Changan still a Chana at heart

IF the Chinese emperor Qin had known about the Chana bakkies, he would have included a few clay versions to provide logistical support for the 8 000 terracotta soldiers and their horses buried in the ancient city of Chang’an (or Xi’an).

For if nothing else, these little Chana bakkies are tenacious. Much like the ancient Chinese city after which the Changan group is named, the South African importers of the Chinese bakkies have been reduced to rubble several times, and each time the little bakkie has emerged from the dust, ready to soldier on.

Unsung heroes

A YEAR ago, we reported in Witness Motoring on three two-seater roadsters that were designed to satisfy both the party people with looks and petrolheads, with a thrilling drive.

Perhaps thanks to the praise heaped on them in Africa’s oldest newspaper, these unsung heroes have retained their prices, despite low sales in local show rooms and competing face-lifted models from their own stables.

Daihatsu recently released the 2013 Copen, not destined for South Africa alas, while a new RCZ already languishes amid the family sedans on some Peugeot shop floors; and the 2012 Mini Cooper Coupé continues to attract as much love and vitriol as the previous model did.

Drivers looking for a car that celebrates being alive, while making the most of KZN’s twisties, will still do well to kick the wheels of any of these three.

Chinese Hatch Plan

In 2007, 30-odd Chinese brands were heading to South Africa, but First Automotive Works (FAW), Great Wall Motors (GWM), Chery and Geely were among the few who survived the recession and very critical SA buyers.

FAW J2

IMPERIAL Group, who distributes FAW cars and light commercials in South Africa, last week issued a statement to say how impressed it was with the local road test results of entry-level FAW V2 hatchback.

Pedro Pereira, the general manager for FAW cars and LCVs in SA, said the V2 will later this year join the Sirius seven-seater MPV and panel van in the passenger line-up.

He hopes to retail the V2 with its 1,3 four-cylinder

Voetstoots clause alive and well

Cars line up for the first Ballito Street Heroes for some hard racing.
A private buyer can race it, brake it and still sell it voetstoots.

AN Edendale man who bought a Jetta from a private yard in the area asked Witness Wheels what legal recourse he had after the car stopped running on the second day after the sale.

He eventually towed the car back to the man who had sold it to him, who then took nine months to give him his money back, only last week returning two thirds of the money he was paid.

The seller told Witness Wheels he had deducted about R14 000 for the repairs that were necessary after the buyer had damaged the vehicle.

The buyer is livid, saying he did not drive the vehicle 20 km before “everything stopped”, and that the vehicle

Sawn-off spears better than airbags

A SPEAR tip against your chest makes for safer driving than an air bag. Let me become King Shaka’s imbongi to explain.

Africa’s “Napoleon”, aka King Shaka, is famous for designing the sawn-off spear, or umkhonto we sizwe .

As a device to ensure safer driving, the short stabbing spear is a lot safer than an air bag in our cars.

Air bags, you have to understand, are an American solution to a problem that did not exist.

The problem was that people who did not wear their seatbelts kept fatally flattening their faces against their wind shields. To stop the fatal face flattenings,

Giant ship turbos

The giant variable-vane A100-turbocharger for container
ships enables the captain to pipe down ‘dead slow’
to the engine room, or to yell: ‘Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.’
(Source: Motorship,com)

MAN Diesel turbocharger business builds giant turbos for container ships of the Singapore-based container ship operator Neptune Orient Lines.
To save fuel, these new container ships “slow steam”, which requires the engineers to rematch the ship’s four giant turbos to avoid wasting the crude oil on which the ships run as well as billowing smoke into the atmosphere when the engines run at low speeds.

Do's and don'ts of turbo's

Kurt Volmink is a rare breed of backyard mechanic

KURT Volmink is one of a very rare breed of backyard mechanic, for he insists on fitting turbos as specified by the original equipment manufacturer.

