Last year we had a number of European Road trips, with our main one being our trip around Italy following the route of the Mille Miglia race and you can catch up on that trip here. It was a stunning journey and we enjoyed every minute of it. Later in the year we had a smaller road trip which involved holidaying in Port Cogolin in the South of France and then driving to Venice to spend three nights in that most wonderful of cities. This year then we have planned a trip that will combine a bit from both of these trips, with a few other exciting events, to make what for us promises to be a very exciting trip indeed. Continue reading
Category Archives: Car Blog
Formula One 2014 – Is it Turning Into Farce?
We saw some ludicrous happenings in the 2013 season, such as the race of the empty stadium at South Korea, as Formula 1 seems hell bent on chasing the dirty lucre. Then there is DRS – the drag reduction system introduced in 2011 to increase overtaking and make F1 “more exciting for spectators” – former Williams, BAR and Renault driver Villeneuve amongst others has hit out at this.
“Once you start going down that route you cannot stop, you have to make more and more of it,” he said.
He then went on, “What’s the next thing that will come? It becomes more and more artificial and, instead of having a positive effect, you end up making it where people don’t respect it any more.”
The current stack of drivers seem to lack personality too, as their tongues are tied by large pay packets that prevent them speaking out against these changes and the decline into farce.
One major change for the 2014 season is the decision to award double points at the final race in an attempt to ensure the fight for the world championship lasts as long as possible. There has even been talk of extending double points to the last three races of the season! Now this is beyond the ludicrousness of racing in remote South Korea. This latest F1 ruling is frankly ruinous, it is ridiculous, a notion of such game-changing idiocy and crassness that it suggests a sport in retreat, running away not just from the principles of fair play, but from reality too.
As said, the 2014 season will see the last race of the season carry double points. On November 23 the winner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will receive twice the reward of the winner in Brazil 14 days earlier. Or the winner anywhere, for that matter.
From Singapore to the United States, the winner receives 25 points — until the circus hits Abu Dhabi, however, when the same success is suddenly worth 50 points. Tired of finding ways to prevent the dominance of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull,and failing miserably, now we get an arbitrary scoring system that could see the championship awarded to an undeserving pretender in a casual travesty at the final knockings.. It is like the Premier League being decided on the last day by a cup final! And this is called sport.
Under these regulations the 2008 champion would have been Felipe Massa, not Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso would have landed a third title at Vettel’s expense in 2012.
So was Alonso the best driver in 2012? No, Vettel was. So why should he be champion? How is that a positive outcome for F1?
Vettel is the fastest driver in the world it is up to the rest of this characterless bunch of drivers to beat him. . That is what keeps the competition healthy, not some manipulation of numbers to create an artificial sense of excitement and challenge. This way, why struggle to overtake Red Bull when a team might fluke triumph on one moment of good fortune instead? Victory will be hollow if the driver and his team know they have got to the top of the podium only by default — the beneficiaries of a crazy plan from the marketing department that, by some miracle, those at the helm of motor racing got behind.
Sport has to be fair, there are always flukes but generally the best man or team wins. To move from that very foundation of sporting principles is to take F1 off the racing circuit and into the backwaters of music hall comedy. The sport is frightened by the decline in viewers, well get real, stop chasing the highest bid and make sure it is on terrestrial TV where all can see it, where it can be perceived as a sport for the people, sort that out rather than tinker with the rules, all to stop Vettel and trying to make it “exciting”. If this ludicrous rule changing continues this sport – sorry it is already more of a “soap sport” than a real sport – will go the way of boxing, where the glory days of Ali and Frazier are but memories hung on the walls of sporting pubs. Splinter groups will leave F1 and form their own World Circuit and soon we will see two World Champions as we have seen in boxing. The sport is on a slippery slope and the best ceramic brakes in the world will not stop FI coming off the track while this ludicrous carrying on continues.
