ALL-NEW CR-VSmall on the outside,

big on the inside

LET THERE BE LIGHT Bionic Vision

REEL ENTHUSIASTS Palace Cinemas

A CAPITAL PLACE Helsinki

A WORLD AT YOUR FINGERTIPS | Welcome

HEADLINES

HONDA AIMS HIGH | New Honda CR-V

THE FIGHT GOES ON | The Honda Foundation

THE CAR WITH THE GOLDEN TOUCH | Honda CR-Z

LET THERE BE LIGHT | Bionic Vision

REEL ENTHUSIASTS | Palace Cinemas

MODERN JAZZ QUARTET | Honda Jazz Hybrid

A BIT OF BONDING | James Bond Skyfall

IT’S A MYSTERY | Honda Accord Limited Edition

A CAPITAL PLACE | Helsinki

ON THE EDGE | Honda NSX Australia 2013

A GROWING MARKET | Hobart

WE CAN WORK IT OUT | Office Space

TOP TIPS FOR TIP TOP DRIVING | Safety

FINDING MIIMO | Honda’s Robot Lawnmower

WINNING DOUBLE | Australian Rally Championship

THE MOST PURE TALENT | Casey Stoner

TOP 10 START | World Touring Car Championship

MAKING WAVES | Bose Competition Winners

SHOWROOM | The Complete Honda Range

LETTERS

I S S U E 5 3 D / S U M M E R 2 0 1 3

Editor: Stuart Sykes, ScotSportExecutive Editor: Kevin LillieArt Director: Chris PayneAccount Director: Stuart WilsonDesign & Art Direction: mightyworld.com.au

Honda Magazine Editorial Office: Suite 101 34 Queens Road Melbourne VIC 3004. hondamag@honda.com.au

For general enquiries regarding Honda motor vehicle products or services, contact Honda Australia on 1800 804 954

Neither Honda Australia nor the magazine’s editorial staff accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. They will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. We reserve the right to edit all correspondence for publication. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Honda Australia.

Keep in touch at the touch of a button: for all the latest on model changes, media releases, and all that’s new in the world of Honda, go to honda.com.au<RX�FDQ�DOVR�łQG�XV�RQ�facebook and follow us on twitter.

CORRECTIONThe Civic Hatch article in Issue 52 mistakenly noted Ewan Kennedy as being from Carsguide. Mr Kennedy is from well-known auto media brand Marque Motoring.

T he pace of change is there for all to see in the world of information. That’s why we are

bringing you the latest issue of your Honda Magazine in digital form. It puts the world at your fingertips – quite literally, at the touch of a screen.Information on its own is nothing: it’s knowledge we need, and in these virtual pages you can get to know the real world of Honda better: new cars and products, new ideas on transport and mobility, new ways to safeguard the planet while we use automotive engineering to explore it.

The world changes, and we change with it – or we get left behind.

a world at yourfingertips

W E L C O M E

One of Honda’s global cars, CR-V enters its fourth generation packed with the technologies that matter most today, whether under the bonnet or in the cabin. We think you will agree that CR-V really is the car for every occasion.Award-winning technology is also one of the reasons why, in this Olympic year, the Honda CR-Z waltzed away with gold of its own from the Australian International Design Awards. Thoughtful design is just one of the eye-catching qualities of the CR-Z, a genuine sports car for our modern world. Technology takes centre stage in the magazine in other ways. Technology with a human touch: we feature the inspiring story of Australian scientists’ work on the Bionic Eye, bringing light – quite literally – into the lives of people without sight. And still on the subject of technology helping people, The Honda Foundation has recently revisited its partnership with ‘Peter Mac’, the Melbourne centre dedicated to helping the victims of cancer.We talked about the touch of a screen, but millions of us have been touched by the screen – the silver screen, that is, in cinemas around the world. In this issue we feature the Zeccola family, Italian migrants who brought their passion for the movies to this country and have created Australia’s largest independent cinema chain. You might go to their Palace Cinemas to see Skyfall, the latest James Bond movie – and if you do, watch out for Honda motorcycles in the opening sequence, always the best part of any Bond film!

As armchair travellers you can come with us to Hobart and Helsinki; you can also celebrate some stirring feats in motor sport, not least the brilliant show laid on by Casey Stoner as he rode his Honda to a sixth successive win at Phillip Island before riding off into the sunset and retirement – at the tender age of 27.Tips on how to make the most of your Honda, updates on your favourite models, insights into a future world made easier to live in by technology with a human touch: it’s all here in this digital issue 53.It really is a world at your fingertips. ~

H E A D L I N E S

T he Honda Odyssey has been awarded ‘Best People Mover’ in the 2012 Drive Car of the Year Awards for the fourth year in a row. Honda Australia’s Director and General Manager Sales and Marketing, Mr. Stephen Collins said “Honda is delighted that the Odyssey is Drive Car of

the Year Best People Mover for the fourth consecutive year. It’s a car we are very proud of and to receive this award is an honour.”“The Odyssey represents Honda’s commitment to providing our customers with class-leading cars that are great value for money. We’re conscious that the judging expectations in this competition are very high which makes a fourth straight win for the Odyssey even sweeter.” Over the years, the Honda Odyssey has been the recipient of other industry awards, including Australia’s Best Cars ‘Best People Mover’ and Wheels Magazine’s Car of the Year. ~

Four in a row for

Odyssey

H E A D L I N E S

A t the Paris Motor Show in September Honda’s President and CEO Takanobu Ito outlined his vision for the future of the Company. He set out an exciting stall, including plans for a new Civic Type-R, a small SUV built on the Jazz platform, a new hybrid Legend and a fuel cell car in production by 2015.

At the heart of the speech was Honda’s determination to fight back from the financial and natural disasters of 2011 and to enhance the quality of life through technologies that make mobility and work easier for all; the Company plans to add a further 39 million new customers worldwide across the range of Honda products.On the automotive side of the business, Ito-san said Honda will implement ‘global operation reform’ aimed at achieving the best vehicle specifications with competitive costs. It begins with the new Fit/Jazz series being introduced in 2013 and will continue through the City and a new small SUV. New plants in Japan and Mexico will be dedicated to small vehicles.Plans for Asia include a sedan based on Honda’s BRIO, while the dynamic Sport Hybrid Super Handling All Wheel Drive technology will be applied to the car that will succeed Legend in 2014. As well as the new-generation NSX already in the pipeline the Company will launch an open-top sports car, also in 2014.The new Civic Type-R to be developed in tandem with Honda’s on-track efforts in the World Touring Car Championship is due to be introduced in Europe in 2015. ~

CEOOUTLINESSHININGFUTURE

SEVEN-DIGIT SUCCESS FOR HYBRID TECHNOLOGY

In November 1999 Honda began Japanese sales of its Insight hybrid vehicle. By September 30, 2012 worldwide sales of Honda hybrid vehicles had soared past the one million mark. Honda now sells eight hybrid models in some 50 countries around the globe, combining its legendary internal combustion engines with its IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) system to create cars which combine frugality and fun. Honda now builds hybrid cars in

Japan, the United States and Thailand. The Company plans to introduce mid-sized hybrids using a two-motor system, while the exciting new Super Handling All Wheel Drive hybrid system will go into the new NSX and, as mentioned above, the flagship car that will succeed Legend. ~

Honda President and CEO,

Takanobu Ito

H E A D L I N E S

A lso at the Paris Motor Show, Honda’s Civic took out an award in one of

the categories of the ‘Women’s World Car of the Year Award’ for 2012. Civic was named winner in the ‘Economy Car’ category. It was selected from a starting list of 300 cars, the judging being done by a panel of 20 (women) judges from around the world. They paid close attention to criteria combining practicality and pleasure which, they say, would be important to a female buyer: safety, value for money, aesthetics, storage space, ease of driving and more. Receiving the award, the Director of Honda Motor Europe Car Division, Toshiaki Konaka, said: “This award highlights the unique exterior styling and practical interior that are synonymous with the Civic model.” ~

T he HondaJet has been given the 2012 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Aircraft Design Award. The award honoured the over-the-wing engine mounting which is unique to the new light jet being developed by Honda Aircraft Company,

founded in 2006. “I am so glad that HondaJet’s unique over-the-wing engine mount technology is acknowledged as a significant technological advancement for aircraft design,” said the aircraft’s designer, Michimasa Fujino. The AIAA award is seen as one of the most prestigious in the world; the AIAA has 35,000 members and is the world’s largest technical society devoted to the progress of engineering and science in aviation, space and defence. HAC recently broke ground on a new maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at its world HQ near Greensboro in North Carolina. ~

…and onefor the HondaJet as well

CIVIC TAKES WORLD CAR OF THE YEAR AWARD

H o n d a C R - V G E N E R A T I O N 4

new CR-V:Honda AIMS high

Honda’s ground-breaking CR-V was unveiled in 1995 at the Tokyo Motor Show and

immediately set the standard in the burgeoning world of ‘soft-roaders’. The second iteration came in 2001, with increased interior space a key feature. By 2007 the third CR-V was ready, a more dynamic stance ensured by its lower, shorter, wider configuration.

The Australian International Motor Show in Sydney in late October was a landmark day for Honda Australia: it saw the official launch in this country of the all-new fourth-generation CR-V, one of the company’s most popular vehicles here and around the globe

CR-V is a genuine car for the world: Honda has sold more than five and a half million units around the globe and 133,000 of them in Australia alone. Those figures tell their own story of a practical, stylish vehicle, and generation four takes the CR-V to a whole new level on both counts. The company calls it “one of the key pillars of Honda’s global portfolio”.As is so often the case, the challenge with Generation Four was how to reach even greater heights for a Honda that has already proven so popular with so many buyers. The man charged with that daunting task was Large Project Leader Ryouji Nakagawa. He knew straight away what he and his team had to do.“If you want to improve a vehicle that is already well balanced and respected,” he said, “the only solution is to enhance that vehicle in every area while making it smaller and more efficient than ever before. That is what we have done with the new CR-V.”

If you were conducting a Q&A session with the CR-V, your first question might be: what are you – car or SUV? The answer would be: both. Generation Four boasts the refinement of a car with the functionality of an SUV. Aerodynamically fine-tuned, with more sculpted bodylines, the car simply looks good. Perhaps its most pleasing feature is its size – or lack of it. The new CR-V appeals across the board because it’s neither too big to park nor too small for comfort. Its body height and length are down by five and 25 millimetres respectively but with no impact on the CR-V’s interior space. And with the windscreen moved forward by 60 millimetres the size of the engine compartment has also been reduced. As Nakagawa-san has said, “The first generation set out to combine the best elements of a car and an SUV. For the new CR-V, we have now achieved a perfect, centred balance between the efficiency of a car and the functionality and security of an SUV.”

