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Seventh Skoda student concept car project underway

Skoda, the Czech carmaker has been training and developing talent for more than 90 years at its Vocational School in Mlada Boleslav. In the first year, 58 students began their training in three different specialist areas. Today, more than 900 students (13% female) are enrolled in 13 full-time courses and three postgraduate programmes at the Skoda Academy.

The quality of training will be put to the test in the seventh Skoda student concept car project. 20 students from the academy are involved in the ambitious project this year. They have decided to design and build an open-top Spider version of the new compact Scala model.

Watching and learning from the professionals
At a workshop in the Skoda Design department, the participants met the company’s Head Designer, Oliver Stefani, and put their first ideas down on paper with him and his team. The still-unnamed project car, which the students will be constructing according to the design, will be presented to the public in early June.

During the visit, they were allowed to watch Stefani and his team in their day-to-day work and to create their own drawings. “Despite the increasing use of computers and simulations, drawing is still an essential part of automotive designers’ work. With every stroke, an idea turns into something real. A sketch is the first of many steps on the long and exciting path to a new car,” explained Stefani.

Support from engineers
Throughout this project, the up-and-coming talent will receive support from engineers and experienced employees from the areas of technical development, design and production within the company. The apprentices have expressed a wish to make the car’s clear lines and emotive shapes more prominent in the spider version to emphasize the vehicle’s overall dynamics.

“From the beginning, all the participants showed great enthusiasm and determination. Their sketches are very impressive, I really like the concept,” said Jiri Hadascok, exterior design coordinator at Skoda, adding that the professionals were impressed with their enthusiasm and receptiveness.

Skoda Scala — *The Scala model which the students’ concept car is adapted from.*

Designing a concept vehicle and then building it by hand is the highlight of all apprenticeships. “We are all delighted to be part of this project. As a student, where else do you get the chance to put your own ideas and vision into designing a car and then actually build it yourself? Drawing our first sketches was lots of fun, and we learned a lot from Oliver Stefani and his team,” said one of the participants, Vojtech Spitalsky.

Latest sketches of Skoda VISION IN concept reveal the design of new compact SUV for India

Shops at many PLUS R&R/lay-bys to remain closed till March 31

Interstate travel is not permitted during the period of the Movement Control Order (MCO). However, if you are on PLUS highways – and you should have a valid reason for travelling – and want to stop by at a R&R to pick up food or drinks, you should be aware that the shops are closed from today until March 31, 2020 when the MCO ends.

According to notices which appeared today on the PLUS Facebook pag, the closure of shops are at the following R&R locations in Peninsular Malaysia:

Gelang Patah, Machap, Ayer Keroh, Mambau, Ulu Bernam, Sg. Buloh, USJ and Penanti.

*Operating hours at some R&Rs have been shortened to 6 am to 7 pm until March 31, 2020 (picture of R&R at Sg. Perak taken earlier in the year).*

Additionally, at the other R&Rs, operating hours of the shops will be from 6 am to 7 pm. They are at:

Pagoh, Seremban, Dengkil, Tg. Malim, Tapah, Sg. Perak, G. Semanggol, Gurun and Rawang.

All stalls and shops at the lay-bys will also be closed from March 21 – 31, 2020.

However, the toilets, parking spaces and petrol stations will still be operational as normal. All suraus at PLUS R&Rs and the LPT2 are, however, closed during the MCO period.

PLUS has also closed all its reload facilities at the Toll Plaza Customer Service Centres and Reload lanes at both its Open and Close Toll highways.

The highway concessionaire explained that these actions of closure are social distancing efforts to reduce the risk of infection and therefore limit virus transmission.

Petrol station — *Reloading of TnG tollcards can be done at petrol station convenience stores such as BHPetrol’s Petromarts.*

As such, PLUS advises motorists to plan their journey ahead by reloading their Touch‘nGo card at reload centres nationwide. The reload facilities include Self-Service Kiosks at 67 locations along selected rest and service areas, as well at ATMs of banks. Petrol stations and convenience stores can also provide reload services.

Access roads to Kuala Terengganu closed

BMW Drivers Will Be Racing At Super Sim Saturday With Races All Around The Virtual Globe

Real-world motorsports events all over the world, including world championships, have been cancelled or postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no racing going on – within the vast BMW Motorsport SIM Racing programme, no less than ten BMW drivers will fight for glory today.

The first-ever virtual round of the Nurburgring Endurance Series will start off at 1 pm European time (8 pm in Malaysia) with a 4-hour race in what is nicknamed the ‘Green Hell’. Among the more than 50 cars in the field that are split into four classes, there will be two BMW Z4 GT3s driven by BMW drivers. The race will be broadcast in livestream at www.vln.de.

