June 29, 2017
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Team KZN calling Driftkhana Round 3 will select top drivers to compete in SA ALWYN VILJOEN Drivers Drivers competing competing in in a a driftkhana driftkhana have have to to ‘bat’ ‘bat’ a a ball ball with with the the car car boot boot at at speed. speed. PHOTO: PHOTO: THRILLSEEKER THRILLSEEKER
track and a clock to these stunts, requiring drivers to, among oth ers challenges, “bat” a giant ball and execute precision parking against the clock. Williamson recently compet ed in a driftkhana in Cape Town, where he was asked why KZN’s precision drivers aren’t fielding a team so that interprovincial events could be hosted. One would be forgiven for thinking that this is because
competitors in spinning events pay their own way and stand to win only bragging rights and per haps a set of tyres at the end of an event, but Williamson said this was no deterrent for all the drivers who have been calling him for a slot to compete next Saturday. “All the top drivers are keen to be part of the KZN team to chal lenge other provinces,” said Will iamson.
KZN’s top drivers will compete at Mason’s Mill on July 8.
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KZN’s top drifters and spinners are preparing their cars for the first trials that will see the 15 best spinners selected for Team KZN at Mason’s Mill on July 8. Reece Williamson told Wheels 50 drivers were expected for the spinning trials while 30 drivers will compete in the driftkhana. For the uninitiated, a spinning event sees the drivers spending as much time outside their mov ing cars as in, aiming to impress the fans with daredevil stunts and centimetreprecision slides, brakes and drifts, frequently cir cling their snarling cars closely around a commentator or co driver, who must at all times be able touch the bonnet as it ca reens barely in control around him or her. Driftkhana adds an obstacle
Their performances at the Spinkhana auditions will see a team of 15 top drivers emerge, of whom five will be reserves. This team will decide which province they will challenge next, with the event at this stage likely to be hosted at Mason’s Mill against a team of drivers from Jo hannesburg. Williamson said the producers of eTV’s recent reality show So You Think You Can Spin had agreed the old bus depot at Ma son’s Mill is an ideal venue for such motoring events. He assured Wheels the event is arranged with paramedics and firefighters on standby at the venue in case of an emergency. The entry fee for the day’s en tertainment is R70 for adults and R40 for children. • More details from Reece Williamson at 083 790 4626.
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WitnessWheels TRANSPORT MOTORING
2
June 29, 2017
Four in six trucks fail Hino Pinetown supports brake and tyre tests and were disturbed by findings HINO Pinetown and the Road Traffic Inspectorate’s (RTI) Pinetown Testing Station in KwaZuluNatal hosted a two day brake and tyre watch recent ly. As happens every year with this regional ad hoc inspection by RTI officers, the truck dealers were shocked at the poor state of brakes and tyres on at least four of every six trucks pulled off for random inspection. The twoday event was at tended by some of Hino Pine town’s fleet customers and the first day was spent in a class room session at the eThekwini Electricity Training Centre, where traffic officials were trained. “Training is the key of this in itiative,” said road safety cham pion Patrick O’Leary of Fleet watch magazine. “It is very difficult for these officials to evaluate a vehicle’s brakes and tyres when they are stopped in a roadblock if they do not know what to look for and how the various braking systems work. “New braking systems are continually being introduced into the latest model trucks coming onto the local market so traffic officials need to be updat ed on an ongoing basis. Train ing is provided free of charge by our partners from the industry,”
NEVER SAY DIE HINO: Seen with Namlog’s 2009yearmodel Hino 1324 freight carrier that has covered more than 2,3 million kilometres are (from left) Garth Middleditch, sales executive at Hino East Rand; Albie Greyvenstein, Namlog’s national fleet manager; Leslie Long, Hino SA’s senior manager — marketing, product, and demand planning; and Christo Swartz, CEO of Namlog. The cylinder head has been reconditioned and some wear items such as the clutch plate have been replaced, as has the starter and alternator. PHOTO: QUICKPIC explained O’Leary. The second day was a hands on test day at the weighbridge. Randomlyselected trucks were stopped and put through a brake roller test, while all trucks were checked in the pit
EAST COAST
for trailer defects and other faults on the truck itself, such as faulty lights. Four of the six vehicles checked were taken off the road for being unroadwor thy. This was the 38th occasion