C R - V : ‘ A P E R F E C T , C E N T R E D B A L A N C E ’

The choice just got harder: for the first time Australian buyers have a two- and four-wheel CR-V available to them. Better fuel consumption and reduced emissions were the twin goals. The two-wheel drive version, which comes as a six-speed manual or five-speed automatic, has a 2.0-litre i-VTEC engine generating 114kW at 6500 rpm. The manual transmission variant gives fuel economy figures of 7.8L/100km*, the auto version 7.7L/100km*. The CO2 emissions are 182g/km and 179g/km respectively. With a 2.4-litre engine, the four-wheel-drive five-speed auto CR-V comes in three variants: VTi, VTi-S and VTi-L. It achieves 140kW at 7000 rpm with fuel figures of 8.7L/100km* and CO2 output of 201g/km. The new CR-V also comes with an ECON button as part of Honda’s Eco Assist system, with smother torque and improved fuel efficiency the result.

* Fuel consumption figures quoted based on ADR 81/02 test results.

C R - V : W H I C H W A Y T O G O ?

You wouldn’t go to a gala evening in your working clothes; you wouldn’t get ready for a day’s work in your tux or evening gown. But you could do both with your new CR-V. Sufficiently practical to be the ideal workmate, it’s also sufficiently car-like never to look out of place. Boot capacity is up by a cool 147 litres and load length is also greater. With a 60-40 rear seat split, there’s a very convenient handle, one pull on which converts CR-V from a smart five-seater to a muscular cargo-carrier. The feel of the car has also been enhanced by a determined effort to reduce noise levels, with features such as double-sealed doors and additional absorption material. A host of features on all models – Intelligent Multi-Information Display, reversing camera, integrated Bluetooth® and many more – make this another Honda that’s a driver’s dream.

® The Bluetooth word mark is owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and use of such mark by Honda is under licence.

C R - V : A C A R F O R A L L O C C A S I O N S

It’s not good enough to have a car that’s pleasing on the eye. With Honda safety comes first, last and everywhere in between. Significantly, both versions of CR-V Generation Four have earned a five-star ANCAP safety rating. Safety is an active ingredient: CR-V comes with all the modern driver aids such as Vehicle Stability Assist and traction control, front, side and full length curtain airbags, ABS with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution and Hill Start Assist (on automatic models). Honda also looks outside the car to mitigate injury to others with its Advanced Compatibility Engineering Body Structure and pedestrian injury mitigation systems. CR-V’s striking combination of compact exterior and spacious interior is one of the clearest examples yet of Honda’s overriding philosophy: ‘Man maximum, machine minimum’ is at the heart of Generation Four. ~

C R - V : S M A R T B U T S O L I D

reelenthusiasts

Giovanni Zeccola fell in love with films in his native Italy and even set up a cinema in the

village of Muro Lucano, to the east of Naples, before uprooting his young family and coming to Australia. He went on to found Palace Cinemas, now our largest independent cinema chain with 100 screens around the country. The story is told in an admirable ABC ‘Dynasties’ programme about Giovanni Zeccola, his son Antonio and his family, made in 2006. “That’s six years ago – we’ve grown in that time,” says Benjamin Zeccola, Giovanni’s grandson as we catch up at Palace’s Melbourne HQ, where Benjamin’s infectious love of all things to do with the cinema comes across loud and clear.

Muro Lucano to Melbourne: it’s a long way, but for Giovanni Zeccola and his family it was the move that founded a movie-going dynasty…

“I do love movies and I also love cinemas. I really love the architecture of cinemas, the atmosphere, the mood you feel when you enter them. As spaces they’re amazing. There have been moments when you’re sitting in a cinema watching a film and think, ‘I just love this feeling, I just love being here’…”Hence the focus on customer satisfaction: “When you go to a Palace cinema it’s this whole experience, not just the movie: it’s the welcome experience, the arrival experience, from the moment you cross the threshold into the cinema and you feel like you’re in another world.”Film festivals are one area of Palace’s growth, as is what Benjamin calls “the hospitality ethos”, designed to make a visit to a Palace cinema a memorable experience. “That’s accompanied by staff who genuinely love films and love to serve, love people. Quality, joy, love are themes that run strongly through the organisation and our patrons feel those qualities as they pass through the cinemas.”Benjamin and his brother and sisters inherited their passion from Antonio. Are they passing it on? “I take my children with me every weekend to visit the cinemas. We go into the auditoria between sessions and help clean up – I like trying to teach that work ethos to my children in the way it was taught to me. I was always cleaning up between sessions from when I was big enough to walk and I think that work ethic is very important.”

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But so too is money – and a life in the cinema costs a lot. Benjamin’s mother Karen recalls in that ABC documentary that it was “quite scary” to think she and Antonio had just signed guarantees for new cinema ventures that might cost them everything they had: is it still the same?“It is a very risky business, a highly risky business,” Benjamin underlines. “We have a digital transition we’re undergoing now. Cinemas going from 35mm to digital prints is like the auto industry going from fossil fuels to electric: it is a major transition, and it’s millions of dollars. At the moment we’re signing documents for that and still signing personal guarantees for the banks and the businesses and the creditors that we deal with. Everything is always still on the line. It keeps us hyper-aware of our situation!Part of that is what Benjamin calls film theft – illegal downloading of movies on the Internet. “It affects the whole economy,” he says vehemently, and that includes Palace, which closed the George in St Kilda and the Academy in Paddington because of dwindling audiences and is now backing one Australian film every five years rather than 10 a year as was once the case.To help Palace through the sea-change in technology, a partner was needed. Enter Honda Australia: “Undergoing the structural change the industry is going through, we needed a partner because we needed an injection of cash to facilitate the changes,” Benjamin explains.

“quality, joy, love are themes that run strongly through the organisation and our

patrons feel those qualities as they pass through the cinemas”

Right: Benjamin Zeccola

Below:Palace founder

Antonio Zeccola

“We could see that a lot of the beliefs that we had matched up perfectly. Even our tag-lines matched up very nicely: Palace’s was ‘Share our Passion’, Honda’s was ‘The Power of Dreams’. It became ‘Sharing Dreams’ between Palace and Honda. In part, that sharing pays genuine homage to the movies. If you check out the website at www.palacecinemas.com.au/honda/ you will find a couple of highly amusing and technically astonishing ‘trailers’ for well-known films. One is the famous scene from ET where alien and friend cycle across the face of the moon. “So gorgeous!” says Benjamin, “and our patrons connect to them as well, especially the young. My own children are 6, 4 and 10 months old so the 6- and 4-year-old, every time they see the robots

doing ET they love it, it makes them hysterical! And they talk about it. That really connects with our patrons.” The word ‘escape’ inevitably crops up when you talk about the movies, but there’s another one Benjamin likes: ‘connect’. “There is a connection there and this is something that I feel intensely. I think the cinema is a place that people can connect, even people who for whatever reason, due to loss for example, might be lonely in their lives – a lot of people find themselves on their own as friends and partners pass away. It is a place for them to go and connect and escape and it’s a safe, caring, respectful environment. We feel that as a responsibility very, very keenly.”And if Benjamin has his way, his family will continue to offer a cinema-going experience second

to none. “It’ll be a destination you go to, whether on a date or a special event or just to escape for a couple of hours, it’ll be accompanied by a very warm welcome by a human as opposed to an ATM; they’ll be focal points for communities as well and a celebration of the best things from around the world – food, wine, film and culture.” ~

Want a chance to win a Palace Cinemas Director’s Pass?Click to next pagefor details.

Following on the success of the competition in our last issue, we’ve decided to offer you another super prize

just for keeping your Honda and contact details up to date – and it’s what you might call a ‘reel’ opportunity!As Palace Cinema’s Benjamin Zeccola says, “When you go to a Palace cinema it’s not just the movie: it’s the welcome experience, the arrival experience, from the moment you cross the threshold into the cinema and you feel like you’re in another world.”With a Palace Director’s Pass your next cinema experience could be even more special! It’s a single use double pass to all general sessions, plus general sessions at the Lavazza Italian Film Festival. Just go to honda.com.au/competition and follow the prompts – you could win one of 100 Palace Director’s Passes we are giving away across the country. ~

a reel opportunityAs a Honda owner, keeping up to date with all the news from Honda has never been easier. Like this digital issue of your Honda magazine, it’s only a few keystrokes away.

Entries Close 23:59 hrs on 15/02/13. Open to Australian residents, aged 18+ only. Open to Honda owners only. For full T&Cs, visit honda.com.au/competition

a capital place...

Helsinki’s innovative Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, designed by American architect Stephen Holl

H E L S I N K I

W hat’s the ‘World Design Capital’, we hear you ask? It’s an accolade

bestowed by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, which was established in 1957 and represents over 50 countries. The WDC award is intended to reflect ‘the broader essence of design’s impact on urban spaces, economies and citizens’, to which end Helsinki has been organising around 300 events and projects during its WDC tenure. A key element of the city’s candidature was, in its own words, ‘embedding design in life’. Not content with hearing all about it, we asked Jane Burton Taylor to report back from the World Design Capital itself. You can also visit www.wdchelsinki2012.fi for more information.

Need a handle on Helsinki? It lies almost exactly halfway between Stockholm, to its west, and St Petersburg to its east, so it’s a long way north. But in one sense it’s at the centre of the world. Finland’s capital is also the 2012 World Design Capital...

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...by design

Friday afternoon in Helsinki and we are heading south west to the Ingå Archipelago. Typical of many city dwellers in this northern capital, my host Milla Visuri and her husband have a ‘summer cottage’. An hour’s drive and fifteen minutes in a boat later, we arrive on an island. Our first ritual is to unwind in the sauna.In Finland, the sauna was traditionally the cleanest room in the house and the place where people were born. It was also the place where people were taken after death. Though nowadays the sauna is used mainly for fun and health, it is still core to the culture and a kind of a spiritual touchstone to many of the current 5.4 million Finns. Unusually Milla’s has windows, so as we sweat we look out at the lake and wind gusting whitecaps on the water. It is incredibly relaxing.Heading back to the city, through a land dominated by lakes and forest, we discover the most

recent addition of a contemporary sauna on the edge of Helsinki harbour. Young architects Tuomas Toivonen and Nene

Tsuboi of Now Office designed it as part of Helsinki’s celebratory year as World Design Capital and they run it themselves.“The sauna recalls a Roman bathhouse in form,” Tuomas says. “It has a colonnaded hall to the street, so people can cool off there on the portico, in the privacy of the internal courtyard

or just jump straight into the harbour.” Seeing my surprise, he adds: “Yes, even in winter!”Tuomas explains that it was Alvar Aalto, Finland’s most revered architect, a great admirer of the egalitarian dimension of public saunas, who inspired them to initiate their own renaissance of urban saunas. The Helsinki cityscape is essentially conservative in appearance. Finland began as a Russian grand duchy and did not achieve independence until 1906. These beginnings are most evident in the imperial buildings around Senate Square – its design was modelled on Saint Petersburg – but the city also has a more human, more Finnish side.Post-war reparations to the Soviet Union meant Finland had to make its industrial production highly efficient. The Finns focussed on manufacturing, in turn nurturing a burgeoning national talent for design and architecture, as any of the shops in Helsinki’s central Design District will show. Finns love quality design, in their buildings and in the trappings of daily life. On the Esplanadi alone, the main twin avenue that runs down to Market Square on the port, there are two Finnish icons, the ever-colourful Marimeko, and Artek, the furniture store founded by Aalto and friends in 1935.“They were cultural activists. They had a vision for Finnish architecture and everything in the interior,” says Ville Kokkonen, Design Director of Artek.

