Motoring May 1, 2020
DETAILS
P18
McLaren SENNA
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Farming Motoring
Friday, May 1, 2020
www.guardianonline.co.nz
McLaren’s poster boy
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t’s been said time and time again; New Zealand packs an insane amount of incredible supercars and race cars onto our two tiny islands. For a population of just over five million, based at the bottom of the world, the number of weird and/or rare machinery that resides here is a little bit unbelievable. And that includes the number of McLaren Sennas that call this country home. The Senna is McLaren’s Ultimate Series poster-boy. It’s more track orientated than most hypercar rivals, with its 588kW of power and 800Nm of torque glued to the road with arguably the most complex collection of aerodynamic aids attached to any production car sold today. And, despite having over 800kg of downforce pushing down on its four wheels (effective once it hits 250km/h, anyway), it can still hit 100km/h in around 2.8 seconds and 200km/h in 6.8 seconds. This nicely specified 2018 Senna has popped up for sale in Auckland, priced at a cool $1,699,995. Originally sold in the UK, it’s been barely driven ... as indicated by the 500km on the odometer. The Senna’s spec is probably its most
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interesting aspect. This one has been pored over by McLaren’s tuning arm MSO. It comes in the MSO-exclusive Amethyst Black with McLaren Orange highlights. MSO also put in the outlines of Monaco and Interlagos on the two rear-wing end
rom Hiroshima cork producer to global car manufacturer, 2020 sees Mazda celebrate a century of innovation, pioneering design and engineering success. One hundred years of business that has also seen a fair share of records achieved by Mazda over the course of its vibrant history. Even Mazda’s first passenger car created a record-breaking sales impression when it was launched in 1960. Arriving just as the Sixties economic boom saw the Japanese public embracing car ownership, the Mazda R360’s arrival on the Japanese Kei Car micro car marketplace was a huge success with charming 2+2 coupe capturing 65 per cent share of Japan’s flourishing microcar segment in 1960, which accounted for 15 per cent of the entire Japanese car market. By 1963 Mazda’s cumulative global production reached one million vehicles, while by 1972 it was five million units. As global sales grew through the 70s and 80s, it was a car launched at the end of Mazda’s third decade of car production that would claim countless sales records across the world – an amazing achievement for a car launched into an automotive sector other manufacturers had abandoned. However, Mazda’s defy-convention approach saw it rekindle the affordable rear-wheel drive sports car, and inspired by the classic British roadsters of the previous decades, the Mazda MX-5 arrived at the 1989 Chicago Motor Show and was an instant sales success. From its launch in 1989 until today, across four-generations, the Mazda MX-5 has remained one of the world’s most loved drivers’ cars, and in the year 2000 with 532,000 global sales, Mazda’s most famous sports car was official recognised by the Guinness World Record body as the world’s best-selling two-seater roadster, a title it has retained to this day.
plates. Other MSO goodies include the orange seat-belts, carbon-fibre sills, and embossed head rests. While it is by far the most expensive vehicle listed on the DRIVEN website today, the striking black and orange Senna isn’t
the priciest seen on the site. It’s a touch over $100,000 cheaper than the 2019 Senna listed last year by McLaren Auckand. In that case, it was a brand-new vehicle with just 10 delivery kilometres.
By 2016 the one-millionth MX-5, rolled off the assembly line at Ujina Plant No. 1 in Hiroshima and the Soul Red soft-top then embarked on a world tour during which it would collect the signatures of around 200,000 fans. Even better, MX-5 owners and fans gained their own Guinness World Record when in 2013 a parade of 683 MX-5s in the Netherlands set the record for the largest parade of Mazda cars, while in 2014 American Mazda fans broke the world record for most MX-5s at any single event as 1934 roadsters attended a car show at the Mazda Raceway in Salinas, California. However, it isn’t just the popularity of the Mazda MX-5 that’s marked out in sales records, Mazda’s development of the rotary engine set it apart from the rest of the rest of the automotive industry. Launched in 1967, the Mazda Cosmo was the firm’s first production rotary engined car and by 1986 total Mazda production of rotary powered vehicles had reached 1.5 million, Mazda’s pretty little R360 Coupe hit the market in 1960, while the flagship is now the stylish MX-5, which remains the world’s best-selling two-seater roadster. setting records for manufacturing this unique type of engine. Mazda’s famous rotary also helped the Japanese firm to a host of its speed and competition records, from powering a Mazda RX-7 to become the first Japanese car to win the Spa 24 Hour Race in 1981 to achieving more than 100 class victories in IMSA sportscar racing in the US. By 2018 another production milestone was reached with the 50 millionth Japanese-built Mazda and more production landmarks are inevitable. And finally as Mazda looks the next century of records and to the future of sustainable vehicles, in 2019 it launched the world’s first commercially available compression-ignition petrol engine – Skyactiv-X. Combining the outstanding real-world fuel efficiency of a diesel with the smooth, free-revving nature and responsiveness of a Skyactiv-G petrol powerplant, it is offered in both the Mazda3 and the Mazda CX-30.
