Ever Wanted To Drive A Police Car?

Ever fancied driving a police car? Now you can - albeit without lights and sirens!

Expolicecar.co.uk gives members of the public the opportunity to drive reconditioned response vehicles. The cars are refurbished inside and out and are completely tested and prepared for civilian use.

I only have one concern with this - I've seen the way the police drive their cars! I'm not sure I would want a car that has been driven the way I've seen some police officials drive! The same would go for ambulances. Their history as fast response vehicles dictates that they were driven hard. Before I bought an ex-police car I would want the engine very thoroughly tested!

You can subscribe to their newsletter here.

For books about police cars - new and old - check out these books :

Speed Kills - (video)

My good friend, the Eishman, has written a post on his blog regarding the idiocy of some people on our South African roads who think that the road they are driving on is their own personal speedway.

On his post is this video from MyVideo of an individual driving at high speed while talking on his cellphone - unfortunately this video is indicative of a mindset that perpetuates the idea that its fashionable, cool and trendy to drive at such high speeds on public roads. BTW - why is it that BMW drivers feel they have somthing to prove?

I urge you to read the post at Eish! and to leave your comments - lets all take responsibility so that we don't end up a statistic.

A Car Named Rugby

With the 2007 edition of the Rugby World Cup having kicked off this past Friday evening, I thought it would be interesting to post something about a little-known car known as the Rugby.

This was a car first produced by Durant Motors in 1924. For a photo and other interesting information about this car from a bygone era, please go to Restored-Classics.com

Music In Your Car Can Lead To Accidents

We all know that speed kills. But did you know that the speed of the music you listen to while travelling is also a factor in road accidents?

I came across this 2002 study by an Israeli reseacher who found that drivers who listen to fast music in their cars may have more than twice as many accidents as those listening to slower tracks.

So hold back on the club music while driving and put on something a little more soothing if you really must listen to music while behind the wheel!

One has to ask whether those who promote the sale of high-end amplifiers and related sound equipment can be held liable for certain accidents. I suppose the difficult part would be proving that the driver was listening to music at a certain level and that it distracted him/her. I become annoyed when, while driving, I hear the bass beats of a car before I can see it! Surely the occupant cannot possibly have full capacity of their cognitive abality will having music playing at that volume in the vehicle!

Is there a law against this type of anti-social behaviour? If not, there should be!

The World's Most Expensive Cars And Economic Justice

It has been said that if you need to ask the price, you probably can't afford it! The cars previewed in the blog "Billionaire News" are most definitely in the bracket of those I can't afford! It would be interesting to work out what percentage of the world's population could afford such luxury vehicles.

As much as I do not begrudge those who can afford these expressions of opulence, there is something obscene about spending close to $2 000 000 on a car when millions around the world still have to walk for kilometres to fetch clean water. The economic injustices of the world are brought into sharp focus when you begin to get your head around just how much money is being spent on these vehicles. Read the blog post here.

Martin Luther King Jr said,

"The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.I am not naive enough to think that by not buying expensive cars we are going to alleviate poverty but I write this post in the hope that it will bring into focus the huge gap between the rich and the poor. "

The reality is that even if we own a very ordinary family car, we find ourselves in the top economic bracket of the world. I guess the question is "What am I doing to make a difference in the world? How am I going to be part of the solution?"

For more on this go to the One Campaign site here.

Drunk Driving Email Course

The largest catalyst for automotive deaths is drunk driving - read an excellent article about this here.

For those who struggle in this area of their lives there is a four-day email course to which they can subscribe which will help them face the reality of their problem. The course is anonymous and will hopefully be a wake-up call before its too late.

The course can be accessed here - Drunk Driving Email Course

(VIDEO) Musical Cars - Sting & Snow Patrol "Every Car You Chase" - Mashup

I recently discovered 'mash-ups' - a wonderful musical mix of two or more songs designed so that the mix sounds like an original song.

Take a look at this one :

Interesting Facts About A Formula 1 Car

If you have even a passing interest in Formula One cars you must take a look at this great list of interesting facts about F1 cars - click here.

