Semalam, akhbar New Straits Times (NST) telah melaporkan berita yang tidak menyenangkan bagi peminat sukan Formula One negara.
Litar Antarabangsa Sepang (SIC) telah mengumumkan ia tidak lagi berminat untuk menganjurkan sukan Formula One.
Penggunaan logo F1 ini untuk tujuan pengiklanan memerlukan pembayaran kepada syarikat F1 Group
Ini dikatakan adalah disebabkan oleh kadar kehadiran penonton yang merosot kerana dominasi satu pasukan dalam kejohanan itu. Pasukan Mercedes AMG Petronas telah memenangi piala F1 Constructors Championship buat tiga tahun berturut-turut, menyebabkan ramai peminat hilang selera untuk datang menyaksikan perlumbaan yang didominasi satu pasukan itu.
Situasi ini memaksa SIC untuk “berehat” dari meneruskan penganjuran sukan itu.
“Mungkin adalah lebih baik jika (pusingan F1) Malaysia berehat. Saya rasa sukan F1 tidak lagi menyeronokkan seperti dahulu,” jelas Datuk Ahmad Razlan Ahmad Razali, ketua pegawai eksekutif SIC dalam laporan NST.
Sukan F1 didominasi oleh pasukan Mercedes AMG Petronas sejak tahun 2014.
Penganjuran sukan F1 adalah antara yang paling mahal untuk dianjurkan oleh mana-mana litar antarabangsa dunia.
Ini kerana kos penganjuran sukan itu telah ditetapkan dan dikawal oleh syarikat F1 Group, syarikat yang memiliki semua hak F1.
SIC hanya mampu mengaut untung sedikit dari penjualan tiket dan cenderamata.
Pembahagian keuntungan dari penganjuran F1 didominasi oleh syarikat itu, yang mempunyai hak mengambil semua keuntungan dari pengiklanan di litar dan juga yuran dari siaran acara itu diseluruh dunia.
Negara yang berhajat untuk menjadi hos F1 pula harus membayar F1 Group sekitar RM125 juta setahun untuk mendapat hak penganjuran. Harga ini juga meningkat sebanyak 10% setiap tahun penganjuran.
Dari pembahagian keuntungan penganjuran, SIC hanya boleh mengaut keuntungan penjualan tiket sahaja.
SIC telah menganjur sukan F1 sejak tahun 1999.
Selamat tinggal, F1.
Tidak hairanlah dengan keadaan ekonomi negara kebelakangan ini mengapa penganjuran acara F1 menjadi tanda tanya kepada pihak kerajaan.
Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Khairy Jamaluddin dalam siaran Twitternya turut menyokong hajat SIC untuk merombak semula penganjuran acara F1 di Sepang.
Despite advances in longer-lasting tires,
actual tread life will vary by car type, tire type (such as all season
or high performance), driving aggressiveness, and even road and weather
conditions. You still need to replace your tires a few times or more
throughout the life of a typical vehicle. As the adage goes, nothing
lasts forever.
Proper maintenance and responsible driving can maximize the mileage
in a set of tires. Monthly tread inspections can inform when the tires
warrant replacement, well in advance of the federally mandated
tread-wear indicators.
Tire Types
When it comes time to replace your tires,
it pays to know what is currently on your vehicle and to learn about
your options. In most cases, you'll want similar replacements, matching
the size and speed rating. From there, you can use the ratings to find
models that excel in the areas that may matter most to you, such as
braking, handling, ride comfort, and noise. You can check our full Tire Ratings for more details.
nak dijadikn cerita..tayar kereta bocor dalam perjalanan..time macam ni takde siapa nak tolong,tahan kereta or motosikal yang lalu lalang pun takde nak stop..mereka lagi takut kot.....byk sgt kes jenayah sekarang ni...giler nak stop....tapi mesti ada yg baik kan..cuma dlm kes aku ni nasib kurang baik..
kalau atas highway,boleh call peronda LPT...tapi suasana sunyi sikit.
jadi, untuk situasi mcm ni....perlu ada sedikit ilmu tukar tayar spare (wajib ada ) dalam setiap kereta korang.
tayar spare pulak takde angin (lama sgt tak cek)...terpaksa drive slow2 cari pam angin di stesen minyak terdekat. ............................................................................. moral dari story diatas?
