Friday, September 7, 2012
Sports car v skateboard
If you were an expensive sports car with a shiny red paint job to make you look even more desirable – being beaten in a race by a lesser vehicle would probably be embarrassing.What if that vehicle was a skateboard? You’d probably be a deeper shade of red come the end of the contest.
Well, for one sports car this nightmare recently became a reality.
The Corvette C5, which is capable of doing 200mph, lost a drag race against the Gnarboard’s Trail Rider.
The Trail Rider is an electric skateboard, and whereas it probably wouldn’t have beaten the sports car in a race of a whole circuit, over a short, straight distance, it powered to the finish before its rival.
So – are you fed up with the cost of your car insurance? Maybe an electric board is the way to go.
The only thing is, we’re not sure if the U.S. company which makes them delivers to the UK, plus the board might not be road legal, and it’s probably not that nice to ride in the rain, and – sticking to your car is probably better in many ways.
Photo © jking89 via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: Corvette C5, electric, Gnarboard, race, road legal, skateboard, sports car, Trail Rider, vehicle
Monday, September 3, 2012
The safest car
There are a lot of things to consider when buying a new car, such as its engine size, boot capacity, fuel type, and a whole host of other factors which might affect drivability and car insurance cost.
However, one thing some people might forget about when purchasing a new vehicle – whether it’s second-hand or fresh off the forecourt – is its safety score.Well, for people worried about the safety of their car, there’s one vehicle they can rely on to keep them very, very safe indeed.
That, according to the Euro NCAP tests, is the Volvo V40.
Reportedly, this vehicle achieved the highest ever recorded score. It was tested on adult and child occupant protection, safety assist, and pedestrian protection, and excelled in all!
The car is available at a starting price of £19,745. I’m going to start saving up!
Photo © NRMA New Cars via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: boot capacity, car, car insurance, cost, drivability, engine, Euro NCAP, forecourt, fuel, new, protection, safety, safety assist, second-hand, test, vehicle, Volvo V40
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Wheel Clamp Man faces prosecution
Hoot! doesn’t know what to say about Wheel Clamp Man, the lycra jumpsuited and speedo-wearing “superhero” who takes an industrial strength saw to zealously clamped vehicles so that he can remove them.
For anyone who’s ever had their vehicle opportunistically clamped by a “clamping cowboy”, it would be easy to see how he might be viewed as some kind of hero. Stories abound of drivers having their cars clamped as they briefly pull up outside their own homes, during doctor emergency calls and even mid-heart attack with stricken drivers still actually behind the wheel.All the “superhero” asks in return for saving drivers the £88 release fee is a small donation to be given to a homeless charity.
But, in a strict interpretation of the law, police have described the man as “a menace” and have said that they “will deal with him”.
Yet, Wheel Clamp Man is not cowed. “I’m helping people out. I don’t feel I’m damaging property,” he said.
“The amount of money these companies make off innocent people is insane. Where does that money go? Not into car parks or safer streets. It goes into their pocket.”
Wheel Clamp Man describes himself as on a crusade for justice that was inspired by, he says, being unfairly clamped in the past.
But it seems he might need real-life superpowers if he is to avoid being prosecuted.
Image © Cristiano Betta via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car, driver, law, police, vehicle, wheel, Wheel Clamp Man
Monday, August 20, 2012
Shelley the self-driving car
The Dynamic Design Lab at Stanford University, California, and the Volkswagen Electronics Research Lab have made a very speedy self-driving car.
Shelley – that’s the vehicle’s name – can drive up to 120mph and managed to complete a three-mile-long race track in less than 2minutes and 30seconds.
That’s impressive – and even more remarkable when you realise that all of this was done by using algorithms (complicated mathematical instructions to you and I).
Shelley has a boot-full of electronics which guide her and tell her when to brake, how tightly she needs to take a corner, and so on and so forth.
While it might seem this technology may be being tested to allow people in the future to be driven about by autonomous cars, the labs are actually working towards providing safety systems which will – for example – help motorists negotiate icy roads.
Before you start to get worried that machines will be taking over every aspect of our lives and will be better than humans at all the tasks we set them, don’t worry too much.
Apparently, although Shelley can drive at 120mph, that’s still a few seconds slower than a professional human racing car driver. Ha! Take that technology!
