Articles by Mark Hinchliffe

Never have my wife and I disagreed so much — except on our wedding night, when I wanted to leave early. Echoing that level of differing opinions, she loved the Smart fortwo coupe we had on test recently and I loathed it. She found it fun to drive and I felt like a complete goose in the tiny two-seater.She said people looked, smiled and waved at her when she was driving it while I found they pointed, laughed and made other motions with their hands. So I went to Crazy Clark's and bought a clever disguise for just $2. Not that I'm against small cars. The Mini is great fun to drive. But the Smart fortwo coupe just feels too quirky and weird to make the driving experience anything other than a total aggravation.InteriorIt started for me when I struggled trying to unlock the car with the key fob buttons which are totally invisible to my naked eye.When I slipped in behind the wheel it was no better. It seems Mercedes — the makers of Smart cars — has done everything it can to make the controls different to conventional wisdom.Even the key is located in the centre console, rather than near the steering wheel, although Saab also does that. Speaking of the steering wheel, it is not reach adjustable, so the driving position just never felt comfortable for me, although my wife loved it.TransmissionThe Smart coupe comes with a five-speed manual, but this one was equipped with the ‘Softouch’ auto for an extra $750. It includes steering wheel paddles to change gears, or you can push and pull the gear lever. The ‘Softouch’ semi-automatic changes are ridiculously ponderous and require the driver to decelerate as if they were changing manual gears, but without a clutch.Even leaving it in automatic it dithers and feels as if it's stalling as it slows to change gears. And forget about rapid downshifts for overtaking or impetus on a hill because it groans and struggles on for ages in too-high a gear before deciding to switch cogs. Getting off the mark is also quite slow and it takes more than 13 seconds to wind up to highway speed.Engine It's not that the vehicle is underpowered. It only has a three-cylinder 999cc engine, but it weighs only 750kg. Besides, you can also get a version with 10kW more power and 32Nm more torque. The problem lies in that auto transmission. The manual would undoubtedly be nippier.DrivingSpeed is not the essence of this vehicle. According to my wife it's about fun, economy and easy parking. Oh, and she loves the efficient wipers. I wasn't having much fun, especially around my neighbourhood where people could identify me or when our equally tall photographer and I tried to squeeze into the car together and had to take turns putting on our seat belts or cop an elbow in the eye. However, I will concede on the economy and parking issues. And the big-sweeping wipers.With a turning circle less than 9m and a wheelbase of just 1.8m, it whips into parking spaces with no planning or skill required. You can even fit it sideways in a parking space as they tend to do in Paris and Rome. It also whips into the tightest spaces when merging into traffic without inciting rage from other road users.Fuel consumption As for economy, it simply ran all week without making much of a dint in the fuel gauge, so I tend to believe the supplied figures of 4.7L/100km. And that's pretty good. That's even better than my motorcycle. In fact, under certain conditions, such as stop-start commuting, you could expect to get even better economy if you choose to switch on the economy button next to the gearshift. This puts it into ‘stop/start’ function which means the engine stops when the car stops and starts when you take your foot off the brake again so you aren't wasting fuel while idling at the traffic lights or stopped in a queue of traffic.However, in the summer, you will find the airconditioning also switches off and the car quickly heats up. It also feels very rough as the three-cylinder donk shudders to a halt and fires up again and in stop-start traffic this becomes quite annoying.PricingThe Smart is listed at just under $20,000 and is built to that price, but even competitors in this price range have electric wing mirrors. The only saving grace of the manual mirrors is that you can easily reach the passenger's side because the car is so tiny. Not that it worries my wife — she never looks in the mirrors, except to fix her lippy. However, my wife did find one problem with the car: she felt very nervous when a truck pulled up behind.

