French car manufacturer Renault has caused outrage in a Lancashire village thanks to its new series of adverts.

The campaign which is for the companies new Megane model contrasts a swimming pool in sun drenched Cote d’Azur with a puddle in the Lancashire village of Gisburn.

Renault say they chose the 500 population town in Ribble valley as it has quiet and serene surroundings but the slogan for the ad campaign is “Can a car change a town?” Which has been met with fury by the towns residents.

Olivia Lord, a Gisburn resident said:

“It could put people who see the advert off coming to Gisburn, which will damage trade. Renault should have considered the possible after affects on the village more carefully”

The series of adverts is due to run for 10 days and charts the story of a man driving from France to the village in a bid to bring sunshine to them.

Renault have donated £6,000 to Gisburn’s playing fields and festival hall committee and defended the adverts, saying:

“This is the first phase of a light-hearted comparison of two villages. Once you’ve seen the rest of the campaign, we hope you’ll agree.”

Renault recently announced a profit of £800m for the second quarter of 2010, compared to a loss this time last year which many people put down to the growing number of people who use used Renault spare car parts as a way of prolonging the life of their Renault engine and to keep their Renault vehicle on the road longer.

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 used Mini car engine or just need a spare Mini replacement gearbox to get it back on the road? A UK Car Part Locator Service,  such as the popular Car Part Buyer or the more established Car Spare Finder should be able to help. These used vehicle part finder services work by allowing consumers to search UK car breakers and used part dealers nationwide for availability and the best price found for nearly all replacement car parts for Minis or any other popular car or van make in the UK.

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.

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.

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.

Here is the Top Gear Clip.

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.

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.