Ten things we learned this week: 10 July 2015 edition

The line ought to be familiar: “A Formula 1 car has so much grip, you could drive it upside down”.

It screams urban myth, but this week McLaren has told us that it is, in fact, possible. The caveat? You must drive at 200mph for a minimum of 1.6 miles for successful ceiling-stickiness.

For McLaren-Honda’s 2015 car, that’s quite a big ask.

So they should be, given they’re designed for short competition stages as opposed to service interval longevity. But still, this is an impressive display, as a dim-witted tractor driver comes within inches of wreaking havoc.

Luckily, both Thierry Neuville's brakes and reactions are sharp. As, we imagine, was his temper as this video comes to a close…

Everyone’s favourite barely comprehensible bike racer is aiming for the record books. In August he, like many other drivers in possession of significant minerals, will head to the Bonneville Salt Flats.

His aim? To top the 376.363mph motorcycle land speed record astride a 1,000bhp Triumph streamliner, as confirmed by this tweet. Quite how he’ll cope riding freely on open land as opposed to threading a bike through Creg-ny-Baa remains to be seen.

Alfa is building up its new Giulia sports saloon with some intent, the two possible end results seemingly either a removal of the BMW M3 from our memories, or bitter, bewildering disappointment.

The latest stat to join the 'Ferrari-inspired' V6, 503bhp, proper downforce party? A rumoured 199.4mph top speed, recorded on the Nardo banking in southern Italy. A ‘Ring time will be announced in due course too, apparently.

Excited or sceptical?

More unconfirmed performance stats, this time in the shape of a lap of Nordschleife. Namely, the Corvette Z06’s lap.

Given the animosity that rears its head when hot ‘Vettes are compared to 911s and GT-Rs, this is of extreme interest. And rumours suggest the clocks stopped at 7 minutes and 8 seconds, just 11sec behind the Porsche 918 and half a second ahead of the all-wheel driven Nismo GT-R.

Chevy has put the pause on poking internet commenters into life, waiting for the ‘Ring’s effective ban on lap record attempts to be lifted before announcing the time. Keyboard warriors, we hope your fingers are primed…

The Audi RS4 is no more, production of the all-new A4 heralding the end of the wide-arched V8 estate car.

“Worry not,” we hear you cry, “for Audi will make a new one soon.” We’ve no doubt they will. But we very much doubt that, like the dearly departed RS4, it will have a howling naturally aspirated engine as its heart.

The outgoing RS4 was never the sharpest car in its class, but its engine had an appeal all of its own. Good luck then, Audi, in making the next, no doubt turbocharged RS4 as endearing.

News about Uber that doesn’t centre around mass inner-city protests is rare, but here is some: the controversial ride-hailing company is looking at a self-driving future.

CEO Travis Kalanick has been quoted as saying he’d happily buy up the 500,000 self-driving cars that similarly pioneering company Tesla plans to build in the next five years.

Given regular cabbies are so perturbed at potentially being put out of business by driven cars, lord only knows what form protesting will take if autonomous cars threaten their livelihood…

The link to cars is perhaps tenuous here, but it is seated transport and it does look like rather a lot of fun. And we approve of that.

Canadian Daniel Boria, clearly more than a little enamoured by Pixar flick Up, attached 150 helium balloons to a chair and went for a somewhat precarious trip over Calgary. He was papped by Twitter user Tom Warne.

While he described it as “the most fun thing” he’d ever done, his business partner was less jovial, saying “the stunt wasn’t responsible”. Given that Boria spent over $12,000 on helium and was forced to parachute from the chair mid-journey, the man may have a point.

Mustang vs Camaro vs Challenger is a war we imagine takes place in bar room squabbles across the US every night of the week. Without any resolution, no doubt.

In sales terms, however, there is a runaway winner: the Ford. In June, 11,719 ‘Stangs sold in America, 3,000 units more than the Chevy Camaro, and nearly double the number of Dodge Challengers sold.

Which do you favour?

Back in good old Great Britain, a number of stats surrounding road rage have emerged.

Proving how much we dislike our weekends coming to a close, 7.30am on a Monday is the time you’re most likely to encounter anger on the roads. Though conversely, you’re apparently most likely to receive flak from 69-year-old men.

Typically, 46 per cent of Brits experience road rage regularly. Live in Lincoln, though, and the figure climbs to 61 per cent, making it (don daytime telly outrage voice) the road rage capital of the UK.