Andy Wilman, the executive producer of Top Gear, has written a blog post about the upcoming 75-minute Vietnam special airing this Sunday. No major spoilers or anything and it’s well worth the read. He talks about why it has an extra 15 minutes and what kind of show to look forward to.
Oh, and don’t worry, we’ll be having plenty of “bits and torrents” this Sunday. ;)
Jaguar to create 600 new jobs
Jaguar has announced that it is to creat 600 new jobs in the UK, following the launch of its new recruitment drive, which is part of a £700 million investment by new parent company Tata Motors.
The main focus is on recruiting engineers that will lead the company forward on the environmental aspects of new models, but will also look to bring in people in the purchasing, finance and human resources departments. A new graduate recruitment programme is also being launched, to bring in over 80 new graduates.
The jobs will be located at the the firms current offices in Gaydon - currently the Aston Martin facility in Warwickshire.
Newly appointed Jaguar CEO David Smith said "This recruitment drive demonstrates Jaguar Land Rover's confidence in our future. With our new owners, we have entered an exciting era with new models and ambitious technologies. I can't remember a better time to be part of the British car industry, and certainly it is a brilliant time for Jaguar Land Rover.”
Current Jaguar / Land Rover sites based in Castle Bromwich, Solihull, and Halewood Merseyside employ around 16,000 people.
Best known for his tough image, actor Steve McQueen was also a collector of rare cars. The car in question is a Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso, which has to said, is one of the Italian sports manufacturer classic cars, and it is said that this is the car that he used on a daily basis.
Steve McQueen had an habit of collecting the cars that were starring in his films, the two most popular being one of the Mustangs for the film Bullit and two of the Porsches from the car racing film LeMans, these were a 917and a 911s, but it is the Ferrari that is the most desirable car, probably because it was his own personal drive and as with many of these cars is believed to have been a personal build, it is this that makes this car so interesting.
The auction is due to take place in August this year, but the car will be on show at various locations across the US before then, the price is expected to reach around $1,000,000, but with an auction it depends on who is there and how much they want the car, so this will be interesting to watch.
The �Lusso� is the luxury car, which really set a precedent for sports cars, leading up to the type high end luxury cars we see now. This particular model has been totally restored to very high standards; in fact some believe that this could actually be the best example of this car in the world today.
The auction is being organized by Christies and will be held in Monterey in August.
Source [Auto Blog]
AUBURN HILLS, MI – In a second collaboration between Volkswagen of America, Inc. and First Act, the two will support Operation Happy Note, a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated solely to sending deployed soldiers musical instruments, by donating 250 First Act electric guitars and amps to those service men and women expressing an interest in music.
Well we have all heard the stories of people being sent the wrong way down one way streets and there are those who have ended up in the middle of nowhere, but just imagine for a minute what would relying on your sat nav would be like if somehow a hacker has managed to get into the system that you are using and change it! Could not happen, well you maybe be surprised.
For some people using sat nav has become a way of life, some people use it virtually all the time no matter where they are going, it may even be just a trip down the road to the shops. This may at first appear to be over the top, but the sat nav is updated to warn users of traffic and road works etc, so by using it would appear to be a sensible move, after all nobody wants to be caught up in long traffic jams etc.
Yet it appears that two security experts, Andrea Barisani, chief security engineer for Inverse Path Ltd. and Daniele Bianco, a hardware hacker at Inverse Pathhave, proved that it is most defiantly possible to get into the sat nav system and change the information being shown, now it seems that they have used some very standard equipment that anyone can buy from their local computer store to enter the system and change the data that is on the sat nav system sitting on your dash board.
This frightening revelation will be announced at the CanSecWest a security conference taking place this week in Vancouver this Friday. They will present evidence of a test hack that they managed to breach a system and where able to send messages through the system which would eventually end up being shown on the sat nav in users vehicles, now do you believe what you sat nav is telling you?
Source [Top Speed]
The Nissan GT-R’s popularity is set to increase some more with the release of it’s SpecV variant. This new offering is for hardcore race enthusiasts - weekend warriors who want the look of a normal-looking enough car but packs the performance of a true racer. The SpecV will be exclusively available in one color, Ultimate Black Opal. There are enough carbon fiber parts on the car to rival an F1 car to trim the car’s weight, including the rear wing, brake ducts, and a pair of Recaro seats for the interior. Sadly, the engine, a 478 HP, 3.8 liter bi-turbo V6 is just as powerful as the previous GT-R release but the engineers for Nissan believe that the reduced weight, coupled with an overboost button, will be enough to take the car up to speed.
Did you think the sport compact craze went the way of the dodo or The Fast and the Furious 3’s 72-hour stint at movie theaters this summer? Quite the contrary. While many frown on ridiculous custom compact cars, automakers are making better and more affordable sport variants of their compact cars, like the Honda Civic Si and Volkswagen GTI, that are ready to race right off the lot. Now Mazda’s getting back into the hunt with the Mazdaspeed3, a high-performance variant of its Mazda3 hatchback.
My bright red tester pulled up on Friday, so new it didn’t even have a license plate yet. The vehicle is slowly arriving at dealerships now and will be widely available soon. I managed to put a hundred or so miles on the Mazdaspeed3 over the weekend and found the $22,240 vehicle a powerful reason to open the wallet.
Most importantly, this thing is fast and feels really fast. The 263 hp turbo-charged engine is a lot of fun even if not the most refined. There’s a noticeable — almost gut-wrenching — lag before the turbocharger kicks in. Most journalists and car companies are looking to minimalize this lag, but some enthusiasts find it a joy. I love it. My wife on the other hand was a little perturbed when we merged onto a major highway and I let the turbo go wild.
Looks are moderately changed from the Mazda 3 with new 18-inch wheels and revised front and rear end treatments. The interior also gets sporty and comfortable bucket seats.
I’m still impressed by how good all the regular Mazda3 attributes hold up. The interior is still tops in its class with only the door panels showing some age in design. A futuristic and easy to use center stack is still one of the best around and the seating position is spot on perfect offering a commanding view of the road.
I’ll get to test the Mazdaspeed3 over a few hundred more miles the next few days and will report back when the full review goes live. Until then enjoy some pictures.