Some tid-bits to whet your appetite :

- To give you an idea of just how important aerodynamic design and added downforce can be, small planes can take off at slower speeds than F1 cars travel on the track

- An F1 car is made up of 80,000 components, if it were assembled 99.9% correctly, it would still start the race with 80 things wrong!

Are Car Museums Dead And Boring?

The New York Times recently published an article entitled "Museums Get Lively With Sleepovers and Films". The author of this article contends that automobile museums need to be more than collections of old cars. They need to be interactive, informative and fun so that the entire family will benefit from and enjoy a visit.

I totally agree!

Read the article here - Museums Get Lively With Sleepovers and Films

Kyalami Marshals - Unsung Heroes (Video)

The international raceway, Kyalami, is situated about 20 minutes from where I live. It is a track with a proud history and has played host to the South African Formula 1 Grand Prix in years gone by.

It is the marshals however who often grab my attention as they keep the events running smoothly and safely. These folks put themselves on the line at each racing event and do so without payment. Their training is thorough and the exams are tough. This is not a job for those who are scared of the word "commitment".

Take a look at this video of the Kyalami marshals in action (a 6.89MB download) - Kyalami Marshals In Action video

Motorsport For The Disabled

Imagine not being able to drive because of disability caused by illness or accident. What if you were a motorsport enthusiast who participated in racing and suddenly found yourself unable to participate?

Thanks to companies such as Adaptacar, disabled drivers are able to drive around town and country and use their vehicles to participate in motorsport.

The British Motor Sports Association for the Disabled is a site for disabled motorsport enthusiasts to find information about how and where to compete.

If extreme sports are your thing, then you need to head over to the XDM (X-treme Disabled Motorsport) site. Here you can drive off-road vehicles that only require head movement to control.

Rallying for the disabled is also possible through ParaRallying. These folks give disabled drivers opportunity to get behind the wheel of a rally car and drive on both a loose gravel and a tarmac special stage against the clock driving a fully adapted car instructed by a professional rally driver.

It is fantastic that those who find themselves disabled can participate fully in the driving experience. Of course there are many more links than those mentioned here. I will feature others in the future.

Cars As Artistic Photographs

Car afficianados will tell you that their car is a piece of art - particularly if it is a certain marque! However any make and model of motor vehicle can be made into an artwork through the magic of digital photography and the artistic eye of the photographer.

Alistair Davidson developed a portfolio of photographs in 2003 to be source material for the Strategy and Leadership magazine. His photographs show great creativity and artistic interpretation.

Take a look at the portfolio here and spend some time browsing through the collection. I am quite sure you will find a particular photograph that just stands out for you.

Let me know if you have any particularly artistic photographs of cars that you would like me to feature on this blog.

Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix 5 August 2007 - Race Report

McLaren’s first came in the form of the grid place penalty that moved Fernando Alonso from the pole down to sixth place, guaranteeing that he had no chance of victory. Their second was the stewards’ decision that the team would not be eligible for any constructors’ points after the qualifying incident. Considering that they ‘scored’ 15, that had to hurt.

Ferrari had some nasty things to swallow, too. The first pill for them was the oversight in not refuelling Felipe Massa’s car in the second session of qualifying. They don’t normally have to do two runs in Q2, and that caught them out.

Starting from 14th, of necessity with a heavy fuel load, Massa was damned from the get go and never made any inroads into the bunch of cars ahead. He was quite right when he described his race as “horrible”.

Their second pill was the knowledge that their F2007 had the pace to have won the race, after struggling in qualifying. Kimi Raikkonen traded fastest laps with winner Lewis Hamilton, and set the best one on the very last lap.

Nevertheless, there were silver linings in both sets of clouds. Hamilton put McLaren back in the winner’s circle for the second consecutive race, and increased his championship lead. And Alonso, for all that he had a very tough afternoon, added a further five points to his score. And Raikkonen added eight to his, and eight to Ferrari’s, so they now have 119 points to McLaren’s 138.

One of the obstacles that Alonso could not overcome was Nick Heidfeld and his BMW Sauber. The German, ironically, was one of the men who did not benefit from Alonso’s penalty, since it moved him from the clean side of the grid to the dirty side. This was a double blow, because it meant that he was slower away and, conversely, Raikkonen was faster. The net result was that he got stuck with third place, when he might have been able to have defended second. With team mate Robert Kubica making a great start, driving as strongly as he ever does, and some excellent pit work, the Swiss-German squad were on track for another healthy dose of points, their 10 actually outscoring everyone else and bringing their score to 71.