Photo © Ana Patricia Almedia via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: 120mph, brake, car, Dynamic Design Lab, icy roads, race track, safety, self-driving, Shelley, Stanford University, vehicle, Volkswagen Electronics Research Lab
Friday, August 10, 2012
A young driver competition
There’s nothing I like more than a good competition, and Mercedes-Benz have launched one I like the sound of. Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy is looking for the best young driver in Britain.
Young driver, oh, well that cuts me out of the running straight away then – you might think.
But wait! The Terms and Conditions simply state that you have to be 16 years old or older, and at least 1.5 meters tall. I double checked, and there is indeed a 24+ category for entrants.
The winners from each age catagory will enjoy a full year as a Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy VIP – not a bad prize at all!
Being a VIP with the Academy will mean that you get invitations to exclusive events, mingle with the rich and famous, and have opportunities to drive the newest Mercedes-Benz vehicles around.
I, for one, already know I’ll be entering ‐ I’ve been watching the Olympics and I’m feeling competitive. Bring it on!
Photo © garryknight via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: Britain, competition, drive, Driving Academy, Mercedes-Benz, prize, vehicle, VIP, young driver
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Cooling off in the car
The modifications some people subject their poor cars to are pretty unnecessary and very likely to increase the price of their car insurance – or make their vehicle completely uninsurable.
One man from the Zhejiang province in China has taken car modifications to a new extreme – by converting the rear of his people-carrier into a paddling pool for his six-year-old son. The temperatures over there have apparently been approaching 40 degrees Centigrade – sort of makes you envious with the summer we’ve been having.
Anyway, so that his son could cool off and have fun, the man removed the seats from the rear of the family car and lined the back of his vehicle with plastic sheeting; filling it up with water until it was only about 30cm from the bottom of the windows.
I’ve found that since reading this news story, I’m looking at my car in a different light.
Now we just need some hot and sunny weather and I’ll probably be off to buy some plastic sheets and a small wave machine.
Photo © Dave Haygarth via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car insurance, cars, China, family car, modifications, paddling pool, people-carrier, son, temperatures, uninsurable, van, vehicle, water
Friday, April 27, 2012
Diesel drivers don’t drive enough
Everyone’s trying to save money, and I don’t blame them.
Times are tough for many people at the moment, so it’s wise to cut down on any costs which can be reduced without having a detrimental effect on day-to-day life or safety. In an attempt to save themselves money in the long term some people have been buying diesel vehicles, believing them to be cheaper to run.
However, statistics from Glass’s Guide, the car valuation expert, shows that in fact the cost of running a diesel car is only cheaper than a petrol car if the driver travels 10,000 miles annually or more.
For some motorists, this isn’t a problem, but a spokesperson from Glass’s Guide states that the organisation knows a large majority of diesel owners are wasting their hard-earned cash.
Reportedly, 8,763,500 drivers of diesel cars drive less than 10,000 miles a year, which means that they would probably be better off with a petrol vehicle.
Potentially, this lot might even be able to save money by getting telematics insurance for low-mileage drivers.
If you think you might be one of the people spending more money than necessary on your car, why not work out how many miles you travel a year? You could save a lot of money, which will allow you to start buying those weekly take-aways again – don’t worry ‐ your secret is safe with me.
Photo © indigoprime via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car, cheaper, costs, diesel, driver, Glass’s Guide, low-mileage, petrol, save money, telematics, vehicle
Friday, February 3, 2012
Image more important than cost for singing star Harry Styles
Obviously keener to impress the girls than save money, One Direction singer Harry Styles has splashed out on a luxury Range Rover Sport.
Having successfully passed his driving test, Styles was apparently eager to maintain the trend of young celebrities buying high status vehicles.
Perhaps unsurprisingly he ignored the warnings of his older and more experienced management team regarding the high cost of insuring such a plush vehicle.
A source said, “Harry was told by his management that it was his decision if he wanted to buy an expensive motor, but he would have a tough time insuring it.
“He still got a surprise when the quotes stated coming in. It was a big whack.”
However, the starlet probably had little trouble finding the money, having taken his fair share of profit from sales of the One Direction album Up All Night.
And he won't have to worry about the prospect of making a young persons car insurance claim, because the Range Rover will remain in a UK garage while he and his band mates tour America over the next few months.
