Sibling camaraderie, not rivalry, is what strengthens the bond between the Anthony brothers Bradley Benedict and Brendan Paul who are competing in the Toyota Vios Challenge street racing series, part of the Toyota GAZOO Racing Festival that is on in Batu Kwan, Penang, this weekend.
For 18-year old Bradley, this is his debut season competing in saloon cars after moving up from karting while 23-year old Brendan holds the distinction of being Toyota Vios Challenge Sporting Class champion in Season 1 and now competes in the Super Sporting Class for professional drivers. “I used to go to the track a lot to watch my brother compete in karting. I guess that was where the interest started,” said Bradley who ventured into karting in 2016. Last year, he emerged third in the Asian Rotax Max Championship (DD2 class).
Bradley Benedict’s aspiration is to race in the touring car series in Europe, and racing in the Toyota Vios Challenge is helping him gain experience.
Despite making a cautious start in Round 1 of the Toyota Vios Challenge, Bradley was quick to adapt and rose into the top three by Round 2. “I wasn’t as fast in the first round but I gained a lot of experience. I don’t find racing on a street circuit intimidating. In fact, I find it very enjoyable. It’s a solid learning ground for new and young drivers because unlike racing on a permanent circuit, you have to be precise and know how to control the car.”
And is it intimidating at all to have elder brother Brendan competing in the same event? “At the moment, no since we’re competing in different classes. Brendan helps me a lot with the technical tips and I try to get as much information from him as I can,” he replied.
“My being in the Toyota Vios Challenge is also due to a family decision. My dad saw how the event helped to elevate Brendan’s racing and he now wants me to follow the identical path my brother takes. That means also competing in events such as the Malaysian Championship Series, MSF and events like the Sepang 1000KM Endurance Race,” Bradley explained. With 8 races in the Toyota Vios Challenge, 12 races in the MCS and another 12 races in the MSF, that means no less than 32 weekends of racing for Bradley throughout the year.
“My aspiration is to race in the touring car series in Europe, which is why I chose to compete in the Toyota Vios Challenge as opposed to choosing a path driving Formula cars when I moved up from karting” Bradley said.
The Toyota Vios Challenge – now in its third season – has been successful in attracting young drivers. It provides them with an affordable and competitive platform to hone their racecraft and technical experience. This should help build up motorsports talent from grassroots level in the country.
The BMW Art Car Collection which began in 1975 is well known globally, its 19 uniquely painted cars linking the German brand with art. Now BMW M, the high-performance brand, is also associating itself with contemporary art. In the wake of the further development of BMW Individual, BMW M GmbH has presented its latest collaboration: a multi-tiered project with eminent international contemporary artist FUTURA 2000.
In this collaboration, FUTURA 2000, who is known for his mastery of colour, concentric forms, and kinetic composition, has created three exclusive and unique versions of the BMW M2 Competition in his unmistakable style, whilst also designing a limited-edition of the BMW M2 Competition which the public can purchase in June 2020.
“The BMW M2 Competition is dynamic, extroverted and, to a certain degree, pleasantly provocative. I consider it a great honour to be able to add a special touch to this vehicle,” said FUTURA 2000, the 64-year old American graffiti artist who was born Leonard Hilton McGurr.
The artist worked extensively on the three unique versions of the M2, both on the exterior and in the interior. The limited-production models will also bear his unique signature. The trim strips on the instrument panel and the centre console of each vehicle boast a special, individually created FUTURA 2000 design. The bi-coloured, Dakota leather M sports seats in black and ivory white feature polar blue contrast stitching.
In addition, the interior package includes an M Alcantara leather-clad sports steering wheel with a grey 12 o’clock marking and special door sill trims bearing the consecutive limited-edition number and a Futura signature. From the outside, the BMW M2 Edition designed by FUTURA 2000 is recognisable by the painted surfaces on the front and rear aprons and the side sills. Moreover, each car is fitted with 19-inch jet black light alloy wheels.
With the one-offs and the M2 Edition designed by FUTURA 2000, BMW M GmbH is setting trends both in the high-performance vehicle sector and the art scene alike. The M2 Competition is proving to be a successful model for the company. Positioned in the compact class, it is powered by a dual-charged, straight 6-cylinder with 410 ps M TwinPower Turbo Technology engine.
For almost 50 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100 cultural events and activities worldwide. The company places the main focus of its long-term commitment on contemporary and modern art, classical music and jazz as well as architecture and design. Besides the legendary Art Car series, there have also been gallery partnerships, musical events and more.
