Roll on June

by Richard Alvarez

I have been attending the Le Mans 24 hour race ,off and on,  since 1969. The first time we went was in a 1965 Vauxhall Viva HA this car was in a very light green and had vinyl seats. The French part of the drive from Calais is about 270 miles which seemed to take an age in a car which had a top speed of about 70 and in those days the French economy did not run to motorways. With the drive to Dover and a couple of hours on the ferry( the tunnel was seen as just a dream) it was quite a trip ..The sight and sound of a British entered Ford GT40, which I still think is one of the most beautiful cars of all time, taking the chequered flag after some 3000 miles made it all worthwhile..

Camping was the order of the day and with a track length of over 8 miles there was plenty of site choice . The facilities for those on a limited budget were just horrid , the French have always had a` laissez faire`  attitude to privacy and washing but this was at a new level especially towards the end of the race when huge amounts of beer and frites had been consumed. The constant noise and discomfort took its toll and the return journey to England was always a little more subdued !

The 24 hour race started in 1923 and was won by a Chenard and Walcker 3 Litre sport which covered some 1400 miles. A race like this was possible because ,as now , some public roads were used but in those days there were numerous accidents involving members of the public who had not been made aware of the situation! Again very French.

The British have had the most winning drivers (32) followed by the French (29) and Germany (19). The fastest speed attained was by a Peugeot WM P88 in 1988 @253 mph. But without doubt  the best noise was from the Mazda 787B rotary which won in 1991 and is the only non piston engined  car so to do.  Rover BRM made a brave attempt with a jet car which finished in 1963.

So what is the magic of this race? Firstly it makes history , it is part of the development of the car . The Jaguar XK120 prototype was the first car with disc brakes and many other everyday performance and safety features were developed on this endurance track. It is also the excitement of seeing cars of different classes on the same track at the same time. On the  legendary Mulsanne straight cars can have a 75 MPH speed difference and it was only a few years ago that they inserted a chicane to lessen the danger of collision especially at night.

We stay in a small Hotel  some 3 miles from the circuit now ., I can`t understand it but my friends all seem to have got older and seem to worry about comfort and whether the Restaurant is booked more than the racing and  the night life!

The 24 hours  starts at 3pm on Saturday 17 th June this year  but the best time is about 3 minutes later when you hear a slight noise in the distance , will it be Porsche or Toyota in the lead as they come round for the first time and in the lesser classes Ford Lamborghini Aston or Ferrari? Who knows , but with another 24 hours to go it is always some race.

This month’s Staff Blog was written by Richard Alvarez (Buying Director). Click here to find out more about Richard.

Week 10 – The Final Presentation

As this was the last week of the project we gathered year head’s and also Kieran Murphy (head of the charity Phase) and David Alvarez (Director of AZ Autos) to sit in on a presentation held by Tom and Luke. The presentation ran through the project week by week explaining the different steps, the challenges and what they had learnt. Click here to view the Presentation

The heads of year, Kieran and David all noted how confident Tom and Luke were whilst standing in front of an audience and delivering the presentation. The change from when when they were interviewed was extremely apparent. The project was so successful that Lynne Luckman (Head of Year at the Priory School) has asked us if we can continue the project next year with six pupils. Tom and Luke have both been accepted at North Herts skill centre into apprenticeships.

Electric Cars….. Are they worth it?

by Rachel Gatward

Electric cars were first built and tested as far back as the 1800’s. The first versions were mainly for battery powered locomotives but this prompted others to turn the technology to cars. Many models were developed and used throughout the world, however they increasingly became “hybrids” with petrol engines as well and because the cost of fuel was so low the use of electric motors declined rapidly until only petrol engines remained.

Many years ago, it became clear that falling oil reserves meant the tried and tested petrol and diesel engines we know and love had a shelf life (albeit a rather long one). Coupled with the apparent impact on global warming  and the rising costs of obtaining it, car manufacturers and many tech firms began to look at alternatives. The first and most obvious was to look at electric once again.

Technology had advanced to such a point that far more powerful, yet compact, batteries were available. However despite all of the investment into developing the technology many companies continued using a hybrid engine. The most notable was the late 90’s release of the Toyota Prius. Originally billed as being the next big thing it became clear early on that the technology was not yet there and so the petrol engine was still relied upon.

Fast forward 20 years and the technology has certainly advanced again with smaller more powerful storage options available. There are now around 12,000 electric charging points across the UK and many models are capable of racking up a lot of miles before needing a charge. However charging itself is a problem and the duration the charge lasts depends heavily on the way you drive and other factors such as using the radio, sat nav or air conditioning. Electric cars are developed with cities in mind. They are supposed to be short distance A to B cars to help improve air quality and cut the cost of driving. However this is immediately restricting to many buyers who aren’t in cities.

First you need a charging point at home which is accessible which means you pretty much need a driveway. If you don’t it means running an extension lead from your house out onto the street. Not an ideal scenario. Imagine getting up to go to work in the morning having left the charge on overnight to find someone has disconnected it! What then? You’re now hours away from being charged and ready to drive.

