Ten things we learned this week: 27 January 2017 edition

What you see here is an ageing Austrian behemoth. And Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ah, that joke will never get old. 

Of course, some of you are likely thinking, ‘But the Gelandewagen is German, isn’t it?’ Well, not really – the G-wagen has always been built in Graz, Austria. And this particular one has had even more Austrian involvement – from Mr Muscle himself, and a battery company from his homeland by the name of Kreisel.

With more than 480bhp on tap, the electrified G can sprint from 0-62mph in 5.6 seconds. And that’s pretty brisk for something with such a heavy, blocky body. Kreisel says the E-G-wagen (our name, not theirs) can do more than 180 miles on a single charge – presumably, if you don’t do too many 0-62mph runs – and can be recharged to 80 per cent in 25 minutes, if you have access to a 150kW mains supply. 

And it seems no less capable off-road than the original, either, driving up a ski slope in Kitzbühel to meet Mr Schwarzenegger at the top. Want one?

Fan of sheer, unrelenting speed? Walk this way. 

We present a jet black Hennessy Venom GT, also known as an entirely manic, 7.0-litre Lotus that’s faster than a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. Oh, and it was owned by Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. Sweet emotion!

Want it for yourself? Dream on. It’s already been sold at auction for a shade under £635,000 – a comparative steal, considering the £870,000+ Tyler shelled out a few years back. Every penny went to a charity called Janie’s Fund.

So how will Tyler get around from now on? Well, with Aerosmith’s enduring popularity, we don’t think it’ll be long before he’s back in the saddle again.  

Yes, we certainly do love song-based puns. 

Photo: Barrett Jackson

But we do have to stress that it's for serious speeding only – regular, low-level infractions are staying much the same, according to the UK's Sentencing Council. 

So, if you do 41mph down a 20mph-limited street, they’ll take one and a half times your weekly income. And, if you’re clocked at 101mph on the motorway, say goodbye to one and a half pay packets. 

If you drive on the motorway at 71-90mph, it's still a 'Band A' fine (50 per cent of your weekly income) and three points. And it's those figures that we find interesting; observe British motorways and it would appear many drive under the notion that a '10 per cent variance' is legally defensible. They could be due a rude awakening. 

And it's already happening in Australia, where drivers are being pulled over and punished for doing 1km/h over the limit. That's 0.62mph over the limit. Consider yourself warned.  

Photo: Albert Bridge

…but it’s still pretty brisk. Of course, the 100D’s 4.2sec 0-62mph isn’t a patch on the 2.5sec dash on offer in the P100D’s, but we’re not at the point yet where we can think of low fours as anything but fast. 

So why get a non ‘P’ Model S? Well, you get more range thanks to a smaller and less powerful rear motor than the P100D. 

It’s still a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive Tesla, and still tops out at 155mph. And these are good things. It’s also quite a slab cheaper in the US, where it’s launched first. Expect to see it in the Tesla price lists over here soon enough. 

To be honest, we’d sacrifice the front motor entirely for a Model S 100 (no P, no D) to yield suitably high levels of rear-drive goodness.

In good news for Ford this week, it confirmed its new GT supercar will top 216mph, making it quicker than a Ferrari 488 GTB.

In less good news for Ford this week, the Mustang - freshly Europeanised - managed just two stars in NCAP safety testing. Oops. As well as airbags that didn't inflate fully, the Mustang was hamstrung by a lack of active safety equipment, such as a forward collision detection system. It's available on US 'Stangs, but wasn't on this European-spec car. Which perhaps explains this result following stronger performances in the States.

The newly facelifted Mustang, though, will get such kit, so ought to put in a better performance when NCAP gets a chance to test it.

Well, invaded its racetracks, to be more precise. Aston Martin is running this weekend in the 24 Hours of Daytona with the V12 Vantage GT3, while there's a race-prepped McLaren 570S in the GT4 class. This is something we can get behind. 

McLaren is also heading to Australia, namely Bathurst, to defend its 12 Hour title in February. It’s a truly epic race on a track that’s every bit as tough as the big names in the business, especially up the top of Mount Panorama. 

To announce the launch of the new Rover 800 in 1986 – surely a high point for British Leyland and for British car manufacturing in general – the Iron Lady was to drive one up and down Downing Street. Seems simple enough, right?

Well, Mrs Thatcher’s advisers didn’t think so. There was apparently “a dark fear that she would crash into something, that it would go horribly wrong.” And, considering that British Leyland was on its very last legs, the pressure was on to get this right. 

So BL delivered a Rover 800 – in secret – to Chequers, the country house of the Prime Minister, with the instructions to get to grips with it. All of this so Maggie could drive up Downing Street. If you've never been, it's barely any longer than the average office...

Photo: Rover 800 Owners’ Club

Er, yep. Mr Musk has announced that he’d like to build a tunnel under Los Angeles - from the airport to his SpaceX base - to cut down commuting times. That’s either totally happening, or Elon’s sense of humour is even drier than ours. 

Originally, we thought his plan to “build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging” was just a joke, especially when he decided to name his new endeavour “The Boring Company”, but it seems that he’s made “exciting progress on the tunnel front” and plans to “start digging in a month or so.”

Regardless of what happens next, we’re entertained.

And it’ll apparently focus on the ‘high watermarks of motorsport’, which is certainly an alluring proposition. 

Apparently, the high watermarks include Group B rally monsters, 1930s Grand Prix cars, and both turbocharged and ground-effect F1 cars. 

The Festival of Speed starts on June 29, moved slightly so it doesn't clash with the F1. It’s still sure to be the best British garden party ever, of course.