Robertson, 18, finished second and third in the two eight-lap races for the Engen Volkswagen Cup in his Ferodo Polo, on each occasion behind championship leader and defending champion Mathew Hodges. The Alberton matric student had qualified fastest for both races (taking his total pole positions to eight out of 14) but was again out of luck in the draw for the grid, pulling fourth place for each race. He finished 1.2 sec behind Hodges in a fairly uneventful race one and had his work cut out to finish on the podium in race two after mistakenly switching off the Polo’s engine on the opening lap. He had noticed that the fan had come on and killed the engine when he tried to turn it off. This dropped him to the back of the field, but he recovered to cross the line at the end of the first lap in seventh place.
He was up to third on lap four and took the chequered flag two seconds behind winner Hodges and runner-up Kyle Barnes. He finished second overall for the day and remains second in the championship, but now trails Hodges by 42 points with two rounds remaining. “We again didn’t get any advantage from our pole position in qualifying,” said Robertson. The 20-year-old university student from Dainfern qualified sixth and struggled to fifth in the both of the back-to-back six-lap sprint races. His lap times were well off the winning pace of defending champion Gary Formato (Ford Focus) in race one and Kieren Quarmby (VW Golf GTi) in race two. Unable to find the fault, the team relied on a good strategy for the 90-minute feature race and it all went according to plan. Great teamwork in the two mandatory pit stops and smooth driving by the former Volkswagen Cup rookie of the year saw the Ferodo Golf finish second just 15 seconds behind class winner Graeme Nathan (VW Golf GTi) after 56 laps.
Third place went to Nizaam Esa in another Golf, who finished nearly a minute behind. “With our electronic problem, we knew we had to be consistent and preserve the car for the full 90 minutes,” said Bonafede. “We were off the pace all weekend, but our plan worked and the team did a great job in the two pit stops. The car and the tyres held up well and we were catching Graeme towards the end of the final stint. Actually, I was lucky to finish at all. Because of the electronic issue, the car was down on power and also over-revving on the gear changes. I was unable to make smooth gear-changes and eventually all that crunching of gears resulted in fourth gear breaking on the last corner of the last lap. Bonafede remains third in the championship, but has closed the gap to second-placed Formato to just two points. Long-time supporters of motor sport in South Africa, Federal-Mogul's Ferodo brake pad and Champion spark plug brands are world famous and used by top competitors in all branches of motor sport. They are official suppliers to both the Engen Volkswagen Cup series and the Formula Volkswagen single-seater championship. The factory Volkswagen Polo team, winners of the last five national rally championships, rely on Champion spark plugs.
This all-new navigation system, developed in cooperation with Garmin, offers many improvements, including enhanced graphics, customized vehicle icons, 3D buildings and terrain, turn-by-turn directions displayed in the instrument cluster and more. The system includes free map database updates for up to 5 years (initial purchase plus one yearly update each year for 4 years). The system includes the HD Digital Traffic feature, which alerts the driver to current traffic conditions and can display alternate routes around gridlock. It features expanded coverage including many surface streets within the U.S., allowing the driver to choose faster, less congested routes. HD Digital Traffic is subscription-free. The navigation system can be controlled by voice or through the 8-inch capacitive touch-screen audio display utilizing its tap, pinch and swipe functionality. The voice-activation system can respond to more casual command phrases that require less user familiarization, in addition to the previous capability of being able to understand spoken city and street names.
This logic applies to audio functionality of the audio/information screen. The audio system is automatically muted when the "Talk" button is pressed. The voice-recognition technology allows the driver to simply speak city and street names aloud, and the system responds by displaying the matches available in the database. Points of interest on the map - such as restaurants or grocery stores - can be displayed, or you can have the system provide turn-by-turn navigation, all by voice command. The massive point-of-interest (POI) database includes telephone numbers that can be dialed by using the Bluetooth® HandsFreeLink® system when the driver's cellular telephone is connected to the system. The Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System uses GPS in combination with detailed information from the vehicle's mapping system to pinpoint the vehicle's location and to provide a host of useful mapping and route guidance features. The system's antenna receives positioning information from a network of 24 global positioning satellites.