...to produce Holden race cars in time for next year’s season starting in early February. It follows the recent decision by Triple Eight’s TeamVodafone to switch from Ford next season. Team principal Roland Dane said yesterday’s announcement “formalised informal arrangements” over the past few months in which they had performed chassis work for Paul Morris Racing in return for engine development. Dane said they would have race cars built in time despite the early start to next season. “We can breathe and chew gum at the same time, you know,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do with the switch (to Holden) but this arrangement will help because it’s a two-way street.” The announcement coincided with Paul Morris Racing’s lead driver, Russell Ingall, re-signing with the team for two years. “I can start sleeping again now because I thought I would have to get a real job for a while,” the oldest driver in the field said. The 45-year-old, two-time Bathurst winner and 2005 V8 Supercars champion said he had another Bathurst win and championship in him. “People think as you get older you get slower, but I don’t think I’m getting any dumber and it pays to drive with a bit of sense.” Meanwhile, the Triple Eight team lit the wick yesterday on its campaign for four Bathurst titles in a row with an intense pitstop practice at Queensland Raceway. Dane said he was happy with the 14-second driver change between current champion and points leader Jamie Whincup and four-time Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes. “With these stops, it’s not just about speed, it’s about consistency,” he said. The drivers will race Lowndes’s 888 car and use his race engineer, Jeromy Moore, for the endurance rounds at Phillip Island next week and Bathurst next month. Moore said yesterday he was happy with yesterday’s testing, although there was little experimentation they could do on car set-up as the Ipswich track was so different from Phillip Island. The team’s 88 car will be driven by two-time British touring car champion James Thompson of the UK and Allan Simonsen of Denmark. Dane said the overseas drivers’ changes needed some work as Thompson had never done them before.

Multiple Ferrari owner Len Watson, 63, says low-mileage classic Ferraris have been left idle too long. "They are actually very reliable cars and don't give you any problems, so long as they are used on a regular basis," he says. "The problem is people store them in damp garages and the rubbers perish, the tyres get flat spots and they just become horrible. Very low mileage cars are not as good as some that have much higher mileage." "I did 70,000 miles in my 328 (1991 Ferrari 328 GTS) - very hard miles - and we only spent about 2000 (about $3875) on repairs in about 12 years." When he says hard miles, he means hard miles, having competed in track days, hillclimbs and classic races. He currently competes in various Queensland Racing Drivers Championship events in a 1980 Ferrari 308 GTB. Next year he intends to compete in the full season. The retired software company owner from the UK started his love affair with old cars with his first, a three-wheeled British Frisky with a bored-out 250cc Villiers two-stroke motorbike engine in the back. It cost him 18 (about $34) in 1966 and only about 100 were made. "It was quite unusual as it had a top speed of 70mph (112km/h) forwards and 70mph backwards as well," he says. "I got up to about 40mph (64km/h) in reverse. "The way it went backwards was you stopped it and started the engine in reverse. There were four speeds both ways." He swapped it for a Nash Metropolitan, "then had boring cars for a long time". The last new car he bought was a 1979 Triumph TR7, then he switched to a Porsche 924 Turbo and in 1983 he wanted to "upgrade" to a 911. "I hated them. Porsches didn't handle at all in the '80s," he said. "My wife said why don't you buy a Ferrari, so I bought a 2+2 Mondial 8 which was a couple of years old," Watson says. "I had it for a year and then bought a 3.2-litre Mondial QV (Quattrovalvole) as a company car. They were expensive but in those times you didn't lose any money on Ferraris." "However, the classic car bubble started in the late '80s and people were buying cars for silly money, so driving to customers in a classic Ferrari was a bit silly because they thought you were ripping them off. So I went to a Porsche 928 as a company car." However, the Ferrari bug returned in 1991 when he bought the Ferrari 328 GTS which he used and abused in track days, concours and hillclimbs. "After all, they are only a car," he says."Cars like that which were built conventionally on a chassis, you can replace bits. Today's cars crumple and cost a fortune to fix." About five years ago Watson migrated to Australia, sold the 328 and brought with him a left-hand-drive F40 which he drove in the Classic Adelaide rally. When he moved to Queensland he couldn't register the car without converting it to right-hand drive. "Being a carbon fibre car it is almost impossible to convert, so I got special permits for a couple of times," he says. "But if you can't drive a car I don't want it, so I sent it back to England and sold it." He was ‘Ferrari-less’ for about two years and then in 2007 returned to the UK to compete in the classic series and get his international race licence, so he bought a 1980 308 GTB "sight unseen. That was a mistake. The engine was knackered and needed a total rebuild," Watson says. "But I still have it. The reason I have an old Ferrari is that it is eligible for historics and there is more opportunity for historic racing here than conventional racing." His plan in obtaining an international licence was to race a friend's $15 million Ferrari 250 GTO at Le Mans. However, his friend decided the car was "just too expensive to risk in a race". That thought won't even enter Watson's head as he takes his 328 out on to Queensland Raceway in the inaugural Festival of Italian Motorsport on October 2-4.

