Showing posts with label Offbeat News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Offbeat News. Show all posts

VIDEO: Indian Daredevils and the Well of Death


The ‘circle of death’ is neither new nor shocking, but it’s one thing to see a professional stuntman who follows the necessary safety precautions doing it and another a group of gifted but nevertheless amateur daredevils going at it in a shoddy well made out of wooden planks with the crowd only inches away….

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It Came from eBay Hell: Porsche 959 Speedster Replica


In 1986, the Porsche 959 was the world’s fastest street legal product car. Some 337 of these road-going monsters were built but not one of them was a factory-finished convertible. Regardless of what you may have heard or seen on forums, such a vehicle was never sanctioned by Porsche. There was a one-off “Speedster” built by Auto-Becker for the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show but that’s about it.

So is this done and dusted? Of course not; this is the internet we’re talking about. 959 Speedsters are sighted by Porsche enthusiasts as much as Elvis Presley or the Loch Ness monster. If you believe what you’ve read, these things are everywhere. And I do mean everywhere, even in New Zealand.

So our seller throws in the usual platitudes we’ve come to expect from this sort of posting like, “This is one very rare and special car,” and that it was “professionally built”.

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Fiat Crafts Furniture Pieces Inspired by the Original 500


At this week’s 50th Furniture Fair in Milan, Italy, Fiat previewed the “Fiat 500 Design Collection”, an initiative by the firm’s marketing boss Lapo Elkann and furniture maker Meritalia. The collection is a tribute to the original Fiat 500 and includes a sofa, a table and a console, all inspired by the 1970's Fiat 500. Each of the three pieces sports a plate that says: “Lapo and Meritalia pay tribute to the Fiat 500”. Read more »

Insane, Tire-Shredding Suzuki Might Boy Mini Ute with LS1-V8 [Video]


Come on, admit it, tire-smoking burnouts are a blast to watch. Even more so when the vehicle in question is a Japanese kei car stuffed with a GM-sourced LS1 V8. Enter the world of the Curupt, a wildly modified Suzuki Might Boy that comes to us from the land of Down Under.

Largely unknown to most of the world, the Suzuki Mighty Boy is a toy-sized pickup truck-style model from the glorious 1980s that was sold in Japan as well as Australia and Cyprus between 1985 and 1988. Despite its promising name, the fact that it was based on the Giugiaro-designed Suzuki Curve kei car meant the Mighty Boy was anything but ‘mighty’ as power came from a puny 0.5-liter three-cylinder engine delivering around 28 ponies.

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Big Brother Is Watching (You Drive) Part Deux: Rule Britannia!


In the past we’ve reported on American insurers that are offering lower premiums to young drivers in return for some of their privacy. The idea is that a camera or electronic “black box” is installed in a provisional licensee’s vehicle, which monitors driving behavior on the road. It’s Big Brother behind the wheel and a lot of parents – and a few reluctant teens – are more than willing to make the trade.

Now a UK based insurer called Marmalade will offer a similar package across the pond. The idea is a simple one: Marmalade will lease cars fitted with a data recorder (a.k.a. “black box”) to newly qualified drivers. Information on every journey is recorded and beamed back to the insurance company’s website analysis. This includes how fast the car accelerates, how quickly it corners and how harshly it brakes.

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This is what Happens when you Enter a Highway the Wrong Way… [Video]


The following accident took place on a Scottish motorway near Aberdeen and was captured by a “black box” GPS/video system mounted on a semi-trailer truck. From what we can tell, the Vauxhall Corsa entered the highway on the wrong side and drove towards oncoming traffic like a kamikaze, taking a truck driver completely by surprise.

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Maserati Teams up with Sicilian Bike Maker to Create Limited Edition 8CTF


BMW’s M division has one, and so does McLaren, Audi and even German tuning firm Lumma Design introduced a bicycle bearing its name in 2009. Therefore, it doesn’t come to much of a surprise that Italian sports car maker Maserati has presented a two-wheel creation.