Just 75 days after the last race of the 2019 season, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team has put its all-new racing car through its first laps. The Mercedes-AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance, as the 2020 car is officially known, was driven at Silverstone by both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. Both drivers were eager to get back into the car after their winter break, which included intensive training to prepare for the upcoming season.
The ’EQ Performance’ in the name links the F1 car to the brand’s future Mercedes-AMG performance hybrid models. It showcases how F1 technology is pioneering the future of motor racing and automotive technology in general. ‘W11’ represents the fact that this is the eleventh Mercedes-made Formula 1 car since the 3-pointed star returned to F1 as a works team in 2010.
Stable regulations for the new season
Though ‘all-new’ is mentioned, the W11 EQ Performance is essentially an evolution of last year’s car that won Mercedes-Benz its historic sixth consecutive double championship. The team has looked at a myriad of areas to improve the car and has changed the vast majority of the over 10,000 parts of the car to extract more performance. It is expected to become the fastest Mercedes-Benz racing car ever built.
In addition to many detail changes and smaller improvements, the team has introduced three larger changes – one at the front, one at the middle and one at the back of the car. At the front, there is more structural complexity around the uprights and wheel rims in order to provide a higher performance assembly overall. In the middle of the car, the upper side impact tube has been repositioned to the lower position and banking the aerodynamic gain that comes with this layout. At the rear is an ‘adventurous’ suspension layout in order to free up aerodynamic development opportunity.
An all-new Power Unit
Similar to the development on the chassis side, the all-new Power Unit (PU) is an evolution as the regulations stayed largely the same. However, while the chassis regulations go into their second year of relative stability, the technical regulations around the Power Unit have not had any major changes since the introduction of the current generation of 1.6-litre V6 hybrid engines in 2014, making performance boosts increasingly difficult.
In the 6 years since its introduction, the Mercedes-AMG PU has made significant progress not just in terms of power output and reliability, but also in terms of its efficiency. From 2014 to today, the thermal efficiency has improved from about 44% to over 50%. Thermal efficiency describes an engine’s ability to convert fuel energy into useful work. Achieving more than 50% means that that more than half of the energy in the fuel can be used to propel the car. A typical road car engine would usually reach about 30% of thermal efficiency.
Last year’s car struggled in hot ambient temperatures and the engineers have worked to improve the cooling package for the W11. In addition to larger radiators in the car, the team has focused on making the cooling more efficient. All the cooling fluids on the PU operate at a higher temperature, which increases the temperature difference between that coolant fluid and the ambient temperature that the car is racing in. This increases the effectiveness of the cooling system but there is a downside: large parts of the engine are made from aluminium and the operating temperatures mean the material properties decay quite rapidly. Managing that over an 8-race distance PU cycle is thus a tough engineering challenge.
10th anniversary for the works team
2020 is a special year for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team as the outfit celebrates its 10th anniversary as a modern-day Mercedes works team in Formula 1. Since March 2010, when the new Mercedes F1 team competed in its first race, it has started in 198 Formula 1 Grands Prix, taken 93 victories, 194 podium places and 48 one-two wins.
March 2010 – the new Mercedes F1 team competed in its first race in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
“It’s fantastic that the team is able to celebrate its ten-year anniversary,” said Toto Wolff. “We made our first come-back to F1 over 25 years ago as an engine supplier and then we went all in 10 years ago. It shows our long-term commitment – with our own works team and as a Power Unit supplier to valuable customers. We have been a part of Formula One with changing technical regulations, with changes in the Daimler top management, but our commitment to the sport hasn’t changed. It’s great that we get to celebrate our tenth anniversary with the Mercedes works team as one further milestone of this commitment.”
Massive change in regulations in 2021
Looking ahead, he said that the team must prepare for the massive changes that will be introduced in F1 in the following year. 2021 will see the biggest change to the technical regulations in the history of Formula 1 which will require virtually every part of the car to be designed and developed from scratch. In addition to the technical complexity of the regulation change, the new financial regulations mean that teams will have to re-organise the way they tackle these changes.
“2020 is an evolution of the current regulations and the gains will be smaller, so you need more time and effort to keep improving your car,” said Wolff. “On the other hand, the 2021 regulations are so very different that you need a lot of time to prepare for them. Every month you start later than your competitors will make it more difficult to catch up. You also have the effect of the cost cap which means that you will have fewer resources available to throw at things in 2021.”
The 10th generation Honda Accord is finally coming to Malaysia and will be launched before the end of March 2020. Announcing this today, Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd (HMSB) said that bookings for its all-new flagship model can be made at 100 authorised dealerships nationwide from today.