‘Bloody Kingswood’ is about to return to the Australian lexicon thanks to Paul Hogan's new movie. Charlie & Boots hits the big screen on September 3 with Hogan starring alongside Kenny actor Shane Jacobson as father and son. However, the real star of the film is the iconic Holden Kingswood. The story is about Charlie McFarland (Hogan), a man in his late 60s who has suffered a devastating loss, and his youngest son, "Boots" (Jacobson). Boots decides to cheer up his grieving father by taking him on a fishing trip _ nearly 5000km away at Cape York in a 30-odd-year-old Kingswood. The road movie takes in beautiful locations and landscapes as well as young, beautiful hitchhiker, Jess, played by Morgan Griffin. But the sheer beauty of Australia's landscapes and young women are no match for the beauty of the old Kingswood. Steve Lack, action vehicle co-ordinator for the film, had the job of finding three Kingswoods and modifying them. "Not the Premier; it had to be the standard Kingswood," he said. "I found three that we could use and made them all look exactly the same in colour and interior. They were all automatic and basically all we did was modify one from a T bar shift to a column shift." One was used for wide shots, another for "drive-up" shots and the third was used on a "low loader" trailer. "The low loader car is all for the dialogue and the close-up stuff so the boys don't have to worry about steering and missing obstacles while they're acting," Lack said. "We took out the engine, diff, suspension; the whole idea of that was to get the vehicle as close to the ground as is normal ride height. We hung cameras all over it and it looked like the real deal." Lack said the Kingswood was a big hit with Jacobson who is a car fan and spent much of his down time during filming playing car racing games on his Playstation in his van. "Shane just keeps falling in love with it. It takes him back to his roots as a petrol head." Jacobson has competed in several tarmac rallies and was so smitten by the Kingswood, he bought one of the cars when filming was finished. "He would have done some of the driving stunts too but we couldn't get the insurance," Lack said. "As far as driving goes, the boys weren't really happy with the car in 40-degree heat. "The low leader car had a household airconditioning unit under the bonnet to cool the actors, but we couldn't get aircon into the others because of a lack of time and budget." Lack said the cars went through a few stunts, but the biggest was called the ‘pig stunt’. "The boys are driving down the road and there is a woman jogger coming toward them and they eyeball her and she looks back and calls out `pig'," he said. "They think he's having a go at them but when they turn around there is a big pig right in the middle of the road, so they swerve and go through the bush and come back on the road through a group of letterboxes one of which is decorated as a pig." He said the stunt was coordinated by Danny Baldwin from Queensland and used stunt driver Clint Dodd. "Shane did the bit through the letterboxes, though." Lack said working with Hogan, Jacobson and the Kingswood was "a hoot". "It was a lot of hard work but I probably would have done it for free."   ‘Not the bloody Kingswood’ has become part of Australian culture as the reply when someone asks to borrow something you hold dear. The line comes from the Australian sitcom Kingswood Country which screened from 1980 to 1984 on the Seven Network and featured Ross Higgins as a bigoted buffoon who loved his Holden Kingswood. Higgins didn't want anyone borrowing his car and would usually reply "You're not taking the bloody Kingswood" followed by an idiotic excuse such as "I've just glad-wrapped the aerial", "I've just polished the number-plate" or "I've just ducoed the tyres". The Kingswood succeeded the HR and was produced from 1968 to 1984 as a sedan, ute, panel van and station wagon. In those years it was produced as HT, HK, HG, HQ, HJ, HX, HZ and WB models. A 1968 HT Kingswood cost $2326. They were also exported to New Zealand, South Africa, and Asia, where many became taxis and are still in use.

