We woke this morning to shocking news from America that the star of the Fast and Furious Series, Paul walker, had died. On Saturday afternoon Los Angeles Sherriff’s attended a call out to a burning car in the community of Valencia. A Porsche Carrera GT had lost control and crashed into a lamppost bursting into flames. Both the driver and the passenger were killed and pronounced dead at the scene, Walker was the passenger. Paul Walker died age 40.
The talented actor shot to fame when he took the lead role in the street racing franchise “The Fast and The Furious.” Paul was actually on route to a charity event when the accident occurred, amplifying his friend’s comments of what a nice guy he was. Co-star Vin Diesel has said “Brother I will miss you very much. I am absolutely speechless.” I think that sums up what the rest of us are thinking.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK has become a motoring mecca over the past 20 years. The hill climb event plays host to some of the finest machines to ever touch tarmac and this year accumulated an even more star studded attendance with the likes of the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spider and Alfa Romeo 4C all making their first dynamic debuts. The Italdesign Giugiaro Parcour was another, but fate had other ideas for this one-off supercar.
The Parcour Concept could be argued to be the ultimate go anywhere supercar as within its rugged “Baja” inspired exterior sits the 550HP V10 beating heart of a Lamborghini Gallardo. Whilst romping its way up the hill, the only existing Parcour developed some oversteer, spun, and ended up sliding off of the track and into a barrier. Luckily nobody was hurt but the car itself looks to be in bad shape.
We shed a tear when an exotic ends up like a crumpled beer can, but even more so when it is this rare.
Goodwood. For some, the name ‘Goodwood’ is simply a place in West Sussex where, occasionally, some motor cars rumble around a circuit or up a hill, some planes land in a field, or horses run the length of a course whilst being watched by thousands of people in funny hats.
For most, though, Goodwood is a name synonymous with motorsport legends, both cars and drivers, but more recently a place where you can see new cars being thrashed, priceless racers being driven the way they were built to be driven, and current F1 drivers and cars mingling with the heroes of motorsport’s past.
The 2013 Festival of Speed was, like the nineteen festivals before it, packed with debuts, famous faces, and a hilarious number of anniversaries.
Firstly, let’s start with the anniversaries. This year marks the twentieth Festival of Speed, and as such there was a special ‘Twentieth Anniversary Parade’ to mark the occasion. As well as a celebration of Goodwood, there were a further nine big celebrations, including 50 years of the Porsche 911, 90 years of Le Mans, McLaren’s 50th birthday, 60 years of Lamborghini and 40 years of the World Rally Championship.
There was also a silly number of legendary drivers – not only did Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and a few other current F1 drivers take to the hill, but legends like Sir Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart and Nelson Piquet.
Le Mans was also well represented, with recent winner Allan McNish driving his Audi R18 e-tron Quattro for the last time before it will be placed in a museum, alongside other Le Mans drivers Anthony Davidson, Bruno Senna and Alex Wurz.
Another special guest was one Nick Heidfeld, who set the Festival hill climb record back in 1999 with his McLaren MP4/13. While he was driving the car again this year, he didn’t go for the record (the best time in the ‘Timed Shoot-Out’ this year was set by Justin Law in a Jaguar XJR8/9 with a time of 45.95 seconds).
The biggest attraction for many, though, is the supercar parade. All the latest supercars took to the hill twice a day. World debuts for the festival included the McLaren P1, Alfa Romeo 4C, Rolls Royce Wraith, Vuhl 05 and the Bertone Jet 2+2.
There were, however, a few incidents. Not only did Derek Bell’s Le Mans winning Porsche 962 lock up into Molecombe, crashing into the hay bales, but a Guigiaro Parcour concept hit the hay, as well as Ayrton Senna’s 1986 Lotus 98T F1 car lost its front end too.
