Nothing gets our attention more than a profanity-laced tirade. And if it’s done in front of a national television audience, well, it won’t just us that will notice it.
Apparently, that’s the route the Victoria Highway Department of Australia is taking after releasing their new ad campaign that encourages – maybe even scares – teenagers from attempting to do more than they should when they’re driving. There’s a whole variety of advertisements that you can choose from to watch from this campaign, but all of them have one underlying message: “Don’t be a d*ckhead!”
We don’t how effective that message as far as teens understanding the perils of unsafe driving is concerned but needless to say, it sure is direct to the point. Let’s all just hope that the message is heard loud and clear.
Lewis Hamilton may be one of Formula One’s ‘Golden Boys’ but even his stature didn’t do him any good from the strong arm of the law.
In Melbourne for the Melbourne Grand Prix this weekend, Hamilton chose to spend some of his down-time by performing a series of burn-outs and fish-tailing on board a 2010 Mercedes E-Class E500 saloon. Apparently, the Victorian Police didn’t find his car tricks the least bit impressive after they pulled him over and charged with “improper use of a motor vehicle”.
As a result of his actions, Hamilton is expected to be summoned for his thrill ride and his E500 saloon has been impounded for about 48 hours. In a statement released by McLaren, Hamilton – maybe out of fear of having his squeaky-clean reputation taking a significant hit - was quick to apologize for his poor judgment, saying that he was “driving in an over-exuberant manner and, as a result, was stopped by the police.”
"What I did was silly, and I want to apologize for it," he adds.
This goes to show that nobody really is above the law, even a 25-year old former Formula One world champion.
Now that Pontiac has passed, we need to focus our attention to its Australian version; the Holden. Walkinshaw Performance has developed a 603hp Holden SS-V Special Edition Sportwagon that definitely has our attention. The price for the package is $43,990 AUS (excluding car’s price).
The tuning company added a new exhaust system, a new water-to-air intercooler, larger injectors, and they obtained an impressive 603 hp and 770Nm of torque. As a result, the sprint from 0 to 60 mph will be made in under 5 seconds; an impressive number for a sport wagon.
The car also gets new springs and dampers, 20-inch wheels, Walkinshaw-branded floormats and headrests, and a Rockford-Fosgate premium audio system.
McLaren F1 driver and reigning world champion Jenson Button took a break from his regular Formula One car to jump on-board Jamie Whincup’s Holden Commodore of the V8 Supercar racing series. Participating in a Vodafone sponsor event, Button ran a few laps around the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne while Whincup took a stab at running around the same track behind the wheel of a 2008 McLaren.
For his part, Button was quite impressed with the handling of the Commodore although it was quite obvious that it didn’t have the power and speed that he has gotten quite accustomed to in his time in F1. That wasn’t any more evident by the look on Whincup’s face after getting out of the 2008 McLaren.
"It was unbelievable, I can’t really explain it," said Whicup, who seems to have been in a daze after his ride on-board the McLaren. "The strain on my head was unbelievable. I don’t get anywhere near the Gs in my car — the acceleration and the braking, I’ve never felt anything like it before.”
"I’ve got huge respect for these guys. To do a full grand prix at that pace is unbelievable," he added.
The whole event was organized by Vodafone just before this weekend’s Melbourne Grand Prix, which Button said would be a more competitive race for the team compared to their rather mediocre showing at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Built as an American sports car, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is a left-hand drive model. But here are countries out there that need RHD cars. And Australia is one of them. Performax International will unveil a RHD ZR1 at the 22nd National Corvette Convention in Perth over Easter.
The Corvette ZR1 RHD is powered by the same 6.2 liter GM LS9 engine that develops 638 hp and a peak torque of 604 lbs-ft. It makes the 0 to 60 mph sprint in less than 4 seconds and can hit a top speed of 205 mph. The Corvette ZR1 RHD weighs 1510 kg thanks to an aluminum chassis and carbon fiber body panels. The car required 300 hours of work.
