Adventure Reviews

And in that time, the world’s most expensive supercars have been sorted around their track, along with a few reasonably priced ones.That history offers a solid baseline comparison, but who can keep all the lap times and conditions in their head? Nobody, except perhaps that thick-spectacled geek poring over a scientific calculator on the 7.15 bus.But now you can keep all the info on your wall, thanks to the clever lot over at Boostlabs.com. They’ve amalgamated 10 years of lap times and other crucial Top Gear data into a stunning infographic chart that can be downloaded and printed.It’s also a very, very large chart: measuring 250cm tall by 60cm wide – even taller and wider than a latter-day Clarkson, in fact. The chart is available from their website (see link below) and promises at-a-glance data to solve any pub argument about the Top Gear results.Boost Labs have analysed and organised all the data, developing it into an easily understandable – and damn fine looking – infographic.The data crunching has produced some winners in the eyes of Boost Labs, who have added trophies for Lightest Car, Fastest Lap, Most Power, Most Affordable Speed, Hungriest Car, Best Gymnast, Longest Power Lap Leader, and Most Random.There’s some extra background on the track itself and of course the legion of mysterious test drivers whose name is The Stig.Download the infographic at http://www.boostlabs.com/portfolio-item/topgear-infographic/

The only thing this remote control model car Transformer doesn't do -- yet -- is pour a drink like Honda's Asimo. That doesn't bother us at all, because the old-school charm of this Transformers robot is enough by itself.Japanese designer Kenji Ishida worked with JS Robotics (and likely with leading tech-head Jin Sato) on the 'Brave Robot' Transformer, which has a system of 22 motors under a plastic exoskeleton.The result are version 8, which was presented at the Science Square Tsukuba robotics exhibit in Japan. At the time it was obviously suggested a version 9 was on the way.JS Robotics is famed for its insectoid bug robots, but the hint of a next generation Brave Robot Transformer means they might be looking in a different direction and could have something in production by the end of the year. It's quite a while until Christmas, but we're putting this on our list.

The recent Federal Budget completely failed to look at the "Luxury" Car Tax despite the impost deperately needing an overhaul.Many consider the LCT an inappropriate imposition on vehicle purchases that should be removed or, at the very least, the $57,466 threshold should be doubled.Many vehicles in this price range are family vehicles (eg. Toyota's Prado GXL) featuring important safety technologies.The generally held perception of a luxury is an indulgence which is exclusively available to the rich and famous, for example, a private jet or helicopter, yachts, jewellery, or works of art, and yet, these extravagances are not subjected to an additional tax.In the case of the LCT, many carmakers -- and car buyers -- would argue that the tax is more accurately a tax on safety than on luxury, and penalises people who want a safe vehicle for their family.They see it as unfair. And they're right. 

What mum wants is a magic car. A car that will do everything that mums need to do. And that means some features that car designers haven’t really tackled yet.How about a cone of silence built into the driver’s seat so she could set up a buffer zone from arguing kids?Perhaps automatic pilot, so between work, picking up kids from school, preparing for that 5pm meeting and getting dinner together, she could take a five minute snooze?For the young mother, perhaps a nappy change station in back. And the mum with teenagers would applaud a passenger ejector seat – for the next time her ‘too cool for school’ teen begs to be dropped off around the corner to spare them the, ‘embarrassment,’ mum can fulfil the demand at the touch of a launch button.For the multiple roles in every mum’s life, maybe an interchangeable boot would suit best.  Your standard Mum Boot would carry all the essentials for carting kids about. With kids dropped at their respective destinations, mum can swap out for the Sports Boot, for those rare moments when she gets enough time to hit the gym, take the bike on the trails or splash in the surf.For those almost mythical free evenings, the Glamour Boot is perfect for a night on the town, complete with a cleaning service that will remove all traces of kids (i.e. scattered cheerios, toys, and wrappers) before mum leaves to pick up her friends.Or maybe the Dream On Boot. A wonderful, magic boot that takes care of all the chores, organising, cooking, cleaning -- and allows mum to do what her family thinks she does all day, sit around watching TV and eating those chocolates. 