Finns love quality design,in their buildings and in the

trappings of daily life

Sauna with a view:

Helsinki’s latest public

sauna sits on the harbour

foreshore

“Finland at that time was fairly poor. The factories were geared towards war, so Aalto experimented with wood, using thin veneer and bending it. He was imitating the steel of the Bauhaus [a German school of architecture and design introduced by Gropius in 1919].” Aalto was also mimicking the Bauhaus philosophy of making beautifully designed furniture accessible to everyone. While Artek now carries Aalto classics, including the three-legged stool he first made with his bent veneer, it also sells new-generation Finnish designers. There are many other contemporary design stores within walking distance too. Wander south of Esplanadi into the narrower streets where typically there are shops on ground floor and apartments above. The food scene in Helsinki is another surprise: the city is humming with great little restaurants and bars. After an intense morning of local culture, Milla takes me to one such eatery, Tori on Fredrik’s

Square. A Finn, she has spent several years in Sweden and is living on the island while they look for somewhere in the city. Meanwhile she is enthusiastically rediscovering Helsinki. “It’s being hailed as the new Berlin,” she says. “It’s buzzing with active residential communities, guerrilla farmers and pop-up events such as Restaurant Day, when anyone can start a restaurant for a day, in a park or on their doorstep.”Despite Helsinki’s 21st-century vibrancy, Milla is as keen as I am to make a pilgrimage to Aalto’s studio and home, a short tram ride away. Radical in its day, the studio is perfectly preserved. All the desks are still set up as if Aalto and his colleagues have just ducked out for lunch, and windows let in light and air on both sides. Adjoining the studio is a curved double-height room, where clients once viewed plans and models. It is like walking in a masterpiece. “Every nine-year-old Finnish school student comes here,” Susanna Pettersson, Director of the Aalto Foundation, says. “It is part of the curriculum to come through the museum.”Aalto is taken very seriously here and internationally and his surviving buildings are conserved, including Finlandia House and the Academia Bookstore and its Alto café in the city centre.

Top: The curved room in which

Alvar Aalto would present his designs to

clients

Centre: Aalto’s studio

Above: The living room of Aalto’s

first home

HOW TO GET THEREQantas have a daily code share with Finnair from Melbourne and Sydney up through Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok) to Helsinki. It is one of the fastest routes to Europe. Call Qantas on 131313.

For a dose of contemporary Finnish and international art and architecture, meander back from Esplanadi to busy Narinkka Square and discover another of the additions for World Design Capital year: a tiny oval-shaped church made up of thousands of asymmetrical timbers, with just one opening around the edge of the ceiling letting in light. Called the Chapel of Silence and designed by Mikko Summanen of K2s, it’s the most recent in generations of architect-designed churches in Finland.“It is in our blood and tradition,” Mikko tells me. “The state church has always promoted good architecture. They have raised the bar quite high. Now they expect good architecture and understand the need for it, for both the clergy and the congregation.”

By way of contrast, a short walk away is Kiasma, Helsinki’s glamorous new contemporary museum. The café, slotted between Kiasma’s massive aluminium panelled outer wall and a long reflection pool, is a relaxing spot to catch the late afternoon sun.The next day, for a change of pace and era, I catch a ferry from Market Square across to the island sea fortress of Suomenlina in Helsinki harbour. Spread over six islands, the fortress was begun in 1748 when Finland was still part of Sweden. It once housed 7000 soldiers but is now UNESCO-listed and home to a few ghosts plus around 800 living souls, including many artists. There is a museum and regular tours recounting the island’s episodic history, and it is also the site of many summer festivals. Helsinkians love to come here on weekends too, to picnic or just ponder the 360-degree view of the harbour, usually dotted with sail boats. For those that don’t have a ‘summer cottage’, the fortress island is an alternative for weekend outings.

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The dramatic aluminium

panelled wall of the Kiasma

Museum

There are others, including an extraordinary suburb called Vattuniemi (Raspberry Cape) on the coast where tiny – meaning one-room – cottages surviving from wartime squatters can be rented long-term. The suburb, like the tradition of the sauna, is typical of this small, innovative country and its strong democratic sense of community. Back on the island, counting my blessings for having a Finnish friend with a sauna with a view, we resume watching the white caps of a late summer’s afternoon. There is an easy companionability to a sauna. It is deliciously invigorating too, particularly the part where you jump under a cold shower or throw yourself in a chill lake. I declined. Either way, the sauna sets you up well for a good night’s sleep. My next trip will be in winter, when this tiny northern country only gets six daily hours of sun… ~

Above left: Alvar Aalto’s first house; innovative in its day, introducing a new relationship between indoor and outdoor

Above centre: Homewares on sale at Arabia, just a short tram ride out of Helsinki CBD

Above right: Mythic Finish figures mark the entrance to Helsinki Railway Station

Left: The Alvar Aalto designed Academia Bookstore

LETTHERE BELIGHT

BIO

NIC

VIS

ION

T he dog sleeps quietly in a corner – the calmest creature in the darkened room. Dianne Ashworth, the dog’s owner, sits patiently still as researchers arrange their equipment on her head. Moments later when the computer-controlled device is switched on, Di

says quietly, “Oh wow…” The scientist sitting watching the screen brandishes both fists in a silent but eloquent gesture of triumph. Di has been blind for 20 years, able to distinguish only between light and dark. But now she has perceived flashes of light and changing patterns. On a spring day in Melbourne, what Di Ashworth has ‘seen’ has given the team what they call ‘a perfect result’.

Tony Burkitt is Professor of Engineering in the University of Melbourne. He worked at what was then the Bionic Ear Institute for many years before moving across into a discipline described as neural engineering. “This is the application of engineering principles to understanding how the brain works and particularly how we can intervene to help people who have various diseases to do with the brain or any sort of deficit, like a loss of hearing or loss of sight,” Prof. Burkitt explains. What helped Di Ashworth ‘see’ is the precursor of the bionic eye.“Bionics means the combination of biology and electronics and it started many years ago here in Australia,” says Tony. “The first development was the heart pacemaker and Australia was a leader in that field. Out of that work grew the cochlear implant (the bionic ear). We’re in a sense the next generation on from that technology, applying similar ideas and similar technology to sight impairment.” It’s easy to see this as replacing faulty parts with ones that work, but that’s not quite accurate.

What if we could help blind people see? What if, where once there was only darkness, some light could shine? No need to ask: thanks to people like Professor Anthony Burkitt and his team at Bionic Vision Australia, hope is on its way to becoming reality.

“We don’t really think of it as replacement. The way the bionic eye works is that the external image is picked up by a camera; there is some sophisticated signal processing of the image that occurs before that signal

is sent through to the implanted components, which are in the eye and very close to the retina, so that they can send out the

impulses, the electrical signals that are then picked up by the surviving nerve cells in the eye; and these are then sent to the vision processing centres in the brain to be interpreted as vision.”While the bionic ear helps young children hear, the bionic eye has a different target audience, so to speak: people who have either retinitis pigmentosa,

an inherited form of retinal degeneration, or age-related macular degeneration, which affects the elderly. Nor will it be the universal cure for every form of blindness – but it will bring relief to many.“We’re initially, with our first implant system, aiming to provide people with mobility, to be able to get back their independence, move around in their environment, see obstacles. Then as the technology develops, the second generation, we’re hoping to be able to provide people the ability to recognise faces and to read large print. These are two of the things that our patients tell us they really miss being able to do.”

“we’re initially aiming to provide people with mobility,

to be able to get back their independence”

Prof. Tony Burkitt

With the invaluable help of people like Dianne Ashworth, the prototype device is specifically designed to test out exactly what parts of the technology work well and how they can then be optimised for BVA’s first ‘wide-view’ device. Unlike Di’s equipment with only 24 electrodes, it will have 98. “But then the second generation is the one that has 1000 electrodes and that’s roughly what people need to be able to recognise faces,” says Tony. “This is something that particularly older people want, to be able to see their children and grandchildren and be able to interact with them.” Like Di, who promised her eldest child that she would see him one day, maybe by the time he was 30 – and he’s 28 now.

No wonder the ‘switch-on’ was such an emotional moment for all concerned. “It is a remarkable experience and nothing can quite prepare you for that time,” Tony Burkitt admits. “We were confident that the technology would work but then to hear Di saying that she was actually seeing something was really an extraordinary experience. I recall working at the Bionic Ear Institute years ago and seeing some of the young children who had cochlear implants running around the Institute and thinking how wonderful it was that these children could be interacting, and their mothers were telling them to shut up, they were behaving like normal kids. It’s a wonderful experience to be able to see that sort of thing happening.” Her dog apart, the calmest of all was Di herself. “I had these

goggles on and I didn’t know what to expect,” she says. “I don’t know if anyone did! Then all of a sudden I went ‘Yep’: I could see a little flash. It was like a little splinter; there were different shapes, lines of dark black and white together, then that turned into splashes of black with white around them, and cloud like images. When the first bigger image came I went ‘Oh wow!’ because I didn’t expect it at all.”

What made her happiest was not the light but the joy it caused in the room around her. “I was ecstatic that it worked,” she says, “but I was just so happy for the team that it worked for them. It was something I could give to them for all the work they’ve done. And that made me happier than me seeing – to be a part of all that happiness

around me was just amazing, it uplifted me.”Buoyed by this initial success, Professor Burkitt and his BVA team remain level-headed about what lies ahead. “I think it’s very difficult at this

stage to be able to predict just how far the technology will develop,” he cautions. “With cochlear implants it was originally designed as an aid to lip-reading and over the 20 or 30 years of subsequent development it’s now routinely used for children who are born deaf, and in fact they’ve found that if they can implant children within the first 18 months of life those children can go on to normal schooling and relatively normal development.“This prototype device is really the first stage in the whole sequence of

“when the first bigger image came I went ‘Oh wow!’ because I didn’t

expect it at all”

Dr. Penny Allen checks Dianne Ashworth’s eyePIC: DavID MIrabella

development of the technology, so our next device is the wide-view device with the 98 electrodes which will enable patients to be able to move around and regain their mobility.”Funds permitting, BVA will proceed with the tests to satisfy all the regulatory requirements before the device can be commercialised, which should take three to five years. But once that happens, the wider implications are profoundly heartening. “This technology has a whole range of applications,” Tony says. “Certainly it has had enormous application to deep brain stimulation for conditions like Parkinson’s Disease and other movement disorders, and also increasingly for people with epilepsy. I think there are a whole range of applications for this technology into the future.” ~

For more information please go to bionicvision.org.au

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‘Design: the action or art of planning and creating in accordance with appropriate functional or aesthetic criteria.’

That’s one definition offered by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary and it’s one we see no reason to dispute. It was, after all, CR-Z’s extraordinary combination of the functional and the aesthetic that made it a contender for an AIDA award in the first place. Run by Good Design Australia, which arose from the Industrial Design Council of Australia set up in 1958, AIDA aims to present consumers with “a clear indication of the cornerstones of good design: form, function, quality, safety, sustainability and innovation”. The first five are the main heads under which the judges allocate their individual marks.

