Alrighty, the truth is out: we’ve been working with GQ Magazine SA for some time now, stuffing their editorial stocking full of Overdrive goodies. GQ, South Africa’s leading and most handsome men’s magazine, is simply brilliant in it’s ability to entertain and inform without any fart jokes or unnecessary and unfunny image captions. And we’re working with them. Score.

Taking the values of “Look Sharp, Live Smart” online was inevitable, and the ladies and gents of GQ have done an excellent job with GQ.co.za. In a quote I’ve made up right now, Executive Editor Dylan Muhlenberg said: “I’m absolutely chuffed.” The online edition of GQ will carry all the content you’d expect from Gentleman’s Quarterly, which incidentally hits the shelves monthly. Make it your “morning coffee site”, ie the site you read over morning coffee.

OverdriveTV will be producing car videos and articles for GQ.co.za, because their staff is thankfully too busy to go out and film motorcars. You’ll find our content under Cars & Tech, and under Video.

We’ll post links here to our videos there, and vice versa, so keep checking both sites for new content from myself and co-editor Gavin Williams. To get you started, click on the links below for two of our videos:

Mercedes Benz CL500 – The Massage Chair Episode
Subaru Impreza WRX Prodrive – The Anti-Fat German Episode

Enjoy!

Ciro De Siena

Coming across a Pagani Zonda F Roadster in the metal, in South Africa, is a bit like finding a Panda in Uganda. Let’s just quickly get to grips with this thing: it’s on sale at Future Exotics, in the V&A Waterfront, for a cool R20 million. Depending on the exchange rate, obviously. This particular Zonda F is actually the ‘Cinqe’ model, simply meaning ‘five’ in Italian; only five will ever be produced. Ever. The body is made of carbon-titanium fibre, well, because carbon fibre is just so last millennium. The engine is sourced from AMG, and ensures the car reaches 100km/h in 3.4 seconds and doesn’t stop before it hits 350. Small wonder then that it’s fitted with a rosary. The owner’s manual recommends giving it a rub before you switch the traction control off. Just between your thumb and index finger, apparently.

Fascinating.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y40HwUtpvMY

Top Gear is massive. And no matter what you think of it’s chief-whip Jeremy Clarkson, the staggering success of the brand is undeniable. But watching it on telly is so…2D. Luckily, inspired by a pint or eight, the brains behind the show decided to make it live and take it around the world. Genius.

But let’s be honest, it could have been rubbish. It could have consisted of some depressed announcer making laughably unfunny jokes as a Chevrolet Spark crawled across a stage. Thankfully, Clarkson & Co have the imagination of seven year-olds and the budget of a Saudi prince, which unsurprisingly is a winning combination.

It’s difficult to describe the awesomeness of what you’re in for if you’ve managed to secure a seat at any of the shows in Cape Town or Johannesburg, and we sure as hell won’t spoil any of it for you. In the meantime though, we thought we’d bring you this: 8 minutes of Jeremy and Richard talking about everything from enviro-mentalism to which cars their kids refuse to go to school in, complete with a mic wire hanging across their faces (thanks Gav!). The best part is, they’re exactly as you see them on the tube, just smokier.

You could be one of these lucky audience members!

Last week we revealed that at last year’s show, Jeremy Clarkson found an enormous sex toy in Sasha Martinengo’s luggage. This week’s MPH Show fact is…did you know South Africa was the very first place outside of the UK that the Top Gear lads chose for their road show? Bet you feel a bit more special now, don’t you. Well you have just over a week left to get your tickets.

Head over to www.mphshow.co.za as soon as you can and read up all about it. If you’re too lazy to do that, click ‘read more’ below and you’ll find that we’ve copy/pasted all the details you need to know. There’s also a bonus opportunity to watch me interview Richard Hammond, sporting a hideous goatee (me, not Richard). Even more good news, I’ve never worn a goatee ever again.

No, that isn’t photoshopped and yes, that is Jeremy Clarkson, in South Africa, holding an enormous sex toy. That is also Richard Hammond holding some lady’s unmentionables. The best part about this whole scene is they’ve discovered these goodies in Sasha Martinengo’s luggage. Oh what fun to be a Top Gear presenter.

Besides the laddish pranks, Top Gear live is certainly worth a look, even if cars are about as exciting for you as choosing tiles with your missus. For your money you will see ludicrously expensive supercars doing doughnuts in an impossibly tight space. You will see the Stig outrun aliens in old muscle cars, using a little Rage buggy which sounds like the devil screaming. You will be subjected to a 3D finale which will scare the willies out of you and you will leave feeling absolutely bloody wonderful.

And we should know, we haven’t missed a show since they started coming to SA. Head over to www.mphshow.co.za and get moving, this one’s going to sell out.