If there’s ever a time for you to invest in an action camera, it would be now. Introducing the all-new GoPro HERO8 Black and as the youngsters would always refer to something extremely incredible as ‘fire’. With that being said, it looks the GoPro HERO8 is burning hot at an inferno rate judging by all of its new features. (more…)
The original Goodyear DuraPlus range appeared in Malaysia 10 years ago and was a major product developed for the region. It was aimed at motorists wanting longer life from their tyres while paying an affordable price.
Five years ago, the DuraPlus tyre became part of the Assurance family which promised not just extended tread life but also added protection (for the tyre) with Kevlar. Though it was upgraded technically, the Assurance Duraplus was still a ‘Value’ tyre that offered safety, performance and quality at an affordable price.
10,000 kms more than original DuraPlus
Now Goodyear Malaysia has updated the Assurance DuraPlus range with the new Assurance DuraPlus 2. It still has TredLife Technology that is designed to provide longer mileage and durability. The Assurance DuraPlus 2 tyres are now claimed to be good for up to 110,000 kms – 10,000 kms more than the first DuraPlus tyres. Of course, actual mileage will depend on how the tyres are maintained, the driving style and road conditions.
According to Benjamin Chong, Product Manager at Goodyear Malaysia, TredLife Technology is important in a country like Malaysia that has a variety of road conditions. “Tredlife Technology is essentially a combination of the symmetrical tread pattern, improved compound and 2-ply construction throughout the tyre. These elements increase the overall durability of the tyre, to deliver unmatched mileage for tread life.”
Innovative tread design
The tread pattern on the Assurance DuraPlus 2 comes with a symmetric design with a larger tread width. This allows a larger surface area of the tyre to be in contact with the road at any time, and also a higher level of flexibility to rotate in the event of irregular wear.
Additionally, an enhanced cavity shape helps to provide a more squarish and balanced footprint to evenly distribute contact pressure, leading to extended mileage. Narrow lateral grooves along the side of the tyres on the other hand, assist in reducing road noise caused by air pumping. Noise is further reduced with the use of rubber strips between the ply and liner to physically dampen any vibrations.
Reformulated, long-lasting compound
Through an enhanced compound formula, the tyre’s tensile strength and wear resistance has been significantly improved, ensuring high mileage performance. The use of this compound is not only present throughout the tread, but also along the sidewall to offer long-term resistance against damage caused by environmental factors. Furthermore, the Assurance DuraPlus 2 uses a minimum of two layers of high modulus, low shrinkage ply material in the sidewall, which helps to ensure strong resistance to external impacts.
“At Goodyear, we have a strong commitment to constantly innovate. The Assurance DuraPlus 2 is undoubtedly the latest testimonial to this commitment,” said Alex Ng, Managing Director of Goodyear Malaysia.
The Assurance DuraPlus 2 is now available at all Goodyear AutoCare centres across Malaysia. Sizes range from 13 to 16 inches with recommended retail prices from RM136 to RM293, depending on the size.
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The folks from Bermaz Motor just unveiled their latest 2019 Mazda CX-8 range for the Malaysian market. Introduced as a CKD model (assembled at the Inokom Plant in Kulim, Kedah), we were given the opportunity to test it out on the open road. There are four different variants that’s ready for booking and we got to test the 2019 Mazda CX-8 2.5L Mid Plus (two steps down the range-topping 2.2-litre TurboDiesel). (more…)
To be the most powerful straight-line car on the planet, the Bloodhound LSR is fitted with a Rolls-Royce engine but it’s not an engine you get in the Rolls-Royce Phantom. It’s the EJ200 jet engine made by the other Rolls‑Royce company and which is normally found on the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet.
The output for this jet engine is a monstrous 9 tonnes of thrust (90 kN), equivalent to approximately 54,000 thrust horsepower – about the same as the combined output of 360 medium-sized cars. That will rocket the Bloodhound to a mind-blowing speed of 800+ km/h which is as fast as a commercial airliner’s cruising speed. On solid ground, that would definitely place it amongst the 10 fastest cars of all time.
