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Hamilton wins brilliantly in Shanghai

Lewis Hamilton took a brilliant victory in the Chinese Grand Prix, passing Sebastian Vettel within the final five laps to win an engrossing race in Shanghai.

Vettel was second just ahead of his team-mate Mark Webber, who put in an exceptional performance to take third after starting 18th on the grid. Jenson Button lost out to Webber on the penultimate lap, with Nico Rosberg fifth and Felipe Massa sixth.

The race was set up off the line, as Button got ahead of the slow starting Vettel, while Hamilton also forced his way up the inside in to turn one. Vettel had to defend from Rosberg, and just managed to hold him off through the first few corners. Michael Schumacher made a good start up to ninth, behind the Force India pair.

Rosberg pitted first from fourth place, before Button and Vettel pitted on the same lap. Button oddly stopped in the Red Bull pit area first, and then had to pull forward in to his own, costing him the place. Hamilton then slipped back in to the clutches of the Ferrari's and lost out to Massa, while Schumacher got ahead of Alonso for 6th. When it all settled down, Rosberg led by over five seconds from Vettel as he made the most of the undercut of new rubber.

The race never really settled down, as Rosberg held position before pitting once more, as did Button and Hamilton, leaving Vettel in the lead on a two stop strategy with Massa in close company. When Vettel and Massa pitted, they returned close together behind Rosberg and the two McLarens. Hamilton was quicker than his team-mate on the soft tyres, and managed to get past by diving up the inside in to turn one.

There was close racing all down the field, as Webber and Schumacher battled for sixth place, ahead of Fernando Alonso who had trouble with his DRS, which at one point opened in the wrong place.

Once all of the pit stops had taken place, Vettel led Massa, with Rosberg, Hamilton and Button all within eight seconds of the lead. Rosberg was warned that his fuel level was critical, and Hamilton managed to get past him under braking in to turn six. Hamilton quickly reeled in Massa, and got ahead on the exit of the last corner before setting off in pursuit of Vettel.

As the championship leader struggled on worn tyres, Hamilton took his time before easing up the inside in to turn seven to take the lead. Button was unable to make any impression on Vettel however, and was soon under pressure from Webber who was displaying pace over two seconds quicker than anyone else. On soft tyres he passed the McLaren in to the penultimate corner, and eventually finished only 7.5 seconds behind the race winner.
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Race - Vettel keeps cool to win Malaysian thriller

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel made it look so easy as he scored his second victory of the season and extended his world championship points tally to 50 on Sunday afternoon in Malaysia. The German took the lead at the start, nursed his tyres through three pits stops, avoided using his problematic KERS from the 29th lap after instruction from his team, yet was still 6.1s ahead of a charging Jenson Button in the McLaren with a lap to go.

Button did the impossible by running 19 laps on a set of Pirelli's prime tyres where previously nobody had managed more than 16, but the 3.2s gap at the chequered flag reflected the side-by-side weaving that Vettel did in triumph as he reached the finish line.

Lewis Hamilton in the other McLaren had been in the fight all afternoon, once he had overtaken super-fast starting Nick Heidfeld's Renault in the first stops, but unlike his team mate the Briton lost pace on the primes, fell behind Button after the third stops, and needed a fourth to make it to the flag in seventh after running off the track.

Heidfeld likewise kept in play throughout to beat Mark Webber's Red Bull to the final podium slot, after the KERS-less Australian fought back from a terrible opening lap and four pit stops.



Behind them, Felipe Massa brought his Ferrari home fifth after three stops, only 0.2s ahead of team mate Fernando Alonso, who seemed set to take Hamilton's third place until he hit the back of the McLaren on the 46th lap and needed a fourth stop for a new front wing. He had been struggling for some time with a DRS wing which stopped working properly.

Kamui Kobayashi mixed it with anyone and everyone all afternoon, including some wonderful side-by-side racing with Webber as confirmation that the DRS wing concept worked superbly here, and took eighth place for Sauber in Hamilton's wake and ahead of Michael Schumacher who was able to muscle his way ahead of Paul di Resta's Force India with two laps remaining.