The Australian International Design Awards (AIDA), run by Good Design Australia, recognise excellence in a remarkable range of areas. One is ‘Automotive and Transport’ – and that’s where Honda’s brilliant CR-Z hybrid sports coupé came away with gold in 2012

Respected Australian motoring journalist Samantha Stevens returned to the AIDA judging process this year and shared some of her impressions with us, not least of all that AIDA is, in the first place, “a wonderful award and a great initiative”. She has previous experience as a judge in the ‘Young Designer of the Year’ awards through Design Australia. With a degree in Fine Arts as well as a wealth of experience among cars she clearly has an eye for design that works well in the automotive world. As she explained, the ‘Automotive’ segment of AIDA has its own selection process, its own day of judging and its own panel of judges. Naturally the assessment criteria are the focal point for Samantha and her fellow-judges, but she admitted to keeping in mind a saying that was handed down to her by well-known Australian motoring writer Paul Cockburn, a former AIDA judge himself. Good design, it says, is the absence of vice. Great design is the presence of brilliance. “We repeat that line every year,” says Samantha. “Good versus great… good versus great…”

While Samantha and some others were already familiar with the CR-Z through their motoring journalism, other judges were seeing it for the first time – and that was no bad thing. “The actual driving of the car has very little to do with the award,” she said. “Some have prior knowledge, others might never have seen it before and that gives you two very different ways of looking at a car.”

Taking some of those individual criteria as an example, Samantha referred specifically to the marriage of form and function which is, we had suggested, central to the whole notion of good design? Engineered for sheer efficiency but also pleasing on the eye, the CR-Z defies conventional ideas about hybrid vehicles to

“you know that car’s a Honda when you look at it, but it’s a modern take on it”

offer drivers a genuinely modern sports car. So it seemed to have those bases covered.“You have to look at it objectively, which is very difficult when you’re talking about design,” she insisted. “A lot of design has to do with what you like. However the form has to function: it must be functional, and with cars there’s an added element, which is that they go quite fast, you put a lot of people in them, you put children in them – and they’ve got to stay safe. Safety is a huge aspect within this award.” Enter the CR-Z’s five-star ANCAP safety rating…As she rightly pointed out, design without quality is not good design in the first place, so that took care of that. Then came a tricky one. “Sustainability is the grey area,” she acknowledged. “A green rating has really come to the fore, and of course ‘hybrid’ is a fit – that definitely helped the Honda. It has an advantage immediately but it had to perform that task well and it had to fulfil all those other criteria, and that’s a pretty tough ask for a manufacturer.” Boasting 4.7L/100km* combined from its i-VTEC engine with IMA, a three-mode driving system and Eco Assist coaching, the CR-Z ticked that box all right.Last but by no means least she was taken with what we might call the ‘Honda-ness’ of the CR-Z. By that she meant that the car’s looks and capabilities are both a throw-back to the original hybrid, the Insight, a reprise of the iconic CR-X and a nod towards the future.

* Fuel consumption figure quoted is based on ADR 81/02 combined test result for CVT transmission

“You know that car’s a Honda when you look at it,” she says, “but it’s a modern take on it. They’ve made something that is relevant, something that executes itself as a sporty vehicle, something that has still got sustainability and has the finite resource debate in mind.”The AIDA accolade was, therefore, a statement of all-round excellence. Or, as Samantha Stevens put it: “To get one of these design awards is huge.”To underline that fact, these are some of the key points made by Brandon Gien, Managing Director of Good Design Australia and Chair of AIDA:

from the all the Judges were consistently high confirming that it was a clear Design Award winner in this category

attracted to the interior design of the car and noted the clever design integration of the steering wheel and dashboard

flair caught the eye of the judges and they were particularly impressed with the styling cues taken from the iconic CR-X – executed in a modern and well considered package

the car was well equipped offering superior handling and excellent fuel efficiency. This, combined with a new 6 speed manual transmission and hybrid drive train offers a 3-mode drive system all beautifully packaged into a neat and innovative small car.

Brendan himself backed these points up by adding: “Receiving an Australian International Design Award represents a true commitment to excellence in design and innovation. In the automotive and transport category, the competition is now tougher than ever with judges looking at every aspect of the design and development of the vehicle. No longer is design only about the outer appearance of the car, it goes well beyond this into areas such as performance and handling, fuel efficiency and overall running costs, value for money, interior design and ergonomics, passenger comfort and safety, quality, functionality and the list goes on. The judges in the Design Awards look at all these features very carefully and only those products that tick all the boxes are ultimately recognised with this quality seal of design excellence.” ~

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It’s called Skyfall and the film was released in Australia in November.Once again Daniel Craig, in his third movie as Bond, brings a brooding presence and

a muscular edge to the central character. If we tell you that Bond, a captive again, is asked what his hobby is and answers “Resurrection” we’re not giving too much of the latest game away.As usual, the opening sequence is one of the most engaging parts of the movie – and that’s where Honda comes in. This time the opening was shot in Istanbul and Adana, in Turkey, and as Bond once more gives chase to a villain, played in this instance by Ola Rapace, he does it with the help of a Honda CRF250R.

The James Bond movie franchise reaches its 23rd film this year and celebrates 50 years of the master spy created by Ian Fleming. Honda has a hand – or some wheels, to put it more accurately – in the latest Bond adventure.

Not that you would recognise the bike, nor the similar machine used by the fleeing villain: each is heavily disguised, one as a Turkish police bike, the other as the conveyance usually ridden by a local Turkish merchant. Both were radically modified by special effects expert Chris Corbould.Gary Powell is the man who co-ordinated the stunts for 007’s latest escapades. “We needed a highly versatile and quality off-road motorbike that could be easily modified, without compromising performance or safety, for the opening sequence of Skyfall,” he explained. “Honda’s CRFs are probably the best off-roaders out there so it’s great that we’ve been able to partner with Honda as the bikes, whilst heavily modified, were superb to work with.”

They came courtesy of Honda UK, and the bikes in question have recently been on public show at Britain’s world-famous National Motor Museum at Beaulieu as part of the ‘BOND IN MOTION’ exhibition which marks the movie hero’s 50th anniversary.“We’re delighted to be a partner for Skyfall,” said Honda (UK) Corporate Communications Manager Fiona Cole, “and are very much looking forward to seeing our Honda CRFs in action in the film.

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“We like to try and do things differently at Honda, including finding innovative, yet relevant ways to showcase our diverse products, whilst also really engaging with our customers. It’s great to not only have Honda machines chosen as the choice of Bond, but also to be working

with such a longstanding film franchise.”It isn’t hard to imagine how

difficult it must be to film such fast-moving stunts, and that’s why two Honda CRF450Rs were also chosen to help the HD camera operators capture the action.In case you had forgotten or weren’t around when Bond was first unleashed upon an unsuspecting world, the first movie of the 22 to date was Dr No in 1962. It featured Sean Connery as Bond, a role the Scot reprised in five more films, briefly interrupted by a one-off starring George Lazenby. An avid film buff whose life revolves around

cinemas is Benjamin Zeccola of Palace Cinemas, whom we speak to elsewhere in this issue. Many people, perhaps set in their ways because for them Connery was Bond, didn’t like Lazenby’s movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but Benjamin does.“The film wasn’t a hit at the box office and it wasn’t a hit critically at the time but I look at that as if not the best Bond film ever, then the second-best. I think it’s just an extraordinary film. I think what it suffered from was that people’s expectations were different to what it was. But on its own it is an extraordinary film, just terrific.“We take the Bond films because they’re part of the cinematic canon, they are extraordinary examples of film-making over the years, a wonderful example of how something can be rejuvenated every couple of years. I personally love them, I’m a real fan – and they pass the quality test most of the time.”Next came Roger Moore, whose seven Bond appearances are more than any other actor has managed so far. He was followed by Timothy Dalton (two) and Pierce Brosnan (four) before Craig re-invented the character so dramatically in Casino Royale. ~

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Keen to revive your own Bond memories? Check out www.007.com and see how many of the movie titles – and Bond actors – you can actually remember...

modernJAZZ quartet

H o n d a J A Z Z H Y B R I D

E arly in October came the news that worldwide sales of Honda hybrid vehicles had pushed past the one million mark by the end of September 2012. Early in 2013 Australian buyers will have their chance to add to that tally when the new Jazz Hybrid lands on our shores.While Honda’s first hybrid offering, the Insight, went

on sale in Japan in November 1999, it was in 2001 that Honda Australia introduced this exciting new technology to the local market. Now, just over a decade later, Jazz joins Insight, Civic and CR-Z as a varied and attractive quartet of hybrid vehicles on offer in this country.

Honda has called its hybrid technology “an essential step from the internal combustion engine towards full Electric Vehicles” and is determined to make the system a world leader. Like its three siblings, Jazz is powered by Honda’s IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) which sees its conventional 1.3-litre i-VTEC petrol engine paired with an electric motor to provide additional power on demand.This hybrid system combines the virtues of fuel efficiency and lightness while also placing plenty of power at the driver’s disposal. The car’s compact Intelligent Power Unit has been installed under the rear cargo floor, so that the Jazz retains

Well, it may be music to Honda buyers’ ears: the popular and highly practical Jazz will become the fourth member of Honda Australia’s hybrid line-up early in 2013, making it a quartet of high-performing, eco-friendly cars

most of its famous flexibility in seating and load-carrying space. The battery from which the electric motor draws its power is recharged by energy recaptured under braking – technology similar to that seen on ultra-high-performance Formula 1 cars with their KERS or Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems.Jazz Hybrid now boasts the remarkable CO2 figures of 107gm/km*. It is the latest addition to the Honda range to take its place within Honda’s environmental ambition of reducing CO2 emissions by 30% by the year 2020. At low speed the car switches to Electric Vehicle mode and produces no CO2 emissions at all.Even more impressively, the versatile Jazz uses only 4.5 litres of fuel per 100 km* on the combined urban/extra-urban cycle, which gives it a range of up to 850km on a single tank of fuel.Honda’s hybrid vehicles are now sold in a range of eight models in more than 50 countries. ~

* Fuel consumption quoted based on ADR 81/02 test results.

a growingmarket

A U S T R A L I A ’ SS E C O N D C I T Y

F ounded in 1803-04, ‘Hobart Town’ took its name from Robert, Lord Hobart (1760-1816), who was then

Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The fourth Earl of Buckinghamshire, Hobart was a soldier and Tory politician who entered the House of Lords in 1788. He fought in the wars against the American colonies, was made Governor of Madras in 1793 and served as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1801-04. Hobart sits astride the Derwent River at 42º 52’ S, 147º 19’ E.

Hobart is a city in change. Though still a good jumping-off point for adventures in Tasmania’s arrestingly beautiful national parks, Australia’s second-oldest city is now a destination in its own right. The change is in part due to the glamorous new gallery MONA, and in part to a cultural and culinary scene that has been on slow boil – pardon the pun – for some time.

