Articles by Mark Hinchliffe

New research from motor vehicle insurer AAMI shows that younger, less experienced drivers are the least likely to stop driving when fatigued, with 38 per cent of drivers aged 18 to 24 and 35 per cent  of drivers aged 25 to 34 saying they weren't likely to take a rest break.  The internet survey of 2818 Australians also found that one in 10 who have been involved in a motor vehicle accident listed fatigue as a contributing factor.AAMI spokesperson Mike Sopinski said this was an alarming statistic which highlighted the importance of taking regular rest breaks when driving long distances.  "People driving when tired or driving over long distances without sufficient breaks are putting themselves and other road users at risk," he said."Yet half of all drivers nationally (49 per cent) say they are willing to drive for three or more hours without stopping for a break and one in every 12 drivers (8 per cent) admits they are willing to take the risk of driving for more than four hours straight."The worst offending drivers are in the Northern Territory where there are vast distances to cover, while Tasmania and ACT had the best fatigue record.  On a positive note, the research shows that more than half of Australian drivers (53 per cent) have stopped at a Driver Reviver site or rest area when on the road during holiday periods.The findings come as many Australian families will hit the road this Queen's Birthday long weekend.  Sopinski suggested drivers rest before heading off, share the driving, take regular rest stops, allow extra travel time and avoid starting a long trip at the end of the day.FATIGUE FACTSDrivers admit falling asleep: 24% (national), 25% (Qld), 23% (NSW), 24% (Vic), 22% (Tas), 22% (SA), 24% (ACT), 32% (NT)Fatigue a factor in crash: 9% (national), 6% (Qld), 11% (NSW), 6% (Vic), 12% (Tas), 10% (SA), 9% (ACT), 11% (NT)Will drive when tired: 24% (national), 27% (Qld), 22% (NSW), 21% (Vic), 25% (Tas), 26% (SA), 28% (ACT), 36% (NT)Will drive 3 or more hours without stopping: 49% (National), 56% (Qld), 45% (NSW), 50% (Vic), 36% (Tas), 56% (SA), 48% (ACT), 72% (NT)Will drive more than four hours without stopping: 12% (National), 10% (Qld), 6% (NSW), 7% (Vic), 4% (Tas), 11% (SA), 3% (ACT), 31% (NT)Stopped at Driver Reviver: 53% (national), 54% (Qld), 59% (NSW), 50% (Vic), 49% (Tas), 43% (SA), 63% (ACT), 50% (NT)

While performance tyres are all about grip, the growing but still fledgling sport of drifting seems to be all about the total lack of grip. However, Hankook drift expert and number two Korean drift competitor Joosuk Jang says it is more about having a tyre that they can predict and ‘feel’. It also pays to have trust in a tyre when some drifting competition can feature sideways displays at up to 170km/h. The 32-year-old should know about feel and predictability. He is not only a drift ‘god’, but also a former Korean GT champion. Jang is now preparing for a season of racing and drifting in the US and hopes to one day be ‘a famous drifting champion’. He says the key to drifting is throttle control, but his explanation of the intricacies of the art of making a car dance sideways remains veiled by his lack of English and an interpretor who doesn't quite convey the nuances Mr Jang seems to display in his body language. Jang's tyre of choice for a drifting display at Hankook's Geumsan proving ground is the 225mm-wide Hankook Ventus S1 EVO with a 40 profile on 18-inch wheels under his 340-horsepower (253.5kW) Hyundai Genesis Coupe. He's not just horsing around with the horses, either. After just a couple of minutes of tyre-smoking action, the car's turbo is on fire and the Hankooks have melted down to the metal. All in a day's work.