that O’Leary and his team, in conjunction with partners from the industry, had staged a Brake & Tyre Watch roadside safety check. “This was the second time that Hino and its dealers have
given direct support to the Brake and Tyre Watch project and we are pleased to be in volved in this initiative to make our roads safer,” said Ernie Trautmann, vice president of Hino SA. “It was certainly disturbing to learn that four of the six trucks checked were unroad worthy and we believe that the authorities need to be far more proactive in conducting their own roadblocks linked to brake and tyre checks. “The praiseworthy Fleet watch programme, by its nature, cannot be a national watchdog, but is rather a dipstick to high light the high number of un roadworthy trucks on our roads.” Hino, already the pacesetter for aftersales service in the South African truck market, has just clinched both the parts and service categories in the Hino International Parts and Service Distributor of the Year contest for the second consecutive year. Those who attended the Brake & Tyre Watch in KZN were presented with certificates of attendance. George Hartman of BPW Ax les addressed delegates during the oneday classroom session at the latest Brake and Tyre Watch in KwaZuluNatal. — WR.
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One of 3 500 fullelectric Volvo buses recharging at a bus stop, a process that takes less than six minutes. PHOTO: VOLVO
Cummins to make hybrids ALWYN VILJOEN
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035 789 0464 53 Bullion Boulevard 035 789 0754 Richards Bay CBD 084 357 1082 Richards Bay eastcoastengines@gmail.com
VOLVO Group Southern Africa, in partnership with Titanium Motors Limited, today officially opened a new dealer facility in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka. The dealership will offer com plete sales, parts and service for Volvo Trucks and UD Trucks customers operating in the re gion. The $10 million investment by Titanium Motors Limited sig nals the importance of Zambia as a regional transport hub, as well as underscores the company’s belief in the future success of Vol vo Trucks and UD Trucks brands in the country. “Zambia is a key African market for Volvo Group, as apart from its very central lo cation in southern Africa, it also has exciting potential as a devel oping market with a growing economy and emerging infra structure,” said Torbjörn Chris tensson, president of Volvo Group Southern Africa. Managing director of UD Trucks Southern Africa Gert Swanepoel said that the compa ny is constantly looking to devel op and strengthen its footprint across the region. “Underpinning this commit ment is our expanding product and service offerings, which are founded on our heritage of quali ty, engineering and progressive technology to complement our customers’ unique business re quirements. “We are excited about the fu ture of UD Trucks within Zam bia, and the rest of the region.” — WR.
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AROUND the world, the enormous power of diesel electric hybrids has not gone out of fashion since the late 1800s, and they are still used to drive trains, giant trucks and electric trams. Diesel smoke is, however, rapidly going out of fashion and more cities are joining Athens, Madrid, Mexico City, Mumbai, Oslo, Paris and Stuttgart, which last year announced they will phase out the use of diesel engines on their streets by 2025. This is why Cummins, an American company known for its diesel engines, last week announced it will start making natural gas engines as well as fully electric or hy brid powertrains. Cummins already has significant expe
rience in the electrified pow ertrains but the company is now exploring partnerships with other groups to ensure the development of leading technology in energy stor age, power electronics, trac tion motor systems and component control for commercial applications to start selling allelectric truck engines from 2019. The electric drivetrains from Cummins will com pete with the electric medi um delivery truck from Mit subishi Fuso, as well China’s BYD drivetrains, and the Ni kola 1, an electric truck with a hydrogen fuel cell that is currently undergoing proof of concept in the U.S. Meanwhile in Europe, bus operator Nobina has or dered 13 electric Volvo bus es, which will operate in the Swedish city Malmö from
the end of next year. This is the biggest single order so far for the Volvo 7900 Electric and marks one of the biggest drives for allelectric bus traffic in Sweden. Volvo’s electric buses re cently started operating in the city of Differdange in Luxembourg. In addition to the allelectric Volvo 7900 Electric, the Volvo buses range of electrified vehicles encompasses hybrid buses and electric hybrid (plugin hybrid) models. The company has sold more than 3 500 electrified Volvo buses globally. The 12metrelong city bus uses 80% less energy than a corresponding diesel bus and its lithiumion bat tery bank recharges under overhard gantries within three to six minutes.