No matter how many times you go to a country like England or
Japan, it’s still a little shock to get off a plane and see people
driving on the left side of the road. That is, if you’re from the
roughly 75 percent of countries that drive on the right side of the
road. Wrong in this case is relative, depending on where you’re from.
There are a lot of differences in how individual countries do things,
of course. The metric system might be the biggest—the United States is
largely on its own in measuring with feet and inches. Currencies and
exchange rates are certainly country-specific as well, not to mention
languages and customs. But all of those things go back hundreds of
years. Automobiles arrived in the 20th century. Why couldn’t the world
standardize one system for driving?
It’s harder than you might think. Despite the modern invention of the
car, the side of the road on which we drive has a centuries-old
history. The fact that most people are right-handed is the biggest
factor contributing to which side of the road people initially chose.
Ancient Romans drove chariots with the reins in their dominant right
hands to allow them to whip a horse with their left. That way there was
little risk of accidentally whipping a passing chariot. But if a warrior
needed to do battle from a horse, he could attack a passing opponent on
the right with his stronger hand.
For centuries, driving on a certain side of the road was mostly just a
custom. There weren’t that many travelers and roads weren’t paved or
marked to direct traffic, so it didn’t matter too much. But as more
people started driving, some uniformity was needed. One of the biggest
influencers of driving direction was Henry Ford, who designed his Model T
with the driver on the left. That decision meant cars would have to
drive on the road’s right, so that passengers in both the front and back
seat could exit the car onto the curb.
Many countries eventually followed. Canada, Italy, and Spain changed
to right-side driving in the 1920s. Most of Eastern Europe changed in
the ’30s. Scandinavia waited until the 1960s, but its countries
eventually changed to the right, too. Things got interesting in colonial
countries, especially in Africa. France had long been a right-side
country and Britain a left-side country, so their colonies usually
followed suit. But when they became independent, many sought to
normalize with their neighbors to make things easier. Today, most
African countries drive on the right.
So why do close to 50 countries still drive on the left? The short
answer might be stubbornness, which—we should be fair here—is part of
the same reason the U.S. still sticks to measuring in inches and feet.
But the more nuanced reason is momentum. Cities like London were
designed to accommodate left handed driving, so switching would be no
simple tweak. Changing the rules of the road is a very complex and
expensive thing to do. And the more time that goes by, more cars on the
road makes it even harder.
It’s certainly not a debilitating difference to foreign drivers.
After a few minutes, your mind tends to adapt. But the most fascinating
places to see the confusion might be at border crossings, where drivers
are required to immediately change sides. British drivers who take their
cars under the English Channel need to swap when they arrive in France.
The same is true when crossing borders between China and Pakistan, as
well as China and Hong Kong. Where possible, that seems like a good
enough reason to cross a border on foot.
TOKYO -- Nissan Motor Co., aiming to parry rivals from Silicon Valley
and emerge a leader in next-generation mobility, is forming a
300-person in-house startup division with French partner Renault SA to
focus on software development, cloud engineering and big-data analytics.
The effort is being spearheaded by Renault-Nissan Alliance Senior
Vice President Ogi Redzic, who joined the alliance in January after
decades in the technology sector.
Redzic previously worked at HERE, the mapping service formerly owned
by Nokia and previously known as NAVTEQ. High-definition mapping and
global positioning services are key technologies underpinning future
trends in autonomous driving and advanced safety systems.
Renault-Nissan wants to become a leader in self-driving cars and
plans to launch more than 10 vehicles with autonomous drive technology
by 2020.
The new startup team will develop core technologies for connected
cars and new mobility services, a Nissan spokesman said today. Carlos
Ghosn, CEO of both carmakers, outlined the new 300-person team in a June
commentary on LinkedIn about the global race to hire high-tech talent.
Ghosn’s LinkedIn pitch was partly aimed at drumming up applicants.
“We’re seeking those with expertise in software and cloud
engineering, data analytics, machine learning and systems architecture,”
Ghosn wrote. “I expect the global auto industry to see more changes in
the next five years than it has in the last 20. Those changes will bring
tremendous opportunities for those with the skills and talents to help
the Alliance.”
