Wheels_18May2017

May 18, 2017

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KWAZULU­NATAL’S BEST READ ON ALL THINGS WHEELED, FROM TRUCKS TO BIKES

PHOTOS: ARMAND ATKINS

See all of ‘Seffrica’ in the CX5

Mazda’s old and new cross­overs are jaw­droppers, but the new one yaws less around corners ALWYN VILJOEN ONLY at one point on a 1 000 km run did the ruts prove too rough for the suspension of the Mazda CX5 — and that was on a cow path heading down to the waves in Coffee Bay. To be fair, even the local mare stepped carefully down this path to sniff at the CX5 — perhaps smelling all that ‘jinba ittai’ spirit of a horse and its rider that Maz­ da tries to imbue all its cars with.

Having driven long gravel roads through the Free State and down the De Beers pass to get to those ruts, we knew the CX5 can and does do dirt roads.

We steered the outgoing CX5 along these roads to compare it to the new CX5, which was launched on the skidpan at the Gerotek vehicle test centre in Pretoria West last week.

The passengers in the outgo­ ing model — all adults with long legs — loved the comfort of the back seats, but I can now testify the new Mazda CX5 is even more comfortable on the long road, thanks to G­force control that ensures passengers in the back go around corners with the least amount of yaw, even if the driver tries to make their jaws drop.

The unchanged engine also re­ main a joy. Power from the 2,2 diesel is 129kW and there is more than enough torque at 420Nm. Mazda said at the launch it has refined every element of the new CX5’s design and technology; “raising the bar for the line­up’s combination of fuel efficiency, driving fun, award­winning looks and top­class safety”.

These updates are importamt as the CX5 accounts for about one quarter of Mazda’s global sales volume.

Feature updates on the 2017 CX­5 include LED head and front fog lamps, auto headlamp level­ ling, newly designed 17” alloy wheels, rear ventilation, USB for rear centre armrest and auto door lock from the Active petrol derivative.

The new 19­inch alloy wheels look good in their arches and in­ side the leather seats provide eight­way power adjustable set­ tings.

Little details I appreciate most in the new CX5 is how the start button no longer hides behind the steering wheel, but has been moved an inch lower to be more visible; and in the Dynamic mod­ el the mirrors fold automatically when the vehicle shuts down.

Still irritating me is the auto stop start, which has to be turned off if you want to be able to slip into gaps during peak hour. Keep auto off on, and the half­a­sec­ ond it takes to start will see the gap close again.

Mazda’s ‘jinba ittai’ spirit, the connection between horse and rider, possibly attracted this horse near Coffee Bay.

More impressive are in the CX5 Individual model are the 10­ speaker Bose sound system, a head­up display, a powerlift tail gate, as well as the Smart City Brake Support (SCBS) and Driv­ er Attention Alert (DAA) ad­ vanced safety features.

Mazda’s tried and tested ergo­ nomic cabin layout ensures that each button is where your prob­ ing finger expects to find it in the dark, and the lane departure assist keeps the crossover SUV neatly in the middle of the road even around bends. It does de­ mand a hand on the wheel every few seconds though, so this is not fully autonomous driving, yet.

All this should hint that Mazda is no longer the cheap and cheerful brand name estab­ lished by the ever­willing 323.

Instead, Mazda now aims to make premium cars that can take on the German trium­ virate of Audi, BMW and Mer­ cedes­Benz in terms of luxuries and performance, and because most people order a 2­litre pet­ rol, Mazda now also offers the CX5 2 Dynamic with an auto­ matic transmission.

The whole range of the new CX5 adopts the first of the Skyactiv­Vehicle Dynamics, which is a motion control pro­ gramme that uses G­Vectoring Control to smooth out jaw and sway during even harsh driving.

As Mazda explained: “This innovative software­based sys­ tem controls body roll for bet­ ter handling, while suspension and powertrain improvements facilitate superior ride quality.”

DEZZI HOSTS KZN ROAD RACING CLUB CHAMPS THE fourth round of the KZN Road Racing club champion­ ship takes place at Dezzi Race­ way on Saturday.

Motorcycle classes include the 100cc class for riders from seven years old to the 1 000cc Superbikes in the Formula Ex­ treme class.

Car classes include the time attack for road cars and new drivers to the Super GT Class for racing Porsche’s, V8 Cobras and the like.

