Rally - Nandon's the Man

Hyundai Motor Co. has appointed Michel Nandan (ex Peugeot) as Team Principal for the new Hyundai Motorsport GmbH operation which will be based in Alzenau, just outside Frankfurt, where Hyundai’s European HQ is situated Germany.

The company announced its intentions to enter the World Rally Championship at the Paris Motor Show in September last year and is now developing a WRC-spec Hyundai i20 to contest the full 2014 championship series.

Hyundai last competed in the WRC from 2000 to 2003 when Alister McRae and Kenneth Eriksson regularly drove for the team.

Road - Good Samaritan

Despite the best of intentions, I had to miss out on the Autosport Show at Birmingham last week. Pity, I was looking forward to it, not so much to see what was on display, but to catch up with St Christopher’s lost children making their annual pilgrimage to this altar of speed and hi-tech engineering. Maybe next year.

Anyway here’s a  nice wee story to get the New Year off to a good start, and a cautionary tale for those who rashly offer to do a good deed.

Janice's car after the rescue!

When Janice Dunlop stopped at the scene of an accident to see of she could be of assistance, she allowed two crash survivors to sit in her car till help arrived. Unfortunately they developed neck pain while sitting there so when the ambulance and fire service arrived, the rescue blokes sawed the roof off her perfectly good Vauxhall Vectra to get the injured crash survivors out!

With her own insurance company unlikely to pay out, Vauxhall stepped in and offered her a replacement car free of charge through their Network Q used car operation.

Nice one Vauxhall.

Janice with her 'new' Vectra

And although I missed out on a trip to Birmingham, it’s off to Manchester tonight, for the first UK drive of the new Ford Fiesta tomorrow. The start of a busy year methinks. There might be a bit of a recession still going on but there are lots of new cars being introduced this year.

Road - App for Sparks

Where's the juice?

If you are tempted to buy an electric vehicle be it a car, van or scooter, but are worried about running out of spark, there’s a handy free App available to download on Apple and Android stuff. This will show you where the nearest commercial and private charging points are located. Apparently there is a growing community of ‘plugsurfers’ out there who are willing to share their domestic charging point with fellow elec-trekkies.

And if you want to have a look at how the network is growing, just click on the website below. It will display a map centred on Brussels (that’s in Europeland) but you can scroll across the North Sea to home territory. And if you like what you see you can download the App from this page too. Anyway it’s a worth a look if only for interest’s sake.

Now here’s an idea for Wee Eck to get the public on his side. Install a free charging point at the foot of all his windmills which are invading and straddling the landscape like alien extras from the ‘War of the Worlds’. Or maybe that’s a bad idea. They’re not always running, are they? 

http://www.cars21.com/page/juicepoints

Road - Lexus on show

Ahead of its unveiling at the Detroit Motor Show which opens on January 14th, here are a couple of sneaky pics of the new Lexus IS.

It's wider than the current car and has a longer wheelbase which has allowed the Lexus folk to build a more luxurious cabin with sumprtuous seats.

It's quite a looker, eh? Although, is that good looking in a handsome way, or an odd way?

Road - All seeing eye

Once the preserve of exotica and the more exclusive large off road vehicles, Nissan is to introduce all round cameras on its mid-size Qashquai crossover.
 

Called the Qashquai 360, it will sit between the current Acenta and Tekna specification models replacing the n-tec+ but offering more equipment for the same £19,945 starting price.
 

The new model features Nissan’s ‘360° Around View Monitor’ system, which integrates satnav with Bluetooth and smartphone connectivity along with four cameras to give a ‘helicopter view’ when parking. Standard equipment also includes 18-inch ‘Onyx’ alloy wheels, rear privacy glass and a panoramic roof. 
 

For most of us the camera system will be nothing more than a gimmick but for those who struggle to parallel park or reverse in and out of tight car park spaces it could be boon. Not only would it save scuffing their own cars, but it might just help to protect the innocent parties who often return to their vehicles to find that some anonymous tumshie has departed the scene leaving behind the scarred evidence of 'touch' parking - and no note on the windscreen!

Road - UK's top Small Car

Now here’s a daft (but nice!) wee story to kick off the New Year. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT), who compile the industry’s new car sales statistics, the top selling small car in the UK in 2012 was the Ford Fiesta. Last year 109,265 Ford Fiestas were registered, but it would appear that this top selling small car has actually been outsold by another small car which is better for the environment since it produces no emissions whatsoever.

It’s also very lightweight, and made entirely from recyclable materials, and consumes no fossil fuels to power it. Neither does it have any batteries so it doesn’t need any overnight re-charging. On that basis it doesn’t need a Road Fund Licence at all and can actually be driven by youngsters under the age of 17.

The only real drawback is that it is a single seater and won’t be suitable for anyone over 3 feet tall!

To capitalise on this success, Little Tikes has started up a Cozy Coupe Owners Club. Membership includes a personalised number plate, T-shirt and Drivers Licence. The kids even get a sticker for Mum's (or Dad’s) car which proclaims: “My other car is a Cozy Coupe”.

Oh, and the price? It retails for around 55 quid, but be careful where you borrow the money. If you take out a car finance deal through one of those tacky payday loan TV ads, it could cost the price of a proper Ford Fiesta.

More info at: http://www.littletikes.co.uk

 

Rally - First report of 2013

That's the full report from last weekend's Grant Construction Knockhill Stages rally up on the website now, and yes I know it's late, but there's three reasons for that - Hogmanay, one bottle of 12 year old Glenfarclas, and most of one bottle of 16 year old Lagavullin. There's just enough left to see out this weekend!

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/rally-reports/rally-news-baillie-knocks-the-hill