Articles by Paul Gover

Nissan, which withdrew from car making in Australia in 1991 and has mostly flown under the radar since that time as a manufacturer of aluminium components, has just landed a massive deal that will protect the jobs and earn more than $150 million over the next five years. It won a global tender for cast aluminium parts for the company's new worldwide flagship, the battery-powered Leaf. It will earn more than $30 million a year by exporting three cast aluminium parts in the Leaf's inverter box, and is also tendering for a fourth piece. "We now have a very aggressive and growing business in Australia," says the head of Nissan Australia, Dan Thompson. "We've been able to compete with some very, very aggressive neighbours, whether that's Thailand, China or Mexico." Nissan Casting in Dandenong won the business, which will add more than $30 million a year to Australia's automotive exports until 2015. The new deal saved the Nissan factory at Clayton in Melbourne from closure and will provide the foundation for a local development program on aluminium accessories including bull bars for Nissan's four-wheel drives. Nissan stopped making the Pulsar at Clayton in 1991 - in a giant factory complex that now houses Holden Special Vehicles as one tenant - but its casting plant survives and has now been operating for more than 30 years. It gets a major update under the new deal, with $13 million for tooling and another $8 million for upgrading of the factory. Nissan also landed a $3.5 million bonus from the Federal government's Green Innovation Fund, which has since been chopped, to help fund the deal. Thompson admits the Dandenong casting plant was close to closure last year, but a change of management and the aggressive export drive has secured the jobs and kept the factory operating on three shifts, seven days a week. "Manufacturing in Australia has never been tougher," Thompson says.

It was easy question to answer, because the answer is a resounding yes. What's much tougher to answer is 'Will he win?', because victory in Formula One relies as much on luck as any talent or preparation. Webber has not had much luck at Albert Park since his first-up fifth with the lowly-rated Minardi team in 2002, although he admits he tried too hard with the speedy Red Bull racer last year and killed his chances of a home win. He has often been belted by a silly mechanical problem, despite obvious speed in everything from a Jaguar through Williams days and on to the reds. This time around, all the signs are good. Webber is fully fit. His Red Bull RB7 is the fastest car from pre-season testing. Webber is a proven winner who also knows how to cope with the pressures and demands of a hometown event. But there are still some buts. No-one knows how fast Ferrari will go when testing becomes racing, and Fernando Alonso gets a sniff of success with the famous Italian team. Unproven Pirelli tyres could turn the race into a roll-the-dice gamble on wear, speed and strategy. And then there is Sebastian Vettel. Webber beat the mercurial young German many times last year, and led the world championship standings for longer than any of the contenders, but Vettel snatched the crown in the final race at Abu Dhabi with the sort of inspired performance that has him rated alongside Michael Schumacher for skill and commitment. Webber says he has hit the re-set button for 2011 and he has an incredible ability to regroup and re-focus whenever he faces a new challenge. He was expected to be buried by Vettel but stepped up to the German's level last year in a brilliant performance. No-one knows how qualifying will run this year, unlike last year when Webber had to beat Vettel on Saturday to have a chance in the races on Sunday. And the Pirelli situation is genuinely a massive unknown. So Webber can win the Australian Grand Prix, without any doubt. Will he? I think so.

