NEW DRIVING "SCHOOL" FOCUSES ON FUEL SAVING

“Economical driving skills could save you as much as R3000 a year on your motoring bills.” This is the message from well-known motoring journalist and driving specialist, Rob Handfield – Jones, who has launched driving.co.za, a new driving skills company focusing on economical driving.

“Everything you do behind the wheel makes your trip more or less costly,” said Handfield – Jones. “If you’re driving for maximum fuel economy and minimum maintenance costs, you’re also reducing the risk of the most expensive journey of all: the one on which you crash,” he said.

The company offers three courses which it says cater for the majority of everyday driving requirements. The flagship Eco-Corporate course is aimed at companies wanting to improve the safety and economy of their employees. It begins with a DVD-based economical driving seminar which is presented at the client’s premises and lasts approximately two hours. Each driver then attends a 45-minute ‘Practical Economy’ module, driving on public roads with a facilitator helping him apply the techniques shown in the seminar. After a few weeks of practice, the driver attempts the 45-minute Eco-Driving Test, which tests driving skill to a standard more than three times higher than the driving licence test.

For private individuals who can’t afford the cost and time requirements of conventional post-licence driving courses, driving.co.za has announced a world-first: an inexpensive self-study Economical Driving Course which can be done from one’s armchair. The entertaining Eco-Me DVD is packed full of practical examples showing how anyone can master economical driving techniques.

“One can learn cooking or gardening from a DVD – and now economical driving too,” said Handfield – Jones. “We offer the Practical Economy training session and Eco-Driving Test as optional extras for Eco-Me customers who want to learn more,” he explained. “Drivers who apply the skills shown in the DVD could recover the cost of the course in fuel savings alone in just a few weeks,” he added.

The third course, Eco-Refresh, is aimed at companies who require an inexpensive driving skills brush-up for employees have already undergone previous training. Eco-Refresh is a combination of the Eco-Me course and a specially-designed questionnaire to assess trainees’ understanding of economical and safe driving. The feedback from the questionnaire enables companies to plan their future training needs more cost-effectively.

Course details, availability and pricing are available at driving.co.za or on the mobile site optimised for hand-held devices, driving.co.za/mobile.

SAAB SINKING INTO BANKRUPTCY

Last week General Motors asked the Swedish government where SAAB is based, for financial help in order to keep its SAAB brand afloat. The Swedes gracefully declined, saying Sweden and its people cannot be expected to bail out a company that has never made a profit in its 62-year life using taxpayers’ money. Things are so bad at SAAB that GM reckons it’s only weeks away from total bankruptcy if help is not found.

Now SAAB has asked the Swedish government for protection from its creditors while it attempts to reorganise itself. This would effectively put SAAB on sale hastening its break-away from the GM mothership. GM bought SAAB completely in 1990.

Not to alarm SAAB owners and fans but it's quite possible that if a buyer cannot be found the company could disappear like DeLorean, Du Pont, Duesenberg and Puch.

AUDI TT RS: OFFICIAL PICTURES LEAKED (MORE UPDATED PICS)

Finally we have “official” confirmation from these pictures that Audi has been naughty as far as the TT sports car is concerned. Several times spy pictures showing a high-performance TT RS in different testing conditions were released on the Internet. Of course official word from Audi would consistently deny this car was even being planned.

But these pictures prove that the 195kW TTS is not the top-of-the-range model in the TT lineup. That crown will go to the TT RS as soon as it’s unveiled to the public at the 2009 Geneva International Motor Show in two weeks time. The car can be seen sporting a front end that looks very much like its big brother the R8. Even the LED daytime running lights, front grille and wheels are similar. The rear spoiler seems to be fixed and doesn’t move up and down like it does in the TTS. Two versions of the car appear, a coupe and a roadster. This leaves Audi as the only automaker in the German premium sector to stay with a canvass soft-top in this class of car.

Rumours have said the TT RS will use a 2.5-litre turbo engine to produce over 250kW but I suspect Audi could also have considered the new 3.0-litre supercharged that makes 245kW in the 2009 S4 and S5. Audi had initially planned to install two turbos to compete head-on with the BMW 335i range. But the A4 and A5 were not designed to take these two turbos under the bonnet; there just simply was no space. A supercharger was the next best thing, hence the new 2009 S4 and S5 are supercharged.

