September 2009

Everybodys favourite (*Cough*) eco friendly car has been given a tune up recently by famous Japanese tuner Tommy Kaira. No info is around on the car yet just a couple of pictures, nobody even knows if its actually been made to go faster or not. I kind of hope the tuning stays in with the eco theme though, it would be pretty pointless to make it go faster or do an engine swap. The engine and its climate change friendly image are the only good thing the car has going for it, its certainly not popular because of its looks. So if they take away that part of it, you will just be left with another ugly normal car that someone has stuck a bodykit on. Anyway here are the pictures, I’m still not convinced, Its just a damn ugly car and I dont think much will be able to help it out.

[via Pistonheads]

If you missed the Formula 1 on sunday in Singapore it went a bit like this:

Button messed up qualifying but managed to race well and end up with a  respectable 5th place after some amazing racing.

Hamilton got pole and from then on had the race all sewn up.

Mark Webber crashed

Barrichello lost valuable points by coming in 6th behind Button

Vettel was doing oh so well until he got a pit-lane speeding infringement.

This means then that the current drivers leader board has Button in the lead with 84 points but Barrichello is still very much in with a chance with 69 points. With 3 races left it could come down to an epic battle at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix because Button needs to win at Suzuka on the 4th October so that he has an easier job at Sao Paulo, which is of course the Brazilian Grand Prix and Barrichello’s home turf.

Then it just comes down to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which should hopefully be finished!

To watch the best bits of the race in 90 seconds watch this BBC video. If only the whole race was this exciting eh!

This is an opinion divider for sure.  An aircooled Type 3 chassis with a Mk3 Golf body shell plonked on top of it. Built by the continually amazing Type 2 Detectives, It has awesome lows, uber tuck and a lush air cooled soundtrack. Some people say it is just a bit of fun, some say innovative and an excellent show of skilled building while others just say its taken the worst parts of two cars and put them together to create something awful.

What do you think? I’m undecided although purely from an aestetics POV it does look awesome next to its aircooled ‘sister’

Some people must like it because its already won a fair few awards….

Yes so I did promise you that I would say about Audi’s new eco friendly electric car a while back on the electricity untamed and the electric Audi R8 posts and yes I do realise the Show was a while ago now and I still haven’t said anything about it.

Well I can now bring you pictures and news about what electrical Audi goodness they unleashed on the motoring world at Frankfurt 2009. The R8 based concept called the e-tron has four electric motors and pushes out a fairly poor 313 hp but a fairly amazing 3,319 lb-ft which should do a pretty swift 4.8 o-60mph time but the astonishing amount of torque means it can do 37 – 75 mph in just 4.1 seconds! It is still a concept however and Audi realise that the idea is still not a viable way to combat against climate change just yet but it is working towards greener motoring and that is always a good thing. Anyway who says it has to be all about eco when electric motors can get power figures like that! It seems to me to be a pretty decent way to have a stupidly fast car without the stupidly low MPG ratings, now all they have to do is make the battery’s last a sufficient amount of time and new cars could start to dramatically change….

More info on the Audi e-tron can be found in the link.

It does look pretty awesome though and they have obviously gone for a futuristic look with it. The rear window bit which is just all chrome and the wheels are pretty awful.

Jeremy Clarkson is known for his attention seeking stunts and controversy baiting ways, whether it is annoying certain owners clubs by dropping pianos on cars, saying all truck drivers are rapists or calling people concerned about the environment such as ramblers ‘urban communists’ he has offended almost everyone at some point or another. It is part of his appeal to many but also his major downfall to others. I think James May is the only like-able person in the media that represents the car enthusiast at  the moment, It definitely isn’t James Martin that’s for sure.

It would seem some climate change protesters calling themselves ‘The Climate Rush’ have done a rather brilliant protest/prank back at him recently by dumping a load of manure on his front garden.

I cant say I agree with their views completely and some of the things they are doing are a bit daft but, I had a giggle at this and if Jeremy Clarkson can take a joke as well as he gives them I would imagine he laughed as well and then enjoyed the free fertiliser they gave him. I don’t think they have anything massively against Jeremy from what I can see and the fact they told press they did a silly stunt because of his history of them and his blasé attitude towards climate change. I think it was more of a publicity stunt for some eco tour they’re about to embark on. A publicity stunt that worked pretty well I might add. I’m sure a lot of people want to do far worse to him than just give him some poo.

Colin McRae (RIP) is THE rally driver and sadly we will no longer get to see him race or drive ever again.  He built up a huge industry around himself and people all over loved him, none more so than the scene’s new golden boy Ken Block. He was on Colin’s team when he competed in the X Games and now he has taken over the role of driving consultant on the new Colin McRae Dirt 2 video game. It would seem he also shares the same love of old skool Fords as well because he has a new video out showing him ripping around in a fully prepped MK2 Escort, which Colin also loved to drive and often took part in different events in his own Escort.

Ken Block forgo’s the regular flashy editing and stunts in this video and just has some fun driving an awesome car in some woods. I think the smiles say it all.

So say hello to the new Colin McRae, Ken Block