Odds and ends

Triple world champion Nelson Piquet lost his driver's license in Brazil last month, according to reports. The news agency Globo News said the 54-year-old, whose son Piquet Jr tests for the Renault team, lost all of his demerit points due to a range of traffic infringements, including speeding...

The Hennessey-tuned Venom 1000 Dodge Viper has eclipsed the world’s fastest car, the Bugatti Veyron, in a 0-200mph winner takes all shoot-out conducted by Road & Track, The twin-turbocharged Viper managed a best time of 20.3 seconds, almost four full seconds clear of the quad-turbo Veyron in...

Hot rod legend Chip Foose is set to revive the glory days of the 1930’s by building a limited run of Duesenberg-inspired mega-coupes at a price of $299,000 a piece. Only 50 of the limited edition coupes are set to be produced in a partnership between Foose and family-owned Metalcrafters. The...

Videogame maker Nintendo has overtaken industry heavyweights such as Honda and Nissan to become the fifth most valuable company in Japan on the back of recent positive profit results. Thanks largely to the new Wii console and the DS handheld console, Nintendo was able to improve sales and has...

Wanting to own a rear-engined gullwing DeLorean since his teenage years, 40-year old Danny Botkin finally got to live his dream when he eventually found a restored DeLorean modeled after the car made famous in the ‘Back to the Future’ movies. He has since moved to become the manager of...

On the 21st of this month, the BMW name turns ninety. Back in 1917, on this date, the BMW trademark was registered for the first time and two days later a letter sent to senior management informed them of the new name with every product built by the enterprise from that date onwards wearing the...

You'll have to forgive us for being just a little skeptical about the Natalia SLS 2, a hyper-luxury land yacht being developed by DiMora Motorcar that aims to out-Maybach the Maybach and become one of the most expensive production cars to ever be sold. The most recent happenings surrounding its...

The UK government is considering giving police full access to data collected from traffic cameras in order to track the movement of cars. The proposal was revealed in a leaked Home Office document and follows previous comments by Home Office Minister Tony McNulty that real-time data from London's...

Volkswagen will be updating its ‘VW’ logo for the launch of the new Golf Mark VI, following the wishes of CEO Martin Winterkorn to make the badge more prominent. It won’t be a complete redesign. Instead the logo will grow in size compared with the current one and protrude further...

Mazda has announced that it has reached 40 million units of vehicle production in Japan, with company execs including President and CEO Hisakazu Imaki on hand to see the 40 millionth car roll off the production line. The record car was a new Mazda2 hatch, which comes after 75 years and nine months...

Despite criticism about Porsche’s becoming too common and increased competition in the segment, Porsche latest generation 911 has gone on to sell 100,000 units in just over three years. Production started for the new model (designated 997) in April 2004, and deliveries have been increasing...

Thieves in west London robbed a jewelry store last month after arriving to the site in a hired Bentley Flying Spur. Security cameras captured video footage of the culprits, who were dressed as though there were enjoying a lavish holiday. One was wearing a Panama hat and dark blazer and the other...

Supercars are defined by how fast they can go and how quickly they can reach their Vmax, and there’s only one test that pits an array of the world’s top metal against each other, Auto Motor und Sports (AMS) annual Nardo top speed shoot-out. Surprisingly, Bugatti’s Veyron, the...

Most would immediately assume that the widest piece of rubber you can wrap around your wheels is the ideal choice but according to research conducted by Germany’s ADAC regulatory body, the answer depends on your personal expectations. Either tire has its own advantages and disadvantages and...

Audi’s four interlinked rings, a symbol of the merger of Germany’s Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer carmakers on the 29th June 1932, is now celebrating its 75th anniversary. Back then, the group was known as the Auto Union AG and the four-ring badge was worn by one out of every four cars...

Sounding like something lifted directly out of a James Bond flick, a Cessna piloted by a pair of FBI agents has crashed into a black Italian supercar at an airport in Oregon. The owner of the exotic, Marlowe Treit, who purchased the car back in 1998, is now suing over the accident and is seeking up...

A man charged with doing 127mph in a 35 zone in Illinois has had his car turned over to local police, who have subsequently converted it into a patrol car. The car in question is a black 2000 model-year Dodge Viper with a cognac leather interior. Since joining the police fleet, the Viper has been...

Michael Schumacher will compete once again in this year’s Race of Champions (ROC) at Wembley Stadium on the 16th of December. The unique event will see the stadium transformed into a custom-built tarmac race track where drivers from several different categories compete in a series of...

Light-weight alloy wheels may one day be replaced by even lighter plastic wheels or advanced composite versions. A new testing system has been developed that will allow manufacturers to simulate tests for the wheels in the hope that they’ll one day feature on production cars. The benefits of...

Back in April we reported that Volvo would be dropping its ‘R’ performance range at the end of the 2007 model year due to lackluster sales. However, fans of the R range may not have to be sad for long if rumors about a new Volvo sports package prove true. Similar to Audi’s S-Line...