Galway Advertiser 2007/2007_12_20/GA_2012_E1_112.pdf 

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112

MOTORING

December 20 2007

WHEELS
Mitsubishi is preparing to defend its remarkable eight consecutive victories in the toughest endurance race on the planet, the Dakar 2008. Mitsubishi's chief executive officer, Osama Masuko, has also announced that the event will be providing essential technical feedback for the new range of high performance clean diesel engines which will make their debut at the Dakar in 2009. Feedback on both durability and endurance data is essential for the manufacturer's development of clean diesel engines to be seen in a number of future production models. The Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart Team has also been making final preparations for the 2008 event, with testing in Morocco and Tunisia. Even under the tight new performance handicap regulations of reduced engine airrestrictor and obligatory switch from six- to five-speed gear box, Masuko added that this work produced multiple gains in terms of transmission endurance, suspension, and handling. As a result, the overall performance is even stronger than it was for the Dakar 2007

The Galway Advertiser's Motoring Pages with Padraic Deane

Mitsubishi's high performance diesel engines race for Dakar win

Kia helping to provided a lifeline for at-risk kids

Pictured at the handover of a Kia Sportage to the Irish Water Safety Association are IWS education officer Lisa Anderson, former Miss Ireland and long time supporter of the IWS Rosanna Davison, and Kia Motors Ireland managing director James Brooks.

Irish Water Safety is targeting children at risk of drowning with the appointment of an education development officer to promote water safety to kids nationwide. With water safety forming a component part of the physical education strand of the primary school curriculum, the officer will encourage schools, pools, parents, and children to prioritise water safety by learning the programme. Kia has assisted the IWS by

providing a Sportage for the use of the new officer, Lisa Anderson. The appointment of the officer has been made possible through the support of the charity Water Angels, which set up by Irish woman Lynne Quinlan after the accidental drowning of her son Leon. Irish Water Safety introduced primary aquatics water safety to teach children in the at-risk environments - home, farm, pool, beach, boating, and inland

waterways. In the last five years 16 children aged 14 and under drowned in Ireland. "We at Kia Ireland are delighted to have been given this opportunity to contribute in a practical way to the work of IWS and hope this programme is successful in generating increased awareness of water safety in schools and pools throughout Ireland," says Kia Motors Ireland managing director James Brooks.