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Archive

Archive for 'On Launch'

Volvo V60: press conference howlers

Dan Trent writes:Ah, the car launch press conference. At its best a chance for clued-up execs to offer the nuggets of information above and beyond the how much/how fast/how green facts and figures supplied in the press pack. At its worst a pointless half-hour recitation of the above, delivered via an interpreter and delaying […]

Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG: driving the Red Pigs

cj hubbard writes:
Very occasionally a car manufacturer will use a launch to make a motoring journalist’s dreams come true.

The car in the foreground there is the Red Pig – a 6.8-litre, 420hp AMG racing version of the Mercedes 300 SEL. The original placed second in its debut outing at the 24 Hours of Spa in […]

Ocelot on film

Dan Trent writes:If you’ve seen our story on the Ocelot armoured patrol vehicle and thought it looked cool wait til you see it in action! Handily I had my video camera with me when I drove it around the Millbrook off-road test track - check out the footage here:       And while you’re at it […]

Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG: you can’t crash this*

cj hubbard writes:
Errr, what’s this then?

No your eyes do not deceive you, it is indeed a Mercedes ML with a big bunch of something bolted to the side. And in the background, yes, that is a gyrocopter (sadly irrelevant, but interesting none-the-less).

The big bunch of something is effectively a car-sized crash mat, decorated with the […]

Tree-hugger to military mud plugger in one move

Dan Trent writes:Well, that was an unusual combination of cars for one day out of the office for sure. First up an early start to go to Nissan’s Cranfield technology centre to drive the electric Nissan Leaf. And the bizarre feeling of driving an ostensibly ordinary looking hatchback on the public road that was in […]

Ferrari says ‘ciao!’, Ginetta says ‘hey up!’

Dan Trent writes:I am of course biased, being from Yorkshire and all. But I always feel a surge of pride hanging out with the folk from Ginetta. Because any pit garage they inhabit is like a little province of god’s own county. And it can’t be too often you’ll be in the pitlane at […]

Back on track in the Ginetta G40

Dan Trent writes:I seem to have been at Silverstone a lot lately but this time it was to drive and another opportunity to sample the Ginetta G40, this time in roadgoing spec. A more in-depth test will follow but the car now has - shock! - interior trim, a more road-oriented gearbox and, well, […]

Abarth 500C and a world of spooky coincidences

 
Pic: Michael Ward/Fiat
Dan Trent writes:
The pic above? That’s me today at Teeside Autodrome in an Abarth 500C. And the pic below? That’s an 18-year-old me in a Vauxhall Astra rally car, many moons ago.

The connection? Well, as we’ve already established, this Fiat launch has got me back on home turf. And one of […]

Abarth Punto Evo benefits from local knowledge

Dan Trent writes:
Car launches are usually held in glamorous locations in far-flung lands. Well, Spain. Not the Abarth Punto Evo. Event HQ for this launch happened to be the Yorkshire town of Helmsley. Which, for most people, probably is as far flung and exotic as Marbella. But Helmsley just happens to be down the road […]

Fiat 500 TwinAir: the green, green grass of technological innovation

cj hubbard writes:
Final post about the Fiat 500 TwinAir launch, I promise. But Fiat sure does know how to pick a location in Italy.

The outside of the place was spectacular enough, what with the Valentino Park being the location of the Torino Grand Prix, which ran from 1935 to 1955 (war years excepted, presumably), but […]