Green cars have scored maximum ratings in the latest European crash tests. The Euro NCAP gave seven out of the eight cars tested a full five stars, including the petrol-electric hybrid Honda Insight and Toyota Prius 3. The latest results show that good fuel economy need not stand in the way of a high level of safety performance.Euro NCAP also commended these hybrid vehicles for their pedestrian scores that not only fulfil Euro NCAP's current five star requirements, but already meet the organisation's challenging 2012 targets.Pedestrian protection has not been a big priority for carmakers. Last year only 25 per cent of the cars tested by NCAP achieved more than two stars for pedestrian protection.However with the introduction of a new regulation in Europe this year that is changing, according to Euro NCAP secretary general Michiel van Ratingen. "The technology and know-how is out there for carmakers to deliver vehicles with better pedestrian protection," he said. "Honda and Toyota are giving us a glimpse of the cars of the future that consider the natural and social environment in its entirety."Euro NCAP’s top scorers with five star results are the Honda Insight, Kia Sorento, Renault Grand Scenic, Skoda Yeti (compact off-roader arriving her in mid-2010), Subaru Legacy (called Liberty in Australia), Toyota Prius 3 and the Volkswagen Polo. The Citroen C3 scored four stars because electronic stability control is only available on some variants in the model range in Europe.The two French cars - Grand Scenic and the C3 have also introduced a driver-controlled speed limitation system as standard on some variants and as an option on others. These systems assist the driver to maintain the safest speed according to the driving environment.Some manufacturers have responded quickly to Euro NCAPs call for better whiplash protection. Insight, Sorento and Yeti have seats and head restraints that offer good whiplash protection. In contrast, the whiplash protection offered by the Citroen C3 was found to be poor.

Always check the sticker on the inside flap of the filler neck, especially if you are changing cars regularly or driving fleet vehicles with which you are not familiar. Check service station pumps carefully. There can be several different pumps to choose from and service stations have different colour coded pumps for different fuels. Older style diesel engines may tolerate a small amount of petrol without too much damage, but it is not recommended. It can cause ‘pinging’, exhaust smoke, loss of power and oil contamination due to incomplete combustion. Modern common-rail diesel engines have high-pressure pumping elements which rely on the lubrication properties of the diesel fuel. Petrol is a solvent that ‘washes’ the internals of an engine, so petrol in a diesel engine will result in metal-to-metal damage. Filling a petrol car with unleaded petrol that is a lower octane rating than recommended may, at worst, damage the engine, at least, cause a lack of power and economy. Check the owner's guide. Using ULP with a higher octane rating than recommended will not cause any damage.

...reigning V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup has stepped on to another hot Holden.In a recent advertising campaign photo shoot, Whincup is seen sporting a crown and cape, while standing on a smouldering old Commodore wreck. It is perhaps a tongue-in-cheek reference to Team Vodafone's recent controversial announcement that drivers Whincup and Craig Lowndes will switch from Falcon to Commodore next year.The ad campaign is for Von Zipper, a Billabong brand. It is the first time the Australian surfing company has chosen a non-surfer to be an ambassador for the iconic brand."The photos are on my website and I have to say modelling is not my future career," says Whincup. However, his female fans would have to disagree judging by their comments on his website.They are not the only ones admiring the talents of the 26-year-old triple-Bathurst winner. He also has been voted as the best driver so far in 2009 by his peers in the annual AutoAction V8 Supercar Drivers Poll.Sixteen or 55 per cent of of drivers rated his achievements as field-leading. He was also the most respected driver (24 per cent) and the driver most likely to win this year's championship (79 per cent and 23 nominations)."It's fantastic to be rated by your main rivals because from the outside, many people say I go all right, but your actual rivals take into consideration the car you're driving as well," he told AutoAction."Although I feel like I'm driving well, at the same time I've got the best car out there, too. "My main rivals understand that and are taking that into account. What can I say? I can only say that it's a great honour." 