Ralf Schumacher hung in for sixth place, having fended off Alonso for a long time early on, and the Toyota driver was very happy with his car once front flap adjustments during his first stop had eliminated some nervousness. He was also satisfied that his two-stop strategy was the right one. Team mate Jarno Trulli, however, faded down to a 12th place finish and was highly disappointed to find himself stuck in traffic almost all race. Unlike Schumacher, he found his TF107 a handful on the super-soft tyre in the final stint.

Williams’ Nico Rosberg looked likely to do better than the two points he got for seventh place, but his three-stop strategy dropped him back in the final analysis. He was far enough ahead not to be troubled by Heikki Kovalainen, who once again took the final point after a better run in the race than he’d had in qualifying. Interestingly, he ran and Renault team mate Giancarlo Fisichella (together with Honda’s Rubens Barrichello) were the only runners to start on the Bridgestone super-soft tyre, which had demonstrated a tendency to grain quickly in practice, and the Finn’s R27 loved them. He did 27 laps on the first set, and 22 on the second, before doing his final stint on the soft prime tyre. And no sign of graining at all. Fisichella’s chances disappeared pretty much when his penalty for impeding Yamamoto in qualifying dropped him to 13th, but going off track and losing a place to Trulli, and later colliding with Super Aguri’s Anthony Davidson as they left the pits together, did not help his cause.

This time there were no points for Mark Webber and Red Bull, but at least the RB3 was reliable. The Australian felt he got the best from the available package on his way to ninth place, but David Coulthard, who finished 11th behind Trulli, found his RB3’s behaviour very inconsistent on the three sets of tyres he used.

Renault thus remain fourth with 33 points, Williams have 20, Red Bull are still on 16, and Toyota have 12.

Behind Coulthard, 12th place was the subject of an intense fight between Fisichella, Massa and Williams’ Alex Wurz. None of them were happy, for their different reasons, and Wurz felt he lost out when Spyker’s Adrian Sutil inadvertently brushed him on to the grass at one point as he was being lapped by the trio.

Takuma Sato was Super Aguri’s only finisher, struggling with low grip on a heavy initial fuel load. He was happier with his SA07’s balance on the super-soft tyre in his third stint, but by then it was too late. He nearly distinguished himself by tripping up Hamilton in Turn One as he rejoined after a pit stop; fortunately Hamilton just missed him.

Davidson had the upper hand at Super Aguri all weekend, and did well to fend off Wurz for so long. But his race ended in a collision with Fisichella exiting Turn One, which broke his rear suspension.

Toro Rosso debutant Sebastian Vettel took 16th after a tough afternoon in which he found the STR02 to be a very different proposition to the BMW Sauber F1.07. He ran a lot more fuel than team mate Tonio Liuzzi, who was ahead of him when he suffered electronic gremlins.

Spyker lost Sakon Yamamoto early on, when he crashed into the tyre wall in Turn 11, but as Sutil survived some off-track explorations to finish 17th the Dutch team drew succour from beating Honda on a terrible day for the Japanese enterprise. 2006 winner Jenson Button had a torrid time trailing round at the back until a throttle sensor problem put him out of his misery after 35 laps, while Barrichello was obliged to soldier on for another 33 laps on his way to 18th, two laps down.

With no testing and a three-week gap to Turkey, everyone will now work away in their factories, ready to regroup for battle in Istanbul at the end of the month.

David Tremayne
(taken from F1 - The Official Formula One website)

Survival From A Sinking Car - Differing Opinions

Approximately 11 000 people accidentally end up driving their cars into lakes and rivers each year.

Heaven forbid that I should ever find myself in a sinking car but as we saw this past week it can happen to any of us at any time. If this were to happen to you, how would you extricate yourself from your car.

The following sites provide great information about this. Read through them and determine your own plan of action - be prepared!

