Sunway Tuner

How to stop vehicle if accelerator sticks [VIDEO Inside]

2010-03-10T16:02:22Z

Parents Are Confused About Child Restraint Laws

2010-03-10T15:53:44Z

According to an Australian survey, one in three parents are confused about child restraint laws. The survey, which was conducted by the familycar.com.au website, came in response to the large number of questions about this topic featured online.

“Parents are clearly concerned about the safety of their children while driving them to school, day care and after school activities and are desperate for some clarity in this area,” said founder of the website, Melissa Pye.

This is not necessarily an ignorance related issue. Last year, The Australian Transport Council introduced new laws based on a size-appropriate restraint system for all children in Australia up to the age of 7. Things are getting even more confusing as states will introduce the laws at different times. Victoria was the first to implement the new laws in November.

“While I applaud the introduction of the long overdue changes to the laws, the government really needs to step up and educate parents and carers by showing them how to restrain their children safely and reinforcing it over time. The proper use of child restraints can save lives and reduce the risk of serious injury,” says Melissa.

Main areas of confusion for parents include:

Age vs height and weight
Actual age: does a 7 year old need to be in a restraint?
Seatbelt use:inbuilt harness vs adult seatbelt, where to place adult seatbelt
Use of restraints in own cars vs occasional travel eg taxis, buses and grandparent’s cars

According to an Australian Transport Council report, 500 children up to the age of 10 are killed or seriously injured every year in car accidents, with 2,300 sustaining minor injuries.

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Jordan Think Schumacher Can’t Win The Title

2010-03-10T15:48:30Z

BBC pundit Eddie Jordan - formerly a team owner inside the Formula One Championship - said that Michael Schumacher must be “out of his mind” to return to the sport that turned him into a 7-time world champion. Speaking his mind about Schumacher’s chances of making a difference in the 2010 championship, Jordan believes the German made a terrible mistake returning in F1.

“If I was his father I would have said to him, ‘Son, why? Why?!’ Seven times a world champion - he must be out of his mind! In life, you - as an individual with that sporting legacy - have to give your sport up, not the sport give you up, and he’s putting himself in that position,” said Jordan during a pre-season BBC discussion this week, according to crash.net.

When announcing he wants to return to F1 racing for the upcoming 3 years (with Mercedes), the 41-year old German made it very clear that he aims to add another world title to his tally, starting from the very 2010 campaign. Whether he’ll succeed in doing that or not, it’s only for the time to tell, but Schu said he will only race to win.

And that is something that Eddie Jordan agrees Schumacher will succeed in - winning races, that is. As far as becoming a world champion once again, the 61-year old Irishman wouldn’t bet a single pound on it.

“He’s heading into a situation where he could become a sad, rejected man if he gets whipped - although he won’t get whipped because he’s that good. Can he win a race? Yes. Why should he do it? He’s mad. Title? Not a hope,” added the Irish figure.

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No Sponsor For Sauber F1 in Bahrain

2010-03-10T15:43:51Z

Although hoping to secure a major sponsor for the 2010 Formula One championship - that gets off from as early as this weekend - Peter Sauber will bring his team to Bahrain without an official backer. While some teams have recently announced new title sponsors for the 2010 season, Sauber F1 Team is yet to find a company willing to pour some money into their account for at least one year.

Consequently, the well-designed Sauber C29 cars - as showed in one of our recent reports - will show up on the Bahrain grid in a mostly-blank bodywork. Hopefully, some good results in the first few races will cause some sponsors to look the Sauber way in the near future.

“After the withdrawal of BMW and the takeover of the team, the time was simply too short for us to find a partner or principal sponsor. We only had confirmation of the 13th team entry in December so concrete negotiations (with backers) could only start very late,” said Sauber, according to Switzerland’s 20 Minuten.

Shortly after securing that entry in the 2010 F1 championship, BMW Sauber’s long-time sponsor Petronas decided to join Mercedes GP for the upcoming few seasons, leaving the Swiss outfit without their main backer in the series. Nevertheless, the 66-year old team owner insisted the lack of sponsors did not have a direct impact over the development of the C29.

“Nevertheless, the 2010 season for us is guaranteed, even though the more sponsors we have, the more we can invest in the development of the car,” added Sauber, who made it very clear that neither Kamui Kobayashi, nor Pedro de la Rosa brought anything (financially) to the table for 2010.

However, he did admit that the signing of the two drivers would benefit the team a lot in the Japanese and Spanish markets, once the season will have gotten under way.