Next is when you need to charge elsewhere. As mentioned, there are 12,000 points across the UK. However remember just how big the UK is and how sparse some areas are. You could drive 100 miles and be nowhere near a charging point. The number of points is always increasing but it will be some time yet before there is a blanket coverage.

These issues are the reason that most of these cars remain “hybrids”. By combining conventional motors with electrical ones you get the best of both worlds. If the charge runs out, switch to petrol. This in turn re-charges the batteries for later use. This makes sense and allows the technology to improve steadily whilst slowly helping to lower fuel use. Hybrids will likely be around for some time before truly electrical cars are at a level where they can be used all round.

The last stumbling block of the past few years is cost. These cars can be incredibly expensive when weighed against the pros of having one. However with many major manufacturers now ploughing billions into research and development these costs will fall whilst the efficiency rises. Not to mention that the days of boxy Prius style cars are gone. There are some very good looking cars coming to market and so aesthetics are no longer an issue to those with looks and style at the top of their requirements.

It’s also worth mentioning that because such cars are seen as the future and far better for the environment, the UK government currently has a grant system which means you can get around £4,000 off the price of a new one.

So are they worth it? In short and strictly in my opinion, no. The technology is still not there to make electric a viable option for most people. If you drive many miles and go to many different places you would find yourself constantly concerned with charge levels and finding charging stations . The use of hybrid engines certainly alleviates this but if you are relying so heavily on the petrol engine, why bother with the electric motor in the first place. You are spending a significant sum of money for just the option of using the electric motor.

Much like any big purchase you should always do you research first and make your own decision based on your needs.

This month’s Staff Blog was by Rachel Gatward (Head of Finance). Click here to find out more about Rachel.

Week 9 – Presentation Preparation

With the Polo sold it was now time summarise what we had learnt from the Project in form a presentation. Luke, a student involved with the initative, writes the next instalment of our Blog:

“On week 9 me and Tom started to prepare for a presentation which is about what we have do in the weeks following up to this. Me and Tom split the presentation up into two half he did weeks 2-4-6-8 and I did week 1-3-5-7 so we equally split the work and we wrote about what we did on each of the weeks which was only a brief summary on each week.

We prepared the weeks on a Powerpoint presentation and followed on to answering some questions about the work we did in those weeks and about what we had learnt. One of the questions was “What aspects were the most difficult/challenge and why?” once we finished the presentation we started to practise a little bit because we will have to share it in front of a group of people who have been involved in the project.”

Week 8 – Customer Enquiries and Sales

Tom writes this week’s entry for the project:

“On week 8 we were looking at some of the buyers and some of the questions that they had on the car. Then we answered and told them that it was checked by an official mechanic and that it had the log book (V5) and the service history and said what we had changed.”

Week 7 – Advertising

With all the research done it was now time to advertise the little Volkswagen Polo. Tom and Luke’s first task was to write the text for the advert. They selected all the technical data and decided on the following advert text:

We have carried out much work on the vehicle including changing the Battery, Fuel Filler Cap, Front Drop Links, CD Player, CV Boots, Spark Plugs and we have also done a 50 point check to industry standard. All money from selling this car will be donated to Phase who will use the money to give help and support to local schools. It has an MOT until November 2017. This Polo has 4 out of 5 stars safety rating with NCap.

They then got to work at photographing the car. Tom photographed the outside of the car in front of the school and Luke took the interior shot. The last photo was a great photo of Tom and Luke sat inside the car. The advert was now ready for uploading.

Please see the document below for their advert.

Vehicle Advert

This fantastic limited time offer will give you a 3 Year RAC Warranty for the Price of 2 Year Plan. The repair limit is £2,000 per claim and the offer is subject to eligibility.

This means that a 3 Year warranties are available at these prices:

Week 6 – Market Research

By this point Tom and Luke had checked the Polo, ordered and fitted the parts, washed and cleaned it and it was now ready for selling. Before they could sell it they needed to know where they were going sell it and how much they could sell it for. After a quick introduction to the 4 P’s of marketing (Product, Place, Promotion and Price), they set to work at researching where was the best place to sell cars.

They quickly discovered that online was a key platform when it comes to advertising cars. They touch on Autotrader, eBay and Gumtree as websites where they could advertise the car. Once on the Autotrader website they found other similar cars and noted down how much the cars were selling for and what they liked and disliked about the adverts.

They decided on the layout of their online adverts and what information they wanted to display in the text. They also picked out certain photographic shots that they could replicate to show off the car. They decided that a fair price in the market place would be £1250.

Week 5 – Car Wash and Valeting

It was early on a Tuesday morning, there was a cold frost with the temperature at only 4 degrees and the students, Tom and Luke, were over at AZ Autos Used Car Select Centre ready for a mornings work. No car is ready for sale without a good clean and valet and that was their task this week. Tom and Luke layered up and put on their overalls.

Darren Burgess, our in-house car valeter, was this week’s mentor. Equipped with a sponge, a hose, a chamois and a range of ecofriendly car cleaning products this week was all about good old fashioned elbow grease. The cold was soon a distant memory as they got to work and they soon warmed up. By the end of the 2-hour session, the car was gleaming and sparkling. Tom and Luke left that day satisfied with a good mornings work.