Riders and drivers briefing is at 7 am on May 20, followed

by qualifying. Racing should get under way around 10.30.

Subscription fee to join the KZN Road Racing Club is R200 for two family members or R150 for a single member.

As per Motosport SA rules, previous racing experience is not a requirement and new competitors are most wel­ come, but members must ar­ range to get track day experi­ ence before racing to ensure the safety of the new en­ trant, as well as the rest of the competitors. — WR.

Also new is Mazda’s next­gen­ eration premium colour palette; with the Soul Red Crystal sure to be a winner, but I expect only panel beaters with a Spies Hecker spray booth will truly appreciate the realistic metallic feel created by a deep translucent body, con­ trasting shadows and a high­den­ sity finish. Locally the seven­

model line­up has a choice of three Skyactiv engines — a 2,0 or a 2,5­litre petrol, or a 2,2 diesel with an automatic transmission.

CX5 prices starts at R379 900 and the top of the range 2,2 DE Akera AWD Auto model we drove sells for R557 500, com­ pared to the outgoing model that sold for R541 400.

To my mind, the sweet spot is in the middle, at R416 900 for the new 2­litre Dynamic six­ speed auto.

The new Mazda CX­5 model range will be available from June 1 at all Mazda dealers, but the out­ going model had one of its best months during its run out, so don’t expect a buyers’ market.

Mazda vehicles have always been designed and built to the highest standard of performance and reliability and now for complete peace of mind motoring; Mazda Southern Africa has introduced the Mazda Lifetime Parts Warranty which will be effective on new and existing models from January 2017.

Keep your Mazda in tip top condition by taking advantage of low service costs

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15% discount on parts and labour on all additional repairs done in workshop.

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Continuing to defy convention, MazdaSA will repair or replace any part that fails to perform its normal function without any charge to the vehicle owner for the lifetime of ownership.

Claims under this warranty will exclude repair or replacement of parts required due to an accident, misuse, lack of proper maintenance, improperly performed repairs or environmental conditions damage. Incorrectly installed parts, non-approved parts and vehicle modifications as well as parts installed to vehicles that are used for competition, racing or emergency will also be excluded.

Serviceable parts; parts replaced under the provisions of the Manufacturer’s warranty; batteries, additives, oils, seals, gaskets, trim items and glass or any parts replaced at the owners request that were deemed inappropriate or unnecessary by the Mazda dealer will also not be included under this warranty.

The Mazda Lifetime Parts warranty applies to those replacement parts fitted by a Mazda authorised dealer and fully paid for by the vehicle owner; so the vehicle owner will be required to produce the original repair invoice when returning to the dealer for repairs under this warranty.

Terms and Conditions apply.

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WitnessWheels TRANSPORT MOTORING

2

May 18, 2017

Meet Fuso’s big boet R3 mln investment will see affordable truck assembled at East London plant THE smaller trucks in the Daim­ ler group, Fuso, have added the biggest lorry from Japan to the brand’s local offering.

To be assembled in East Lon­ don, the FJ 26­280C comes to South Africa by popular demand from fleet operators who need a construction­tough vehicle that can be operated for maxi­ mum profitability.

Executive director for Daim­ ler Trucks Southern Africa Jas­ per Hafkamp said by assembling the Fuso FA and FJ series trucks at the East London plant, Daim­ ler is simply putting into action what it promised would be the next logical step after the launch of the Regional Centre Southern Africa last year.

“We are building Fuso trucks in southern Africa, by southern Africans, for southern Africa,” said Hafkamp.

MBSA had invested over R3 million into the East London plant to ensure the staff are ready to build the lorry.

Gladstone Mtyoko, divisional manager for Commercial Vehi­ cles at the plant said the line workers intend to keep their rep­ utation of building pioneering trucks that set the benchmark.

Naeem Hassim, head of Fuso Trucks South Africa said the smaller lorries in the Daimler stable have always been re­ nowned for their reliability and value for money as well as for be­

Fuso trucks are known for being small and reliable with low operational costs, but the latest member, the large FJ26­280C, does away with the ‘small’ part in this reputation.

PHOTO: QUICKPIC ing the pace­setters when it comes to service support.

