TOPS NEWS – December 2004
A blind Romanian's decision to become a car thief was
short-lived after he smashed into a tree and knocked himself out.
While two Dutch policemen on foot chased a getaway driver the
burglar came out of the front door of a house, saw that his driver had gone,
jumped into the police car and drove away. The car was later recovered.
Despite the apparent attraction of the small Smart car. Mercedes
continues to lose money on it. The
Smart, whose original 2.5 metre-long, two-seater car was said to be the
smallest in the world, now also offers a four-seater Smart Forfour.
From 1st January 2005, only FIA Standard Overalls FIA 8856-2000
will be acceptable for International racing.
FIA 1986 standard overalls will continue to be acceptable up to National
‘A’ meetings (i.e. all VSCC meetings except International races at Donington).
From 2006 all vehicles period A to F (basically this is 1905 to 1965) must be
equipped with a fire extinguisher in accordance with Q.3.1.2. All other vehicles in accordance with
Q.3.1.2. (a) – check your Blue book – J.20.14.7! This rule will also be implemented by the VSCC.
Police searched Kenji
Hishida’s house in Akashi and found more than 10,000 bus, rail, security firm
and airline company uniforms. The
apartment was so full there was only a small patch on the floor for Hisida to
sleep on. A two-ton truck was needed to
carry the uniforms away.
‘Which?’ carried out a survey of garage servicing and reported
that of the 48 cars booked in, 67% failed to pick up faults, 23% carried out
un-necessary work and 73% of full car services were unsatisfactory.
Toyota, the world’s most profitable car company, has made its
first profit in Britain since 1998.
However, the world’s largest manufacturer of cars is still General
Motors.
The Government has ordered another review of all 5,500 speed camera
locations. For fixed-camera sites,
there must have been at least four collisions involving serious injury or death
per kilometre covered by the camera during the past 36 months. For mobile equipment, the test is two
collisions. However, the police may
locate cameras at any location, provided they do not try to recover the cost
from Whitehall under the partnership scheme which generates £80 million a year
from camera fines.
Lotus cars, now owned by Proton in Malaysia, has cut 350 jobs at
its Norwich HQ.
Max Tait of Newcastle, has converted a dodgem car to three
wheels and an 850cc paraffin gas-powered engine. It can reach 65 mph. The
DVLA have allowed it to be used on the roads as “a one-off special”.
MG Rover’s controversial directors’ pension trust will be
substantially scaled back if their partnership with China’s Shanghai Automotive
Industry Corporation goes ahead.
Payments to the MG directors’ pension trust, which have exceeded £16
million for five directors in the past two years and prompted accusations of
asset-stripping, will this year be cut by 90%.
MG Rover is expected to lose £100 million this year but a link with SAIC
who would own 70% of the joint venture would allow the Chinese company to
invest £1 billion to launch four new Rover models.
Ralf Schumacher's latest business venture was to team up with a
subsidiary of Beate Uhse, a German erotic products company. He was expected to
invest $2.6 million next year, which would be used to set up eight sex shops in
Slovenia and Croatia. "I've entered as a silent partner" said
Ralf. A week later he pulled out of the
plans after a German comedian made fun of him.
According to Peter Bonsall, professor of transport planning at
Leeds University, “Caravans take up
twice as much road space, so perhaps they should be charged twice as much as
smaller vehicles. Higher tariffs should be imposed on parents taking their
children to school and on motorists using busy holiday routes during summer
weekends.”
Aston Martin is preparing to go racing at Le Mans with its
DBR9 GT model to promote sales of the road car.
Motoring organisations claim that Motorways will be
congested throughout the day by the end of the decade because Britain has
failed to keep pace with other European countries in expanding the network.
Motorway traffic has increased by 36% in the past ten years, but the network
has grown by less than 1%, or 140 miles. The report found that motorists paid
£42 billion in tax last year in fuel duty, vehicle excise duty, VAT and company
car tax. But the Government spent only £6.7 billion on maintaining and
enhancing the road network. Some £4 billion was spent on the railways, but
trains were used for only 6.5% of the total distance travelled, compared with
92% on the roads. A spokeswoman said: “We need to change policy to stop traffic
from rising in the first place.”
Italian car sales fell 8.2% in October, but Fiat
saw an even sharper drop and its market share slipped, weighed down by a slump
in sales of its sporty Alfa Romeo brand.
The Fiat group car sales plummeted 13.3% in 2004 v 2003.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has confirmed that it will launch a new, two-door,
four-seat convertible model, to be built at Goodwood in 2007. The design,
code-named RR02, is based on the 100EX centenary experimental car and will be
built using aluminium space-frame chassis technology with the BMW- 6.75 litre
V12 engine.
A boy racer lost his
licence after speeding past a speed camera 19 times in a single night. The teenager swapped his car's number plate
with a fake one and deliberately raced past the camera in a yellow Citröen.
Dawn Forster from Middlesborough had 1,300 driving lessons costing £7,000 over a nine
year period. She finally passed her driving test on her 10th attempt. She was
taught by five different instructors.
A German garage is offering car lovers the chance to get their vehicles ‘pierced’ for
between £60 and £130.
The
RAC said the numbers of motorists
admitting to talking on their mobile phones as they drive had gone up from 10%
a year ago to 40% now.
October new car sales in the United Kingdom fell 5.9%
to 170,866 from 181,589 a year ago. For
the first 10 months, sales dipped slightly to 2,250,822 from 2,254,539 a year
previously. (Interesting?!)
Police officers guarding Windsor Castle are getting extra training
because they keep wrecking cars. Officers keep raising the steel security
bollards as vehicles pass over them.
Shocked drivers end up 3ft above the ground, impaled on the
anti-terrorist device. One elderly tourist got a nasty shock when he sat down
for a rest on a raised bollard which was promptly lowered, sending him crashing
to the floor. Police have had to pay out thousands in compensation for damaged
cars.
A black Mercedes 600 driven by the Chinese President at
the 1997 Hong Kong handover recently sold in China for close to £100,000. The
scandal surrounding the armour-plated car has ended the careers of several
senior members of the Government, including the Police Minister and the head of
military intelligence, led to a dozen death sentences and more than 600 prison
sentences.
The British Grand Prix at
Silverstone is back on the calendar and clashed with the Goodwood Festival of
Speed which will has moved to 24 – 26 June.
TOPS NEWS is an abridged version of one
section of the TOPS magazine sent to members.
Trisha Pilkington