First thing to do this morning is go and buy or download a copy of Mark Webber’s book Aussie Grit (I paid $15 on Amazon). It’s not Hemingway but it’s a great read.
What we learn is that Mark thinks the Red Bull team treated Seb Vettel like “a favourite son” and that Vettel really was “a spoiled brat”. We learn why team adviser Helmut Marko’s nickname is Dr Evil, showing that the former unsuccessful F1 driver and Austrian hotel owner has only a limited playbook. In May, Helmut warned our Dan Ricciardo that the younger drivers at Red Bull’s B team, Toro Rosso, are doing a “better job”. Next Dan will be told to pull over and let Toro teenage sensation Max Verstappen pass him.
Two other things: Mark does seem to have had trouble with his teams; and don’t buy Pirelli tyres or Red Bull drinks.
Talking of Red Bull, the soft drink company’s first junior driver in 1994, Austria’s Patrick Friesacher, starred at last month’s Goodwood Festival of Speed when his 2007 Toyota Camry NASCAR caught fire while he was doing burnouts on the hill climb. Naturally Patrick kept driving. Apart from that my other highlight at the Charley March owned annual metal fest was the Bonham’s auction.
Look, there were a few classics I had my eye on, but the 1935 Aston Martin Works Ulster “LM19” Mille Miglia, pictured, wasn’t one. This was just one of four works-prepared Ulsters with the LM (Le Mans) name. It sold for $6 million, or just slightly more than serial investment banker Simon Mordant paid for his new two seater Morgan three-wheeler this month.
I was looking at the very black 1998 Mercedes CLK GTR Roadster. The first of six built, at $1.5m new this was the world’s most expensive production car.
It sold for $3m. With only 10km on the clock, this CLK hopefully doesn’t have the same software problems as the new CLA, which suddenly stops the little German car reversing.
Despite the current Audi reliability problems I was having a go at the 1986 Audi Quattro Sport SWB Coupe. This was an ultra-rare homologation special driven for only 52,934km. Now, three years ago these were selling for around $236,000. At Goodwood this two-owner four-wheel drive brought a record $482,000.
None of this is any help to Audi Q7 Quattro owner Elvis Boustani, whose car has spent 13 weeks off the road because of a mixture of head office incompetence and ongoing oil leaks. Elvis is down more than $10,000. Audi being committed to “rectify any concerns and get people back on the road as quickly as we are able”, its latest offer to Elvis was two tickets to the soccer in Melbourne. Elvis lives in Sydney.
Reader Glenn Drake is another unhappy Audi owner. “My Audi A5 (purchased new) suffered a gearbox failure at 80,000km and 30-days past my warranty expiry. While my basic research on the net had highlighted an issue with the Audi gearbox mechatronics system … (and) … stories from many disgruntled owners in sheer frustration with Audi Australia’s denial that such a problem was affecting their vehicles. But the problem exists and its occurrence is epidemic!