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If you land in Hobart on a weekend, head first for Saturday’s Salamanca Market, an instant snap-shot of the island’s thriving local produce and the crafts and designers that are the tip of the iceberg of Hobart’s artistic community. It’s also an opportunity to soak up arguably the best-preserved historic quarter in Australia.The market runs along the southern foreshore of Hobart’s harbour, Sullivan’s Cove, and up towards the CBD. On the hill behind it are Battery Point and Sandy Bay, two suburbs that preserve the grand brick homes and stone cottages of the early settlement, when ‘Hobart Town’ was founded to build a penal colony, the second after Sydney. “We completely embrace history and heritage here in Hobart,” says one stallholder. “And food,” she adds, “in particular we love our bread.” This soon becomes obvious as you wander down from the CBD’s Macquarie Streetinto the buzzing, crowded market. This city end of Salamanca Place has the densest concentration of stalls selling produce from locals, and there are several bread-makers among them. You can also pick up handmade, lightweight timber earrings and mobiles; wacky clothes designed and made in Tassie; vibrantly colourful ceramics, lush home-made olive oil soaps, timber children’s games and edibles... plus a delicious locally-produced limoncello. (For the die-hard foodies, there is a weekly farmers’ market too.

Held every Sunday in Melville Street’s open air car park, in the middle of town, it starts promptly at nine with the ritual ringing of a farm bell.)Many of the old warehouses that line the market have cafe’s with tables spilling out into the sunshine. Or experience the contemporary fit out of Smolt, on Salamanca Square; a restaurant with Spanish-influenced food and a fun atmosphere. Both locals and visitors love it.Starting from Salamanca Square there is a sculpture trail, interpreting this waterfront suburb’s last hundred years of history. It runs all the way to a reserve dedicated to Hobart’s own Errol Flynn. (Maps are at www.hobartcity.com.au)North of Salamanca is the generous curve of Sullivan’s Cove, the famous end-point of the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and the port from which Antarctic-bound ships are given their send-off, as was Mawson’s most famous expedition of 1911.For less adventurous seafarers, there is a ferry from Sullivan’s

Cove out to MONA, Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art. Ours conveyed a surprisingly international turnout including travellers from as far afield as Toronto and Copenhagen, all here specifically to see this new museum on the far side of the world. Though you can drive out to MONA, the 30-minute ferry ride is the more dramatic way to get there. Not long after we go under the gentle arc of the Tasman Bridge (which joins the western and eastern shores of Hobart), the massive rampart-like walls of MONA come into view. It is like arriving at a kind of art Disneyland. In fact David Walsh, the self-confessed professional gambler and owner of the museum and its standing collection, has described it as a “subversive adult Disneyland.” Designed by Melbourne architect Nonda Katsalidis, the museum has around 400 works housed in massive subterranean galleries carved out of sandstone. The visitor guide contains a warning to “Keep the kiddies clear” of some of the works on display.

Top: Local bakers selling their produce

at Saturday’s Salamanca Markets

Top right: The Museum of Old

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Above: The locally famous fish shop in Sorell, midway

between Hobart and Port Arthur

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These include the Cloaca Professional by Vim Delvoye, a machine replicating human digestion which literally defecates at 2pm daily. More lyrical is Julius Popp’s Bit.fall, a mesmerising three-storey wall of water which falls to the ground in drop-formed words. Currently MONA has an additional exhibit called Theatre of the World, running till April 2013.

French curator Jean-Hubert Martin, ex-Pompidou Centre, selected works from both MONA’s collection and that of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (in Hobart CBD), which is currently being renovated.

“You can easily spend an entire day out there now,” claims Brett Torossi, a rare local female developer

who has her finger on Hobart’s cultural pulse. “It’s the largest collaboration between a private and public museum ever. Interestingly too, it is drawn from the gallery David Walsh visited as a child. It was where his love of museums was fostered.”Back in Hobart, you can gain a

taste of the more geographically disparate galleries that make up the city’s art scene either on foot or, surprisingly, on push-bike. Hobart City Council sponsors a free bicycle borrowing venture. Bikes, helmet and lock can all be picked up at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery or at Arts Tasmania (146 Elizabeth Street). There is a touring map covering 25 galleries plus silhouetted aluminium figures identifying key suggested stops.Torossi specially recommends Brett Gallery on Elizabeth Street in North Hobart. “Dick Brett, the current owner’s father was a pioneer in the art scene in Hobart,” she says. “And he started buying groups.”

Below: Buildings like the Hobart Gas

Company recall life a century earlier

Below right: A lone boat catches the

breeze in one of the bays on the way to

the Tasman Peninsula

Torossi herself belongs to a local art buying group and Arts Tasmania now has an Art Purchase Scheme to encourage them and any Australian to collect local art. There are 115 participating galleries from which you can buy an artwork and take a year to repay, interest-free. Brett Gallery is one; two other recommendations from locals are Handmark Gallery in Salamanca and nearby Colville Gallery, which has an ‘art event’ every Sunday. Ask Torossi and other locals where to eat in and around Hobart and it’s hard to stop them talking. But one common denominator is ‘Garagistes’ – the

restaurant of the moment. You can’t book for ‘Garagistes’, a restaurant housed in an old car garage with a Tetsuyu-trained chef, but if you arrive late and find no room, the proprietors have a Plan B. They own a modest establishment called ‘Sidebar’ just around the corner. “It’s a tiny little bar, only six metres long, and it has these amazing cool rums and wagyuhot burgers,” one young local says. “It’s one of the better bars in the city and has an awesome bright yellow demi-slicer that cuts really thin prosciutto. It’s a little addendum to ‘Garagistes’, so people can go and wait there.”Having heard how popular ‘Garagistes’ is, we arrived early

to savour the subdued minimal ambience of the place. I dined on local pipies steamed in roasted chicken broth with mustard greens and cimi di rape, and yes, it definitely lived up to its reputation.The next night we headed downtown again, this time to the Brunswick Hotel for an upmarket local steak and some of the best service in the city. (Hobartians, it seems can sometimes be a bit cool, though friends who live there say they are just conservative and warm on further acquaintance.) Other recommendations in town include the West End Pumphouse, an old car rental shed that has been turned into a great pub with lots of beers on tap, and ‘Ethos’, a friendly, affordable eatery with a long wine list. ‘Pigeonhole’, a café on the edge of the CBD, is also mentioned as the place for bread (locals queue for it) and some of Hobart’s best coffee. All this and much more is on hand in a city where peak hour only lasts ten minutes. No surprise, really, that this southern capital is steadily attracting more interstate and international expatriates. Hobart is a diverting and cultured city to visit, preferably still before we go trekking, so we can savour its culinary bounty knowing we will soon be walking it all off… ~

Pipies in a roasted chicken

broth at popular Hobart restaurant,

Garagistes(below)

D A Y T R I P S1. Tasman PeninsulaDrive north-east and then south of Hobart to Eaglehawk Neck and the Tasman Peninsula. Eaglehawk Neck, a very narrow isthmus, is a vivid reminder of the island’s brutal convict past. Reportedly dogs were tied up at its northernmost point, to stop escapes from Port Arthur. If travelling out for a half-day at the infamous early prison, stop at the Sorell fish shop for lunch. The owner reports that he cooks seven tonnes of fish a week. “Yes,” he says “the secret’s out of the bag!”

2. Bruny IslandBruny Island, south of Hobart, is famed for its wildlife, in particular its fairy penguins and seals. You can go on a chartered tour of its south-east coast rookeries. There are also walking-tracks, idyllic bays and beaches to explore in the South Bruny National Park – best to take a few days.

3. Freycinet PeninsulaAbout a three-hour drive north of Hobart, Freycinet National Park has the kind of natural beauty Tasmania is famous for, with hundreds of kilometres of walking tracks taking in white sand beaches, windswept heath and iconic destinations like Wineglass Bay. Accommodation ranges from seriously upmarket retreats to idyllically located campgrounds.

www.discovertasmania.com is a good website for other suggested itineraries.

A classic Australian shed

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findingmiimo

H O N D A C U T S T H R O U G H

W hen Shakespeare said that “summer’s

lease hath all too short a day”, he clearly wasn’t thinking of tedious tasks like keeping the lawns in good order. Honda is. We’ve all heard of ASIMO and ‘his’ exploits, but Honda has now come up with Miimo – the company’s first piece of robotic equipment commercially available for use in the home.Well, outside the home, actually: Honda Miimo is a lawnmower for the 21st century. To put Miimo to work you need a boundary wire, which typically would lie under the grass around the edge of the lawn. Miimo picks up an electronic signal from the wire and stays within that perimeter. Miimo has its own docking station – and returns there when its high-performance lithium-ion battery needs recharging. This ingenious device makes no mess, either: the clippings from its three blades are small enough to be integrated into the lawn’s root system, where as an added bonus they work like fertiliser to promote healthy re-growth.Bump sensors help Miimo avoid

obstacles in its path, and slopes are no problem: it can climb at angles of up to 24 degrees. If it leaves the ground there are additional sensors to shut the machine down; only a PIN known to the owner can make it ready for use again.What Miimo can’t do for itself, the Honda dealer will do for its owner instead. They will put in the docking station, connect the boundary wire, and position it around the mowable area. The dealer then programmes the machine to cut the lawn as its owner requests thanks to a built-in calendar and timer.Built by Honda Manufacturing France in Orléans, about 120km south of Paris, Honda Miimo will hit the European market early next year. But with the outdoor lifestyle Australians love, to say nothing of an ageing population, wouldn’t Miimo be ideal for the local way of life as well? ~

Letting machines take the strain is the intelligent way to work. Always keen to put technology to good use, Honda’s researchers have come up with the perfect summer helper...

