TOPS NEWS – July/August 2006
Magazine reports on recent race meetings seem to
have been completely sanitized. Is the
fear of a law suit so strong that no comment can be made about a driver
constantly spinning, car contact, bad driving and apparent disregard of engine
and suspension rules? Is your racing
car Club policing this problem to your satisfaction?
Although Christies had one of the more interesting
groups of auction cars of late, they only sold 12 of them at Le Mans,
however, they did achieve €1m for the Talbot Lago despite it having missing
shock absorbers and the air intake fitted upside down.
The Tetley brewery shire horses are to retire, ending
a 184 year tradition.
A horned Highland cow charged and damaged a police car on
the A 350 near Warminster.
A fleet of new Audis were given parking tickets as they
‘posed’ on the kerb at London Bridge Station for a publicity photo shoot.
New car registrations in the UK rose for the first time this year in May, with a 1.1%, or 2,102 units, rise to 190,002.
Two teenagers took a 1950s 49-ton locomotive for a joyride around a busy
railway terminal while staff ignored them.
They changed points manually to switch tracks as they drove up and down
Tinsley marshalling yard in Sheffield.
A woman left her friend as "security" at a petrol
station in Muenchberg, Bavaria, after running out of money - but never came
back. A police investigation found she had committed similar acts of theft at
petrol stations across the state.
Motorists face a £3 annual fee to register their cars under plans to pay for new
EU-style driving licences. The Shadow
Transport Secretary said “the DVLA has said that there are about 900,000 cars
missing from its records, about 3% of the total”.
New seat belt regulations for children come into force in
September. Details from the Department
for Transport.
“The MSA will utilise its network of 700 member clubs, 34,000 licence holders
and more than 10,000 volunteer officials to open the doors of motorsport at all
levels” in an effort to introduce a wider audience to the excitement of
Motorsport - National Motorsport Week - 12-20 August 2006.
German police have arrested a gang who stole hundreds of top of the
range BMWs and Mercedes piece by piece, after getting jobs in the Munich
factories where they were made, reassembling the cars and selling them.
A German woman has put her Ferrari up for sale on eBay and added herself
as an extra feature. She is starting the bidding at £865,000.
DaimlerChrysler could face a $640 million fine as a result of a bribery probe by the U.S. justice department and the U.S. stock market regulator.
Torbay council hired the services of NCP, the largest provider of parking enforcement services in Britain and ticketing rates soared. In 2004 local police traffic wardens issued 4,581 fixed penalty notices. Last year that figure rose to 28,500.
In 1998 traffic cameras caught 448,000 offenders; this has now risen to over 2 million.
The Motor Racing Archive News has announced a name change to The National Motor Racing Archive.
Ken Livingstone is back in the news with a suggestion of £25 p.d. London congestion charge for vehicles emitting more than 225 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre – e.g. Range Rover Sport.
The government is to ban the clamping of vehicles parked in metered zones. Councils made £1.16 billion from parking charges and fines last year, up from £638 million when Labour came to power in 1997.
The Metropolitan Police have arrested 259 people in
gun-related crimes as a result of using the automatic numberplate recognition
cameras. However there is concern that the use of these cameras could breach
motorists’ rights.
Portsmouth is to enforce a 20 mph limit in all residential areas within two
years.
Ford is to invest £1bn in the UK for environmental projects such as biofuels, new-generation diesels, direct-injection petrol and light-weight materials.
Members of Clubs affiliated to the MSA are covered by a comprehensive insurance policy for an event, provided an Organising Permit has been issued.
Citroën has examined traffic flow in our most congested cities and claims that 30 minutes is spent motionless in a 17 mile journey in rush hour in Cardiff whereas Londoners ‘only’ spend 19 minutes motionless over 6.8 miles.
In 2002, the Government abandoned its target of reducing congestion across the road network by 6% by 2010. It now predicts that it will rise by up to 20%.
The government has admitted that some speed cameras can produce inaccurate readings.
Chimay circuit has been closed by the RACB Belgian authorities on the grounds of safety.
Speed humps throughout Richmond are being removed. Barnet has already removed them.
Neil Kinnock has been banned from driving for 6 months after another speeding conviction.
Ferrari's latest super-weapon, the V12 599GTB 205 mph Fiorano has a 2-year waiting list. £170,000, 5,999cc, 65º all-aluminium V12, with DOHC per bank and 4 valves per cylinder; 611 bhp at 7,600rpm and 448lb ft at 5,600 rpm. 6 speed manual optional semi-automatic. But 8.64 mpg!
eBay is to include classified car advertisements.
Two drivers in the Cannonball Run had their cars confiscated by the French court which invoked a law of confiscation if speeders do more than twice the legal limit
Sir Stirling Moss has started his
own website www.stirlingmoss.com.
TOPS NEWS is an abridged version of one
section of the TOPS magazine sent to members.
Trisha Pilkington