Not that BMW's Sauber F1 car has anything more than three letters in common with cars that bear the propeller logo on public streets, but who's going to argue with the opportunity to lay down the tools early? Hotshoe Nick Heidfeld recently treated a crowd of laborer's at BMW's Munich factory to the spectacle of a big-dollar race car being treated like a hand-me-down Reliant, complete with a body-damaging finale. The shriek of a high-strung F1 racer while it slides around doing lurid donuts is a thing to behold, but the smile quickly fades when the front splitter gets tangled up in the curbing and ripped off the nose. Whoops. Video after the jump - Thanks for the tip, Ovidiu!
Some things require translation – that's why online translators are our best friends in reporting the latest news from Europe – but others transcend language barriers. A good number of both come out of Holland, where the preferred mode of transportation comes with two wheels, a pair of pedals and a set of handlebars. That makes sense when you consider the wide array of impediments to driving in Amsterdam, like narrow cobblestone streets and readily available hallucinogens. Now the same people who brought us wooden shoes and international law have given us Trap Gear.
The spoof of the famous BBC program pits two beat-up old bicycles – a Fongers Majestic and a Batavus Boulevard – against each other on the streets of The Hague. It's worth a watch, even if you aren't Dutch – isn't that weird? Follow the jump to take a trip.
After watching this video of a radio-controlled car driving past a line of wine bottles, playing the theme for Super Mario Brothers in the process, we have a question: was the wine consumed prior to the successful completion of the task at hand? If so, that would make this video even more impressive, though it's pretty much epic as it stands. Released in 1985, the video game predates the Cosworth Escort model used for the stunt, but both take us back to the days of our youth when both Mario Brothers and European hot hatches were the stuff of dreams. And we love it.
Click above for a high-res gallery of our First Drive of the Nissan GT-R.
While we weren't equipped with the means to record our time on the track with the Nissan GT-R, our friend Ty from Exhaustnote.com had the foresight to bring along a couple of video cameras to Reno/Fernley to show how Godzilla tackles the twisties. We've posted two videos: the first is a few hot laps with Mr. R. behind the wheel and the second is a great five-minute clip inside the car with Steve Millen giving the blow-by-blow on how the GT-R handles the rigors of track duty. Check them both after the jump.
During the 2008 New York Auto Show we took a short cab ride from the Javits Center to the hotel, and our driver straddled lanes, blew lights, and narrowly missed around three dozen cars. That's nothing compared to this video of a Baghdad cab ride from hell. Photographer Steve Bent of The Sunday Times was traveling to a shoot in an old Nissan 4x4 with a driver and a man he only refers to as the "boss" in the front seat. Bent needed to get to his shoot during morning traffic, and the driver went so far as to pull a Ronin, driving the wrong way down one-way streets while leaning on the horn.
That's kind of nuts, but then the boss man pulls out a 9mm pistol and starts waving it around so other drivers could get the hint that they really needed to move. The "boss" even fires to drive the message home just seconds before arriving at an army checkpoint, where his carries on a completely normal conversation with the soldiers, who seem not at all surprised at the gunplay. When asked why he fired his pistol, the "boss" explained the driver in front of them wouldn't get out of the way. That was enough for the soldiers, who then waved them through the checkpoint, according to Bent. In New York, a move like this would get your name in the paper and your butt in a jail cell. In Iraq, it gets you to your destination on time. Follow the jump to watch for yourselves. The good stuff starts about a minute in, so be patient. Thanks for the tip, catgirlshyla!
For those of us who just can't get enough of the Nissan GT-R, Lou Ann Hammond of Carlist.com recently had a unique chance to learn more about the manufacturing process of the Z06 and 911 Turbo slayer from Nissan's North American product manager, Peter Bedrosian. The resulting video reveals fun facts about the GT-R that you might not have known otherwise. For instance, did you know each GT-R that goes down the line is fine tuned by hand? Or that each body is vibration tested? The last portion of the video also shows extensive footage of twin-turbocharged V6 being carefully assembled by hand. Click the image above to check out the video.
