Monthly Archives: July 2012

VW to buy Proton?

July 23, 2012   Ian

VW is said to be considering yet another bid for marginal car brand, Proton, according to industry website just-auto.com. Proton was set up basically as a vanity project by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir to demonstrate that Malaysia was a modern country. It did well at first by assembling Mitsubishi Lancers, but suffered from delusions of competence, and did more of its own engineering over the years, with the result that quality fell through the floor. UK market share has fallen from 1% in 1992 to 0.02% last year.
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House of Lords proposes fines for drivers who litter

July 22, 2012   simon

A peer in the House of Lords has proposed making it easier to fine drivers who throw litter from their cars. It is already possible for councils to fine people up to £80 for throwing litter from a car, but the driver can say it wasn’t them/ they lent their car to a friend/ it was a little green alien.
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Chris Evans’ Ferrari 328 goes for £35K

July 22, 2012   simon

The results have come in from the latest classic car auction by Barons Chris Evans’ 25,000 mile Ferrari 328 GTS went for £34,750, just below the £36,000 paid for one of the last E-Types, a 1975 Series 3 V12.

Other notable sales included a scarlet 1961 Chrysler 300G. This had been bought and restored in 1997 by Chrysler UK, who displayed it in their head office and used it for promotion and advertising. It reached £20.730. Showing the strange world of classic cars, almost the same amount (£20,720) was paid by a telephone bidder for the registration number ‘TOP 10’. Who do you reckon? Pop star, record producer or just rich wannabe?

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UK drag racer competes in the US – and she’s 13

July 22, 2012   simon

Most of us have never experienced 0-60 mph in three seconds (you don’t get that even in a Ferrari 458), and certainly not most 13-year-olds. However, Paige Wheeler, who normally races at Santa Pod, is off to Bristol Tennessee to race in the NHRA Junior Drag Racing League where she is set to take on 800 of her American and Canadian counterparts in the Eastern Conference Finals.
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Nigel Mansell backs training for young drivers

July 21, 2012   simon

With the news that 23% of drivers in the 18-24 age group have had a crash, Nigel Mansell is backing calls for driver training before people get to the age of 17. Mansell, a Member of the Commission for Global Road Safety, said: “This is a vitally important issue which doesn’t get enough attention. Too many of our young people are still being killed or injured on the roads. These are preventable tragedies.”
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