Nissan is building its team as it solidifies a base in software and
connected car platforms. It comes as carmakers worldwide scramble to
bring aboard computer engineers and software programmers with the
expertise typically lacking in the r&d centers of old school
metal-bending car companies. Rival Toyota Motor Corp. spent $1 billion
on its own artificial intelligence division, a unit dubbed the Toyota
Research Institute, last year upping the stakes.
For its part, Nissan announced two new ventures on those fronts last month.
In the first, the Renault-Nissan Alliance bought the French software
company Sylpheo to help speed the expansion of connected-car services.
The acquisition of Sylpheo added a staff of 40 engineers and consults to
the alliance’s push for better software systems and cloud engineering.
Less than a week later, the carmakers signed a global multiyear
agreement with American software giant Microsoft Corp. to develop
next-generation connected car technologies.
Those connected-car services will be supported by Microsoft Azure, a
cloud-based computing product. The services will improve vehicle
navigation, offer predictive maintenance advice, provide over-the-air
software updates and remotely monitor car features, Renault-Nissan said.
Redzic is based in Paris and leads teams at Renault’s TechnoCentre in
France and at the Nissan Technical Center in Atsugi, Japan. He oversees
validation of connected-car applications across all the alliance’s
brands. Another mission of his team is to help cultivate a startup
mindset at the automotive juggernaut, the world’s fourth-biggest
manufacturer of vehicles.
Redzic, who led HERE’s Automotive Business Group of 600 people on
five continents, has a master’s degree in computer science from the
Illinois Institute of Technology and a master’s in business
administration from Northwestern University.
Once again, the skunkworks in Affalterbach has
driven a new stake into the ground and set the new benchmark for
racetrack-bred performance. Introducing the 2018 Mercedes-AMG GT R, the
embodiment of all that is Mercedes-AMG: driving performance at its most
passionate, pure and uncompromising.
The Mercedes-AMG GT R is
designed as a track car off the showroom floor, with sinister aesthetics
and adrenaline-pumping performance dynamics to match. Its handcrafted
AMG 4.0L V8 biturbo engine with "hot inside V" configuration grinds out
577 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque, and the all-new AMG TRACTION CONTROL
with 9 input levels is literally at your fingertips in the center
console.
The motorsports technology goes beyond just the engine.
Active rear-axle steering turns up to 1.5 degrees of toe angle for
increased cornering response and high-speed stability. The light
dual-mass flywheel is responsive and ready to handle rigorous torque
spikes of transmission kickdowns on-track. Forged cylinder heads are
durable and more resistant to heat. And a sophisticated engine
management system adapts based on your driving style, reading your
throttle inputs, g-force indicators and more.
When it comes to
styling, the purpose remains the same — extreme performance. Aggressive
aerodynamics combine with an advanced cooling system to reduce drag and
improve heat dissipation that comes with rigorous track use. And the
wide track makes an audacious persona feel all the more visceral and
real when you´re behind the wheel.
The all-new 2018 Mercedes-AMG GT R begins its reign in summer 2018.
Key Highlights*
*European specification; US figures may vary.
Handcrafted AMG 4.0L V8 biturbo with dry-sump lubrication
577 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque
0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds; top speed of 198 mph
Active rear-axle steering
First-ever 9-mode AMG TRACTION CONTROL
Extensive use of carbon fiber in key areas to lower the center of gravity and add torsional rigidity
Aggressive active aerodynamics coupled with an advanced cooling system
Wider front and rear fenders by 46mm and 57mm, respectively
Exclusive new color:"AMG Green Hell Magno"
New face of AMG: the Panamericana Grille, inspired by the AMG GT3 racer
Prominent central exhaust outlet with standard AMG Performance Exhaust
Woman killed in car crash after pepper spray attack
A woman who recently graduated from high school was killed and
another seriously injured when their car crashed after they were
attacked with pepper spray in the Logan Square neighborhood on the
Northwest Side, officials said.
Kassandra Castillo, 18, of the 3300 block of Edgington Street in
Franklin Park, was declared dead at 4:37 p.m. Sunday at Advocate
Illinois Masonic Medical Center. Castillo, who recently graduated from
East Leyden High School, was kept on life support so her organs could be
harvested, a family member said today.
The other woman, 27, was taken in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.