“I hope so. The Spanish and Japanese markets are lucrative, although there has also been the impact of the global financial crisis,” concluded Sauber.

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Mazda Gets Brake Override Systems

2010-03-10T15:40:12Z

Toyota’s devastating recall that affected millions of cars sold all over the world scared the hell out of several other automakers which were more or less involved in this serious problem. Some others have already confirmed that their cars are also affected by Toyota’s glitch, including Peugeot and Citroen, while other brands are trying to avoid such an embarrassing and money-losing situation straight from the assembly lines.

This is exactly the case of Mazda, the Japanese manufacturer that recently decided to install brake override systems on all new models. This basically means that in case a near-death experience (to be read “a stuck accelerator pedal”) occurs, the vehicle will give priority to the brake pedal and not to the accelerator.

According to a report by Autonews, Mazda is not aware of potential accidents or glitches that could be caused by stuck accelerator pedals.

“We are not aware of any malfunctions or instances of runaway Mazda vehicles or related accidents that would necessitate a brake override system,” Mazda spokesman Kotaro Minagawa was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.

More interesting, it seems like the overall costs of installing a brake override system on a newly-built car goes around 50 bucks, which could lead to its adoption by some other brands as well. For instance, Honda, Suzuki, Mitsubishi and Daihatsu (probably under Toyota’s guidance) admitted they are now studying ways to install the feature.

“I think (it) could eventually become a standard feature, just like airbags or anti-lock brake systems,” said Daihatsu spokesman Haruki Mori.

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Unichip For Subaru Impeza Diesel

2010-03-10T15:33:09Z

Unichip Europe has developed a new dynamic plug and play “U-connect” piggy back upgrade for the all wheel drive Subaru Impreza equipped with the 150 HP 2.0 boxer diesel unit. The product is available on the UK market.

The “piggy back” system works by intercepting the signals from the vehicle’s factory stock sensors and channeling them through the custom pathway. The new product performs minor electronic modifications to the engine’s fueling and boost parameters in order to increase performance while maintaining the fuel economy and reliability of the unit.

The Unichip’s installation can be a DIY (Do It Yourself) operation, thanks to its plug and play design and “U-Connect” wiring loom. According to the company, the fitting or removing of such a device only takes minutes. The company also claims that the Unichip can’t be detected by automotive dealers during scheduled servicing sessions.

The Unichip Subaru Impreza 2.0 liter offers a 17 HP and 36 lb-ft (49 Nm) of torque premium, offering a total of 167 HP and 292 lb-ft of torque (396 Nm) for the driver to play with. The latter are delivered starting from 2,500 rpm.

The company says that the enhanced performance has not affected the fuel consumption of the engine, as real world testing has showed that the unit’s fuel economy has improved by 5 or 10 percent after the Unichip was installed.

The power enhancement can be purchased for 465 pounds sterling ($700) and is already available. The Unichip modifications cover a wide range of cars, from hatches to SUVs and performance vehicles.

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Lotus F1 Looking Forward To Bahrain

2010-03-09T14:38:09Z

A few weeks ago, the technical director of Lotus F1 Team, Mike Gascoyne, insisted that his aims for the upcoming season is to become the best of the newly entrant teams of F1 and, by mid-season, start seeing some points on the scoreboard from one of its two drivers, Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen.

As far as the first goal is concerned - out-bettering HRT F1 and Virgin Racing - we can all agree that it’s more realistic than the second. One proof is that the Malaysian backed team’s aim for the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix is simply to finish the race with both cars.

“We are all looking forward to Bahrain. (…) Yes we are a little slower than the major leading teams, however we will get there, with passion, hard work and a clear vision - our aim for this first Grand Prix will be to finish and steadily but surely improve, race by race,” said the team’s CEO Tony Fernandes in a preview for this weekend’s race.

His thoughts were perfectly echoed by Gascoyne, who admitted that the T127 is certainly not as competitive as the already established F1 teams, but its level of reliability showed during the winter testing should get them to at least crossing the finish line.

“Our test season was extremely productive - in general we’ve had very good reliability, and the team is in very good shape going to the first race,” said the Lotus F1 Team technical, while veteran driver Jarno Trulli added: “It would be nice to score a point, but it is not going to be easy. We have to be realistic.“

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WTCC Mexico Round Cancelled

2010-03-09T14:33:37Z

This year’s season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship could be reduced to only 11 rounds, as it was confirmed that the Mexico round of the 2010 series, initially scheduled to take place on April 11, was cancelled.

