TOPS NEWS – November/December 2005
An 11-year-old boy was charged when police stopped him
in Andover driving a 140 mph BMW at 9.40 pm without lights.
The BRDC hope to redevelop Silverstone (£600m) if they are able to find a
suitable partner and obtain approval from their members.
Mussolini’s 1939 Lancia Astura was auctioned on eBay for charity. It fetched US$14m.
Burundi's president has told ministers to stop ordering luxury government
vehicles, to save money. And
neighbouring Rwanda has impounded 1,000 government vehicles to be sold at
auction in a bid to cut spending in a country where half the budget is financed
from foreign donors.
Chinese millionaire, Li Chunping, has donated 70 cars to
his local police force.
Bad drivers in eastern Hungary are being given pieces of lemon by
traffic police and good drivers are given an apple. Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg, is the
centre of Hungary's fruit industry.
Poisonous vipers, giant boa constrictors and iguanas
escaped onto the busy A45 autobahn in Germany when their transport van
overturned.
Two high-class brothels hoping to attract clients during the Brazilian Grand Prix were closed
after they posted sexually explicit advertisements. Prostitution in Brazil is legal, but pimping is not. Many brothel owners say they run
"relaxation clubs for men" and that sexual services are not provided
in exchange for money. Postcards of
bikini-clad beauties frolicking on Rio's famed beaches are due to be banned
from sale in an attempt to discourage sex tourism.
Police in Germany are warning motorists against
sucking a Fishermen's Friend (throat lozenge) after a driver was found to be
over the legal drink-drive limit during a routine control. However blood tests showed that he had no
alcohol in his system.
A fire station's wall had to be rebuilt because the
bricks had a hint of orange and were therefore the wrong shade of red. The work
was part of an unfinished project to build a £6m fire station in
Gateshead.
A government suggestion to privatise the ‘free’ German
motorway is proving unpopular.
Warranty Direct claims that 17% of cars have to be
repaired due to suspension or axle damage caused by the state of the UK’s
roads.
With police consent, Germans could soon be allowed to do
u-turns on motorways and travel back against the flow of traffic to reduce
congestion.
But - Austria has introduced a high-decibel alarm system to
alert motorists if they go the wrong way on a motorway. There have been 233 incidents in the past
six months.
Ecclestone’s Paul Ricard circuit Le Castellet, has been appointed
as the FIA Institute's first Centre for Motor Sport Excellence.
The FIA and the F1 breakaway group continue to have different objectives, with
Ferrari, the two Red Bulls and Jordan backing the FIA proposals for the
Concorde Agreement to 2012 and the manufacturers, Mercedes, Renault, Toyota,
Honda and BMW agreeing to disagree with the FIA proposals.
Volvo Cars have developed a breathalyser test which has to show
‘negative’: and the seat belt must be fastened, before the engine will start. A
special ignition key can be programmed to prevent the car travelling above a
pre-determined speed (useful if your children borrow the car - they say).
Porsche AG has bought 32,868,462 Volkswagen AG common shares, for a
10.26% stake. If Porsche becomes
Volkswagen's largest shareholder, just five families will control sales of more
than half the new cars in Europe.
A Belgian woman is being allowed to take her
practical driving test after failing the theory exam 37 times.
Chief Constable Brunstrom, who started the use of
speed cameras in the UK, has objected to the Association of Chief Police
Officers’ wish to increase cameras from 6,000 to 12,000.
British hauliers, are unhappy with the Government’s
decision not to charge European truckers to use our roads as they pay no road
or fuel tax in the UK.
The Highways Agency has spent £76,352 on 34 road signs
in Cumbria to tell motorists which sections of road it maintains.
Castle Combe has lost its appeal against reducing noise levels from 114
to 108 decibels by April 2006. The
circuit owners have taken control back from the BRSCC.
A firearms officer caught speeding at 100 mph has been
spared a driving ban but the Crown Prosecution Service has appealed against a
decision to clear another police officer who was clocked at 159 mph.
Northumbria Police are using a speed camera operating at a range of 5000
feet which is interesting as the Home Office have only licensed laser cameras
up to 3281 feet.
A driver who went through a red traffic light to let an ambulance pass has been
given a fixed penalty fine.
In London,
Ken
Livingstone has increased his personal
budget to £13.9m. 58 staff run his
‘media’.
ERA has taken on a new meaning on roads.
It is now the Emergency Refuge Area.
Apparently the Partnership which operates camera vans cannot
be prosecuted when its vans break the law as it is not a legal entity.
Jonathan Palmer
has unveiled plans to revamp Snetterton circuit.
There were 14,176 thefts of car number plates last year in
the UK.