He said the newest member of the family goes even further by ensuring a tough and durable chassis, extended service inter­ vals from 15 000 to 20 000 kilo­ metres and a wide­reaching

southern African dealer foot­ print. The chassis’ cross mem­ bers add additional strength and they are shot­peened and pow­ der coated to increase surface strength and to prevent corro­ sion. Under the chair, the robust Fuso FJ 26­280C boasts a direct­

injection diesel engine, rated at 205kW at 2 200 rpm with the torque levelling out at 1 100 Nm from 1 200 to 1 600 rpm.

Hassim said this makes the 280C’s engine ideal for power­ hungry applications like tippers or concrete delivery. A Power

Take­Off (PTO) point is one of the standard features.

A nine­speed transmission with a crawler gear provides the right ratios to negotiate com­ plex terrain for off­road applica­ tions.

The load is carried by multi­ leaf bogie type rear suspensions that are robust, resulting in longer life and the ability to haul heavier loads.

Standard front and rear anti­ roll bars increase the vehicle’s stability, while a differential lock assists to reduce one wheel from spinning, making the truck safer and easier to operate in condi­ tions that offer little or no grip.

Hassim said while the truck is tough on the outside, the com­ fortable interior was built to re­ duce driver fatigue, complete with three­way adjustable seats, as well as a tilt­and­telescoping steering wheel that allows the driver to choose an optimum driving posture.

The extended day cab in­ cludes a fold­down bunk where the driver can rest during breaks.

Occupants also benefit from the standard air­conditioning and rear windows that open for ven­ tilation or to shut out noise.

The recommended retail price for the Fuso FJ 26­280C chassis cab is R925 000, excluding the tipper or cement mixer that cli­ ents want to fit on the chassis.

— WR.

Volvo to invest in Durban plant for safer trucking in SA VOLVO Trucks South Africa an­ nounced a R6,5 million invest­ ment into its Durban SKD Manu­ facturing plant to enable staff to install and calibrate selected safe­ ty features that were previously not available to local Volvo truck owners.

President of Volvo Group Southern Africa, Torbjörn Chris­ tensson, said the company be­ lieved all original equipment manufacturers (OEM) in the trucking industry have a respon­ sibility to provide the safest transport solutions to their cus­ tomers, as this has a trickle­down effect to all road users.

The features that form part of The Volvo Active Safety Package, which has recently become avail­ able to the local market, will be available as optional extras on most Volvo Truck range models fitted with Electronic Brake Sys­ tem (EBS), Electronic Stability Control and Disc Brakes.

The Volvo Active Safety pack­ age consists of: • Adaptive cruise control with forward and emergen­ cy braking.

The adaptive cruise control auto­ matically adapts the vehicle’s

To advertise your company in

Whenever it says ‘abnormal load’ at the back, chances there will be a Volvo truck­tractor pulling in the front and thanks to a R6,5 million investment at the Volvo truck assembly plant near Durban, all Volvo trucks will also be that much safer. PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN speed to the actual flow of traffic and informs the driver when the distance to the vehicle in front represents a risk. Should the driv­ er not react, the warning signal is upgraded to a flashing red light

and beeping, if this is ignored then the system mildly applies the braking system of the truck.

In the event of this also failing the emergency braking system activates in order to ensure that

the truck is prevented from col­ liding with the vehicle.

• Lane keeping support Lane keeping support drastically reduces risk factors in traffic such as tiredness or distraction, the

Call Avir Thulsiram on 084 278 3447 OR 033 355 1152 email: Avir@witness.co.za

system has been designed for long haul operators and moni­ tors the truck’s position on the road when exceeding speeds of 60 km/h. If the driver uninten­ tionally crosses a road marking system it alerts the driver through the means of a buzzer.

• Lane Changing Support Lane changing support uses a ra­ dar to help the driver further in terms of blind spots — which are slightly more challenging for truck drivers on the passenger side of the vehicle. The turn sig­ nal activates the safety system.

• Driver Alert Support The support system alerts the driver through the use of a cam­ era sensor that tracks the posi­ tion of the truck in its respective lane as well as monitors the steer­ ing wheel movements of the truck; this would happen if the driver is inattentive or drowsy.

Additionally if any symptoms of fatigue or tiredness are detected the audio­visual alert is activated too.

• Alcolock The Alcolock* is a factory mounted electronic breath alco­ hol analyser designed with the aim of reducing alcohol­related accidents. It requires the driver to take a breathalyser before the engine of the truck can be start­ ed, it is made of a stationary unit inside the instrument panel of the truck and a hand­held unit with a cable.