Like the fact that in 1934 it was the first front-wheel drive car (traction avant is French for front-wheel drive), its engine had overhead valves not side valves like most at the time, it had torsion bar suspension and a monocoque chassis and in 1937 was the first with rack-and-pinion steering. "I like things that are a bit different," he says. Wade's obsession with Citroens started "by accident". His first restored car was a 1930s Mercedes-Benz 150 S which he sold when he was offered "a fair price". He was on the lookout for another old car to restore when his father stumbled on an old Citroen Traction Avant. Believing it was a rare 1937 model, they bought it only to be told later by a Citroen Car Club historian that it was a French-made 1951 "Light 15" (15 horsepower). They paid $1000 for it, sold it in 1984 for $3500 and bought it back again 10 years ago for $6000. "I've since spent about $10,000 on it and have a fair bit to go," he says. His restoration has included "de-modernising" the car by replacing blinker lights with pop-up indicators, removing seat belts and restoring the single taillight. It's not the only Traction Avant in his garage. The other is a rare gem. "We were looking around for bits and pieces to restore the '51 and ended up buying a restored '48 and '40s wreck," he says. The wreck turned out to be a very rare Avant Light 15 1940 model that was built in October 1939. "Because of the war, parts were scarce, so only 400 were built," he says. They were divided up into several models: Roadsters, Light 12, Light 15, Big 15 (wider and longer) and Big 6 (six cylinder). "There are only two Light 15s left in the world. The other one is owned by an Argentinian pilot who I speak with occasionally," he says. "I didn't realise it was so rare when I bought it." The car is insured for $25,000, but Wade believes it could be worth a lot more. Traction Avants were made in Paris and in Slough, England, from where Australia got most of its models. Wade explains that the English models were better equipped but cheaper because they had more than 50 per cent parts from the UK, such as all Lucas electrics, which meant they qualified for lower Commonwealth import tariffs into Australia. Of the 750,000 Traction Avants built, only 26,000 were made in England, making them rarer. Wade said the UK cars had leather upholstery, chrome headlights, carpets and wood trim while the French-made cars had rubber mats on the floor, plastic trim and cloth seats. Wade's passion for the French marque extends throughout his backyard shed which also houses a 1977 GS Pallas, 2007 C5, 1996 Xantia, 1978 GS Pallas and 1980 Visa. Wade claims the Visa is also a rarity as one of only two left in Australia; the other being in Melbourne. His Visa was owned by rally legend Jim Reddiex and features a two-cylinder, 650cc engine like in the 2CV. "The trouble is there are too many cars here to choose from," he says. "That is what you tend to do with Citroens." Wade will show his Traction Avants at a 75th anniversary celebration at Cleveland Park in Brisbane on September 27. Among the 20-odd cars expected is one that ran in the 1954 Redex Trial.

Not anymore. Now he has more than doubled the horsepower and is a serious contender running ninth outright in the Queensland Cup Group N for historic sedans built before 1972. He could have chosen a more likely car to go racing, but the 44-year-old company executive manager just couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. "My wife, Trudy, was given the car by her great uncle and great aunt, Charlie and Mable Perarson," he says. "They bought it new in 1970 for $1950 and had done 42,000 miles (67,500km) before giving it to Trudy in 1990. "Trudy got her first teaching post in Longreach and that's when I met her. I was a jackaroo and a bit of a car nut at that stage and everyone said she picked me up to look after her car." Not that the car needed much attention. "We did a number of trips back and forth to Brisbane, drove it on dirt roads to properties and did a holiday from Longreach to Rocky, Townsville, Cairns, Hughendon and Winton and the only problems we had were typical for an English car - it used four litres of oil and needed a new generator," he says. "Other than that it went very well." When Trudy finished her teaching post the couple moved back to Brisbane and left the Hillman under her mother's house in Toowoomba for about 18 months. "Then Trudy's mum rang and asked me to get rid of it," he says. "I liked it so much we kept it as a second car for about four years and then I got a management position and the Hillman got retired." "About 2000 I started in motorsport and that was the car I used. I just put in a roll cage and away I went." West has a racing pedigree thanks to his father, Graham, who was a navigator for Dean Rainsford in a Porsche 911 and finished 1976 runners up in