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Top Gear

Top Gear enters Season 15 with “decade’s greatest” title

Top Gear - Bolivia special

UPDATE 7 June: The boys will be back on UK screens from 27 June.

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Top Gear, fresh off the back of its fourteenth season, has just been named the “Greatest TV Show of the Noughties”. This news is the culmination of a poll run by Channel 4 in the UK, the results of which will air on British television screens next week.

Richard Hammond, one of Top Gear‘s star trio, said, “I could never say what the reason is for Top Gear doing so well since we started it, but I think there’s always a sense that we’d still be doing it even if the cameras weren’t here and that makes it real.”

Of course, BBC2 first broadcast the original format of Top Gear back in the late 1970s. However, while it enjoyed a stellar run of some 24 years, at the start of the 2000s the show was cancelled. This paved the way for the emergence of Fifth Gear on Channel Five. But it wasn’t long until the BBC relaunched Top Gear with the current format running since 2002.

Series 14 has attracted some criticism and the program’s long time Executive Producer, Andy Wilman, felt the need defend the show’s direction posting comments on the Top Gear website.

Going into Series 15, then, Top Gear faces its toughest test in some time. Will the baggage of the decade’s greatest title add to the burden of recent criticism, or will it spur the production team on to bigger and better things? While I do think Top Gear will finish before it makes a twentieth season, I do expect that Season 15 will rectify some of the wrongs committed in recent series. Wilman and his trusty trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are no mugs, they will put things right.

We shall find out later this year when Season 15 goes to air. If it wasn’t for the 2010 FIFA World Cup I would nominate 19 June as the premiere date, however, the football may mean an early start in May with a hiatus before recommencing in July. This is what BBC did with Season 8 so as to avoid clashing with Germany 2006.

[Source: The Press Association]

Categories
Bugatti

Holy outlandish Veyron rendering Batman!

Bugatti Renaissance rendering

The images you see here are the work of John Mark Vicente, a recent Communication Design graduate at the Emily Carr University in Canada. Using a Bugatti Veyron as a base Vicente has penned a creation that would sit very nicely in the Batcave.

The exercise formed part of the student’s university work and as an exercise in pushing the boundaries with the freedom tertiary study offers I think John Mark has done a great job. Over at evo they are not so sure, though.

The Veyron was recently awarded a “Car of the Decade” title in the Top Gear Season 14 finale. So, what do you think, is this an improvement on the original, or did John Mark fail?

One thing is sure, the name John Mark Vicente is now a lot more well known that it was before these renderings were released!

[Source: evo]

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Top Gear

Shark attack!

Top Gear live

A new Top Gear Live world tour is about to dock in Australia and Jeremy Bass, for one, is not looking forward to its arrival and has accused the format of jumping the shark.

In a preview of the tour for the Sydney Morning Herald Bass starts, “This year, one of television’s best-loved institutions will acknowledge itself as one of television’s best loved institutions and proceed to crush itself under the weight of its own self-regard.”

Acknowledging the success of BBC TV’s television jewel Bass claims the gold mining on the back of such strong ratings is a sign Top Gear is falling from it’s zenith, “There, perhaps, lies the threshold at which great stuff like Top Gear first tips its nose downward: the moment they replace audiences with ”fans”. Once that happens, it’s fait accompli things will climax, and go limp. All that’s left is shark-jumping.”

Pushing the point further, Jeremy Bass said, “A motoring program that turns into an all-singing, all-dancing live arena show is clearly approaching the peak of its torque curve. Where to from there?”

Certainly the 2009 world tour didn’t reach the expected highs, as the AUSmotive review reported, so perhaps Bass does have a point. After attending last year’s show, I know I’m in no rush to go out and buy tickets. How about you, are you planning on going to Top Gear Live when it comes to Sydney in February?

