“There has been a cardinal shift in the makeup of the South African passenger car market this year when one analyses the Naamsa figures for the first quarter of 2010 with the corresponding period a year ago,” says the chief executive of the McCarthy Group, Brand Pretorius.
“The total market in the three month period has grown by 16.5%, from 60 043 units to 69 951, but the various buyer sectors are completely different.
Jaguar is continuing the celebration of its 75th anniversary with a strong entry at the 2010 Mille Miglia revival event. The company is represented by a total of 27 vehicles from around the world, including an impressive ‘works team’ of classic XK120, C-type and D-type models supported by Jaguar Cars and the Jaguar Heritage Trust.
Jaguar’s strong representation at the 2010 Mille Miglia builds on a long connection with the race. Back in 1950, the company fielded a four-strong team of XK120s, and a young Stirling Moss took the wheel of a works car the following year.
True, and with not much logical reason, apart from the fact that we are a country of brand snobs who never want to try out anything new. Nevertheless those who dare take the road least travelled often find a pot of the sweet stuff at the T junction.
Guess You Like It Then?
Very much. I’ve actually liked the Accord since the previous generation came to South Africa in the early 2000s. This one is arguably the finest example yet. Admittedly it’s lost some edge as far as looks go, but I reckon that was the aim anyway; go a little conservative on the styling an attract a more mature clientele. Maybe I’m just more mature then.
Absolutely. And all that pimp is standard. From the air scoop on the bonnet, to the round front foglights, the integrated front grille, those black wheels with a red outer lining, clear rear lights, roof spoiler and the single exhaust pipe. The diving line from the A pillar rises ever higher as it approaches the D pillar, rendering the rear windows visibly smaller than the front ones. Very pimp! Admittedly it’s not to everybody’s taste, but it certainly is to mine. I haven’t seen this car in any other colour but white, and the contrast with the black & red wheels is just stunning.
Definitely on the “thrills” but not so much on cheap anymore. The 370 Z is obviously more expensive than the 350 Z it replaced, but still represents good value for the buck when compared to its direct rivals.
Break It Down Please.
Let’s go straight to the heart of the matter, which is the new 3.7-litre V6 engine making 245kW. I had hoped Nissan would install a smaller, lighter turbo unit for this car but they chose to stay natural. Nevertheless it’s a lot of electricity passing through the rear axle, but as always, we are based in Johannesburg where up to 17% of that Eskom power can be lost through thinner high-altitude air.
Adrian Zaugg, who won three races for South Africa in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, finished eighth and second in the opening round of the brand new Auto GP series at Brno in the Czech Republic on Sunday.
A new feeder championship for GP2 and Formula One which sees the revival of the Lola-Zytec 3,4-litre V8 cars that formed the basis of the original A1GP series, Auto GP attracted a strong field of 16 cars for its debut with Swiss-based Zaugg, 23, and 19-year-old Colombian Julian Leal driving for the Italian Trident Racing team.
Zaugg qualified fourth for the first of two races, just 0.4 sec behind pole-winning Jonny Reid of New Zealand, a former A1GP driver for his country. The top 10 drivers were blanketed by just one second.
Zaugg went off the circuit on lap one as he fought for third place with Italian Luca Filippi (Euronova). He fell back to seventh and lost a further place in the compulsory pit stop, eventually finishing eighth. Team-mate Leal was 10th after qualifying eighth, while Fillippi won the inaugural Auto GP race from Edoardo Piscopo (DAMS) and Fabio Onidio (Lazarus).
Zaugg made a slow start from pole in race two and fell behind Vladimir Arabadzhiev. He came back strongly in the second half of the race to pressure the Bulgarian right to the chequered flag, finishing less than half a second behind. Third was Piscopo and Zaugg’s team-mate Leal was fourth.
The next round of the six-round series is at Imola in Italy on May 21 to 23.
Following the 2010 update of the Nissan Qashqai at the company’s Sunderland manufacturing plant in England, the South African operation has introduced this model to local buyers. I’ve driven the Qashqai before and I think it’s an awesome little machine deserving of its international success. Actually it’s one of the cars that emphasise Nissan’s revival in the industry, five years after near-bankruptcy threatened its very existence.
New to the exterior are the bonnet, which is now more muscular and redefined, a distinctive front grille with sporty undertones, different headlights, a rear lights cluster with 12 LED bulbs, as well as a new side aerodynamic spoiler. Roof rails seen on the 2.0-litre models are fitted as standard.
At 2pm on Tuesday the 20th April a group of 51 Drivers (including 14 media, 6 GMSA Engineers, Gerotek Test Drivers and a number of professional drivers) set off on a mission to break a number of existing South African speed and distance records for diesel bakkies over 72 hours. For the mission General Motors nominated 3 Isuzu KB 300 D-TEQ LWB LE bakkies, 2 Isuzu KB 250 D-Teq Extended Cab LE bakkies.
To achieve the goal of exceeding the previous overall distance record at least one of the Isuzu KB300 D-TEQ single cab bakkies was required to average more than 160 km/h, including time in the pits for refuelling, tyre changes (no routine servicing was required as all Isuzu diesel bakkies are serviced at 15000 km intervals). To achieve the goal the drivers worked in shifts with each of them facing an average 2 hours 30 minutes in the car at a time (as per MSA safety regulation).
At the end of the 72 hours the leading KB 300 D-TEQ bakkie had completed 12 243.385km kilometres at an average speed of 170,047 km/h over 72 hours smashing the previous distance record by 722.721 kilometres. The Isuzu KB 300 D-TEQ rewrote the record book for its class and set new overall records for diesel bakkies over the 72 hour endurance event. The KB 250 D-TEQ fared equally well with the KB 250 D-TEQ beating the previous class record of 11 024 km (previously held by a 3.0 litre diesel) by 471 km with a new record distance of 11 495, 567 km.
In the quest for a new set of overall speed and distance records over 72 hours the Isuzu team rewrote15 overall speed and distance records.
“Isuzu’s slogan: ‘Isuzu delivers’ certainly proved true here this week through this event,” says Malcolm Gauld, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at GMSA. “Taking on the challenge of breaking these relatively new 72 hour speed and distance records has allowed us to demonstrate the tough constitution of these bakkies, their efficiency, reliability, and durability under the most arduous conditions,” continued Gauld.
“A fundamental of the record breaking performance of our vehicles was their ability to perform perfectly and efficiently throughout the 72 hours. Any time spent in the pits for refuelling and tyre changes is against the clock with distance lost for every second of down time. The whole record process was observed by MSA (Motorsport South Africa). The record breaking vehicles ran flat out over the 72 hours with out a single fault to provide an emphatic statement of confidence for us and our customers,” concluded Gauld.