A Driver’s Prayer Answered: The 2014 #Porsche #Cayman
Very smitten with these cars so they might show up on AutoBeast rather a lot…
I promised myself that I wouldn’t get all misty-eyed and congested with superlatives when I drove the new Porsche Cayman, but I just can’t help it. It’s the best all-around daily driver sports car on the market. Period.
From my first drive of a mid-engine 914 sometime in the late 1970s, I knew Porsche was something special. It wasn’t just the James Dean “rebel” fantasy of a Porsche 550 Spyder on a wide-open California desert highway without a speed limit or a cop in sight, it was a brand – and the engineering behind it – that made you fall in love with driving each and every time you slipped behind the wheel.
To be sure, there are more expensive and exotic sports cars — ones that easily out-perform the humble Cayman. But none combine the depth of engineering, sports car performance, telepathic steering, style, quality and comfort into a…
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Porshe Cayman S 2014 Model
The Motor Trend Channel takes a long detailed look at this beautiful motor. If only… What a gorgeous car.
Car Of The Week – Porsche 911 Targa
The design of the new Porsche 911 Targa, returns to the traditional Targa layout of 911s of bygone days. In truth, the new roof design is very similar to the original 911 Targa from the 1960’s. The new Targa roof sees a removable section above the cabin with a large B-pillar and fixed rear window then installed. OK so it doesn’t give you the full outdoor experience of a convertible, but nonetheless the new Targa will certainly prove very popular.
Car Of The Week – Petrolicious and the MR2s
My Mum was one of the first people in the UK to get the mk11 Baby Ferrari style MR2 on a “G” plate and back in the day it was like something off another planet. I nicked it every chance I got and toured Europe frequently in it. I remember driving past cafes in Ste Maxime, between a Porsche and a Ferrari. They were two a penny – everyone was staring at me in the white MR2, with its big fat wheels on the back and thinner front tyres to balance with the lack of power steering. The mid engined set up put the engine just behind your ear and that car was fun, you didn’t go out driving in that car – you went dancing, it was fun and racy, pretty and chic. So I had to share this beautiful video from Petrolicious while I walked back down memory lane and remembered the MR2 that I loved to play with.
I guess it is because of the car that the GT86 excites me so much.
Porsche Cayman S or a Nissan 370Z or a Toyota GT86?
Mrs P dreams about cars as much as the best petrolhead does. A Cayman S has long been her fantasy car but recently a bright yellow Nissan 370Z caught her eye and brought the Nissan to her attention, while she had clocked the Toyota GT86 / Subaru BRZ as far back as when we went to the 2012 Paris Motor show. A recent breakfast club meet at RAF Cosford saw all three of these cars on display, so the fantasy game of which one to choose was replayed. A trawl on the interweb found the video below which looked at all three cars and it made for an interesting watch. Would the old favourite the Porsche be usurped by the temptations of the Nissan 370Z or the new pretender on the block the Toyota GT86?
It sure makes this video worth a watch.
Car Of The Week – Morgan, Any Morgan
On Saturday we stopped by the Morgan factory as we had noticed one or two three wheelers in town and it gave us a chance to admire one or two of their finest. Ok so I guess these are not technically the best cars around but it doesn’t stop us wanting one! More Photos after the break. Continue reading
Car Of The Week – The New MINI
Thew NEW MINI is here. We at Beastie Folly basically like it. The front overhang in front of the tyres looks very un-MINI like, but apart from that it’s all good. Continue reading
Car Of The Week – The BMW 2 Series Coupé
I haven’t been a fan of BMW in recent years, to me the sex appeal has been missing in the cars. Audi, Volkswagen and Mercedes have been looking busy doing “sexy” while BMW have been busy being German. The original 1 series Coupé was almost cute but just a bit gauche but now they have made it a bit longer a bit wider, the front is all butch and dare I almost say “sexy” and “BMW” in the same sentence? This is looking like a damned fine car.
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