“It is obviously a shame for us racing drivers to be at home instead of at the racetrack at the moment. As such, I am all the more delighted that sim racing is offering us the opportunity to still go racing,” said Martin Tomczyk, who will be in a Z4 GT3). “Personally, I am spending a lot of time in the simulator at the moment. I think holding the season-opener on the Nordschleife in a virtual environment, and in line with the original regulations, is a great idea. I am sure there will be a lot of well-known names on the grid.”

After this race, you can visit the YouTube channel of THE RACE in order to follow the second edition of the All-Star Esports Battle. Up to 60 pro racers will accept the challenge of sim racers, in order to determine the overall winner in the Grand Final from 8 pm (3 am Sunday in Malaysia). BMW i Andretti Motorsport driver Maximilian Gunther (GER) will return to this competition, after finishing second behind Max Verstappen (NED) in the very first Pro Race held last weekend.

Four MOTUL BMW M8 GTE cars will line up on the grid of the 90-minute IMSA Super Sebring race. With the classic Sebring 12 Hours (USA) being postponed, IMSA fans will now be treated to GTE action on the iRacing sim platform. In total, more than M8 GTEs have registered for the race which will start at 2:30 pm in America (2:30 am Sunday in Malaysia) which will be broadcast on the iRacing eSports Network on YouTube and Twitch.

BMW DTM driver Philipp Eng, who makes his debut in THE RACE All-Star Esports Battle, said: “I am very much looking forward to taking to the virtual racetrack with so many of my fellow professional racing drivers and sim racers. At the moment, the simulator is our only opportunity to go racing. I will prepare as well as possible and hope to be up there at the front of the field.”

Access roads to Kuala Terengganu closed

Officially, under the Movement Control Order (MCO), unauthorised travel outside of homes is not permitted. However, it is still permissible to travel to get food and other supplies or medicines, but the journey must only be from home to the shop and back. No wandering around and if possible, only one person should go from each household.

Interstate travel is also forbidden unless a permit is given by the police (except for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur). Individuals can be fined RM1,000 or sentenced for up to 6 months in jail for not following the MCO, under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988.

However, in some areas, the police seem to have decided to tighten enforcement in a stronger effort to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. In the case of Kuala Terengganu, Malaysiakini reports that all main roads into the town centre have been closed off. Free flow of traffic during the MCO period until March 31 will not be permitted except for those on duty and have legitimate reasons to enter.

In Bentong, Temerloh, Kuantan, Pekan and Jerantut, petrol stations and convenience stores have been ordered to remain closed from 7 pm to 7 am although the MCO has mentioned that such places could remain open.

Movement Control Order restricts movement but there is some flexibility

Fuel Prices For March 24 – 27, 2020

Will the 2020 Formula 1 championship ever get to start?

It’s beginning to look like the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship might never run. Following the sudden cancellation of the Australian GP, the opening round, the rounds in Bahrain and Vietnam were postponed. The fourth round in China had already been cancelled earlier as the COVID-19 worsened.

The FIA, which governs motorsport, had discussions with event organisers and the Formula 1 organisation as well as Liberty Media (which holds commercial rights) and decided that the championship would start in May with the European rounds. For the postponed events, there were proposals to run then sometime in the third quarter of the year.

Now, however, with the continued global spread of COVID-19 and many countries imposing strict regulations on movements as well as entry, it would be very difficult to run races. Any event which will have large crowds would not be permitted as that would enable the virus to spread.

The FIA has therefore announced that the Dutch GP, Spanish GP and Monaco GP will be postponed. The three rounds were scheduled to be run in May.

“The FIA and Formula 1 continue to work closely with affected promoters and local authorities to monitor the situation and take the appropriate amount of time to study the viability of potential alternative dates for each Grand Prix later in the year should the situation improve. The 2020 Championship season will begin as soon as it is safe to do so after May,” a statement from the AFIA said.

Bahrain F1 Grand Prix to be ‘closed-door event’ – no spectators!

Australian F1 Grand Prix cancelled!

COVID-19 pandemic disrupts motorsports around the world

This week, the FIA has also announced that implementation of the Technical Regulations due to take effect from the 2021 season will be postponed until 2022. Due to the currently volatile financial situation this has created for the teams, it has been agreed that they will use their 2020 chassis for 2021, with the potential freezing of further components to be discussed in due course.

“The introduction and implementation of the Financial Regulations will go ahead as planned in 2021, and discussions remain ongoing between the FIA, Formula 1 and all teams regarding further ways to make significant cost savings,” the FIA said.