The British actor more commonly known as Mr Bean has crashed his purple McLaren F1. The R7.5 million supercar spun several times, smashed into a tree and ploughed into a road sign before catching fire on the opposite side of the road. This isn’t the first time he’s had an incident while driving his purple passion either.
I think it’s incredibly easy to forget that we are living through one of the great technological revolutions in human history. And the car is of course well and truly part of that revolution. Yesterday I sampled what might be one of the most advanced cars on the road today, and to be honest, I’m not sold.
GM’s Electric Networked-Vehicle (EN-V), the pod-shaped hands-free electric vehicle unveiled last year, is set for release soon. Confined to metropolitan areas, we should be able to live out our Jetsons inspired fantasies a little sooner than we’d planned, once GPS technology catches up a little.
What I love most about touring car championships is that they germinated the idea of the basic pocket rocket in the public mind. Think of the glory days of British touring car championships – would they have been the same without the plucky Mark II Mini bouncing about the track, holding its own against magnificent Jaguars and brutal American Ford Mustangs? Would our idea of a fun hatchback be the same if it wasn’t for touring car championships?
The Caprice handicap zone supercar parking ticket Venus fly trap..
One of the reasons I love driving cars from all over the world is that I wrongly or rightly approach the vehicle with the stereotype of the people who made it clouding my judgement. It’s fun. And with the French, there is a veritable cheese platter of character traits from which to choose.
There are two aspects to this video. The first is very obvious: girls chose to wash Russian-made cars in bikinis for Vladimir Putin, as the headline suggests. And the other is the awkward on air moment between the two television news presenters that happens after they cover the story.
The pictures you are about to see involve an accident caused by a person in Monte Carlo. This person collided a Bentley with a Mercedes, Ferrari, Porsche AND an Aston Martin – resulting in total damages of R7.6m.
Bakkies might be sneakily becoming the new SUVs of our day. They come under a lot less GreenPeace-fire than big luxury 4x4s, and rightly so. They’ve got great diesel engines which are not only powerful but incredibly frugal to boot, and because the load bay is lined with melted rubber instead of the wool of rare sheep, you don’t mind getting it a bit dirty. I just can’t decide if this is a good thing.
I was chatting about this with a good acquaintance last night who used to own a Mercedes AMG, and had since toned his taste down a bit because he had had a massive crash and didn’t want to own fast cars anymore. He said he’d kill himself yadda yadda. That logic is ridiculous, and I told him so.
At the risk of sounding like a complete kill-joy, I just need to clear this up. I don’t mind a quick flurry on a console every once in a while, but I just can’t stand it when it’s referred to as driving or driving simulation. It’s like saying a war game is war simulation. I imagine if you asked anybody who’s actually been in a war what they think of Call of Duty 4, they will tell you to politely sod off. I imagine if you ask a racing driver what he thinks of Need For Speed 13, he will say the same thing.
A Dutch TV show looking for the “worst driver in the Netherlands” has found a clear winner. During filming of the last episode, this guy had to accelerate up to speed, apply the brake and swerve to miss a giant obstacle. Instead of breaking, he opted for accelerating – ploughing into the camera crew set up, hitting two people, including the host, and one parked car.
In their never-ending pursuit to find nuts, squirrels can sometimes forget to look left and right before crossing the road. The end result of this is not always nice, trust me, I work in Stellenbosch and see this daily. But check out this cheeky bugger – attempting to outrun a Lamborghini LP670-4 SV going at 160km per hour. That’s bold!
Like a hipster to a Sunday clothing market at an art-house cinema, many, many car enthusiasts are drawn to the vintage car market. It’s a wonderful place. Searching for that rare MG convertible, finding an example that still goes and stops without endangering your life, and taking it home to care for it and love it for the rest of your days is… The worst idea you will ever have. And I’ll tell you why. Vintage cars are shit.
You guys remember that VW commercial that ran during the Superbowl with a tiny Darth Vader? Well, Greenpeace does. And they’ve made a spoof follow-up in an effort to call attention to the automaker’s environmental record. Liberal media sentiments aside, it’s cute – click through for a tiny Vader and a Message About The Environment.
