Ten things we learned this week: 16 June 2017 edition

And it’s not James Bond’s. In fact, it could be yours. This Aston Martin Vanquish S is one of ten Red Arrows editions, and while the other nine have been sold to wealthy buyers (they cost £275,000!), this one has been donated to the RAF Benevolent Fund for a raffle.

The price of a ticket? Just £20, or 0.00007 per cent of the cost of the car you’ll be winning. Supercars get no better value.

Especially when they come pre-valeted by an actual Dame. Judi Dench, as well as being a genuine national treasure, is also a big supporter of the RAF. “When they asked me to support this raffle, I just couldn’t say no,” she said. “I’ll definitely be buying a raffle ticket or two...”

Want to stop her winning it? Click here to find out how to get a ticket…

When Hull was crowned 2017 capital of culture, city chiefs imagined a real buzz around the city. And that's exactly what they've got. This week, a swarm of 20,000 bees have attacked one of the city's Nissan Jukes.

The bees arrived on Sunday, and "Chairman of the Beverley Beekeepers' Association, Chris Coulson, has been trying to lure the swarm out of the vehicle since," reports the BBC. He's warned "it could take a while" to clear them. They're clearly aware the Juke is a crossover that belongs in the B-segment.

The car's owner, Shirley Taylor, said "I did ask 'why pick on my car?' but my husband, who is a bit of a joker, said it was because of all the Bee Gees CDs in the car."

Ten Things feels it would get on well with Mr Taylor.

Short of buying a T16 Pikes Peak, there can’t be a more special Peugeot 405 you could buy. And it’s a diesel estate which requires work on “both bodywork and mechanics”.

But its history is unmatched. It’s one owner from new, having covered 415,000 miles since 1989, all on the same engine and clutch.

That owner? Richard Attwood, former F1 driver and Le Mans winner. Yep, you can trust an endurance driver to know how to look after a car’s mechanicals. Smooth inputs have seen this 405 to nearly half a million miles with a frankly piffling amount of maintenance.

Want it? The ad is here. The price? It’s not quoted, but the 405 is ‘open to offers’.

Think ‘Goodwood’ and you probably think of driving goggles, cream teas and picnic out of a wicker basket. Yes, some spangly new cars appear at the Festival of Speed. But the experience shouldn’t be overly spangly, right?

Wrong. This year, the trophy handed to the fastest man or woman on the hillclimb will be 3D printed.

It’s part of the festival’s ‘Future Lab’ installation, and the design of the trophy is being worked on by Belgian artist Nick Ervinck. The trophy will take 48 hours to ‘print’, and will be made over the weekend, ready for presentation on Sunday.

While we don’t know what it will look like, we do know it will be produced by a Stratasys J750, dubbed “the world’s first and only 3D printing solution capable of creating full colour, multi-material parts in a single print job.”

An example of the J750’s work is above. Let’s just hope the quickest driver up the Goodwood hill isn’t mistakenly presented with a big green shoe…

In the UK, Nissan is pretty restained with the Nismofication of its range. The Nismo performance makeover – a bit more power, lairier spoilers and much red detailing – is only applied to the Juke, 370Z and GT-R. Two of those are performance cars already, and the other makes a decent fist of being a hot hatch once Nismo’s had its way.

Overseas, though, there’s no filtering process. So on top of the Micra Nismo and Patrol Nismo there’s now this, the X-Trail Nismo. Yep, it’s a seven-seat Nismo with Nissan’s equivalent of the GTI or AMG badge on it.

Visually, that brings splitters, spoilers and a massive (and presumably non-functional) diffuser. Mechanically, it brings… naff all. So the maximum power on offer is 177bhp from a diesel engine. Feel like you’re missing out, or are other markets welcome to it?

Um, yes. After selling the land of its own factory in 2006 – but continuing to make cars there – Morgan’s booming sales have allowed it to buy back its own place. Which is nice.

A record year of trading has seen Morgan’s revenue shoot up 14 per cent on last year, and it’s employing more people than ever.

Dominic Riley, Morgan’s chairman, says: "Buying back the land that is the real home of Morgan is an investment for the future of the company, an investment in the future of the factory and a significant moment for everyone that's been working so hard at Morgan over the years.”

How many years? Well, Morgan has been in Malvern for over 108 years. Flippin’ heck. See the time TG took a peek around.

Yes, you’ve read about the multi-million pound car auctions. The ones where Porsche 911s sell for as much as mansions, and old racing Ferraris for the cost of, um, several mansions.

But other wheeled transport isn’t to be left out. Oh no. The classic tractor market may not be where most of the rich and famous put their money, but it’s still a thing.

Mississippi hosted the Gone Farmin’ Ron Drosselmeyer John Deere Collection auction (oh yes) last week, and the top item, a 1964 John Deere 8020, sold for 160,000 dollars. That’s as much as an Audi R8 Spyder costs in the US.

What you see here, though, is the more affordable (60,000 dollars) John Deere 620 Hi-Crop Gasoline. Doesn’t it look sweet?

Against all the odds, TG’s instincts and recent form, Alfa Romeo made a really good car in the Giulia. The small sports saloon is excellent to drive, and can be frugal and refined in everyday diesel form or an M3-walloping monster in Quadrifoglio guise. It’s pretty. It’s practical. Somehow, from nowhere, Alfa made a genuine BMW 3 Series, Jaguar XE and Audi A4 rival.

However, buyers don’t change their habits – or attitudes – overnight, and that’s showed up by the Giulia’s current sales. From May 2016, when the car was launched, to April 2017, Alfa only sold 18,908 Giulias in all of Europe. That’s a fraction of what the big guns churn out, and it’s the same story in the USA, where only 1,608 Giulias found homes in the first four months of 2017.

Alfa’s depending on the Stelvio SUV to prop up its sales now. It’s also a good car, we can confirm. Will anyone be brave enough to notice? We hope so.

Allow us to explain. With rumours swirling of Apple building some sort of Tesla-beating ‘iCar’, you’ll find many wild approximations online of what an Apple car could look like. Most are white minimalistic boxes like an early iPod with wheels. Well, this week Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, dropped a hint that such predictions are barking up the wrong tree.

Yes, Apple has applied for permits to test-drive autonomous cars on public highways, but Apple itself will provide the technology and systems to facilitate a robotic car, rather than getting bogged down in actual car manufacture. When a light cluster or windscreen seal can cost millions to develop, the world’s most valuable company knows that it’s better to concentrate on the systems instead of the hardware. So, want to know what an Apple-developed car will look like? Just look out the window – it could soon be in just about everything.