1) How To Escape A Sinking Car - from HealthBolt

2) Escape From A Sinking Car - from SmartDriving.co.uk

3) How To Escape From A Sinking Car - from Worst Case Scenarios.com

4) How To Escape A Submerged Car - from The Oprah Show

You will notice as you read these emergency guides that opinions differ. This is why you need to be clear about how YOU will attempt to get out of a sinking vehicle. Use the information given, determine your course of action and then be prepared to act on it should you need to.

For more survival tips take a look at The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook

Toy Car Collecting

I remember my dad's toy car collection fondly. Many hours were spent learning all the intricacies of each model and discovering interesting features of cars in a much smaller scale.

It was good to find the following article about this fascinating hobby - enjoy!

The Art of Diecast Collecting
By Robert Benjamin

Collecting diecast vehicles consists of acquiring specific items based on your particular interests, such as airplanes, cars, trains, ship models, etc. Although some people just accumulate them, this is a passionate hobby for most folks, in which the genuine collector organizes carefully those items to catalog them and proudly display them. The depth and breadth of every collection is as unique as every collector is, and they are the ones that determine if a collection will focus on a specific subtopic within their area of general interests or if they only want to accumulate determined items. As an example, a collector may collect diecast vehicles trying to accumulate any or all of them, while another individual could prefer collecting only a model, brand or marquee.

Diecast vehicles and toys are an example of a collection that is never-ending. When you start collecting these vehicles it is like traveling back in time until the early decades of the 20th century when manufacturers such as Tootsie Toys in the United States, or Dinky Toys in the United Kingdom first produced the first diecast toys. Because the term "diecast" refers to any product produced using the casting method, the first models on the market were small cars or vans without plastic windows.

Over time, the vehicles were made of plastic and metal, more commonly an alloy of zinc and aluminum, including not only cars but also scale models of airplanes and trains, although automobiles are still the favorites among all of them. With more than 50 popular brands including Altaya, Bandai, Brooklin, CMC, Dragon Wings, Exoto, Guisval, Ixo, Jada, Johnny Ligntning, Kyosho, Lledo, Matchbox, Minichamps, Norev, Plasticos Argentinos, Racing Champions, RCCA, Revell, Tekno, Tomica, UT Models, Vitesse, and the popular Hot Wheels introduced by Mattel, among others.

Like with other popular collecting fields, diecast collecting has specialized commercial dealers that trade vehicles and related accessories. In fact, many individuals start collecting cars as a hobby to become dealers at a later date, either turning this hobby into a profession, or as a means to get extremely rare vehicles for their own collections, while they help other collectors in their pursuit of showcase-model cars. In the United Kingdom, there are teams specialized in visiting small and larger toy fairs to acquire incredible cars, in good conditions from Dinky Toys and Corgi, the main British collectibles companies. Dinky Toys was first introduced in early 1934 by Meccano Ltd of Liverpool, England, presenting a new line of modeled miniatures, as diecast vehicles were first known.

Corgi Toys began producing scale model cars until July 1956 under the supervision of Mettoy Playcraft Ltd. in Swansea, Wales, along with Dinky Toys, and the American Tootsie Toys, which is one of the most wanted brands of collectors worldwide. However, there are many other popular manufacturers from the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, etc.

Rarely a diecast collector completes a collection because new models of cars are always available, and collecting never stops, you can always expand or start an entirely new collection in a subtopic, such as cars, then sport cars, vans, etc. From Hot Wheels to Matchbox and from Bandai to Tomica, including all the other brands, diecasts models include popular automobile marques. Packard, MG, Morris, Hillman, Austin, Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Citroen, Opel, Triumph, Talbot, Gwynne, Vauxhall, Reliant, Singer, Bristol, Wolseley, Innocenti, Healey, Siddeley, BSA, Darracq, Crossley, Jowett, Frazer Nash, Northern, Renault, Ford, Chrysler, and the classics Jaguar, Mercedes Benz and Rolls Royce, just to name a few.

Broadening a collection is not that hard, even when focusing on a single marquee, because there are different models from the twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, etc. Hence, every diecast Collector has a world of possibilities when gathering diecast models from almost any period of time as early as models from 1885, when the first automobile driven by internal combustion was introduced by German inventor Karl Friedrich Benz, to actual models in modern car showcases.

