throat Webber was a great start to turning a placid little Mini into a fire-breathing monster and if your exhaust pipe wasn’t wider than the funnel on the Manly ferry you were inferior.

It’s easy to think that those days are gone now that we have let computers come between drivers and their cars. I mean how the heck to you turn something like a Prius into a machine that will drop wheelies in all forward gears?

Well perhaps they haven’t gone away after all and in a world of high-tech cars we know have geeks instead of the petrol-heads of old.

These days it’s not about tuning your carbies and playing with the timing - it’s all about tweaking your onboard computers and it’s a world where geeks rule. These days you don’t hot up your Prius - you hack it instead and hacking your Prius has become a mandatory for any self-respecting geek.

That’s a title that has long been held by American giant - General Motors - but experts suggest that Toyota is about to claim the title from the ailing American giant.

In America GM continues to see sales plummet while Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Kia all continue to post improved sale figures month after month.

There seems to be an interesting parallel developing between Mitsubishi Australia and GM. Here in Australia Mitsubishi pinned their hopes of recovering from their downward spiral on the Mitsubishi 380 - a sedan that held a lot of promise but failed to inspire the motoring public.

In the US GM is pinning their hopes on the new Saturn Aura - a mid-sized sedan with European overtones

The new Saturn will come with a 252 horspower 3.6 litre V6 coupled to a 6 speed automatic transmission with gear selection available on the steering wheel.

Other features include leather upholstery, optional 4 pane sunroof, remote vehicle start, 8-way adjustable driver’s seat and 6-way adjustable passenger seat, traction control and rear seat audio controls with 2 sets of wireless headphones.

Whether or not this is the car the American motoring public want only time will tell. The vehicle goes on sale on July 24.

Unfortunately it’s not available in Australia but this neat little machine - the Eos is set to hit the US showrooms at the end of the northern summer. The Eos features a three-panel roof that transforms a hardtop coupe - complete with sunroof - into an open convertible.

The Eos will come with a choice of two engines:

The 2 litre 4 cylinder turbo that produces 200 horspower and starts at $27,990 and

The 3.2 litred V6 that produces 250 horspower and starts at $36,850

Both versions are available with a range of options that include 12-way power drivers seat, heated front seats and washer nozzles, multi-function steering wheel, rain sensing wipers, satellite radio, DVD navigation system and park distance control - just to name a few.

It will be interesting to watch the sales of this car because Chrysler have been trying to sell the Crossfire - a very similar vehicle built by Karmann in Germany - for several years and last year had to resort to trying to sell old stock through an online discount site.

Green diesel production begins in Queensland

Queensland’s first commercial ‘Green’ diesel production facility opened its doors today at Narangba.

The Eco Tech Biodiesel Plant will have a production capability of 30 million litres of biodiesel per annum, growing to an additional capacity of 75 million litres once at full production.

Launching the new facility, Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for State Development, Trade and Innovation Anna Bligh said its establishment was a landmark for the future of Queensland’s sustainable, alternative fuels industry.

She said the Queensland Government was committed to the development of a renewable fuels industry, based upon ethanol and biodiesel, to help reduce the State’s reliance on petroleum.

“With growing consumer concern about climate change and the rising price of fuel and the world’s dwindling oil supplies, Queensland needs to position itself to develop a viable industry here that will meet demand while at the same time protecting our natural environment,” Ms Bligh said.

Biodiesel is made from natural renewable sources and is produced from a reaction of vegetable oil or animal fat mixed with alcohol and can be blended at almost any ratio with petroleum-based diesel. The most common blends are B5, a mix of 5 percent biodiesel and 95 percent petroleum diesel and B20, a mix of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel.

Biodiesel is considered more environmentally friendly than petroleum diesel as it emits significantly less greenhouse gas, is biodegradable, non toxic and sulphur free.

“As the new Narangba plant uses tallow to produce its biodiesel, our meat industry will also be a big winner here,” Ms Bligh said.

“The plant will require 28,000 tonnes of tallow to meet its initial production demands, providing an important new opportunity for local tallow producers.”

Ms Bligh said the Government was currently in the process of developing an alternative fuels policy, which includes an Industry Action Plan for biodiesel.

“The alternative fuels policy and Biodiesel Industry Action Plan will build on the Government’s efforts to develop a State-based ethanol industry.

“As part of our $7.3 million dollar Queensland Ethanol Industry Action Plan, we recently launched a major marketing campaign to educate Queensland motorists about the benefits of using ethanol blended fuels and to dispel the many myths surrounding the use of ethanol.”

She said the Government was also backing biodiesel trials in Brisbane and on the SunshineCoast to examine its performance.

“Overseas, biodiesel is a big industry, with increasing demand in the United States and Europe. And growth in demand for diesel in Queensland is nearly twice that of petrol at around 4 percent per annum,” she said.

“Large diesel users, such as the mining, agriculture and road/rail freight industries, are particularly attractive markets for biodiesel.

“Biodiesel, particularly at higher level blends, is also an attractive fuel option for use in environmentally sensitive areas, like national parks and marine environments, due to is relative low toxicity and biodegradability.”

Eco Tech Bio Diesel is a joint venture between Australia’s largest independent petroleum producer, Gull Petroleum, and a group of independent businessmen.

The Western Australian-based Gull Petroleum was the first retailer in Australia to offer biodiesel to motorists.

Besides its new plant at Narangba, Gull also recently announced plans to develop a biodiesel facility in Western Australia.

Here in Australia many of the television ads for motor vehicles that we are force fed are … well … basically dull, boring rubbish.

But things are a little different overseas where a television ad for the latest Toyota RAV4 looks something like this

Before you watch it just be warned - don’t have any food or drink in your mouth while it’s playing - Aussie Motoring will take no responsibility if you should die laughing