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Use of this website signifies your agreement to the Privacy policy Since becoming a part of Taunton High School eight years ago Whether it was in the classroom or the athletic fields Greding has earned the respect of the entire Tiger community on Williams Street Greding tackles a football program that has endured back-to-back 1-9 seasons His ultimate goal: restore a winning tradition back into the Silver City I thought I could be the man who could lead this program with this team and the city," Greding said I’m committed to try my hardest to return this program into where it once was." was named the new Taunton High head football coach on Monday who has coached the Tigers since the 2007 season "I can’t wait until August rolls along and to get on the football field.. Fifty-four highly qualified people applied for this job I’m truly honored that I’m the man Taunton High School wanted on the football field "I’ve been here for eight years and I love it here I’ve coached football for all eight years I’ve been here I’m a part of the community and here now with my wife." Athletic director Mark Ottavianelli said Greding was an excellent fit to lead the Tigers into the future and into a new athletic league (Hockomock) (Chris) puts in a great effort," Ottavianelli said "He loves the kids and will do anything we asked of him Chris is just a quality person and I think he is the right person to lead this football program." Greding was a wide receiver and linebackers coach under Hannon and he was head coach of the freshman program for five years and junior varsity head coach who is also one of the head track coaches at the high school played as a linebacker for two Super Bowl teams at New Bedford High School in the late 1990s "He’s proven his success with the track program and has shown he’s ready to take on that next step," Ottavianelli said "He has the qualification for football and ready for that opportunity." Taunton High headmaster Matt Mattos was also pleased with the hiring of Greding a great social studies teacher and doing a great job in the classroom," Mattos said We’ve seen what he’s done with the track program and how many kids have bought into his system He is going to take that same energy and positive and bring it right into our football program." One person who is very familiar with Greding and his work ethic is his former high school head coach Wayne Hamlet Hamlet led the Whalers to five Super Bowl appearances a postseason berth and finished with a coaching record of 71-50-2 He was a leader who led by example as being a good person he made up in heart what he did not have in size He’s a student of the game and always asking questions He gave 110 percent at practice and tried to give 120 percent at game time." Hamlet feels Greding can definitely make it as a head football coach the energy and he studied the game," Hamlet said "I think that Chris has that kind of a mind Current football players Shane Wellman and Marcel Flynn also gave their stamp of approval for Greding "We know him and I think he’ll do a good job." "He’s young and highly motivated to winning," Wellman said who hasn’t selected a coaching staff as of yet knows heading into a new league this fall will be a challenge for him and his players leading into the Hockomock — across the board in every sport to do something very special," Greding said "Competition is going to go up and we have push ourselves even harder as coaches and players." His 2012 coaching debut is on opening night against his old alma mater — the Whalers "It’s all about winning and I think Chris can do that in Taunton," Hamlet said Greding was very passionate about the history of Taunton football he reaches out to all the former Tiger alumni the community and its volunteers to lend a voice to help restore Taunton’s greatness back onto the gridiron to help the city get back a winner," Greding said "I will listen to all those associated with Taunton High football in the past and the community Greding will earn a $10,624 stipend along with his teaching salary Greding plans to leave his mark on Taunton football "It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do," Greding said "I don’t know what led me to Taunton but I love it and I’m not leaving." Contact Steven Sanchez at ssanchez@tauntongazette.com The Sulinger shoe manufacturer Lloyd has opened a new store in Greding directly on the A9 motorway between Nuremberg and Ingolstadt The entire current range of women's and men's shoes as well as clothing and accessories is displayed in a spacious atmosphere on a sales area of ​​390 square meters There is also a smaller area where shoes from out-of-date seasons are offered at a special price Lloyd wants to test a new concept by establishing a concept store outside of high-traffic locations in city centers for the first time “Against the background of declining footfall in city centers and rents not falling to the same extent stationary retail must be rethought,” says Managing Director Andreas Schaller We always keep you up to date: with our free newsletter SHOEZ compact You will regularly receive all information from the shoe industry in a clear form when a new magazine is published US Managing Director Peter Sachs hands over to Lance Taylor Alchemy plans to take over almost half of the Austrian shoe retailer Second best financial year in the company's history Creditors' meeting decides against P&C's takeover offer Sanela Krisat becomes International Sales Director sales representatives and business partners throughout the DACH association Telephone: +49 (0) 6 41 / 7 95 08 – 0Fax: +49 (0) 6 41 / 7 95 08 – 15Email: info@shoez.biz Designed by willsch-media.de Play Duration: 3 minutes 3m Brought to you by "It's part of the concept here that people get active", said Illuminate's FFV (flora&faunavisions) Creative Director, Sebastian Greding. Greding took Jo Laverty on a behind-the-scenes tour of 'EDEN to ILA', an immersive and interactive experience in Light Square.  "We put up sensors here, which put kind of, a curtain in front of the screen...as soon as you go through that curtain it senses your hands" he said. "The software just is magic". Illuminate's FFV (flora&faunavisions) Creative Director, Sebastian Greding.(Jo Laverty, ABC) Download the ABC listen app to text and call your favourite live radio CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Thousand Oaks High’s Cooper Stout flips Westlake’s Alex Furton in the 182-pound final at the Marmonte League finals Saturday at Newbury Park High Furton recovered to win the match and the league title CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Westlake’s Chandler Greding has a firm grasp of Newbury Park’s Joe Clemen during the 152-pound final at the Marmonte League finals Saturday at Newbury Park High Greding won the match and the league title COURTESY OF RON WILSON Simi Valley’s Raban Harchaoui has control of Royal’s Hunter Stiteler during his win in the 134-pound final at the Coastal Canyon League finals Saturday at Camarillo High COURTESY OF RON WILSON Camarillo's Donaven Medina (top) competes in the 108-pound division at the Coastal Canyon League wrestling finals Saturday at Camarillo High COURTESY OF RON WILSON Camarillo’s Yahiya Kahn (top) takes on Moorpark’s Travis Gelinas during a 128-pound match at the Coastal Canyon League finals Saturday at Camarillo High Thousand Oaks High took home seven individual titles at the Marmonte League finals Saturday at Newbury Park High Aaron Silberman won the 113-pound championship Wade Cookus was victorious in the 160-pound final Brendan Garland captured the 170-pound title Ryan Nelinger was the champion in the 220-pound division Luke Rachels won the 126-pound title and was named the Outstanding Lower Weight Wrestler Fernando Lugo captured the 120-pound title Chandler Greding won the 152-pound championship Alex Furton was the champion in the 182-pound division Jake Wood was Newbury Park's sole champion winning the 195-pound title while being named the Outstanding Upper Weight Wrestler Arzhang Valadkhani of Calabasas won the 132-pound title Simi Valley won six individual titles and Royal had five champions at the Coastal Canyon League finals Saturday at Camarillo High Jesus Coronado led the way for Simi Valley beating Joey Wilkins in the 197-pound final and being named the Outstanding Upper Weight Wrestler Aaron Aguilera beat Camarillo's Sebastian Sanchez for the heavyweight crown beating Camarillo's Justin DeMoss in the final beating Camarillo's Colton Watkins in the final Rabah Harchaoui beat Royal's Hunter Stiteler to win the 134-pound title Chris Abbey won the 128-pound title by beating Camarillo's Yahiya Kahn Eben Rackett won the 108-pound title by beating Camarillo's Donaven Medina Josh Koning took the 147-pound crown by beating Simi Valley's Spencer Luech in the final Joe Lansden beat Simi Valley's Jackson Brazael to win the 154-pound crown Aidan Carrillo won the 172-pound title by beating Camarillo's Ivan Quezada in the final Clay Briceno captured the 184-pound title with a win over Camarillo's Daniel Varner in the final Camarillo's Jacob Ruiz was named the Outstanding Lower Weight Wrestler after beating Royal's Eddie Elizalde in the 115-pound final Camarillo's Alec Medina won the 140-pound title by beating Royal's Danny Bolanos in the final beating Simi Valley's Tanner Lloyd in the final At the Channel League finals at San Marcos High on Saturday Buena's Juan Gutierrez won the 108-pound title and was named the Lower Weight MVP Adan Andrade won the 154-pound title for his second league championship Mina Morkos captured the 140-pound title and Elijah Jackson-Clark won the 287-pound crown Zach Ramirez (147) and Brady Yarbrough (184) each took second Adrian Munoz and Isaac Torres (222) each finished third has presented an electric compact model to be built in Germany The Vanderwell is said to stand out with its sporty look and will be delivered from the third quarter of 2023 Marketed by Vanwall as a Sport Crossover Vehicle (SCV) the four-door hatchback and hatchback is available in two versions called Vandervell S and Vandervell S Plus Both feature an all-electric four-wheel drive system that produces 235 kW in the Vandervell S and 427 kW in the Plus version Vanwall gives the range as about 450 kilometres (S) and 420 kilometres (S Plus) acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h as 4.9 seconds (S) and 3.4 seconds (S Plus) The manufacturer does not provide any information on the battery and charging capacity The design of the lightweight car is intended to be deliberately sporty and aggressive This “angular” look is emphasised by a large aerodynamic front splitter side skirts and a rear spoiler made of carbon fibre “The front end of the car features a very bold design and geometric lines with an aggressive wing shape and bumper that integrates the large cooling system air intake,” Vanwall writes As can be seen in the accompanying renderings the front also features two side vents that open into the wings And: the car stands on large 22-inch alloy wheels the interior of the car is characterised by high-quality materials and a cockpit that makes reference to motorsport through “excellent ergonomics” according to an emailed statement we received include “any body colour and five complementary interior options for the cockpit” The car is fully road legal and is covered by a two-year quality and service warranty The Vandervell S Plus is produced in a limited series of 500 vehicles at Vanwall in Greding Vanwall does not specify a production volume or manufacturing location it is a fact that both variants will be marketed directly via delivery partners and will be delivered from the third quarter of 2023 Vanwall is a British Formula One racing team founded by Tony Vandervell that existed only between 1951 and 1960 but won the Formula One Constructors’ Championship once during that period – in 1958 a former team boss of several Formula 1 teams the company has been known primarily for its racing and touring cars So the electric vehicle model is named after the former founder of the racing team and is now the company’s first road-legal model “In this phase of profound change in the automotive world Vanwall has poured all its knowledge into this project proving how racing still can serve as a real benchmark to provide solutions applicable to mass production vehicles,” Vanwall wrote in response The team also proves that it is capable of “developing several challenging projects at the same time” Vanwall is referring to the recently approved participation with a self-developed hypercar in the 2023 WEC and thus also in the 24 Hours of Le Mans “Vanwall’s goal is to create unique bringing them to the maximum possible development able to convey the strong passion that animates the Vanwall Company,” summarises Kolles Source: Info via email, vanwallvandervell.com I agree with the Privacy policy electrive has been following the development of electric mobility with journalistic passion and expertise since 2013 we offer comprehensive coverage of the highest quality — as a central platform for the rapid development of this technology The Taunton High football team will rely on its skill-position