At full design speed, the Bloodhound LSR could cover 1.6 kms in 3.6 seconds – or 150 metres in the blink of an eye. The World Land Speed Record of 1,227.9 km/h is held by the Thrust SSC which was set in 1997 by a UK team led by Richard Noble and driven by Andy Green.
The project is now split into two phases. Phase one’s target is to break the existing World Land Speed Record. This is necessary to understand how the car behaves as it enters the transonic stage initially and then supersonic speed levels. Upon the successful completion of the first phase, the team will review the data and technical challenges before embarking on phase two, and the challenge of safely reaching 1,600 km/h.
A 9,000-km journey to set a new record
The project has reached the final phase of its build programme as it prepares to head to South Africa and be put through its paces in a series of high-speed shakedowns on the vast Hakskeenpan desert in the Northern Cape.
Moving the 6.4 tonne Bloodhound LSR 9,000 kms from the UK to South Africa throws up major logistical challenges in itself. Much of the heavy support equipment, including the car’s trailer, has already set off to make the long journey by sea but the car itself will travel via air freight to ensure it isn’t subjected to any uncontrolled shock loads that could damage it in transit.
The EJ200 jet engine will travel mounted inside the upper chassis, which is where you would find it in its natural home inside the Eurofighter Typhoon. The 2-metre-high tail fin, which is the same size as that found on a Red Arrows display jet, has been removed and will travel upright in a wooden crate, along with some sections of the composite bodywork.
The car will be fitted with the wheels shod with pneumatic tyres that were used for UK runway testing at Cornwall Airport in October 2017, where they carried the car at speeds of up to 320 km/h. For testing in South Africa, the wheels will be changed from pneumatic to solid aluminium discs to cope with the high speeds and desert environment.
The 90-kg desert wheels are produced by a consortium of partners including Castle Precision Engineering, who recently balanced the wheels to ensure they conform to Class G2.5, the same as aircraft turbine blades. This involves an exacting process of shaving microns of aluminium from the spinning discs to ensure they’re perfectly balanced and ready for the desert.
Crucial testing stage
This stage of the testing process is crucial, as the 480 – 900 km/h window is one of the most vulnerable stages for the car. It’s at this point that the stability of the car transitions from being governed by the interaction of the wheels with the desert surface to being controlled by the vehicle’s aerodynamics. The grip from the wheels will fade faster than the aerodynamic forces build up, so this is likely to be the point where the car is at its least stable.
Data on the interaction between the solid aluminium wheels, which are being used for the first time, coupled with ‘base drag’ measurements, will provide real world insight into the power required to set records. Base drag relates to the aerodynamic force produced by low pressure at the rear of the car, sucking it back. As the car approaches transonic speeds, this force far exceeds the friction of the air passing over Bloodhound’s bodywork.
“Transforming Bloodhound from a runway spec car to one capable of reaching speeds in the transonic range on the desert racetrack has been no small task,” said Bloodhound LSR Engineering Director Mark Chapman. “After many years in preparation, we can’t wait to get out to the Hakskeenpan and let Bloodhound off the leash to see just how it performs.”
In the not-too-distant future when cars start to operate without humans managing, the environment in the cabin will surely change. On long journeys, there may be a need for more infotainment to pass the time. To demonstrate how we might be using media in our vehicles in the future, Porsche, start-up Holoride and media company Discovery have proposed a new VR (Virtual Reality) solution for use in vehicles.
The aim of the collaboration between Porsche and Holoride is to give vehicle passengers the opportunity of immersing themselves in virtual worlds. Development plans include entertainment, edutainment, as well as solutions for productivity and relaxation in the vehicle.
Maximum immersion for passengers
For this purpose, Holoride software links a VR headset with sensors and the vehicle so that content can be adapted to the car’s driving movements in real time. For instance, if the car is being driven around a corner, the ‘vehicle’ that the passenger is virtually travelling in will also change direction. Consequently, users experience maximum immersion into a fictitious world to significantly reduce the symptoms of travel sickness. This also applies to watching 2D content.
Passengers can choose from various 2D or 3D experiences ranging from documentaries and, for now, an underwater adventure through to a journey in time. The newly presented VR experience transports users in a drone moving through a futuristic city.