What a crock — yet another petrol price enquiry — presumably to give a pack of useless Canberra bureaucrats a leg-up while they have nothing to do, instead of spending all their waking hours deciding who to invite to their wife/husband swapping fondue party on Saturday night.Who are these people and what do they expect the public to think of them? In my opinion, they're all talk and no action — "paper tigers'' as Chairman Mao once coined.On past performances the "inquiry'' certainly won't have any effect on the rampant oil companies (another bunch of despicable people) who have this market by the short and curlies to the point where they can get away with just about anything short of kidnapping and armed robbery.What we need is what one far-sighted oil company flack suggested —  a witch hunt to burn all the aberrant oil company crooks at the stake. Use their own petrol on them. That would make them toe the line and hopefully free us financially challenged punters from the tyranny of the black slime.

How exciting to see Victoria Beckham unveiling the special edition Range Rover Evoque, which she helped design.Land Rover chief designer Gerry McGovern was at pains in Beijing to point out that he actually designed the car. Posh contributed ideas on how a special exterior and interior trim might look. Super-talented and immaculately dressed Gerry, himself no shrinking violet in the ego stakes, said that when it comes to cars, Posh ‘reports to me’.My spies tell me that what was at the heart of the chippiness was a row over darkened glass. Victoria wanted it. Gerry didn’t. That may go some way to explaining his comments such as: ‘She’d be the first to admit she’s not a car designer.She’s a fashion designer. Victoria has brought something to it, which is quite unique. She very soon became part of the team. But if I didn’t like something, it was not going anywhere.‘But we had a great belief that we were doing something that would give credibility to the Range Rover brand. ‘She’s a real precision merchant. She is incredibly uncompromising.’ So there! 

The CEO of a bank in the US has announced that it will be offering an account that gives customers a brand new Mercedes-Benz as pre-paid interest.Trevor Burgess heads up the Community Bank, which is changing its name to C1 Bank on May 1, and has come up with the car stunt to help promote the new branding.The catch – and isn’t there always one – is that the account is a five-year term deposit of $1,000,000.And if you’ve got the juice to have that kind of money lying idle for half a decade, we wonder whether you actually need another Mercedes.The cars on offer are the 2012 SLK350 Roadster, 2012 E350 Sedan, 2012 ML350 SUV, and 2012 E350 Convertible."C1 Bank is offering its clients the ability to drive off in their own brand new Mercedes-Benz just for moving their money to C1 Bank.  In this interest rate environment where the five year CD has an APY of 1.20% it is thrilling to change the game with the instant gratification of a spectacular Mercedes-Benz that our client will own including tax, title, and license."No doubt. There is about a kilometre of terms and conditions attached to the deal of course. But it sounds like a reasonable deal if you want a (slightly) cheaper Merc.The pre-calculated interest in advance amount $61,294.00 can only be used towards the purchase of one of four specific Mercedes-Benz vehicle models. with a MSRP of $59,585.00 and includes $3,488.34 sales tax, $687.70 delivery fee, $2.50 Florida Lemon Law fee, $6.50 Florida tire and battery fee, $500.00 registration/tag and $24.00 electronic filing fee with a total purchase price, net of $3,000.00 discount, of $61,294.04. Client will be responsible for any other fees or charges incurred in connection with purchase.But the most interesting condition is that the offer is limited to two (2) Mercedes-Benzes per household.  Meaning they think that somewhere in the US there is a household with a very lazy $2 million possibly stuffed into the mattress. 

Thinner and skinnier than a normal tyre, space-savers were first produced for sports cars but are now used to save money and weight and provide a bigger boot in everything from light cars to full-sized SUVs. Most new cars now have a space-saver, including Commodores and Falcons. Some have no spare and rely on an inflation kit or run-flat tyres. Car companies argue that with modern tyre technology and better roads, punctures a flat tyre is rare.Most people can't remember when they last had a puncture. But consider this. It is just before Easter, night is falling and a piece of wood spears through the sidewall and ruins the front tyre of your European four-wheel drive. Fortunately there is a safe level place to pull up. After unpacking the boot (luckily it is not raining and you have a torch), you lift the rear hatch to find a deflated space-saver with an inflation kit. You check the manual and after scrolling through 13 pages in four sections to find how to remove the caps on the wheel nuts then replace the tyre and inflate the space-saver, you are by now more than a little tired and grumpy. But at least your main problem is resolved. No it's not.You re-pack the car only to find there is no room for the punctured tyre. So you hide it in the scrub and book a room to stay the night. After a restless night, you retrieve the hidden wheel and find a tyre retailer for a replacement tyre. "Sorry mate, we don't stock that type of tyre, but we could get one in sometime after Easter.'' But there is hope. The tyre bloke does another ring around and finds the right sized tyre, a 255/55R18, but a different brand and 60km away. So it's off up the road at the 80km/h speed limit of the space saver. You eventually stop pulling over to let the queue past for fear of puncturing the space saver as well. A couple of hours later you are back on the road, the $404 new tyre now on the rear axle where it will stay until an original equipment tyre can be fitted to legally match the other three. Needless to say, you ignore the manual's advice to "wait a few hours before placing the collapsible spare in the wheel well'', before re-packing the luggage and resuming your holiday.On the bright side, at least you were on a main highway and not somewhere off the beaten track. So, if your next new car has a space-saver, check the tyres fitted are readily available and familiarise yourself with the wheel-changing procedure, especially if an inflation kit is involved.weeklytimesnow