players while several new starters get acclimated to their roles on the team the Tigers finished with an overall record of 4-7 during the first year under the direction of head coach Chris Greding in 2012 Taunton was even more competitive than that mark would indicate “The kids have worked hard over the past nine months getting ready for the season,” Greding said “It took us seven games last year to hit our stride and then we won three of our last four We are so much further ahead this year than we were at this time last year.” Facing a tough schedule and playing in one of the top leagues in the state Taunton has to replace several starters from a year ago most notably on both lines and at linebacker “We have five new offensive linemen and a new front-seven on defense so we will be relying on our skill players,” said Greding We use a lot of sets and have thrown a lot at the kids We run an offense that is not seen every day but I’m very proud with the way the kids are picking it up.” Fortunately the Tigers are loaded with skill players led by senior captain and quarterback Kyle Maderia who will also see some time at strong safety is also a captain this fall as is Adam Volpe who is a key member of both the offensive and defensive lines Senior Domingo Jenkins returns this year as one of the top running backs in the Hockomock League who had 1,600 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2012 will play fullback on offense and outside linebacker on defense Senior Gerald Cortijo and junior Steven Harrison will both play wing back Cortijo gained 900 yards on the ground a year ago Cortijo will also play cornerback with Harrison at strong safety Sophomore Lazare Joseph will also be a key performer at both fullback and outside linebacker Taunton will compete in one of the state’s top divisions the Hockomock League Large School Division “We want to keep our goals realistic,” Greding said “We aren’t even thinking about the playoffs Our goal for the first seven games is to be competitive and be in the mix for the division title we are looking to finish with a .500 record.” Taunton will travel to Falmouth today for their final scrimmage of the preseason “This Friday is a big test to see where we are as an offensive unit,” Greding said we will have to go through one of the big three teams Taunton will open the regular season by hosting New Bedford in a non-league game next Friday at 4 p.m TAUNTON — There will be a new field leader on the sidelines at Taunton High school Brad Sidwell was named the head coach for the Tigers varsity football program for the upcoming 2016 fall season a former head coach at Franklin High School for 20 years and 15-year athletic director Sidwell amassed a career record of 118-104-3 He led Franklin to an undefeated season in the Hockomock League in 2009 as well as the league title Sidwell spent a season coaching at Providence Country Day before landing the head coaching duties for the Panthers in 1995 where he was a multi-year starter and standout for football and baseball He earned his bachelor’s degree from Brown and a master's in education in urban education from Rhode Island College who was also appointed as the new PK-12 Wellness Coordinator at the high school mathematics and physical education as well as experience in inclusions classrooms He served on various local and state communities Sidwell was selected as an MIAA Coaches Education Instructor that teaches coaches throughout the state “We are pleased to welcome Brad Sidwell and his family to our school community,” Superintendent of Schools Dr “He is an educator who strongly believes that athletics physical education and wellness play a vital role in the academic excellence of students experience and passion will improve the health and well-being of all children in the Taunton Public Schools.” Taunton’s last trip to the Super Bowl came in 1980 Though there were some hairy moments at the end the Taunton High football team earned its biggest win of the season over Franklin on Friday night at Tiger Aleixo Stadium the Tigers improved to 2-6 overall and captured their first game ever in the Hockomock League Large School Division “This was our biggest win in the past four years,” Taunton head coach Chris Greding said to his emotional players following the win You continue to buy into the program and the coaching staff who entered the night in a tie for first place in the division dropped to 6-2 overall and 2-1 in the division and is now part of big logjam atop the division “Our role is to spoil the party,” Greding said his Tigers to face Mansfield next Friday night at 7 p.m The Hornets were also knocked from atop the division standings with a 36-21 loss to North Attleboro on Friday night we want to spoil the party of everyone else.” Trailing 27-22 with 9:43 remaining in the game the Tigers put together their best drive of the season to score the winning points Taunton drove 80 yards on 19 plays and took 9:01 off the clock Taunton converted three first downs on the possession with junior running back Jamal Williams picking up two first downs on the ground with junior quarterback Kyle Maderia hitting senior captain and wide receiver Matt Nunes with a big first-down pass on the other Facing a second and goal at the Panther five-yard line junior running back Domingo Jenkins used two carries to cover the five yards the latter from one yard out gave Taunton a 28-27 lead with 42 seconds left on the clock The two-point conversion run by the Tigers was stopped short but they still held the one-point advantage but they also knew our big objective was to chew up as much time off the clock as possible.” A personal foul on the Tigers on the touchdown and a good kickoff return by Franklin senior running back Kyle Finamore set up the visitors at the Taunton 43 with 35 seconds left Three incompletions by Panther junior quarterback left Franklin with a fourth and 10 with 22 seconds left Zucco hit senior wide receiver Brandon Eccher on fourth down but Tiger junior cornerback Gerald Cortijo stopped him a yard short at the 34 the Tigers only took 13 of the remaining 14 seconds off the clock giving Franklin one final attempt at a 48-yard field goal with one second left But the kick by Panther senior Mike Carden faded to the right of the goal posts ByKolles signs Belgian prospect Esteban Muth as reserve driver for Hypercar program… ByKolles has signed Esteban Muth to the role of test and reserve driver for its FIA World Endurance Championship program with a Vanwall-badged LMH car Muth drove the Vanwall Vandervell 680 in back-to-back tests at Barcelona Aragon in December and is now set to continue working with the German constructor this year The ByKolles-built Vanwall prototype will be raced in the WEC by Tom Dillmann Esteban Guerrieri and 1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve Muth’s reserve driver position will see the 21-year-old Belgian become “immersed with the team both trackside and at the factory in Greding.” “We’re delighted to welcome Esteban to our team,” said ByKolles head of operations Boris Bermes “Esteban’s natural ability behind the wheel convinced us and he will demonstrate what he’s capable of in the years to come We look forward to working closely with Esteban to support his development as a driver.” Muth made his DTM debut when the series switched to GT3 rules in 2021 and claimed nine points finishes in a T3 Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo He then switched to BMW squad Walkenhorst Motorsport but his second season was cut short when he needed to have a surgical operation “It is clear that endurance racing is on the up and that for any driver who wants to shine on the international scene the FIA WEC is a discipline that cannot be ignored,” said Muth “With the introduction of the FIA Hypercar regulations The renaissance of a brand like Vanwall is just something very special It is an absolute pleasure to be invited to join this team as official test and reserve driver “Obviously my hope is to find myself one day in a race at the wheel of this superb Vanwall Vandervell 680 which I will combine with another program.” Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365 covering the FIA World Endurance Championship Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Stephen and Brenton Grove to replace Claudio Schiavoni replacing Paul-Loup Chatin at IDEC Sport.. Catch up on all of the action from second round of FIA World Endurance.. Iron Lynx confirms Martin Berry as Christian Ried's replacement for 6H Spa; further races.. Be one of the first to try our new activity feed A combination of factors come into play to make the Challenge Roth triathlon the race where iron-distance records are broken both Andreas Raelert and Chrissie Wellington established new world records Here’s a unique look into why this venue makes for blazing times The swim in Donau Canal is a single counterclockwise loop The bike course on its face is not anything earth shattering; it doesn’t have the legendary Mumuku winds of Kona and it lacks massive climbs like those found at Lanzarote’s Timanfaya Park heading south toward the town of Greding before turning north again to Roth But it does have its signature character: Solarer Berg “Solarer Hill is absolutely crazy,” Challenge Roth race director Felix Walchshofer told Triathlete.com back in 2009 “Athletes will get around the corner and will hear the noise of the crowds and they pass out of way just as the riders come up The run is a flat effort with two out-and-back sections on the south and north end Walchshofer explained the finish is not to be missed “The last finisher experiences the sparklers the last finisher is an even more special moment than the first finisher.” But what makes Roth the ideal location for blazing iron-distance times Swimming in a canal without the need to sight to track your path helps With the shoreline or midline course markers as a guide this is the most fascinating part of the race Twenty thousand people come up along the canal creating a great festival atmosphere as the sun is rising Germany’s Michael Prufert swam a 43:35 in 1997 here while fellow German Janina-Kristin Gotz holds the women’s swim time in 47:24 (2009) The two-loop bike course is mostly flat with several rolling sections and just a few short stabs including the Solarerberg Elevation goes no lower than 350 meters above sea level and no higher than 550 meters above sea level “People when they see the times of Jurgen Zack and Thomas Hellriegel they think it was tailwind all the way around “It’s not a technical course by any means,” he said “It’s open and a rather easy course.” Andreas Raelert turned in an amazing 4:11:43 bike split towards his world record effort He’s not the only one to post a fast bike split on this course Jurgen Zack tore to a 4:14:16 record bike time Two years before that Thomas Hellriegel turned in a 4:14:45 In the three years Wellington has won this race she has posted the top three bike splits for women a 4:36:33 (2010) and most recently a 4:40:39 (2011) There’s nothing like the quiet buzz of wheels on fresh pavement “ You can just focus on your pace and your effort.” but it’s not a major one,” Walchshofer said Long stretches along the Donau Canal can be a blessing—or a boon but it’s really good seeing the runners coming by again,” he says Csomor brought out one of the biggest factors: a marathon that’s easy on the knees is one absent cement or hard pavement “I think 70 percent of the run is on this,” she said as she shuffled some gravel underfoot The kind surfaces helped Raelert run a 2:40:52 marathon this year Wellington was only four minutes slower at 2:44:35 giving her the women’s marathon course record While Roth has been known to see rainy conditions the area’s weather is usually cool and calm Roth sees an average high of 74 degrees F and an average low of 54 degrees F in the month of July; ideal conditions for racing And even when the conditions are hotter or rainier than normal athletes still tend to see personal records on race day In 2011, rallyist and cast iron testicle owner Mark Higgins set a lap of 19m56.7s around the Isle Of Man’s insane TT course in a Subaru WRX STI. It was a run that included one of the very scariest tankslappers ever committed to video – a moment Higgins himself described as ‘one of the biggest moments of my life’ But undeterred by very nearly pebble-dashing his Scooby – not to mention its occupants – all over the self-governing dependency, Higgins will return to the Isle Of Man this year, armed with a new Subaru WRX STI and hoping to go even faster If you cut out all that unnecessarily flailing from side to side we reckon you could shave off a couple of seconds… Truck driver Dan Greding was given a parking ticket on Victoria St after parking for 90 minutes in a zone where parking was limited to 75 minutes but here’s the catch: Greding was only parked in order to install the 75-minute parking signs ‘Then you should know you can’t park here for more than 75 minutes’ presumably unconcerned about creating a black hole of logic that could devour the known universe “I guess my crime was not installing the signs in under 75 minutes,” rues Greding Source: KEYT.com At the Tokyo motor