NICK Percat is the early leader in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar championship after two strong results at the Clipsal 500. Cancer fighter Jason Richards and youngster Andrew Thomson took the individual heat wins but Percat's 2-3 weekend for Walkinshaw Performance gave the Commodore driver the overall lead ahead of Tim Blanchard with 4-4 results in a Falcon and Scott McLaughlin with 7-2 finishes in his Ford.DAVID Brabham came home second for Acura as the fancied Audi and Peugeot factory cars stumbled at the Sebring 12-hour sports car race in the USA. Brabham has a mix-and-match race program this year, including V8 Supercar duty with Stone Brothers Racing, and started well with Highcroft Racing as the privateer Peugeot driven by Olivier Panis-Loic Duval-Nicolas Lapierre won at Sebring.MARCOS Ambrose is up to 18th in the NASCAR championship after a solid 15th place in the gruelling 500-lap contest on the high-banked Bristol oval last weekend. Ambrose qualified 14th with his Ford Fusion and led a lap in a race won by Kyle Busch.YOUNGSTER Tom Williamson was a race and round winner in the Formula Ford contest at the Clipsal 500. Cameron Waters won the first heat but Williamson's victory in the second-heat crashfest got him maximum points for the weekend ahead of Jesse Fenech and Nick Cassidy.CHAD Reed is now second in the AMA Supercross standings and closing on series leader Ryan Villopoto after another podium for his TwoTwo Motorsports team last weekend. Reed finished second in Jacksonville Florida on his Honda as Villopoto failed to score.JOHN Bowe took top points from the opening round of the Touring Car Masters series at the Clipsal 500 meeting. The former V8 Supercar star was the pacesetter on the streets of Adelaide with his Ford Mustang and finished on top of a quality field including fellow legends Jim Richards and Andrew Miedecke.A huge hit in the rain-lashed fourth race didn't stop David Sieders taking first-round honours in the V8 Utes championship in Adleaide. He limped over the line in the final race of the weekend to take top points ahead of Ryal Harris and Chris Pither.Aussie youngsters Molly Taylor and Brendan Reeves begin their junior challenge in the World Rally Championship this weekend as part of the Pirelli Star Driver Academy. Both are driving Ford Fiesta R2s in the Rally Portugal, Taylor with Rebecca Smart as her co-driver and Reeves with his sister Rhianon Smyth alongside.

The latest generation of grand prix cars are petrol-electric hybrids that also use a range of high-tech systems and technologies, right down to long-life oils, that will eventually find their way into everyday road cars.An F1 hybrid is very different from a Toyota Prius, since braking energy is stored and released for a burst of speed and not for low-speed electric driving, but the work done on high-tech batteries and computer control systems is easily transferred to production line heroes.It's typical of grand prix technology transfer, which has been a reality in racing for decades. Still, it's ironic that some of the most advanced safety features in road cars - ABS brakes and ESP stability control - are banned from Formula One and there is no way yet to adapt airbags to the violent and unpredictable crashes in grand prix races.Tracing the F1 roots of today's road cars is relatively easy, starting with engine and gearbox technology from the 1990s. Honda developed and refined the V-Tech adjustable camshaft timing that combines power and economy in racing and Ferrari led the world into the era of robotised manu-matic gearboxes."V-Tech technology came directly from Formula One. At the time it was new to the Honda V10 engine used by McLaren, but now it's on every road going Honda car, right down to our economy cars and hybrids," says Mark Higgins of Honda Australia.Current F1 cars used gearboxes which have a 'seamless shift' system that's similar to the double-clutch gearboxes fitted to growing number of cars, including the Volkswagen Golf. Aerodynamics and high-tech materials are two other important areas.Carbon fibre is starting to find its way into top-end sports cars, including the Lexus LF-A supercar, after being adapted from aerospace to racing. McLaren was the first to do the job and now the ultra- strong composite is universally used in F1 and being adapted to lightweight city cars of the future.A range of other 'on the aero' front, this year's grand prix cars have a driver-adjustable rear wing - a long way ahead of the 1950s 'air brake' used by Mercedes-Benz at Le Mans - and that technology is coming fast for road cars.Ferrari has aerofoils in the nose of its latest 458 Italia that change shape at various speeds to assist cooling and downforce. In future, 'active' aero systems will blank the front ends of road cars at speeds to cut drag and improve fuel economy - then open again for cooling when the car is stopped in traffic. This sort of work is also made easier by the complex artificial wind tunnels contained in F1 computers - the programs are called Computational Fluid Dynamics - used to test and develop new body parts.Ford recently credited CFD work on the upcoming Ranger pickup and almost every major maker uses CFD for early design and development work. Even F1 fuels and oils are used for road car work, with Shell trumpeting the V-Power development it did with Ferrari before introducing its current flagship fuel. And it has used grand prix engines for decades to test the oils which now allow road cars to run for more than 10,000 kilometres between changes.