Every person’s first car must be utterly terrible and must visit all manner of misfortunes and financially painful incidents. This is the way of things. How life should be. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that “thus sayeth the Lord”, because they finished that particular book some 1500 years before Gottlieb Daimler’s horseless carriages. I’m happy then to say that my first car is utterly woeful. [Follow link to read the full column]
We’re all mildly fanatical about the modern day motor vehicle over here at the 2oceansVibe compound. Some of us drive Mini Countrymans. Others are lucky enough to sport Fiat Unos. Actually, it’s convenient that I mentioned the Fiat Uno, because this next clip features a car that travels only slightly slower than your average City […]
VW are proposing a new technology that will allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel at speeds up to around 130km/h, and let the car’s system temporarily take over. Look, it isn’t exactly Knight Rider, but it’s good that VW’s looking after people who want to multitask while cruising down highways.
Ryan Dunn of Jackass fame’s death this week has been highly controversial and the subject of much debate worldwide – not because he was a famous stuntman, but because of the circumstances surrounding his death. After much speculation, the results of a post-mortem report have revealed that he was double the legal limit and was […]
Where on this magnificent earth can you participate in a charity day that involves firing whatever large gun you happen to own at a relatively new Porsche 911? The US of A, that’s where. Massachusetts to be precise. Two videos and pictures of the carnage after the jump.
I am concerned. There’s an alarming trend that I’ve noticed, and it’s all getting a bit out of control. Every new generation of vehicles emerges fatter than the last. I drove a new Opel Astra last month which barely scraped into my garage. An Astra. It’s hardly a monster truck. Yet every new property development I’ve encountered is essentially a maze of shoeboxes. Are we forgetting the ultimate luxury?
This sensational video captures a stolen Team Japspeed Subaru Imprezza weaving between traffic on London’s M25 motorway. The Imprezza was stolen by thieves after being put on display at the Santa Pod Raceway, who managed to find a way of starting the engine, despite it being disabled by engineers.
An accident has left a woman in a critical condition after musician and Idols presenter ProVerb, whose real name is Tebogo Thekisho, knocked her over on Wednesday morning while driving home from his early morning show on a local radio station. Details of the cause of the accident are yet to emerge.
Look, I’m no expert here, on either subject, but it’s my job to talk about cars. It’s safe to say I may have bored a few people over the years, so I’ve put together a handy guide to avoiding that. As a car enthusiast, or petrol-head if you must, you will have to talk about the object of your desires with the women you desire. Don’t cock it up.
MINI SA has finally announced the imminent arrival of the all-new MINI Coupé! And my God this thing is beautiful! Check it out… “MINI is expanding its product family with the launch of a model geared squarely to maximising driving fun. The MINI Coupé indulges the keen driver with a level of agility unmatched in […]
One of the many perks of writing is the freedom to grace an article with the headline it deserves. Many media outlets have covered this story, but nobody has called it what it is. Every single one of us who buys a new car in South Africa today is being screwed. It’s called a Green […]
It has been confirmed that the Hawks and the South African Revenue Services have raided the home of the controversial Durban tycoon Sbu Mpisane and his wife Shaun on Wednesday morning. You’ll know the guy that I’m speaking about. The dude who’s wife bought him a Maserati GranCabrio for his 40th recently.
The moment was like that of a bedraggled and thirsty bandito stumbling across a well in the middle of the Mexican desert. Or Henry Stanley finally finding Dr. David Livingstone. It was catharsis. It was all I could do to stop myself from sinking to my feet and sobbing gently, right there on the sidewalk of 14th Street. I was standing in front of a bona-fide, American issue 2010 Chevy Camaro SS. Click link for rest of article.
In my humble opinion, Formula One is a sport unparalleled in prestige, tradition, wealth, gamesmanship, sportsmanship and simple, old fashioned bravado. Sure, it’s had its low moments over the years, but name me a sport which hasn’t. The thing is, all this doesn’t automatically mean good entertainment. However in 2011, they really have got it right. Here’s why.
A car launch is a wonderful thing, and I do my utmost to appreciate every aspect of it. The flights, the airport lounges, the car itself, the expensive hotel, the expensive food, and then all of that repeated on day two. And every now and then a manufacturer will just fire the accountant and go nuts. Which, I imagine, is exactly what I’ve just experienced on the national launch of the BMW 6-Series Convertible.