Lotus confirms Crossover vehicle which will be built in China
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
2006 APX Concept car
DTM 2015 - BMW Motorsports are defending champions and some new rules and regulations for 2015
Monday, April 27, 2015
Munich (DE), 27th April 2015. Much will be new when BMW Motorsport kicks off the 2015 DTM season in Hockenheim (DE) this weekend. For the first time for 15 years, each event in the popular touring car series will feature two races with the same number of points up for grabs on Saturday (40 minutes) and Sunday (60 minutes). In total, 18 races await the BMW drivers and teams over the course of nine weekends.
Like last year, the 2015 grid will include eight BMW M4 DTMs, fielded by the experienced BMW teams RMG, Schnitzer, RBM and MTEK. As defending champion, Marco Wittmann (DE) competes in Saturday’s first race of the season with the coveted number 1 on his Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM. The BMW Team RMG driver will once again go in search of top results alongside Maxime Martin (BE), Martin Tomczyk (DE), António Félix da Costa (PT), Augusto Farfus (BR), Bruno Spengler (CA) and Timo Glock (DE). New to the driver line-up is Tom Blomqvist (GB) who joins BMW Team RBM for his rookie DTM season.
Race Regulations
As well as the race format, further changes have been made to the regulations: as of 2015 there will be just one tyre compound. The two 20-minute qualifying sessions on Saturday and Sunday, and the races themselves, will be held on standard tyres. Each driver has four sets of dry tyres at their disposal. The number of opportunities to use the Drag Reduction System (DRS) has also been increased: the system may now be used three times per lap, provided a driver is less than one second behind the car in front when he crosses the start/finish line. At the push of a button, the driver may then lower the rear wing by 18 degrees, rather than the previous 16 degrees, in order to make overtaking easier.
2015 DTM Calendar.
1st-3rd May – Hockenheim (DE), 29th-31st May – Lausitzring (DE), 26th-28th June – Norisring (DE), 10th-12th July – Zandvoort (NL), 31st July-2nd August – Spielberg (AT), 28th-30th August – Moscow (RU), 11th-13th September – Oschersleben (DE), 25th-27th September – Nürburgring (DE), 16th-18th October – Hockenheim (DE).
Trucking News - Volvo Prime Movers still the preferred choice for Malaysian Railway's Multimodal Freight company
Monday, April 27, 2015
Mats Nilsson, Managing Director, Volvo Malaysia with YBhg. Dato’ Sr. Ahmad Zainuddin bin Jamaluddin, Director of Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd
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Now the word 'multimodal' isn't just a made up word. It basically means the transportation yof goods under a single contract, but performed with at least two different means of transport; the transporter or carrier is liable for the entire carriage, even though it is performed by several different modes of transport like in this case, by prime mover trucks as well as by rail.
Concurrently at this event, Multimodal Freight also signed up for Volvo’s Gold Service Agreement for all 50 units of trucks for 5 years. The Agreement covers Preventive Maintenance (basic service including labour, filter and lubricant) and fair wear and tear.
PRESS RELEASE
Volvo Prime Mover still the preferred choice for Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd
Volvo Trucks has delivered 50 units of FM 440 model to Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd in full and on time to meet the dynamic demand of its container haulage business
Shah Alam, XX April 2015 – Volvo Trucks today continued its success from another good performance last year when it successfully delivered the balanced 14 units of the Volvo FM440 trucks to Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd of the total 50 units purchased by Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd.
Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd has been in total logistic business for the last 25 years with vast capacity and capabilities to meet the transportation and shipping requirements of local and overseas customers. It has a broad range of services encompassing container haulage, container terminal operator, warehousing and freight forwarding, Multi Modal Transport Operator and Air Freighting. Multimodal Freight has operations at most major seaport such as Port Klang, Pasir Gudang, Butterworth, KLIA and Padang Besar Inland. Aside from this, it also acts as the depot operator for KTM Cargo for containerized railing business for Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd.
To signify and commemorate this occasion of full handing over of the 50 units of FM440, a simple ribbon cutting ceremony by YBhg. Dato’ Sr. Ahmad Zainuddin bin Jamaluddin on behalf of Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd was held in the presence of both senior management of Multimodal Freight and Volvo Trucks.
Concurrently at this event, Multimodal also signed up for Volvo’s Gold Service Agreement for all 50 units of trucks for 5 years. The Agreement covers Preventive Maintenance (basic service including labour, filter and lubricant) and fair wear and tear. Mats Nilsson, Managing Director of Volvo Malaysia and En. Mohd Hasdey Yaakob, Chief Executive Officer of Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd was the signatories of the Volvo’s Gold Service Agreement.
YBhg. Dato’ Sr. Ahmad Zainuddin bin Jamaluddin, Director of Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd was pleased with this purchase of Volvo trucks “as reliable, timely and safe delivery of our customers’ goods is critical to our customers business. Thus, the 50 units of trucks we have purchased from Volvo will be for replacing old units to support our growing business especially container haulage.