“We use Garretts by Honeywell, and a big up to the new distributors who have halved the prices from what they were a year ago, from about R18 000 to R9 000. More guys can now afford to experience the addictive joys of boost,” he said.

A self-taught drifting enthusiast, Volmink also founded PMB Drifters, and has fitted “many turbos” for himself and fellow enthusiasts.

Witness Wheels asked him his dos and don’ts for fitting after-market turbos.

“The dos are easy. Decide what you want the turbo for — is it for drifting, racing or commuting?

“Then have guys who themselves drift or race or commute fit the turbo, for they will have made all the mistakes on their own expense.

“Second and very important, use the best oil for the application and then change it every 5 000 km. Oil does not just lubricate a turbo, but also removes heat. Without clean oil suited to the job, the turbo’s bearings will heat up, causing that white smoke people see. Eventually, everything will seize and shear.

“Third, add new brakes that can help stop all the new power you have.”

He advised that a big turbo is best for drag racing. It delivers lots of power in the mid-range.

For drifting, a medium-size turbo or even bi-turbos make for a good power curve without turbo lag. For commuting, turbos with adjusting blades — the so-called variable vanes — can deliver better fuel economy if the driver uses the extra power at low revolutions to maintain momentum.

“But boost is addictive and few drivers can resist putting foot once the turbo is in,” Volmink said.

Volmink fully agrees with Chris Kambouris, managing director at Turbo Direct, who advises all turbo users in an introductory video to “insist on genuine products every time”.

“While many companies offer to repair or rebuild damaged turbochargers, the chances of an incorrectly repaired turbo performing poorly or failing again are exceptionally high,” states Kambouris.

He said while many suppliers offer “European spec” after-market turbos, they are not worth the double outlay of first buying then repairing.

“Time and time again these fake or knock-off reproductions have proven to be unreliable and more costly in the end.”

Asked about repairing a turbo, Volmink said it was simply not worth it.

“It will just break again. Put in a new Garrett and then keep the oil fresh,” he said.

Turbos fail because of:

• dirty oil: this is the slow killer that will cook the bearings.

• no lubrication: the oil does not get through because of slag in the tiny turbo galleries.

• excessive operating conditions: the engine’s revolution limiter will not stop the boost.

Games make good driver trainers

Gamers compete for a chance to race for real in the first leg
 of the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy.

Forty-something drivers who could not programme a VCR in the 1980s will never believe this, but crashing a car on a computer game has become as good a training tool for drivers as are expensive simulators for aircraft pilots.

Proof of this comes from three sources.

In Umhlanga, ThoroughTec develops simulators to train drivers of giant mining equipment, armoured vehicles and construction equipment.

Scania tested for Oz road trains

From biglorrieblog, one of Doug Gould's 2AB quads working
at a gold mine Kalgoorlie in Western Oz.

South Africa's longest road trains are short compared to the four-truck monster the Ozzies pull at a gold mine in Kalgoorie, Down Under.

The Ozzie drivers have learned to turst Kenworth T-650 8x4 tractors, but light on diesel they are not. Hence transport company McAleese last month tested its Scania R 620 heavy-haulage truck at a gold mine in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

Danny Denton from McAleese Resources told Prime Mover magazine the Scania R 620 delivered "great fuel economy and performance", as well as the comfort and quietness of the cab.

Chery readies for growth

Alwyn Viljoen

LAST year, Brett Soso, MD of Chery South Africa, had hoped sales would grow in 2013 by between 10% and 15% on 2012 numbers.

Instead, sales have dropped eight percent in a growing market, and the reason for this, Soso told the shareholders Bidvest and Imperial, is because Chery has not been introducing new models often enough.

“Our challenge was to refresh our models,” he said.

Soso met this challenge with the launch last week of the J2 hatchback, and with a face-lift for the Chery QQ early next year.

He explained that Chery has been the victim of its own growth, as the launch of the J2 was delayed last year, with Soso chomping at the bit while Chery completed yet another new factory, this one in Chennai, where the new J2, as well as Land Rover and Jaguar parts for China, are assembled.