show last year, Honda showed the too-cute S660 concept a dinky roadster that looked ever inch the spiritual successor to its iconic Beat kei car And now reports from Japan suggest the S660 will become reality next year with production slated for the Yokkaichi factory a facility that already builds small cars for Honda No word on what might power the adorable little S660 but it’s safe to assume it’ll be available with some take on the standard kei car engine formula Surely there’s room for a V8 on board somewhere There’s only one thing worse than falling off your scooter and that’s falling off your scooter in front of a policeman Actually, scrap that. It’s even worse if, after falling off said scooter, you then plunge down an open manhole. And if said policeman just happens to have a dashcam running to capture the whole unfortunate event. As part of the Fiat Group’s annual numberfest this week Alfa Romeo boss Harald Wester revealed his company’s grand recovery plan And grand it is: Wester says Alfa will build no fewer than eight new models by 2018 including a pair of rear-drive 3-Series rivals To sell 400,000 cars annually within four years Can Wester’s masterplan possibly work? Or will this be another case of Alfa promising big and delivering rather smaller? Read Paul Horrell’s excellent analysis and decide for yourself… he was surprised to discover its window smashed and its ignition damaged And even more surprised to discover drunk car thief Jacob Tokaryev curled up happily in the passenger footwell “He [Tokaryev] got drunk the previous night,” explained police spokesman Arkhip Isayev but said he could not afford a taxi either as he’d run out of cash because he’d spent it all on drink but that won’t save him from a court appearance...” The RCF – Posh Toyota’s V8-packing answer to the BMW M4 – is coming soon And, on its official Facebook page Lexus has asked for your help to find out what that lurid shade is called you should have covered this one in school A Nottinghamshire police officer who locked his keys in his patrol car after arresting a suspect had to request a lift to the station from the lad’s mum says a report in this week’s Police magazine After being ‘met with some hostility’ when arresting the suspect for assault the unnamed officer led the man out to his car the officer failed to notice his keys were underneath so was forced to ask the suspect's for a ride home loading her son and the officer – who were still handcuffed together – into the back of her three-door Vauxhall Corsa and heading to the local cop shop they were ‘greeted with waves and polite gestures’ from local residents Diminuitive F1 overlord Bernard Ecclestone this week revealed that the Korean Grand Prix will be dropped from the sport’s 2015 calendar to make room for a race in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku (above) It will start in 2015 and will replace Korea,” Ecclestone said “They [the Koreans] did a good job with the track but what they forgot to do was build all the things they wanted to build.” Baku’s race will take place on a street circuit around the capital a course that has previously hosted the final round of the Blancpain Sprint Series It’s rumoured the oil-rich Azerbaijani organisers will pay some £24m each year for the privilege of hosting the F1 circus We’re told the Baku race may be called the Grand Prix of Europe and actually Azerbaijan is considered part of both Europe and Asia but would many consider Baku an iconic European destination it seems German retro-builder Wiesmann has finally closed its doors for good Local media reports say the last few remaining Wiesmann employees left the factory for good this month though most of the 125-strong workforce had already been laid off after administrators failed to find a buyer Wiesmann was established in 1985 as an aftermarket modifying house It later moved into building its own two-seaters which packed the 550bhp twin-turbo V8 from the current M5 cost some £190,000 and would do 193mph flat-out But not any more. Have a read of the time we tested the MF5 against the equally caricatured Morgan Aeromax SS (above), then raise a glass to the memory of those crazy, old-school Germans. Charles Holland Duell, commissioner of the US Patent and Trademark Office from 1898 to 1901, is famed for saying: “Everything that can be invented, has been invented.” Duell never actually uttered such a phrase, but now finally it has happened: everything that can be invented, has been invented. Because South Staffordshire inventor David Daly has patented a camera mounted in a horse’s bottom. OK, not quite in its bottom, but not far away. Daly has cunningly sown a tiny dashcam into a ‘sleeve’ that fits round the tail of your mighty hooved steed. The aim? To record – and, in turn, hopefully deter – drivers who get too close. And, presumably, to provide a detailed record of any amorous liaisons between Mrs Horse and Mr Horse. Daly’s previous inventions include a canine jacket to warn if your dog is a biter. The Nobel Prize is surely in the post. Look out for your regular round-up of news No money from the licence fee was used to create this website The profits we make from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes BBC is a trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation Three versions of LMH-inspired car planned; team set to debut race car in 2021… ByKolles Racing has reaffirmed plans to build a Le Mans Hypercar having taken the wraps off the PMC Project LMH which is slated to debut in the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship season The Austrian-flagged LMP1 team will build three versions of the car including a 700-horsepower V8-powered racer (pictured) that will compete in the LMH class as a non-hybrid While full technical details have yet to be released the constructor states that it will weigh in at 1040 kg “The innovative PMC Project LMH has been designed entirely in-house at its headquarters in Greding Germany in about 36 months by a dedicated young team of engineers and designers,” a statement from ByKolles read “The sleek aerodynamic lines are the result of 1000s of runs of CFD.” ByKolles will join Toyota Gazoo Racing and Glickenhaus on the grid with LMH cars next year The privateer outfit plans to make the PMC Project LMH available in track day and road car configurations as well with the road car to include a hybrid system to meet the design target of 1:1 kg to hp ByKolles has not confirmed details of the race car engine beyond its power output, although company owner Dr. Colin Kolles told Sportscar365 earlier this year that it plans to retain the Gibson V8 unit currently found in its ENSO LMP1 challenger John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John Goodyear to rollout new specification of slick tire for LMP2 class ahead of 4.. McLaren to raise awareness for fight against meningitis with special 24H Le.. Road-going version of Porsche 963 LMDh car set for reveal at 24 Hours of.. The king of beasts rightly presided over the sale with this Fourteenth Century lion-form aquamanile from Lower Saxony bringing $225,360 against a reserve of $52,000 Hermann Historica partnered with Ehrl Fine Art & Antiques to offer a selection of nearly 250 items on the grounds of Castle Greding The sale was titled “From Castles and Palaces: Selected Arts & Handcrafts from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century.” On offer were pieces of antique jewelry as well as personal effects form the royal houses of Europe and the Middle East Absentee and phone bidding supplemented internet bidding made available through Invaluable and Lottissimo as well as Hermann Historica’s dedicated online platform The top lot in the sale was a Fourteenth Century lion aquamanile made in Lower Saxony that had a starting price of $52,000 Standing 11-7/8 inches high and measuring 14½ inches in length it was described as a rare courtly spouted vessel used for the ritual hand washing of guests before a banquet A 2014 expert report from the Institute for Materials Science in Wiesbaden with a positive alloy analysis and x-ray images accompanied the lot as well as a 2018 thermoluminescence report that classified the age of the casting core as approximately 620 years old One of the earliest lots in the sale was a pair of early Hellenistic gold bracelets from the Fourth to Third Century BCE the bracelets each measured about 3 inches in length and about 1½ inches in height Provenance for the glittering pair included a private Viennese collection and the collection of a Soviet diplomat and the lot was also accompanied by invoiced and export licenses The pair brought $109,045 on a reserve of $87,000 The highest price achieved among three suits of armor in the sale was for this circa 1480-1500 Southern German Gothic full field suit parts of which may have been made in Innsbruck The sale featured three full suits of armor bringing prices that put them all into the top ten lots for the auction Leading the trio was a late Fifteenth Century South German Gothic field suit that featured elements made in Innsbruck The circa 1480-1500 suit had provenance to the Klingbeil Collection in Berlin and had been auctioned by Hermann Historica in October 2012 Rounding out the suits of armor – with each closing for more than double their opening bids – were a circa 1570-80 Milanese etched field suit with a starting price of $47,000; it closed at $108,737 A dress suit of German Maximilian armor that had been described as “knightly,” circa 1510-20 started at $41,000 and after competitive bidding achieved $94,043 A terracotta relief of a drunken Bacchus modeled by Lucas Faydherbe (Flemish 1617-1697) came from a private French collection and measured approximately 11½ by 13 inches Bidding on it began at $58,000 and it sold for $73,471 A circa 1600 carved and polychromed wooden Gothic altar from South Tyrol combined both Renaissance and Gothic design elements and included an updated report by Dr Albrecht Miller With provenance to a private Austrian collection it had been in private hands since the 1970s It brought $51,430 against a $41,000 reserve Bringing $109,045 against a reserve of $87,000 was this pair of early Hellenistic gold bracelets The first German edition of The Chronicles of Schedel was published in 1493 by the German historian Hartmann Scheled in Nuremberg Although countless illustrated accounts of world history were published in the early days of printing which is also known as the Nuremberg Chronicle featured woodcuts designed by Michael Wolgemut probably with contributions from Albrecht Durer Bidding opened at $41,000 and it sold for $58,777 The last lot of the sale – and attracting international attention – was a French-made gown worn at state occasions in the 1960s-70s by the Empress of Iran The starting price of $8,800 fueled competition from around the world and bidding on the dress was sewn up at $51,430 According to a representative for the auction house the interest in the auction was so great in Iran that the auction was broadcast by several television stations Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house and have been converted into US dollars from Euro at press time Hermann Historica is at Bretonischer Ring 3 in Grasbrunn, Munich. For more information, www.hermann-historica.de Across The Block Easter Weekend Auctions Bring ‘Hoppiest’ Bidders To Copake Fine & Fanciful Finishes In DuMouchelles’ April Auction JOE LUMAYA/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Thousand Oaks High’s Brendan Garland (left) won his match in the 154 weight class against Westlake High's Chandler Greding Thousand Oaks senior Brendan Garland admits to being supercompetitive to the point that no matter what he's doing Garland's drive to overcome any adversity to come out on top was put to the extreme test last October when during an offseason tournament he tore the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee The PCL is one of the four major ligaments of the knee making it a very difficult injury to deal with as an athlete Instead of opting for surgery that would have ended his high school wrestling career Garland opted to try rehabbing the knee and hopefully get it to a point where he could wrestle around the injury He watched film of other wrestlers and talked with people who had overcome similar injuries "I knew I needed to reprogram how I wrestled," Garland said "I refocused on a more direct approach to wrestling Early in the process things did not look good Even with the physical therapy Garland said his leg felt horrible His doctor told him that his plan wasn't going to work and that there was no way he was going to wrestle "I lost a little hope at that point," Garland said "Then right around December something just clicked so I decided I was going to wrestle either way "I realized there was only so much time I have to wrestle As long as it didn't hurt me or restrict me I was OK with going for it and seeing what happened." Garland spent all of December working on building up his strength and endurance all the while continuing to retool the way his game plan for how to dominate opponents Thousand Oaks wrestling coaches Kerry Lyne and Dennis Ritterbush monitored Garland's progress and were