[Source: Sydney Morning Herald | Thanks to Mick for the tip]

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Audi BMW Holden Mazda Mitsubishi Subaru Suzuki Toyota VFACTS reports Volkswagen Volvo

New vehicle sales report – December 2009

FCAI banner

According to official VFACTS figures released earlier today new vehicle sales in Australia for 2009 reached 937,328, an overall drop of 7.4% compared to 2008.

November’s cracking results showed the motor industry was well on the way to financial recovery and  December followed suit registering 88,708 sales. Which sets a new record for the month.

FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar acknowledged the role of the Federal Government’s tax incentives for businesses in returning better than expected yearly figures, “The final outcome for the year has surpassed the industry’s original expectations by some 57,000 vehicles and a significant proportion of this additional volume can be attributed to the tax break.”

Toyota (200,191), Holden (119,658) and Ford (96,501) were the top three selling marques. Toyota’s stranglehold on top spot looks very secure, despite the highest selling car in Australia for 2009 being the Holden Commodore (44,387). The Corolla (39,013) and HiLux (38,457) rounded out the top three selling models nationwide.

Other notable performers were Audi, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen. But it seems most manufacturers have a positive spin to sell and a raft of press releases to that affect follow this article.

Audi, intent on chasing BMW for the top selling prestige marque, concluded 2009 with their fifth year of growth. Impressively, the German brand bettered last year’s record by over 20% while recording 11,310 sales. A perfect end to the local career of Audi Australia’s managing director, Joerg Hofmann. The hard task master will be returning home to Germany at the end of this month—see carsales interview from December 2009.

Mitsubishi have put the corpse of the Magna well behind it, achieving best ever annual sales for the Lancer (21,362) and Triton (18,182).

Volkswagen improved on its 2008 record year by selling over 30,000 vehicles for the first time under the Volkswagen Group Australia banner.

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Saab

If at first you don’t succeed – try, try, again

Spyker logo

Just before Christmas news emerged of a revised bid from niche Dutch car manufacturer Spyker to buy Saab. Supposedly the GM heavies didn’t really care much for the toys left in their Christmas stockings by Spyker and the second bid was also turned away.

However, like a determined kid who wants to get their way, it is understood that Spyker is trying to flog a dead horse one more time.

GM have set a deadline for Saab takeover bids which expires in a couple of days. Saab reckon there’s potentially more than one party ready to take on the Swedish brand, too. So far, though, Spyker are the only known bidders. I guess more will be revealed by the end of the week.

[Source: Reuters]

Categories
Audi

Kept in the scoop?

Audi S1 rendering

A quick scan of twitter earlier today saw this Autocar tweet grab my attention, “Audi fancies taking on Mini its new S1 – and we’ve got the scoop”

Now, I don’t want to diss Autocar‘s usually excellent work, but when they said “scoop” I must admit I did get a bit excited, what would their article reveal?

Well, not much, it has to be said. They say the S1 will be a rival for the MINI Cooper S. Yep, agreed. They say the S1 will be powered by a 180hp 1.4 litre engine. Yep, even Auto Express looks to have got that right almost one year ago to the day. Word of the S1 using a 7 speed S tronic transmission is hardly new, either.

The only point of contention is their claim the S1 will be powered by the front wheels only. And even this is not new, with contradicting speculation already well discussed in regards to the S1 and quattro.

So, where is this scoop? What have I missed? To be fair, there is a bit of info in regards to the broader A1 range (due for public reveal in a few months at Geneva), as well as the news the S1 will be revealed at the Paris Motor Show in 2011, before sales commence later that year.

Anyway, an Audi S badged car without quattro, is that brand suicide, or just a bit “meh”?

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Volvo

VIDEO: 2010 Volvo S60

2010 Volvo S60

Late last year Volvo released a couple of still images of their new S60 saloon, which closely resembled the S60 Concept. Over the new year Volvo released a teaser video of the S60, first to subscribers on Facebook, then to the broader public on YouTube. You can see the clip in full after the jump.

The S60 further pushes Volvo away from their once familiar boxy styling. With curves aplenty the S60 cuts a nice profile, but overall judgment might be best left until seeing the car for real.

