Rahal-Letterman End Debut Season With Two Wins

American Le Mans Series regulars Rahal Letterman Racing returned from Japan with another win in their debut season, victorious in the first of the Asian Le Mans Series.

The team, headed by former Indycar driver Bobby Rahal, pared down its entry from the two BMW M3 GT2 cars normally fielded in the ALMS to a single car effort, with the driving duties shared between Dirk Muller and Tommy Milner.

The team started the race at the Okayama circuit from fourth in the nine car strong GT2 class, but German Muller made his way up to second in the early stages of the three hour race. He then handed the car over to Milner at approximately half distance, and the 23-year old American took the lead, passing Wolf Henzler in the Felbermayr-Proton Porsche after 73 laps in what was one of the many times the lead swapped between the cars.

With an eye on the close battle the team chose only to fuel the car, with Milner staying behind the wheel and the same set of tyres remaining on the car.

The choice saved crucial time in the sort term, but Milner started to lose time to Marc Leib, who had replaced Henzler in the Porsche as they also opted for fresh tyres.

With the extra grip Lieb had caught the BMW with a paltry eight minutes left in the race and began to harry the back of Milner’s car.

Despite this the Porsche driver came up short with Milner claiming RLR’s second win of the season (after Mid-Ohio) by only 0.2 seconds.

“This was a tough race,” said Milner afterward. “As we didn’t change tyres during the pit stop I knew it would be a close finish. Marc Lieb put me under pressure, and I had to fend off his first attacks in order to keep my chances alive. I managed to do that.”

“This is a fantastic result. In qualifying we didn’t achieve the maximum, so it was important that Dirk gained some ground after the start,” added Rahal himself. “Our fuel economy and the pace of the car were very good. During our second pit stop we didn’t change our Dunlop tyres. Tommy then drove the race of his life. The Porsche managed to close the gap, but just couldn’t get by.”

Rahal Letterman have confirmed they, and BMW, plan a full ALMS season in 2010, starting with the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 20th.

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Proton Committed To India Entry, Plans To Conclude Partnership By Early Next Year

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CHENNAI, Nov 4 (Bernama) -- Proton Holdings Bhd is committed to enter the Indian car market, and optimistic it can conclude partnership talks with the potential partner by early next year or earlier.

"We don't want to set a time but we hope by early next year everything can be resolved, and if that is the case, manufacturing can start by 2011," Proton's managing director, Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, told Bernama early this week.

He said Proton was confident its ongoing discussion could enter the next stage and there was no doubt of it entering the Indian car market.

Syed Zainal Abidin said Proton had been sending its cars to India for testing on Indian roads for the last one-and-half years.

"So we have a lot of feedback in terms of what needs to be done to our cars.

"The question is to find the right partner to get the facility and the manufacturing running," he said.

He was in India as part of the trade and investment mission headed by Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.

"Of course, in light of the current economic crisis, we are re-looking our strategy," he said, adding that Proton has been talking to a few parties, including Hero group.

Syed Zainal Abidin said it was a question of time and finding the right business model.

"It is just that now, with the current situation, we need to reassess our strategy and hopefully we will be able to conclude something because India is a very important market," he said.

He said Proton was looking for a partner with high experience in the Indian motor vehicle industry not only in manufacturing but also sales and distribution.

Syed Zainal Abidin said Proton would not bring completely built-up (CBU) units into India.

He said it would bring in completely knock down (CKD) units with high local contents as the component industry in India was well-developed.

"Our business model in India is not CBU. I don't think we can survive long term on CBU as it will be costly," he said.

Syed Zainal Abidin said Proton was looking for a partner with manufacturing and localisation expertise as it did not have it in India.

"So we are looking for partner that can support us and help us on that," he said.

He said Proton was also looking at an existing distribution network.

"India is a big market. I don't think it is worthwhile, and more difficult, to establish our own distribution network.

"It is more logical to tie up with a company that already has one," he said.