Volkswagen Australia has just revealed a new special edition Volkswagen New Beetle, which they’re making available for both coupe and convertible versions and petrol and diesel engine options. Prices for the new Beetle BlackOrange start at $27,500 for the coupe version and at $37,700 for the convertible one. The auto transmission is an optional feature that will cost you $2,500.
The New Beetle BlackOrange is distinguished by 17-inch alloy wheels with sports suspension, leatherette seat upholstery, cruise control, and front fog lights. Meanwhile, the car’s interior will be outfitted with an aluminum finish clutch, brake and accelerator pedals, as well as a leather steering wheel and gearshift knob.
As far as color options are concerned, the New Beetle BlackOrange will be available in two color combinations. One offers a Black gloss exterior with silver exterior mirrors, silver alloy wheels and lower body side decals in silver. The alternative combination is a Red Rock Metallic exterior with black roof and exterior mirrors as well as black alloy wheels and lower body side decals in Black.
Toyota almost wishes that these kinds of days would come more often.
OK, it’s not our place to continuously make fun of Toyota in light of the crisis they’re in these days so we figure that we’d – for once – commend them for this rather cutesy and upbeat ad for the 2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid, which was built in Australia.
Taking its cue from (500) Days of Summer – yes, we loved that movie! – this Toyota ad sees a man who, despite the rather monotonous nature of his work, still finds it to appreciate the niceties that life – and a Toyota Camry Hybrid – affords.
Heck, we even have a full slate of gymnasts, acrobats, and cannonballs to accentuate the jollies of driving a Camry Hybrid.
It’s not every day that you see an alcohol manufacturer getting involved with four wheeled projects. However the Australian brewery VB Raw has taken on a rather unique approach to tuning with designer, Paul Begg, by stripping a classic 1978 Porsche 911 down to bare sheet metal before rebuilding it into a one of a kind rolling masterpiece that they are calling the ’Rawsche’.
The Rawsche was rebuilt via a live webcam on vbraw.com.au at the end of 2009, and was recently given away to one lucky viewer who best displayed their allegiance to the Raw cause by throwing one heck of a kegger. Everything from the modern headlamps sourced from a 993 to the classic grill over the flat six from an old 356 is pure Porsche.
Lotus Australia has just received an addition to their lineup fresh off the heels of delivering their first truly all new car in years, the Evora, and the release of a hard core track tuned Lotus Exige Cup, the lightweight English sports car builder has just revealed another version of their compact thrill machine. The Lotus Elise Club Racer is a very simple and straightforward sports car that borrows a few shades of paint from Colin Chapman’s personal pallet from the 1960s, colors like Elite Yellow, Carbon Grey, Sky Blue and Old English White.
According to the Director of Lotus Cars, Luke Bennett, "Special Editions of the award winning Elise have always proved popular with our customers around the world, and I expect the Elise Club Racer to be no different. We have taken colour schemes from our past, used on the Elite and Elan in the 1960s and cleverly brought them up to date with a modern feel to the interior. The whole design package is modern with a classic twist, which of course matches the peerless ride and handling of a Lotus and the convertible experience of the Elise perfectly."
Called the Elise Club Racer, the new lightweight English sports car is based on the 134 HP version of the Lotus Elise S and is scheduled to arrive in showrooms on September 15th and go on sale for around $40,000. The car makes use of silver and black highlights in the interior as well as an anthracite anodized gear knob and handbrake with the Club Racer "CR" logo embroidered everywhere. The Lotus engineers even saw fit to incorporate a smaller diameter steering wheel and a set of lightweight six spoke alloys for that extra sporty look and feel. The Elise Club Racer will make its official debut in February 2010 and will be priced at $72,990.
Just like any warm-blooded, auto-loving homo sapien, we appreciate smart and witty car commercials when we see one. Unfortunately, this particular Toyota Yaris commercial from the Land Down Under can be described in neither of those terms.
While we have no problem with a little subtlety, the sexual undertones in this commercial are a little too blatant, which also raised some alarm bells in Australia, prompting the sanctioning folks to ban the ad from airing on TV.
Fortunately, no such ‘bans’ exist on the Internet and you can watch the entire commercial in all its entirety.
