In my youth I experienced a car accident at high speed whilst driving my Dad’s Audi A4 1.8T. I hit a wall at around 120kph and was saved by airbags and the quality of the car. It wasn’t funny at the time and I was thankful I didn’t hit another car but since then I have been very aware of how important it is to know how to handle a car at high speed.
Earlier this year, I took ownership of a Golf 5 GTi. (my other girlfriend). The handling in the GTi is phenomenal, it sticks to the road and goes through corners like it’s on rails. It’s a lot of fun, pretty much every other Golf 5 Gti, Subaru, ST, S3 you see on the road is immediately up for a dice. (Not something I was used to before)
In August, Jackie’s friend Nicholas Slabbert (who used to race at Killarney) forwarded me this flyer:
I knew about these courses but last time I checked they were based in Gauteng. They were coming to Cape Town continue reading »
I am not a huge fan of Corvettes but after watching this, I am tempted to visit their website. This video, recently released by General Motors, shows you how it performs at the hands of a pro around the 20.8km Nurburgring. The time was 7 minutes 26.4 seconds: NOTE:If the video says ‘No longer available, just refresh this page a few times until it works.
The driver was Jim Mero and he was driving the 2008 Cheverolet Corvette ZR1 which looks like this: continue reading »
I am very fond of driving. Driving is fun. Driving fast is even more fun. I’ve been looking at the Golf GTi and Subaru (after driving in Barry’s) since last year and finally went for the GTi, largely because of Jeremy Clarkson’s review and that it won Automobile of the Year last year.
There is a new series on Discovery called ‘Engineering the World Rally‘. I have wanted a Subaru WRX STi for some time now, in fact I am sure most guys (even ones who drive 6 series) still want one. Jackie hates them. I told here it’s only a matter of time before there is one parked next to her car. Barry took us for a ride in his black one and I was sold. We took a corner at 120kph (all 4 of us) and the car just stuck to the road like glue.
This program is really interesting and follows SWRT for a season. Rally drivers are on another level and Petter Solberg is incredible. He says that if the team move his seat 3mm he can feel it as that is his ‘office’ and he feels everything through his seat.
It has made me even more focussed on buying a Subaru. But when I buy one I want the latest model so I’ll have to wait a few years
A fuel efficient, environmentally friendly sports car?
The Toyota FT-HS hybrid sports concept will make its debut at the 2007 North American International Auto Show.
Pairing a potent hybrid powertrain with essential sports car fundamentals, the FT-HS concept was a joint undertaking of Calty, Toyota’s North American-based, research and design center located in Newport Beach, Calif., and Toyota’s California-based Advanced Product Strategy Group. The design team was assigned the task of creating a mid-priced sports car that integrates ecology and emotion in a concept that addresses the question “What is a suitable sports car for the 21st Century?”
Volkswagen personnel and bemused passers-by, the Touareg V10 TDI completed seven complete runs on the auxiliary runway at Dunsfold Aerodrome, 40 miles south west of London.
The vehicle was a standard production Touareg fitted with a special towing adaptor to connect it with the aircraft towing link and loaded with 4.3 tonnes of metal ballast to bring its total weight to just over seven tonnes (7,030 kg) including the driver, an engineer from the technical department at the company’s headquarters in Germany. continue reading »