-- BERNAMA

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1MRT To Prepare Two F1 Cars For Lotus F1 Racing

November 04, 2009 11:20 AM

1MRT To Prepare Two F1 Cars For Lotus F1 Racing

By: Ramjit

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From Zulhilmi Supaat

NORFOLK, (UNITED KINGDOM), Nov 4 (Bernama) -- 1Malaysia Racing Team (1MRT) Sdn Bhd will assemble two Formula One (F1) cars for the Lotus F1 Racing Team before the 2010 World F1 Championship season opening in Bahrain in March next year.

The company's chief operating officer, Keith Saunt, said the chassis of the cars were being manufactured in Germany and the nose, side-impact structures, gearbox parts, front and rear suspension would be ready by end of this month.

He said his team needed eight weeks to assemble all the parts before the cars were ready for testing in February.

"By end of November, 14 of our experts will assemble all the parts here, at the Lotus F1 racing plant, and by February next year, the cars will be ready for pre-season testing at the Sepang circuit," he told Bernama here Tuesday.

A group of Malaysian reporters, together with Youth and Sports minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek visited the Lotus F1 racing facility at Hingham, here, Tuesday.

The team will be based here before moving to its new headquarters at the Sepang International Circuit, which is expected to be ready in two years.

Saunt said the new ruling of the Federation of International Automobile (FIA) required the F1 team for 2010 to prepare only two cars for any race.

Previously, an F1 team needed three cars -- for the first driver, second or test driver and a reserve car.

"All together, we need about 220 crew members at the plant here in Hingham before the car can be ready for the grid at the Bahrain circuit in March," he said.

Saunt said the team needed 30 to 35 pit crew members, including the publicity corps which would travel with the team for the whole 18 series of the F1 world championship around the globe.

He said that at the moment, the biggest challenge was to find the best aerodynamic parts surface, especially for the nose and wings of the machine.

"That's why we keep on testing the parts at the wind-tunnel in Italy, to get the best aerodynamics structure for the car."

The Lotus F1 racing plant, located at Racing Technology Norfolk (RTN) here is just 20km from the Lotus Group Hhadquarters.

The two-storey plant with a ground floor area of about 50 sq metres houses, among others, the offices for the management and office space for 70 designers involved in the project.

Saunt said that as the plant had been abandoned for 20 months without any project, it would take a minor adjustment to update the facilities with the latest technology.

On the ground floor, there were several machines including two modern autoclaves big enough for the largest of F1 carbon components, pattern shop, quality and inspection department, sub-assembly for gearbox, hydraulics and electronics.

Meanwhile one of the 1MRT directors, Datuk Kamaruddin Meranun, said the company would support whatever it takes to make the Malaysian F1 cars a reality.

"If the FIA's regulation needs us to prepare four cars, we will prepare four cars. All we want is the best machine that will make the country proud.

"That includes the daily testing at the wind-tunnel in Italy which cost us lots of cash. But we want the best aerodyamics parts for the cars, one of the aspects that will ensure that we'll be a winning team, not just a participating team," he said.

1Malaysia Racing Team is a privately-funded project jointly owned by Tune Group and Naza Group.

Tune Group is jointly owned by 1Malaysia Racing team principal Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun as the team's director.

Other directors of the team are the Naza Group chief executive officer SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin and Zahri Ismail.

Lotus Cars is currently owned by Proton Holdings Berhad which took over the British sports and racing carmaker in 1994.

-- BERNAMA

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Asian Le Mans Race 2: Lola-Aston Martin Scores A Dominant Victory

Posted by: MSulka on Sunday, November 01, 2009 - 10:20 AM Vettel Leads Red Bull One-Two At Abu Dhabi Grand PrixSebastian Vettel has won Formula One's 2009 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi in spectacular style.Courtesy of Red Bull/Clive Mason/ Getty Images

By Mike Sulka

Red Bull F1 driver Sebastian Vettel has put his mark on history with a spectacular victory at the inaugural Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix held at the Yas Marina circuit. For Vettel, it was his fourth win of the 2009 Formula One season - his last win coming at the Japanese Grand Prix - and fifth win and ninth podium - of his 42-race F1 career. Teammate Mark Webber brought home second, and locked up the one-two sweep for the Red Bull team.