impressed by the improvement but they were not going to let him back into competition until doctors cleared him to do so Lyne said he hoped Garland would be able to recover from it but admits he was nervous so it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks," Lyne said "But he's a student of the sport and understands the physics of the sport Garland returned to competition this month and has been in 11 matches to date He was confident in his techniques and had his game plan set so the main focus was building endurance and improving his ability to physically compete "I'm pleased with the work I have put in and where I am at right now but I'm never totally satisfied," Garland said "I feel like I am right there with the best kids in the Conejo Valley and can compete just fine I wish I had competed with them more this season but even without that I know I will get a chance to see them and wrestle against them I am pushing hard every day to make sure I am as ready as I can be." Having had the sport he loves taken away from him for a time left Garland with a greater appreciation for not only competing but even the grind of daily workouts "I'm willing to grind through practices and am even hungry to do that and push myself every day," Garland said Then someone throws a wrench in the system I'm hoping I can make some noise at Masters and then battle the best kids in California (at the state tournament) Getting there would be a great reward for all the hours I put in In an effort to give his program a needed shot of support Hueneme head wrestling coach Franky Ramirez decided to enlist help from football head coach Lui Toilolo and one of his assistant coaches They and the wrestling coaches collaborated to encourage football players to consider wrestling as a viable conditioning sport to keep the momentum going in the offseason The collaboration resulted in an increase of football players joining the wrestling team "This year's wrestling program has also benefited from the addition of a few new coaches," Ramirez said "These coaches enhanced the program by allowing more opportunities for the wrestlers to get the technical support needed on the mat "The foundation of Hueneme High School's wrestling program has always been predicated on the importance of discipline Newbury Park and Calabasas each had five wrestlers win individual league titles while Thousand Oaks had four champions at the Marmonte League Individual Wrestling Championships on Friday night at Thousand Oaks High The top two finishers in each weight classes qualified for the CIF Individual Championships at Marina High School next Friday and Saturday Third-place wrestlers will be CIF alternates Senior Kevin Kilbane led the Panthers — who have won three straight team league titles — by winning the 126-pound final over Danny Gurovich of Thousand Oaks by fall in 30 seconds Kilbane was named the Outstanding Lower Weight Wrestler for the second time after winning his third individual league crown Owen Greding pinned Andrew Sedeno of Thousand Oaks in the 106-pound final; Brett Philbrook defeated Mark Sullivan of Thousand Oaks by decision to win the 170-pound title; Michael Boudreau defeated James Gentry of Thousand Oaks by fall in the second period of the 220-pound final; and Samuel Grotelueschen beat Nestor Lopez of Thousand Oaks by fall in the second period to win the 285-pound title Alan Smith defeated Zach Lewis of Newbury Park by decision to win the 113-pound title; Joey Escobar defeated Drew Walker of Newbury Park by decision in the 132-pound final; Brando Harrah defeated Conner Troxel of Newbury Park by fall to capture the 152-pound title; and Dean Drello defeated Ty Garrick of Calabasas by fall to win the 195-pound title More: Friday's Top Prep Performers from boys basketball More: Thursday's Top Prep Performers from basketball and soccer More: Wednesday's Top Prep Performers from basketball, soccer and water polo More: Tuesday's Top Prep Performers from basketball, soccer and water polo More: Monday's Top Prep Performers from basketball, soccer and water polo The second half has had an extra special meaning for the Stoughton High football team this season the Black Knights came up big once again when it counted most scoring a pair of touchdowns to break open a close game and hand Taunton High its second straight loss Seniors Frankie Morris and Aaron Mack each scored touchdowns while junior tailback Malachi Baugh added a late score for Stoughton (2-0) “That’s two weeks in a row that we’ve played a real good second half,” Black Knights head coach Greg Burke said “We made a lot of mistakes in the first half and but we seemed to hang in and make some plays.” Mack recovered one of three fumbles committed by the Tigers (0-2) early in the fourth quarter with Stoughton clinging to a 6-0 lead Black Knight quarterback Dan Eckler threw the ball deep to Mack who juked a few defenders and made a spin move to the end zone to complete a 67-yard touchdown reception giving Stoughton a 14-0 lead after a two-point conversion pass from Eckler to Baugh Tim Porter intercepted one of the three picks committed by Taunton to set up another Stoughton score Baugh raced untouched 53 yards down the right sidelines to boost the lead to 22-0 after Eckler hooked up with Andrew Kelley for the two-point conversion I think we controlled the ball a little bit more and had a lot of yardage in the second half,” Burke said “Taunton did a good job against the run and hats off to them it wasn’t the home cooking it expected to have in Week 2 we started to move the ball early,” Tigers head coach Chris Greding said I don’t know what happened in the second half .. Three of Taunton’s four first-half possession were inside Stoughton territory One of the turning points of the game came in the second quarter after the Black Knights’ Andrew Valle intercepted a pass He completed a big third and long situation — a 35-yarder to Valle — which gave the visitors a first-and-10 at the Taunton 30 Morris galloped into the end zone from 5 yards out to give the Black Knights a 6-0 lead the turning point of the game is when we had them third-and-long,” Greding said “The vertical pass changed everything and our boys seemed like they did not recover after that We have to do better as a coaching staff to play four quarters of non-stop football.” Sophomore quarterback Adam Leonard made his first varsity start of the season in place of injured quarterback Kyle Mederia “It was our job to prepare Adam,” Greding said That is not an easy situation for kid that age I thought he was pretty composed for most of the game.” Baugh led all rushers with 91 yards on eight carries for the Black Knights Morris added 51 yards and Mack had 38 yards Domingo Jenkins led Taunton in rushing with 62 yards on 13 carries Jamal Williams added 38 yards and Gerald Cortijo-Parrilla had 30 yards The Tigers will look to get into the win column next week against Durfee “We have to learn how to win,” Greding said They don’t understand how hard it is to win a football game the sacrifice but we’re going to get there.” Supporters of the city’s rival high school football teams came together to hit the links over the weekend to contribute to a scholarship fund for local student-athletes The 13th annual Taunton Elks Kickoff Classic golf tournament took place at the John F drawing 72 participants and donations from an array of area businesses The proceeds go toward student scholarships awarded during a dinner held for the Taunton High and Coyle-Cassidy football teams at the Taunton Lodge of Elks No just before “The Game,” an annual Thanksgiving Day fixture between the Tigers and the Warriors First-year Taunton High football coach Chris Greding said the golf tournament is always a fun event that helps out student athletes “It’s always a great time coming out to support a great cause,” Greding said “Any little bit helps students going into college with something as simple as getting books for a semester.” Greding said he’s glad the two high school football programs can come together for the event there is only one day out of the year that we don’t like each other,” he said “The other 364 days there is nothing but partnership between the two schools.” 150 Thanksgiving Day Scholarship Committee Chairman Dan Dermody said that said the event started when a lightbulb went offin the minds of some coaches from the schools who were playing golf together one day and were thinking about how they could contribute to the success of student athletes saying that wouldn’t it be nice if we could give out scholarships to the kids in time for Thanksgiving it’s been sold out since 2000,” Dermody said alumni and members of the community who just want to help out and every year the same people come back.” It doesn’t work unless the schools work together “The Game” is one of the things that unites the city of Taunton.” Coyle-Cassidy Head Coach Tom Pileski thanked the organizing committee and the Elks for helping to make the event possible “The committee does a great job of putting this together year in and year out,” Pileski said “The fact that both schools get the benefit from it is great to help pay off with a lot of the incidental costs of college Hats off to the committee because they keep it alive.” scholarship checks of $1,000 were awarded to four students athletes from the schools The students were given $1,000 scholarships that were to be awarded during their second semester of college and the recipients also are eligible to receive an additional $500 per year if they maintain a cumulative 3.0 grade average Contact Marc Larocque at mlaroqu@tauntongazette.com Walking through the crowded city center of Bireuen Ron Taylor and Elder Jim Greding were greeted over and over again by locals who echoed similar sentiment: "Thanks "They knew we weren't there on vacation... It is a very remote place on the earth," said Brother Taylor "They knew the only reason we were there was to help in some way Even though they didn't know who we represented they wanted to express their appreciation." Brother Taylor of LDS Philanthropies —the organization that coordinates and facilitates donations to the Church and its various educational and service institutions — was in Indonesia to document the Church's post-tsunami humanitarian efforts had coordinated the last of the Latter-day Saint-funded projects The Church went to work in the region after a tsunami killed more than 220,000 people in a dozen nations The disaster also set into motion what the United Nations has called the "world's biggest-ever relief operation." LDS Humanitarian Services began working with community-based organizations to provide longer-term aid and development The Church's work in the area is one of the organization's most momentous humanitarian efforts to date — fueled by the donations of Church members and others and marking the first time the organization has offered such long-term assistance after a disaster Church Humanitarian Services completed their projects In a working partnership with other major international humanitarian organizations — including Islamic Relief Worldwide the International Organization for Migration the Adventist Development and Relief Agency and International Relief and Development — the Church constructed homes health clinics and water and sanitation systems in Indonesia and Church-service missionaries Bill and Linda Hamm oversaw much of the Church's work in the tsunami-devastated region "The money that was donated and the organizations that were chosen to help oversee the spending of that money and we feel very good about what we got for the money that was spent in helping and we feel really proud to have been just a small part of this rebuilding process," said Elder Greding voicing a sentiment shared by all involved The homes were furnished with a starter kit which included one mattress • The construction of three community centers • The construction of three health clinics and a wing of an existing hospital and doctors and medical staff were trained • The completion of 24 village water projects • The restoration of shrimp and rice farms • The building of large and small fishing boats The longer-term aid and development in Indonesia followed numerous emergency response efforts including: hand-held communications equipment and a wide range of other supplies and aid Brother Taylor viewed many of the Church projects and talked to the people who were being helped were willing to share what they have — mostly what they could grow "We were offered more watermelons than we could eat They genuinely appreciate their new homes and the centers Many I met moved into their homes in August or September of 2007 they have already planted flowers around the house done much to make the home uniquely theirs." Brother Taylor talked to numerous people who expressed appreciation for the Church and its humanitarian efforts in Indonesia a community and religious leader in Calong said his people feel blessed to have their new community center "It is a fine place where they can all meet together," he said It is a place where we can teach the children It is very useful and will help keep the community together." Kamaruzzaman (many in Indonesia use only one name) a