Articles by Antony Ingram

We've seen plenty of vehicle comparisons done as head-to-heads, but this time it's a back-to-back as a Land Rover Defender and a Dodge Ram pick-up battle for supremacy in a tug-of-war.The American-built Ram has more under the bonnet, with all the power and torque of a massive 5.9-litre V8 diesel engine to tackle the 2.5-litre diesel of the British Defender.However, the Land Rover has the advantages of an arsenal of down-and-dirty offroad kit: differential locks, permanent all-wheel drive, a manual gearbox and a more even distribution of weight across its axles.But perhaps more importantly, in this case it clearly has the benefit of better driver technique. There's no more clever way to win a tug of war than to let your opponent spin up their wheels first and lose all their traction advantage.Sadly, the reign of the Defender as we know it is coming to a close, with Land Rover recently announcing it will cease production in December 2015. Its successor is likely to appear a year or two later -- and we're pretty sure we'll see a tug-of-war rematch between the newcomer and rivals.See the Land Rover Defender vs Dodge Ram tug-of-war video here.www.motorauthority.com 

Polish company Manufacture RETRO might have the answer for your Lamborghini lust in their Unique Racing Desks collection. Yes, that's a bright orange, Lamborghini Murcielago desk you see--and while it won't handle quite as well as the real thing, nor make your computer any faster, it'll do a pretty good job of brightening up your office with its vivid orange hue. It isn't the first time we've seen car-themed furniture, but it's one of the more affordable options. Some people will spend $240,000 on a beautifully-engineered but ultimately static Bugatti desk, or $25,000 on an office chair made from a Ferrari seat. But to the casual observer, they do just look like a fancy metal desk and nicely-trimmed office chair. No risk of this with the Lamborghini desk, which is as in-your-face as the real thing. The best part is the price. Its US$7,800 tag is expensive for a piece of office equipment, admittedly, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than the aforementioned exotic furniture. And in the grander scheme of unrealistic purchases, it's much cheaper buying an actual Murcielago and a Lamborghini desk than it is a Bugatti Veyron and a Bugatti desk. In fact, who needs the real Lamborghini? Hook up your games console and a TV to the desk and pretend you're driving the real thing. Though we will warn you: Owning a Lamborghini desk and not having the car to go with it is just as bad as those people you see dressed head-to-toe in Ferrari gear stepping out of their Corolla... www.motorauthority.com  

Russian dash-cam footage may dominate the world of viral motoring videos, but the Middle East still wins when it comes to truly crazy car culture. Whether it's hypercars abandoned in the desert or rich Saudi Arabians posing with supercars and their pet tigers and lions (seriously, that's a thing now), the Internet is awash with very wealthy people doing very silly things. DON'T MISS: Crazy truck jump | video This young kid hooning a Ferrari 458 Italia around a dusty parking lot is the latest, and we're just as confused as you are. Who owns the Ferrari? How do two kids -- the one driving and the one holding the camera -- get access to such a thing? ALSO SEE: Watch a Jaguar XJ220 hoon around a farm | video Luckily, despite shouting what we assume is the Arabic for "watch this!", the kid manages to avoid destroying the 458 as he zips around the parking lot. Impressive age of the driver aside though, it's a bit of a disappointing video. Any true hoon would have turned off the traction control first... Watch video here.  

Mazda is the latest carmaker to showcase a new vehicle to vehicle communications system as its new Mazda 6-based test car begins trials in Japan.The Mazda Atenza ASV-5 -- Atenza being the Japanese-market name for the 6 sedan -- begins trials this month, utilizing an Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) telecommunications network. ITS aims to allow communication between vehicles, people and roads, helping to solve transport problems such as accidents, congestion and environmental impact.Mazda's contribution to ITS will make its debut at the 20th ITS World Congress in Tokyo this October, where a highlight of the car's technology will be communication with streetcar public transit systems. It's the first time ITS has linked passenger car and streetcar, but as cities all around the world turn to tram or similar light rail systems to reduce inner-city congestion and pollution, a transport system that allows them to safely share the roads with cars becomes even more important.The city of Hiroshima's streetcar system moves 150,000 people per day, significantly cutting down on potential traffic. The aim of communications between the tram system and vehicles is to reduce the potential for accidents, warning car and streetcar drivers if a collision is likely.In the short term, such technology could be incorporated into Mazda's recent i-ACTIVSENSE collision-avoidance and safety technology range, but longer-term such technology will be essential for allowing cities full of autonomous cars to run smoothly. The i-ACTIVSENSE suite of technologies includes things like adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning alert, and headlights that can switch from automatically between high and low beams, and is appearing first on the 2014 Mazda 3.www.motorauthority.com 

