Hit For Six

The irony of most non-Australians not understanding the title of this article is not lost on me, nor is that irony misplaced.



Hitting a cricket ball out on the full is worth six runs, kind of like a home run.

The term, just like "home run", is regional and not necessarily appreciated by Canadians or Fijians, both of which have terrible international cricket teams.

Meanwhile, ask me which sport involves face dodging or butt caps and I'll head straight to google (It's Lacrosse apparently which also includes ground balls, D cuts and a poke check).

Many moons ago, cars were equally diverse and regional. Globalisation is technically kind of new and most vehicles went where they belonged (eg, British cars followed the British empire).

It's the proliferation of trade that has allowed new and amazing cars to become available anywhere in the world. For example, the Holden Commodore has been sold in every continent on Earth and is currently sold as a niche model in the United States. 

Likewise, the most ubiquitous mid sized car on Earth, is currently built in Australia for supply to Middle East, Pacific Islands and New Zealand. Our Camry engines are even delivered into Asia (surprising considering the density of manufacturing in that region). In fact the Camry is the most exported car from our sun burnt shores. 

That popularity is replicated in the domestic market with a top 6 finish last year, beating long time representative of Australian blokiness, the Holden Commodore. 

In return, our puny market has a ridiculous amount of competitors all vying for our cash. A borderline ridiculous 65 manufacturers! 

I've never hidden my preference for Commodores. Having owned seven and reviewed quite a number of them on GMInsideNews.com, I appreciate their mile eating capability and in particular, engines that give credence to their associated stereotypes.

Never once have I attempted a donut, nor have I sought to impress a young lady with a line locky.

I do, however, indulge in other Commodore-esque activities like perfect exploitation of round-a-bouts, steering with the loud pedal and night flying excursions on long country sweepers.

Now feel free to call me biased, but I can't seem to ween myself off rorty 6 cylinder normally aspirated motors. That seems to be a major problem, because V6s are right up there with sugar, on societies hit list of things that must die. 

Currently, down my end of the market, the gruntier choice is typically a turbo or gasp, a turbo diesel (!). 

I've been behind the wheel of some of Europes decent oil burners (thanks Jaguar and Volvo for the opportunity) and been left mildly amused. No doubt both instances ultimately could wind up and carry enough speed to vanish in to the distance, using barely a sniff of the devils fuel, but they didn't really get my heart racing.

Some turbos even have plenty of power delivered in an authoritative shove in the back. Swift? For sure. Engaging? I don't know. I can't really hear what's going on....whoooosh.


They get you from A to B faster but that has never been the point. I need all my senses filled, even if it empties my wallet a little faster. 

So what ARE my options in the future? We know the Commodore has but 5 months (!) left of being made EVER. It's replacement will have a V6 flagship which should come in around 60k but will electrickefy everyone into thinking it's an admirable compromise for the loss of a national icon...

It appears that I'll be waiting for the next Camry to come out. That's right, the much maligned global king pin of steady-as-she-goes, Toyota, oft considered the brand that relies on porridge and refrigerators, will be one of very few manufacturers that will offer a V6 option for regular punters in Australia.

If they actually let the Aussies tune the suspension, it should be an absolute hoot, because the Aurion that I drove in March was everything an Aussie car should be: rorty, pointed, gruff, borderline unwieldy and too much fun for the national speed limit. 

Toyota have been in Australia since 1958 and the most Australian car they built is the last one. One that nobody (aside from the Police) buys. 

The Sportivo Aurion has a foot operated park brake, simple somewhat creaky plastic centre console and the illusion of sport seats. For that it should be burned at the stake.

Conversely, the torque steer is diabolical which requires and rewards all your attention, whilst the suspension keeps everything flat and responsive. The eye seering red paint and insectoid projector headlamps make baby jeezus cry and you can fit adults in the back seat. 

Moreover, there is a sunscreen on the back window that I can retract at the push of a button so I can flip you off when you mouth profanities at my round-a-bout skills. 

It's real world practicality mixed with actual real world feels and I miss it. Even my wife misses it! If it was a wagon, we'd probably buy it.

Imagine how much we are going to miss it's compatriots when they all die come October.

I think I need a bundy.

See more of this and some historic Toyotas on my IG tag (it's a link, just click it->): #TOYOTAREKISHI

If you're crazy enough, buy an Aurion here: Toyota.com.au. For $44k some people will think you're the po po and the rest of society will think you're responsible.

