February 18, 2021
THE WITNESS
Expected growth ‘hides real downturns’
Binder ready for more podiums KTM Factory Racing unveiled the KTM RC16 colours for the 2021 MotoGP FIM World Championship, to be ridden by Brad Binder (South African, 25) and Miguel Oliveira (Portuguese, 26) and Tech3 KTM Factory Racing’s Danilo Petrucci (Italian, 30) and Iker Lecuona (Spanish, 21). Asked if KTM was ready for a championship challenge, Binder, who won the MotoGP opener in Brno last year, said, ‘I feel that we have a really, really strong package. We are in a good direction and I am superexcited to get back on the bike this year.’
KZN ‘picnic rallies’ restart with a challenging route ALWYN VILJOEN Rally enthusiasts from the KZN Midlands and greater Durban will host the first “picnic rally” of the year near Dalton on Saturday, February 27, and they invite all fellow “rally addicts” to join the fun. Course marker Dean Redelinghuys told Witness Wheels the route of the year’s first rally is a bit more challenging than the usual fast, sweeping runs the picnic rallies have become known for. “We are hosted on the farm of Kurt Rencken, who has kindly graded the 11,6 km route through the cane fields and eucalyptus plantations. “Navigators can expect to call a few closing corners after fast, straight stretches, which will make the event more challenging than our usual route. Redelinghuys said no spectators are allowed in terms of lockdown
Dean Redelinghuis and navigator Johan de Goede in action at a 2020 “picnic rally” near Dalton. PHOTO: FILE regulations. Instead, the KZN Rally Club welcomes entries with stock standard cars in the Clubman class. “This category is popular with drivers on a tight budget, and next weekend we look forward to a dingdong battle between a little Daewoo Matis and a Fiat Uno, whose drivers
challenge drivers of other small cars to ‘come race’,” he said. Definitely not in stock standard cars will be KZN rally champions Brian and Ashley Scott in their VW Polo, multiple drifting champion Paolo Gouveia in his fire-breathing Skyline, and Redelinghuys with young navigator
Johann de Goede. Gouveia, who is also head mechanic of Toyota Gazoo’s multiple SA rally champion team, Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle, last year challenged all mechanics to compete in the picnic rallies. “Winners get only local bragging rights, but these picnic runs are formal racing events that gets seriously competitive,” Gouveia said. Redelinghuys said all entrants have to adhere to normal racing safety protocols as well as the new norm of social distancing. He warned new racers that rallying is addictive, but reassuringly said that the KZN picnic rallies is “the most affordable motorsport addiction one can suffer. Entry fee is only R350, which covers the marshalls, electronic time keeping, paramedic, firefighters and even a trophy if you win.” • Drivers keen to enter can contact Redelinghuys on 083 657 1526.
Hillclimb organisers announce move to September KNYSNA — Due to the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on sports events, and an expected third wave arriving, the organisers of the Simola Hillclimb have taken the difficult decision to postpone the event to September 2 to 5. “It is once again with a great deal of sadness that we have been forced to make this decision to postpone the event yet again,” said organiser Knysna Speed Festival. “We were all set to run the event on our traditional May dates, but having engaged with all stakeholders, medical experts and other event organisers, the consensus is that May poses too much of a risk for the health and
safety of attendees. With the uncertainty and possible risk impacts on our international competitors and visitors, they may still not be allowed to travel to the country in May, and our sponsor partners would not be able to host staff and guests if the health risk is high. “Indications from those consulted and experts around the globe is that with the roll-out of vaccinations, sports events should return to some form of normality from July, with spectators being allowed back to events. There is a strong belief that hosting the event in September will be possible, albeit possibly with certain constraints.
“As things stand there is no certainty as to what the situation will be in September, but unless we are back in a level five lockdown situation, or prevented from doing so by national government, we will definitely run the Hillclimb in some form. We are hoping that by then we can run it with at the very least a limited number of spectators.” On a positive note, the Simola Hillclimb and Monarch Events have partnered to develop the Virtual Simola Hillclimb over the past few months. The track has been scanned and digitised and will run on the Assetto Corsa platform. More details regarding these plans will follow
within the next few weeks. All spectator tickets purchased for the 2020 event will be carried over and be valid in September. The Hillclimb, held in Knysna over the past 12 years, has become South Africa’s premier motorsport lifestyle event with approximately 17 000 people from around the globe attending, and over 250 000 livestream views over the weekend. “We would like to thank our sponsor partners for their understanding and support in the situation we are faced with, and look forward to working with them to host a successful event in September,” added the organiser. — WR.
