FAIL - EVO plummets and falls off dyno

Driving Sports TV - Nissan Rogue vs. Mitsubishi Outlander Sport Holiday

Famous Fords on Film Come Together in London

Five of Ford’s most memorable vehicles to feature on film and television have been brought together at Elstree Studios, London to celebrate 100 years of Ford of Britain.

The Ford Anglia 105E from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, lined up alongside the pink FAB1 from Thunderbirds, James Bond’s Ford Mondeo from the 2007 film Casino Royale, a Ford Granada as seen in The Sweeney TV series and Dr Who’s yellow Edwardian vintage car.

One of the most watched vehicles in film history is the turquoise Ford Anglia 105E seen in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

“I’d been involved with Ford Anglia clubs for 30 years when I was asked by the film makers to provide a car for the movie,” said owner John Colyer. “After that it just took off and I ended up supplying around 15.”

One of the most eye-catching vehicles at Elstree was the six-wheel Ford-badged FAB1, that starred in the 2004 live action film Thunderbirds. Famous for its multi-function ability on the road and in the air, FAB1 is, of course, road-legal and fully operational.

For Daniel Craig’s debut as James Bond, in Casino Royale, which debuted ahead of the launch of the production Ford Mondeo in 2007, he took to the wheel of a hand built prototype.  Following the film’s release, the car was donated by Ford to the Ian Fleming Foundation and can now be seen at the Bond exhibition at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu.

On the small screen, Ford vehicles have featured in many series including two popular British programmes − gritty police drama The Sweeney and science-fiction drama Dr Who.  The familiar car chases of The Sweeney helped the Ford Consul GT and the Ford Granada achieve cult status with car fans − and are still loved 40 years on.

The canary yellow Edwardian vintage car with unique WHO 1 number plate and indicator ‘hand’ makes regular appearances at Dr Who conventions, and several Dr Who fans have used the car for weddings.

Honda-Hot Import Nights KL 2011 Happens This Month In Shah Alam – Promises Hot Girls & Modded Cars

There will be a new car show in town, billed as a mini SEMA or Tokyo Auto Salon of sorts. It’s called Honda-Hot Import Nights Kuala Lumpur 2011, and it will happen from 17-18 December at Shah Alam’s Malawati Stadium. It’s gonna be a fully indoor event that will go on rain or shine, and the entry fee will be RM20 per day. Organisers are expecting a crowd in excess of 25,000 for both days combined.

Calling themselves the “world’s largest touring automotive lifestyle show” Hot Import Nights (HIN) was founded in 1996 in Australia by a group of uni students. It has grown since then, and Jakarta, Indonesia held its first HIN in 2001. Today, HIN is an annual event in USA, Australia, Indonesia, and if it takes off, Malaysia. Honda Malaysia is the title sponsor for the HIN KL 2011.

There will be plenty of sexy ladies and modded cars of all sorts (HIN is expecting over 100 show cars), and the cars will vie for the many trophies up for grabs. Among the titles are Too Damn Low, Best Custom Bodykit, The Killer Colour, Hottest Engine Bay, Best JDM Look, Best VIP, Hottest ICE, Cinema on Wheels and “Best” titles for various brands, from Audi to Proton. There will be three King Nominees that will fight for the main award – The King.
Also, there will be a Dynowars contest, which will have trophies (top 3) for the most powerful RWD, FWD, AWD, NA, Turbo, VTEC, 4G63 and Campro, among other categories. For the ICE fans, there are a couple of awards, too.

The judges are experienced blokes. For the modded cars, HIN has secured Randy Ly, Tommy Ha and Mitchell Mark, all ex-NCCA judges from America. The man in charge of Dynowars is Todd Lewis from Mainline Dynamometer Australia.
I’ve been to some of these events before, and there are more photographers mobbing the (lady) models than those who actually appreciate the cars, so if you belong to that category, HIN KL will be organising a Car & Model Autophotography contest. The ladies you’re shooting are also competing, but for the Miss Honda-Hot Import Nights KL 2011 title. RC and PS3 fans will have contests of their own. Finally, some international DJs are performing and there’s a concert by rocker Awie on 18 Dec.

For Honda owners, Honda Malaysia will be picking four cars to be displayed in their booth at HIN KL. If you think you have the ride to impress, email a pic of your car and details to hondahin@honda.com.my.

2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK 350 Review

The Carreview Window Sticker

Specs: $67k price, 302 HP, 19/26 Mileage and 0-60 in 5.5 seconds

Pros:

• The best SLK styling in years
• Slingshot Acceleration and excellent handling
• Custom Tailoring
• Slick Roof with on-the-fly adjustable tint
• A roadster that appeals to many of the buyer’s instincts

Cons:

• Lack of Storage
• No Manual Tranny
• Steep price of $67k

The Review:

The SLK is the closest thing Mercedes makes to a sports car. It is small, nimble and fast, seats only two, and functions as a convertible or a closed coupe. The SLK is a stunning piece of design. You can learn more about a car’s true mettle if you wash and dry its metal. In the process of cleaning the SLK for a photo shoot, I marveled at the complexity of its shape. This roadster has more flutes than a champagne glass. In fact, you can hardly find a single flat plane on the entire body. The bodywork looks muscular and buffed, with short overhangs fore and aft, and bulging fenders to accommodate the beefy tires and AMG alloys. 7.5 inch front rims carry 225/40ZR18 Pirelli P Zero rubber, with 8.5 inch back rims equipped with 245/35ZR18 Pirellis. The simple AMG 5-spoke rims are part of a $2,500 Sport Package that includes appealing “Sport Body Styling” plus haunting interior illumination in “SOLAR red.”

What prevents the SLK from full sports car status is lack of manual transmission availability. Like so many other manufacturers, Mercedes sees no point in Federalizing a separate (manual) gearbox for a customer take rate of 5 or 10 percent. Still, those are the very customers who will buy an Audi TTS or Porsche 911 expressly because those companies offer them the choice to shift gears by depressing a cutch pedal. Not that the SLK’s 7-speed automatic is a bad piece of engineering. To the contrary, it offers the driver Efficiency, Sport and Manual modes, while providing small steering wheel-mounted paddles to control up and down changes. Even so, the SLK is less driver-involving than it could be with a slick stick shift.

Tony Fernandes' Caterham F1 Team Unveils New Logo

You would have known by now that the Lotus vs Lotus naming row is over, and in 2012 Lotus Renault GP will race as ‘Lotus’ while Tony Fernandes’ Team Lotus has changed its name to Caterham F1 Team. The AirAsia boss and friends bought over British sportscar maker Caterham back in April.

Caterham F1 Team has unveiled its new logo for the 2012 F1 season, which uses a familiar green background with yellow accents. Tony Fernandes explains that the name change makes perfect sense for him.

“With Team Lotus, I would have battled to the end if I felt it was the right thing to do, but when you take a dispassionate look at where we were it made absolute sense to start with a clean sheet, and Caterham has given us that chance,” he told the team’s magazine.

“It’s the best possible solution for where we want to go – partly because it gives us complete control over everything we do and, obviously, because there’s simply no point racing to promote a road car company I don’t own. The road car business has always been a sector I’ve wanted to explore and so here we are.

“But I can’t stress enough; this is a serious business venture for us. If I just needed a new name, I could have called it anything, but the synergy with Caterham works better – and it’s what I do – take a small business with the correct core values and purpose and expand it and grow it into the global marketplace.”

Subaru BRZ GT300 Race Car - Tokyo Motor Show 2011