The German brand's upcoming rival to the BMW X1, and the latest newcomer in its explosion of new models, is caught this week by Carparazzi during winter testing.The Audi Q3 is heavily camouflaged but obvious details include the basic outline of the five-door SUV body, distinctive headlamps and a prominent grille. The sloping roofline is another signature for the Q3 and mimics the shape of the Cross Coupe Quattro Concept from the 2007 Shanghai Motor Show.The basic mechanical package for the Q3 comes from Volkswagen's successful Tiguan, which has been a huge winner for the brand around the world including Australia. Apart from styling, the Q3 will differ from the Tiguan - as the Audi A1 is differentiated from the Volkswagen Polo - with a sportier driver and much more youth-focussed final finishing.Drivelines are expected to include the usual VW Group packages, with 2-litre petrol and turbodiesel motors matched to five and six-speed gearboxes and quattro all-wheel drive.Carparazzi suggests the first official sighting will be at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, before production begins at the Seat factory in Martorell, Spain towards the end of this year.

Not just that, but 30 per cent of the texters believe it is safe to text and drive.

The French carmaker has two Renault racers in the Formula One field at Albert Park, as well as the Renault-engined Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, and is lining up four Megane RS 250 coupes for a Red Bull-backed on-track shootout including David Coulthard and young Aussie hopeful Daniel Ricciardo.But there is more - a limited-edition, grand prix-themed Clio Sport. The new pocket rocket is the latest addition to Renault's go-faster lineup, which has provided the bait for local buyers over the past 18 months.There are only 30 Clio R.S. 200 Australian Grand Prix edition cars and each has a commemorative plaque signed by Webber. The mechanical package is unchanged - with a 147.5 kiloWatt 2.0-litre engine and a close-ratio six-speed gearbox that combine for a 0-100km/  h sprint in 6.9 seconds and a top speed of 225 km/h.The difference between the GP edition and the regular Clio Renault Sport are mostly cosmetic, apart from a $1000 price hike to $39,990. The cars are painted in traditional Renault racing colours of liquid yellow and black, with black-gloss Speedline alloy wheels. The roof is also black.Inside, there are Recaro sports seats, the Renault Sport monitor system and an additional rear spoiler. Cars will hit dealers next month and Renault Australia boss, Justin Hocevar, is predicting an early sellout."I am confident the new Clio R.S. 200 Australian Grand Prix Limited Edition car will become an instant classic," he says.

Hundreds of teenagers will benefit from a $125,000 grant from the FIA in Paris for pre-license training conducted by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport.It ran a pilot program last year and 30 car clubs across Australia will be accredited to continue working on the Ignition program. It is intended to make young drivers more aware of their responsibilities, focussing on problems such as road rage and an understanding of vehicle dynamics.CAMS won Federal and Victorian government funding for the pilot program in 2010 and says the Ignition program could eventually be run-out nationwide through schools and community groups, with more than 21,000 CAMS-licensed competitors and 50,000 car club members eligible to be trained as instructors.It is looking for additional financial backing from all levels of government, as well as insurance companies. But CAMS president, Andrew Papadopoulos, stresses that Ignition is not a driving school."It addresses issues of driver attitude and vehicle dynamics so that young people are better equipped to become road users," he says.Papadopoulos says early training is the right approach for road safety, with ignition open to pre-license students as young as 12. "CAMS' view is that it is far preferable to teach youngsters road etiquette in advance rather than try to correct them at a later, and perhaps tragic, date," he says.But Ignition does address vehicle dynamics, in theory and practice. "Ignition will ensure students know how a car reacts, for example, in an emergency. Ignition will address issues such as adhesion and brake performance," Papadopoulos says.The FIA funding was announced by FIA president, former Ferrari F1 team boss Jean Todt, during a visit to Australia that included a promise for another major road safety initiative before the middle of this year. The FIA program, Action for Road Safety, will support the United Nation's Decade of Action program by aiming to save five million lives on roads worldwide by 2020."One hundred FIA affiliates, like CAMS, have signed up to the global program and are seeking to make positive contributions in their regions," says Todt. "Road deaths are a global epidemic comparable to malaria or tuberculosis. Yet, by comparison to other global killers, road injury is utterly neglected. The need for change is urgent."