To be precise, Maserati joined forces with Sicilian bicycle maker Montante Cicli for the development and production of the 8CTF that borrows its name from the Italian automaker’s famous racing car that won 500 miles of Indianapolis in both 1939 and 1940. The Montante for Maserati 8CTF will be produced in a limited run of just 200 individually numbered units, with all bicycles to be custom made to fit the rider.

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Oops Moment: Vitantonio Liuzzi Runs over F1 Marshal [Video]


The Formula 1 Grand Prix held in Malaysia last weekend gave spectators a pretty eventful race, with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel winning again, but one of the most memorable moments took place on Friday, during the final practice session. Hispania Racing Team driver Vitantonio Liuzzi had to stop the car outside the track because of technical problems, so he exited the single seater and went to the pits. The race marshals took over from there and started pushing the car to a safe location.

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Teen Girl Rams Stolen Jeep Wrangler into a Church During Police Pursuit [with Video]


A police video camera has captured the pursuit of a speeding Jeep Wrangler that ended with the 4x4 plowing a Church in Socastee, South Carolina on Friday. The driver turned out to be a 15-year-old girl who had stolen the red-colored Wrangler. Despite the severity of the crash, the teenage girl managed to escape with serious but non-life threatening injuries. Read more »

VIDEO: Lotus Renault F1 Driver Vitaly Petrov’s Yee-Haw! Moment at the Malaysian Grand Prix


It was only a matter of time before someone edited a video of Vitaly Petrov’s spectacular exit from last week’s Malaysian Grand Prix. The Russian pilot of the Lotus Renault F1 team ran too wide at a turn near the end of the race and as he tried to get inside the track again, he hit a bump on the grass that launched the race car high into the air.

The maker of the video thought the scene with the F1 car going airborne looked a lot like something you’d see in The Dukes of Hazzard, hence the audio background. For Petrov, the incident wasn’t as funny as the impact resulted in a broken steering column mount that forced him to retire from the race. Enjoy the clip after the break.

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Twit of the Day: Drunk Driver Finds Ideal Parking Space for his Range Rover Sport


A security camera in Russia caught a drunk driver in a Ranger Rover Sport climbing the doorsteps and parking the luxury SUV right in front of the entrance of an apartment building in Chelyabinsk, a city located to the east of the Ural Mountains, on Miass River. The intoxicated driver is seen in the security video stumbling out of the British SUV with a bottle in his hand.

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VIDEO: Driverless Tractor on the Loose Wreaks Havoc at WalMart Parking Lot


In a scene that can only be described as surreal, a runaway John Deere tractor wreaked havoc at a Walmart superstore parking lot in Richmond Hill, a town located in Southern Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday. The incident was caught on film by a couple who uploaded the video on Youtube.

Here’s how they described the incident: “My girlfriend and I was going to get my car wash, however both car was stations were closed. We took a shortcut route to home which pass by our local Walmat parking lot and to our surprise, we noticed a group of spectators all looking at the far end of the parking lot and the video will explain the next 5 minutes of what happened.....”

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Las Vegas Classic Car Showroom Selling Half a VW Beetle: What Would you do With it?


When I was in high school, my teacher had the front half of a mid-‘80s Mitsubishi Sigma (sold stateside as the Gallant) that he used for teaching students car maintenance. It was blocked off behind the front seats with wooden slats and had two castor wheels at the back so it could easily be moved around.

All well and good, but what use would be the other, engine-less half? I mean, it’d just be a steel shell with a generous (if not altogether compact) lockable storage area. This is the question posed by this rather interesting automotive oddity: a 1972 Volkswagen Beetle “Front End Display”.

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VIDEO: Ferrari F430 Scuderia Cone Drifting on the Wet


Yes, it’s another drift video, but who’s complaining, especially when the protagonist is a Ferrari F430 Scuderia? The clip was filmed during a special track day at the Circuit Park Zandvoort, which is located north of the town of Zandvoort, in the Netherlands, with the F430 Scuderia being tossed left and right on a wet course. Read more »

Google Scientist Says its Driverless Cars Could Save a Million Lives each Year


Sebastian Thrun, leader of Google's driverless car project, talked about the technology of self-driven cars at TED Talks, claiming it could save one million lives each year if it would replace human driving.