RESEARCHERS at the Universi ty of Waterloo have developed a system for service vehicles that could reduce emissions and save companies and governments millions of dollars per year in fuel costs. In a study recently published in Energy, Waterloo engineers found a way to capture waste en ergy from buses or refrigerated food delivery trucks (reefers), as they brake to slow down. They also figured out how to use that energy to replace the fos sil fuels that are currently needed to operate secondary systems, such as air conditioning or refrig eration units, when the vehicles are stopped and idling. “An idling vehicle essentially operates at five percent efficien cy, meaning the vast majority of the fuel a bus or delivery truck uses when it is stopped is being wasted,” said Amir Khajepour, a professor of mechanical and me chatronics engineering at Water loo and the study’s lead author. “By harnessing the energy a vehicle wastes as it is slowing down and redirecting it to a sec ondary battery system, these ve hicles can be turned off without shutting off systems such as re frigeration and air conditioning units.” Khajepour said the system rep resented a costeffective way to make current vehicles more fuel efficient, adding the fuel savings could pay for the new secondary power system within two years. — WR.
MOTORING WitnessWheels
June 29, 2017
3
Stella Vie the new standard Dutch students refine solar car to seat five adults ALWYN VILJOEN STUDENTS in Solar Team Eindhoven have already showed the world that it is possible to create an energy efficient family car in first the Stella and then Stel la Lux solar car. Their next step aims to make solar cars both sexy for commuters and user friendly for families. They will do this by proving Stella Vie’s abilities in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge that aims to push the limits of new solar tech nology in Australia in midOctober. The technological university will send a team of 23 students to compete in this biennial race, which this year allows all solarpowered cars to have only five square metres of solar panels. The team will again compete in the Cruiser Class. This class sees vehicles with one or more passenger seats drive 1 000 km on sunlight only. It is expected that the Stella Vie will be the only car to seat five people in the solar race. THE CAR FOR EVERYDAY LIFE The Eindhoven team said on their web site that “Vie” is both French for “life” and for the Roman numeral “V”, or five, as Stella Vie is the first solar powered family car to seat five people. This third iteration of the Stella cars is lower than most conventional sports cars, but big doors and roof handles make ingress easier. The interior features bodycontoured seats and intuitive controls for both driving and infotainment. FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION While designing the aerodynamic shell of Stella Vie, the team pursued a perfect balance between aerodynamic and aes thetic design. The result of this process yielded a car body that includes some wellknown au tomotive design features while also be
The new fiveseater, fullelectric Stella Vie can do at least 1 000 km using only sunlight as fuel. PHOTOS: EINDHOVEN UNIVERSITY ing nine percent more aerodynamic than its predecessor, Stella Lux. Although Stella Vie has a smaller bat tery and a solar array that is one square metre smaller, it still achieves a range of 1 000 km on a sunny summer day in the Netherlands. The surplus energy generated by Vie can be supplied back to a house or the electric grid. The smart charging and discharging system keeps track of energy prices and the user’s agenda in order to find the op timal time to charge or discharge. Stella Vie’s charging status can also easily be checked through its connection with a smart thermostat.
