Fun Stuff

Ken Block's two Gymkhana practice videos have set the bar for four-wheeled video entertainment.

Paignton Ice Skating for Cars - The Original

Actually, they will be hearing from Lowndes as he takes a new career direction that will expand his family following way beyond his own children Chilli and Levi.Lowndes is the newest cast member for the hit children's series, Roary The Racing Car.  He voices the newest character, Conrod, in three episodes that will screen on the ABC from the end of this month. And he is hopeful of a bigger role if Conrod is popular with youngsters in the 100-plus countries where the show is played."This is fantastic. It's something very different for me," says Lowndes.  "Conrod is an Australian racing driver who heads to Silverhatch to visit some friends. Then he has a few races."He's a nice guy. Everyone accepts him except Roary, but in the end they become friends. He is very competitive and loves to win."  So, just like Lowndes, then?  "Yeah, pretty much. Actually, he's so much like me it's unbelievable," Lowndes laughs.The idea for Conrod was hatched last year at the Australian Grand Prix, when the Roary producers were looking for an Australia character.  "Luckily I did pretty well that weekend and they saw me up on the podium. It started from that."Lowndes had a test chat for the team and was signed for his guest- starring role, which was recorded in Queensland on a special link to London.  "They had someone there reading my part and then I had to fill in. It was a bit of a learning curve for me, that's for sure," he says."They knew what they wanted, and wanted an ocker style which is not really me. But we got it right and did it in one day."  Roary is a pre-schooler series with animated cars as the characters, a bit like Thomas the Tank Engine. It's already into its second series and 80-something Sir Stirling Moss, possibly the world's most famous racing driver, is the narrator.Conrod is an Aussie muscle car, although there is no way to decide if he is a Ford or Holden. For Lowndes, who recently backflipped from a  Ford Falcon to a Holden Commodore for the 2010 V8 Supercar series, that's good."He looks tough. Almost like a drag racing car. The engine is hanging out of the bonnet and he's big and bold.  Is he a Ford or Holden? Well, there is a round emblem on his nose."Lowndes comes to Roary as a confirmed fan of The Wiggles, and admits he once had Captain Feathersword — one of the Wiggles characters — as his hero.  "Not now, it has to be Conrod. I had heard of Roary and now it's personal," he says.Lowndes is hoping the three episodes are a hit, not just in Australia, to keep him in the show.  "This character is me. And not just my voice. I'm hoping if it works well then we'll be doing more."Conrod stars in three episodes of Roary the Racing Car which screen on the ABC on January 29, February 1 and 2.

It's not a car, it's a rose, and it was bred to celebrate the arrival of the new green machine.Work on the rose began years ago, with professional breeder Tom Carruth briefed on everything from colours to the need for a sturdy plant suited to Australian conditions.It's no surprise that the hybrid rose has long white buds that open to a red interior - copying Toyota's red-and-white corporate colours - or that it is quick to flower after it has been dead-headed.The first 150 plants were given away to special guests at the hybrid Camry — the car, not the rose — preview last week and it will supplied through Swane's Nurseries Australia.Follow Paul Gover on Twitter!

It will also challenge your skills against the car's autonomous drive systems. Its designers say the concept will actually teach a beginner to drive or challenge the experienced driver to improve their skills. Getting started is easy.Drivers can enter their destination into the navigation application on a smart phone and the car takes care of the rest. It will let you ‘play along’ and try to match the skill level of the system. As you become more proficient, the Car Hero ‘unlocks’ vehicle controls to the point where the autonomous system is overridden and the driver is in complete control.This is where things start to get interesting. As the Car Hero gamer demonstrates skill and mastery, the car's ‘transmorphable’ architecture turns up the intensity by creating a more challenging driving experience.Car Hero's configuration will reward a driver's increasing skills by gradually changing from a four seater, to three seats and then the ultimate challenge, a single-wheeler. Car Hero also has peer-to-peer applications like ‘friends drive’ where anyone can come along for a digital joyride.GM likens the experience to having a Twitter with wheels. For those bored and stuck in peak hour traffic, ‘fantasy drive’ gives the driver access to insane environments such as running with the bulls in Pamplona or taking on ace US rally driver Ken Block in a drifting contest.

However, they will still be cash poor and that's where the eco-friendly Toyota Link comes in. The Link is an affordable customised, mass transit vehicle for students with high social networking demands. With little-to-no disposable income, students will be able to pick up a Link via various inter-connected transport Hubs.Once on board, the Link seamlessly links on to a transportation social network, allowing connections with other drivers to share the commute, trade music, or compare diaries. Made with Toyota's newly patented electro-fibre technology, the designers see different in-car applications.Drivers will be able to download applications like the ‘Link Skinz’ to digitally transform the car's shape into a personalised exterior design. In place of traditional wheels, the Link drives on spheres made of an electro-conductive material. This converts friction into energy and recharges the on-board batteries.

The Malaysian beauty, best known for her role in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' is a safety ambassador for the FIA and is helping build bridges as the motoring organisation pressures governments to improve safety.The FIA says road crashes are a growing epidemic that will become the number one killer of children aged 5-14 by 2015.  It has just finished lobbying in Moscow at the first global government summit on road safety, urging ministers to join its Make Roads Safe and Decade of Action efforts.The goal of the Decade of Action is for governments to collectively commit to a 50 per cent cut in the forecast leave of road deaths in 2010. That means a reduction from 1.9 million to less than one million.The FIA has a 10-point safety plan including political commitment, infrastructure development, and sustained commitment to road safety.  “Five million lives are at stake in the coming decade," says the new FIA president, Jean Todt."We know what needs to be done to save these lives.  The international community must demonstrate their political will to succeed.  For further information and to support the campaign visit www.makeroadssafe.org

The Trax STi: car, tank or snowmobile?  US Subaru rally driver and general all-round mentalist Ken Block is back, this time with what is possibly the ultimate snow vehicle - a very much winter-ready WRX STi.It's called the Trax STi and it started life as one of Block's open-class WRX STi rally machines, but with the power of the 2.5-litre turbocharged boxer motor tweaked to 400bhp courtesy of a tweaked Motec ECU. The suspension also got treated to Group N-spec dampers. Oh, and the wheels and tyres were replaced cat tracks..."The Trax STi is a very fun project for me," says Block. "It combines two of my favourite things in life: driving a rally car in the snow and snowboarding in the powder in the backcountry. Having a house in Utah, I get to enjoy lots of sliding around on the snow, but this project takes that to a whole new level as I can now hit up the backcountry in the fastest snow cat ever."The result, as you'll be able to see by clicking on the video below, is pretty special. We particularly like the snowy drift around 30 seconds in where Block is playing with understeer and oversteer almost simultaneously...

This year's "world on wheels" is packed with new models, supercars, concept cars, classic cars and interactive exhibits.