In future, the system could also evaluate navigation data in order to adapt the length of a VR experience to the calculated duration of the journey. Holoride software makes it possible to offer elastic content which is a new form of media especially designed for use in vehicles. Such content will adapt to not only to motion and context but also projected driving time so that the presentation ends when the destination is reached.
“Our joint projects with Holoride and Porsche Digital have demonstrated what the technology is capable of. In future, we also envisage Porsche-specific solutions, for instance for the race track,” added Anja Mertens, Project Manager for Smart Mobility at Porsche AG.
VR experience to be commercialised by 2021
Holoride is pursuing an open platform approach so automotive manufacturers and content producers can readily use the technology. “Now that we have teamed up with Discovery, we can demonstrate for the first time how users can also experience 2D content such as films in the virtual 3D world. We call this an ambi-environment,” explained Nils Wollny, CEO of Holoride.
As part of the Startup Autobahn innovation platform, the young company had shown that the Holoride software works seamlessly with manufacturer vehicle data for motion-synchronised, real-time generation of virtual reality (VR) and cross-reality (XR) content. The cooperation with Discovery underlines Holoride’s approach to also bring edutainment content to the vehicle in addition to gaming and entertainment. Holoride aims to bring this new form of entertainment using commercially available VR headsets for passengers in the rear seats of production cars to market by 2021.
Having Discovery, already well known for its documentaries, as a partner for 2D content means benefiting from their expertise in the area of real-life entertainment as the company supplies topically matching documentary material for the in-car VR experience.
Bermaz Motor, the official custodian for the Mazda brand here in Malaysia, has officially unveiled their latest 2019 Mazda CX-8. Interested parties can start placing your bookings for Mazda’s latest ultimate seven-seater premium SUV, which fills in the void between the 2019 Mazda CX-5 and the higher-end Mazda CX-9. (more…)
Local assembly of vehicles has been going on since the mid-1960s when the government offered incentives to carmakers to build factories and assemble their vehicles in Malaysia, or have the vehicles assembled under contract by other parties. The move was to put Malaysia on the path towards industrialisation and the auto industry was to serve as a catalyst, as it had in countries like Japan and Germany.
From a handful of factories in the late 1960s, mainly in Selangor and Johor, the network of assembly plants spread across the country to states like Pahang and Perak, and even East Malaysia. The number of factories has risen and fallen as market conditions have changed over the past 50 years, and there are 22 active plants today which collectively produced 380,940 units of passenger and commercial vehicles during the first 8 months of this year.
From the start, the government encouraged the sourcing of parts locally as well to develop the auto industry in a comprehensive way. Incentives were also given for using more local parts as well as for investments made to grow local assembly. However, where exports are concerned, Malaysia has not been as strong as Thailand and Indonesia and it is only in the past decade that a few carmakers have started to use Malaysian plants as regional production hubs for some models.
The super successful McLaren Mercedes titan duo is coming back to the world of Formula 1 and we can’t be more excited about the legendary prospect. McLaren Racing together with Mercedes-Benz announced that the McLaren F1 team will be powered by Mercedes starting in the 2021 season. (more…)
Big corporations continue to be successful because of the support and business the communities they operate in give them. Never forgetting this, companies like Ford Motor Company have a Global Caring Month where thousands of its employees around the world participate in community projects to reciprocate and to create positive impact in people’s lives
For the 14th year of the Global Caring Month, Ford together with its sole distributor, Sime Darby Auto ConneXion (SDAC), organised a full-day activity for the elderly at the Sincere Care Home to help improve their living conditions as well as to provide emotional support. During the full-day visit, SDAC-Ford volunteers offered help with housekeeping and meals preparation and entertaining the senior folks. Apart from food and games, a spa corner offering manicure, pedicure, facial and haircut services were also set up by the talent volunteers to help groom the residents of the nursing home.
Sincere Care Home is a nursing home dedicated at looking after senior citizens who were found living on the streets, sent by families who are less able and referred to by the hospital. To help reduce the financial burden of its daily operation, the volunteers also made contributions in kind and in cash.
Enhancing quality of life
“Ford Global Caring Month programme is a great platform and we are proud to be a part of it. Each year, we get to contribute to a different cause and make a difference in people’s lives. Together with Ford, we are committed to enhancing the quality of life for people in our communities where we live and work” said Syed Ahmad Muzri Bin Syed Faiz, Managing Director, Sime Darby Auto ConneXion.