Diecast vehicles come in various scales, the most popular ranging from 1:28 to 1:64 scale, although many collectors prefer focusing their collections on the 1:43 and 1:50 scales. Diecast toys were originally designed for children, but the collecting boom started during the 1950's when grown children stated to keep their cars instead of throwing them away and adults discovered them as valuable collectible items.

There is computer software that is made just for collecting diecast vehicles. Anyone who has a small or large diecast vehicle collection can easily keep track of what vehicle they have, the color, condition, cost, value, scale and lots of other info for each record (vehicle). This is the most easiest to use software of it's kind, and it is made 100% for diecast collecting. The software is described in detail and you can download a free demo version of it at this website address:

How To Choose A Car Navigation System

With the ever-increasing use of technology by the manufacturers of vehicles, for most car buyers one item of technology remains their choice - the GPS navigation system.

The market is becoming increasingly filled with a variety of models, makes and functionality. How then does one make a wise choice? This article from eHow gives an excellent starting point for those wanting to know what to look for and how to go about purchasing a GPS navigation system.

Automotive Design

If you are at all interested in automobile design then you should definitely take a look at Car Design News. This is a comprehensive site regarding the design of modern cars. The site contains information about motor shows, design competitions and first look at new concepts and designs.

The site offers both free and paid memberships. These are the details :

Paid Membership benefits include:

* Premium content feature articles such as our exclusive Design Development and Design
* Reviews of new concept and production vehicles by industry experts
* Free access to Photo Galleries featuring thousands of high quality photos from major international auto shows and design exhibitions
* Access to Studio Photos library of images to download
* Free High-resolution (1600x1200) photo downloads in the auto show galleries and news stories, as well as access to popup larger images in all stories

Paid Membership levels:

Individual: £75 per year (Approx Euro 110 / US$140)
Studio (up to 20 user licences): £515 / Euro 750 / US$995/yr
Large Studio: £2000 / Euro 2900 / US$4000/yr
Design School: £1025 / Euro 1480 / US$1950/yr
Student: £40 per year (Approx Euro 60 / US$70)

This is a very comprehensive site and is well worth a visit even if you do not wish to sign on as a paid member.

How's This For A Motor Home?

Our family is using a motorhome to travel in this coming weekend. We will most certainly not be using anything that looks like this!

European Formula 1 Grand Prix 22 July 2007 - Race Report

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso won a humdinger of a European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring on Sunday afternoon, in a contest that at the start was almost rendered farcical by rain. But it was only when more precipitation fell on parts of the track in the closing laps that the Spaniard was able to pounce on erstwhile leader Felipe Massa, and to snatch the triumph from the Brazilian in the Ferrari.

It was a great day for Alonso, for team mate Lewis Hamilton had an up and down race which ultimately brought him no points and ended his nine-race string of podium visits. Alonso thus has 68 points to Hamilton’s 70, and with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen failing to finish, Massa lies third on 59 to the Finn’s 52.

To begin with there was total confusion as a deluge, which arrived earlier than expected, flooded the track during the opening lap. That then prompted the extraordinary sight of rookie Markus Winkelhock leading on his debut by the second lap, thanks to Spyker presciently putting him on full wets after the parade lap. As everyone else headed for the pits (well, not leader Raikkonen, who tried to, but then slid over the pit lane entry line and back on to the track!), the first corner claimed Honda’s Jenson Button (who had risen to third but got slightly short-braked in the appalling conditions behind Massa and Alonso), Spyker’s Adrian Sutil and Toro Rosso team mates Scott Speed and Tonio Liuzzi (whose STR07 had broken its rear suspension after being rear-ended on the opening lap). Hamilton also went off there, but was rescued by a crane that Liuzzi nearly struck.

The race was wisely red flagged on the fourth lap as everything was tidied up, then restarted behind the safety car in better conditions half an hour later. Everyone who could run was allowed to, and after three more laps behind the safety car (in which Hamilton was allowed to unlap himself), the racing resumed on Lap Eight. Massa quickly asserted himself over Alonso, but another flurry of pit stops as people switched from wet Bridgestones to dry tyres as conditions improved, enabled the canny Raikkonen to jump up to a challenging third by Lap 14 as Massa and Alonso continued their duel.The Finn stopped later with an intermittent problem that crippled his Ferrari on the 35th lap, and as the race went into its second half Massa pulled away from Alonso.