EFFICIENT DRIVING ASSISTANCE Through its updated solar navigator, which now takes gradient maps into ac count, Stella Vie finds the most efficient route and shows how much energy you will save compared to a standard fossil fuelpowered car. When approaching the destination, Vie will offer parking as sistance. If enabled, Vie’s builtin solar parking system will use gradients, weather data and a parking probability map to guide you to a free parking spot. The chosen parking spot is the one within range of the destination which yields the most solar energy. While driving Stella Vie uses the latest V2X technology to warn the driver to an
ticipate upcoming traffic events, which allows for safer and more efficient driv ing. Finally, it also encourages the user to drive as efficiently as possible by giv
ing subtle feedback through a builtin lighting system, this system warns the driver by turning red when either brak ing or accelerating too fiercely. — WR.
GM’S EXIT ‘TRAILBLAZERS’ A BARGAIN GOING to a muddy 4x4 jamboree with all purpose tyres is a lot like taking a pocket knife to a gun fight, especially when the event is hosted by blokes with farmer tans in the George’s Valley, out side Tzaneen. But this is exactly what Isuzu did, in viting Wheels to join a crew of city slick ers in KB bakkies and Chevrolet Trail blazers. The Trailblazers again showed it will climb any obstacle as long as its tyres have grip, and we would recom
mend this vehicle as a bargain buy, what with the sentiment currently against it in the wake of General Motors announc ing its exit from South Africa. In its place, we can expect Australia’s favourite SUV, the sevenseater Isuzu MUX. More details on this when the launch happens. Meanwhile, Wheels ad vises SUV buyers can do a lot worse than to negotiate with a GM dealer nearby to get a good deal on the outgoing Trail blazer. — WR.
Explaining why chunks were chewed out of the driver’s seat, the driver’s said it was because the vehicle went sideways faster than it went upwards on this slippery slope challenge. The chewing continued after the slide stopped just short of hitting a tree — with to SUV seesawing on three wheels. PHOTO: SCREEN GRAB
Sashes to make SA’s pedestrians visible
Audi adds intelligence to ‘SpiderMan’ WHILE Audi became the first car maker to test a selfdriving car in New York in real life this month (above), the car maker also features several of its faster models in the fictional world of SpiderMan: Homecoming, which premieres on July 7. Moviegoers will get a first look at the 2018 Audi A8 and the film also features the Audi R8 V10 Spyder, as well as the Audi TTS Roadster. Audi will use the movie to show its Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology as Peter Parker (Tom Holland) rides in the back of the car chauffeured by Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). PHOTO: AUDI
THE Automobile Association (AA), in collaboration with the FIA, Ford and Michelin, launched a national road safety campaign yesterday. Known as the #ISeeYou campaign, the programme aims to make pedes trians more visible. This after pedestrian fatalities on South African roads last year made up more than a third of the total road deaths. Statistics from the Road Manage ment Corporation (RTMC) show 5 410 pedestrians died on our roads in 2016. This represents a shocking 38% of all deaths on the country’s roads last year, making pedestrians, by far, the most vulnerable group of road users. The #ISeeYou message goes deep er than pedestrian visibility, its dual purpose is also to drive mutual re spect between motorists and pedes trians. “One of the key dangers for pe
destrians is that they are seen too late by drivers. On dimly or unlit roads, and wearing dark clothes, pe destrians are often ‘invisible’ to mo torists who may only see them when it’s too late to avoid hitting them. It’s a serious problem in South Afri ca, one which we hope this cam paign will begin to address,” says the AA. The campaign includes print, radio and television advertisements high lighting the dangers pedestrians face while on the road. It encourages pe destrians to make themselves more visible through walking in better lit areas, and wearing clothing that stands out. Motorists, too, are en couraged to be aware of pedestrians while driving. “Pedestrian safety remains one of the most important challenges to road safety authorities in South Afri ca. We are proud to partner with the AA on the visibility campaign, and
we would like to work together with communities to reduce pedestrian fa talities and make our roads safer for all,” says Casper Kruger, managing di rector of Ford Motor Company Sub Saharan Africa region. Ganganjot Singh, commercial di rector for Michelin, said the group has been funding various road safety awareness and education projects. Statistics show pedestrians are particularly vulnerable at dawn and dusk, or when visibility is impaired because of smoke, dust or mist. A critical component of the cam paign is urging pedestrians to wear reflective sashes that are easier for drivers to see. As part of the initial phase of the campaign, 14 000 sash es will be distributed to pedestrians through activations across the coun try. The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) funding was made possible through its Road Safety Grant Programme.
