TOPS NEWS January 2004
The AA Motoring Trust reports that one-fifth of England’s
A-roads have surfaces which fail skid tests.
250,000 lamp posts are more than 30 years old and likely to collapse,
2,500 local authority bridges need strengthening and thousands of traffic signs
are broken, dirty or obscured by foliage.
Patrick Peter has announced a new series (Classic Endurance Racing) of
one-hour races at Monza, Nürburgring, Silverstone and Spa - for prototypes cars
1965–1972 and 1973 for GT and Touring
cars.
The Office of Fair Trading has threatened to investigate sales
of new car warranties unless manufacturers and franchised dealers cease to
restrict where cars can be serviced.
The average cost of a service at an independent garage is half that of a
franchised outlet. The main culprits
are Ford, Citroën, BMW, Peugeot, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen. The OFT has
powers to investigate potential criminal cartel cases and investigators have
threatened to bug homes, offices and cars.
Immunity will be granted to cartel members who turn whistle-blower.
The most likely car to be stolen in Britain is a 1986 Vauxhall Belmont followed
by the 1984 Astra Mk2 and the 1983 Nova according to a national index of car
thefts. 1980s Fords and Austin Morris Rover cars are also popular with thieves.
Only 3% of cars made last year were stolen, compared with 30% of those built in
1989. 314,749 cars were stolen in 2002.
A gang of car thieves stole 120 Aston Martins in Surrey
in 2003 – still leaves plenty!
Theft from cars went up 20% last year – favourite items were stereos
(641,250) and mobile phones (265,500).
BMW has launched a £457 million convertible bond which will be
exchangeable with Rolls-Royce aerospace shares. It insists it will not scale down its 10% stake in Rolls-Royce which
it has held since 1990 after a joint venture to make jet engines. BMW also owns the Rolls-Royce car marque.
The Department of Trade and Industry has given Nissan a grant of £3.26
million to help the development of a cabriolet Micra in Sunderland. The DTI said the money would help safeguard
250 jobs.
Speed cameras again. There are now nearly 5,000 on our roads with 1,000 added
in the past 12 months. They generate
£80 million p.a. most of which is retained by the police with £20 million going
to the government. By April every
police force, except Durham, will operate fixed speed cameras. The A46 and A52 are to have 28 new digital
cameras. Speed fines in the Nottingham
area have brought in £3.6 million since installation and there is now a specially
adapted motorbike in use, equipped with portable cameras.
Edinburgh council has decided that motorists are to
be fined for parking without a ticket when pay-and-display machines are broken
– they must find another machine, even if not on the same street.
Kidderminster taxi drivers have increased their fares to pay
for damage to their cars caused by traffic calming in the town.
Capita, the company administering the London congestion charge, has been fined
£1 million for poor performance – and – has been given an extra £31 million to
make the system run more smoothly.
The Metropolitan Police Stolen Vehicle Squad’s David Ryan
said that 30,000 – 40,000 vehicles are cloned every year—probably not counting
historics!
A U.S. woman, whose rescue from her car during floods was shown on
national television, has been arrested by a policeman who remembered she was
banned from driving.
The Norwegian Prime Minister's bomb-proof BMW is not allowed on
the country's roads because it's security equipment, steel armour and other
safety features make it too heavy to carry four people but it has been
‘cleared’ for three.
The Metropolitan police force says that 34 of its vehicles have
been damaged over the past three months by traffic calming measures such as
sleeping policemen. The vehicles required thousands of pounds of repairs, The
Met says councils are using money to implement traffic calming schemes in roads
which have no history of accidents. It
has been estimated that there are between 20,000 and 30,000 speed bumps in
London, with thousands more ramps, barriers and chicanes.
The Travelodge hotel chain has increased the number of outlets
offering £5 "catnap and coffee"
half-hour room rental breaks and increased the time to one hour.
A New Zealand judge told a motorist with the number
plate: '2DRUNK' that he was "just asking" to be stopped. He fined him
£230 for drink driving.
Metallic blue is replacing silver as the most popular colour on
Britain's roads, according to vehicle resale specialist Vehicle Remarketing
Solutions.
