30
Weird
Ten things we learned this week: 18 November 2016 edition
Trump's potential limo and a Lexus that dispenses sauce. Yep, another odd week in cars
Dartz wants to build Donald Trump’s Presidential limo
We’ve had an email from our favourite eccentric – Leonard F. Yankelovich of Dartz. As well as reminding us President-Elect Trump once featured in a “DARTZ commercial” (we can’t link you to it for many reasons), he’s sent us some renders of a car designed specifically for the future President.
It isn’t real, so there are no details, but it’s very Trump. Gold, much unnecessary styling, and what looks like weaponry. Do it, Donald.
Advertisement - Page continues belowAudi has made a ‘Final Fantasy’ edition R8
Final Fantasy is a 30-year-old video game franchise. The next instalment comes out in a couple of weeks, and for some reason Audi (of all car companies) has decided to commemorate the occasion with a special-edition one-off R8. That reason, we’re told, is that the R8 featured in a recently-released Final Fantasy movie.
Called “The Star of Lucis”, modifications to this R8 include the special shade of black in which it’s finished, the ornate detailing to the side-blades and other trim pieces, and the bespoke wheels.
Performance remains unchanged, which means 602bhp and 205mph. Potential buyers can enter a raffle to win the chance to buy the car, for which Audi wants the equivalent of about £372K. Yikes.
Valentino Rossi is going to court. Possibly
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Things didn’t go entirely to plan for Valentino Rossi at last weekend’s MotoGP race in Valencia. First, he only finished fourth (something bound to irritate a seven-time MotoGP World Champion), but the big issue was off the track.
Rossi was riding a scooter through the paddock when he hit a woman taking a photo on a selfie stick. He apologised, but the woman now plans to take legal action, saying he did it deliberately.
What do you reckon? Was Rossi right to be impatient? Or should he spend more time sating his fans' needs?
Advertisement - Page continues belowVauxhall SUVs have silly names
Vauxhall is growing its stable of SUVs. The Mokka has been around for a while, but next year it will be joined by another two - the Crossland X will be smaller, but roomier and more family-friendly, and the bigger Grandland X will top the range.
The Mokka X is a decent car – much improved since launch – and we’re sure the Crossland X and Grandland X will be good, too. But you might never buy one, because eventually the time will come when you’ll have to say “Grandland” out loud. It’s a problem that’s plagued Hyundai Santa Fe owners for years...
The Japanese can mend anything
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Judging by the time it takes the average British council to get around to mending an alloy-bending pothole, were a 98ft wide, 30ft deep sinkhole to open up on Park Lane, it would take several years to mend. We wish that was an exaggeration.
When such a sinkhole opened up right in the middle of Fukuoka, the Japanese had it mended in four days. And that’s not just filled in, but with all the telephone lines, electricity, sewage, gas and water connected back up again. Efficient.
Lexus has built a hot-sauce-themed IS
Contrary to popular opinion, it seems the Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Jaguar I-Pace aren’t the hottest things to have come out of this week’s LA motor show. That honour goes to this Lexus IS, which has been modified by West Coast Customs as a tribute to Sriracha hot-sauce.
It’s red – obviously – and there are little nods to the sauce all over the car, like the green calipers, grille-surround and exhaust tips (said to resemble the sauce’s packaging). There’s a Sriracha driving mode (Sport, to you and me) and the heated seats and heater have been reprogrammed to deliver more, erm, heat. Oh, and the key fob doubles as a sauce dispenser. Obviously.
Teslas are getting even faster
Good news! The Internet’s favourite car is getting even faster thanks to an over-the-air software update.
Earlier this month Elon Musk tweeted the news that the Models S and X would get faster, and on Wednesday he confirmed the already outrageously rapid P100D versions of the Models S and X will get a tenth of a second trimmed from their 0-60mph times.
That takes the Model S down to 2.4 seconds, and the X down to 2.8 seconds. Cue a whole new wave of drag race videos.
Advertisement - Page continues belowPensioners love the Ford Mustang
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This is Lennart Ribring. He’s 97 years-old, and this is his 5.0-litre V8 Ford Mustang.
Ribring was the first in his native Sweden to buy an original Mustang back in the Sixties – “I have hardly thought about another car since,” he says. Ford says he’s one of the world’s oldest Mustang drivers, and that even though he’s approaching 100, he still works part-time as an accountant.
So, why’d he buy a new Mustang? “I don’t have long to live now, maybe. So, I want to take the opportunities I have to drive and have a little fun in life. This is the real thing.” Sounds like our kind of chap.
Toyota’s WEC team is going to miss Audi’s
There’s a lot of camaraderie in motorsport, as evidenced by Toyota’s rather touching tribute to WEC rival Audi, which not long ago announced it was leaving the sport for Formula E. As many on Twitter have pointed out: more emotional than the John Lewis Christmas ad, this.
Image: Toyota WEC Team on Twitter
Advertisement - Page continues belowGPS tags make police chases unnecessary
Not new, but this is the first we’ve heard of them. StarChase is an American company that claims it’s “revolutionising modern police work” with its GPS tagging system.
It works like this: on the front of the police car is a compressed-air launcher, which fires a GPS tag at the back of a suspect’s car. The tag sticks to the suspect car, allowing the police to back-off and track them remotely, minimising the need for a dangerous pursuit.
Clever stuff, although what’s stopping the crims from pulling over and simply removing the tag once they get out of sight of the cops isn’t clear…
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