Volvo’s 3 Series/A4 rival will be making its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March. S60 production will commence in the middle of the year at the Volvo Cars’ plant in Ghent, Belgium. Australian deliveries are scheduled for late 2010.

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BMW Past master

Past master: BMW 700 – Der wagen mit profil

BMW 700

A couple of weeks ago I came across the rather quaint advertisement above for the BMW 700. What started as an idea to post up a simple ad with a paragraph or two has taken me on a journey of discovery for the BMW 700. I have found some great historic photo and video material, along with an extensive press release from BMW, celebrating the car’s 50th anniversary.

Despite the 1960s advertising claims, the BMW 700 is the lowest profile car featured in AUSmotive’s Past master series, but it is perhaps one of the most important, at least as far as BMW is concerned anyway.

First, some more about this little car that could. The 700 was built from 1959–1965 with over 190,000 units sold by the end of production. The two door Coupé was derived from the unsuccessful 600 model. It was the first production BMW to utilise a monocoque chassis construction. The 700, as it’s name suggests, was powered by a 700cc engine (697cc to be precise), but that’s where the normal convention ends. By today’s standards the small car took the unconventional format of fitting the engine in the rear of the car and, more unconventionally, the engine was a boxer-style two cylinder unit.

The 700 Saloon and Coupé made their debut at the 1959 Frankfurt Motor Show and at launch the engine produced 30 horsepower. The Coupé version was capable of powering the car to 100km/h in 30 seconds, before reaching a top speed of 125km/h. That sounds almost amusing by current performance expectations, but in 1959 it was setting new benchmarks. Here’s what one motoring journo said at the time, “You have the feeling that you’re sitting in a car with genuine sporting values, but without the rather harsh ride and limited space so typical of most sports cars.”

The 700 was an immediate success for BMW and it helped steer the company away from financial trouble, starting a new era of prosperity. In 1960, waiting lists for the car had blown out to several months, but BMW still sold 35,000 examples. This accounted for 58% of the annual revenue.

BMW used the 700 to provide sporting success, too, by making a roadster style 700RS model. It is a stunning looking car. With a tubular space frame and an aluminium body the RS model had 70 horsepower. Again, not big numbers, but with the car itself weighing just 600kg and top speeds approaching 200km/h it’s no surprise to read the car achieved notable results, including the 1961 German Circuit Championship for Walter Schnieder. Hans Stuck, father of Hans-Joachim Stuck, also won the 1960 German Hillclimb Championship in a 700 RS.

In 1962 BMW extended the wheel base by 32cm to make the 700 LS. Indeed, my first experience of the BMW 700 was at the 2008 German Autofest in Canberra where a 700 LS Luxus won best in show, you can see some pics of this car at the end of this article.

A series of fantastic period advertisements for the car can be seen after the jump, along with a number of images, all accessible in wallpaper-friendly sizing by clicking on the pics you like. More on the BMW 700 can be found at BMW700.net (not accessible with Firefox, use Explorer on PC or Safari on Mac OS). Enjoy!

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Categories
Video

VIDEO: “Man has flown a car”

Travis Pastrana sets new world record car jump - 269 feet

US motorsport ace Travis Pastrana has kicked off 2010 with a massive, massive jump in his Subaru rally car. The official distance measured was 269 feet (82 metres), which is a new world record for a car jump. The previous best was a comparatively piddly 171 feet (52 metres) held by Ken Block.

Pastrana’s stunt was part of the Red Bull No Limits new years eve celebrations at Rainbow Harbour in Long Beach, California. As if the jump itself wasn’t scary enough, the Red Bull team added to the drama by having Travis jump from a Pine Street Pier while landing on a purpose built barge in the middle of the water. Sounds okay in theory, but the run off for the landing was, well, just a bit too short as the footage shows.

You can see the jump in full below, along with numerous replays from varying angles. Also included is some footage of Pastrana’s practice attempts. Thankfully the final jump went better than the practice effort! For good measure Ken Block’s old record leap is also available.

