The Good Oil: Big cat on prowl

Piero Ferrari, one of Enzo's boys and the vice-president of the company, flew in to Auckland on Sunday to see how Prada went against Team New Zealand in the fourth race for the America's Cup. Ferrari and his wife were guests - on the harbour - of Patrizio Bertelli, the Prada fashion house magnate who is bankrolling the Italian challenge.

Ferrari leaves today for Australia and next weekend's Melbourne Grand Prix, where he might just bump into a new Ferrari owner, Formula One champion Mika Hakkinen, who has bought a 360 Modena road car. Hakkinen drives for McLaren-Mercedes, Ferrari's arch-rival. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said: "I've always known he was a fast driver. Now I know he has good taste as well."

Sporting gesture

Rob Waddell, world rowing champion and New Zealand Sportsperson of the Year, returned from defending his indoor rowing title in America the other day to find a new vehicle waiting for him. His sponsor, Chrysler, decided Waddell needed something a bit smarter than the Jeep Cherokee he has been driving for the past 12 months.

So down at the America's Cup Village it threw him the keys to a bigger, more powerful and luxurious Grand Cherokee Limited. Waddell said the obligatory niceties about the air-conditioning and leather seats and how the extra room would hold more gear and suit his 2m frame better, then headed home to Hamilton. Why the America's Cup Village? Waddell is looking at running a single-scull sprint race at the Viaduct Basin after the Olympic Games.

Driven to distraction

Motorists are exposed to a wide range of noises, some soothing, some irritating. On Friday night Auto Motor and Sport will look at a test dummy artificial head which is providing vehicle designers with new findings. The Triangle Television show also features the new Rover 25, a high-performance Ford Ka, and the Melkus RS, a racing version of the old East German Wartburg.

Oiling the wheels

What's this, the oil industry offering to save motorists money? Caltex is pushing claims that its Havoline Energy mineral oil offers the same properties as synthetic oil, without the premium price. It reckons the thinner 5W30 grade Havoline mineral oil offers better fuel savings and will eventually replace the standard 20W50 oil used in most petrol-engine vehicles.

A South African research company recently tested the mineral oil in two cars on the Anglesea track near Geelong, Victoria. It first ran a 1.8-litre Toyota Corolla and a Ford Falcon around the 3.2km oval track at a constant 80 km/h using a standard 20W50 oil and a litre of fuel. The Corolla covered 13.969km, the Falcon 11.217km.

The sumps of both cars were then flushed twice with Havoline Energy and the test was repeated with the 5W30 mineral oil. This time the Corolla covered 14.81km, a 6 per cent improvement, and the Falcon 11.678km, a 4.1 per cent gain. Caltex's Paul Adams says that with "finer manufacturing tolerances, modern engines don't need thicker oils we've become used to, although the market has tended to stay with them."

We are the world

* From The Sydney Morning Herald: "Sighted on Parramatta Road, a black Jeep bearing the number plates BA BAA. That's ba-baa black Jeep, I guess."

* Taxidrivers in the Yorkshire town of Barnsley were none too happy about mufti cop cars waiting on cab ranks to pick up off-duty coppers. So the cabbies complained to the top cop, who told 13 of his staff that their moonlighting jobs were over.