In addition for Red Bull, it is their sixth win and their 16th podium - 8 by Vettel, 8 by Webber) of the 2009 Formula One season. Coming into the year, the team had a total of 3 podiums since their debut in 2005. It is also the teams fourth one-two finish of the 2009 season. The previous one-two finish was at the German Grand Prix with Webber leading the way. Vettel led three of the one-two finishes. Red Bull also have the most wins since the British Grand Prix with five wins in the last ten races of the season.

Vettel was able to get past Lewis Hamilton during the first set of pit stops by staying within one second of the McLaren but carrying two laps extra of fuel. Though Hamilton would ultimately DNF due to a right rear brake issue, Vettel beat Hamilton on the race track, let no one take that away from him.

"It was a fantastic race as we had a very good start, " said the Red Bull driver. "I was able to stay close to Hamilton, and the car was a dream today. That was the secret." Read more... (6665 bytes more)

Import of used parts to end June 2011

The hot topic for last week was the new National Automotive Policy Review, a so-called ‘facelift’ for the National Automotive Policy that was first born on the 22nd of March 2006.

The NAP review is a disappointing one, with the prices of cars to be pretty much the status quo for a long time to come. In fact, the prices of hybrid cars are sure to go up once the 50% excise duty rebate ends. But there are parts of the NAP that have significant negative impact on us as motorists, one of which is the announcement that the import of used parts will be prohibited from June 2011 onwards.

Car companies and parts manufacturers do not survive on just selling you your car, which is a sum of parts from various OEMs. They also earn a significant portion from the sale of replacement parts, which you will inevitably need as parts are not designed to last forever. Not sure if the word greedy is justifiable but sometimes these new parts can be priced quite exhorbitantly. Which means used parts are very popular and are pretty much key to the sustainability and/or viability of keeping an old car running.

Banning the imports of used parts and the halfcuts which contain them would mean if your City’s CVT transmission dies, you are unable to source a good condition used one from a Honda Fit Aria halfcut that had been scrapped in Japan due to the country’s scrap policies. It means that when my Proton Perdana transmission finally dies and is beyond a refurbishment, a used one sourced from a Mitsubishi Eterna will not be an option – I will have to buy a 2nd hand Proton one or a NEW one, which I probably will not be able to afford as I am not the Perak or Terengganu Mentri Besar(s).

Of course, these situations will not happen right after June 2011 as there is bound to be existing stock in the country, but that will run out sooner or later. And then what? We cannibalise each other’s cars for used parts, whether willingly (scrap) or not (theft)?

And then there is the total disregard for the livelihoods of the chop shop businesses which have been run for decades and suddenly have their main source of income taken away from them. I visited a few chop shops and interviewed their owners over the weekend, curious to see how they were reacting to this piece of bad news.

One chop shop did not even know that such an announcement had been made. Danny of Soon Loi Sdn Bhd in Batu 11 1/2 Cheras said that he had been unaware that the government was planning such a thing and he and his wife was clearly in shock. I felt really bad watching their reaction. At first they were talking normally and keeping their cool but after awhile you could see they were quite emotional about it.

Their chop shop is a family business and has been running since the 70s. Danny is now the 2nd generation, taking over from his parents. He said chop shops have been around since before he was born and did not understand why the government suddenly wanted to stop the import of used parts.

The government’s justifications for this move are ’safety and environmental’ concerns. From my view I see it more as yet another way to discourage us from using our old and hardy classics, instead driving us to buy new budget cars instead of that RM20k Toyota Corolla AE101 which alot of people are much more comfortable driving as a daily driver than a new car. The common sentiment is that old cars tend to last longer and have better plastics than new cars today and in many cases I find that to be true.

According to Danny, the parts in his stock consist of over 80% overseas imports and only about 20% local parts. I asked him what was he going to do when the new rule is implemented. He said he could not do anything but to look for local cars to ‘cut’ instead of getting halfcuts from overseas.

