October 2009

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Jenson Button Is The F1 World Champion!

October 19, 2009 in Cars | 1 comment

It has happened! Jenson Button is the Formula 1 World Champion and that makes two British champions in two years as well as a British constructors championship for the Brawn team in their début year. A superb drive along with a fair amount of good fortune in Brazil after a poor qualifying meant Button managed to make his way up the pack to 5th place and with Vettel only finishing one place ahead in 4th and Barrichello finishing 8th, this was enough to take the title, even with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix still to come on the 1st of November.

It was an exciting race with an eventful start that saw Button start in 14th, Raikkonen damaging his front wing after an altercation with Fisichella on the first few corners and then getting engulfed in a fireball caused by Kovalainen leaving the pits with his fuel hose still attached and then Trulli and Sutil getting into a collision and crashing out early.

The safety car came out and this allowed Hamilton a good chance to take a pit stop early on and subsequently finish third on the podium after a daring over take on Barrichello that left Barrichello’s car with a puncture and meant he dropped back to 8th overall giving Button an easy title from then on.

The celebrations were already getting well under way when the BBC were trying to interview Button, so I can only imagine how good it must have been for the Brawn team that night. I would think a lot of people will be trying to book flights to Abu Dhabi now so that they can see him get officially crowned World Champion.

A quick 90 second recap of the race from the BBC can be seen below

Random Retro Pic Of The Day

October 14, 2009 in Cars | No comments

From Graham Curry Photography

Volkswagen Advertising Campaigns

October 13, 2009 in Cars, Trucks and Vans | No comments

VW have started a new advertising campaign with a difference, it has no reference to either VW cars or vans but instead concentrates on a theory that you can change peoples behaviour by doing fun things. The project is called The Fun Theory and is an initiative of Volkswagen to try and change the way people do things by injecting an element of fun into everyday situations. They have three videos up at the moment and all three of them try to change a different part of everyday life.

The first one is the Piano Staircase, which is a staircase laid out as a piano so it makes noises when you walk up the steps. It is trying to promote the use of stairs rather than lazy and electricity chugging escalators and lifts. It makes people do more exercise and at the same time cuts out the use of electrical aids which contribute to climate change.

The second video is a Bin that has some speakers attached inside and when somebody puts some rubbish in it makes it sound like the the rubbish is falling a long way down. It is another one that helps with climate change and putting rubbish in bins rather than just throwing it on the floor.

The final video is only a teaser so far but it is a bottle bank arcade machine and it will try to promote the use of recycling centres and bottle banks.

Hillman Minx In The Big Smoke

October 12, 2009 in Cars | No comments

I think this picture just perfectly encaptures the reason why people own retro cars. I absolutely love it!

Taken from this Retro Rides thread

Jenson Button FTW?

October 12, 2009 in Cars | No comments

So with two races left in the F1 calender this year and Button only getting 1 point at Japan things are getting close. Button has 85, Barrichello has 71 and Vettel has 69, this should mean Button will have it all wrapped up at the Brazilian Grand Prix but as we al know Brits in motor racing don’t like to make it easy for themselves. Hamilton scared everyone last year when he only just managed to win in the last two corners and Damon Hill’s succession of poor starts when he won in 1996 made it difficult for himself to take what should have been a comfortable win. Button seems to be doing the same thing at the moment driving excellently during the races but having to fight his way through the grid after having poor qualifying sessions.

To wrap up the win before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Button needs to finish within 6 points of Vettel and within 4 points of Barrichello, I would really like to see him hit the Brazilian GP hard and get a good result because he does deserve to win and he does deserve a good win rather than taking it down to the line at the Abu Dhabi GP and stumbling into the title. Some people are saying he doesn’t deserve the win with a string of average races lately, but just because of his recent bad luck it doesn’t take away the fact that he has won 6 GP’s this season whereas his nearest rivals have only won 5 between them!

So I’m going to be hoping for the best possible race on the 18th and a second British champion! Come on Button!

That Datsun Z – From One Post Ago…

October 9, 2009 in Cars | 12 comments

I just found some more pics of it when I was visiting Racer86‘s Excellent blog (The guy with the amazing KP30) about the Z pics I did yesterday. The owner commented on one of the posts and subsequently this meant I could find the owners blog. So without further ado more pics!

*SPEECHLESS*

Random Retro Pic Of The Day

October 8, 2009 in Cars | 1 comment

Stance – Check

Dish – Check

Tyre fitment – Check

Arches – Check

Absoflippingamazing base car – Check

Old Skool Beetle And Bus Hire

October 7, 2009 in Cars, Trucks and Vans | 3 comments

Living down by the southcoast means I see an abundance of old VW camper vans and Beetles in the summer months with anyone from family’s to the typical surfers driving them. they’re so popular that they are available from van hire companies, so you dont even have to endure the weld-a-thon and massive scene prices to have a cool holiday in one. I’ve often thought about hiring one for a nice little get away when I cant be bothered with a tent, but it would seem you have to be at least 25 most of the time. Its not just vans that companies hire out though as a lot of them also have Beetle’s available for car hire as well, such as one company who will actually hire you a stretch beetle limo.

However the Birmingham based company, VW Funerals, dont hire their vehicles out for weddings or proms, they specialise in funerals and will rent out there cars to be used as hearses! The 1972 bay window campervan they use is actually called the type 26 Hearse and was a special conversion used by undertakers as a private ambulance and now the company use the vehicle for actual funerals. It has a full proper hearse interior for carrying the coffin and they will even put a roofrack on top to place the flowers on. With the van taking the coffin to the funeral, they also have 3 stretched beetles to transport the family and grieving behind the coffin.

It has to be the ultimate hearse for any car lover or VW enthusiast, or even just anyone who wants to stay way from the traditional black formal style.