Slow...Speeding Ticket: British Driver Receives Ticket After 9 Years!

If this isn’t the definition of irony, we don’t know what is; Mr Derrick Thomas received a speeding ticket (for a car that he says he never owned!), in his mailbox after nine-and-a-half years! Mr Thomas was clocked doing 60mph (96 km/h) in a 40mph (64 km/h) zone while driving a Mercedes C250 on the A12 in Essex in November 1998. The ticket was post-marked as being sent by the Police on December 16, 1998. The distance between the Police station in Rayleigh, Essex and Mr Thomas’ home in Belstead Avenue, Ipswich is 52 miles (83 km). We did the math and it turns out that Mr Thomas’ ticket travelled with the lightning speed of 0.000623142556mph or 0.000994631387 km/h!

The letter from the Police told the 71-year-old pensioner to pass his details within 28 days or face a fine of up to £1,000 and three penalty points. Something Mr Thomas is obviously reluctant to do since not only has he no memory of the incident –logical, but furthermore, he says he has exclusively driven BMW cars since 1989! Go figure...

Posted by Chris

Via: EADT

Subaru Stella RS-S Custom Edition With STi Body-Parts

The Japanese-market only Stella minicar that was introduced in 2006 has received the “STi-treatment” from Subaru’s in house-tuner. Despite its promising name, the Stella RS-S Custom Edition didn’t get any mechanical upgrades as STi focused its attention solely on the kei-car’s appearance.

The STi pack includes front and rear spoilers, HID headlights, carbon-fibre decoration on the window-sills, 14-inch alloy wheels and a chromed tailpipe. In the interior, the Stella RS-S Custom Edition receives a bi-color steering wheel, aluminum sport pedals, contrastive burgundy seats and aluminium decorative trim. As we said previously, there are no changes under the hood with the Stella RS-S Custom Edition being offered in FWD or AWD versions all equipped with a 660cc 4-cylinder engine coupled to an i-CVT CVT (intelligent continuously variable transmission). In all, only 500 units of the Stella RS-S Custom Edition will be built. -Click “Read More…” for the image gallery

Via: insideline , Source: Subaru

2008 Chevrolet HHR SS Dealer Brochure Pops-Up

We won’t go as far and call this a leak since the guy who uploaded these scanned images on "chevyhhr.net" said that he received the dealership brochure, but who cares anyway how he obtained it. Point is we have the first semi-official images of the HHR SS and that’s fine with us. Chevy’s sport version of the retro-styled HHR looks quite the part with the new bumper and all. As for performance we can’t quite make out the writings from the brochure but we expect that HHR SS come with the same 260-hp, turbocharged 2.0L Ecotec four-cylinder engine used in the Pontiac Solstice GXP and Saturn Sky Red Line. What we did manage to make out though is that the HHR SS will go on sale this fall. -Continued: Click "Read More..." below

Props to Mikael for the tip!

Pics Via: chevyhhr

2008 Porsche 911 GT2 Official Images Break Loose

Following last night’s 2008 911 GT2 brochure leak, Porsche decided to let out the first official images of its fastest and most powerful road-going 911 up to date. For unknown reasons the Germans haven’t done the same with the official press release which is been kept under tight security in Zuffenhausen guarded by Klaus and a dozen or so German Sheppard’s. Of course, nobody gives a rat’s ass since the leaked brochure has more details that we bargained for, but hey, nobody’s perfect.

We remind you that power comes from an overhauled version of the 997 Turbo’s twin-turbocharged 3.6-litre flat six engine that delivers 530Hp at 6.500rpm (50Hp more than the 911 Turbo) and 505lb-ft of torque at 2,200-4,500 rpm. According to Porsche, the 2008 911 GT2 sprints from 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 3,5 sec and to 100mph (160 km/h) in 7,4 sec while it boasts a top speed of 204mph (328 km/h). See the leaked brochure here. -Click “Read More…” to see the image gallery

Red Bull’s "Faces For Charity" F1 Car Adorned With 30.000 Portraits

Last weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone saw one of most oddly decorated racing car’s in Formula One’s history; Red Bull’s one-off “Faces of Charity” RB3. More than 30,000 pictures were uploaded onto the livery of Mark Webber and David Coulthard's RB3 F1 racing cars and all in aid of raising money (and awareness) for spinal injury research foundation “Wings for Life”. The fans had submitted their portraits for a minimum donation of £10 (about $20 or €15), a go to adorn the RB3s. According to Red Bull, “Faces of Charity” raised more than a million dollars. We hope that we see more teams follow Red Bull’s example in the future. -More images after the jump


Pics via: redbull

Video: BMW X6 Prototypes Scooped In Italy

BMW’s forthcoming X6 sports-crossover has been scooped by a reader over at out Italian friends at Autoblog.it at Piacenza in Northern Italy. The watchful reader managed to take two short videos via his cellphone, one featuring a bunch of BMW X6 prototypes parked in line and the other on the road. Follow the jump to see the second video. -Click "Read More..." below

Via: Autoblog.it

Εuropean Car Sales In First Half Of 2007: VW Takes First Place

According to the data released today by the European vehicle manufacturers trade association (ACEA), Europe’s car sales were down by a mere 0,2% in the first half of 2007 - 8.510.288 units compared to 8.525.086 units in 2006. First semester cumulative figures confirmed an upward trend in Italian and British registrations (+6.5% and +2%, respectively) while Spain (–1.6%), France (–2.6%) and Germany (–9.2%) saw their results deteriorate. EU new member states showed a vigorous performance during the first half of 2007 with sales up by 14.8% compared to 2006

Manufacture-wise, Volkswagen managed to hold on to the first place in the first semester despite a 3,5% loss with 846.887 units sold. In the second place we find Opel/Vauxhall with 727.993 units (-1,0% compared to the first half of 2006) while the bronze metal goes to Ford with 702.161 units (+0,2%). Details after the jump. -Continued: Click “Read More…” below