From a consumer perspective this means certain ‘upgrades’ such as fitting a Cortina 4-speed with a 5-speed manual from a Ford Sierra would be impossible as the Sierra was never really sold here. From the chop shop owner’s perspective, business will be A LOT tougher than usual. To quote his wife’s exact words, “Mati loh!”

I tried looking for a more premium chop shop and found Happy Auto Parts in Sungai Besi which specialises in continental parts. This is near the Auto Bavaria Sungai Besi showroom. There were plenty of BMW E34 front clips there, and there was even an E39 pre-facelift front clip. The owner CM Tan also operates a workshop in the same premise so at least he has something to fall back on when his chop shop business runs dry. Being a specialist BMW used parts center, 100% of his inventory are from overseas.

CM Tan says that the business of a chop shop is not easy to do. You have to build your relationship with your overseas suppliers over a long time – this can be years and years. According to Tan, sometimes even when you find some good cars to be clipped, it doesn’t mean the overseas supplier will sell them to you. There are so many chop shops from so many countries fighting for these cars.

You also need to have a trained sharp eye to judge what cars are suitable to be clipped and he claims that with the 1 week warranty that most used parts have, the return rate for a lemon clip can be so high that you can potentially even lose money on it, or just break even.

He likened the government’s new rule to telling medical students that have given their life to training to be a doctor for many many years that they suddenly are banned from practicing medicine. He has been in this business all his life, what else can he do?

It’s really quite unfair, when you consider that in another segment of the industry, Open AP holders have gotten hints of the system being scrapped for many years now. Only when this NAP review was released have the government somewhat put their foot down and said the system will be terminated by 31st December 2015.

That’s over 5 years of lead time for them on top of the many ‘hints’ that they’ve been getting for quite sometime now, and the RM10k per AP to be charged from 2010 onwards was to go to a special Entrepreneurship Fund that will help these ex-Open AP holders diversify into other businesses.

So much lead time for these Open AP holders to move on to other things, and so much help for them to start new businesses (on top of the money they’ve been earning from the APs so far), but on the other side of the spectrum, used parts dealers only get less than 2 years! I asked both CM Tan and Danny what they would be doing now that they’ve learned about the news – would they bring in more inventory so that stocks would last longer while they figure out what to do with their lives?

They feel it is hard for them to make a decision like that as the government and/or relevant ministry has not released any hard details on how and when exactly this used parts import ban would take place.

It remains a small paragraph in a long document for now, but one that will cause them sleepless nights until the picture is made clearer for them.

Aston Martin wins Asian series race two in Japan

Aston Martin wins Asian series race two in Japan Racing series   LMS Date 2009-10-31

By Nancy Knapp Schilke - Motorsport.com

Stefan Mucke and Harold Primat turned Saturday's defeat into victory on Sunday by taking the lead in the second race of the newly formed Asian Le Mans Series even though on Mucke's second stint, he dashed in for a quick splash of fuel with 10 minutes left on the clock.

"During my first stint the car got better and better each lap and the tyres gave me the confidence to overtake and get out in the lead," said Mucke. "Harold did a great job in the middle of the race and then I took over for the final stage. The car was a pleasure today and I am very happy with the win."

Starting fourth on the grid for the second of the two races held on the 3.703 km (2.3 mile) Okayama International Circuit, Mucke left nothing to chance by contending for the lead in the early going, overtaking first Nicolas Lapierre before setting his sights on Christophe Tinseau and pole sitter Jonny Cocker.

"The car was brilliant to drive and the Michelin tyres were perfect. The team made some minor changes to the set-up last night and it was as if someone flicked a switch and everything just came together," Mucke said.

Once in the lead, Mucke was unstoppable and even with the driver change, they stayed in front with Harold Primat then starting his stint. Just past the midway mark of the three hour sportscar endurance race, the Aston Martin LMP1 team was holding the overall lead.