the Australian Rally Championship, beaten by a Nissan Japan factory team. His father was also guest navigator for legendary rally driver Stig Blomqvist in 1978 in a Saab EMS when he was here for the Rally of Canberra. "So I've got racing in my blood," he says. West began his motorsport career in sprints and hillclimbs, racing the clock, with limited modifications in the Hillman. Over time West has become "quicker and better" and the car has gradually received more modifications as he moved into more "serious" racing. The historic category allows limited modifications, so the racing Hillman Hunter now has Koni shock absorbers; coil-over suspension at the front which is adjustable for castor, camber and height; a balanced and blueprinted engine; handmade extractors; handmade intake manifold; Cortina ventilated front discs; twin 45mm Webbers; and the four-cylinder 1725cc engine has been marginally rebored to about 1730cc. It originally put out 53kW at the flywheel and now yields about 93kW at the rear wheels. "I was a laughing stock when I first turned up in the Hillman," says West. "No one had ever done it before. Plenty of people said they couldn't see why not, but plenty of people said it couldn't be done." "I've had to plot my own way all the way. You just can't buy things off the shelf. Over the years I've been getting places and winning. It's now a competitive car. No one laughs anymore," West says. "It's a good chassis to work on. But the Lucas electrics are a challenge; they call Lucas the Prince of Darkness." "The UK motor and driveline are good at leaking oil and I'm not allowed under the rules to drop oil on the track so I've learnt how to stop it." The Hillman's claim to racing fame was victory in the first London to Sydney in 1968 with British driver Andrew Cowan who later moved to Mitsubishi Ralliart. West says the main advantage of the Hillman is that it is wide and light. "It's about 40mm wider than an Escort and has good cornering speed. But I could do with more horsepower." "The big limitation is diff gearing. I need to go lower. I'm in the process of grafting in an Escort limited diff. Then I can run better tyres and go even quicker. I get a bit frustrated at times by its limitations, but while I love the racing, I also love the development and race engineering. "It's the first and only Hunter to be log booked as a Group N car in Australia, so I've set the specs for it. And maybe it's the last."

TeamVodafone principal Roland Dane has accused Ford boss Marin Burela of delivering ‘a pack of lies’ in an email sent to Ford staff after the announcement. Burela's leaked internal email said Ford "spent a considerable amount of money sponsoring Triple 8 for a number of years". "We honoured every single aspect of our sponsorship arrangement with them and in return, we asked for one thing - that they respect our brand by painting their cars blue." TeamVodafone cars have featured their sponsor's orange and chrome livery for the past two seasons. Ford last year dropped its support for TeamVodafone, citing the paintwork as too close to Holden's red. Burela's leaked email makes the mistake of saying that ‘each year Triple 8 chose to defy that contractual obligation and paint their cars red’. Dane points out that the cars were orange and chrome over the past two seasons and that they were predominantly yellow, silver and blue before that. He claimed Ford marketing department personnel had approved their Vodafone livery for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. "During the same period that you accuse Triple Eight of failing to run a blue car, your lead factory car at FPR sported a black and yellow colour scheme and one of the cars at SBR sported a green colour scheme," Dane's email said. "Both teams enjoyed considerably higher investment from Ford than Triple Eight," it points out. Burela's email to staff says they will continue to support motorsport through direct sponsorship of FPR and SBR and provide ‘significant in-kind support’ to other teams such as Dick Johnson's DJR team. Dane fired back that TeamVodafone, which won the last three Bathurst races and last-years' championship, had ‘delivered more race wins during the life of the contract than all the other Ford teams put together’. "Your (Ford's) sponsorship and marketing departments have done the damage to your brand - not us," Dane's email concludes. Ford would not publicly comment yesterday on the emails and Dane confirmed he had not yet had a response from Burela. Dane said the presence of mistakes in Burela's email showed he had not been briefed correctly by staff. "People of that level don't normally make mistakes like that," he said. "I haven't decided to take the issue any further, but I had to respond to his email so that my own staff understood my position. We're now just head down and going racing; that's what we're here for."