Prices have not been revealed nor the variants available. The current generation, launched in September 2013, has two variants priced at 147,733.50 (2 litres) and RM167,862.00 (2.4 litres). HMSB says over 32,500 units of the 9th generation have been sold and it has maintained its position as segment leader.
While the full specifications are not available yet, HMSB’s Managing Director & CEO, Toichi Ishiyama, revealed that the new Accord will have an enhanced turbocharged engine. “The much-anticipated All-New Accord is set to move the yardstick for next-generation sedans and further excite the market and segment. Honda is the only Japanese mass market manufacturer to introduce the powerful engine in the D-segment,” he said.
1.5 more powerful than 2.4
This would be the 1.5-litre VTEC engine and it would be the smallest engine ever offered in the Accord since the model line was added to Honda’s range in 1976. The earliest generations (up to the third generation) had 1.6-litre engines before the model began using engines with larger displacements as its size grew.
In the 21st century, displacement is no longer an indicator of performance and with turbocharging, the new Accord’s engine can produce maximum power of 201 ps/260 Nm – more powerful than the 2.4-litre engine! While the turbocharger gives stronger acceleration, the smaller displacement means better fuel efficiency and you also pay less roadtax each year.
The Accord line started with a hatchback in 1976 and 1.6-litres was the smallest engine size for the first three generations.
The design of the new Accord is described as a ‘revolutionary design incorporating fastback styling’. It has a wider stance, coupled with lower bonnet height as well as lower and longer roofline. At the front and rear are stylish full LED headlights and taillights. There’s a Twin Tailpipe Chrome Finisher and newly-designed 18-inch alloy wheels.
Complete Honda SENSING system
In line with HMSB’s aim of providing Next Generation Advanced Technology, the new Accord will have more advanced safety features. The 10th generation will come with the complete Honda SENSING system that has three categories and eight features:
Driver Cruising Aids – Adaptive Cruise Control, Low Speed Follow, Auto High-Beam
Side Collision Deterrence – Lane Keep Assist System, Road Departure Mitigation, Lane Departure Warning
In addition to the Honda SENSING package, there will also be Smart Parking Assist System with Brake Assist (Rear), a Multi View Camera System and Honda LaneWatch which uses a camera on the left door mirror to give the driver an image of the blind spot along the side of the car.
Visit www.honda.com.my to locate an authorised dealer anywhere in Malaysia.
Kuala Lumpur has been chosen as the designated pilot city for the City Architecture for Tomorrow Challenge (CATCH) which was launched today. This is the region’s first global challenge that will attract innovative, data-driven entries from global participants. The aim is to raise efficiency in urban planning and drive forward the future of mobility.
CATCH will seek to address mobility challenges in Kuala Lumpur with a global call for solutions, for a period of 8 months, where participants – from start-ups, academic and research institutions to corporations, or even the general public – can conceptualize and develop solutions that are dynamic, intelligent and data-driven to design future city infrastructures.
Grants of up to US$1.5 million
The competition involves the Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) in partnership with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). This partnership will enable Kuala Lumpur to take the lead in developing next-gen urban development and city mobility management for the region.
TMF will be providing grants at every stage of the challenge – up to US$1.5 million (RM6.211 million) in total – to support teams towards the development and trial-testing of the solutions in Kuala Lumpur. Participants will also have access to expert mentors and an incubation program.
Data empowerment
CATCH will provide participants with data to empower them to develop solutions that will be selected (in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act). The data partners are made up of both public and private sectors that have different data points of a commuter’s journey such as Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, Royal Malaysia Police, Land Public Transport Agency, Grab, MapIT MSC, Mass Rapid Transit Corporation and Prasarana Malaysia.
According to Shin Aoyama, President of Secretariat, Toyota Mobility Foundation, TMF was set up to address mobility issues around the world, using a unique approach driven by sustainability, innovation and partnership. “CATCH was designed in partnership with the Malaysian government, to encourage data-driven but human-centered interventions to improve city planning and the mobility ecosystem,” he explained.
“We take pride in overcoming ‘impossible’ challenges to make ‘Mobility for All’ a reality. TMF provides the platform to create a better, more mobile society and we fully support this digital and data-driven approach,” said Ravindran K., President of UMW Toyota Motor, a local partner involved in the competition.
The Toyota Mobility Foundation was established in August 2014 to support the development of a more mobile society. The Foundation aims to support strong mobility systems while eliminating disparities in mobility. It utilizes Toyota’s expertise in technology, safety, and the environment, working in partnership with universities, government, non-profit organizations, research institutions and other organizations to address mobility issues around the world. Programs include resolving urban transportation problems, expanding the utilization of personal mobility, and developing solutions for next generation mobility.