SA’s top vehicles revealed Public votes counter judges’ opinions ALWYN VILJOEN The annual Cars.co.za Consumer Awards announced the 13 category winners and the recipient of the Brand of the Year title of the 2020/21 on Monday night. Now in its sixth edition, lockdown limitations led to the WesBank-supported event being televised for the first time on DStv’s Motorsport HD channel. The #CarsAwards, which aims to provide buyers with a definitive list of vehicles that set the benchmark against their peers, this year judged vehicles from 18 brands. A judging panel evaluates the shortlisted vehicles, but unlike other car-of-theyear awards, their opinions were balanced by brand-specific after-sales data that incorporate customer feedback from thousands of South African vehicle owners. These owners’ view counted towards 50% of the final scores and this year feedback from from the Ownership Satisfaction Survey meant that the judges’ favourites did not win in four of the 13 categories — Budget Car, Family Car, Hot Hatch and Leisure Double Cab. Toyota won the Brand of the Year title for a third time and five of the 13 vehicle categories of the 2020/21 programme, followed by Volkswagen, which got three trophies. Although Toyota increased its historic
tally of category wins to nine, it still trailed Volkswagen’s total number of wins (19). Derivatives of the Volkswagen Polo, Golf GTI and T-Cross, as well as the Toyota Fortuner, defended their category victories from the 2019/20 programme. The Golf GTI racked up its 5th category win, while the Fortuner defended its title for an unprecedented third consecutive year. The award ceremony will be repeated on DStv’s 1Magic (103), as well as Motorsport HD (215). ALL THE WINNERS Budget Car – Toyota Starlet 1,4 XR Compact Hatch – Volkswagen Polo 1,0 TSI Comfortline Auto Compact Family Car – Volkswagen T-Cross 1,5 TSI 110kW R-Line Entry Level Car – Suzuki Swift 1,2 GL Family Car – Toyota RAV4 2,0 AWD GX-R Adventure SUV – Toyota Fortuner 2,8 GD-6 4x4 VX Auto Premium SUV – Land Rover Defender D240 HSE Executive SUV – Volvo XC60 D5 R-Design Crossover – Toyota C-HR 1,2T Luxury Premium Crossover – Volvo XC40 T5 AWD R-Design Hot hatch – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR Leisure Double Cab – Toyota Hilux 2,8 GD-6 4x4 Legend Auto Sports Executive – BMW 330is Edition
‘Kinetic batteries’ use flywheels Israeli company Chakratec has installed its latest flywheel charging station at a German hotel (pictured). The company calls their system ‘kinetic batteries’, as it uses a small electric motor to double duty, first to spin a 150kg flywheel to 18 000 revolutions per minute; and then to act as a generator in the other direction to fastcharge two small EVs to 80% as the flywheel spins down to 7 000 rpm. The flywheel is suspended in vacuum canisters and the small motors need about 45 minutes to get them back up to its top speed. Without a motor to add resistance, Chakratec said the flywheel will take four days to stop spinning, adding their system will last 20 years and enable roughly 200 000 charge cycles.
Audi introduces its most powerful diesel yet in SA Audi has introduced its most powerful diesel engine in the Audi SQ7 and SQ8. The V8, 4-litre TDI engine makes a supercar’s 310 kW and a truck’s 900 Nm, and Audi said in a statement the engine “introduces a performance stint to the luxury C-SUV segment”. Only available in limited numbers as part of a once-off launch opportunity, the models are priced as high as the power figures. The SQ7 TDI quattro sells for R1 679 500 while the SQ8 TDI quattro lists for R1 848 500, both including a five year Audi Freeway Plan. Depending on the equipment, the SQ7 TDI consumes around 8,7 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres in a combined cycle, which corresponds to CO2 emissions of 228 grams per kilometre. For the SQ8 TDI, these figures are 8,3 litres and 217 grams of CO2. A quick-shifting eight-speed tiptronic and the quattro permanent all-wheel drive put the power of this 4.0 TDI onto the road. A clutch in the automatic transmission engages
The Audi SQ7 introduces the 4-litre, V8 diesel burner, which makes an eye-watering 310 kW and 900 Nm. PHOTO: MOTORPRESS freewheeling when the driver takes their foot off the accelerator. In regular driving operation, the purely mechanical centre differential distributes the drive torque to the front axle and rear axle at a ratio of 40:60. If traction decreases at one axle, it directs most of the torque to
the other axle — up to 70% to the front or up to 85% to the rear axle. Audi provides the SQ7 and SQ8 TDI with the adaptive air suspension sport system which integrates controlled dampers. It is capable of varying the ride height of the body by up to 90 millimetres (vehicle
height is 15 millimetres lower than the adaptive air suspension option). As a central control unit, the electronic chassis platform (ECP) connects the controlled suspension systems, with the exception of the optional all-wheel steering. The driver experiences this close and lightning-fast co-ordination as maximum handling precision. They decide how the controlled suspension components as well as the 4-litre TDI and the tiptronic are to operate via the Audi drive select system. The driver can choose from seven driving profiles: comfort, auto, dynamic, efficiency, allroad, offroad, and individual. As standard, the Audi SQ7 and SQ8 are fitted with 21-inch Audi Sport wheels with an option to upgrade to 22-inch (for the SQ7) and up to 23-inch (for the SQ8). Brake discs measuring 400 millimetres in diameter are fitted to the front axle, with 350 millimetre discs on the rear axle. The red brake callipers feature an S logo on the front axle and are standard for both models. — WR.