www.guardianonline.co.nz
Friday, May 1, 2020
19
Vanguard - but which one? Bernard Egan MOTORING
M
aurie Allan found the answer to a recent Test Yourself question in this newspaper rather intriguing. Question – which car maker produces a model called the Vanguard? Answer – Toyota. Maurie – and no doubt other readers – remember Vanguard as a renowned and popular brand of English vehicle built by the Standard Vanguard Company in years gone by. The Standard Motor Company, which began life in Coventry, England in 1903, produced a range of stylish often sporting models. And some small saloons like the Standard 8 referred to by our friend Grahame Kelly in a Tale from the Back Seat last Wednesday. The Standard Vanguard was introduced at the Brussels Motor Show in 1948. It’s a make which has special significance for Maurie. The late Eric Wilkinson had the local Standard Vanguard agency, and Maurie was his first apprentice. Eric Wilkinson took great pride in his premises and instilled in his staff the need to keep the workshop and lube bay clean and tidy. Maurie says “You could have eaten your lunch off the floor in the lube bay”. In the days before the current Health and Safety regulations which limit access to workplaces, Eric would welcome customers into the workshop to see their vehicles being serviced. Over the years Eric owned a variety of cars produced by the company he represented. All his personal cars were immaculately maintained. On at least one occasion Eric successfully competed in the New Zealand Mobil Gas Economy Run, driving a Vanguard. And he knew a fair bit about engine performance and economy. Preparing for economy runs, competitors often test a car by seeing how far it would run on a measured amount of fuel. Maurie Allan remembers the story of a client who was unhappy with the fuel consumption of his vehicle. Tests undertaken at Wilkinson’s Garage including the use of a measure of fuel indicated everything was as it should be, and no-one could understand why the car was using more fuel than it should.
The Triumph TR2 utilised the Vanguard’s versatile 4-cylinder motor.
The Standard Vanguard; eventually discontinued in 1963. The car was booked in again, and it was arranged for the client’s wife to deliver it and then be driven home with the car then being brought back to the workshop. Maurie says the usual practice was for the client to drive the car home, which meant the staff member, in this case Eric himself, would know the correct route and get an idea of how the car was been driven. They hadn’t moved far before Eric realised why the car was using much more fuel than it should. It was in the days of manual chokes. The lady got behind the wheel, pulled out the choke – and hung her handbag on it. The choke never got pushed in. Taken aback and somewhat amazed, Eric asked if she always did that and the lady replied “Yes, I’ve got to have something to hang my handbag on, and this is ideal”. She may have even gone on to say she thought that was what it was for! Economy issued solved! Maurie says Vanguards were great cars, and the 4-cylinder engines were extremely robust. Those engines were not only used in Vanguard cars. In enhanced form they powered some models
of Triumph TR sports cars, and were also the power plants in the famous Ferguson tractor. Sir Edmund Hillary used Ferguson tractors on his 1958 trek to the South Pole. That was the first overland expedition since Scott in 1912, and the first to reach the South Pole in motor vehicles. The name of the Standard Vanguard recalled HMS Vanguard, the last of the British Navy’s battleships. Permission to use the name involved Standard in extensive negotiations with senior Royal Navy personnel. During the fifteen year period in which they were produced, Vanguards bore various model names like the Ensign, Vignale and Sportsman. The range included station wagons and a ute. Standard Vanguard was possibly the first
British manufacture to offer a diesel motor in a saloon. Overdrive became an option. By 1963 both the Standard and Vanguard names were discontinued. Forerunner to the Triumph 2000, the last Standard Vanguard model was the Vanguard Six. Maurie retains his interest in automobiles. Some years ago he restored a Maxwell, which he and his late wife Chris motored extensively; these days he is often a passenger on Vintage Car Club runs, sometimes with daughter and son-in-law Pauline and Colin Read. While the answer to the quiz question came as a bit of a surprise to Maurie Allan, it also brought back good memories of a renowned car and of a great place to have worked, and he’s glad the name lives on.
Toyota’s Vanguard was the one required in the Guardian’s quiz question.
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