The TT RS competes with cars like the BMW Z4 M (currently using the old 252kW naturally aspirated 3.2-litre from the old M3) and the Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG.

You can even LISTEN to the TT RS’s super engine sound here thanks to Fourtitude.

SOUTH AFRICA'S NEW R1.1 MILLION SUPERCAR. FROM BLOEM MY BOET!

A Bloemfontein bloke is aiming to revive the short-lived South African supercar tradition by building this R1.1 million blast. The guy’s name is Chris Barnard (no relation) and his car is also called the Barnard. The engine used is a Porsche V8 and it makes an astounding 460kW! That’s more power than an McLaren SLR. He says the car can do its 0 – 100km/h time in under 4 seconds and is capable of a top speed way over 300km/h.

"This is a car which has been built with the objective of breaking barriers, and no expense has been spared to make it into what I believe is the most single-minded performance machine yet from South Africa," says Barnard of the Barnard.

Not everyone who can afford it will drive it comfortably though because it’s missing some key ingredients that come with modern supercars. These missing elements are power steering, ABS brakes, traction control and electric windows. It’s like a racing car made for the road. Chris is a fanatic for aeroplanes and you see that with all the round dials scattered all over the dashboard.

Sales begin mid-year. Don’t expect to see many examples on the road.

CITY PRESS MOTORING EDITOR STEVE DLAMINI PASSES AWAY

City Press Motoring Editor Steve Dlamini-Kabini has passed away. Steve was riding his Honda CBR 1000RR superbike on the way to the A1 GP race in Kayalami this morning when he collided with a white Audi S3. Details of exactly what happened are incomplete at this point but I understand he was overtaking a fleet of cars which had come to a standstill because of temporary A1-related road closures on Allandale road, Midrand, just off the N1 north. The S3 was attempting to leave the traffic jam by doing a U turn.

I got that shocking call from a friend as soon as I walked into my house after spending the night with the Renault guys for the Sandero local launch. I actually thought it was a prank call because we’d all been with Steve on Saturday at the launch. He had arrived at the launch riding the bike and was his usual chirpy, cheerful self. We joked around with him during lunch and he said he wasn’t spending the night with us at the hotel, and after lunch said goodbye. That was the last time I saw him alive.

After the call my wife and I went straight to the accident scene. On the way I got several calls from other motoring journalists and industry colleagues who had also heard these horrible unbelievable news. To me it felt like a dream, a bad dream I’d soon be woken up from with another call. But it wasn’t. It was real. I knew as soon as I stopped a few metres from his motionless body that it was him, and that he was truly gone. His hard leather jacket was still on him but the black helmet was cracked. Seeing the helmet confirmed my worst fears; that he had received a head wound and was probably taken by it. The bike had been flung about 150m on to the other side of the road. It looked badly damaged and the tow truck driver at the scene said it was a complete write-off.

Steve’s photographer colleague at City Press was the first on the scene because he himself had been stuck in that line of traffic going to cover the A1 GP. He said he heard the bike go past him and the next minute Steve was laying on the floor. He then identified the body and started making calls.

I first met Steve (32) about 7 years ago when he was still Motoring Editor of the then-new daily Daily Sun. Previously he had been the motoring writer at sister paper the Sunday Sun. He was an optimistic bloke who although dreamt of moving up in the world of motoring journalism beyond the daily tabloid, never took his eye off the goal. Eventually his dream came true when he was appointed Motoring Editor at City Press in early 2006.

Myself and other industry colleagues will remember him for his easy style, his enthusiasm for cars and bikes, his work and his humour. He would put an entire room in stitches until we all cried when the mood took him. Where there was Steve there was sure to be lots of laughter. When we all last saw him on Saturday afternoon he was at his best making a joke about another colleague. He then bade us farewell and said he was not sleeping over with us.

The South African motoring industry has lost a friend and important piece of its puzzle in Steve. He was known for asking tough questions of motor manufacturers if he felt shortchanged as far as information was concerned. Some co-workers also understood him to be a tough customer to work with. That was the Steve I knew.

I know we will all miss him dearly. We wish his wife Berenice and his two children, a boy and a girl, the most strength ahead in this their greatest personal loss. We cannot begin to fathom what they are going through but we know in time they will go through it.