"I'm so happy! This is my first win in sports cars and I am very pleased that it was with Aston Martin Racing," smiled Primat. "Stefan gave me the car in P1 and I had a consistent stint with no problems at all. I don't think anyone was expecting us to be the fastest car on the track today, we surprised everyone including ourselves. The track conditions definitely helped and the car and the team worked really well today."

Breathing down on Primat was yesterday's winning team with Shinji Nakano at the wheel of the Pescarolo Judd, having taking over for Tinseau for the Sora Racing team. Nakano was followed by Friday's pole winning team from Drayson Racing along with Team ORECA-Matmut and the two Audis from the Kolles camp.

After showing their speed when Jonny Cocker took the pole, the Drayson Lola Coupe Judd had problems in both races this weekend. Just 10 laps after sitting comfortably in third, Paul Drayson was seen dropping down the leaderboard, leaving just five teams to stay on the lead lap to battle for win.

Lord and Lady Drayson's team manager, Dale White, had already planned on a two-stop strategy. "Our Judd engine is super efficient and our Michelin tyres were superb throughout so we could finish with one less fuel/tyre stop than the competition and that combined with our consistently strong pace was enough for first place in the Michelin Green X Challenge. A brilliant result."

With less than an hour remaining, it was now up to Mucke to bring the Aston Martin home for the victory. He did amongst much celebration, even taking four and not three pit stops but this time they did not lose ground making a repair.

Placing second today, the team from France, Sora Racing takes the points lead. Tinseau and Nakano pushed the entire race but at the end, the Pescarolo Judd was not a match for the winning team, over one minute off the pace at the checkered flag.

Tinseau was not taking a Sunday drive but did need to make a quick pit stop for fuel and in the closing laps with Loic Duval bearing down on him, looking to close the eight second gap. There was not enough time remaining on the clock and the Oreca-AIM team had to settle for third. In the first of the two races, Duval and Lapierre finished second.

While Drayson and Cocker did drop back to fifth, Cocker put on a show to catch up to Oliver Jarvis in the Kolles Audi R10 TDi. It became the battle of the two "green" P1 cars in the final hour. In his charge to make up nearly a 25 second gap to fourth, Cocker took the fastest lap honors with a time of 1:20.561.

With less than four minutes in the three hour race, fourth place became a sprint race with Jarvis hanging on but Cocker finally was on the rear wing of the Audi, looking for the place to pass. Drayson Racing ended with fourth when Cocker made the move on the final lap.

"Absolutely fantastic end to the weekend," smiled Cocker. "To come away with two poles, two fastest laps and to be the winner of the Michelin Green X Challenge shows how much the team has achieved in such a short period of time. The race went well for me. The car and the Michelin tyres were fantastic. Now we can start to concentrate on building on our performance in preparation for next year."

Jarvis and teammate Christian Bakkerud had to settle for fifth, adding to their third in Saturday's race.

In LMP2, it was a hands down victory for the Oak Racing team. Truly they could have taken a slow pace Sunday drive except for its always good to maintain racing mode so one does not make a costly error and for overall honors. The pole winning Pescarolo Mazda took the win on Saturday and combined with their four wins in the European Le Mans Series, they now have six total for the year.

Matthieu Lahaye, Jacques Nicolet and Richard Hein did not have smooth sailing toward the end when Hein had to come if for repairs; it cost the team three laps but with their rivals far back on the leaderboard, they had the spare time.

The Ibanez Racing team of Jose Ibanez, Damien Toullemonde and Frederic da Rocha lost a lot of time just prior to the 90 minute mark to make repairs to their Courage AER.

Aston Martin ended up with a double victory when the Hitotsuyama Team Nova took the LMGT1 honors. It was a fitting end for a complex start in the Asian series inaugural weekend. Takeshi Tsuchiya had the fastest time in qualifying in the team's Aston Martin DBR9 but when the rear wings did not comply, the time was wiped, putting them to the back of the grid. They attempted a comeback on race one to again steal the show but he and co-driver Akihiro Tsuzuki were only able to take second.

Today's race two gave the Japanese drivers the goal they were seeking, the top step of the podium. They sailed to the lead and never were contested, taking the win with one lap to spare.