Church-constructed school that was built around a Mosque said the building will help students left without hope after many of the classmates and teachers died in the tsunami "We did not think we would ever have a school this nice," he said "They have been going to a temporary building for the schooling; a community hall... The students now have a better school; more helpful to learning They now have a more hopeful future." Health clinics are also making a difference Before the tsunami the community of Ulee Kareung had a small but important health clinic that was destroyed the community members had to walk 15 kilometers to receive medical assistance most of the roads and bridges along the coast were severely damaged or destroyed And because it was difficult to travel anywhere outside the community for anything — the people have struggled for three years "On behalf of the people in our community many thanks," said community chairman Syarman "God bless you for your help in restoring this service for our use Our people will be able to get needed medical assistance near their home." expressed appreciation for the medical centers as well as Church-donated water projects in the area He said he "hopes that this opportunity to work together will help build a bridge of friendship between our two cultures." said before the water projects it was hard to get good water and it took a long time to get what there was of it "Now our children will be more healthy and have a better future," she said Sukardi survived the tsunami by climbing to the top of a coconut tree Their land was lost to the ocean after the disaster it sounded like a large jet plane flying close to the ground "We thought it was the end of the world," Sukardi said But we are alive and we are together and we are happy We thank LDS people for their kindness." said that the partnership with the Church to provide relief in Indonesia was a great experience holds to high standards and good quality work They have stayed involved from the beginning to the end to ensure their money is used wisely as it was intended." Even after three years reminders of the tsunami are everywhere A hand-painted mural on a city wall depicts the disaster Washed-out roads and bridges have not been re-built Swamps are left where homes and farms once stood "You can read about it or you can hear about it but unless you're there yourself and actually see it with your eyes and feel it with your heart it's impossible to be touched as much as we have been touched over the last year and a half that we've been associated with this project," said Elder Greding "I've made the comment to my friends at home that my eyes have seen and my heart's felt things that I'll never be able to describe in words because I just don't have the ability or capacity to share the things that we've felt and the things that we've seen." E-mail to: sarah@desnews.com Mike Newman smashed his own world record for the fastest speed driven visually impaired With the help of a guide - his Dad - in a chase car behind a former banker who was born with glaucoma managed to average 200.9mph over two runs at Elvington airfield Gunther Holtorf bought a Mercedes-Benz G Wagen he and his wife travelled the equivalent of 22 times around the earth I was a bit sceptical about the promise made by Mercedes-Benz [‘where there's a G Together with his G - affectionately named ‘Otto' - and his wife Some more stats: he crossed 410 borders outside Europe braced temperatures as low as -27 degrees celcius and +50 degrees celcius and spent an equivalent of 3.5 years in the driving seat "The entire drivetrain is still original," Gunther recalls "Neither the frame nor the body have shown any signs of fatigue." It's something that you can only use once a year The wide-eyed words of Jeremy Clarkson the first time he stepped out of McLaren's mighty hypercar But there is something that can help you keep up with a P1 on track. Weight. Or rather, lack of it. As this excellent video demonstrates with Oliver Webb in a plucky BAC Mono doing a damn good job of stopping British GT racing driver Paul Bailey in a P1 disappearing into the distance at Silverstone we corralled a little-known Formula One driver named Lewis Hamilton and a man who HATES TYRES each was strapped into their respective company cars - Hamilton's 2013 F1 machine The resulting video - watch it here - is just... brilliant. F1 vs GRC should be a Thing Paul lives in Germany and makes astonishingly detailed Formula One cars out of cereal boxes These cars are so complicated and beautiful that it makes Top Gear's face both happy and curiously melancholic It'd be worth watching this beautifully shot three-minute video only for the footage of Paul's incredible, tiny creations. But the punchline is even better. We beseech you: watch this from start to finish and feel all life-affirmed and gooey.  707bhp supercharged V8 ‘Hellcat' Hemi is worthy of applause Slotted in the heart of the Dodge Challenger it spells the most powerful production muscle car in the world When the same engine is transplanted into the Dodge Charger it makes the world's fastest four-door saloon But as long as it'd done less than 100,000 miles it wouldn't matter: the engine would still be covered under warranty Thursday 1 May marked 20 years since the tragic death of Ayrton Senna at the San Marino GP Sportsmen and women worldwide joined in commemoration of the great man with Brazilian football club Corinthians' tribute standing out as the very best lined up and donned replica versions of Senna's trademark yellow-and-green racing helmet Senna was a fan of Sao Paulo-based Corinthians and the team appeared to summon his win-at-all-costs spirit in the ensuing match thrashing Nacional 3-0 in the Copa do Brasil Meet this completely adorable floppy-eared Fred Basset look-alike exhibiting extreme joy in a Porsche Cayman is our general reaction to driving arguably Porsche's best car on sale right now One thing that instantly boils the blood of any Top Gear staffer is any mention of the word ‘caravan' So when news came in this year that the dog fraternity is to get its own tailor-made caravans these handmade vintage trailers are custom built to the size Not that your dog can tell you its preferred size primarily because IT'S A DOG AND CAN'T TALK When Mark Higgins pulled off arguably the greatest save in four-wheeled history at the Isle Of Man in 2011 we suspected the Subaru rallyist might be packing some weapons-grade danglies And now it's been confirmed: Higgins has plums of carbotanium. Watch the onboard footage of his record-breaking lap of the Isle of Man this year - in which he recorded an average speed of 117.5mph in a standard US-spec WRX STI - and then DARE to disagree Finding your purloined classic before it's burned to the ground or hustled out of the country must be fantastic Imagine the euphoria after a build up of 46 years.. Ivan Schneider, an 82-year-old from Florida, experienced just that in September. His Jag XK-E (E-Type in British) was recovered from a Netherlands-bound shipping container nearly five decades after being nabbed from outside his Manhattan apartment After missing it dearly all that time he promised it a thorough restoration as a welcome home gift where Detroit pensioner George Talley was reunited with his stolen 1979 Chevrolet Corvette after 33 years The Vette was pinched from Jefferson Avenue in Detroit in 1981 disappeared off the grid for the next three decades when Talley got a call from the American Automobile Association to let him know his car has resurfaced 950 miles away Or more specifically, having your armpit hair SET ON FIRE causes crashes. Such childish pranks are the hallmark of any teenage party sorely lacking in blue WKD and Twiglets, but back in September one mischief-making passenger in Idaho, USA decided to inflict such hilarity upon the 18-year-old driving him and two other teens in the early hours of the morning Nobody on board the inevitably crashed Ford Bronco had their seatbelt on but luckily no life-threatening injuries happened The armpit hair attacker was ticketed with ‘interfering with the driver's safe operation of a vehicle' who conducted a survey on car ownership in Blighty Turns out that half of motorists stranded on the hard shoulder with a flat tyre wouldn't know how to replace it One in three motorists aged between 18-25 said they'd never checked if their tyres were inflated while one in four have no idea how to tell if the tread depth is within legal limits 20 per cent of British drivers don't even know how to open the bonnet showed that a quarter of used car owners (28 per cent) lie about the condition of their car when they come to sell it One in three 18-25 year olds (33 per cent) admitted to blatant fibbery to secure a quick sale - 11 per cent would physically hide minor problems and 9 per cent were actually prepared to turn back the odometer to get a better price A pair of pranksters who decided to have some fun with an approaching Google Street View car were outed in June when the camera car rolled through their local town mechanics Gary Kerr and Dan Thompson decided to enact an axe-killing for the car to capture on film and upload to Google's Big Brother But police were later called after an alarmed member of the public saw the scene on Google Street View "It was in the spur of the moment," Thompson told The Independent "It seemed like the obvious thing to do so I threw myself on the ground and Gary grabbed a pick-axe handle from the garage Even one that wasn't very good. This probably isn't revelatory news, we'll admit. But the sheer dominance of the 2001 Arrows A22 in this video that surfaced in November is still a beguiling watch But if you've even been in the company of a Radical on a trackday seeing just how foolish it's made to look down the Zolder pit straight is quite jaw-dropping How safe such an exercise is can be argued elsewhere; the driver's levels of skill and awareness are wholly appropriate for the car he's in potentially frightening closing speeds minimised by some sensibly early braking when a car is negotiating a corner ahead Speak to many German drivers and one of their biggest worries isn't being aggressively collected by the front of a 155mph repmobile as they merge onto motorways The stone marten is a ferret-like creature that has a rather inconvenient habit of burrowing into car engine bays when it's a bit parky outside a few vital components normally end up a bit chewed in the process Audi wants to put a stop to it, so it's rigged some cameras to an A3 and watched the martens at work to try and solve the problem. Click to watch the video though your German will need to be sharp if you've got your speakers turned up whippet-walking corner of Britain got a new tourist attraction in July: a maze featuring a massive 50-metre head of Jeremy Clarkson York maze - the largest in Europe apparently - paid tribute to three "Yorkshire" legends by cutting their likenesses into a large field: cricketing miserablist Geoffrey Boycott More weird TG-inspired art comes from British artist Grayson Perry He made news after creating a massive ‘comfort blanket' to illustrate the social fabric of the UK And we're happy to report that Top Gear is featured on the blanket as an important part of British culture Albeit placed next to the white van and Morris dancing July saw Toyota announce that a plug-in Prius managed to record 698mpg while lapping the Nurburgring. Click here to watch the lap in all its breathtaking "It's got amazing traction: I had a job shifting the back end outward for photos even when going repeatedly round a hairpin the traction control in Sport mode is adaptive and fabulously effective." Some words from Paul Horrell's review of the new Ferrari California. Words, unfortunately, that the driver in this video clearly felt honour-bound to disprove in a wonderfully inept piece of driving Lego versions of real cars are ten-a-penny on the internet but there aren't too many official sets of specific models and certainly none that aren't obviously mainstream Hence why we're rallying the troops (that's you) to help make this Lego Caterham Seven an actual thing Lego's own website has an ‘Ideas' section for fans to submit their own concoctions and this is the rather fine and commendably detailed work of user 'bricktrix_1908' If a project receives the support of 10,000 people, Lego will look at putting it into production. You'll need to spare a minute or two to set up an account, but think of the joy you could bring yourself by voting: it's the kit of a kit car! And it should be a fair sight more manageable than building the real thing... You can thank the fantastically named Just Brick League for this brickwork version of the famous JDM drift machine Toyota's AE86 (more affectionately known as Hachi-Roku) The Just Brick League is a design studio that trains and connects together Lego geniuses to create awesome pieces and sets of anything and everything Could the similarly skiddy GT86 be replicated in bricks On of the year's most "Say whaaat?" story came courtesy of Car Dealer magazine now runs Mansell Mitsubishi on the island of Jersey If the story wasn't bonkers enough already Mansell used the interview to reveal he's sold