The flagship Audi A8 and BMW's mid-sized 5 Series are competing with the Nissan Leaf to become the seventh winner of the 2011 World Car of the Year award. The three finalists were culled from an original list of 39 contenders and the winner will be announced at the opening of the New York Auto Show on April 21. Apart from the overall World COTY award, 66 motoring journalists from 24 countries are also voting on awards for performance cars, green cars and automotive design. The three finalists for the World Performance Car are the Ferrari 458 Italia, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and the latest Porsche 911 Turbo. The World Green Car, an award presented by Bridgestone, will go to either the BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Edition, the Chevrolet Volt or the Nissan Leaf, while the competition for the design award is between the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Aston Martin Rapide and Ferrari 458 Italia. "The World COTY awards are not intended to replace any national or regional awards, such as the Carsguide Car of the Year contest won for 2010 by the Volkswagen Polo, but reward automotive excellence on an international scale," says Peter Lyon, co-chair of the World COTY award. The reigning World COTY champion is the Volkswagen Polo, while the Volkswagen Golf won for 2009, and the Mazda2 claimed the top prize in 2008.

Webber drives an Infiniti M37 as part of a new global tie-up between the Nissan luxury brand and his Red Bull F1 team and it's on the list for local sales. Infiniti has been working on a plan for Australia for more than two years and it finally went public this week on the broad details - including models and three upscale dealerships in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane."We've been talking for two-and-a-half years and finally it's all happening. We've got enough certainty on the model lineup and dealer strategy that we're able to say something concrete," says Dan Thompson, the Nissan Australia boss who has been driving the Infiniti plan."We saw an opportunity to do something this week with the Australian Grand Prix and the relationship with Red Bull. This is such a great day for Infiniti." The brand's hero car is the FX, a BMW X5-sized crossover SUV.Its design is genuinely unique and - from a brief drive in Europe - it will deliver a very different experience for Australian shoppers. The other two models in the lineup are the G-series, which comes as a BMW 3-Series sized convertible and coupe, and the M sedan which Infiniti sees as a rival to the BMW 5 Series. There will be an M37 hybrid with petrol and diesel engine choices in the other models.Infiniti is not talking about prices or sales targets, as Thompson says it is far too early for specifics. "We won't have the cars in showrooms until September or October next year. And it's a very long-term project."Even so, Infiniti Australia is planning to go head-to-head with the Germany luxury brands from the start and totally rejects any suggestion that it will be a cut-price contender. "Absolutely not. We won't be the cheapest," says Thompson. The Infiniti pre-launch comes as the brand gears up for global growth intended to more than double its sales from the current level of 165,000."This performance luxury brand is moving into a serious growth phase," says Kevin Snell, the one-time Saab executive who is general manager of Infiniti Australia. "There is no cheap, easy way to break into this market. We want to focus on quality over quantity. We will do it step-by-step."Basic details on the Infiniti models are: FX - mid-sized luxury SUV, 290kW 5.0-litre V8 and 235kW 3.7-litre V8 petrol engines, 175kW V6 diesel; seven-speed automatic and all-wheel drive. Models are FX50 and FX37 M - mid-sized luxury sedan,  235kW 3.7-litre V6, 313kW 5.6-litre V8, 175kW 3.0-litre diesel, 261kW hyrid, rear or all-wheel drive.Models are M37, M56, M30d and M35h G - compact luxury sedan and convertible, 162kW 2.5-litre V6, 245kW 3.7-litre V6, rear and all-wheel drive with seven-speed automatic. Models are G25 and G37.