Formula 1 – Page 2

The Dendrobium D-1 e-hypercar is confirmed for development and production in UK and debut presentation at Salon Privé.

After the highly successful international introduction at the Geneva International Motor Show in 2017 and subsequent presentations throughout Europe and the Far East, the Dendrobium D-1 electric hypercar has taken its next steps towards production with an all-new company, Dendrobium Automotive Limited, now established in the UK. The Dendrobium D-1 will be officially presented in public for the first time in the UK at Salon Privé, which takes place in the grounds of the Blenheim Palace from August 30^th – September 1^st.

The Dendrobium D-1 was originally a basic electric hypercar design concept, created in the mid-1990s, by Vanda Electrics, a Singaporean product design company. In 2016 the sketched designs were presented to UK engineering and Formula 1 company, Williams Advanced Engineering with a brief for them to create a working show car integrating many features of the car which would appear on the production version to be presented at Geneva. A uniquely qualified management team has now been recruited to take the Dendrobium D-1 into its next phase of development.

Nigel Gordon-Stewart is Chairman and CEO of Dendrobium Automotive Limited. Gordon-Stewart has been working in the premium and supercar markets since 1989. He is best known for the sales and marketing of the McLaren F1 and subsequently as Sales & Marketing Director of Automobili Lamborghini SpA reintroducing the Super Veloce brand with the Diablo SV and SVR. He was later an Associate Director to the Board at Group Lotus Plc among other senior roles.

“Dendrobium Automotive is one of the most exciting businesses I’ve ever been involved with.” commented Gordon-Stewart. “Using the very latest technology, we are developing, what will be, the most impressive all-electric hypercar. We are designing our own in-house all-electric powertrain and we plan to use our own power storage cells moving to Solid State as and when the technology is reliable and financially viable. We are developing unique cabling and connector systems as well as our own complete vehicle integration and ADAS hardware and software. From a technical perspective, the D-1 will be a British engineering tour-de-force.”

The specification targets of the D-1 are as impressive as you’d expect from a hypercar in this sector: 1,800 horsepower; 2,000 NM and a target weight of 1,750 kgs yet it must represent the true feel of a supercar, not big and heavy. Performance will be very impressive and as linear as possible in its delivery, re-writing the rules for the experience of hypercar ownership. “The car is all carbon fibre, advanced composites and alloys which are superlight and super strong,” stated Jens Sverdrup, Member of the Board of Dendrobium Automotive Limited. Sverdrup has a highly successful background in the supercar industry having worked with Lamborghini, Ferrari and Pagani but is best known for establishing the Koenigsegg brand on the map to the extent that it’s now one of the most desirable and highly valued brands in the supercar sector. Recently he’s been responsible for raising Rimac Automobili’s profile globally.

“The construction of the D-1 is based on a unique Protocell carbon tub which possesses future adaptability for further generations of Dendrobium e-performance cars. Apart from advanced vehicle technology, the D-1 has enormous drama and presence thanks to our unique Bio-Aerial Locomotion door and roof opening system, which was inspired by the Dendrobium name. A lot more details will be revealed over the coming months, not the least of which will be the D-1’s impressive range and rapid charge time. You can be assured that the Dendrobium brand will become synonymous with the most exciting and technically sophisticated e-hypercars on the market and available globally.”

“Although all the Dendrobium team has automotive blood running in their veins, we are essentially a technology company developing ultra-performance EV and PHEV cars, systems and components,” continued Gordon-Stewart. “Our Advisory Board is chaired by Michael Kimberley who created Lotus Engineering back in 1978 with Colin Chapman which has provided engineering consultancy and technology services throughout the automotive industry with clients from Toyota to Aston Martin.”

For more information and the latest news from Dendrobium, please visit https://dendrobium.com/about-us/

Check out https://www.salonpriveconcours.com/ for details of events at Salon Privé.

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Stephen Cox blogs about auto racing’s long-standing tradition of grid girls being the next casualty in the war for political correctness.

It was early 2015 when the World Endurance Championships (WEC) got rid of them, and Formula 1 may be next. Director Ross Brawn of Liberty Media, the new controlling group of Formula 1, recently said that the tradition of grid girls is being reconsidered. For the uninitiated, “grid girls” are the pretty women who stand beside the racecars prior to many events to hold grid markers and sponsor signs, and, well… look pretty.

Traditionally, grid girls have dressed to look attractive and feminine. That’s all well and good. Recent years have seen (some of) them dressing more and more scantily. In my opinion that’s not so good. But if I don’t like it, I’m still free to stay home. And that’s good.

This is precisely why I don’t attend boxing matches and MMA fights, by the way. The ring girls aren’t just dressed attractively. Some of them are downright indecent. So I stay home, shut up and mind my own business. The girls can keep their jobs, the fight promoters can put on the show they like and everyone is happy.

What, precisely, is being accomplished if Formula 1 decides to defend women around the world by firing hundreds of women around the world? The girls that needed these jobs will no longer have them. The girls who aspire to be models, spokeswomen, media personalities or actresses will have one less avenue available to enter their chosen field. The grid girls are not being well served by getting fired. The only people satisfied by their unemployment are people who demand that their agenda be dismissed no matter what the cost may be to anyone else.

Have you see auto-racing enthusiasts protesting and rioting against grid girls at the last race you attended? Me neither. Motorsports series are not firing grid girls in response to an overwhelming mandate from fans.

They’re doing this to please people who have little or no interest in motor racing, who may never attend an auto race, and who, in some cases, oppose the very existence of the sport. By definition, these are not people who are willing to live and let live. If they were, they would refuse to have grid girls at their book burnings and witch hunts, but leave you free to have them at your auto races.

Racing officials need to understand one point very clearly – these people will not become fans once you fire the grid girls. Auto racing is a loud, dangerous, fatality causing, fossil fuel burning; cut throat competition that does not award trophies for participation. These people hate you. They are not suddenly going to embrace you as a forward thinking intellectual simply because you caved in to their demands and kicked a few recently unemployed women to the curb.

If this artificially manufactured non-issue needs to be revisited at all, it should be revisited solely on the basis of what the teams, their fans and the grid girls want rather than on political pressure to conform to the demands of outside groups who don’t care one whit about the sport. Make your own decision and listen to your own fans and we’ll be happy no matter what the outcome may be.

If I don’t like it, I’m free to stay home.

Stephen Cox is Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions Driver, Super Cup Stock Car Series & EGT Championship, and Co-Host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN. Sponsored by http://www.mcgunegillengines.com/

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