On 19th December the GPWC and SLEC announced that
they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
This appears to mean that all the F1 teams will receive more money and
there will be no need for the threatened break-away series. Another meeting and statement will be
issued mid-January.
Miles Morris and Malcolm Welford have left Christies car auction
department in America and announced the formation of their new company, Morris
& Welford, PLC. They will operate as
specialist consultants and brokers for collectors across America.
AC Cars has recommenced assembly operations at its plant in
Frimley, Surrey, following the conclusion of a supply agreement with Shelby
Automobiles in Las Vegas. The long-term agreement requires annual delivery of
50 aluminium body shells mounted on traditional steel chassis. The cars will be
completed at Shelby’s Las Vegas plant, branded Shelby AC Cobra and will be
available to customers from mid-2004.
AC Cars are due to open an R&D facility in Malta in 2004.
Wade H Grimbly, who has provided some of the
photographs in the January TOPS NEWS, is happy to accept photographic
commissions. He is well-known for his
fashion and car pictures. Tel/Fax +33 1
42 09 29 94 or email: worldwidewade@hotmail.com.
Volkswagen said it would cut capital spending by 11% over the next
five years although investment levels will remain higher than its industry
peers with the lion's share going towards expanding its range of cars and light
trucks. VW is renowned for having one
of the highest levels of expenditure in the industry particularly after
investing in luxury brands such as Bugatti, Bentley and Lamborghini.
British car number plates are 100 years old this month. In 1904 cars had to be registered, at a cost
of five shillings, and carry number plates.
Drivers did not have to take a test for another 30 years. However the French first issued plates in
August 1893.
The Louis Vuitton concours has moved from its traditional
Hurlingham venue to Waddesdon Manor near Oxford.
It is expected that spectators at the British Grand Prix in July
will be banned from the entire infield section which will be reserved for the
F1 paddock and support races. TOPS has
also been told that the pitlane walkabout will not take place.
Roger Etcell, ex Silverstone Circuits marketing director, has been
appointed to organise the Brighton Run.
Etcell’s company, Motion Works, has been given a five-year contract by
the RAC.
Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Cadwell Park and Snetterton have been sold by Interpublic to
MotorSport Vision Limited a new company led by Jonathan Palmer. Silverstone will remain with Interpublic
whose company Brands Hatch Circuits Ltd will be re-named Silverstone Motorsport
Limited. Silverstone is leased by them
for a healthy sum from the BRDC. It is
thought that the lease expires in 2008.
According to reports in the British media, Russian billionaire Abramovich has
offered Eddie Jordan £150 million to buy his team—this is about twice what the
team is worth, according to the pundits.
However, the papers report, Abramovich doesn’t just want to buy Jordan –
he wants to turn the team into one capable of winning Championships and is
willing to spend what ever it takes to do so.
Jordan denies any interest—and now, so does Abramovich—don’t you just
love the press!
Robert Pratt, 32, who hired a taxi to collect him from his house
in New York and then wait outside a bank while he committed a robbery has been
arrested after paying the cabbie five times the standard fare after his
getaway.
Robert Ellis has joined H&H Classic Auctions. Robert used to
be Competition Secretary of the VSCC and then Operations Manager at Rockingham.
He is currently building a Lotus XI replica.
H&H Classic Auctions Limited have announced that, to celebrate
10 years of business and following “an internal examination and exhaustive
research into their Company image and logo”, their colour scheme has
changed from black and yellow to dark blue and yellow.
Volkswagen had to send out an emergency internal memo after
staff misplaced 12 luxury cars. The
memo, which was circulated to all VW factories, eventually revealed that the
cars - worth more than £1 million in total - had been stranded in a company car
park. "We knew they weren't
stolen, or we would have phoned the police," said a spokesman. The 12 high-powered, luxury Phaeton cars
were traced to a car park at company headquarters in Wolfsburg. Each car is worth c. £100,000. VW began
making Phaetons last year at a glass-walled factory where customers can watch
their personal car take shape.
TOPS NEWS is an abridged version of one section of the
TOPS magazine sent to members.
Trisha Pilkington