The two were in a parked car in the 3700 block of West Belden Avenue
around 5 a.m. Sunday when an argument broke out with a group of people
on the street, according to Chicago Police Department News Affairs
Officer Jose Estrada.
Someone in the group attacked the women with pepper spray. The women
then sped off in their car and crashed into two parked cars, Estrada
said.
In an interview with the Tribune, Castillo's aunt, Celene Castillo, said the teen was a popular girl with "big smile."
Castillo's family owns an Herbal Life store and embraces a healthy
lifestyle, Celene Castillo said. Inside the store they have an exercise
studio and Kassandra Castillo taught classes in Zumba, an exercise style
that uses dance in combination with international and Latin music.
Castillo was in great shape and had lost 3 clothes sizes and hoped to
become a model. Her aunt said Castillo was always trying to motivate
others to get healthy and get in shape.
Castillo is survived by her parents and older brother, and a large
extended family, many of whom are coming into town from around the
country, as well as Mexio, her aunt said.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR JAKE LINGEMAN: After being in the big daddy Mercedes-Benz GL450 the other day, I can really appreciate this right-sized ute. That big GL felt lumbering, a bit bouncy and basically overkill, unless you have a Jon and Kate Plus Eight situation.
No, the GLK
is perfectly sized to fit four or five adults and a bit of cargo in the
back. No golf trips to speak of but you could definitely throw a few
bags in back without intruding on the passenger compartment.
I
split my time between driving in sport and eco mode. I enjoyed sport
much more. The throttle seems sharper, transmission hangs in gears
longer and overall it's a more enjoyable experience. I still haven't
tried an eco versus sport mode testing run, but I will. I do enjoy the
stop/start technology, and bet it would go a long way to better fuel
mileage, especially for one who deals with gridlock on a regular basis.
The GLK made its debut for one of the Sex in the City
movies and despite that, I think it's a tough-looking car. It's boxy
and angular and looks close to the ground. The LED accents look cool at
night and the xenon headlights illuminate the road enough that it looks
damn near like daytime.
The interior is Mercedes quality and the
infotainment controller is easy to use now that I have the basics down.
It took a minute to get used to the iPod control, but I love having the
jog dial to switch through a random selection of songs. You can just
keep rolling until you find something you like.
I think $38k seems
like a fair base price for this model, but the as-tested price of
$54,000 is hard to swallow. I do like the premium package for $3,450 and
the hard drive-navigation setup for $2,790. The rest of the options I
could drop for price of about $44,000.
Stop taking us for a ride: 5,000 firms chasing car insurance claims... and 700 of them have been struck off
Tough new curbs on bogus car-accident injury claims to stop Britain being the ‘whiplash capital of Europe’ are pledged today by Transport Secretary Justine Greening. Writing in The Mail on Sunday, she proposes to ban claims involving very low speeds, introduce rigorous medical checks and target ‘ambulance-chasing lawyers’ who are making millions of pounds from the racket. The crackdown comes as an investigation by this newspaper revealed there are an astonishing 5,399 claims-management companies (CMCs), which refer car-crash victims to no-win, no-fee law firms in exchange for cash. Of those, 707 have been shut down by the Government for malpractice. Insiders say that Ms Greening is furious the legal establishment has tried to block reforms and protect its rich pickings from the scam, which is sending car-insurance premiums rocketing. The Prime Minister is to chair a special Downing Street summit on the crisis and Ms Greening will meet key Cabinet colleagues to draw up a package of measures. The move follows The Mail on Sunday’s campaign highlighting dishonest claims for whiplash injuries and the soaring cost of premiums for law-abiding drivers. The Transport Secretary is to study laws in Germany, where whiplash claims are banned for accidents at speeds of less than 6.25mph. It is understood Ms Greening will also consider calls to create a criminal offence of deliberately causing ‘accidents’ in order to claim for whiplash injuries, with the threat of jail if found guilty.
Mercedes-Benz will reportedly double the number of variants of its next-generation S-Class. Mercedes’ latest flagship is expected to arrive during the second half of next year as a 2013 model.
Today’s current regular- and long-wheelbase S-Class variants will remain on tap for the next iteration of the car – codenamed W222 – but Mercedes will add two more body styles to the mix.