It's always nice when money gets thrown at making epic videos of cars, and this one is so beautifully produced that it obviously cost a bundle. What could be more epic than a couple of Ferraris being treated like the rentals Rowdy and Cole duked it out with in Days Of Thunder? Okay, Ferrari and NASCAR, ne'er the twain shall meet, but what we do have here is a fantastically beautiful video of a Ferrari 599 showing the F40 what an old man it's become. Let's see, do we want to take the comfortable, easy-driving, fighter-jet fast GT, or would we prefer the raucous, painful, finicky throwback that's nearly as fast but is probably more exhilarating due simply to the cacophony behind your head? Either could be fun - follow the jump to see for yourself. Thanks for the tip, Johnny!
Click above to view Toyota's sexy Sienna commercial
When most people drop $35,000 on a minivan, they don't suffer from the dillusion that the family hauler is sexy or cool. We're sure Toyota knows the Sienna is purchased mainly for its ability to transport human cargo in comfort and safety, but the Japanese automaker isn't above selling its minivan with humor. Unfortunately, Toyota's spoof of a Calvin Klein commercial isn't all that funny, but rather kind of strange. The only feature that's extolled in the automaker's 30-second pitch is the fact that the Sienna has a five star safety rating.
The catch line that's whispered as a voiceover says, "Somewhere between luxury and soccer practice lies Sienna." What does that mean? That the Sienna isn't exactly luxurious but it's designed for better things hauling the kiddies to practice so they can learn to bend it like Beckham? Maybe we're just cynics and like our minivans completely sex-free, so hit the jump to watch the video and tell us what you think.
Suzuki is said to be unveiling the Kizashi 3 at next week's New York Auto Show, so we thought we'd refresh our memories about the Manga-styled Kizashi 1 and 2 concepts we saw at the Frankfurt Motor Show and Tokyo Motor Show. There's still no information about what powertrain (we've heard talk of a V8) or platform any car derived from the Kizashi concepts would ride upon, but we like where Suzuki's going with the idea. We expect that the Kizashi 3 may be nearly production-feasible, from what Suzuki has to say. Does this mean there's a sports sedan in the offing for Suzuki? Possibly. Or not. For a taste of what it might be like to see one of these cars actually out in the wild, we've turned up some videos of the concepts riding around in a digital world, posted after the jump.
With things like cheap gas and the value of a dollar slowly being taken from us, it's good to see that somebody wants to give us something. For the US release of the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Polyphony has thrown in features the Japanese version didn't get.
There's a drift mode that judges drivers on three parameters, there's two-player, split-screen racing and there are new events and challenges for racers online and offline that can support up to 16 racers simultaneously. Plus, there's a new track, bringing the total to six. And for us, that means there's a new list of excuses we're going to need to come up with when people start asking "Where have you been?" and "You look tired -- were you up late last night?"
In case the cars, tracks and gameplay aren't enough, Winding Road has a new trailer video of the GT5 Prologue featuring a fair bit of Ferrari action -- and that's never a bad way to start the week. Follow the jump to see the complete list of tracks, and check out our updated hi-res photo gallery of the prologue below.
Not that BMW's Sauber F1 car has anything more than three letters in common with cars that bear the propeller logo on public streets, but who's going to argue with the opportunity to lay down the tools early? Hotshoe Nick Heidfeld recently treated a crowd of laborer's at BMW's Munich factory to the spectacle of a big-dollar race car being treated like a hand-me-down Reliant, complete with a body-damaging finale. The shriek of a high-strung F1 racer while it slides around doing lurid donuts is a thing to behold, but the smile quickly fades when the front splitter gets tangled up in the curbing and ripped off the nose. Whoops. Video after the jump - Thanks for the tip, Ovidiu!
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_thumbnail.jpg "Lamborghini Reventon unboxed in Las Vegas")