Behind them was the battle for second between the Larbre Competition team and race one's JLOC winning team. It was an amazing final hour with Stephane Lemeret in the Saleen S7R giving chase to Hiroyuki Iiri in the Lamborghini Murcielago. The two had a gap of nearly 15 seconds with Iiri in the JLOC Murcielago having the edge with his teammate Atsushi Yogo looking on from the team's pitbox.

The same was said for Lemeret's Larbre teammates' Roland Berville and Carlo van Dam. When the checkered flag flew, it was a gap of just two-tenths of a second between the two with Iiri taking second.

Dominik Farnbacher and Allan Simonsen won the LMGT2 class victory in the Hankook Farnbacher Ferrari 430 GT by over one lap ahead of the second-placed Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR team. The win adds to their third place in race one.

The real contest was in the early laps with Saturday's winning team taking the early lead before mechanical problem saw the American-based Rahal Letterman Racing BMW E92 M3 end up losing three laps. With Tommy Milner and Dirk Werner out of competitive action for the win, the Farnbacher Ferrari team won hands down.

Christian Ried and Marco Holzer were unable to mount a challenge and had to settle for second in their Porsche.

Team Daishin's Takayuki Aoki and Tomonobu Fujii were nearly a lap down to the Porsche in their Ferrari 430 GT. Both Japanese racers normally compete in the SuperGT series.

The first two races of the Asian Le Mans Series is now in the books, the second meet will be next week in China at the Shanghai International Circuit.

On a side note, the rain that was predicted for this weekend stayed away until after the Asian LMS race ended but just in time to get things wet prior to the World Touring Car Championship races!

Malaysia seeks Proton partner

Malaysia seeks Proton partner

By Kevin Brown in Singapore

Published: October 29 2009 03:51 | Last updated: October 29 2009 03:51

Malaysia on Wednesday revived plans to find a foreign partner for Proton, the struggling state-controlled carmaker, as part of a national automotive policy that would also allow foreign manufacturers to set up wholly owned plants in the country to make up-market cars.

Mustapa Mohamed, the trade and industry minister, said the government hoped to resolve the Proton problem “soon”, but gave no indication which of many rumoured foreign partners might be close to a deal.

Officials say that Proton, formed 25 years ago as part of an industrialisation plan, has approached several overseas carmakers in an attempt to find a partner capable of using its significant spare manufacturing capacity.

Volkswagen had serious talks with Proton two years ago, but the discussions collapsed after the Malaysian government baulked at the German carmaker’s demands for a significant equity stake.

Other carmakers understood to have been approached by Proton include Renault of France and General Motors of the US. Proton and Khazanah Nasional, the state investment agency that holds a 42 per cent stake, have refused to comment on the talks.

Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary, a Malaysian billionaire, is also thought to have expressed an interest in acquiring a stake in Proton, which might allow the government to restructure the company, without prompting the nationalist backlash that selling a controlling stake to a foreign manufacturer could trigger.

Mr Syed Mokhtar is a close associate of Mahathir Mohamad, the former Malaysian prime minister, who remains an adviser to Proton and a vocal defender of its protected position within the Malaysian market.

Mr Mustapa said that any foreign deal with Proton would need to increase Malaysian exports and make the country a production hub, as well as ensuring the transfer of the latest automotive technology and establishing research and development facilities.

“We would like to develop a more viable [auto] sector,” Mr Mustapa said. “We want Malaysia to be a hub. We want to be competitive.”

Mr Mustapa said the government would relax a freeze on new entrants into vehicle production, allowing new manufacturers to establish plants for passenger vehicles with an engine capacity of 1800cc and above, selling for at least M$150,000 ($43,600).

Manufacturing licences will also be available for pick-up trucks and commercial vehicles, hybrid and electric vehicles, and motorcycles with engine capacity of 200cc and above. No equity restrictions will be imposed, allowing foreign companies to own up to 100 per cent of fresh manufacturing ventures in these sectors.

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