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Ten things we learned this week: 2 September 2016 edition
A music star pimps a Tesla and a DB11 Shooting Brake: seven days of car madness
Will.i.am modified a Tesla. It isn’t subtle
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Do you have taste? If so, look away now.
The monstrosity in the video above allegedly belongs to musician and producer Will.i.am, who left the modified Tesla Model S parked on a street in Beverley Hills a few days ago.
Presumably the work of Mr .am’s customisation brand IAmAuto, the revamp does away with the swooping lines of the Model S and replaces them with air intakes. Lots and lots of air intakes.
Each to their own...
Image credit: effspot
Advertisement - Page continues belowSomeone designed a DB11 Shooting Brake
Now this is how you modify an existing car. X-Tomi Design has brilliantly reimagined the DB11 as a Shooting Brake, and the outcome is pretty exquisite.
Aston Martin’s newest model was hardly short on looks before, but there’s something about the extended bodywork that, together with the front end, just sort of... fits.
Sadly, the British carmaker won’t be able to wedge a Shooting Brake into its intensive programme, even if it wanted to: over the next few years they’ll be busy redeveloping their entire lineup, and the AM-RB 001 won’t exactly be a part-time project either.
You’ll just have to make do with the GTC4Lusso, for now.
Image credit: X-Tomi Design
Aussie drivers have invented the ‘shoey’
Podium celebrations in Formula One have been stale for some time now. Three drivers, some trophies, a national anthem, then some champagne. Yawn.
Luckily, F1 has Daniel Ricciardo to liven things up a bit. The 27-year-old celebrated his second place at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend by performing a ‘shoey’, which involves drinking champagne from a well-used (and presumably very sweaty) race boot. Eew.
Former Red Bull driver Mark Webber was on hand to conduct the post-race interviews with the top three drivers, so naturally he was pressured into taking part as well. Apparently he said afterwards that the experience was “not very nice”.
The shoey supposedly has its roots in V8 Ute racing where Ryan Harris pioneered the move, quickly followed by David Reynolds in Supercars and Jack Miller at the Assen TT. Strewth!
Advertisement - Page continues belowNissan has given Uber 20 LEAFs to use in London
‘Why?’ we hear you ask. Well, Nissan and Uber have teamed up with the Energy Savings Trust to investigate how feasible it would be to run a large fleet of private hire EV cars in the UK’s capital.
The study will look at passengers’ experience, driving patterns and the economics of running an electric car as a taxi, and will also assess how well equipped London is to sustain such a service.
It comes at a time when the city’s residents are becoming increasingly aware of the health risks associated with poor air quality.
“We are determined to use technology to help tackle the challenge of air pollution in London and across the UK,” said Uber’s Jo Bertram. “With electric vehicles - and more people sharing their journey and leaving their own cars at home - there's even more we can do.”
Fiat 500 Lego could become a reality
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Pretty much everything in existence has been recreated using Lego. Except, it seems, for the Fiat 500, which has somehow slipped under the radar.
No longer. A collaboration between Lego enthusiasts gabriele.zannotti and saabfan has resulted in the above proposal on the Lego Ideas page, which allows users to submit suggestion for new Lego products.
According to their description, the main features include a functioning sun-roof, moveable pedals and a “detailed trunk with spare wheel, fuel tank, car jack and a toolbox”.
There’s no guarantee that Lego will put the Fiat 500 model into production, although they’ll be forced to consider it if it receives enough support from the general public.
Get voting!
With great drifting comes great responsibility
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Ever managed to nail that perfect drift? Tail out with a flick of the wheel, beautiful arc as the car swings round a corner, barely a wobble as you regain traction? The stuff of dreams.
This however is the stuff of nightmares. Video footage uploaded to YouTube shows a BMW 4 Series parked in a driveway somewhere in the US (the flag is a giveaway), when out of nowhere a Toyota Camry slides off the nearby road and ploughs nose first into a garage door.
How it managed to avoid both oncoming traffic and the parked BMW we will never know, and quite how it got itself into that position in the first place also remains a mystery.
Karting and paintball were meant to be together
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Racing driver Lucas Di Grassi posted a video on Monday of his experience combining paintballing and karting, and by the looks of it a merger between the two sports can only be just around the corner.
Struggling with grip? Defend your position with a blast of cover fire. Don’t like the way you were blocked on the straight? Spray the offending driver’s visor with paint so he can’t see.
If F1 is serious about improving its spectacle...
Advertisement - Page continues belowDS has introduced a new ‘Performance Line’
Ooh. Does this mean they’re offering a brand new range of cars with more power, more torque and more, um, performance?
Not exactly. The ‘DS Performance Line’ is a new trim level which will be available to customers from 1 October onwards. DS are indeed offering a broad range of “refined and efficient engines”, although most of the announcement included information about different colours and quality leather.
All of their cars can be specced with a selection of palettes (seven on the DS 3, six on the DS 4 and five on the DS 5) together with a contrasting black roof. Large gloss black alloys will feature the DS logo set against a red background to “add exclusivity” and the manufacturer’s signature colours of Carmine Red, White and Gold will be found on key components like the mirrors and the rear spoiler.
According to DS’s Éric Apode: “The ‘DS Performance Line’ offers all the fundamental ingredients of a Grand Tourer, namely style and driving pleasure.”
0.008 seconds is the difference between winning and losing
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There’s a fine line between victory and defeat. At the Texas Motor Speedway last Sunday, that line was just eight thousandths of a second long.
The gap between race winner Graham Rahal and runner-up James Hinchliffe at the rescheduled Firestone 600 made it the fifth closest finish in IndyCar history, and was made possible by a safety car period bunching up the pack with ten laps remaining.
Rahal raised his arm to celebrate as he crossed the line, unaware that Hinchliffe had come within millimetres of snatching back the win.
Definitely one to add to TG’s non-definitive list of closest motor racing finishes.
Advertisement - Page continues belowPunching a car gets you nine weeks in prison
That’s the lesson from a recent case in Leicester, where 37-year-old Michael McCabe pleaded guilty to racially aggravated criminal damage and two additional counts of criminal damage.
Mr McCabe was caught damaging cars near Burleys Way last month, and bizarrely clambered onto a moving vehicle which he began punching as the driver attempted to pull away.
Also convicted of two assaults, which occurred a handful of days later, the man admitted in custody that he had drunk one and a half litres of vodka and beer prior to the incident.
Image credit: Amy Woodfield
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