Away from the hill, manufacturers and exhibitors showed off their latest cars and products, and, of course, Goodwood wouldn’t be Goodwood without a central feature outside Goodwood House, which this year celebrated 50 years of the Porsche 911.
While no one knows what’ll be on display next year, what debuts will be made or who’ll be blasting up the hill, it’s fact that every year seems to get better and better. Tickets for next year aren’t on sale yet, but when they are, be sure to snap up a few and come along!
The 2013 Le Mans 24 Hour has concluded bringing the world of motorsport its 90th instalment of the worlds most famous race. The titanic battle between top dogs Audi and Toyota did not disappoint as from the moment the lights turned green, on a track with changing conditions, they held nothing back. Whilst Toyota looked to have the potential to snatch victory from the dominant Audi team, it was car number 2 piloted by Kristensen, Duval and McNish that took overall victory. Toyota number 8 took 2nd with a particularly valiant drive from Anthony Davidson and his team. The final podium position belongs to the number 3 Audi. The Morgan-Nissan took the crown for the LMP2 class and Porsche took a triumphant victory in GTE Pro on their 50th anniversary of the 911. GTE-AM was won by the IMSA Porsche 911 RSR.
However the cruelest reminder of how dangerous motorsport is came within the first 10 minutes of the 2013 race. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage of Allan Simonsen collided with a barrier at speed, an incident that resulted in the death of a rising star in racing. It is not yet know what caused the accident. Aston Martin were about to withdraw their 4 remaining cars from the race out of respect, but Allan’s family insisted that he would have wanted the team to continue.
Our thoughts and condolences are with Allan Simonsen’s friends and family. He died aged just 34 and leaves behind a wife and baby daughter. To his daughter I would like to leave this message. “Your father passed away doing what he loved, I hope that one day that his determination and passion gives you strength in whatever you do.”
Cars are indeed costly items to behold. Be it their initial purchase price, maintenance, tax, fuel .etc The biggest cost, however, can come in the form of an unfortunate accident that leaves your pride and joy worse for wear. Then again that is what we pay our insurance premiums for and famed comedian Rowan Atkinson is thanking his luck stars that he did.
Mr Atkinson is a well documented “petrol head” and is very proud of using his McLaren F1 as a day to day car. He often speaks of how he hates people who buy such machines and never use them. Last year, whilst out driving, Rowan hit a slippery patch of road that sent his McLaren off and into a tree. The accident cleaved the rear end of the car clean off taking the engine block with it. He has just got the car back from spending a year in McLaren’s repair shop and his insurers have just paid out £910,000 for the work that was carried out. This is the biggest insurance claim in the UK by some margin.
The weather in the UK has taken a turn for the worse over the past few weeks. Bitterly cold winds, heavy snow and now widespread flooding are having a detrimental effect on driving conditions. Many cars have suffered as a result, some even to the point of being written off, but today comes news of one of the worst calamities to take place on British roads.
An Aston Martin DB5 has been drowned by floodwaters in Longcot. Valued at £300,000 the James Bond star plunged into water two feet deep after the driver reportedly ignored floodwater signs. We all know the damage high volumes of water can do to a modern car, let alone a classic. The value of DB5’s have steadily risen over the decades and with only 1,023 ever produced, they aren’t going to become any cheaper.
Powered by a 4 litre engine with 282BHP, the Aston Martin DB5 could hit speeds of 145MPH back in 1963.
Today didn’t start all that well and so long before the topic of this rant arose I was not in the mood to tolerate anyone. Keeping it brief in a bid not to turn Inside Lane into some sort of agony aunt, I was a bit down in the dumps as a good friend moved away today. “That’s life” I told myself as I brushed my teeth this morning. So I carried on with my day that involved me photographing a car for an up and coming review. Just as I was turning the car around to head off to the chosen location, some tit in an Audi TT very nearly ploughed into the side of our test car! He clearly wasn’t paying attention to the road or else he would have seen there was a bloody car stationary in the middle of it! I also have my suspicions about his speed, but these things happen from time to time and so I continued on with my life.