Then the rain came back with 10 laps to run, prompting another rash of stops. Massa and Alonso came in together on Lap 53. Later the Brazilian complained of a set of tyres that vibrated badly, and soon Alonso was able to reel him in before grabbing the lead on the 56th lap, the sides of their respective cars briefly making contact in the process. Massa clung on to second, while behind them Red Bull’s Mark Webber just managed to keep hold of the third place he had held for much of the race, as a similarly vibrating set of tyres on the Red Bull enabled Alex Wurz to mount a late challenge for Williams. They finished nose to tail.

Further back, David Coulthard made it a great day for Red Bull with fifth, ahead of the duelling BMW Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica. They had tangled on the opening lap when the Pole tried a move in Turn Two that spun the German, and it was only at the very end that Heidfeld moved back ahead. He faced a post-race investigation after pushing Toyota's Ralf Schumacher off the track in the final corner on Lap 19, but the stewards ultimately deemed it a racing incident.

Poor Hamilton! He had made a brilliant start to run fourth by Turn Two, only to sustain a puncture that crippled his car. No sooner had he pitted for a replacement than he slid off the road in the lake in Turn One, from whence he was lucky to be rescued by the mobile crane. A lap behind now, he was allowed under the new rules to make up that lap behind the safety car, but a premature switch to dry tyres put him off the road again briefly. He then launched a great comeback as he traded fastest laps with Massa while trying to get back on the lead lap. After a dogged drive he got back into the points in eighth place on Lap 53, but then the need to pit for wets dropped him back. In the final laps he passed Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella (for the second time, having overtaken him earlier round the outside in Turn 12), but he just ran out of time to deprive Heikki Kovalainen in the second R27 of the final point, even though he was at that stage lapping three seconds faster than the Renaults.

Behind Fisichella, Rubens Barrichello brought the surviving Honda home 11th, having been given a hard time for much of the race by Anthony Davidson’s Super Aguri, and Jarno Trulli brought his Toyota home 13th.Besides Raikkonen, Schumacher, Button, Sutil, Speed and Liuzzi, Nico Rosberg was taken out when he was hit from behind shortly after doing likewise to Barrichello on the second lap, Super Aguri’s Takuma Sato retired after 19 laps, and so did Winkelhock after 13, following his moments of glory in the Spyker early on.

It was one of those races with a thousand moments, many of which are still being unravelled. But three things stood out: the superb performances by Alonso, Massa and Hamilton; the wisdom of the FIA in stopping the race initially but later leaving it to run its course (when conditions were nothing like as severe) and Red Bull’s best day in Formula One racing.Roll on Hungary!

(taken from F1 - The Official Formula One website)

Restoring, Renewing and Reviving - Bringing Old Cars Back To Life

As a lover of history, antique cars have always fascinated me. Of course the question always remains - what is a true antique? One of the best places to have this question answered is the website of the Antique Automobile Club of America.

On the other side of the Atlantic we can click through to Classic Motor Monthly Online from the United Kingdom - a really busy site but filled with information for the enthusiast.

Another comprehensive site, easier to find info than the Classic Motor site, is Old Classic Cars UK. If you are trying to restore an old car, are looking for parts or want to make contact with people who may be able to assist, this is a really good repository of information.

Racing antique cars is a fairly specialised pursuit. Find out more at the Antique Auto Racing Association's website.

For those who wish to show off their passion for antique cars, there is CafePress's online store where you can purchase gifts and shirts and so forth all themed with antique cars! Go on - show the world you love these cars...

Welcome To Automotive Heaven

Welcome to my new blog featuring the best the internet has to offer for the car enthusiast.

I make no apologies for the fact that this blog is going to be link-heavy. The idea is to provide a place where those with an interest in the automotive will be able to come by and find content best suited to their interest.

Reader feedback is vital and I value your input, so please do feel free to add comments. I am also on the look-out for guest bloggers - any suggestions or offers?

I trust you will find this to be a great place to stop by.