The race counted, until a few days ago, as the second round of the 2010 championship. However, the Mexican authorities informed the FIA WTCC officials that they are unable to guarantee the safety of both drivers and spectators, due to recent severe flooding in the area of Puebla, where the racing circuit is located.

According to a report from Autosport, the WTCC officials decided to scrap the Mexican round off the 2010 schedule since before the season opening Curitiba event. However, the series is yet to make a decision on the replacement of the Puebla round. According to series promoter Marcello Lotti, a decision on this will be made in the upcoming few weeks.

“No decision has yet been taken about the possibility to replace the Mexican event. We will think about it, evaluate the different opportunities and decide before the next meeting at Marrakech. I will decide in one month, but it could also be that we can stay with 11 events,” said Lotti.

No matter the decision reached by Lotti - as there are no reserve rounds in the series, like in the World Rally Championship - what’s certain is the fact that the WTCC field will reunite almost two months from now, in Marrakech (Morocco), on April 30. After the first round of the new season, the last two champions of the series Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini are level on points into the lead (37), taking one win each at Curitiba.

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Mercedes’ Driving Academy 2010

2010-03-09T14:27:38Z

US driving enthusiasts have another opportunity to improve their skills, as the AMG Driving Academy opens its gates once again. This year, there has been another level added to the experience: the Pro Level. Classes are still being carried out under the supervision of professional instructors. AMG vehicles including the new SLS AMG are available for all students.

The Academy, which was originally founded in Germany back in 2007, was launched in the US in 2009. Last year, more than 600 people finished the advanced classes and now have the opportunity to attend an advanced three-day Pro Level program at the Road Atlanta circuit. The participants will get behind the wheel of several AMG models including the E63 AMG, SL63 AMG, C63 AMG, SLK55 AMG and SLS AMG.

The Academy will take place on two US tracks:

Road Atlanta (Braselton, GA) - May 15-16, June 11-14 & 28-30, 2010

For more than 40 years, Road Atlanta has lured top tier sports car and motorcycle racers from around the world. This 2.54-mile, 12-turn road course is one of the most technically challenging in the U.S.

Laguna Seca Raceway (Monterey, CA) - August 27-29, September 25-27, October 29-30 and November 12-14, 2010

Located in one of North America’s best destination locations — the Monterey Peninsula
Laguna Seca features tremendous elevation changes, the famous Corkscrew complex and 2.24 sinewy miles of twisty asphalt.

The Basic program costs $1,795 per participant. Each one learns the fundamentals of vehicle dynamics and car control maneuvers using customized exercises. Once participants perfect car control and handling, they progress to a set of high-speed exercises that make use of the entire track.

The Advanced program costs $3,295 per participant and offers a two-day experience that picks up where Basic leaves off, providing advanced training and technical on-track instruction.

The Pro Level costs $3,995 per participant and offers increased instruction while challenging and improving capabilities and skills to a much greater degree. During the three day program, participants train on the legendary Road Atlanta circuit.

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Vettel’s Car Will Be Called “Luscious Liz”

2010-03-08T15:04:12Z

Sebastian Vettel’s new car for the 2010 Formula One championship will be called “‘Luscious Liz” according to a report issued by the GMM news agency. This will be the second time the 22-year old German driver will change the name of his F1 challenger, after previously driving “Kate’s Dirty Sister” to runner-up spot in the 2009 drivers’ classification.

The name belonged to the team’s 2009 single-seater, the RB5, as the team piggybacked on the name of their previous car, the RB4 - named Kate. Since the last year’s car was obviously more aggressive and efficient in terms of points scored in the series - 6 wins and 2nd place in the manufacturers’ classification - it was nicknamed as a “dirtier” version of Kate.

Back in 2008, when he scored his first ever win for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One - and became the youngest driver to ever win a race in the series - the nickname he gave to his STR single-seater was Julie.

Apparently, giving female nicknames to his F1 cars is not the only superstition Vettel has in the sport, as the German racer “steps into his cars and dismounts from the left-hand side, and slides a lucky coin behind the laces of his boot,” as reported by the GMM news agency.

This only makes the 22-year old driver even more likable in the eyes of the fans worldwide, while also lifting him to No 1 favorite in Bernie Ecclestone’s book.

“If I could design a superstar, Sebastian would be the result. He is exactly what formula one needs: a young, super-talented driver who is intelligent but not arrogant, popular with the public and good with the media, normal but still very professional,” said the F1 supremo in an interview with Auto Bild Motorsport.

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