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Two top 10 finishes on an historic day at Suzuka have made Honda’s debut on the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) a memorable occasion

Dateline Suzuka, October 21, 2012 – Tiago Monteiro brings his Honda Civic Type R

home in 9th and 10th places in rounds 19 and 20 of the WTCC. It’s a remarkable achievement by the brand-new Honda Racing Team JAS outfit, which is using the last three events in the 2012 series as the launching-pad for a full-scale campaign in 2012-2013.Qualifying 11th, Portuguese driver Monteiro found some good pace in racing conditions and was content with this first step: “We are very happy and excited that we got our first points,” Monteiro said. “Only a few weeks ago we said it would be great if we could break into the top 10, and that’s where we are, so I am satisfied.”It was a doubly significant day as the weekend marked the 50th anniversary of the Suzuka circuit, created by Soichiro Honda. “We were very motivated to make it here and be able to celebrate the 50th anniversary with our many fans and associates around the world,” said Honda’s WTCC Development Project Leader Daisuke Horiuchi. The weekend also marked the 40th anniversary of Honda’s Civic itself.

small world, big ambitionsSmall world, motor racing: in 1989 Gabriele Tarquini scored his best result as a Grand Prix driver when he finished sixth in Mexico, and in 2005 Tiago Monteiro achieved his best result in Grand Prix racing when he finished on the podium at the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. The current writer was lucky enough to be present on both occasions.He will, though, be an armchair spectator when Italian Tarquini, now 50, and 36-year-old Portuguese Monteiro team up in this exciting new venture for Honda. The WTCC is the FIA-run series for cars in the Super 2000 category, based on large-scale production cars powered by 1.6-litre engines. It has traditionally been organised over a maximum of 12 events, with two races at each event, each race running for between 50 and 60 kilometres, although the provisional 2013 calendar (see next page) lists 13 race weekends.

heart of the matter: the HR412EThat’s the designation of the specially-built engine which will power the Honda entries run by JAS Motorsport out of Italy. The HR412E is a 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged power unit designed to demonstrate Honda’s unique combination of strength and sheer efficiency at the highest levels of competition.“The HR412E heralds a new generation of high performance racing engines from Honda,” says Project Leader Daisuke Horiuchi. “All engineers at the R&D centre in Tochigi have worked hard to develop a race engine that will deliver great driveability to our racing drivers, with no compromise on peak power performance.”The car itself carries the designation Honda Civic WTCC and is based on a Civic 5-door built at Swindon in the UK. It will be race-prepared by Honda’s racing partners JAS Motorsport, who first worked with Honda in the late nineties and are based in Milan.It was near there, at Vairano, that the Honda Civic WTCC had its ‘shakedown’ test earlier this year, described by JAS team principal Alessandro Mariani as “an extremely emotional moment for the whole team”.

matter of the heart: gabriele tarquini“It’s very good to be back,” smiled Gabriele Tarquini when his role in Honda’s new venture was announced. That’s because Tarquini drove for Honda in a busy and successful five-year period from 1997 to 2001 that took in the German, British and European series.He may now look like your favourite uncle but Tarquini is both a popular and a highly-respected competitor. In that Honda period alone he racked up 15 race wins, and his skills carried him to the European Touring Car title in 2003 and then the WTCC title itself in 2009. Now he feels as if he is back where he belongs, as he was quick to point out at that Vairano beginning. “Although I’d never driven the new Civic before, funnily, when I sat in the seat for the first time I immediately felt I was in a Honda,” he said.“The bodywork is precise and the engine felt great. The car looks beautiful, too, and will, I’m sure, wow all the WTCC fans around the world when it makes its debut in Suzuka.”Gabriele was referring to Honda’s plans to ease the new car into the category with three races at the end of the 2012 season in Japan, China and Macau. Enter Tiago Monteiro…

THE 2013 SERIESThe final WTCC calendar for 2013 will be announced before the end of December, but the provisional calendar released in late September is as follows:

10/03 Spain TBA*24/03 Italy Monza*07/04 TBA TBA*28/04 Slovakia Slovakiaring*05/05 Hungary Hungaroring19/05 Austria Salzburgring09/06 Russia Moscow Raceway*30/06 Portugal Porto*21/07 Brazil Curitiba*15/09 USA Sonoma*13/10 China Shanghai*27/10 Japan Suzuka17/11 Macau Macau*

* To be confirmed

ready to race: tiago monteiro“We are ready for this challenge,” beams Monteiro, already a five-season veteran of the WTCC. To Tiago falls the honour of driving the Civic WTCC on the race track this year as Gabriele helps the engineers develop it for its full 2013 campaign.Like a young driver getting to grips with a new toy, Monteiro

was wide-eyed as he discussed his first reactions to the Civic: “The braking, compared to my experience in these kinds of

cars, is very, very efficient: it’s a very stiff pedal, a very strong attack, and you can really stop the car. That’s the first amazing impression.”

Monteiro’s moment of glory in F1 came in a Jordan on the infamous day when all the Bridgestone-shod runners pulled off track at Indianapolis after their warm-up lap, leaving just six Michelin cars to complete the US GP. Tiago was third, and his CV boasts a host of other top results from F3 through Champ Cars right up to the world stage again in the WTCC.Monteiro and Tarquini enjoyed getting to grips with the Civic WTCC when it went track-testing for the first time at Rome’s Vallelunga circuit on August 3. “Maybe this year is too early to watch the performance of the car,” says Tarquini sagely. “But I think working hard through the (European) winter we can prepare and be ready from the first race.”“I’m confident to reach the top by mid-season for 2013 and to win some races in the second half of the season. This is my personal expectation and my personal target.” ~

“only a few weeks ago we said it would be great if we

could break into the top 10, and that’s where we are,

so I am satisfied”

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Are you gregarious or a loner? A solitary worker or an eager beaver keen to mix and mingle with workmates? There’s a whole new way of thinking about the spacesin which we work, as Joanna Maxwell found out.

W hen you tell someone ‘I work in an office’, it’s likely

they’ll imagine a cubicle, or maybe a partitioned-off space with a desk and chair, a filing cabinet and a picture of your kids. Add a tea room, meeting spaces and a reception area, and the story is pretty well complete.Or not.Increasingly these days, workers are hanging out in informal shared workspaces that bear little resemblance to that classic office. Co-working is the big trend, where people like freelancers and microbusinesses come together in an open, communal workplace. It’s the antithesis of all those cubicles. Popular with solo business owners and creative types, a co-working setup is typically a large open space, with big tables, powerful wifi and a culture that encourages chatting and collaboration. Many co-workers are fleeing their kitchen tables, home offices or garages, looking for something that’s cheaper than a serviced office and quieter than their local café. Co-working spaces have roughly doubled every year since 2006, and Australia has the highest per capita number of spaces (along with Japan and Spain), according to a recent survey by Deskmag, the co-worker magazine.

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One of the big players is Hub Melbourne, with over 600 members and a large CBD space. Self-described ‘hubbers’ are from 40 different disciplines, roughly 50/50 men and women, aged from 20 to over 60. Some have well-established businesses, some are start-ups, and both commercial ventures and not-for-profits are represented.

Memberships are flexible, and there are plenty of opportunities to mix and share ideas – from the regular lunches known as ‘awesome sexy sandwiches’ to barbecues, a Hub running club, guest speakers and frequent events. It’s not just social – plenty of real business has been done by hubbers getting together to create new projects. That’s the whole point.Hub Melbourne CEO, Brad Krauskopf, sees these connections as integral to the future face of all types of work, because of the growing link between innovation and business success. “We need to work collaboratively, but if anybody thinks their 500 Facebook friends or 2,000 Twitter followers are a replacement for a face-to-face relationship or a shared learning experience, they’re missing one of the great things about communities. And [collaboration also requires] diversity, it requires that every day when I come into work, I’m not surrounded by 20 people

exactly like me.”Krauskopf goes further. “We’re not in the business of renting out office space. We’re in

the business of connections and collaboration – cross-sector, cross-discipline and cross-generational collaboration. It’s our purpose to try and seed those collaborations and we only have a co-working space because it helps us do that.”

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Above :Hub Melbourne.

Below:Hub CEO

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This squares with the Deskmag 2012 survey findings that the benefits most valued by co-workers are interaction with people, flexible work times, random discoveries and opportunities, and knowledge sharing.The downside? It can be noisy, distractions are everywhere, and solitude is in short supply. (Maybe that’s why Deskmag says 90% of people using co-working spaces also work elsewhere.)Co-working is not just for small business owners and freelancers. Geeks, techies and entrepreneurs are also coming out of their garages into specialised communal spaces. Some spaces offer formal incubator or accelerator programs, which are typically for three months, with a competitive entry process and pre-agreed benefits like mentoring, access to investors and technical assistance.

Simpler options include Fishburners, a not-for-profit space in Sydney’s Ultimo. It’s cheap, and definitely no-frills. You get a shared desk, a basic chair – and really fast internet. Exclusively for tech start-ups, it’s not a formal incubator, but gives access to mentors and a community of (mostly) blokes for bouncing ideas around. Tenants get big benefits from Fishburners sponsors – names like Deloitte, Optus, several law firms and technology suppliers who offer resources or pro bono services. This support is critical, says Fishburners executive director Peter Bradd. “There are people here that wouldn’t even be entrepreneurs if Fishburners didn’t exist, they’d still be working because they wouldn’t have made the jump.” Bradd attributes Fishburners’ rapid growth to this community of people who care about your wins, commiserate over losses – and who speak your techie language. “Starting a business has difficult challenges – insurance, legal, marketing, distribution, business models, best practice…and sitting in your bedroom you’ve got the internet, which is amazing, but not the same as access to peer-to-peer networks. If you’ve got questions like ‘how do I get some PR?’ there are Fishburners people who’ve done it successfully. You can get them all in a room or over an email thread and within 20 minutes you have a good idea what to do. At home that’d take you two or three days.”

Top & above :Hub Melbourne.

Places like Hub Melbourne and Fishburners clearly make sense for small or solo businesses, but what about big corporates?

Hub Melbourne has large organisations amongst its membership that are using it as an add-on creative space or a way to participate in co-working conversations. And Fishburners has strong relationships with big business. But an increasing number of larger companies are seeing co-working as part of their own core workspace arrangements. Software giant Atlassian has just moved into new headquarters in Sydney, and top priority was to create a space that works well

for mingling, collaboration and staff engagement. Some aspects of this could be (but probably aren’t) provided in any office, like free lunch for all staff, pool tables and bike racks, but the office layout itself was critical to Atlassian. Vice President of Talent Joris Luijke says that the emphasis was on connectivity – making sure the four floors interconnected and encouraged informal mingling, with an oversized lunch area right in the middle. (He reckons that most of the inter-team collaboration takes place over lunch.) The other factor was creating spaces for teams to get together, big areas with whiteboard paint on all the walls, space for stand-up meetings (central to the Atlassian culture) and fostering people from outside coming in to talk with staff or just hang out.Luijke sees both online and onsite collaboration as crucial for successful business, though it won’t look the same in every company. “I don’t think every business needs to offer free lunch … or a ping pong area. That’s in line with our culture and a young agile workforce. What all businesses must start to do going forward is to think more deeply about how to bring people together. And that means thinking differently about space than the ways people currently do.” ~

hubmelbourne.comfishburners.org

Fishburners in Sydney’s Ultimo

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winning double

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Ryan & Pedder snare a

Honda’s Eli Evans and Glen Weston sealed the 2WD Australian rally title with a round to spare – then teammates Claire Ryan and Mark Pedder made it a superb 1-2 finish to the season, as Samantha Stevens reports.

R ally is a famously unpredictable sport. It is easily one of the toughest

tests of man (and woman) and machine, where a momentary mistake or a minor mechanical mishap can see the rise and fall of champions.For a manufacturer to enter into a national gravel rally championship and, in its inaugural year, take out both the 2WD Australian Rally Championship and the ARC manufacturers’ title is an enormous feat. To accomplish both with a round to spare in the five-strong series was nothing short of miraculous. But good things come in threes, and the final triumph came at Rally Victoria, with a Honda 1 – 2 Championship finish.

Eli Evans and Glen Weston might have sealed the championship, but teammates Mark Pedder and navigator Claire Ryan went to the final round in Victoria tantalisingly close to sealing the deal. Soon afterwards Claire was celebrating a fantastic finish to her own year.Pedder recorded his maiden win in Rally Victoria’s Heat 1, helped by a flat tyre that cost Evans and Weston three minutes, but the new champions fought back to take out Heat 2 and the round win – which meant Evans had chalked up a perfect six wins from six starts in 2012.“We’ve had some frustrating moments throughout this year,” said a relieved Pedder, “but to have a win to my name makes it all worth it. The team, Honda and the cars have been fantastic.”Evans came into 2012 knowing his experience made him title favourite and he delivered. ”I’m thrilled to win all six events this year,” he said. “Honda has provided a reliable and consistently fast car and our results reflect that.”

