The Northern Territory news Sat 23 Jan 2010
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2010-01-23
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English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin; Australian newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin
Nationwide News Pty. Limited
Darwin
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Nationwide News Pty. Limited
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/216878
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/708759
Northern Territory News, CARSguide Saturday, January 23, 2010 11 P U B : N T N E W S D A T E : 2 3 -J A N -2 0 1 0 P A G E : 3 1 1 C O L O R : C M Y K 1052843v2 VW snares rally trifecta By MARK HINCHLIFFE THE gruelling two-week Dakar Rally in South Am erica might be over for another year, but you should expect to see im ages from the race over the next year as Volks wagen exploits its 1-2-3 win. VWs storming diesel Touaregs came first and second last year and then rammed home the domin ation with the top three placings, plus seventh place, this year. VW Group Australia PR general manager Karl Gehling said it was a great result for the Volkswagen Motorsport team. To achieve back-to back victories highlights the impressive perform ance of both the race Touaregs and the drivers in such a demanding event as the Dakar, he said. Spaniard Carlos Sainz won the rally in 47 hours, 10 minutes, with the next VW two minutes behind. The factory VW team had a multi-million-dollar budget, far more than any other team, while the other manufacturers didnt officially have fac tory teams, but gave sup port to private teams. The Australian team of Bruce Garland and Harry Suzuki won last years production category in 11th outright in a diesel Isuzu D-Max ute. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , Brisbane-born Garlands ute only lasted half way this year after a loose spare wheel holed the radiator in a freak accident while in 21st place. They limped back to the bivouac only to be disqualified for missing too many way points. Five Australians started the rally with West Austral ian KTM rider Garry Connell the first to with draw in the first week, followed by Garland and Suzuki. The only Australians to finish were KTM riders Rob Pollard of Perth in 39th and French-born Christophe Barriere-Varju, of Sydney, in 57th out of 89 riders left from a start ing grid of 150. The bike category was won for the third time by Cyril Despres of France. Dakar results 1 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz, Vw Touareg, 47h 10m 2 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk, VW Touareg +2m 12s 3 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford, VW Touareg, + 32m 51s 4 Stephane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret, BMW X3 CC, + 2h 17m 21s 5 Guerlain Chicherit/Tina Th#adiorner, BMW X3 CC, + 4h 02m 49s 6 Carlos Sousa/Matthieu Baumel, Mitsubishi Lancer, + 4h 31m 45s 7 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz, VW Touareg, + 5h 10m 19s 8 Robby Gordon/Andy Grider, Hummer, + 6h 02m 24s 9 Orlando Terranova/Pascal Maimon, Mitsubishi Lancer, + 6h 04m 47s 10 Guilherme Spinelli/Filipe Palmeiro, Mitsubishi Lancer, + 6h 13m 41s BIKES 1 Despres, KTM, . . . . . . . . . . 46h 10m 56s 2 Lopez Contardo, Aprilia, . . . . . . +1h 3m 42s 3 Ullevalseter, KTM, . . . . . . . . + 1h 4m 55s 4 Rodrigues, Yamaha, . . . . . . . . +1h 13m 16s 5 Fretigne, Yamaha, . . . . . . . . +1h 40m 12s 6 Duclos, KTM, . . . . . . . . . . +1h 53m 25s 7 Street, KTM, . . . . . . . . . . +2h 37m 23s 8 Przygonski, KTM, . . . . . . . . +3h 6m 11s 9 Pain, Yamaha, . . . . . . . . . . +3h 12m 50s 10 Pedrero Garcia, KTM, . . . . . . 3h 13m 35s QUIET FAREWELL FOR ORAN PARK FADING TO A MEMORY: Oran Park will no longer feature on the national motor sport stage By KEVIN HEPWORTH A LMOST half a century of motorsport history will end not with a bang but a whimper this weekend following the cancellation of what would have been the final race meeting at Oran Park before the track is turned into a housing estate. A lack of entries forced organisers to cancel the planned meeting at the the circuit where racing started in 1962. Instead, the honour of running the final fast laps on the track will go to 80 members of the public willing to stump up $195 to be part of a special January 25 track day organised by Oran Park icon Ian Luff. Forty seven years comes to a crashing end on Monday when we say goodbye to the old girl, Luff said this week. Weve got a film crew coming out to do a bit of a documentary on the last day and Ill drive the final lap at sunset in a full Moffatt (Falcon) replica. Luffs company, Ian Luff Motivation, already holds 60 entries for the final day and will take a further 20 before closing the books. Anyone with a roadworthy car and a desire to be part of history can secure a spot. Tim Leahey will retain the overall lap record for the 2.7km Grand Prix circuit with the 1:01.6718 he set in his Formula Holden Reynard 92D on July 30, 2000. Craig Lowndes 1:08.0630 set in a VT Commodore in 1999 will remain the benchmark for the V8 Supercars. The final competitive event winner on the GP Circuit was Canberra driver Darren Saillard in his ex-V8 Supercar AU Falcon, taking out the McHitch Touring Car Challenge Handicap last Saturday. As the bulldozers prepare to move in there is an opportunity to own a little piece of the circuit with the tracks owners offering for sale everything that can be moved ... and some you would think couldnt be. On the block is everything from the starters towers, scrutineering sheds and pit garages through to the historic Yokohama Bridge that was responsible for a large part of the tracks unique character. Trucks could be super strong CSIRO researchers are working on a new generation of super-strong, lightweight poly mer composite that could be used for trucks, trains and planes. Dr Stuart Bateman is leading a team at the CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering division which is designing and testing a new type of polymer composites that will be lighter and stronger than the materials used in the transportation sector. Composites with improved mechanical properties allow greater design flexibility and the down-gauging of wall thickness for additional weight savings, Dr Bateman said. We use nano-technologies to improve the mechanical performance of conventional com posite materials, and at the same time introduce valuable functional properties pre viously not possible in composites. PLANNING routes for heavy haulers should be a lot easier thanks to a new web portal set up the National Transport Commission. The new program, which can be used for free at www.ntc.gov.au, is an interactive map that can be used to plan routes across all Australian states and territories. It displays access for different kinds of trucks in different colour codes.