an Outlander plug-in hybrid to Ronald McDonald and that the museum sitting above his dealership contains a dagger made from dinosaur bone You read that right - a Porsche 911 with a V8. Porsche released a little video in May detailing an oddity in its museum stash; a prototype ‘965' that was built in the 1980s It was a trial to see if a 911 could handle a bigger engine and so Porsche borrowed a water-cooled V8 from Audi clad it in 959 bodywork and tested it on the public road museum archive chief Dieter Landenberger notes the 965 would never have become more than a concept because the flat-six engine "is at the heart of a 911" There's the slightly gormless looking Google car, Merc's mildly disconcerting Future Truck and Audi's RS7 ‘Piloted Driving' prototype, which took us for a spin (thankfully only metaphorically) earlier this year The tech is developing at a really fast pace but our inner driving enthusiasts are upset And we still can't help but get the heebie-jeebies at the thought of an M25 chock-full of self-driving vehicles.. We're far from technophobes here at TG - quite the opposite - but it's always nice to see some vindication for the dizzying amount of new tech being shoehorned into cars And vindication comes in no starker form than the footage at this link an unwitting American's Corvette Stingray showing the benefits of fitting a performance data recorder to your muscle car Because when you hand your pride and joy over to a valet parker you never know quite how fast they'll steam through multistorey car parks in it.. To name just a few examples of staff turnover it has lost one of the F1 paddock's best drivers (Fernando Alonso) its F1 team has had three chiefs - Marco Mattiacci recently replacing by Maurizio Arrivabene after just eight months - while headlining it all big boss Luca di Montezemolo (pictured) left the company after decades in charge What this means for the company's future direction - not least LDM's previous insistence that its cars are kept ultra desirable by sales caps - will be fascinating to watch That 2014 also saw two of Ferrari's greatest ever cars - the 458 Speciale and LaFerrari - only turns the heat up on Marchionne to perform.. More light-hearted news came from Maranello in the form of the LaFerrari FXXK Officially the latest generation of the FXX track-only supercar with an added K for kinetic energy (it's an energy-recuperating hybrid we're grown up enough to know its resemblance to a rude word for a rude thing is no accident one who thought sneaking his girlfriend's VW Polo onto a bustling Brands Hatch would be a load of harmless hashtag bantz What he actually did was gatecrash a live motor race many from the motorsport scene will be relieved to know he's been punished being sentenced to an eight-month jail sentence in November but this curious case is the first of its kind and a precedent is being set "The sentence must reflect the need to deter others who might be tempted to act as you did," said Judge Martin Joy Given the internet infamy Cottle has ‘enjoyed' since Also in trouble with the law was Matthew Michael Lee McMahon strapping a set of red-and-blue lights to his Ford Crown Victoria (like the one in the pic above) and then flagging down motorists McMahon was arrested for impersonating a law enforcement officer but this raises an important question: how do we know Detective Anderson is a genuine police officer stick on some fluorescent sneakers and act out your favourite scenes from ‘Back to the Future' It works using incredibly sophisticated magnets that none of us in the TG office could possibly explain but all you need to know is that you need a metal floor to use it We aren't quite sure where you can find that The Hendo Hover Board isn't on sale just yet The company is still raising money on Kickstarter but if this is the invention you've been holding out for you can support Hendo with a full range of pledges to help speed things up If you watch the loud, shouty trailer video for Mexico's bonkers Baja 500 race, you will be amazed by the resilience of the Baja buggies and no doubt tempted to join in what looks like a lot of fun. But as our very own Ollie Marriage will confirm, the Baja is no joke. Still, watch this video A Seattle man discovered this fact as he tried to half-inch a brand new Chevy Camaro Z/28 by driving it through the window of a dealership just like Kip Raines in Gone In Sixty Seconds this thief wasn't as diligent with his planning as Nicholas Cage and his crew After leaving a Camaro-shaped hole in the Lake City dealer's window the crook didn't point his pilfered 505bhp track-spec muscle car to Long Beach docks and pray he could get there without jumping a bridge Half a mile away from the scene of the crime the ‘driver' passing a breathalyser test at the scene The 37-year-old travelled to his drinking establishment in Newman Western Australia without wings or any form of steering the propeller taking him in a straight line from one end of town to the other Police described the man in question as a "local character" before refusing to see the funny side declaring it a "serious incident' that endangered local kids that had just emerged from school some clarification: planes are for the sky In August we posted a story on a German tuning company - Arden - having the sheer affront to modify one of the most beautiful British cars in recent memory: the Jaguar F-Type Coupe We battened down the hatches for a torrent of comments along the lines of "MY EYES!!11!" and the wonderfully pointless upgrades to the lunatic V8 that would give it more power than a Ferrari 458 and thus spit you into the nearest hedge almost immediately Look at this picture of the 919 hybrid racer out testing at Monza back in February Porsche can build a V4 hybrid Le Mans weapon but it still can't get the hang of digital picture editing software Drag racing: it's just driving in a straight line When things go wrong - especially in classic drag racing in classic cars with a classic lack of rollover protection - drag racing tends to get rather.. Just ask the driver of this souped-up 1955 Chevrolet Lined up against a second-gen Camaro on the quarter-mile straight all looked to be going smoothly until the Chevy decided it wanted a better look at its peripheral surroundings and prepare to wince as the retro rod enters a nasty fishtail before launching broadside across the track a grizzly crash that ends with the Chevy's driver sticking feet-first through the space where the windscreen once lurked Amazingly, the driver emerged with nothing more than a limp. And, we're guessing, a quick prayer to his merciful Almighty. Watch and wince. and thus introduced the first ever ‘RS' badged models in its history Both ran in competition for the first time in June of '74 with the 200 RS packing a 160bhp 2.0-litre engine and top speed of 135mph And allows us to gawp at this lovely picture of the original 200 RS owning a jet black piece of exotica does at least attract attention a few locals helped him out the old fashioned way Watch the video here. A racetrack is the only real place to stretch the legs of a hypercar without attracting the rozzers But rocking up at Brands Hatch on a Wednesday evening's ‘Run What Ya Brung' event in a £1.15 million 950bhp hyper-hybrid LaFerrari might be classed as a bit ‘showy' by the have-a-go heroes in their Honda Civics That's why the Ultracar Sports Club has been formed by SRO Motorsports Grafted onto next year's Blancpain Endurance Series events at Paul Ricard and Misano it offers the world's minted the opportunity of a hypercar track day If you've got a daggy Astra with aftermarket rims Pirelli will even supply spare tyres so you can initiate Maximum Attack Mode Just make sure you don't put it into the barriers: with such a selection of cars there'll be more than a few camera phones videoing everything from the stands It wasn't only departing Red Bull driver Seb Vettel who endured a bit of a sinking feeling in 2014; the Milton Keynes-based former ruler of F1 had its factory broken into in a smash'n'grab raid for trophies Sixty shiny things were stolen - though the most glorious of the glory pots survived - and after a week of chin-scratching The trophies have no real financial value - it can't be easy to sell one without simultaneously turning yourself in for the crime - and the factory's many staff who worked so hard to garner them are rightfully perturbed Hopefully the rest turn up in as good a nick as possible soon.. The Nordschleife record-swapping has shown no signs of abating in 2014 and not just at the top end amoung the sub-seven minute supercars: perhaps the feistiest battle right now is with the front-drivers Spring saw SEAT nab Renault's front-drive record, a suspiciously stripped-out Leon Cupra lapping the Nordschliefe in 7m58s The celebratory tapas wasn't gorged upon for long, though; Renault promptly ripped the back seats from its beaten Megame Trophy, gave it more power and some seriously fancy suspension That's not the end of the story, though, with Honda set to reignite the saga in 2015 with its new Civic Type-R. You have been warned.. ...but it's unbelievably satisfying and life-affirming when you do 918 and P1 together on the same roads at the same time wasn't easy Read our verdict right here... Huge sighs of relief across the population of British F1 lovers greeted McLaren's 2015 driver line-up confirmation We'd known Fernando Alonso was joining the team for a while; whether he ousted Button or Kevin Magnussen was unclear Confirmation that Button remains is good news for fans of smooth And as if to affirm just how likeable he is "Feeling for my buddy @KevinMagnussen such a talent and great guy If you've even the most passing interest in motorsport you'll know Mercedes took the Formula 1 constructors' title by a considerable margin scrapping it out for individual honours right up until the final round Mercedes failed to win just a trio of races Red Bull's ‘number two' Daniel Ricciardo filling the top spot of the podium in all three of those cases The big question now is who's good enough to claw back respect for the rest of the grid in 2015.. The second coming of Honda's everyman supercar has been on the cards for quite some time. It's nearly three years since we first clapped eyes on a svelte NSX concept so it's fair to say we've got itchy everything in anticipation to drive it Honda has confirmed we'll see the production version at January's 2015 Detroit motor show Just the three years after that initial concept debuted in the same halls Let's hope it's not another three years until we have a go.. If you frequently use derogatory four-letter words to describe public transport then you're much nearer the truth than you probably ever intended Buses in Bristol are now eschewing boring old diesel and instead running on human waste Steaming between Bristol Airport and Bath city centre the Bio-Bus transports 40 people and can cover up to 186 miles on a tank of gas Those with a distrust of technology will be mildly horrified to know that it's all stored above their heads it is if you're one of the people responsible for painting the roads in the Old Market area of Bristol City Centre The very same Bristol whose buses run on poo But it was wholeheartedly reinforced when team sponsor Audi turned up to offer Real Madrid's players their annual pick of free cars the same Real Madrid that pays Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo roughly £300,000 a week if you're as perplexed as us by the whole affair.) A list of what everyone picked has emerged as with the vast majority of his teammates Quite how they remember whose is whose after training is beyond us You can watch an overwhelmingly lame video of the whole process here. The Manchester United squad has done nothing to cancel out any footballer-bound vitriol from that last story The team's main shirt sponsor is Chevrolet - thanks to a deal worth a slightly bonkers £47million per season - and as a result 15 Corvettes and Camaros were delivered to its training ground for the players to use Van Persie et al have stuck to their Range Rovers and reports suggest the Chevys are sitting there feeling sorry for themselves Senior tyre slayer and part-time ping-pongist Ken Block has been up to his old tricks throughout 2014 providing the internet with juicy video goodness one our favourite driftmeister's vids preented something of a departure from the normal smokey sideways forays in his 650bhp Fiesta Ken and pro snowboarders Zak Hale and Ethan Deiss headed for Baldface Lodge in Nelson Ken thought he'd drive up the mountain in his 'RaptorTRAX' - a heavily modified F150 Raptor with tank tracks for tyres Modified by Special Vehicle Concepts in California Ken's personal ski lift is equipped with snowboard racks an exterior stereo setup for blasting music and exterior-mounted lighting rig to blind the snow into submission if they get stuck and a tailgate-mounted BBQ for toasting some tasty marshmallows Check out the video of the supercharged 6.2-litre V8 pick up burying itself bonnet-first in the powder here. Scottish crime novelist Ian Rankin announced on Twitter that he'd been denied car insurance due to his apparently risky job title Whether insurers