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Ryan, for her part, had slightly mixed feelings when the dust had settled. “I feel wonderful for winning second in the championship,” she said, “but a little disappointed we missed out on the win of the event by one point. That’s rallying and these things happen. If anyone had to beat us, I’m glad it was Eli and Glen.” Then she took time to reflect on a momentous season.“We have faced challenges this year,” she admits. “The cars are

so new, and being continually developed in a tough setting. The team has worked so hard, and so well together,

always getting the cars back out there and solving the problems, enabling us to continue and get

the points and podiums. A 1-2 finish is the ultimate reward.”Though the pair has fought through the inevitable mechanical issues that come with slinging a car sideways at speed, Ryan describes the past year with Honda as the best of her 10-year co-driving career.“When I first got the call, I thought someone was playing a practical joke on me – it’s not that I doubt my abilities, but it’s also not every day you get the call up to be a part of a factory team,” she says.“The reality hit home when I first strapped myself into my seat. When Mark and I went for our first drive, I was blown away by the acceleration and grip of the G2 Jazz. I’ve been co-driving for 10 years and been in lots of different cars, but this is the most professionally-built car I’ve had the pleasure to be in.”Unlike Evans and Weston, who have the advantage of learning the tricks of the 2WD trade two years prior to Honda’s ARC campaign – and in a family Civic Type R – Pedder and Ryan were thrust into the spotlight this year with no prior knowledge of the car, the team, even each other.“Some people don’t realise that Mark is in his first year of 2WD cars, and he is doing it all in a high-profile team and in the first year of the Jazz,” says Ryan.“Plus, while I’ve known Mark for years through the rallying community, we only met up and actually discussed this year’s deal after it was done in March.”

“I’ve been co-driving for 10 years, but this is the most

professionally-built car I’ve had the pleasure to be in”

Claire Ryan

The Honda Rally team.

L to R: Glen Weston,

Eli Evans, Mark Pedder and

Claire Ryan

Pedder and Ryan found an instant connection in the car, but a driver/co-driver relationship is built on trust as well as character. “Mark is incredibly quiet when he is racing, he keeps a lot within himself, but we also have a lot of laughs both in and out of the car,” says Ryan. “It’s very important to enjoy what you’re doing, and rally is no different. Otherwise we wouldn’t do it.”“The team as a whole holds it all together,” she adds. “It is one big group working towards a common goal. Having two of the same cars is amazing; we can pit them against each other, see what works and fix problems quickly. And we have the jump on our competition next year when the rules change.”

This year, the ARC has been split with two concurrent championships, 2WD and AWD, as a new era of the ARC comes in to play. From 2013, the ARC will be 2WD only, a rule designed to make rallying more affordable, and lure manufacturers as well as privateers to the pinnacle of gravel rally.“There’s been a lot of assertion about the 2WD Championship, and you only need to look globally to see that it works,” explains Claire.“The new G2 regulations show just how good a little car can be in the Australian rally championship. I am a big fan of the G2 idea – taking a manufacturer’s smallest car and squeezing a 2.0L family engine into it. It makes them easy to afford, build up and work on, plus the small car is where the

current passenger vehicle market is going, so it’s really relevant to the manufacturers.“We are delighted to see a couple of manufacturers joining us in 2013, and privateer teams also building up two-car teams for next year’s Championship. Bring it on!” adds Ryan.“We will be aiming for another 1 – 2 next year; though Mark and I would like to reverse the order of this year’s if we can!”It all begins again with Rally Canberra on March 1-3. ~

Driving should be an enjoyable experience – Honda does everything it can to ensure that its vehicles are both practical and fun to drive. But above all it should be a safe experience. That starts with the quality of the car and its component parts – and with the driver. We’d like to direct you to a Honda site that will help you with both; we’d also like to begin our own ABC of good, safe and enjoyable driving.

TOP TIPS

TIP TOP DRIVING

FOR

The website we recommend is HondaONE. You may not know it, but HondaONE offers a wealth of tips and information designed to help you keep your car – and your driving – in tip-top condition. It couldn’t be easier: just go to www.honda.com.au and follow the links to HondaONE. Become a member of this online Honda community by registering and you will open up a world of useful information: Tips and Advice, owner stories on the Community section, downloads – including this magazine! – plus a range of other information on your nearest Honda Dealer, financing your next Honda purchase and much more.

B IS FOR BRAKINGOne of the most crucial aspects of your driving. But you’d be surprised how many people simply have no idea how long it is going to take for their brakes to bring their vehicle to a stop. Nor do they understand how to get the best from their brakes. When it’s time to slow down, apply the brakes early and easily: squeeze, don’t stamp. Increase the pressure as you begin to decelerate; ease off at the end to avoid a jerk when you come to a halt. And if it’s an emergency, try not to stand so hard on the brakes that you lock your wheels, because that will only make a tricky situation worse. To avoid having to brake hard in the first place, there are several things the driver should do. One is to adjust car speed to the conditions – weather, road surface or traffic.

Another is to maintain a safe gap from your car to the one in front: apply the two-second rule when you can. Never heard of the two-second rule? It’s easy: pick out a static marker ahead, like a telegraph pole or a sign, and when the vehicle travelling ahead of you passes it, count 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 and see where your vehicle is in relation to the marker. Try to maintain that two-second countdown between you and the person in front. Braking is a complex operation: you have first of all to perceive the need for braking, then apply the brakes, wait for the brakes on your vehicle to react, and trust that everything happens in time. Any increase in speed comes with a (sometimes dramatic) increase in the distance required to stop your car; if you are doing 100 that distance will blow out to 40 metres. If you have perceived the need to brake it’s a fair bet any object – or person – you are trying to stop for will be closer than that.

The website we recommend is HondaONE. You may not know it, but HondaONE offers a wealth of tips and information designed to help you keep your car – and your driving – in tip-top condition. It couldn’t be easier: just go to www.honda.com.au and follow the links to HondaONE. Become a member of this online Honda community by registering and you will open up a world of useful information: Tips and Advice, owner stories on the Community section, downloads – including this magazine! – plus a range of other information on your nearest Honda Dealer, financing your next Honda purchase and much more.

C IS FOR CARINGBoth for your car and about other road users. Briefly, there are some simple habits that will help keep your Honda in good nick. Look after the exterior, and do it regularly.For example, remove tar, sap and droppings as soon as you spot them, and make good chips or scratches in its paintwork. Give it a full-scale clean and wax annually and every six months spray all seals with silicone spray. For a full breakdown of things you can do to keep your car looking its best, please visit the HondaONE website (see box). ~

P E T E R M a c C A L L U M C A N C E R C E N T R E

goes on!ghtthe

M elbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre recently purchased a new $10,000 plate reader, a piece of equipment which is used in high-throughput gene sequencing for new cancer drugs. The Honda Foundation helped with the purchase – but a decade ago the

Foundation made a much larger donation, supporting research that has helped scores of patients with advanced melanoma.“I love a sunburnt country,” says Dorothea MacKellar’s famous poem, but there are many Australians with little reason to love the sunshine. People with melanoma and skin cancer account for 15 per cent of all new patients admitted to Peter Mac each year, a figure that bears witness to our vulnerability in Australia’s climate.A grant of $100,000 from The Honda Foundation went towards the setting-up of Peter Mac’s Molecular Oncology Laboratory. Oncology is the branch of medicine that deals with cancers; a melanoma is a cancerous growth containing melanin, which is any one of a variety of dark brown or black pigments in the skin and elsewhere.

When you’re fighting a war, you want the best weapons you can lay your hands on. With help from The Honda Foundation, one outstanding Australian cancer centre continues to equip itself with the latest technologies for its ongoing fight against cancer

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Peter Mac is the only public hospital in Australia solely dedicated to cancer and is home to Australia’s largest cancer research group. “The Honda Foundation is proud to see its donation to Peter Mac yield great success, contributing to the development of new and improved cancer treatments,” said Foundation chairman Lindsay Smalley.If a person is in the unfortunate position of receiving a cancer diagnosis then, as this writer can attest, there is no better place to be than in the hands of the people at Peter Mac. With support from organisations such as The Honda Foundation, it will continue to be a beacon in the ongoing war against this insidious disease. ~

The Molecular Oncology Laboratory allowed Peter Mac’s research team to develop clinical trials of a new cancer therapy, Vemurafenib; 100 Victorian patients with advanced melanoma trialled the new treatment at Peter Mac.Head of the Molecular Oncology Laboratory and medical oncologist, Professor Grant McArthur, described Vemurafenib as “a very exciting example of a targeted therapy development in cancer”. As a clinician-researcher, investigation into targeted

therapies has been central to Professor McArthur’s work.“With the support of organisations like The Honda

Foundation,” he added, “we have the latest technology at our disposal to accelerate our laboratory findings into new cancer treatments for patients.”

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T he Honda Foundation has been active in other areas, notably with the help of Great Western Honda in donating $11,218 for the purchase of sensory equipment at Sunnyfield, a facility which for six decades has

supported people with an intellectual disability. The sensory equipment will be used to help the 28 people in the Kingswood area who benefit from Sunnyfield’s Day Options programs. A new ‘sensory room’ will allow them to be independent, for a time, of their parents and carers. Studies suggest that sensory rooms encourage relaxation, allowing participants with a disability to choose their own level of involvement. Participants displaying behaviours of concern may also benefit as a sensory room has been shown in many cases to reduce the number and severity of incidences. ~

The Honda Foundation draws funding from Honda Dealers and Honda Australia, who donate $15 ($5 and $10 respectively) for every Honda car sold. The Foundation’s aim is to provide assistance to local communities and foster goodwill among Honda Australia, Honda Dealers and the public.

a littleindependence goes a long way

on theED

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N S X A U S T R A L I A 2 0 1 3

Honda NSXs outside Moss Vale, NSW on a Honda Sports Car Club club drive

‘O n the edge’: it’s a phrase racing drivers

often use to describe the place they try to take their cars. Putting it ‘on the edge’ as soon as possible is what a great driver is all about. Maybe that’s why Honda asked one of the greatest of them all, Ayrton Senna, to give his assessment of their original supercar, the NSX.Born as our thoughts started to turn towards the 21st century, the NSX was a revolution on wheels. Honda described it as “our dreams come true” or, more prosaically, “a new concept in sports car value”.With its midship-mounted engine, the world’s first production car aluminium body and a raft of technological innovations, the NSX brought the opportunity to put it ‘on the edge’ within reach of drivers who had previously only dreamt about what a supercar could do.Now that we are firmly in the 21st century, Honda has a new-generation NSX in the pipeline: a midships V6 direct injection VTEC engine will marry up with Honda’s brilliant new SH-AWD hybrid system to provide what President and CEO Takanobu Ito – who worked on the original NSX – recently called “a new set of supercar values”.Those values, new and old, will be celebrated in a unique NSX-based event in February 2013.