Never before has it been more appropriate to say, take the jump, and watch the videos.

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Categories
Audi Mercedes-Benz

Audi and Benz differ on tariff savings

Audi A5 Sportback

From today the Federal Government has dropped the tariff import duty on cars by 5 per cent. Audi has joined other manufacturers in passing on this saving direct to the consumer. That means the A5 Sportback you see above, which is due in Australia early this year, is already discounted. Well, kind of.

While many manufacturers have chosen to pass on the saving to the bottom line, Mercedes-Benz will be keeping their 2009 prices, but offering more options as standard kit to help sweeten the deal.

Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Australia, Mr Horst von Sanden says that’s what Benz buyers want, “Our customers have told us that they prefer increases in equipment levels over any short-term price reductions or resale-damaging discounting.”

Categories
Mercedes-Benz Video

Rendezvous? S’il vous plait!

Hollywood car guy Jay Leno has attempted one of the biggest car movie heists of all time. In this video The fast and the famous Leno says he was inspired by the iconic 1976 Claude Lelouch short film C’était un rendez-vous, better known simply as Rendezvous—a 9 minute wonder filmed, in one take, on the streets of Paris.

Readers who can’t remember Mike Gibson in a woollen sweater hosting Channel Nine’s Wide World of Sports may not know this movie (they used to play the short film regularly during the show’s heyday in the 1980s). If you haven’t seen Rendezvous try and track down a copy, it is very, very good.

Back to Leno’s effort. If he was trying to recreate Rendezvous he failed, this clip doesn’t get anywhere near matching the excitement of the original. But, to be fair he doesn’t make that claim. He states his belief that every city has a hidden racetrack inside and he reckons Los Angeles has a cracker of a street circuit. In this film he takes us on that route, which takes in Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Drive and Coldwater Canyon Drive.

Perhaps Leno’s biggest faux pas is comparing this route to the Nürburgring Nordschleife. As much as Jay might like his city circuit—no, just no!

One aspect in which Leno does improve on the original Rendezvous film is by having the car matched to its soundtrack. The car Leno drives around his street track is the Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS Gullwing, and the noise it makes is, quite simply, divine.

For me, some of the magic of Rendezvous was lost when I discovered the camera car was a Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL with the audio soundtrack of a Ferrari 275GTB overdubbed. Sure, such tricks are used in movie making all the time, but the Paris classic was presented as a one take hit that was raw and exhilarating. For mine, audio trickery spoils the moment.

You can read more about The fast and the famous at Motor Trend. There is also a “making of” clip available after the jump.

[Thanks to Avril for the tip]

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Categories
Formula 1

USF1 launches new website

USF1 launches new website

News of USF1’s emergence first broke in February. Since then, not a lot has been said by Peter Windsor, Ken Anderson and their team. All around them the other new F1 teams have been announcing all sorts of goings on, including driver lineups and new sponsors. USF1, though, are keeping things very close to their chests.

On Christmas Day USF1 did flick the switch on a new website. But not much else (well, except for a new toaster, according to some internet wag). However, according to Peter Windsor’s blog that’s all about to change, “Now, though, the New Year is upon us. US F1 Team will be racing in 2010 and so it is now precisely the time to share with you our life on the global stage,” states USF1 Sporting Director, Peter Windsor.

Recently Bernie Eccelstone mused that USF1 wouldn’t make the grid for the opening race of 2010 in Bahrain. Of course, such suggestions were quickly rebuffed by Windsor. Speaking to BBC Sport Windsor said, “We will be there. We’re in good shape. Everything is going well and we are looking forward to the year. We’ve just finished the chassis and are now in the hands of Cosworth.”

An announcement on the team’s driver pairing is expected before the end of January.

To find out more on USF1’s progress check out their website and the three YouTube clips below. The first one is a generic clip showing chassis development, the other two clips feature Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson. Even though it only runs for 70 seconds, I implore you not to fall asleep during Anderson’s chat.

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