Find me here: 
@BeltedRadial 
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Data Is Only Data

With my involvement in various company structures and management systems, I have seen the sheer volume of information gathering required for compliance to varying standards and legislation. Much of this data, particularly when gathered by government organisations, is released to the public in a barely presentable form. However, given the right amount of manipulation (from a presentation point of view of course) you can answer a few questions, or at least provide a little bit of perspective. But you have to be able to ask the right questions.....

As is par for the course, before a particular subject is to be raised for public debate, PR firms set about creating prejudice for a particular point of view. One way to succeed in winning over opinion, is to identify the antithesis to the morals held by the detractors of your cause, and paint that brush on the issue/entity/organisation that you wish to discredit.

This has been shown as a powerful tool in the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment by Jane Elliot in the 70's.  

Though used as a mechanism to teach primary school children about racism, the premise works for any form of segregation and more importantly, demonisation.

In ye olden days before the interwebz, people were more easily influenced because the channels of information were far more restrictive. No Google. No Wikipedia (whom I do donate to whenever possible). Just your local member, the news paper and an Encyclopedia Britannica..... and of course, the shock jocks and wireless mouth pieces. (by the way kids, the wireless is the radio, not WiFi). Demonising only required the coercion of just a few key influencers. 

Now, there are any number of sources for "information". In particular, there are the bloggers whom have become the shock jocks of the 21st century. Arguably worse than shock jocks, if you search for a particular topic with prejudiced adjectives, you will end up with a whole bunch of blogger results that all agree with you, thus reinforcing your own position. 

This is despite the fact that you were searching BECAUSE you wanted to become more educated on a particular issue. Of course that isn't the fault of the blogger. It is just their opinion after all, but, it is a consequence of unintentionally prejudicial research and investigation. 

The point is, be aware that bloggers (and increasingly, lazy media centres) typically hang off information coming from major news outlets [often via press releases], and, comment on commentators opinions more than the actual issue. It is not very often that bloggers do particular investigations and in depth analysis, because the source of their popularity has a lot to do with talking about the right thing at the right time. 

I'm not trying to discredit all bloggers as PR regurgitators, but the reality is that the majority of the bloggosphere is now populated with advertising pages spraying Justin Bieber content in all directions. 

If you REALLY want to learn something, rather than just having your own opinion created for you/reinforced, get as close to the source as possible. Understand what the data is saying, and make your own analysis. 

The Clean Energy Regulator recently released Green House Gas Emissions for 2012-2013, via the Clean Energy Regulator website. The information was really quite interesting, particularly when it comes to recognising just how dirty manufacturing is as an industry. 

At least, that is how the Automotive industry was portrayed leading up to policy debate and the instigation of a productivity commission. An archaic and broken relic of the industrial revolution.

 How about I present to you with 6 companies, from different industries, in order of energy consumption for the period 2012-2013 [in Giga Joules GJ]. Highest consumers to lowest:

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, [1,627,533],

General Motors (Holden), [1,112,750],

 ALDI Foods PTY. LTD, [1,091,964],

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), [667,806] 

News Australia Holdings PTY. LTD,  [512,456],

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, [365,057]. 

Now how about you rearrange them in order of emissions vs. consumption. Who of these organisations emitts less tonnes of CO2 per GJ of energy consumed?

It's not really the sort of thing that you would know off the top of your head, and I certainly had the impression that an institution like RMIT or an organisation like the CSIRO would have developed a capacity for exceptional energy efficiency, particularly when compared to dirty olde car making. 

So here are those same organisations rated in order with the most energy efficient organisation first (with respect to carbon emissions), and, the organisation with the greatest amount of CO2 emitted per energy used, last. In parenthesis [ ], is the tonnes of CO2 emitted for each GigaJoule (GJ) of energy consumed:

General Motors (Holden), [0.1183t/GJ],

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), [0.1856t/GJ], 

ALDI Foods PTY. LTD, [0.1969t/GJ],
News Australia Holdings PTY. LTD., [0.2163t/GJ],
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, [0.2192t/GJ],
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, [0.2217t/GJ].

As you can see of the examples above, the Automotive manufacturer is the most efficient, emitting only 63% as much carbon as the Commonwealth Bank, per GigaJoule of energy consumed. In fact, out of the registered corporations contained in the Clean Energy Regulator's report, Holden didn't even fall in the top 200 emitters. 

For the record, here's how the other 2 manufacturers measured up:

Toyota Australia emitted 0.1490 tonnes per GJ of energy consumed and Ford Australia 0.2046 tonnes. 

So I ask you, where are the articles talking about the dirty olde education industry, or media industry? 

There aren't any, because data is only data until someone has a need for it, and a cause against which to paint it.