Google's test cars have so far covered over 140,000 miles (225,300 km) in all types of driving conditions without a single fault. “People didn't even notice” Google's cars were not driven by humans, said Thrun, who lost his best friend to a car accident when he was 18. The Stanford professor of computer science said that moment made him decide dedicating his life to saving one million people every year.

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Mercedes-Benz AMG Ad Asks the Question: Rosberg or Schumacher?


It seems that the Mercedes Grand Prix team has made a habit of offering a commercial ahead of each Formula 1 race. With the Malaysian GP scheduled this weekend, Mercedes has released a new funny episode showcasing the Rosberg – Schumacher rivalry.

The clip is called “Decision” and features a pregnant woman about to give birth and her husband left on the side of the road by a damaged car. Out of nowhere, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher come to her rescue, each behind the wheel of an AMG Mercedes. But then a new problem appears: which one to choose?

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Wanted: Responsible Person to Drive World’s Top Supercars


How’s this for a dream job? Britain’s Repairacar is seeking a very special someone who can drive supercars from a customer’s address to one of their repair shops and back. It’s all very glamorous – the opportunity to drive supercars as diverse as Aston Martins, Ferraris and even the occasional Zonda or Bugatti Veyron – though it does include some taking of public transport.

A company spokesperson explains:“[The successful applicant] will also be expected to make their own way back to base from any corner of the UK and Europe – using public transport.”

So what they’re offering are a couple of hours on a bus or train in return for the chance to drive a selection of the world’s greatest supercars? Who could say no? Well, Repairacar, for one. You see, they’re not just looking for any Tom, Dick or Harry:

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Oops Video: Brand New 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 Limited Edition Rear-Ended by Ford F-150


If we didn’t know better, we’d say that Ford is trying to wipe out the competition with its F-150 pickup truck, or as some may know it, the Ferd F-Teehthousand. The latest victim of the F-150 after the memorable stomping of a Ferrari F-150 is a brand new 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8, which judging by the bodykit, stripes, alloy wheels and badges, is the 392 limited edition with the 470-horsepower V8 Hemi.

The driver of the Dodge’s muscle car was waiting for the light when a Ford F-150 decided to give the Challenger an unnecessary -and quite painful- rear-end makeover. Follow the break to watch the clip.

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A Perfect Match: A Short Film from BMW Classic about a Man and his 1602


If you’re the kind of type that falls in love with his wheels no matter what anybody else says or believes, then we’re pretty sure you’re going to be fond of BMW Classic’s new short film called “A Perfect Match”.

The movie, which was awarded the Golden Dolphin at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards, follows the story of a man called Jack and his search for appropriate replacement for his battered down BMW 1602. The reason? Blame the lack of an air conditioning system that has made his life unbearable in the hot summer days and nights of Los Angeles. You may or may not suspect what’s going to happen half-way through the film, but either way, we won't spoil the end. To view the film, simply follow the break below.

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Batmobile gets a Very Un-Hollywood Makeover from the World’s Aspiring Car Designers


In the annals of superhero-dom, one of the most beloved and theatrically successful is Batman. Born in the late 1930’s, this iconic figure has survived many a war, the advent of television, VHS and DVD and even Joel Schumacher. Whether your allegiances lie with Adam West, Michael Keaton or Christian Bale, you have to admit the caped crusader has done incredibly well for himself.

So ask yourself: where would the dark knight be without his car? Unlike Superman (who can fly) or Spiderman (who can shoot webs from his wrists), Batman relies on a good ol’ fashioned automobile to get him from A to B. From the Barris-ified Ford Futura of the ‘60s (read about our drive here) to the nigh-indestructible Tumbler of the Chris Nolan Batman films, the Batmobile is as much a part of the series as the hood and the cape.

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