The company is targeting ‘boy racers’ and track-day enthusiasts with one of the stickiest tyres on the market, the Ventus R-S3, to be released next month. With a wear rating of 140, it is the stickiest compound legally approved for much of the club racing circuit in Australia and the US.Hankook Tyre Australia managing director Paul Park says the motorsport-oriented tyre will improve their sales in the important ‘ultra-high performance tyre’ category which last year represented 2.35 million sales in Australia last year out of a total replacement tyre market of 11 million.  "The UHPT sector is enjoying a compound annual growth rate about twice that of the passenger car tyre market as a whole," he says.Hankook defines UHP tyres as those with sidewall profiles of 55-series or lower and speed ratings above 210km/h. "The growth of UHP sales reflects the after-market trend towards the fitting of wider, lower-profile tyres to bigger wheels - the so-called `inch-up' market," he says."The market is also being driven by the increasing tendency of manufacturers to specify UHP tyres for their vehicles. "Where the manufacturers go, the replacement market follows, and over the last two decades or more manufacturers have been moving towards lower-profile, higher-performance tyres."Hankook is Australia and New Zealand's fastest-growing UHP tyre brand with 15.3 per cent growth since 2003 and a 6.3 per cent share of the category. The company recently appointed independent retailers as Hankook Performance Partners to sell their UHP tyres which will also include their new asymmetric low-profile performance tyre targeted at comfort-oriented drivers.The Ventus ME01 (for maximum efficiency) will be launched late this year. The Ventus R-S3 replaced the R-S2 and features a "flame tattoo" 2mm logo on the tread. It took three years of development at the Geumsan research and development centre. It has a new racing-developed compound featuring racing carbon black and silica, a 3 per cent wider tread groove for more traction, a wider centre block for better steering control and a three-layer stiffer profile to prevent distorting under lateral forces.We tested the tyre against its predecessor on two BMW convertibles at Hankook's Geumsan proving grounds in Korea. The new tyre is a quantum leap forward with sharper turn-in, crisper change of direction, improved lateral support, less tyre squeal and reduced squirm under braking. It almost felt like the BMW on the old R-S2 tyres had sloppy suspension.Hankook Tyre Australia marketing and PR manager Jose Angeles says the tyre will appeal to "boy racers and enthusiasts who want to drive their car to the track, use it all day, then drive it home". He says they are "just about done finalising our price program", but it is expected to cost about $519 for the 245/40ZR18.This compares with the Bridgestone Potenza RE01R at $528 and Yokohama Neova AD08 at $520. The Ventus R-S3 will come in 15 to 19-inch sizes with 35 to 50 profile.

As the US next month makes tyre pressure monitors standard in all new vehicles, Hankook CEO Seung Hwa Suh declared they would make as significant an impact on road safety as seat belts, anti-skid brakes and airbags had."Tyre pressures are a major factor in safety, he said.  "We have to educate the consumer to check their tyres and we have to push car manufacturers to include tyre pressure monitor systems in their cars."Correct tyre pressures not only make the cars safer by improving handling and braking ability, but we also need to tell the consumer that it will lengthen the life of their tyre.While most tyre pressure monitor systems have sensors in the wheel, brake disc or valve, several tyre companies, including Hankook, are now working on embedding sensors in the tyre wall that relay information to the driver via the cars on-board computer.

and now he owns a stable of historic cars and bikes. But electrician Carl Neilsen, 42, got the shock of his life last year when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. "I had to make some hard decisions because it wasn't looking good," he says. Neilsen went in for a life-saving operation to have it removed and is now planning a 20,000km trip around Australia in a mate's 1915 American-made Willys-Overland Model 80 to spread the word about prostate cancer. "We're starting in July or August with a figure eight around Queensland then - all going well with sponsors - a 98-day tour with 72 stops to talk along the way at mining camps, Aboriginal communities, saleyards, pubs, anywhere where blokes gather," he says. His co-driver is Lang Kidby whose adventures include competing in the 2005 Peking to Paris Expedition in an Itala and driving around the world in a Fiat Bambino. Kidby bought the Overland C-cab commercial vehicle in Melbourne when he heard about Neilsen's cancer awareness trip plans. "It needed a full restoration," he says. "We built the body from scratch and did all the mechanical work ourselves. Everything except the signwriting. "Lang paid around $15,000 and we've spent about $35-$40,000 restoring it." The Overland is powered by a 48 horsepower (36kW), three-litre, four-cylinder, side-valve engine with three-speed transaxle rear end and rear brakes only. The rear suspension features a normal eliptical spring with a half eliptical spring at the back which Neilsen says makes it ride well and prevents axle tramp. "The only modification is a Stromberg carburettor to make it more reliable. Nothing else," he says. "It's actually quite surprising. It will cruise at 70km/h and is quite smooth, but the steering is heavy. We'll end up both looking like Schwarzenegger at the end of the trip." Neilsen is quietly confident that the vehicle will complete the journey. "With the size of the 24-inch wheels, it will go anywhere, crawl over anything." Neilsen says they thought the car was apt for its duties because of the bonnet ornament of a Belgian boy peeing. "There are numerous stories about it, but the one we like is that it is a Belgian boy who apparently found a bomb near Brussells when it was under siege and he peed on the fuse to save the town," he says. "So the prostate message is if you can't pee you can't save anything." Neilsen calls himself the "perpetual restorer" having restored cars and bikes "as long as I can remember". He now owns 16 vehicles including 11 Fiats, an A40 Austin Somerset, Lancia Beta Coupe, MGB GT, a modern 147 GTA Alfa and two Ducatis, a modern Paul Smart 1000 and 350 Silver Shotgun. "I drive myself insane with them all," he says. "I'll never stop. It's one of those things. You've just got to keep going. People phone you and ask if you want to buy something and you say no... but you just can't say no because the curiosity gets the better of you. My wife thinks it's quite amusing, but my mother thinks it's some sort of illness."

