Ten things we learned this week: 21 October 2016 edition

As if occasionally warring with the press and teammate Nico isn’t enough, Lewis will be in the next Call of Duty game. Um, right.

He will play an engineer in ‘Infinite Warfare’, which comes out in a couple of weeks. “The experience of being put into the game - from the facial scanning process to working with the team on the performance capture stage and just being able to meet the developers at the studio to get a glimpse at all the hard work that goes into the game - this has been an incredible experience,” the current F1 champ said.

As the F1 season nears its end, at least he can’t be accused of not having his game face on.

The future king of England, clearly having outgrown his fettled Caterham Seven, is looking for a rather more serious car to take on the trackdays he enjoys so regularly.

We jest. Probably. For the Duke of Cambridge, aka Prince William was having a nosey around the Mono as part of a visit to the University of Manchester alongside wife Kate. BAC’s bosses were particularly keen to show him the new lightweight graphene material being used on the single-seater circuit special.

There’s no roof or windows either, of course. Perfect for getting the wind in your heir…

Or something. Proof that Ten Things is too old for this world landed this week when, ahead of her performance at this weekend’s US Grand Prix, Mobil 1 (alongside ‘visual composer’ Tim Holmes) designed a Formula 1 car dedicated to the professional song-singer.

A number of its decals reference song titles, the year of her birth and, um, the fact she quite likes cats. Clutching at straws by that stage, surely.

If you want actual facts, rather than confused cynicism, then know this: Tay Tay’s performance to 100,000 F1 fans will be her biggest career performance to date. That still doesn’t help us compute the picture above, though. Sorry.

Upside down ne’er-do-wells and misbehaving kangaroos, look over your shoulder: Australian police have got their hands on an Audi S7.

New South Wales police has the 444bhp V8 Sportback, and it will be put to use in the Lake Illawarra area, replacing an RS4. Residents of Windang, watch out.

Though it appears it’s not actually a scary patrol car, its main role being “community and youth engagement”. As such, its livery was picked by Facebook fans of Audi Australia. Given the fairly prosaic ‘Police Battenberg’ layout, we suspect the choices in the poll weren’t vast. Or exciting.

Still, there’s something cool about a V8 police car, right?

Smart phones can deal with just about any aspect of your life. Sorting out your social life, control the central heating on the move, buying an £825,000 classic…

Yep. The 1964 Aston Martin DB5 you see here was purchased from auctioneer Coys was the best part of a million quid, and all via an app called Vero, which uses Apple Pay to transfer the funds. It was bought via an anonymous bidder using a ‘Buy Now’ function.

Coys still has a number of other, cheaper classics for sale on Vero. A whole £25,000 cheaper, in the case of its Ferrari Daytona. Ten Things is not taking its phone to the pub this weekend…

Oh yes. Want a sports car but find a Porsche 911, Jaguar F-Type or something from AMG or M Division just a bit… y’know… competent and modern?

Well, in the near future you’ll be able to buy something from the past (if only there was a relevant joke to make) in the shape of a brand new DeLorean. Production of the DMC-12 – minus time travelling gubbins, it must be said – is restarting, with a newly formed DeLorean Motor Company in America possessing enough parts for around 300 ‘new’ cars.

Click here if you’d like to pre-order one. We’re just disappointed the ‘How do you use your DeLorean?’ drop-down box doesn’t include a time travel option.

It’s not a new technique by the Aussie F1 racer to get him pumped up before a race. Rather one small segment of a series of videos where Dan – and his teammate Max Verstappen – have been set challenges to complete in 1.92 seconds, the speed at which their team can carry out a pit stop.

Click here to see Ricciardo, having been turned into a human balloon stand, bursting as many of them as he can in that scant amount of time. Other highlights include numerous ping pong balls and many marshmallows…

Alright, it’s some of the seemingly necessary social media content peddled by F1 teams to keep interest levels high between races. But that doesn’t stop it being fun, and it’s only a small amount of time to be diverted from your work, eh?

The Italian carmaker has joined forces with Massachusetts Institute of Technology to look at the supercar of the future. Not just the car that replaces the Huracan or Aventador, but the Lamborghini of the next millennium. Yikes.

Over to Lambo boss Stefano Domenicali: “MIT has always been a pioneer in innovation and we are proud to have signed this general agreement with such an illustrious institution, which will lead to the study of issues of mutual interest relating to the super sports car for the 3rd millennium.”

Though if the Massachusetts students are anything like Ten Things, expect their proposals to be handed in around 11:59pm on December 31st, 2999.

Yep. Forget EVs or hydrogen-powered cars: if you want to save the planet and avoid mining what remains of its fossil fuels, the Sausage Dog Chariot is your only option.

It's come to light this week online, and this YouTube video has one of the most wonderful descriptions we've seen in a long time. "Sausages on a roll!", it begins. "Three exuberant, fun-loving miniature dachshunds - with the combined stamina of an ox and speed of a greyhound - give two family members a chariot ride with a difference."

And hey, it's not like the SDC (as they'll call it when it's mass market) is much less practical than a Renault Twizy...

Want one of the final ever Vipers? It appears you don’t have to do much shopping around, as one North Carolina dealer has bought pretty much the rest of the supercar’s production run, something approaching 140 cars.

“When it was finally confirmed that the Viper was going to cease production, I felt an obligation as a fan, owner, and Dodge dealer to help others experience the rare privilege of experiencing this amazing machine,” said Brad Wood of Gerry Wood Auto Group.

The dealer assembled its own ‘Viper team’ to turn the 8,000 possible colour and trim combinations into a-hundred-and-odd cars people would actually want to buy, including three special editions.

Brave, or shrewd? They’ll be hoping those Vipers don’t come back to bite them…