Photo © donkeyjacket45 via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: claim, driving test, garage, Harry Styles, insure, money, motor, One Direction, Range Rover Sport, UK, vehicle, young persons car insurance
Friday, December 2, 2011
Disobeying disabled bay rules
Here at Hoot we are often baffled by the arrogance of some of the motorists we read about in the news, and we’ve found a new driver to shake our heads and tut at today!
A man in his 40 in Essex decided to park his Bugatti Veyron, a sleek car worth around £839,000, in a disabled bay.It is important at this moment to say that there was no disabled badge on display!
Passers by were taking photos of the fancy car on their mobile phones when a traffic warden spotted the offending vehicle and wrote the driver a well-deserved ticket.
When the owner returned to his vehicle, a witness states that he didn’t seem that bothered by the ticket, got into his car and sped away from the scene.
It is irritating that although the man didn’t escape without a ticket – the maximum fine is £1000 – it’s probably just loose change for someone who owns such an expensive vehicle!
We can only hope that this fine means he can’t buy as many cocktails when he goes on his yearly tropical holiday this Christmas…
Grrr!
Photo © Sudhanwa.. via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: Bugatti Veyron, car, disabled bay, Essex, fine, motorists, park, ticket, traffic warden, vehicle
Monday, October 24, 2011
Sat-nav blindness
Sat-navs can be really useful for people who haven’t taken a certain route before and feel more confident if they have some guidance.
The problems begin when motorists rely too heavily on their GPS system and begin following it blindly to the ends of the Earth. The truth is, voice on the machine may sound authoritative, whether it’s Yoda or the basic man or woman’s voice, but it is still a machine and doesn’t have a brain.
No offence meant to sat-navs, they’re a great piece of technology, but if they hasn’t been updated for a while they could take you down a road that’s blocked off, or across a junction that doesn’t exist anymore, or tell you that through the new shopping centre is the best course of action.
One lorry driver recently got his vehicle wedged between two buildings at the end of a narrow lane that his sat-nav had told him to go down.
A car probably would have gone through – but this man must have forgotten that the GPS doesn’t know what vehicle you’re in.
A landlord near the narrow lane stated, “It was a very stupid thing to do and the locals thought he was a bit of an idiot for doing it.”
He caused damage to the properties on either side and the lorry was finally freed in a six hour operation the next day.
Next time he might try to judge the situation for himself before blindly doing as the sat-nav tells him…as should we all.
Photo © Mavroudis Kostas via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: GPS, guidance, junction, lorry, motorist, narrow lane, road, route, sat-nav, technology, vehicle
Monday, October 10, 2011
An alternative way to create a road trip soundtrack
Here at Hoot, we love to prepare a CD or tune into the radio to make our car journeys more enjoyable.
However, most drivers wouldn’t even dream of the method used by an ambitious trio of young men in Russia to ensure that they could rock out on a highway.The three men have been filmed sitting astride a motorbike and sidecar while travelling along a busy road in Russia, but that’s not the strange part. While one of them drove the vehicle, another played a drum kit positioned on the sidecar whilst the final man, seated on the bike behind the driver, strummed a guitar
Although an unusual vision, the musicians appear to be having the jamming session of their lives as they all display bright grins.
The English translation of the video title reads ‘Town Musicians of Bremen’, which is a Brothers Grimm fairytale in which a donkey, a dog, a cat and rooster embark on a journey to Bremen in the hope of making it as musicians.
The animals’ strange musical sound scares some robbers out of a house on route, conveniently giving the mismatched four a place to live happily ever after.
Despite the main stars of the viral film having not yet been identified, the video has scored well over a million views. Impressive, but not a technique we’ll be trying out anytime soon!
Photo © treehouse1977 via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car, fairytale, journey, musicians, radio, road, vehicle
Thursday, September 1, 2011
107 years old and still going strong
In the course of your driving career, you’ll be lucky not to experience some mechanical failure with your car for one reason or another.
So, we can all appreciate how well one two-seater Wolseley Six has done, since it’s 107 years old (having been built in 1904), and has reportedly never suffered a breakdown. Furthermore, it’s still being driven about by its proud owner, who bought it from the previous driver in 2004, and has just managed to pass its MOT.
Unsurprisingly, the 65-year-old owner speaks of his vehicle lovingly.
"She still runs like a dream. I'm very proud of her and love showing her off.
"She's quite a regular now in the town.”
We’re happy to hear that this resilient and well-built little motorcar can still be seen out and about.