have confused him with his murderer-hunting character Inspector Rebus is as yet unconfirmed but it led a fruitful TG office quest for other occupations shunned by the world of car insurance stripper or waltzer spinner contemplating public transport instead then perhaps it's time for a change of career to a nurse the friendliest career choices come renewal time This is the finest 15 minutes of hill-climb footage you'll ever see. Taken from the Gorskie Samochodowe Mistrzostwa Polski (GSMP) Polish Hillclimbing Championship and some incredibly large gentleman vegetables on display winner of our inaugural Keeping it Pinned Freaking Constantly award Clearly taking inspiration from TG's legendary Espace-cabrio California-based Newport Convertible Engineering announced it is to create a Nissan GT-R convertible a 0-62mph time potentially under three seconds.. We're pretty sure this contravenes at least three of Newton's laws Severnvalley Motorsport wanted to one-up Nissan's very own GT-R engined Juke And so they built a GT-R engined Nissan Qashqai+2 Then they turned the engine up to Maximum Stig (1100bhp) The one day of your life that's really all about you The one day you can do anything you want (local laws notwithstanding For the most part) while the rest of the world must politely tolerate your marital whims So if you, oh tax-paying Australian citizen, want to celebrate your holy matrimony by gathering all your mates in their fast cars - including a Merc C63 AMG and a bunch of excellent old Mazdas - and perform smoky burnouts through your neighbourhood... well Top Gear fondly imagines every Australian wedding to be like this In an interview with the Korea Times in June South Korea's Assistant Mayor for Women and Family Affairs Cho Eun-hee declared that the city would create ‘she-spots': women-only parking spaces While not-at-all-sexist-in-any-way-whatsoever outlined in pink and identified by a skirt-wearing pink figure "It is like adding a female touch to a universal design and make things more comfortable for women," Eun-hee said for giving South Korea's Assitant Mayor some vindication really quite a large parking space in her BMW X3 our intrepid Canadian managed to first reverse at a decent lick into the car behind before engaging in the most extraordinary sequence of Austin Powers infinite-point-turns Then, yet better, she (slowly) fled the car park without leaving a note on the car she'd damaged. Joyously, all this was caught on security camera. Click here for four and half minutes of excruciating, glorious pain... Ford showcased its all-new Mustang on the observation deck of the Empire State Building before the New York motor show To officially launch Ford's Middle East and Africa operations with a bang a bright yellow ‘Stang was sent up to the 112th floor of Dubai's Burj Khalifa though the Stang could only make it up to the 112th floor The very end of 2013 was a sad and incredibly worrying time for F1 fans Love or hate Michael Schumacher during his dominant years in Formula 1 there's no denying the talent he displayed Or what a brilliant sport he was when we appeared on TG TV a few years ago (above) His unfortunate and tragic skiing accident has never strayed far from the forefront of motorsport news in 2014 as updates on his progress have drip-fed into the press As the first anniversary of his accident approaches the latest from his manager is that Michael is "making progress" but faces a "difficult and long" recovery though is paralysed and currently unable to speak our fingers are crossed for his successful recovery F1 safety fears have been more prominent than in recent years after Jules Bianchi's unfortunate accident during the Japanese grand prix in October A similarly vexing process to the aftermath of Schuey's accident has ensued since where he is out of a coma but still in a "critical" condition said: "Following a challenging period of neurological intensive care we are able to announce Jules has made an important step "His treatment now enters a new phase concerned with the improvement of his brain function "Although the situation continues to be serious it was decided that Jules was sufficiently stable to be repatriated to his native France." Why spend your money on giving your car a new paintjob when you can literally cover the car in coins That was the exact lightbulb moment Larry and Theresa Thompson from Indiana they painstakingly applied 38,000 pennies by hand to give their 1948 Cadillac a unique look and add exactly $382.95 to its resale value and 89kg to its kerbweight But it doesn't appear that the Thompson family has applied the coins to the wheels Clearly sick of young Middle Eastern gents grabbing the attentions of the automotive paparazzi in London's glitzy Knightsbridge a Russian business student has hit back with some serious bling 21-year-old Daria Radionova - a lady TG suspects may not hail from the wrong side of the tracks - has treated her Merc CLS 350 (registration (BA11 BYY) to a coat of more than a million Swarovski crystals "I wanted to have something unique and do something special," says Daria "The people who did it came over from Russia and worked for 12 hours a day for two months on the car." The crystals alone cost a reported £20,000 but Radionova insists she is of altruistic bent I will give the money to charity," she says No word whether the CLS has been plagued by light-fingered ‘souvenir hunters' on London's streets but we do know Radionova keeps a spare bag of the gems inside the car to patch up any losses TG's attempt to replicate this effect on our ratty BMW 320i using 200 packets of Little Gems and a tub of Superglue but here's the catch: Greding was only parked in order to install the 75-minute parking signs ‘Then you should know you can't park here for more than 75 minutes' "I guess my crime was not installing the signs in under 75 minutes," rues Greding Security camera footage captured this slightly forgetful FedEx employee having some trouble with his memory, his handbrake, and his massive van. We also learned that dogs really enjoy runaway vehicles we snuck under the velvet rope to score some pictures from the incredible Goodwood Road Racing Club's 72nd annual meeting Like an Italiya Sports Porsche 962 prototype Yeah, there was a lot of really good stuff. Click here to see our pics. Need a new window winder for your 1993 Ford Fiesta Local scrap yard short of 1986 Nissan Bluebird sun visors Desperately scouring auction websites for a replacement glovebox lid for your 1997 Toyota Paseo The king of TV chat shows is famous for his vast collection of cars and if a part goes kaput that he can't replace he now utilises a 3D printer to replace it Whether he's actually using it for a side business in parts dealing now he's not on The Tonight Show remains unconfirmed Art cars. BMW's done them, we've tried to do them and now Lamborghini want to get in on the act Recently a Lamborghini dealer in Miami teamed up with Franco-American artist and musician Duaiv to make the stunning 700bhp but we've taken a few steps back (something experts do) tilted our head sideways (something experts do) scratched our chin while nodding (something experts do) and concluded that it looks like the result of a pretty significant explosion at a rave paint factory with elements of a colour stick of Blackpool rock Though we imagine it won't be a very amusing tale News reached us in December that a man named Li was struck down by a car while attempting to cross a road in Kunshan City Li was then mowed down again by another car within just ten seconds Some locals attempted to help the stricken Li when another car screeched to a halt directly in front of him Unfortunately the car behind this car couldn't brake in time Reports tell us Li suffered several leg and rib fractures Watch the video here Seems like Mark Webber will have an F1 buddy alongside him at La Sarthe next year as Force India F1 confirmed that driver Nico Hulkenberg will race with Porsche at the legendary endurance race next year Nico will also pilot the monster Porsche at the Six Hours of Spa in May: the weekend in between the Bahrain and Chinese Formula One GPs the Clio Cup championship and Hammond's People Carrier race series next year remain unconfirmed As the awesome Veyron's production comes to an end Bugatti decided to gather all six of the ‘Legends' special edition range together for the first time They even took a photo to savour the moment of all six of the special Grand Sport Vitesse - that's the 1,200bhp 254.04mph roof down version - being in each other's presence The Legends Series commemorates six special people who played an integral and fundamental role in shaping the company; a company whose path led to a segment on TG telly that briefly made James May a world record holder You can read our dedicated history of the awesome Veyron here. Don't you hate it when you're on the motorway and everything just grinds to a frustrating stop You sit there for minutes - sometimes hours - crawling your way to whatever incident has happened it turns out the delay is caused by people just wanting to have a look at the problem on the other side of the carriageway To "keep the motorways flowing" it has purchased 3,000 stop people trying to peek a look as to what's going on Or will it slow you down even more as you try to peep a look through the holes in the fence December saw the M1 motorway in Northampton closed after a lorry caught fire but noteworthy because this lorry was stuffed to the gunnels with cheese Eyewitnesses reported 'a couple of explosions' before the lorry burst into flames TG has sampled some ripe Camemberts in its time but never any that looked close to spontaneous detonation Thankfully the driver avoided a feta worse than death escaping his cabin before the blaze took hold as dozens of fondue-loving bystanders clutching large pieces of stale bread and giant skewers moved in to mop up the damage "It was a GRUYERE miss!" chortled one entirely fictional bystander "Don't you mean a PANEER miss?" chimed in another "Lucky he wasn't driving a Vauxhall Edam!" added yet another This is far more difficult than I initially suspected..." Picture: Max Earey Enterprising snappers on Tokyo's Wangan Line expressway put the ultimate tick in their "I-Spy" book in September: Batman Usually this type of thing is a ruse by a multinational movie-making corporation to announce their latest release But there is no new Batman film on the horizon we can only assume that this really is Batman and he's been eating a lot of ramen during his relocation to Japan The 5Club MX5 Cup doesn't quite have the glamour and prestige of Formula One even if it does share a venue at Silverstone But don't think that it doesn't matter to the racers. And no trick is too dirty... Watch the video here for one of the lowest overtaking manoeuvres we've ever seen. The people who populate car internet forums aren't usually the most romantic types Extremely useful in tracking down an electric window motor for a 2000 mk1 172 Clio but we suspect some of them may not even have girlfriends Miatamaaan on an American Miata forum bucked the trend in April when he corralled 44 fellow Mazda enthusiasts into the car park at his local high school to capture the image above arch pedant Albert Gifford was currently locked in a furious battle with German giants BMW over a phrase in its new 2 Series Coupe ad not content with mangling concepts of Britishness with its awful series of Blighty-themed Minis The short 2-Series film ends with the slogan "it bites as bad as it barks" the BMW Customer Service Executive dealing with the complaint said: "It has been logged in our system and we have contacted our advertising department Source: The Mail It could be argued (and it is) that Audi has one of the most hit and miss car ranges on sale A6 Allroad - are wonderfully fit for purpose There's an increasing level of consistency rolling out of Ingolstadt but it's also sharp to drive and has one of the most interesting interiors in the business And the S1 (above) was one of the year's biggest surprises not least for completely eschewing automatic gearboxes Only the equally surprising VW Golf R pipped it for our favourite pocket rocket of 2014 its brilliance was unmatched in the hot hatch sector in 2014 and everyone in the TG office emerged from it a bit smitten before beelining straight to leasing deal websites VW has managed to improve its ‘one car fits all' wonder Should they let us have a long-term test car there will be fist fights in the TG office Pirelli rolled out a prototype low-profile you've probably noticed that most road cars have been running on tyres this big for years they're still running around on 13-inch casters - which seems a bit backwards But that could all change in 2017 as the FIA is considering bigger wheels Luckily automotive renderer Jon Sibal was tuned into our brainwaves and sketched up our "go big or go home" theory 2013 saw fewer British road deaths than at any time since 1926 but only half as many as died in the year 2000 and the lowest annual total since records began considering that our roads are busier than ever before - traffic increased 0.4 per cent year on year in 2013 Personal injury road accidents were down