Ten Things We Learned This Week

This curious monstrosity is called the Relax Cabin. It is, as you have doubtless figured out, a motorhome based upon the Toyota Prius.

The original was mentioned on TGTV a few years back, but the new Relax sleeps four lucky, lucky friends, includes a microwave and fridge on board, and - for reasons we cannot entirely explain - reminds us greatly of the hairstyle of British politician Douglas Hurd in the 1980s.

Available only in Japan (of course), the conversion costs some 2.4 million yen (around £13,000), plus the price of a donor Prius. Quite what the camper-quiff does to the Pruis's legendarily parsimonious fuel economy remains unclear.

Not a patch on the Leaning Tower of Citroen, in our book...

In a move that in no way causes Ten Things to question the priorities of Britain's car owners, a London businesswoman has just splashed £233,000 on a personalised registration.

The anonymous bidder paid Ferrari F12 money for licence plate KR15 HNA, smashing the modern record of £100,000 spent on MR51 NGH back in 2006.

It is believed the monied buyer doesn't yet have a car to slap her registration upon: DVLA rules prevent ‘new' plates being attached to old cars, with ‘15' plates only going on sale this March.

The most expensive numberplate in British history remains the £518,000 paid for '25 O' in 2014. Still cheaper than a Picasso...

In April 2014, Audi R8 driver David Pickup was clocked by police doing 101mph on the A55 in North Wales. For those unfamiliar with British road laws and police attitudes, this is generally considered a Bad Thing.

Accordingly, Mr Pickup denied the accusation, claiming he hadn't broken the 70mph limit and questioning the accuracy of the in-car police speed camera.

The dispute reached court, at which point the prosecution hired an expert, who hired an airfield and an R8 to carry out tests proving the validity of the speed gun reading.

Pickup was awarded six points on his licence, fined £675, and ordered to pay the prosecution costs of £10,384. And yes, those costs included the R8 ‘airfield testing'. It was not recorded how many sets of tyres and gallons of super-unleaded were included in this bill.

In rather more sympathy-inspiring ticket-related news, Manchester City Council has cancelled a parking fine issued to a Mazda MX-5 driver, after her car was moved onto yellow lines by council workers.

Clair Morris claims she parked her two-seater legally near her home, but that it was moved, during the day, to the other side of the street by council workers wishing to paint lines on the road.

Later that day, a parking warden spotted the poor Mazda now sitting on double yellow lines, issuing it with a ticket despite the ‘REPOSITIONED BY COUNCIL' notice in its windscreen.

"It's crazy," said Morris. "I know traffic wardens have a job to do, but you would have thought common sense would have prevailed."

Eventually it did, Manchester City Council cancelling the ticket and issuing an apology. "The car should not have been moved to a location with double yellow lines, and this ticket should not have been issued and will be cancelled," a spokesman told BBC News.

Ten Things extends its sympathies to Ms Morris, but foresees a glorious future in which all car-related mishaps can be blamed upon the council. VW Passat snapped doing 91mph in the fast lane of the M25? The council put it there. Beached in the gravel trap at the exit on Turn 2? Blame the council...

Four of Google's 48 self-driving cars testing on Californian highways have been involved in crashes in the last eight months, it was revealed this week.

A Google source told the Associated Press that two of the accidents occurred with humans on board, and that all four collisions were at very slow speed.

Though the details of the shunts remain confidential under Californian law, Google denied its vehicles had been at fault, and that the majority of the incidents were rear-end collisions caused by other drivers.

"Since the start of our programme six years ago, we've driven nearly a million miles autonomously on both freeways and city streets, without causing a single accident," said a Google spokesperson.

Chris Urmson, the director of Google's self-driving programme, claimed that though his cars have been involved in a total of 11 accidents in that six-year period, not one was caused by a Google car.

"Rear-end crashes are the most frequent accidents in America," wrote Urmson in a blog post, "and there's often little the driver in front can do to avoid getting hit."