Along the route, the designers incorporated feedback from the market, such as changing the two small side hooter buttons to be part of the steering wheel central cover.

With the launch of the new Chery J2 hatchback, he hopes to give the Chinese brand the top-of-mind awareness it enjoyed after it launched in South Africa in 2008.

The new J2 hatchback costs just under R130 000 and comes with the longest warrantee of any Chinese brand. It is now on view at Chery’s multifranchise dealerships.

Soso said he is proud of how Chery has weathered the recession since 2008, saying 30-odd Chinese brands were heading to South Africa then, but only a handful now remain in South Africa.

Asked why Chery prefers to sell through its network of multifranchise dealers, he said it is more cost-effective.

Soso said GWM is currently the only Chinese brand that sells more than 500 units a month, and he held out no hope for Geely.

“I do not believe that Geely’s strategy is sustainable. We will continue with our multifranchise dealers instead.”

He said South Africa is the leading right-hand drive market for Chery, outselling even Australia, and it is the first country outside of China to get the right-hand drive Chery.

Chery claims to be China’s largest exporter of passenger vehicles, sending its passenger cars and light commercial vehicles to 70 countries, with 13 factories outside China.

In South Africa, Chery sells its cars through 36 dealers, five of which are in KZN, in the McCarthy and Imperial stables. Soso hopes to expand this number to 40.

(Information gathered at a launch sponsored by the manufacturer.)

Europe's top dirt bike in SA

WHEN Honda launched the CRF450R in 2002, the light chassis and big-hitting four-stroke was an immediate hit among motocross racers.

The top dirt bike rolled onto dealers’ floors nationwide from Monday, and Vaughan Swanepoel, manager of motorcycle marketing at Honda South Africa, told Witness Wheels it costs R85 990. The 2013 edition builds on the dirt bike’s reputation and has fought off stiff competition to become the best-selling open-class MX bike in Europe. The over-bored 449,7 cc four-stroke makes its maximum torque of 47,7 Nm at 6 500 rpm and power delivery peaks on 38,3 kW at 8 500 rpm. — Witness Reporter. 

The horse is dead, move on!

Even the power of world’s most beautiful horse, Akhal-Teke from Turkmenistan
is not a good measure for a modern engine anymore. 

NEXT time someone tells you how much horsepower an engine has, ask him (it will ALWAYS be a him) which specific horsepower he means.
Is it the American engineers’ horsepower, or that of the Brits, or is it the German’s pferdestärke; the French chevaux vapeur , maybe it is Continental Europe’s boiler horsepower or perhaps the Japanese equivalent industrial standard D 1001?

Step machine meets trike

THE Me-Mover trike is the latest vehicle that uses a stepping motion to generate movement.

Jonas Eliasson, founder and CEO of Me-Mover said the vision of his Danish design company is to create an active urban life where “efficient transportation, exercise and function blend seamlessly into one another”.

Getting the maximum mileage

The ultimate style statement, Goodyear can groove a
tyre to any design.

RUN-FLAT tyres are a good idea — in Europe, where the towns are 15 kilometres apart and a van fully equipped as a mobile tyre shop can fit and balance a tyre next to the road.
In South Africa, run flats take away a driver’s options in an emergency.
A normal puncture, or pothole damage, will cost anything from R30 for a plug, to the price of a new tyre to repair. A new run flat — if one is available — costs on average R1 000 more than a normal tyre of the same size.

Diesel hatch turmoil

The class-leading Hyundai CRDi

WHEN it comes to cars that offer addictive power with a frugal engine for a low price, nothing beats a small diesel hatch.

In this class, Witness Wheels recently stated “the only other diesel hatch that comes close to the numbers offered by the Hyundai’s i20 diesel is Peugeot’s 1,6 208 HDI”. Well folks, things have changed un peu.