No, the little robots you're seeing aren't prototypes for EVE, the futuristic plant-finding robot in the Pixar movie WALL-E. They're actually all little Nissans, designed to develop technology for the firm's future autonomous vehicles, and the behaviour of each has been inspired by the way creatures like bees and fish travel in large groups.ALSO SEE:  Nissan promises autonomous car by 2020 Nissan calls the robot EPORO, and each uses laser range-finding technology, 180-degree vision (inspired by the compound eyes of a bumble bee) and a series of algorithms to help it navigate with other EPOROs - and people - in a confined space. Each of the six robots can communicate with the others and monitor each others' positions, allowing them to travel closely together, avoid collisions, follow nose-to-tail and travel side-by-side - just like a school of fish.While the EPORO robots fit neatly with Japan's love of all things 'kawaii' - and are treated almost as children by their creator, advanced engineering director Toru Futami - their long-term goal is much more serious. Lessons learned from how the robots interact with obstacles, each other and the world around them will be vital in developing Nissan's future autonomous vehicles. Getting small robots to zip around without bumping into things is the first step in getting cars to do the same.ALSO SEE:  Google may build its own self-driving carFutami believes it might even clear up the roads and reduce the need for signs and signals. "In current traffic laws, cars are supposed to drive within the lanes and come to a halt at stop signals, but if all cars were autonomous, the need for lanes and even signals could be gone," Futami says."A school of fish doesn't have lines to help guide the fishes, but they manage to swim extremely close to each other. So if cars can perform the same type of thing within a group and move accordingly, we should be able to have more cars operate with the same width roads. This would lead to more cars, but with less traffic congestion," he adds.ALSO SEE: Ford taps space robots for new car communication systemswww.motorauthority.com 

Honda is the latest automaker to explore the safety benefits of vehicle-to-vehicle anti-collision technology, demonstrating two new products that could make cars much safer to be around. The new Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) and Vehicle-to-Motorcycle (V2M) technology expand upon the concept of Car 2 Car communication -- allowing vehicles to share information about others' whereabouts even if they aren't in sight, helping prevent collisions before they have a chance to take place.Honda's V2P tech is based on Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology, which can detect pedestrians with a DSRC-enabled smartphone. Combining data from the smartphone's GPS and wireless technology between phone and car, the system can detect whether a pedestrian is at risk of being struck by a car. Taking the pedestrian's speed, direction and position into consideration, the system sends both an audio and a visual signal to both pedestrian and driver, alerting them to the situation.If this all sounds a little obvious -- picture a car driving down a road while a pedestrian is crossing, both in plain view -- Honda suggests it's at its most useful should a pedestrian be hidden behind a parked vehicle, or around a corner as a driver turns. The warnings also alert the pedestrian should their senses be compromised--by listening to music, for example.It's very similar to technology also being developed by General Motors, that uses Wi-Fi Direct signals to alert vehicles to a smartphone-carrying pedestrian potentially hidden from view. 13 per cent of the 33,000 traffic fatalities in the U.S. each year involve pedestrians--emphasising the technology's importance.The V2M system works on similar principles. Motorcycles, like pedestrians, have a high chance of being hidden by larger objects. As the system can monitor both the driver's and rider's positions, it can provide the driver of a warning should a motorcycle be hidden from view."While these are still experimental technologies," said Jim Keller, chief engineer for Honda R&D Americas, "they provide a strong indication of the future potential for the kinds of advanced collision sensing and predictive technologies Honda is developing to further reduce the potential for serious accidents, injuries and even fatalities."www.motorauthority.com 

