Thursday, 23 February 2012 00:30

World rally star Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) showed his support for the FIA’s Action for Road Safety campaign ahead of the start of Rally Australia, joining 15-17 year old students from the Coffs Harbour High School to talk about the importance of safe driving.

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) ‘Ignition’ programme is part of the FIA’s Action for Road Safety campaign and is a pre-license road safety initiative aimed at educating youngsters prior to them getting behind the wheel. It directly addresses issues such as driver attitude and vehicle dynamics, helping young people to be better equipped to become road users and more aware of their responsibilities.

“We are very appreciative of Mikko taking the time during a recce day to come and talk to our young prospective drivers,” said Andrew Papadopoulos, President of CAMS. “They should be focused on the right attitude to driving from a young age and then understand there is a place for competition and safe driving on the public roads. Mikko is a role model and for him to talk about safe road practices is great.”

Mikko Hirvonen added: “It is important the drivers of tomorrow are taught the rules of the road and how to drive safely. There is no better time to instil that information than when they are this age. I hope they leave understanding a little more about the need to have an awareness of the importance of driving safely.”

Collectively, the students commented: “We now realise you have to stick to the rules, and in particular have an awareness of distractions around you. We can’t think nothing bad will happen to us; we are the same as everyone else on the road. The talk we had from the CAMS Ignition staff was definitely really useful.”

The Action for Road Safety campaign sees the FIA’s global family working together and drawing on its unique resources and reserves to unleash a wave of support to help reduce traffic related deaths and injuries worldwide. In 2010, road accidents resulted in the deaths of 1.3 million people worldwide and injuries to nearly 50 million more. It is estimated that in 2020 there will be 1.9 million road deaths. CAMS, along with the FIA clubs worldwide, are showing their support for the campaign, addressing potential road safety problems in their country.

The FIA’s Action for Road Safety supports the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, an initiative that aims to stabilise and then reduce the number of deaths on the road. The goal is to save five million lives in 10 years and the FIA’s campaign has already received support from across the motoring and motor sport spectrum.

Thursday, 23 February 2012 00:30

A few days ago, the drivers of the four Porsche 911s prepared by Kronos Vintage for the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally 2011 were invited to test them out in a Belgian quarry before they were shipped out from Antwerp on September 9th headed for Mombasa.

The test proved very conclusive and they were all happy with the way the cars performed. Since Kronos Vintage did the last Safari Classic in 2009, there has been improvement in the suspension set-up of the Porsches and the bodywork has been strengthened. A little more performance has been extracted from the engines, though these still retain carburettor induction and a double ignition system.

Among the team is Jean-Pierre Mondron, a past competitor on the Safari Classic and a director of Kronos who finished eighth in one of his own Porsches in 2009. Grégoire de Mévius has quite a history in modern rallying since he was FIA WRC Production Champion in 1991 with a Mazda and again in 1992 with a Nissan. Since taking an interest in classic rallies and driving with Kronos Vintage, he has won the Rally du Maroc Historique in both 2010 and 2011 and he won the International Rallye du Maroc in 2010.

Jean-Pierre Mondron said after the test that ‘The Kronos Vintage Team will be arriving in Kenya this year with more experience than two years ago and with a driver, Grégoire de Mévius, who is quite capable of being on the podium at the finish. But, of course we all know very well that the Safari Rally is vey hard for both drivers and cars and that motor sport is not an exact science, so nothing can be certain. What we do know is that we are looking forward to the rally and our chance to participate in a great human adventure.’

In the photograph with the crews alongside the cars, de Mévius’s co-driver, Alain Guehennec, is absent. The others – reading from left to right – are Grégoire de Mévius, Nicolas Gilsoul and Jean-Pierre Mondron, Frédéric Vivier and Phillipe Vandromme, and Eric Werner and Thierry de Latre. Dan Erculisse who was Mondron’s co-driver in 2009, and is a man with a lot of Safari experience, will this year take on the direction of the service and logistics for the team.

Thursday, 23 February 2012 00:30

CITROËN, FORD & MINI SUPPORT FIA ACTION FOR ROAD SAFETY

The three manufacturers registered in the FIA World Rally Championship have pledged their support of the FIA’s Action for Road Safety, a global campaign that focuses the Federation’s resources on advocating for safer roads, vehicles and behaviour.

Citroën, Ford and MINI will all be displaying the FIA Action for Road Safety branding on their rally cars from ADAC Rallye Deutschland and, with the support of their drivers and co-drivers, will help increase awareness for improved road safety.

Jean Todt, President of the FIA said: “Now is the time to act; road traffic accidents are the main cause of death among young people. The World Rally Championship manufacturers and their drivers and co-drivers are ambassadors and opinion formers and there is no doubt their support will help us spread important messages to millions of people around the world.”

Seven time FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb said: "We are happy to support such a campaign with the FIA as this is a very noble cause and a priority. I know it is also very important to Citroën and the PSA group who are involved in developing all sorts of technologies to help increase safety on board its vehicles and help reduce the death and injury rate from car accidents. I will be proud to actively participate in the campaign."

Gerard Quinn, Senior Manager, Motorsport, Ford of Europe said: “I'm delighted we have the opportunity to work with the FIA on their project.  Safety is of paramount importance to Ford so any initiative where we can help to reduce serious injury or loss of life on roads around the globe is something we want to support.”

MINI driver Kris Meeke added: “Road safety is a big factor. In the World Rally Championship we are competing in a controlled environment where the roads are closed, we have full safety cages and all the safety equipment available to make it as safe as possible. When you take to the public roads you are dealing with cars that may have less performance, but they still don’t have all the safety measures we do, and the roads are open to everyone. We are in an ideal position to help highlight this and encourage safer driving to millions of fans around the world.”

The FIA’s Action for Road Safety supports the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, an initiative that aims to stabilise and then reduce the number of deaths on the road. The goal is to save five million lives in 10 years and the FIA’s campaign has already received support from across the motoring and motor sport spectrum.

Each year around the world 1.3 million people are killed on the roads and another fifty million are injured, some of them very seriously. It is the FIA’s objective to commit all of its members to projects to raise awareness of the importance of lowering the tragic figures of those killed on roads and to help the United Nations reach its objective.

The FIA’s Action for Road Safety campaign sees its global family working together and drawing on its unique resources and reserves to unleash a wave of support to reduce traffic related deaths and injuries worldwide. It allows the FIA to target motorists, motorsport enthusiasts, young people and governments. It will see every FIA club make a commitment to address a critical road safety problem in their country.