Once again the Scottish rookie beat team mate Adrian Sutil, who needed a stop for attention to first lap damage only three laps into the race, but couldn't hold off seven-time champion Schumacher's Mercedes as his Pirellis were finished. Nevertheless he maintained his great record of scoring points in both of his Grands Prix.

Nico Rosberg had a miserable race for 12th in the second Mercedes, ahead of the duelling Toro Rossos of Sebastien Buemi, who overcame a stop-and-go penalty for pit-lane speeding to beat team mate Jaime Alguersuari to 13th. Heikki Kovalainen just failed to catch the Spaniard by the flag, as Lotus beat Virgin and Timo Glock in the newer teams' race to complete the finishers.

Vitaly Petrov had just repassed Kobayashi for eighth place on the 53rd lap when he had a big off which sent his Renault bouncing so high over a kerb that his car's steering column seemed damaged on landing, but though he hit an advertising hoarding he didn't hurt himself. His race, however, was over.

Tonio Liuzzi didn't make the finish either as his HRT stopped when running 18th, nor did Jerome D'Ambrosio's Virgin which had been just ahead of him. Jarno Trulli's Lotus also ran into unreliability, as did Sergio Perez's Sauber and Narain Karthikeyan's HRT, while both Williams drivers, Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello, had early problems and failed to get home.

Vettel now has 50 points to Button's 26, with Hamilton on 24, Webber on 22, Alonso on 20, Massa on 16 and Heidfeld and Petrov on 15.

Red Bull move further into the lead of the constructors' championship with 72 points, with McLaren on 50 ahead of Ferrari on 36 and Renault on 30.
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WheelsBD.com is Bangladesh's Largest Automotive Website with over 8600+ members in its community and over 50 million visitors from all over the world. According to Alexa Statistics, the website is rated at 45,000 rank in the worldwide web which makes it the 4th most visited Bangladeshi Online Community and one of the most visited websites in Bangladesh. With over 91% of members and visitors coming from Bangladesh, WheelsBD.com strictly maintains the high traffic in its privately owned server in the United States. The website was founded in 28th September, 2007 by a group of car enthusiasts from Bangladesh. The website went live on 1st October, 2007 and quickly made its way as the Most Visited Automotive Website by December of 2007.

16th December, 2007 marked the first ever automotive event "Victory Rally 2007" hosted by WheelsBD itself with a staggering amount of 50 cars participating with hundreds of car enthusiasts from all over Bangladesh. After such a successful event, the members and car enthusiasts were so interested with WheelsBD that the demand hosted by WheelsBD outgrew all our visions. WheelsBD quickly set the bar high by organizing outstanding automotive events (rallies, meets, parties, etc.) all around Bangladesh. It has been claimed by all car enthusiasts around Bangladesh that "Ekushey February Rally 2009" was the biggest automotive event in Bangladesh so far, with over 170 exotics, luxury, sports, modified, classics and general cars. With the most organized events crew in the automotive scene of Bangladesh, WheelsBD proves itself as the finest automobile club in Bangladesh today.

WheelsBD.com is a concern of WheelsBD Automobile Club Ltd. (Bangladesh's First & Only Registered Automobile Club). The parent company currently has around 25 crew members working in different departments. With strategic partnerships with Acer, Channel i's I-speed and Radio Foorti, WheelsBD Automobile Club Ltd. is constantly setting the standard and breaking the barriers with every step it takes.


Success Stories

Ekushey February Rally 2009

The Ekushey February Rally 2009 was the BIGGEST RALLY EVER in the Bangladeshi automobile scene till date, with 170+ cars, including exotics like BMW 7-series, BMW 3-series, BMW X3, Nissan 350Z, Mazda RX7 SpiritR and classics like 1964 Cadillac Deville and many more modified, sports and general cars.