“The Volvo Active Safety Package is making the world’s safest Volvo Truck even safer.

This is a groundbreaking way of increasing road safety even more and is a feature all OEMs should consider as being part of respon­ sible citizens,” said Torbjörn.

— Wheels Reporter.

The Hino 500 Series 1322 is now available with a choice of a single rear wheel or dual wheels.

PHOTO: MOTORPRESS

SINGLE REAR WHEELS ON HINO 500 HINO South Africa now of­ fers its customers the choice of single or double rear wheels on its 1322 four­ wheel drive model in the popular 500 Series.

This follows requests from operators for this op­ tion to suit a variety of off­ road applications including forestry, farming, mining, and construction as well as the telecommunications in­ dustry.

The new model also gets the benefit of being fitted with a Euro 3 compliant en­ gine instead of the previous Euro 2 power unit.

The fitment of this com­ mon rail fuel injection sys­ tem to the Hino J08E en­ gine permits the installation of the obligatory speed lim­ iter now required in South Africa. In the case of the Hino 1322 it will limit top speed to 80km/h.

This four­wheel drive model does not require ABS braking, which is fitted to the other models in the Hino 500 Series range.

The single­wheel rear ax­ le, which is now available on this model, improves its off­ road handling capabilities and makes for more effi­ cient operation in sandy conditions.

The single wheel fitment also has a benefit in terms of improved fuel consump­ tion. — WR.

AFFORDABLE BRAKE PADS FOR TRUCKS JOHANNESBURG — Federal­ Mogul Motorparts has launched Wagner QS brake pads designed specifically for commercial vehicles.

Manager of braking and wiper products Mark Bonney said in a statement the price of the new affordable range adds a new option to fleet owners.

“By offering high­value products that still meet such demanding quality standards, we enable opera­ tors to safely extend the economic life of their vehi­ cles,” Bonney said.

The new brake pads cov­ er 90% of the global truck fleet, with over 3 500 truck and trailer applications.

The full range has been available since March 2017.

To distinguish the Wagner QS products, a bright new packaging style using a flat design box construction is being introduced, to reflect market requirements. — WR.

MOTORING WitnessWheels

May 18, 2017

3

Look ma, no hands Several companies are ready to roll out robot cars to take over the steering ALWYN VILJOEN Darrryl Topper (left) and Jacques Flamand.

PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN

NEW RANGER FOR RHINOS BARLOWORLD Ford Pieter­ maritzburg on Tuesday handed a new 2,2 Ford Ran­ ger 4x4 to support the WWF’s Black Rhino Range Expansion Project (BRREP).

Dealer principal Darryl Topper said Ford was proud to be associated with the project and grateful to all the people who did such a professional job in increas­ ing black rhino populations.

Head of the project, wild­ life veterinarian Dr Jacques Flamand, received the vehi­ cle, saying Ford has sup­ ported the programme for the 15 years to help estab­ lish 10 new population groups. He said this was his fifth sponsored Ford, adding every new iteration of the Ranger had been better and especially the Ranger’s 4x4 ability was crucial to his work in KZN, Limpopo and the Kruger Park. — WR.

WAYMO, the self­driving car unit in Google, and Lyft, the main competitor to Uber in the U.S., have signed a collaboration agreement to co­operate on self­ driving cars.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, spun Waymo out of Google’s X project lab in Decem­ ber after more than eight years of research.

Lyft is the fastest growing ride­ share company in the U.S. and is available in more than 190 cities.

Reuters reports the alliance be­ tween the two companies is the tip of the iceberg in current devel­ opments in the autonomous car sector, which many believe will soon grow into a multibillion­ dollar industry.

The New York Times reported Waymo and Lyft will work on pi­ lot projects and product develop­ ment efforts.

Details on the deal are scant, but Lyft is on record that it wants to match its network of drivers and passengers with other part­ ners active in transport, like Gen­ eral Motors, with which compa­ ny Lyft last year entered into a deal to test autonomous Chevro­ let Bolt vehicles using Lyft’s net­ work.

GM said it will invest $500 million in Lyft to help the

Robot cars are halfway here, as Alwyn Viljoen discovered while testing the new 2017 Mazda CX5’s ability to keep itself between the lines on the N4 outside Pretoria West with the speed control set at 120 km/h. PHOTO: MATHYS FERREIRA company continue the rapid growth of its successful rideshar­ ing service.