Sugar prices have risen a dramatic 44% in four months due to the use of
its natural by-product of industrial alcohol for fuelling cars. However, as the oil refineries come back
into production after Hurricane Katrina, the prices could drop again. Good to know TOPS has an independent sugar
manufacturer amongst its members!
Mike Newman, 43, a blind man, has claimed a new world land speed record
by reaching 167.32 mph in a specially-made BMW M5.
A
100-year-old motorist has been given
an insurance discount because he hadn't had an accident in more than 80 years.
Malaysia allows anyone to issue a speeding ticket by uploading a speed
picture to a police website. Cameras,
which measure speed and read number plates are being installed in cats’ eyes.
Lehmann Brothers and JP Morgan Chase have sold their share in
Speed Investments Ltd, which controls the commercial rights of F1, to the
Bayerische Landesbank.
Some driving licences have recently been wrongly endorsed
with an SP60 coding which is more serious than the correct speeding offence
SP30-SP50.
Lapo Elkann, vice-president of Fiat and son of Agnelli’s daughter, has been taken
to hospital after a drug overdose in a transsexual’s apartment in the back
streets of Turin. He was being groomed
to take over from Montezemolo.
Foreign drivers owe £30m in
unpaid parking fines in London and £10m in congestion charge fines. In Kent 1,148 foreign cars were caught on
speed cameras but no action was taken.
Motorists who stray into VIP lanes during the 2012 London Olympics face
penalties of up to £5,000. 2,500 buses
and cars will be fitted with technology capable of turning traffic lights green
in the VIP lanes.
VW has orders for its first production of 50 Bugatti Veyron to be built in the revamped Bugatti factory at Molsheim. At its 250 mph maximum the car uses 2 gals/min and will run out of fuel after 48 miles. 16 cyl 8 litre petrol engine producing 1,001 bhp at 6,000 rpm. O-62 mph in 2.5 sec. Price £811,000.
When a lady pedestrian described the driver of a car which hit her as ‘fat’ the
police told her the description was unacceptable. Satisfactory alternatives appeared to be Lardy, Porky and Podgy
or ‘non-thin’.
A lorry driver who warned drivers of a police speed trap in Somerset was found not
guilty in the High Court as no evidence was offered that a driver had seen the
warning signal.
One of our previous sponsors, eBookers, is likely to be sold by
its owner Cendant who are also expected to sell Avis car rental and Budget.
Max Mosley has been re-elected as
President of the FIA - there were no other candidates.
Glass’s Guide is about to be put
up for sale - estimated value £340m.
A Dutch witch has won her battle to make the cost of her brooms and spell-making
lessons tax-deductable. The witch was a student of a witchcraft school in
Appelscha which charges £1,500 for a course.
Volkswagen part year sales were up 8.7% to 139,992 units,
giving VW 10.1% of the total Western European market. Opel/Vauxhall, was up 0.3% to 128,887 units, then Renault, with
121,498 units. On year to date sales, BMW is the fastest-growing brand in the
Top 10, with growth of 15.4% 2004. Kia remains the fastest-growing volume brand
with sales up 41.6% in September and up 58.7%. Skoda (up 15.1%) and Audi (up
12.5%) are also performing strongly on new registrations.
DDGP, the promoter of the Belgian Grand Prix for the last couple of years,
has been declared bankrupt. A
replacement sponsor has not yet been found.
Michelin has issued a press release which attacks the FIA for
being "incoherent" in its rule-making. ‘To switch from a tyre designed to run for 350 kms in 2005 to a
tyre that can be changed every 100 kms (or less) in 2006 will require tyre
manufacturers to design an entirely new generation of tyres and will therefore
increase costs.’ The FIA then issued a
statement saying that Michelin was ‘confused’.
Michelin have reiterated their comment that they do not wish to be the
sole F1 tyre supplier - big changes due?
Three prisoners escaped in a police car from a
small jail in Brazil when they were left by themselves while the policeman
(guard) went to lunch.
Road tolls of up to £1.30 a mile could be collected via
satellite navigation systems under government plans. 600,000 vehicles currently use the system.
A disabled man had his electric wheelchair confiscated after
being caught more than four times over the drink drive limit.
French billionaire Bernard Arnault has sold his 49.9% holding in
Bonhams (Brooks) back to the company for an undisclosed sum.
Michael Killian exhibited his
Sideways bike at the British Invention Show in London. It has a single handlebar at either end and
a saddle in the middle. "The beauty of this is that it has absolutely no
purpose except fun," he said.
A quiet bachelor who cannot drive is being bombarded
with love letters because his name is Fernando Alonso.
TOPS NEWS is an abridged version of one
section of the TOPS magazine sent to members.
Trisha Pilkington