Motorsport throws up many emotions for spectators; we certainly don’t want racing drivers to roll their Ford rally cars at over 100mph, but my goodness it’s hard to not to revel in this spectacular footage. This particular piece of film is quite special in that it features frames from a spectator’s camera moments before it is annihalited by the green Ford, then in car footage of the crash, and then finally outside footage of the huge roll.
Mikko Hirvonen was leading Rally Finland when he crashed out yesterday, destroying the Abu Dhabi sponsored Ford but leaving both himself and co-driver, Jarmo Lehtinen, unharmed. In the open-chequebook days of the WRC these sorts of spills were a bit more common, one gets the sense that drivers are forced to dance a fine line between looking after the team’s budget and shaving milliseconds off the clock. This in a sport that recently saw stalwarts Subaru retire amid financial meltdown, amongst others.
Interestingly, Mini this week announced it will return to world rallying, with it’s much anticipated Countryman model. More on that later.
Tesla Motors is a company that’s quite close to our hearts. Not least because they’re leading the way in ensuring that electric cars are fun, fast, and quite attractive, but mostly because the founder is a South African: Elon Musk. Anyway, he would have been woken up with pretty awful news this morning, as three of his mid level engineers were killed in a small aircraft accident yesterday. As Musk says: “Tesla is a small, tightly-knit company, and this is a tragic day for us.”
Reuters article and link to images after the jump. (more…)
No-one likes a bad loser, but the Brits seem to have a wonderful knack of being bad winners. And bad losers. Y’know, because they always lose at stuff. I have maintained for many years now England will never win another FIFA World Cup™ because they’re all atheists. “God is a Brazilian” after all, but not when it comes to F1 it seems. Poor Rubens Barrichello. It’s like his house always burns down when he has a braai in his own backyard.
Button. Probably supports Chelsea.
But I guess we should grudgingly give Jenson Button some measure of kudos for wrapping up the world title. However it spoke volumes for me about the man’s character when he was stuck behind Kamui Kobayashi for lap after excruciating lap. Button got on the team radio and complained about Kobayashi weaving and blocking him. Please. It was his Grand Prix debut and as a World Champion elect it’s your job to get past him. Kobayashi drove defensively and legally, although his honour was called into question later on when he swerved dangerously in front of Kazuki Nakajima sending him on a murder ride into the barriers.
That's Serge trying to get his mate's valuables out of the car.
Don’t you just love the interwebs? Yesterday we published the sad story of the wrecked Aston Martin in Sandton JHB, and today, thanks to couple hundred twitterers, we’ve got in touch with someone who was involved in the whole sorry saga.
Aren’t test drives with dealership blokes awkward enough? This has to be one of our worst nightmares. Taking a car out for a test drive and absolutely destroying it. In this case, all R3.5million worth of shiny new DBS. The collision took place on the Grayston offramp, involving six other luckless motor vehicles. We hope the poor sod was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and Aston’s insurance covers the damage. And if the poor guy was only a potential customer, we reckon he’s probably going to take a nice little Aston home with him after all this.
Click through for more images of the cringeworthy incident.
To celebrate 50 years of smashing cars to bits and pieces, the American Insurance Institute for Highway safety tracked down an old (but roadworthy) 1959 Chevy Bel Air and threw it in the direction of an oncoming 2009 Chevy Malibu. Now you’d expect the steel-and-girders Bel-Air to tear through the aluminium and plastic ‘mid-size sedan’…but, you’d be wrong. Very wrong.
F1 mogul Flavio Braitore has quit the Renault F1 team amid startling allegations of cheating at 2008’s Singapore Grand Prix. Pat Symonds, the team’s director of engineering, has also resigned.
Renault said in a short statement that Briatore and Pat Symonds, the director of engineering, had both left the team ahead of a meeting Monday with the sport’s world ruling body the FIA to explain recent allegations of race-fixing.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ3j_bFItoU
I'm stunned. This video, from Australia, pretty much cements the Land Cruiser as an icon. I don't want to spoil it for you, just take two minutes and watch this....
Absolutely loved this warning sign on a parking boom in the Cape Town CBD. They've inadvertently created a great name for a dubstep party.
Ciro De Siena
I am very upset I'm not a billionaire right now. Because this is the sort of art I'd spend my money on. A truly unique piece of motorsport history, a...
I’ve been driving the new Range Rover Sport Autobiography. It’s without question the first sports autobiography I’ve ever been remotely interested in, although I once picked up Herschelle Gibbs’ tome...
Listen Live! 2OceansVibe Radio
OverdriveTV has just kicked off a weekly radio show on the kick-ass digital station, 2OceansVibe Radio.
Catch OverdriveLive every Tuesday between 6 and 8pm, with hosts Ciro De Siena and Gavin Williams.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ3j_bFItoU
I'm stunned. This video, from Australia, pretty much cements the Land Cruiser as an icon. I don't want to spoil it for you, just take two minutes and watch this....