In addition, GM will hold a seat on the company’s board of directors.

Waymo also last year an­ nounced a deal with Fiat Chrys­ ler to equip and test a fleet of minivans for autonomous driv­ ing and recently said it is negoti­ ating with Honda to test the Jap­ anese manufacturer’s vehicles.

Waymo is already piloting a

ride­hailing programme in Phoe­ nix using self­driving Chrysler minivans and Lexus models to give more intrepid passengers free rides around the city.

Waymo aims to bring its self­ driving technology to the general public in the next few years, using such partnerships to fast­track the culmination to a decade of development that saw the robot cars log over 4,8 million kilome­ tres of real world driving.

The vehicles have been tested

ULTRA­FAST CHARGING FLASHBATTERY FOR ELECTRIC CARS STOREDOT, an Israeli start­ up company, last week showed off its new generation of bat­ teries which may yet become the standard for electric vehi­ cle recharing.

StoreDot was established in 2011, to sell memory­storing bio­organic quantum dots made using a process devel­ oped at Tel Aviv University.

The company has in the six years since added power­stor­ ing, bio­battery banks for both mobile phones and electric ve­ hicles to its catalogue.

The batteries uses “chemi­ cally­synthesised organic molecules of non­biological origin” and can be fully

The StoreDot’s battery pack that promises to recharge fully in five minutes. PHOTO: STOREDOT charged in five minutes to send an electric car on its way.

Conducting the live demo of its ultra­fast charging FlashBattery at the Cube Tech

Fair in Berlin, StoreDot’s co­ founder and CEO Dr Doron Myersdorf explained why the FlashBattery technology will make charging any electric car

as quick, if not quicker, than pumping 30 litres of petrol in­ to a small car’s fuel tank, as it takes only five minutes to reach a full charge on the FlashBattery, to give most electric cars a range of 480 km.

After demonstrating this in Berlin, Myersdorf predicted the new batteries will be inte­ grated into electric vehicles during the next three years.

“We’re exploring options with a few strategic partners in the auto space to help us boost the production process in Asia and reach mass pro­ duction as soon as possible,” Myersdorf said. — WR.

Grand Vitara for best braaiers

New Golf offers 1­litre power

Seen here are the final three teams in the fifth season of Ultimate Braai Master, which was won by Team Salty Flames made up by Chanel Marais and partner Nick Perfect. They take home a new Suzuki Grand Vitara.

Marais, who recently returned to South Africa after working abroad and travelling in over 55 countries, said the Grand Vitara is perfect car for a couple with wanderlust and to tow their food truck. PHOTO: QUICKPIC

The new Golf offers a 999cc engine mated to a six­speed manual gearbox for a claimed fuel consumption of 4,8 l/100 km. Prices for the latest four­model range of the Golf begin at R289 900 for the one­litre TSI 81kW Trendline Manual and continue to R545 800 for the 2.0 TSI 169kW GTI DSG. All Golf models come with a five­year or 90 000km service plan and a three­year or 120 000km warranty. Service intervals are 15 000km. PHOTO: MOTORPRESS

on closed tracks and open roads in Arizona, California, Texas and Washington, where state law al­ lows the testing of autonomous vehicles.

Waymo went on record to state its self­driving­car technol­ ogy is ready to be applied com­ mercially.

And in the left corner Ford also predicts the robot car is coming soon, and earlier this year announced a $1 billion in­

vestment in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence founded by former Google and Uber employees.

Ford plans to have a fully autono­ mous vehicle in commercial op­ eration for a ride­hailing service by 2021 — a scant four years hence.

It is not just European compa­ nies testing robot cars. Chinese Internet company Baidu began testing autonomous technology last year in vehicles of three do­ mestic automakers, aiming to de­ ploy cars commercially as early as next year. And in Singapore, former General Motors parts di­ vision Delphi as well as rival nu­ Tonomy — a Massachusetts In­ stitute of Technology start­up — are testing autonomous vehicles.

Uber has also partnered with automakers to roll out prototype vehicles in Pittsburgh and Tempe, Arizona.

These plans will be affected by Waymo’s litigation against Uber over self­driving technology that Waymo said a former employee had stolen to found Otto robot­ ics, a company owned by Uber.