Ford Global Caring Month is a signature annual event of the Ford Volunteer Corps. Since its launch in 2005 by Executive Chairman Bill Ford, Ford Volunteer Corps members have contributed more than 1.5 million hours of community service in 50 countries, representing more than US$40 million of in-kind community investments. During the month, the Ford Volunteer Corps tackled hundreds of projects in cities, towns and villages in six continents. Ford Fund is contributing more than US$675,000 in grants to purchase tools and supplies for many of the global projects.
“Ford volunteers are improving access to clean water, feeding the hungry, building homes, renovating schools and providing opportunities to help make people’s lives better all over the world,” said Todd Nissen, director, Ford Volunteer Corps. “Each Ford volunteer is making a valued contribution to stronger communities and a better world.”
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Back in the 1960s, a group of Ferrari directors and engineers left the company to start a new one known as Automobili Turismo e Sport (ATS) with the aim of being a rival in F1 as well as on the street. The attempt didn’t go well and the company had to close down in 1964 after producing just 12 cars. However, over 50 years later, ATS has been revived and true to its heritage and to its roots, its Corsa division has made a comeback on racing tracks with a new and in-house developed car: the RR Turbo.
ATS Corsa has followed the principles of knowledge, power and strength to create its own brand new car. Essential and for track use, the RR Turbo is dedicated to all those drivers and teams that are looking for top performance figures in a car with an accessible price but equipped with premium parts.
Customers will benefit from ATS-Sicom carbo-ceramic discs with lightweight monoblock calipers, double wishbone pushrod suspensions with electronic Tractive shocks absorbers adjustable from inside the cockpit via a touchscreen display, Michelin tyres, AIM dash logger, electro hydraulic transmission with paddle shifters and a tablet console linked to the in-car cameras able to record and live-stream track sessions.
A typical Italian GT
Developed entirely by the ATS Automobili’s Design & Engineering department, the RR Turbo immediately sets itself aside, thanks to the beauty of its fluid and original lines, typical of the best Italian GT and for the attention to detail, responding to the values of Italian tradition and therefore of ATS Automobili.
The RR Turbo is a track weapon with credible numbers: 600 bhp; 780 kgs; 1.3 kgs/bhp power-to-weight-ratio. The RR Turbo has been engineered around a chromium molybdenum spaceframe chassis weighing only 40 kgs (without roll-bar) and the first of its kind to blend the most race-proven technology with the revolutionary concept of the monocoque.
The chassis tubing is welded to form a central tub-core which is paired with the FIA homologated roll-cage, giving high torsional rigidity and reaching the maximum levels of safety. Such a construction also allows to have a spacious and comfortable cockpit, providing more than enough room for taller individuals.
The RR Turbo hides under its bodywork an unexpected layout for a GT. As a matter of fact, just like in sports prototype and Formula cars, the engine and the gearbox are linked together by a monoblock bellhousing which acts as a support for the suspensions, dampers, wing mount and exhaust.
2-litre turbo engine from Honda
The heart of the RR Turbo is a Honda-supplied turbocharged 2-litre 4-cylinder engine. Developed by ATS Corsa with a closed-deck construction, it is equipped with forged pistons, head with bespoke intake and exhaust manifolds and Garret turbocharger. Managed by an Hondata ECU, the RR Turbo’s output reaches 600 bhp at 8,500 rpm and torque peaks at 530 Nm between 4,000 to 7,000rpm. Power delivery to the wheels is through a 6-speed 3MO FTX sequential transmission with limited slip differential.
The standard braking system is characterized by 4-piston Brembo calipers with steel discs but for those wanting more stopping power, there are also ultralight ATS-Sicom monoblock calipers paired with 350 mm carbo-ceramic discs front and rear.
ATS Corsa’s goal is to offer a competitive machine suitable from week-end track days to professional racing. The RR Turbo has been developed to be a multi-purpose racing car able to offer top-level performance in the vast majority of FIA events in all of Europe. It is priced from 110,000 euros (about RM504,000) for the basic car and first deliveries are expected to start in early 2020.
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