Set to arrive sometime during 2013, Mercedes-Benz will launch a coupe version of the S-Class sedan. Following the pattern laid out by the E-Class coupe, the S-Class coupe will replace Mercedes’ current CL model.
A year after the launch of the S-Class coupe, Mercedes will launch a convertible variant of the new S-Class. Although the 2007 Ocean Drive Concept (pictured) hinted at a four-door convertible S-Class, the production version is expected to retain the two-door setup of the coupe, but will offer seating for four.
The S-Class has long been known as a technology leader, and that tradition will continue with the 2013 model. Expected advanced electronics like a road-sensing Magic Body Control system and a more user friendly Command system.
For carmakers such as BMW, Mercedes, and Audi, the past ten years have been all about affordable luxury. In the U.S., these German luxury brands have succeeded in getting people who might have once thought the cars were out of their league to buy and lease some snazzy rides. But has success gone to the Germans’ heads? Modest luxury hits American shores
For BMW and Audi — both automakers that are focused on performance — going small is a simpler proposition. The first BMWs that showed up the USA were small-ish sedans and coupes, a counterpoint to the big muscle cars and Cadillacs of the 1960s and ’70s. Volkswagen-owned Audi has always traded on all-wheel-drive versatility.
Mercedes, of course, is a different story. You don’t rise to the top of the luxury auto mountain by doing small. However, the company has been able to doing medium: its C-Class now serves as an entry-level Merc and sells for less than $40,000. Small is luxury’s new frontier
Going larger and larger with luxury obviously isn’t a problem: consumers naturally associate luxury with scale and will pay accordingly for a roomy car with plutocratic appointments. The challenge is to take luxury and compress it without undermining the core values of the brand.
Cadillac infamously tried to do this with the Cimarron in the 1980s, a car now widely considered to be Caddy’s nadir. Mercedes is entering this treacherous zone by saying that it plans to bring its small cars, the A-Class and B-Class, to the U.S. These compact cars, which have done well in Europe, will have everything that ostensibly makes a Mercedes-Benz a Mercedes-Benz: upholstery, build-quality, technology, safety and the smell of bank vaults.
But what they may lack is that intangible Mercedes-ness. Does Mercedes really have a choice?
At this point, the C-Class has been around for more than ten years. General Motors (GM), Ford (F) and other automakers are now producing compact cars that incorporate luxury elements. It makes good business sense for Mercedes to eye the gap between, say, a top-of-the-line $22,000 Chevy Cruze LTZ and a $40,000 BMW 3-Series and decide to court new, young, fuel-cost conscious customers in that price range.
Improved fuel-economy is also a factor in Mercedes getting its U.S. fleet to adhere to tougher future EPA standards.
So a race of sorts is on. BMW is already there with the 1-Series, but sales have been pretty tepid by comparison with the 3-Series. Audi has done well with the A3, a small wagon. Lexus and Acura are also thinking small. But does Mercedes want to damage its hard-earned and platinum-plated reputation for luxury by joining this competition? Growth versus profits
Mercedes could always wait out the gas-price cycle and refresh its current U.S. lineup, anticipating that Americans will live up to their reputation for flirting with small cars while remaining married to big ones.
Unfortunately, the small luxury segment has become too tempting for carmakers who want to grow. Mercedes doesn’t want to get left in the dust, or be stranded with an aging customer base — even if it makes a lot more money on its larger vehicles.
In the U.S., with mid-sized sedans, luxury carmakers have been able to have been able to sell downsized luxury. There a limit to how small you can reasonably go with posh — and I’m afraid Mercedes is about to encounter it.
Norbert Haug on Wednesday said he had no sympathy amid Red Bull's quest for more engine performance.
Mainly due to having no viable alternatives, Red Bull is staying with Renault power for 2011 but the team regularly complains that engine performance should be equalized because of the development "freeze."
"That (equalization) is not Formula One," Mercedes' motor sport vice president Haug told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.
"In that case we should all go over to GP2. Competition has nothing to do with equality," he added.
However, the German said Mercedes has been a champion of reducing costs in F1, after slashing its own budget by "almost 70 percent" compared to five years ago despite splitting with McLaren in order to head its own works team.
"We were among the pioneers of cost reduction and now we want to see the reward," said Haug, who insisted that rival bigger teams will now need to scale down.