As for other players, Apple re­ cently received a permit to test vehicles in California and Tesla cars maverick Elon Musk said on a TED Talk last week he plans to speed up traffic by putting cars on bogeys in deep tunnels using his new Boring company.

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WitnessWheels MOTORING RACING

4

May 18, 2017

Fast and freezing 400 Maritzburg’s Woolridge and Huxtable emerge Class T victors in challenging race CHARMAINE FORTUNE DUNDEE — South African champions Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie scored their second victory of the season with a com­ fortable win in the Battlefields 400, round two of the South Af­ rican Cross Country Auto Series (SACCS), which ended in Dun­ dee on Sunday.

The race was run in treacher­ ous conditions with a wet route compounded by freezing tem­ peratures. A lone puncture was the only hiccup for Poulter/How­ ie, who again dominated the pre­ mier FIA class for cars conform­ ing to FIA specifications.

“It was slippery, fast and hairy,” was Poulter’s laconic com­ ment at the finish. But apart from the puncture the pair never put a foot wrong.

The final podium place and the win in Class T for cars above four litres with solid axle rear suspen­ sion, went to Lance Woolridge and Ward Huxtable in the Ford NWM Puma Lubricants Ranger.

The pair finished around seven minutes clear of Woolridge’s younger brother Gareth and Boyd Dreyer in a second Ford NWM Puma Lubricants Ranger.

In all likelihood, this was the first time brothers finished in the top two positions in the premier Production Vehicle category in a South African cross country race, with Lance and Gareth extend­ ing the Woolridge family’s im­ pressive legacy in the sport initi­ ated by father and NWM team principal Neil.

Unfortunately, the tricky con­

Lance Woolridge and Ward Huxtable in the Ford NWM Puma Lubricants Ranger.

PHOTO: QUICKPIC ditions caught out Henk Lategan and Barry White, who failed to finish the race after an end­over­ end roll during the second loop.

Although battered and bruised, they were not hurt during the in­ cident thanks to the exceptional strength of the NWM­built Ford Ranger. Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer set the fastest time outright for the session, even beating the faster FIA­specifica­

tion vehicles, with Lategan and White following close on their heels in second place.

However, both crews were sub­ sequently penalised, along with a couple of other teams, for mis­ judging a road crossing, which didn’t have the obligatory warn­ ing signs placed on the approach to the crossing.

Due to the hefty 10­minute penalty applied by the race offi­

cials, they were relegated to 10th and 11th places in Class T respec­ tively, with a mammoth task awaiting them come race day in an attempt to salvage crucial championship points.

Fifth place overall and third in Class T went to Hennie de Klerk and former South African cham­ pion Achim Bergmann in the Treasury One/Atlas Copco VW Amarok.

Bergmann was having his first outing in a race car for years, and an impressive performance saw them come in ahead of brothers Johan and Werner Horn (Mala­ lane Toyota Hilux), who won the season opener in Lichtenburg.

A misty windscreen saw the brothers beach the Hilux on some rocks with the incident costing them two minutes. Be­ hind the Mpumalanga pair, Jo­ han van Staden and Mike Law­ renson were delighted with the Renault Duster’s potential, and after a tricky qualifying race they also made up places.

Gary Bertholdt and Philip Herselman (Atlas Copco VW Amarok) also ran into problems via a broken rear differential and they nursed the car home over the last 100 kilometres.

They finished eighth overall and seventh in class with the top 10 rounded out by reigning Class T champions Jason Venter and Vince van Allemann and Jacques van Tonder and Leander Pienaar in a Ford Ranger.

Class S for cars up to four litres with solid axle rear suspension provided Richard Leeke junior and Henry Kohne (Ford Ranger) with a maiden national champi­ onship victory.

The pair were hampered by fuel­pressure problems but were comfortably ahead of David Huddy and Gerhard Schutte in a Nissan Navara.

• The next event on the SACCS cal­ endar is the Toyota Kalahari Bot­ swana 1 000 Desert Race from June 23 to 25.

Husqvarna rider Brett Swane­ poel on his way to winning the Dundee 400.

PHOTO: SUPPLIED

SWANEPOEL NOW AIMS FOR LEADERBOARD PEPSON Plastics Husqvarna rid­ er Brett Swanepoel tightened his stranglehold on the South African Cross Country Moto OR2 Class Championship with a second win on the trot at a cold and wet Battlefields 450 In Dundee, KwaZulu­Natal, at the weekend.