Planning a trip to Tasmania? Elsewhere in this issue we feature historic Hobart and its many attractions, but if you’re

in the Apple Isle in February there’s a strong chance you will see automotive history – and Honda – at their best.

that will see a cavalcade of Honda sports cars disembarking from the Spirit of Tasmania on the morning of February 19.By that time they will already have been together for a couple of days; overseas participants will arrive in Sydney on February 17 and meet up with their Australian hosts for the mandatory harbour cruise. They then enjoy a day of leisure in Sydney itself before flying to Launceston. Meanwhile the Sydney-based drivers head for Port Melbourne to hook up with interstate participants and hit the high seas.The tour begins with a driver briefing at Latrobe, then heads to Launceston via Exeter in the Tamar Valley to hook up with the overseas contingent.

Remember Paul Phillips? He’s the enviable individual we met in our last issue who has not one but two Honda NSX’s. Paul and his colleagues in the Honda Sports Car Club of NSW have now finalised the plans for their special NSX celebration – and it sounds a mouth-watering prospect. He and his Honda henchmen are going ‘on the edge’ – to the very edge of Australia, that is, with a tour

Top:NSX get

together in the Ku-Ring-Gai

Chase National Park

Above:NSX Concept

Top right:NSX wins the

first Targa Tasmania in

1992

What’s the best introduction to an Australian experience? Correct: a winery tour and lunch at Pipers Brook before all things automotive kick in again with a visit to the National Automobile Museum of Tasmania.Day 2 takes them to Burnie, day 3 to Cradle Mountain and

the west coast township of Strahan; next up are Derwent Bridge and Wrest Point, while Saturday is a

free day in Hobart itself with a farewell dinner at its end.Highlights along the way are too numerous to list, but some of the eye-catchers are the Wilderness Gallery, perhaps the most stunning photographic collection in the country, the West Coast Pioneers Memorial

at the heart of it all is the opportunity to open up the NSX on the beautiful open

roads of the island

Museum, and optional visits to Port Arthur and MONA (see Jane Burton Taylor’s feature on Hobart).At the heart of it all, of course, is the opportunity to open up the NSX (or in some cases the S2000) on the beautiful open roads of the island where the supercar, in the hands of drivers who really could put it ‘on the edge’ like Sir Jack Brabham, used to dominate Targa Tasmania. Sounds like a dream come true to us... ~

Hobart

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Cradle Mt

Latrobe

Derwent Bridge

LauncestonExeter

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Burnie

Interested in being on the edge? Places are still available to Honda owners. Go to www.hsccnsw.com for a link to the event and follow the prompts.

it’s aH o n d a A C C O R D L I M I T E D E D I T I O N

mystery...

…how Honda Australia manages it, that is: the Honda Accord has been in the front line for Honda for over three decades now, and the latest Limited Edition model is better value than ever.

‘E ngineered for luxury’ is Honda’s catch-cry when it comes to the

Accord, highlighting the car’s unique combination of comfort, safety and power.

POWERAccord LE comes with Honda’s superb 2.4-litre i-VTEC engine, packing a 133kW punch and providing 226Nm of torque for all the pulling power you’re ever likely to want. It’s married to a 5-speed automatic transmission with Grade Logic Control, meaning all that power is swiftly and effectively transferred to the road. But that doesn’t mean it’s thirsty: combined test results show that Accord needs only 8.7 litres per 100 kilometres (ADR81/02) so all that clout comes at a modest cost.

SAFET YSafety is first and foremost in Honda’s thinking and Accord LE is no different. It comes with virtually every acronym in the modern book: ABS with EBD (Electronic Brakeforce Distribution), VSA with traction control and ACE (Advanced Compatibility Engineering) to help protect people outside the car as well as those inside. Fog lights, automatic on/off headlights and rear parking sensors are other nice touches that enhance the feeling of security. And let’s not forget the six airbags that come as standard.

COMFORTAnd speaking of those inside, Accord LE’s leather trim will make them feel right at home in the car’s spacious cabin – big enough to accommodate five adults in perfect comfort. The driver is the focus of attention, with power lumbar support and a leather steering wheel as well as an eight-way power adjustable seating position. Just in time for summer, a sunroof adds to the all-round appeal of Accord LE’s interior – but when things turn chilly Accord LE also comes with heated front seats.A set of 17-inch alloy wheels means Accord LE looks good as well, but the most appealing feature of all is the one we’ve kept till last. The 2012 Honda Accord Limited Edition comes with a drive-away price tag starting at $34,190. We told you it was a mystery… so why not go to www.honda.com.au for some more clues to this remarkable limited edition offer? ~

C A S E Y S T O N E R

THEMOST PURE TALENT

L ike a true entertainer, Casey Stoner has left the audience begging for an encore following a stunning victory at Phillip Island. At just 27 years of age, the Repsol Honda rider will leave behind his role as one of the main performers in the MotoGP show when most know he is clearly still worthy of taking top billing.

Certainly he proved as much with the weekend he put together at the Australian GP where he was fastest in every single session at the track – including, of course, the race. In fact, he was fastest in every single sector in every session, with none of his rivals like new champion Jorge Lorenzo or Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa ever getting within half a second of his lap times.

Honda star Casey Stoner said a stunning farewell to his Australian fans with a sixth straight victory at Phillip Island. International commentator Gavin Emmett pays his own tribute to the departing champion

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and the Honda RC213V in complete harmony, lapping at untouchable pace around such a fabulous racing venue. That’s especially true through Turn 3, or as it will forever be now known, ‘Stoner Corner’.The naming of Turn 3 in his honour had been bestowed on him before the weekend got under way. While he was clearly touched by the gesture, many who know the Australian well know that he has never been a fan of the limelight, much preferring to do his talking on the race track than into the cameras. His performance suggested he had much to say to the crowds that set a new record attendance of 53,100 at the Island.

So it was inevitable that Stoner would run away on his own to the chequered flag at Phillip Island. Over the last five years he had led 134 of 135 race laps at the track and reaped five consecutive triumphs. He made that a cool six in a row as he avoided Pedrosa’s spill from the lead on the second lap to power to the line unchallenged.

While for some that doesn’t represent their idea of a race, for others like myself there is possibly no greater spectacle in MotoGP than to watch Stoner

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“It was very important for me to win a race before I retire and to do it at my home Grand Prix here was just a fairytale,” he beamed. “The whole weekend’s gone almost ideally and the crowd, the people, the fans, everything has just been amazing. I’ve never seen it so busy and I know a big part of that is that people are here to watch me ride so it gives me a great feeling and great pride to be out there as an Aussie and make everybody proud.”“We’ve just topped off the end of a difficult year but I think there’s no better way to do it than in front of your home crowd, and a crowd this big and this enthusiastic was really something else.”

F O R T H E R E C O R DStoner always maintained that he wasn’t racing to make history or rewrite the record books: if so, why would he be giving it all away? But as things stand, post-Australia, Casey Stoner had competed in 174 World Championship races and won 45 of them – a strike rate of one victory in every four starts.In 114 outings in the sport’s premier class Stoner had started on pole 39 times, set 27 fastest laps and taken 68 podium finishes. He had won 38 times; only Rossi, his great compatriot Giacomo Agostini and our own Mick Doohan stand above him on the all-time premier-class winners’ list. Rossi has already called him a god; as those names show, Casey Stoner’s place in the sport’s pantheon is well and truly assured.

The light may well have gone out on Stoner’s motorcycling career, but it is one which has shone brightly, if briefly. He insists he is not even considering any possible return to MotoGP in the future, and is rumoured to be eyeing a move to V8 supercars if planned tests work out next year. If they don’t, however, he knows he will always be welcomed back in MotoGP to demonstrate what Jorge Lorenzo termed this weekend ‘the most pure talent I’ve ever seen’. The fans who were out at Phillip Island will know exactly what the new world champion was talking about. ~

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makingwavesNSWMs Alison IngramChippendaleNSW 2008

VICMr Gaurav MaheshwariAlfredtonVIC 3350

NTMr Terry BrientLyons NT 0810

WAMs Amelita PatersonGosnellsWA 6110

SAMrs Anita MagovVictor HarborSA 5211

TASMr Richard MecklenburghSeven Mile BeachTAS 7170

QLDMr David WidenstromCoomeraQLD 4209

L E T T E R S

K E E P I N G I T I N T H E FA M I LYI enjoyed reading the Honda family stories and thought I would share ours with you. It all began 40 years ago when my wife’s first car for her 21st Birthday was a Honda S600 convertible (wish we still had that!!) and at the same time I was riding a Honda CB 350 twin motorcycle. Over the years we have had Accords and currently have a Civic and a CR-V. Both our children bought new Civics for their first cars. My son has upgraded to a CR-V and my daughter still has her Civic. Our extended Honda family includes my wife’s father who has had a succession of Accords and Civics for the last 20 years. He currently drives a Civic sport at 90 years of age!!! We love the product – it delivers all its promises. Dennis FryCarina Heights QLD

TRIED AND TRUSTEDSince migrating to Australia in 1991, I have owned four Honda Civics. The first three were secondhand. My 4th Civic is a 2010 VTi-L sedan which drives heavenly. First time I have ever owned a brand new car! I’ve always treasured my Civics and they have all driven smoothly and well. So, would I ever buy a different car? When pigs fly!!!Liria RopoloKenmore QLD

MAKING A HITI run one of Australia’s longest running and busiest percussion groups. I bought the Jazz because I wanted a small car for normal driving that would also carry a lot of gear. The Jazz is an absolute winner, constantly astounding other people, and especially other percussionists with its incredible luggage capacity. You guys should film it!Neville TalbotEast Perth WA

IT ’S CATCHINGAfter 17 years, 10 months and a few days cruising the world, we sailed back into Queensland. Friends in Southport picked us up in their spunky Honda Jazz. A week later, a friend from Brisbane dropped by to say hello… in her Honda Jazz.In January we sailed to Adelaide. Goolwa friends told us of the greatest little car of them all: a Honda Jazz. Our daughter’s mother in law loves her Jazz! Guess who now owns a new Jazz Vibe S? All that Jazz indeed!Marion HoldenNorth Haven SA

A DOG’S LIFEI love the flexibility of my Jazz’s interior – I bought it because it was a very roomy car despite its size. It can fit two greyhounds and three human passengers!I take my dog to “pet therapy” for the elderly and I needed a car that could accommodate her comfortably and safely. The Jazz fits the bill admirably. (It’s quite amusing to see the look on people’s faces when she gets out – she’s the size of a small pony.)Mary BeanlandBeaumaris VIC

C O M M E N T S T O M A K E ? Q U E S T I O N S T O R A I S E ?

We value your input and we would particularly like to hear from you if you have anecdotes about your Honda you would like to share with thousands of readers around the country.Tap here to emailhondamag@honda.com.au

Honda Magazine reserves the right to edit such correspondence for publication. Readers whose comments are selected for this page will receive a gift courtesy of Honda Australia.

Editor: We are always very pleased to hear readers’ experiences with their own Hondas, but this one is a true family history! Dennis may be in hot water for revealing a lady’s age, but we can’t fault the example he has set the rest of the family. All things considered, Honda seems to have delivered something for everyone.