New Years Rally 2009

What other way to start off the New Year than a grand rally from WheelsBD? On 2nd January 2009, the car enthusiasts of Bangladesh enjoyed yet another massive rally to celebrate the New Year; with about 100 of the finest modified, sports, and general cars.

Eid Fiesta Rally 2008

On 3rd October 2008, WheelsBD members celebrated the holy Eid-ul-Fitr with the Eid Fiesta Rally 2008. Even on the next day of Eid, about 80 cars showed up to show their WheelsBD spirit!

Summer Fest 2008

Rally#1 : June 27, 2008

First event of the 21 days mega-event! A huge rally took place with participation of hundreds of members and invited guests. A history was made!

Rally #2 : July 4, 2008

The second event of Summer Fest! Just after one week from the last rally, still the participation was awesome and the members gathered spontaneously to make it yet another successful event.

Exclusive Cars PhotoShoot : July 17, 2008

An exclusive event from WheelsBD with participation of hand-picked from the finest 20 cars in Bangladesh. After a small rally, the cars gathered together for the photoshoot of the finest lineup Bangladesh has to offer.

Grand Finale Rally #3 : July 18, 2008

All good things must come to and end! And so came the final day of the mega-event. 150+ cars gathered together for the last time during Summer Fest to create another memorable event in the Bangladeshi automobile scene.
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Traffic congestion in Dhaka eats up Tk 19,555 crore a year, a study said yesterday.

The estimated loss is more than half the country's total annual development outlay and one fourth of the revenue collection target for the current fiscal year. Two executive engineers and a transport economist of Roads and Highways Department carried out the study. The findings were revealed at a seminar on "Traffic congestion in Dhaka and its impact on business: Some remedial measures" organised jointly by Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport at the MCCI.

The study says Bangladesh would enjoy the benefits of a huge economic boost by alleviating traffic congestion in the capital, which contributes to more than 35 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) worth nearly $100 billion. It suggests that mass transit system be introduced and power be decentralised. It said the two remedial measures could save the businesses, commuters and city dwellers from financial losses and waste of their working hours.

MCCI President Anis Ud Dowla chaired the seminar, which Home Minister Sahara Khatun addressed as chief guest. The study estimates the congestion costs by analysing travel time cost, cost of excess fuel burnt, revenue loss by passenger transport operators, environmental damage and cost of traffic accidents. Of the Tk 19,555 crore (nearly $3 billion) financial loss, wasted time on the streets accounts for nearly Tk 11,896 crore followed by environmental cost Tk 2,200 crore and business loss of passenger transport and freight industries Tk 2,000 crore each.

Excess fuel (at the rate of CNG price) eats up Tk 575 crore and accidents Tk 50 crore. The study finds that about 3.2 million business hours are lost every day, which is about one hour per working people. The study identified demand and supply gap as major causes for congestion.
It says transport infrastructure supply is below the demand. Inadequate capacity of intersections, mixed traffic on same road space and operational disorder, absence of scientific traffic control, disorder in bus operations, inadequate parking space and east-west road links are fuelling the traffic jam. Home Minister Sahara Khatun admitted that traffic congestions have become a national problem. But she said it would not be resolved over night. She said the government has been working to construct five flyovers at five important intersections in the city, which she said would reduce congestion significantly.

The minister also told the meeting that the government in association with the World Bank is working on how it can introduce mass transit system and underground railway in Dhaka. Parking regulations are also being formulated, she said.
MCCI President Anis Ud Dowla said streets in Dhaka are very inadequate against the demand. He said only 6 to 7 percent area of Dhaka is for roads against the standard 25 to 30 percent. Moreover, hawkers, indiscriminate parking and illegal establishments have occupied vast areas of roads, said the MCCI president. Ainun Nishat, vice-chancellor of Brac University, said introduction of mass transit is a must. He also asked the government to be bold in taking decisions.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Shahidul Haque blamed lack of farsightedness for the present traffic problems. "The problems should have been identified 20 years ago," he remarked. Syed Rezaul Hayat, president of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and a former communications secretary, also spoke on the occasion.
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