Swanepoel took a comforta­ ble class win in Friday’s pro­ logue, where he ended up third overall, before powering through to a three­and­a­half minute main event victory to take overall victory by almost six minutes.

“We are enjoying a great season and Brett did us proud again today,” Husqvarna Motor­ cycles SA brand manager Fred Fensham said.

“Husqvarna Motorcycles are leading championships in all three disciplines of Cross Coun­ try, Enduro and Motocross, and Brett’s performance just serves to underline that.”

Swanepoel admitted that he still needs to get on the cham­ pionship board after missing the first round to injury and re­ tiring from race two. This will be his aim at the next enduro, in Robertson tomorrow. — WR.

MotoGP on course for electric bike racing SPIROS TSANTILAS FOLLOWING the success of the Isle of Man TT Zero and FIA Formula E, MotoGP is on course to develop its own electric mo­ torcycle racing class.

Four manufacturers have re­ portedly offered to power the new supporting discipline, which is expected to debut with five races in the 2019 champion­ ship.

Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of MotoGP commercial and televi­ sion rights holder Dorna Sports, said in an interview that an elec­ tric class is on its way to join the MotoGP circus by 2019.

The new discipline will be a one­make series, for which four manufacturers have already placed their offers and more are expected, according to Ezpeleta.

The plan is to field a total of 18 electric prototypes that can reach top speeds of about 200 km/h, and can last 10 laps on a single charge.

This new class will support five MotoGP events in Europe, and most seats will probably be offered to existing privateer teams from MotoGP and Mo­ to2.

While Formula E’s batteries are charged by glycerine genera­ tors, Dorna and FIM are looking straight at the sun for carbon­ free charging.

“We want the batteries to be recharged from solar panels, not from generators like in other championships,” said Ezpeleta.

“This way, we can leave some­

Seen at the 2016 Cars in the Park in Ashburton, a Land Cruiser hot rod all the way from Johannesburg.

PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN

ROUGH UNIMOGS TO SLEEK CLASSICS AT CARS IN THE PARK Rob Barber with Agni Motors’ electric superbike won the inaugural 2009 TTZGP race at the Isle of Man. PHOTO: IOMTT.COM thing profitable for the circuits where the series races.”

This will be the second at­ tempt by Fédération Interna­ tionale de Motocyclisme (FIM) to promote electric motorcycles to the general public, engulfing them right in the top level of in­ ternational motorcycle racing.

If 2010 proved to be a bit pre­ mature, this time conditions could be a bit more favourable, especially under the protective wing of a single­make class.

At first the whole idea seems somewhat underwhelming, giv­ en that the electric prototypes are expected to run at a pace

comparable to the 250 cc bikes of the Moto3 class, but just re­ member what happened with the TT Zero.

The slow and primitive­look­ ing bikes of the 2009 TTXGP grew in just a handful of years to lap the Isle of Man at a pace that would stand its ground in the 600 cc Supersport class.

The lack of engineering com­ petition that is inherent in any one­make series will probably slow down development, but the first target should be to cre­ ate a permanent fixture in the MotoGP calendar, get audien­ ces accustomed to the new, si­

lent racing, and then let it loose when conditions are more fa­ vourable.

After all, many market ana­ lysts predict that the coming decade will see the commercial tipping point for electric motor­ cycles, and racing unavoidably follows market rules.

— New Atlas.

‘We want the batteries to be recharged from solar panels.’

ENGINEERING students from the University of KZN will be dem­ onstrating their hovercraft and Mamba electric vehicle at Afri­ ca’s oldest annual vehicle show, Cars in the Park at the horse training centre in Ashburton on Sunday.

Co­organiser Karl Habermann told Wheels this year’s show will see several parades with super cars and oldies driving past, as well as a special events tent staging several pre­1930 models.

The KZN 4x4 club will be hosting drives and among the vehicles from afar will be a group of Unimogs from Gauteng.

Some 30 food stalls will ensure nobody goes hungry and 60

craft and business stalls sell anything from clothes to hub caps. Exhibitors enter from 6.30 am and the spectator gates open at 7 am. Entry fees are R50 for adults, R30 for pen­ sioners and children aged 5 to 12 get R40 worth of vouchers to be redeemed at the children’s play area.

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