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CEO Ben van Beurden. “We must give our customers the products and services they want and need — products that have the lowest environmental impact.” Many cities around the world set goals to become carbon neutral by 2050. Shell’s plan includes increased carbon capture and storage, $2-3 billion in annual investments in renewables and other low-carbon energy solutions and extending biofuel production. Recently investors have pushed
many oil and gas companies to take a more serious approach to climate change and the transition to cleaner energy. In its announcement, Shell said it hopes its move to a lower carbon future will also boost investor returns. “Whether our customers are motorists, households or businesses,” Beurden said, “we will use our global scale and trusted brand to grow in markets where demand for cleaner products and services is strongest, delivering more predictable cash flows and generating higher returns”. — WR.
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Shell goes green after hitting ‘peak oil’ Royal Dutch Shell has announced it hit peak oil production back in 2018 and that it will divest around $4 billion a year in oil and gas while accelerating its transition to net-zero emissions energy products. The Netherlands-based oil major, which has its U.S. headquarters in Houston, said it plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. “Our accelerated strategy will drive down carbon emissions and will deliver value for our shareholders, our customers and wider society,” read a statement from Shell
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South Africa’s 2021 new vehicle sales will show double digit growth off 2020’s unforeseen low base but will also continue to show a decline in real economic terms says WesBank CEO Chris de Kock. Speaking at the the virtual 2021 Cars.co.za Consumer Awards on Monday evening, De Kock said two distinct considerations need to be separated in understanding what the new vehicle market may do this year: • what sales are expected to do compared to 2020, which will provide a skewed representation of market activity; and • how the market will effectively perform in a normalised economic outlook, which will provide a more accurate depiction of activity. “It is not difficult to imagine that the market will perform better than 2020,” said De Kock. “But the industry cannot find confidence in this theoretical growth at the risk of losing sight of the very real impacts the weak South African economic environment will continue to have on the South African motor industry.” Given the economic and sociopolitical challenges facing the country — both as a result of Covid-19 and those trends already being experienced prior to 2020 — it is likely that both business and consumer confidence will remain subdued. WesBank’s prediction for the 2020 market prior to the pandemic saw a market down 3,5% to 518 000 units. The unprecedented reality was a 29,1% slump for the year to end on 380 449 units, heavily impacted of course by Covid. “If we normalise the sales number to exclude the effects of Covid, we think we were slightly light on that outcome. If we look at the performance in the first two months of 2020 and impute that for the whole year, and combine it with the actual economic degradation, we think we would have seen a market that would have been down 5,7% or a theoretical market of 506 056 sales,” said De Kock. Based on this normalised baseline, WesBank predicts a continued worsening economic impact on new vehicle sales during 2021, which will result in a market total of 426 000 units, down 15,8%. In actual terms, but relative to 2020 sales, this would represent growth of 12%. “Looking at these figures in the context of annual sales since 2000, one would have to go back to 2009/10 to find the last time we had figures similar to these, showing how new car sales have been negatively impacted by the slowdown in the SA economy,” said De Kock. He emphasised that many of the shocks experienced at the onset of the pandemic were not necessarily new experiences. “Many of the economic impacts exacerbated by the pandemic were previously experienced in 1998, 2001 and 2008 when global growth collapsed and commodity prices and exchange rates fell in a global recession,” he said. “But domestic supply and demand will continue to be a headwind as the market slowly recovers. The buydown trend where customers are seeking to reduce their monthly instalment by buying a more affordable vehicle continues to be a reality for many consumers,” said De Kock. “The evidence of this can be seen in the market growth of the new car segment that offers lower priced vehicles with customers willing to substitute high profile brands for more practical and affordable options.” The used-car market has also been exceptionally strong in the last six months, driven by customers seeking to downscale their vehicle-related costs. “The substantial shift towards the used-car market is being driven mostly by the buydown effect, but also due to an increase in new car vehicle prices averaging close to double digit in the past year, and stock shortages due to Covid19,” concluded De Kock. — WR.
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