Hankook chief financial officer Hyun Bum Cho said he had held talks with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone about supplying tyres to the premier motorsport category.  "Bernie Ecclestone has had trouble with tyres and we have talked to him personally a few times, but we have decided not to go with the program, because it will take time and he needed a tyre very quickly," he said."But we had a very good talk and maybe we will participate in the future. But not more than in to two three years."  Cho, who launched the South Korean company's motorsport program 10 years ago, said the company, which spends about 3 per cent of its sales revenue on marketing, needed to become involved in the "top categories" of world motorsports."Right now we have a little Le Mans team and some rally teams here and there," he said.  "The worldwide motorsport market is about 2 million a year which is quite profitable because motorsport tyres are quite expensive."So we need to be in WRC, F1 or the top end of Le Mans.  "In future we need to be in those but it will cost a lot of money."He said Hankook was well poised to be in premium motorsport categories because it was the seventh-biggest tyre manufacturer in the world, most of the companies above it were either old or disinterested and the Japanese brands did not have the money to participate."So it is quite obvious that in the motorsport field we are emerging as a new rising star," he said.  Hankook Tyre Australia managing director Paul Park said the company was represented at the Bathurst 12 Hour race, where they finished fourth in difficult weather conditions."That race was the Australian motorsport debut of our Ventus TD semi-slick road-spec tyre," he said.  The same tyre was recently used by Dean Evans on his Mitsubishi Evo when he finished 10th outright at Targa Tasmania and scored a hat-trick of results when the United States race team Sierra Sierra finished second at the World Time Attack Challenge in Sydney.Their fastest time was within a second of the Eastern Creek lap record for a V8 Supercar on full racing slicks.  "this motorsport expertise can be found in our new Ventus R-S3," he said.  "This is an example of the old saying that motorsport improves the breed."We believe it will also, ultimately, improve our sales in Australia."  Although the Korean giant now supplies tyres as original equipment to many of the world's luxury brands, don't expect to see their tyres on supercars soon.Hankook CEO Seung Hwa Suh said they had been approached by a supercar company to supply tyres, but they had declined.  He wouldn't name the company or either confirm whether it was Italian, English, Swedish, Japanese, American or German."It is a privilege to us (to have been asked), but we are not yet at that stage," he said.  "Profitability is good but the development costs are very high."

Media spokesperson for vehicle insurer AAMI Mike Sopinski said their research shows two in three pedestrians admit to jaywalking. This comes as 200 pedestrians were killed on the roads around the nation last year."I see it all the time... pedestrians stepping out into traffic in their own little world with their MP3 players and mobile phones in their ears," he said. "What I'm concerned about here is that we have a great number of noiseless electric vehicles about to hit our roads. It's a recipe for a growing number of pedestrian deaths."Although using handheld mobile phones while driving is now banned, Sopinski said he didn't believe it would come to that for pedestrians on roads. "It comes down to individuals exercising commonsense and perhaps adults adopting the lesson of 'look right and look left' that we instil in children," he said.The AAMI online research of 2818 Australians also found that one-quarter (26 per cent) of drivers consider pedestrians to be a hazard when driving and 93 per cent say they always look out for pedestrians and drive more cautiously in areas with high pedestrian activity."Alarmingly, more than half of the drivers surveyed (51 per cent) said that pedestrians who engaged in dangerous activities like jaywalking were to blame if they were hit by a car," he said. "Drivers need to be conscious of all road users, not just other cars. Pedestrians are one of the most vulnerable groups on our roads, as they have no protection if they are involved in a motor vehicle accident."This latest research comes as car manufacturers are introducing bonnet crash protection that reduces injury to pedestrians, not just the vehicle occupants. Among these safety features are bonnets that deflect pedestrians on impact and even a Volvo system that detects pedestrians and automatically stops the car.Pedestrian deaths in 2009 - 200 national(40 QLD, 62 NSW, 50 VIC, 27 WA, 9 SA, 7 NT, 3 TAS, 2 ACT)Jaywalkers - 67% national(66% QLD, 68% NSW & VIC, 64% WA, 66% SA, 72% NT, 67% TAS, 66% ACT)Pedestrians are a hazard - 26% national(28% QLD, 28% NSW, 24% VIC, 27% WA, 25% SA, 21% NT, 23% TAS, 19% ACT)Pedestrians are to blame if hit - 51% national(53% QLD, 49% NSW, 53% VIC, 52% WA, 48% SA, 51% NT, 53% TAS, 49% ACT)Watch for pedestrians - 93% national(93% QLD & VIC, 92%, NSW and WA, 95% SA & TAS, 98% NT, 91% ACT)Drive cautiously in pedestrian area - 93% national(93% QLD, VIC & WA, 91% NSW, 95% SA, 98% NT, 97% TAS, 84% ACT)