Not 10 minutes later my progress was halted by a pensioner in a Nissan Micra doing 15MPH, maybe less, in a 30. WHY IS IT ALWAYS A SODDING MICRA!!! Whenever you just want to progress with your daily tasks, you can almost guarantee it will be a slightly confused and dubious old lady in her Nissan shit-box causing a traffic jam because she has left her glasses at home. I don’t mean to generalize all old people there, just the ones who drive Nissan Micras. On my return trip I encountered a bus that pulled out of its stop with no indication, a man in a Rover that exited a roundabout with a sudden change of the wind direction, and a young woman who was far too busy styling her hair to realize she was drifting out of her lane.
Call it a bad day, but you know as well as I do that these occurrences are far from abnormal. I for one have had enough of people who cant drive properly. Yes, people make mistakes whilst driving, but it is every bloody time my tyres touch tarmac I find yet another pillock tearing about in a lowered Citroen Saxo just waiting for a encounter with a rather large tree. I wish I had a button I could push to delete these people from the road. If you think about it I would be proving a public service. Fewer idiotic drivers on the road, fewer accidents. Less cars on the road, less congestion. No “go-slow” Micra in residential areas, no huge rant on Inside Lane…
In these times of credit and crunch we are all looking to tighten our belts. Save a few bob here, claim a few pounds back their. Running a car today is a costly business and again, this is something we want to save money where we can. However, cutting corners in some elements of motoring can be much more hazardous than first thought. We received a press release from TyreSafe that we thought you should read.
“Keith Johnston, 41 from Tyne and Wear suffered terrible life-changing injuries in the smash earlier this year and is now permanently paralysed from the top of his chest down, only able to move his arms and neck.”
“All of the tyres on the car had recently been purchased in a part-worn condition and a police investigation blamed them as a major contributory factor in the accident. The front pair had only been recently fitted but the rear tyres were found to have an illegal tread depth even though they had only been on the car for a couple of months. Keith had always bought part worn tyres and replaced them every few months, unaware of the safety risks associated with buying used tyres.”
“TyreSafe, the UK’s leading tyre safety organisation, recently revealed the alarming findings of an ongoing investigation it carried out with Auto Express magazine into part worn tyres. Having bought 50 part worn tyres, the tyres were inspected by an independent tyre expert who found that 98 per cent of the tyres were being sold illegally. However, perhaps more concerning was that over a third of the tyres were found to contain other potentially dangerous forms of damage or non-compliance with part worn tyre legislation.”
Motorsport is dangerous. I am simply repeating what it says on the back of every event ticket. It is an adrenaline sport where the brave and the skilled gather to battle it out for our entertainment and their pride. The testosterone fuelled environment is one of awe but also of extreme competition, these men strap themselves into the cockpit knowing the risks better than anyone. Today it is my sad duty to tell you that motorsport has claimed another life, Dan Wheldon.
The British born IndyCar racer was competing in the final race of the season in Las Vegas yesterday when a 15 car pile-up occurred. Many cars burst into flames as they tumbled through the air at high speed. Other drivers were injured but it was Dan who paid the ultimate price for doing what he loved. A previous Indy 500 champion, this man was chasing a $5,000,000 challenge to start from the back of the grid and win the race. Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton have both paid their respects to a “great guy.”
It is very sad news but that is motorsport. It is exciting because it is dangerous and I am sure Mr Wheldon wouldn’t have had it any other way. The race was red flagged for two hours and then cancelled in his memory.
Another one bites the dust… This is unfortunate lyric to accompany this Ferrari Enzo’s off-road experience. After loosing control both car and driver demolished a small fence and dropped into a lake. The car had to be fished out in a rather sorry state. We all know that Italian V12’s aren’t so keen when it comes to bath time. The driver hopes to have the Enzo repaired and competing some time soon.