Need For Speed games, like the Fast and Furious movies they mimicked for a few years in the mid-2000s, are a bit of a guilty pleasure. The crazy driving, running from the police and modifying your car is all a bit of a release after another stressful day. And the new game, Need For Speed Rivals, looks to be more than the same, in the latest trailers to hit from the Gamescom gaming and entertainment fair in Germany.Like some of the best Need For Speed titles, it's very much a cops'n'robbers title, outrunning the police in a series of supercars while winning races and completing challenges. The latest trailers show this to full effect, and it's already clear the latest game will offer stunning visuals and huge crash scenes.Lamborghini's uber-rare Veneno--which we now know will come in roadster guise too--features heavily in the Gamescom trailer, as do a range of other supercars and some serious-looking Dodge Charger police vehicles. They aren't the only police rides though--the trailer seems to suggest the presence of undercover cops in Ferrari FFs, too. Watch out for those guys...Co-operative and rival gameplay is expected, as is a "dynamic weather" system to make the game world feel that little bit more real and a little trickier when it starts raining mid-chase. As usual, it's all about the fun here--lots of crashes, huge sensation of speed, and a general emphasis on doing stuff you wouldn't be able to in real life. No Gran Turismo-style base model Corollas here...Coming to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in November, it'll also be a launch title for the two next-gen consoles, PlayStation 4 and the Xbox ONE. There, its biggest competition will probably be the recently-announced open-world racer 'The Crew'.www.motorauthority.com 

Lamborghini has a history of shock-and-awe supercars, but eyebrows still raised when it unveiled the Veneno concept at the Geneva Motor Show back in March. Here was a car devoid of any sanity whatsoever, with only three examples ever to be produced. Or so Lamborghini claimed.Following rumours a Veneno roadster would also be released, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann has now confirmed to Car and Driver that a drop-top Veneno will be produced -- each example costing around 3.3 million euros, or $4.9 million at today's exchange rates (in the unlikely event one could arrive here without the usual massive import taxes and duties).By Veneno standards, the roadster will be positively common -- a whole nine units, to the hard-top's three. The Aventador-derived 552-kW powertrain will remain unchanged, and one assumes so too will the styling -- save for the necessity of a removable roof.Performance is likely to be similar to the closed-roof car too, meaning a 354km/h top speed. While roadsters typically weigh more than their tin-top cousins, heavy use of carbon fiber elements should keep the Veneno roadster's weight well below that of the "regular" Aventador.Rumors of a Veneno roadster circulated last month, after several loyal Lamborghini owners were contacted by dealers to gauge interest in such a model. In the rarefied world of hypercar ownership, we'd not be surprised to learn some of those contacted already count the hard-top Veneno among their collection...For everyone else, you'd better hope those owners are suitably extroverted to bring their cars to shows -- as the production Veneno roadster may never be officially shown to the public.We'll just have to wait for the next crazy Lamborghini. Winkelmann recently told us that Lamborghini will "always the will to build dream cars with technology which is equal to innovation and stunning design." Veneno Roadster, Egoiste... there's plenty more to come from Sant'Agata.www.motorauthority.com 

Games have professed to offer open-world layouts before, but short of flight simulators few games have offered the entirety of the United States to explore. That's exactly what Ubisoft's new racing title The Crew offers though, set to launch on next-generation games consoles and putting the cities, countryside and mountains of the US at your disposal. Well, the US if much of the Midwest didn't exist and the Rockies occupied most of the country areas...Iffy geography aside, The Crew offers a vast playing world, replicating the feel of several big US cities as well as the roads that connect them and rivers that separate them. The emphasis is on building a community over those vast distances, so players can dip into their friends' races and join them for a drive at any time they wish--wherever they are. If you want, you can even complete the whole game cooperatively with a friend, teaming up to beat AI or real-world opponents in street races, cross-country jaunts and rallies.Cars can be tuned to meet any of these criteria and more. If your Camaro is lacking a little off-road ability, this can easily be fixed -- some big wheels, an all-wheel-drive system and underbody protection and you're ready to go. Players can also create their own racing challenges, or simply ignore the game's objectives and explore the country.Just a handful of cars have been revealed so far, with the usual fare of Mustangs, Camaros and Skyline GT-Rs, but a full roster is sure to emerge over the coming months. Major cities in the game include Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Santa Fe, Dallas, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, Washington D.C, New York and Miami--but other towns are visible in the video and the game is touting nearly 10,000 kilometres of roads to explore.A host of missions will be available and players will have skills to learn too, helping you race better and improve your technique on the game's varied roads and surfaces. The Crew has a tentative late February 2014 release date, and will be available for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox ONE.www.motorauthority.com 

If you like the cultured growl of a Jaguar XK or the fierce snarl of the new XFR-S, you'd best enjoy it while you can.