He added that currently, Multimodal has about 200 prime movers in its fleet the majority are Volvo trucks.
Meanwhile, En Mohd Hasdey also added that the Company has been a long term customer of Volvo and its satisfaction over features like fuel efficiency, safety technology and quality built of the trucks and good aftermarket support were the factors that led to the Company’s decision to purchase Volvo trucks again.
Speaking at the event, Mats Nilsson said, “Multimodal is one of our long term and valued customers and this recent purchase of 50 trucks along with the Gold Service Agreement highlights a successful relationship premised upon our sustainable brand promise comprising quality products and strong aftermarket support. We are appreciative of the high level of satisfaction and trust Multimodal continues to give us.”
Volvo Trucks has 11 dealerships in Malaysia – five in Peninsular Malaysia and six in East Malaysia. For more information, please visit www.volvotrucks.com.my
The Nissan Cefiro A31 'Skyline' mod a.k.a the R-TERTIPU
Monday, April 27, 2015
Heavily modded - more R34 than A31
I was perusing through some older photos and thought I'd like to discuss about a certain old Nissan that was, or still is quite popular with the car modding and drift scene - the Cefiro A31. This car was produced from 1988 to around 1994. It shared the same platform as the Nissan Skyline R32 and the lesser known Nissan Laurel. It shared its MacPherson strut front suspension with the S13 Silvia with the exception of the 4WD version which shares the same front and rear suspension as the R32 Skyline GT-R.
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It was labeled as a sports sedan but I think the 'sports' was just marketing. The stock 2.0liter Cefiro that sold in Malaysia came with a 4 speed auto gearbox (later 5 speed) driving the rear wheels and had puny 15 inch wheels. the stock RB20E engine was a smooth straight 6 cylinder engine. It was quite responsive but it didn't really like to rev. The ride on stock tires was firm yet comfortable but due to the stock ride height you'd know that grip levels were pretty low. However, when it came to the looks of the Cefiro A31 it did have sleek body styling but it also suffered from too much overhang front and rear. In short it was a quite an ordinary car to drive with sedate looks. Unless it was wet and then you could do oversteer easily. And since it was rear wheel drive and had interchangeable parts with the R32 Skyline GT and GTR the car ended up being a favourite of drifters and modders. Even Skyline body parts could be grafted onto it. The A31 was highly tunable and became a favourite.
Here you see my pal Firdaus walking the A31+R34 on an invisible leash.
Take a look at the one in the photographs above and below from a few years back. It was so highly modified that it now looked more like a four door R34 instead of even an R32. This belonged to a serious local drifter for serious competition. But what the photograph tells us is that an A31 can look like a R34 if one pours serious money into it. I suppose its performance is close to one too. Oh, that car was so serious that it actually ran a Toyota 2JZ engine from a Supra. Hows that for total confusion - A31 to R34 with a 2JZ Toyota heart.
The white car ran on coil over shocks on 225/45/17 tires in front and 235/45/17 at the rear on classic Enkei RP01 rims. It had a custom built bodykit with a modified front GTR type bumper/lip, side skirts and rear Skyline lights. It definitely looked the part, especially with the very aggressive rear camber settings. This was more of a road car than one used to drift, as the rear differential wasn't one that locked easily. So you see, the car had more R32 Skyline parts thrown at it including having Skyline looks too.
While it was fast in a straight line, it was a handful to drive around town. The RB20DET engine is an old school turbocharged engine. You could tell due to the lazy off boost nature of the engine. It refuses to rev freely. This is probably due to the low compression nature of the engine. It comes on boost at around 3,500rpm. Boot it too early in exiting any tight corner, the tail will step out and you had better watch out as the steering may not be as fast as you'd like. It may be easy to hold a drift in the car if you have the space to do so but on the road, you wish the steering was a tad faster. Now add that firm slightly rock hard ride, it somehow becomes a tedious town car. Negotiating traffic tended to be a chore due to this. Off boost it was somehow worse to drive than a stock A31. The differential also contributed to low speed understeer and the ride while avoiding potholes was slightly troublesome. But give it an open road and you have over 200kmh on the speedometer. Close to 240kmh if I was not mistaken.
Anyway, my brother in-law held on to the car till 2005 and sold it off. I believe the car is now a metallic blue in colour and somewhere in the middle of Pahang. I suppose cars like these have a following because it costs around RM25,000 and above to buy one. Even the newer, front wheel drive Cefiro A32 is actually cheaper to buy.
So there you have it. The cheapest way to own a pseudo Nissan Skyline R32, or in some cases, a R34. But as what my friend used to call his car in Malay rings true. The Nissan R-TERTIPU. Tertipu means 'misled' or 'misguided'. Aptly so wouldn't you agree?
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