Image © Southlands Farm Cottages via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: breakdown, car, driving, mechanical failure, motorcar, two-seater, vehicle, Wolseley
Monday, July 25, 2011
One-legged South African driver
Some disabled people have their vehicle modified so that they can still get out and about on the highways.
Not so for one driver in South Africa.
He had to have his left leg amputated after suffering a gun shot wound in 1996, but, instead of having his vehicle adapted, he sat his 11-year-old son next to him and told him when to press the clutch peddle.
He was stopped by a chief traffic inspector – who naturally was horrified – and was even more perturbed when she found that the 39-year-old amputee only possessed an expired learner driver’s permit suitable for use in an automatic car.
The man was fined 1,000 rand, which is the equivalent of £90.
Let’s hope he doesn’t do it again.
Photo © arboresce via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: clutch, highway, leg, licence, modified, South Africa, traffic inspector, vehicle
Friday, July 1, 2011
Blueprints for the man with the Midas touch
There are probably only a handful of cars which are so famous that they are almost globally recognised – but one of them surely must be the Aston Martin DB5 as driven by James Bond himself.
This sleek vehicle drove into the spotlight after being used in the film Goldfinger in 1964. Since then it’s been held dear in the nation’s heart, and now seven authorised blueprint copies of the legendary car have been sold at auction. The sale took place this week – but no details of who purchased the technical drawings, including meticulous sketches of the car’s gadgets, have yet come to light.
We don’t even know if all of the copies were bought by one person, or if a number of individuals got a share of the James Bond riches.
While the original blueprints are kept under lock and key by the film producers EON Productions, any 007 or Aston Martin fanatic would be very pleased to acquire the copies.
Maybe the proud owners, or owner, will be in the media spotlight soon to express their happiness at having a piece of British history for their own. Then we’ll know who to be envious of.
Image by aldenjewell via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: 007, Aston Martin DB5, car, James Bond, vehicle
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Village of the damned bollards
Parents of children in Plymouth are up in arms about a planned traffic-calming scheme near their children’s school.
This may seem odd – after all, what parent wouldn’t want better road safety exercised near their children – however, they had their reasons. Simply cast your eye over the photo and you may see eye to eye with adults who called these strange child-shaped bollards “pretty scary” - saying they were like “something out of Doctor Who”.
Another creeped-out parent said, "In the middle of the night you'll see these weird-looking things.”
However, we think that these little polyurethane pupils may be just the ticket for slowing down motorists.
The very fact that they are painted to look like children, and appear a little out of place along the pavement, is probably guaranteed to make drivers lighten their tread on the accelerator. Plus, as the bollard maker explained, “If you see a child next to the road there is a natural reaction to slow the vehicle down.”
Yes, they do cost £350 each and “they might frighten the children”, but really, we think they’re ideal.
The bollard makers remain rightfully “proud” of their creations and we secretly hope to see their eerie rows near schools all over UK very soon.
Image by SteveR- via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: accelerator, bollards, cars, pavement, traffic, vehicle
Friday, June 10, 2011
Clever cars
We are all familiar with the concept of our cars letting us know when there is a need for attention to the vehicle’s engine or electrical system, but what if cars could tell when something is wrong with the driver?
Ford Motors plans to give their cars “smarts”, which let the driver know if issues with allergies may be a problem, or if the car has detected the driver’s low glucose levels.
Ford recently announced plans to work with several health and medical companies to allow human health monitoring to take place within the car itself. The technology used is the Sync in-car information system which is the same technology that allows motorists to be aware of any issues under the hood of their vehicle, as well as the entertainment system, by way of a dashboard light or beeping noise.
Ford’s research manager stated this new technology could be an extremely valuable tool, in particular, for those with chronic illnesses as an aid to manage their time behind the wheel by monitoring their heart rate and other stress indicators.
Being made aware of these factors could help motorists to stay safe while they’re driving as they would be alerted to any health issues as they arise. For example, if they are insulin dependent the car could warn them that stopping to administer an insulin injection would be a good idea.
Personally we’re waiting for the car that indulges your whims.
“Driver, you appear to be hungry – why not have a burger and chips? The next available fast food restaurant is in two miles. Would you like to make this your next destination?”
“Yes, car, I do indeed.”
Image by brykmantra via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car, driver, Ford, vehicle