You really didn’t think anything would change after last Saturday, did you?
We all voted for no one and that’s who got in despite the major parties once again promising to spend trillions of dollars on new roads. Just remember that the Pacific Highway from Sydney to Brisbane, part of Australia’s national road network, still has two- lane sections after 86 years. The Pacific Highway is one of the deadliest roads in Australia and the federal and NSW governments are doing a super job of fixing it against the objectives they laid out for making it all four lanes in their 1996 plan.
Yes, these are the same people who have cut 200,000 car industry jobs in Australia to give $12 billion to the geniuses who gave us the Rainbow Warrior submarine so they can create 3000 jobs in France.
And the same people who agreed last year to allow you to buy and import a new car from overseas. Then, in the middle of an election campaign that went so well for the free enterprise party, the media were backgrounded by Liberal MPs that the promise would be dumped. Of course, the boss of Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, who represents the companies that recall cars and sell you products that cost at least twice what they do in any other country, crowed about how his show would defeat the proposal. Yup, it’s all about choice in this great democracy of ours.
And haven’t his members in Australia being doing well this month. So far Toyota and Lexus have recalled 400,000 cars, Mitsubishi 500,000, Hyundai 17,000, Honda 111,000, Jeep 23,000 and Mercedes 286. You should feel terrible if your car hasn’t been recalled … yet.
And nothings changed in F1. The king of bling, Lewis Hamilton, won in Osterreich on Sunday despite his good friend and teammate Nico Rosberg ramming him on the last lap to make sure Mercedes didn’t dominate the podium.
So it was Hamo, then Max Verstappen, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico. (Not many Irish-Catholic names in F1 is there?) But friends, the fun didn’t stop on track. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff called his drivers “brainless”.
Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda said Hamilton was a liar after he told the Daily Mail that his relationship with Rosberg was “really, really good”. Lauda said: “Lewis lied about that, simple as that.” Go Niki.
Then Niki, ever the PR person, went on to describe how Hamilton had “destroyed” a room in the Mercedes hospitality area after clipping a barrier and losing out on pole position to Rosberg.
This week Niki admitted that it was he who had been telling porkies. “Lewis Hamilton did not in any way damage a hotel room or his private driver room at the circuit during the race weekend in Baku” and “Lewis Hamilton did not lie about his relationship with teammate Nico Rosberg”.
That’s cleared things up. Now we all know the truth.
Talking of truth, last week, I said the Mercedes A45 AMG “steers better the faster you drive it, which could be around 140km/h”. This is a lie. My excuse is that my new editor, Eric Johnston, has capitulated to European and US cultural imperialism and no longer lets me quote miles per hour and pounds, shilling and pence. I actually meant the little beast starts to really sit on the road at 140mph (225km/h) and is good for an electronically limited 270km/h.
Someone I know has turned off his Merc A45 limiter and I am told he and a motoring writer friend have seen 300km/h on the speedo.
Talking of apologies, I promise that after today this part of the business section will be Porsche- free for at least two months. But I just have to give you one more reason to join me at Pebble Beach next month. Apart from the free drinks, sensational looking persons of all persuasions, more metal, including private jets, serious motor bikes and wonderful old cars, Dave Gooding is auctioning off the Porsche 935 Paul Newman drove to second place in his first ever Le Mans. Readers, remember Newman won his last race at 82, so there is hope for all of us yet.
Anyway, for somewhere over $6 million you can own but not bring the 935 into Australia because you might be doing a local dealer out of a sale and so put the whole Australian (sorry, joke there), the whole foreign car and submarine industry operating in Australia, at risk.
This is a shortened version of the original article. Read the rest at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/nothing-really-changes-on-pacific–highway-after-86-years/news-story/16f5d926464d19d96a347eab85fb3665