five per cent since 2012 You're driving down the Long Island Expressway in sub-zero temperatures You bin your car into the centre reservation New York State Police arrested an unnamed man caught nudily sprinting along a major highway after smashing his car into the ‘center median' "One of my troops was driving by and saw him running down the highway naked," revealed New York State Trooper Richard Gantt a man clearly given to telling it like it is Last year, Volvo Trucks' ‘The Epic Split' advert - starring an impressively flexible Jean-Claude Van Damme - went Full Viral having recorded over 75 million YouTube hits to date And now the Scandivian lorrymeisters have released the follow-up to ‘The Epic Split' It features rather fewer groin-tearing stretches it purports to show hidden camera footage of a valet parker being surprised by a rather larger vehicle than usual We're not sure how ‘real' it all is - surely not everyone in Italy can be that louche and handsome - but it's another good'un from our favourite Swedes and further proof Volvo's mojo is on the rise Watch the video here news arrived from China that the city of Chongqing - recognising the challenge of texting while maintaining acceptable speed - has implemented a dedicated lane for those who wish to fiddle with their phones on their morning commute If this sounds like a recipe for crashy disaster It turns out Chongqing's smartphone lane isn't for distracted A section of busy pavement has been divided into two sections with one side warning: ‘Cell phones - walk in this lane at your own risk.' "There are lots of elderly people and children in our street," explained a Chongqing spokesman "Walking with your cellphone may cause unnecessary collisions." Local news sources report the lane may actually have exacerbated the congestion problem with tourists stopping to take photos of the lane We're also told that avid texters seemed too distracted by their phones to pay sufficient attention to stay within the lane and police in the southern city of Shenzhen are cracking down on drivers who inappropriately flash their headlights By making them stare at bright headlights for five minutes A post on the official Sina Weibo account reports "from now on traffic police will make those found carelessly using bright lights to look at them for five minutes." Top Gear has made a mental note to never flash anyone in China The American National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration takes the responsibilities of its lengthy title extremely seriously And in a year when General Motors has had to recall over 800,000 cars due to faulty ignition switches Such as a problem with the Koenigsegg Agera where apparently the tyre monitoring system may (may) not have illuminated the warning light after the vehicle was restarted To ensure the car complied with the demand from the ANHTSA Koenigsegg was required to update the software on any US-based Agera Constant vigilance worthy of Mad Eye Moody out of Harry Potter and surely most comforting for our American readers As is only right for a man who has counted Mr Universe The Terminator and governor of California among the day-jobs his modus operandi has always been: take massive car make massiver (see his old Hummer for proof) in September he swapped the Hummer for another vehicle that breaks all of Colin Chapman's legendary rules the ultimate in "go anywhere and demolish anything in its path while doing it" practiality so Nissan cooked up what must be the world's greatest invention the true pinnacle of civilisation: a SELF CLEANING CAR The company fitted a Note with a specially engineered ‘super-hydrophobic and oleophobic' paint that repels water and oils and creates a protective layer of air between the paint and the atmosphere - stopping standing water and road spray from making your car filthy "Whilst there are currently no plans for the tech to be applied to the model as standard," said Nissan "we will continue to consider the coating tech as a future aftermarket option." The applicability of this aftermarket paint on humans has not been tested If countless positive reviews of the BMW i8 haven't already tempted you into purchasing the hybrid sports car immediately and takes the concept of both BMW ‘i' cars - i3 and i8 - and applies it into an excellent carport while bamboo is used in the struts - a sustainable material high-grade glass-on-glass solar modules are used They've got a 30-year guarantee and offer a ‘high energy yield' between Bath and Bristol in England's glamorous Somerset district and hours of delays for commuters making the journey between the two cities they paid £2 to use Mike Watts' unofficial toll road the local businessman rented an adjoining field and spent £150,000 of his own money creating a 400-metre tarmac road that skirts the repairs Westcountry jobsworths are upset Watts didn't apply for planning permission but the entrepreneur insists he's helping the community "People are just enjoying the fact they can go about their daily business without the 14-mile detour they've been having to suffer," he told the BBC She was shouting at me and asking when something was going to get done [about the delays]," Watts explained Former Star in a Reasonably Priced Car and all round petrolhead/musician/whatever-he-fancies-doing-new-this-week will.i.am announced a collaboration with Lexus in the summer Will would ‘champion provocative design and technology' to help launch the new NX I want it to be striking," Mr dot-i-dot-am said We presume he's not actually levitating in the pic above Though that might have been his ‘thing' for that week Toyota attempted to add a dose of urban smarts to the Sienna - its US-spec family wagon - by enlisting the help of a certain Mr Busta Rhymes Mr Rhymes - aka Trevor Tahiem Smith Jr - fronted the ‘Swagger Wagon' campaign Watch and wince this way... Aston is proud of its long history with James Bond Its ‘Q' division - that's the special section that customizes cars - is even named after 007's gadgets man Plenty of gaudy Aston specials appeared in 2014 anyone with a spare £750 knocking around or exceedingly generous friends Jaguar has launched a new range of driving experiences with half a day driving some Le Mans vintage C- and D-Types around its Warwickshire test facility the most eye-grabbing on offer According to Jaguar's website, you'll ‘feel the wind whistle around your helmet'. And if that's not a good enough endorsement to get saving the pennies, then may we suggest you watch this superbly driven C-Type for inspiration? If you're concerned your heel-and-toeing and minute slide corrections aren't up to scratch then passenger rides start at a much more palatable £95 Should you ever meet Terry Hollands in a drinking establishment and accidentally upset his drinking vial Because he was Britain's Strongest Man in 2007 and is a regular contender for the World's Strongest Man title Terry decided to pull an 18-tonne truck through London's Oxford Circus Watch the video here. Suffice to say Research carried out by sat nav aficionados Garmin has revealed that one third of British people don't know how to navigate using a traditional map instead needing the guidance of a sat nav system one in ten admit to using sat navs all the time which goes some way to explaining the carnage in a Tesco car park up and down the nation (and why everyone under the age of 25 in the Top Gear office gets permanently lost) (Question marks over the impartiality of a sat nav survey carried out by a company who sells the things notwithstanding News surfaced of a monumentally powerful solar storm that erupted on 23 July 2012 which could have ended life on Earth as we know it This solar storm pumped out one of the largest plasma clouds ever detected - a speed of 3,000km a second could have wiped out our planet's entire electronic capacity "If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces," Daniel Baker, at the University of Colorado, told The Guardian. Presumably picking up the pieces in Hyundai's zombie apocalypse car (pictured). With the legendary Challenge Roth just a few weeks away the lucky few thousand athletes who managed to get a spot on the start line of this iconic race will be busy ticking off their final few training sessions before it’s time to countdown to the firing of the first race morning canon We take a look at the key things you need to know about the bike route – which has set the stage for insane crowds and insanely fast bike splits – so you can be ready to tear it up on race day A quick look at the Challenge Roth finish times and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the bike course must be pretty flat this course is far hillier than you might think – and it shouldn’t be underestimated you can expect to spend much of your time on the bike enjoying constant rolling climbs And while most of the climbing averages around the 2-4% gradient mark there are a couple of sharp kickers that pitch up to 11% If someone says ‘Challenge Roth’ and ‘hill’ in the same sentence your mind probably instantly takes you to the Tour de France-like scenes of solar hill Made iconic by the crowds who form a corridor along the short A wall of noise powering each participant up the gradient But while Solar Hill might be the most atmospheric climb on the course It’s certainly not the only one your quad muscles need to be worrying about with a few of us here at TRI247 having ridden the course ourselves – in real life We’d say it’s the long drag up from Greding which you’ll encounter twice – first at around the 40km mark and again 120 kilometres into the course – that it’s worth being ready for A sharp left hand turn takes you straight into a steep kicker It’d be easy to get carried away and blast up this and your legs won’t forgive you by the time you get to the marathon you’ll still want to focus on staying aero as much as possible on the bike course at Challenge Roth The super smooth road surfaces mean you can make up some serious time on the flatter sections if you’re dialled into your aero position So being confident on the downhills will help you to get that average speed ticking upwards Part of what makes Challenge Roth so special is the incredible support and atmosphere – there’s no race quite like it And that makes every metre of climbing feel a little easier There’s a total of 10 hot spots on the two loop course rest assured you’ll never be far away from another round of cheering spectators to boost your motivation Here are some of the hot spot highlights to look forward to on race day Early on in the loop you’ll reach the first hot spot at Eckersmühlen Commentators will welcome athletes by name as they ride by grilled sausages and beer as they wait to cheer the athletes on where the whole town comes out in force to line the streets and cheer the athletes on The Red Bull truck here will also have a commentator providing race updates Listen carefully as you ride through if you want to find out what’s happening up the road in the PRO race Challenge Roth call Greding the ‘hill of pain’ So you’ll be glad to know there’s a fantastic supporter hot spot here to give you the energy boost you need to take on the elevation Commentators Max Dorner and Benni Koch are on hand to hype up the crowds with live music and a party vibe adding to the atmosphere You’ll definitely appreciate the distraction when you reach the climb for the second time around the most famous hot spot on the Challenge Roth bike course is Solar Hill Get ready to feel like a PRO cyclist leading the Tour de France as you head into Hipoltstein Crowds several people deep line both sides of the street creating a corridor of fans urging you on as you make your way up the climb Embrace the chaos and soak up all the energy This is a once in a lifetime race experience you’ll remember forever you’ve also got aid stations approximately every 17.5km where the on course nutrition for 2024 will be Powerbar You’ll need to pick up some serious speed to contend with the current bike course records Magnus Ditlev completed the bike course in 3:57:45, with an overall finish time of 07:24:40. It was a performance of the ages, described by Sebastien Kienle as “like the first landing on the moon in our sport Daniela Ryf was in similar record-breaking form. She took a staggering 10 minutes off Chrissie Wellington’s previous world best (08:18:13), which had stood for 12 years, to finish in 08:08:21. A powerhouse on the bike, Ryf completed the 112 mile bike course at Roth in 04:22:56 taking a look back at the 2023 results the fastest time on the bike clocked in the women’s age group field was a speedy 4 hours 52 minutes the fastest age group man on the bike in 2023 completed the 112 mile course in 4 hours 20 minutes If you’re racing Challenge Roth this year or looking to get on the start list for next year There’s plenty of excitement in store on the bike course If getting out to Roth early enough to do a full recce isn’t feasible It’s well worth jumping on the indoor bike trainer and riding the virtual version of the route on ROUVY to get familiar with the course so you’ll have a good idea of how to pace yourself for success on race day Follow the madness of the 'Race that eats its young' on RUN247