In a previous blog we looked at the new Mini Countryman and mentioned that rumours were rife that the German owned company were going to make a return to the World Rally Championships (WRC), well that rumour was confirmed today.
The car entered will be based on the new Countryman model that we looked at and will be developed by rally legends Prodrive, before mounting a challenge for the championship from the 2012 season.
Mini have also confirmed that they will enter the team into selected rounds of the 2011 season for testing and team practice.
Mini owners BMW released a statement through Sales and Marketing chief Ian Robertson who said:
I am delighted MINI will be represented on one of the most popular stages in international motorsport. The success enjoyed on the rally circuit has made a vital contribution to the image of the brand. MINI customers have always shown great interest in motorsport. I am convinced we will add a few more chapters to our success story in rallying.”
Prodrive have also confirmed that they have been working on an entry for Mini since 2009 and have an impressive pedigree, taking Colin McRae and Richard Burns to WRC titles in their Subaru Impreza’s. The team also has history with BMW when they ran the German outfits M3 project back in the 1980’s.
Looking at adapting your car or just need spare parts to get it back on the road? CarSpareFinder should be able to help, by searching breakers and dealers nationwide the best price can be found for nearly all parts Mini or other.
If you want to find out which is the better car, the Mitsubishi Evo X or the Ford Focus Rs, then hire a recing track in Anglessey and fight it out with the Fifth Gear team. what you end up with is a series of test, that are supposed to identify which car has the best handling and speed around the track. It was a good test, but only would have worked if there were clear differences between the cars. The results are so close that you end up buying the one you fancy, rather than because there was a clear winner.
Anyway it is an enjoyable piece with 2 good racing drivers come presenters having the time of their lives and trying ot out-drive each other. in fact you could say, it was less about the cars and more about who was the best driver.
One of the most memorable stunts the Top Gear team tried to do was to take a Toyota Pick Up Truck and try to destroy it to the point where it was finished and just would not drive. What followed was extaordinary, from setting it on fire, dropping a caravan on to it and totally submerging it under the sea, but no matter what the Top Gear team did this Toyota Pick Up Truck just refused to die. The test were beyond anything normal use would throw at it and beyond, proving how well these T’oyota’s are put together and why they last for so long and a re firm favourites around the world.
The Toyota now stands proud on the Top Gear wall, all beaten and down but stll alive if they were t choose to start it up again, although the body has been beaten up past recognition. here is the video with part 1 of the story.
If you watch Top Gear there is one presenter who does the nerdy bits while the other 2 enjoy themselves with the speed. But for some reason they decided to give James May (Captain Slow) the job of testinga Bugatti Veyron, to prove it really can do 407 killometres per hour. To do this he needed to go to the VW tesing track in Germany where they have an impressive 5 mile straight. James preceded to take the car into the straight at 200kph and then dramatically take this wonderful car up to over 400kph.
It was a fantastic peice, even compared to the previous test of racing a light airplane over Europe in the Bugatti, becuase even though they did not mention it at the time, they needed to stick to tthe speed limits.
So the answer is, yes the car really can do 407kph, ven if it is for 12 minutes only as you may run out of fuel and the tyres can only last 50 minutes or so also.
We have been waiting for this one for some time and it came in the form of Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond, closing off a street in Abu Dhabi and putting eth Mclaren F1 and the Buggatti Veyron head to head.
Bearing in mind the Mclaren dates back to 1993 it is astonishing to consider how little competition it has had up to now. The Mclaren got the better start even though we though the Bugatti would walk it, but as the we get further anf further into the race, the Mclaren drops back and the Bugatti is a sure winner.
Some say the cooling of the Bugatti let it down a bit in the hot heat, others think it was just the driving. Anyway it is exciting stuff to watch these 2 Supercars go head to head and not to be missed.
Of course it is Top Gear that is internationally known and keeps millions of motoring fans glued to the TV set on Sundays during certain times of the year. But often we forget about good old Fifth Gear, which originated from the original Top Gear Team when BBC pulled the plug some years ago.
Although it isn’t known worldwide like Top Gear, probably because channel 5 does not have a worldwide service, it should not be discredited as not worth watching. In fact Fifth Gear seems to bridge the gap between testing cars we can afford to those we just dream about, where Top Gear is firmly in the supercar, let’s dream department. Even so its track tests and humour are well worth the investment of 1 hour of your time, as Tiff Neddell, Jason Plato and team get to grips with fast cars and talk about safety issues, without the Laurel and Hardy comic scenes we see on the BBC.
The new series kicked off with the guest appearance of David Coulthard ex Formula One driver, testing out a racing super van. We were all routing for David but it seems Tiff had more practice. Fifth Gears popularity has been confirmed a few years ago when the broadcast time went from 30 minutes to 60 minutes, proving there is more than one motoring show that can be popular.
Anyway to get you in the mood, here are some behind the scenes stiff from Fifth Gear, something to do with a VW challenge.