CEO Edward Lee says diesel isn't on their agenda, despite the fact that the Sonata the i45 replaces had a two-litre diesel engine.  "At the moment, we don't have that plan but we have some different ideas," he says. In the US, it will be available with LPG and as a petrol-electric hybrid.  "The hybrid is just for the US, but if the market is ready we will consider it." He rejected a stronger V6 engine for the i45, declaring that the 2.4-litre petrol Theta II engine "performs like a V6".  Product planning manager Roland Rivero says diesel does not represent a high proportion of their car sales or throughout the medium-car segment. "Looking at the sales split for petrol versus diesel in Mondeo and Mazda6 it it struggling to grow," he says.  "It's not huge in this segment.  But if the market demands it, we will investigate an alternative fuel, but it might not be diesel."

It's fussy, with plenty of chrome and some complicated panel creases that test the high build quality standard of the South Korean manufacturer.  However, Hyundai's North American design manager Andre Hudson, is proud that a lot of his out-there styling cues have carried through to the production vehicle.  "Our speed of development at Hyundai means the original idea stays very true and doesn't get watered down," he says. He points to two main features which made it from the drawing board to the showroom - the chrome strip down three-quarters of the side of the car and the C pillar "porthole" window.  "The chrome strip under the window sills goes all the way to the headlights across three separate panels. Getting them lined up is a testing process," he says. The C pillar window is one of his favourites.  "I'm so proud that the glass carried through to production despite the extra cost. It gives more sense of space." Hudson spent seven years with GM in Detroit and the UK before moving to Hyundai five years ago.  "That has given me a border approach to designing cars and understanding the European market," he says. Hyundai has studios in South Korea, southern California China, India, Germany and Japan.  "In the US this is considered a large car," he says. "I was 30 when I started on this project and designing a medium-sized family vehicle is not something you dream of doing at that age.  "However, I can now see it being a family car for me for the future." The car continues Hyundai's theme of 'fluidic sculpture'. "It's time to make an emotional connection with our customers and pull at people's hearts a little," he says, referring to the car's "natural organic quality" and "athletic and taut" lines. "There is a movement of line on this vehicle. It looks like it's in motion when it's standing still," he says.  He also describes the front grille as looking like a bird of prey. While the exterior was designed in the US, Hudson's studios collaborated with South Korea on the colours, introducing a metallic red to Hyundai's line-up for the first time and an adventurous "espresso brown" which looks almost black except in direct sunlight.

These are the fantasies of vehicle designers that we usually only get to see at international motor shows. Now Detroit's finest motoring graphic artists are sending their finest works of motoring art around the world in a travelling exhibition that will hit Brisbane from this month. Called Industrial Desire, the exhibition will feature models, drawings and film footage, Detroit's gothic beauty and iconic futuristic cars. With less than a few thousand car designers globally, it counts as one of the world's most competitive and secretive careers. Show curator Leon Fitzpatrick, an Australian-born industrial designer who studied in Detroit, has picked the exhibition pieces from Detroit's College for Creative Studies, an international centre of excellence in transportation design. "What we need out there are cars that ignite a sense of wonder, rather than the rolling appliances they have become," he says. "These models show there's no reason why cars can't be exciting, aesthetically pleasing and thoughtful all at the same time." The show, which runs from June 10 to August 28 at Artisan Gallery in Fortitude Valley, features 10 quarter-scale models of fantastic concept vehicles including futuristic SUVs, muscle cars and cutting edge ecofriendly city cars. They are supported by original sketches and renderings, multimedia video, sketches, rendering and digital 3-D modelling. "With the automotive industry on the verge of a massive shift it is timely to look at the creativity and optimism of the next generation of car designers," Fitzpatrick says. "Industrial Desire is a powerful, informative and inspirational experience for people of all ages, merging craft and design in a new and innovative way." Another Australian link in the exhibition is Imre Molnar, Dean at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, who trained at the National Art School of Sydney in Australia and worked with the Australian Design Council. He has been a featured lecturer on strategic design management for businesses around the globe, including Nokia, NCR, Volkswagen, BMW, the Ford Motor Company and JETRO (Japanese External Trade Organisation), and at government symposia.