WitnessWheels MOTORING RACING
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June 29, 2017
Hot action on a chilly day Malcolm Rudman superb at Dezzi Raceway event COLIN WINDELL A SOMEWHAT chilly start to the day at Dezzi Raceway, Oslo Beach, at the weekend did little to quell the hot action on the race track where a loudly appreci ative crowd enjoyed plenty of close rac ing in Round 5 of the KZN Regional Championship series. Arguably, the best performances of the day came from bike racer Malcolm Rudman who started the morning on his Superbike engaged in a blistering battle on the edge of adhesion with the aptly named Blaze Baker — the pair doing ev erything they could to gain supremacy. Baker won the encounter, but Rud man hopped straight off the big bike and onto a Supermotard and went out for another hectic 10lapper — winning that race and then going and doing exactly the same in the afternoon in the second heat races. In terms of the championship, the two Supermotard wins moved him into sec ond place on the log behind Bryce Hills, who was not available for Saturday’s ra ces — setting up an intriguing scenario for the remaining three race meetings in the series. Rudman also leads the Formu la Extreme class from Nikolai Conci and Blaze Baker. The KZN Road Racing Club are the fastest growing motor sport club in the country and the relaxed atmosphere at Dezzi Raceway makes it ideal as a family affair — as an example Sanjiv Singh from Durban who muscles an extremely po tent Kawasaki around in the Formula Ex treme championship both on regional and national level, then mentors his nineyearold son, Lee, on a Honda NSF 100. Another family outfit are the Concis with Jesse (who won overall in the CBR 150 Class), Nikolai (overall winner of Formula Extreme) and Anja, who com petes in the 300 Class of motorcycles.
ABOVE: Grant Duckam on his winning way in the Retro Class. INSET: KZN’s Women in Motor Sport (from left) Anja Conci, Kendra Trevethan, Caitlin McKelvey and Nikita Nell. PHOTOS: COLIN WINDELL KZN is also well represented by wom en in motor sport and on Saturday there were three involved in bike racing and one in a tin top — Pietermaritzburg’s Caitlin McKelvey. She won her first out ing in Class B of the Breakfast Class se ries but had issues and a nonfinish in the second race. She is still second on the championship log 18 points behind Clinton MasseyHicks, who knows he has a fight on his hands in the final rounds of the season. Running in the CBR 150 Class, Kendra Trevethan is ranked fifth overall as is An
ja Conci who runs in the 300 Class. Nikita Nell, running her lime green Ford Escort in the Retro category, had two good runs finishing sixth and fourth in her respective heats — both of these won in fine style by Grant Duckham (Es cort) who also had a busy day contesting the Time Challenge as well ... and win ning that. Overall results in other classes saw Roy Hallett take the honours in the CBR 150 Masters from Leo Boysen and Lle welyn Puren while the latter did himself proud by winning the Open Class for the
Threehorse race in heat one of Desert Race CHARMAINE FORTUNE IT was the same old story but with differ ent personnel in heat one of the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race, round three of the South African Cross Country Auto championship at the weekend. Former Dakar Rally winner Giniel de Villiers and Denis Murphy scored their first win of the season to lead home a Toyota Gazoo Racing SA one/two on Sunday in the only marathon event on the SACCS calendar. De Villiers/Murphy came in ahead of teammates Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie, winners of the first two rounds of the championship, with the two FIA Class cars conforming to Dakar specifi cations again demonstrating their supe riority. The final podium place went to Mpumalanga brothers Johan and Wern er Horn, in the Malalane Toyota Hilux, who led home Class T for cars above four litres with solid axle rear suspension. It was their second win of the season with a slight hiccup when they broke a side shaft 50 kilometres from the finish and
Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy scored their first win of the season to lead home a Toyota Gazoo Racing SA one/two on the only marathon event on the SACCS calendar. PHOTO: QUICKPIC had to nurse the car home. Reigning Class T champions Jason Venter and Vince van Allemann (4x4 Mega World Toyota Hilux) finally found some form to finish fourth, with the top five rounded out by Lance Woolridge/ Ward Huxtable (Ford NWM Puma Lu bricants Ranger) who joined the Horns on the Class T podium. Venter/Van Allemann “had a lot of fun” passing Special Vehicle cate gory cars, while Woolridge/Hux table reported “electrical nig gles” on the first of the 210kilo metre loops that made up the race. Sixth place and third in the FIA Class went to Johan van Sta den and Mike Lawrenson in the Elf Renault Duster, with the car having only its second competi tive outing. The ever consistent Van Staden/Lawrenson reported clean runs and were only 39 sec ond behind the Ford Ranger. A second Ford NWM Puma
Lubricants Ranger in the hands of Ga reth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer was next up but it was not a happy run for the pair. Woolridge suffered from mo tion sickness on the first lap and two punctures slowed the pair on lap two. For all that they managed to put some time between them and Hennie de Klerk/ Achim Bergman, in the Treasury One/ Atlas Copco VW Amarok, and Deon
day from Hallett and Mark Jansen. The 300 Class went to Lubbe Meyer from Juan de Witt and Aadil Kara with Craig Tarlington topping the time sheets for the Drifters from Baron O’Ga gan and Alistair Caldwell. Breakfast Class A was all about Marc van Wyk who headed home Wesley Schmidt and Nick Rizatto. Clinton MasseyHicks won Breakfast B from Stephen Puren and Jean Mare. On the car side, Modified A went the way of Ronald van Rensburg from Den ver Branders and Terence Ehlers while
Modified B was won by Chrsitopher van der Westhuizen from Richard Loynes and Gary Brown. Elton Fuchs put in blistering perform ance to dominate the Super Modified Class, winning from Dieter Ziesing and Lionel Taylor with honours in Super GT going the way of Willie de Beer from Duncan do Reis and Mike McLoughlin. Chris Wooley won in the Sports Car segment from Mark Furtcher and Allan Spies. The next regional event at Dezzi in on August 12.
Venter and Jaco van Aardt in the second 4x4 Mega World Toyota Hilux. Neil Woolridge said he was proud that all three Ford Rangers finishing with good results. “Although we dropped back slightly in the championship, it’s still a decent result for the champion ship, which has become a threehorse race going into the second half of the season. “I’m also really happy for Henk [Late gen]. He had a huge accident in Dundee, and then had some bad luck. He came back today [Sunday] and drove excep tionally well. He didn’t have any punc tures and drove a clean race to win this heat, so all credit to him and Barry [White]. Side shaft and fuel rail problems de layed the Amarok of Venter and Van Aardt, with De Klerk/Bergman the vic tims of a couple of punctures. A top 10 finish was the reward for Class S winners Jannie Visser and son Chris (Toyota Hilux) in the class for cars up to four litres with solid axle rear sus pension. As expected, former SA champion Visser revelled in the conditions, but
they were given a run for the money by another North West crew in Heinie Strumpher and Henri Hugo in the 4x4 Mega World Toyota Hilux. David Huddy and Rodney Cook (Nis san Navara) completed the Class S fin ishers. Ford Ranger pair Richard Leeke junior and Henry Kohne ran out of luck and spare wheels when a succession of punctures put paid to their first Botswa na outing. Among the high profile non finishers were Gary Bertholdt/Philip Herselman (Atlas Copco VW Amarok) and team mates and former Desert Race winners Chris Visser/Japie Badenhorst in the At las Copco Toyota Hilux. Bertholdt/Her selman broke the gearbox, while Visser and Badenhorst broke a rear differential with Henk Lategan/Barry White also failing to see out the CV Joint distance in a third speCialists Ford for CV joints, ball joints, NWM Pu tie rod ends, wheel bearings. ma Lubri 341 GReYlinG stReet cants Ran Pmb. 033 342 9174/75 ger.
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