Unless you've got eyes in the back of your head, of course. Which, of course, is actually a possibility for self-driving cars...

Britain boasts a long and glorious history of land speed records, and with chaps like Joel Blomfield on our roster, we're all but guaranteed a few more in the future.

Joel is a nine-year-old schoolboy from Sheffield, and has just completed a soapbox racer based on the Bloodhound, Richard Noble's rocket-powered car hoping to crack 1000mph in South Africa next year.

Not for Joel a simple Airfix kit, or even a magazine partwork. No, the Yorkshire lad built his baby Bloodhound from scratch, buying a car roofbox from eBay and assembling the racer in his garage.

With no engine, Joel's creation won't crack four figures, but he reckons it's good for a top speed of 20mph downhill.

Best of all, Joel's creation has received the thumbs-up from Bloodhound pilot Andy Green, who gave the racer a once-over, commending the craftsmanship.

"It was epic and awesome for Andy Green to like the car," beams Joel. "He said it was very similar to the Bloodhound car. It was the best day ever. Now I definitely want to be an engineer. I used to want to be a footballer, but this is much better."

Joel, if you ever want some work experience at Top Gear, just shout. We could do with some proper mechanical nous around here.

Attempting to get sideways on a public road is generally not a good plan. Attempting to get sideways over a speed bump on a public road is an even worse plan, as this video attests.

Click these blue words to watch a YouTube video that doubles as a handy advertisement for urban speed limits.

A Brazilian Golf driver [EDIT: Gol driver, apologies] comes in too hot to a big ol' sleeping policeman, attempts an ill-advised drift/Scandi flick/evasion strategy, and ends up on his roof. Luckily the driver emerges with no injury beyond, we assume, a severe dent to his sensitive pride department.

Bonus points for the gent in the blue shirt walking past. Top nonchalance.

Surprising news from Greece this week, as it has emerged the famously bankrupt nation has been buying new cars in droves, with April sales jumping by 47 per cent.

Does this mean Greece is emerging from its financial doldrums? Quite the opposite. Analysts believe the glut of car-buying is evidence Greece is in a bank run, with savers apparently reckoning their money to be safer invested in sheet metal rather than sat in a potentially volatile bank account.

Car sales have risen in Greece for 20 consecutive months, with German cars proving especially popular. Yes, that's the same Germany refusing to prop up the Greek economy with further bailouts...

With the Veyron now officially sold out, this might be your last chance for a while to have a shiny new slice of Bugatti-inspired metal in your life.

It's an office desk, milled by Design Epicentrum in the style of the world's fastest production car. It is not, however, officially sanctioned by Bugatti: note the lack of badge on the nose, and generally lack of million-quid production values.

But hey, if you want to make a punchy first impression in your next hard-hitting business meeting, what better way to do so then to emerge from behind a desk that looks quite a lot like the front bit of a very fast car?

Quite what Bugatti's legal department thinks of this paper-clip tribute, Ten Things would not like to speculate. We can, however, be sure of one thing: if retaliation does come, it shall be very swift. And likely quad-turbocharged.

The Nürburgring 24hr race takes places this weekend, and it is definitely one of the least cuddliest races on the planet. Around 150 angry-looking GT cars will take to the famous circuit to contest 24hrs of pain and drama around a dark forest that has been nicknamed many things over the years. Many of those nicknames aren't printable on these pages.

So, perhaps in an attempt to lighten the situation, Falken Motorsports - who are entering a 911 in this weekend's race - have built an entirely cuddly, miniature, 15cm long Lego Porsche to celebrate their efforts. Because nothing screams 'Green Hell' like a custom-built adorable toy.

And here's an actual fact: the Lego Porsche was painted by a company called Project 12, a specialist composites business that usually spends its days painting carbon fibre parts for the world's supercars.

Still doesn't quite explain the Peter Stringfellow-esque Lego character on the left, though. Just remember, everything is awesome...