Think the modern steering wheel is getting complex? Take a look at the wheel in an F1 car.This is about much more than just steering, it's the link between the driver and a host of functions, adjustments and communications.McLaren has just unveiled this hi-tech wonder in their 2011 racers, and while the teams are notoriously secretive about their car. However Mercedes AMG Petronas has unleashed pet race driver Michael Schumacher to explain the workings of their F1 steering wheel.And this is more than ‘just a steering wheel’ to the team. It’s “the driver's primary interface with his car” Mercedes AMG Petronas says. “Apart from the obvious use of steering the car around the circuit, the wheel is a complex and highly technical piece of equipment which gives the driver the information that he needs to drive the car, and the facility to tune the car for various situations as they arise out on track.”

I spend a lot of time behind the wheel and appreciate the information that’s provided by various signs along the way. Signs that generally make sense. Some are about driving and safety: Stop means just that, same with Give Way and Keep Left Unless Overtaking is used to aid traffic flow (though it must be admitted this one seems to confuse a huge number of drivers).The sign saying Slow Vehicles Keep Left results in the interesting discovery that there are no slow vehicles on our roads. Though that’s partly caused by drivers in the right lane who are often too rude to let slower drivers back into the traffic flow if they have done the right thing and kept to the left.Tourist information signs are my favourite - the ‘i’ signs point the way to guide boards that provide invaluable information on the area being approached. “Vacancy” is most welcome late in the day when you’re touring in an unknown area and starting to get nervous about not finding a bed. “Maccas - 5 minutes” means the eagle-eyed grandkids immediately set up a racket from the back seat…All is good and even if the signs are mere advertising ones they help to break the monotony on long journeys.But some signs are a mystery. “Falling Rocks Do Not Stop” is a weird one. It suggests that stopping causes rocks to fall, which seems unlikely. Perhaps it means that falling rocks themselves don’t stop. Or does it tell you that if you see a fallen rock in front of your car you have to swerve around it instead of stopping - even when there’s another vehicle coming towards you?If fallen rocks are blocking the road then the sign has told you not to stop, so you must drive into them. The mind boggles.“Local Traffic Uses This Road” is obviously a sign erected by a recent graduate from the School of the Bleeding Obvious. Though having come across the occasional local dithering along as though the road belongs to them and no one else perhaps there’s some justification in this one.“Maximum Clearance” and its close cousin, “Maximum Headroom” - the latter often abbreviated to “Max Headroom”, which once resulted in an electronic character called Max Headroom in a TV series back in the mid ‘80s - is a real mystery to me.If I’m driving a tall vehicle into an underground carpark I’m not the least bit interested in what the maximum headroom is. What is vitally important to me - and the roof of the vehicle - is the minimum clearance, not the maximum.Look up in any basement carpark and you will see the maximum headroom is often in the vicinity of five metres, sometimes considerably more. So the typical high-roofed 4WD, which is likely to be about 2.1 metres tall, will have plenty of room above it.Beneath the five-metre or more clearance you will see supporting beams, lights, pipes, sprinkler heads and all sorts of things that will do nasty things to the roof of the a high vehicle.What the sign designers are trying to say is, of course, Maximum Height, not Maximum Clearance. But a simple Minimum Headroom or Minimum Clearance would also do the job.Any other signs that take your fancy and cause a giggle or a shake of the head? Drop me a line, and a picture as well if you have time to grab one, and I might do an Opinion piece called Weird Signs 2.