Showing posts with label Offbeat News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Offbeat News. Show all posts

Monday, December 5, 2011

Colossal Supercar Pileup in Japan Destroys Eight Ferraris, Three Mercedes and a Lamborghini [Videos]


In what may be if not the worst, one of the nastiest and most expensive supercar crashes of all time, 14 vehicles including eight Ferraris, three Mercedes-Benzes, a Lamborghini, a Toyota Prius and an unspecified Toyota, were involved in a massive pile-up on the Chugoku expressway in Shimonoseki, southwestern Japan on Sunday.

Luckily, no fatalities were reported though ten drivers suffered bruising and some minor injuries.

“The accident occurred when the driver of a red Ferrari was switching from the right lane to the left and skidded,” Mitsuyoshi Isejima, executive officer for Yamaguchi Prefecture’s Expressway Traffic Police unit told Bloomberg News. “It was a gathering of narcissists," said Isejima who added that the drivers were aged between 37 and 60 years old.

Read more »

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Woman Speeds out of Ferrari Dealership in a Corvette and Flips Over [Video]


A very strange accident involving a yellow Corvette C6 and two more cars just took place in Norwood, Massachusetts. A witness told Boston's NewsCenter5 that the person responsible for the accident is an unnamed woman who "races cars for a living".

And what did this female racing(?) driver do, we hear you ask? Well, according to an eyewitness account, the woman in the Corvette stopped at a Chevrolet dealership in Norwood on Route 1 looking for a faster set of wheels. The dealer didn't have anything to offer her so she went over to a nearby dealership to test drive a Ferrari.

Read more »

Friday, December 2, 2011

Video: Was This a Dangerously Close Call or a Ballsy Move?


A minor spat has broken out on Youtube over whether or not a Lotus Exige GT3 traveling close to 250km/h [155mph] should have passed in between a Mazda MX-5 and a Porsche Boxster during the Production Sports Cars CUE Enduro Series held at the Phillip Island circuit in Victoria, Australia.

If you watch the first video shot from an inboard camera on the MX-5, it looks like a rocket ship flew by inches away from the Japanese roadster. In fact, it all happens so fast that you have to actually pause the video to see the Exige GT3 driven by Barton Mawer.

According to the Philip Island Circuit's official website, the driver in the No66 MX-5 was Michael Hall. Here's what he said on Youtube:

"I'm chasing down a Porsche Boxster in the #66 Mazda MX5 whilst trying to hang onto the lead of Class E. Meanwhile Barton Mawer is trying to hunt down Alan Simonsen in the Lambo for the overall lead, and obviously not in the mood to waste any time."

Read more »

High Heels and Shiny Wheels: The 2011 Tokyo Motor Show Edition


Gentlemen, you may start your engines because we have a special treat for you today. After all the metal from the 42nd edition of the Tokyo Motor Show, it's time for something a little bit different but equally, if not more, interesting.

If the opening picture caught you attention, there's a lot more from where that came from in our high resolution gallery that you're more than welcome to enjoy directly after the break.

Read more »

Last MGB Roadster Ever Made Returns Back Home Through the Window


The MGB Roadster was an open-top British sports car that was launched by MG in 1962 and was followed three years later by a 2+2 GT Coupe. It had a very long life span, surviving until 1980.

At the time, the company changed hands from the British Motor Corporation to British Motor Holdings and then to British Leyland Motor Corporation. The decay and eventually, the fall of the British car industry began during that period.

Read more »

If Looks Could Kill: Meet the 1999 Subaru Impreza Casa Blanca Limited Edition


Subaru is one of those automakers that will either bore you to death or irk you with the styling of its products, but scarcely, if ever, cause any excitement with its designs.

The Impreza series is a characteristic example going from boredom to controversial and vice versa not only with each new restyling, but sometimes even within the same generation.

Time to meet the Impreza Casa Blanca - a special edition version of the first generation Sport Wagon with the 1.5-liter boxer engine that was introduced in Japan in 1999 to address the craze consumers had for retro styled cars at the time.

And yes, you read that correctly: the Casa Blanca isn't a abomination creation from some unknown coachbuilder but an official Subaru product and it was produced from 1999 to 2000 in a limited run of 5,000 units!

Read more »

UAW Protests outside Hyundai's U.S. Dealerships to Support Illegally Fired Korean Subcontractor Worker


Members of the UAW (International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America), one of the biggest worker unions in the U.S., protested on Wednesday outside more than 75 Hyundai dealerships across the country, from NYC to LA.

Hyundai itself was not the target, as one would have thought upon hearing the news. Rather, the union members who held "Stop Sex Discrimination at Hyundai" and "Reinstate Ms. Park" banners were showing their support for Ms. Park.

Read more »

Monday, October 31, 2011

Chuck Norris Approved: Alert Woman Ducks Rolling Mercedes ML


A traffic camera located at an intersection in the small Russian town of Timashevsk in the Krasnodar region captured a terrifying accident involving a Mercedes-Benz ML350 SUV.

The driver of the German luxury crossover blew right through a red light at speed and was hit on the rear passenger side by an oncoming Daewoo Nexia, which sent the Mercedes rolling over towards a pedestrian on the sidewalk.

Amazingly, the alert woman saw the Mercedes-Benz SUV coming her way and she instinctively jumped to safety literally at the last moment. The ML350 came to a stop on an electric pole with the video showing the careless driver jumping out of the car, apparently unhurt.

Read more »

Video: Stillen R35 GT-R Races Helicopter in New Zealand


On the second day of the Targa New Zealand race, competitors and viewers alike witnessed a rather unusual spectacle: a sports car racing against a helicopter.

The vehicle in question was a Stillen R-35 Nissan GT-R driven by Steve Millen while acrobatic racing pilot, Leigh Hopper, controlled the Eurocopter “Squirrel”.

Now, this isn't the first time a sports car has lined up against a flying machine. But this spontaneous road-and-sky-racing during a pit stop was unexpected – especially as they made two runs instead of one.

Read more »

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Sioux City Police Denies Mistreatment Allegation in Woman’s Forceful Arrest [Video]


A patrol car dashboard camera video showing a woman being arrested in Sioux City has sparked allegations for police mistreatment.

Dacota Daniels, 34, was detained on August 8 at Sioux City by two officers, one in uniform and one in plain clothes after they stopped the rental car she was in as a passenger.

The plainclothes drug task force officer said in the report that he spotted Daniels’ fiancé, Christopher Robinson, driving the car despite being "known to have a barred license."

Read more »

BMW 325i Convertible E30 wants to be an 8-Series when it Grows Up


While there's only a single digit gap between the E30 and E31 codenames, in reality, these two BMW models couldn't be more different from each other.

The E30, a.k.a. the 1983-1991 3-Series, represented the firm's entry-level family car in the 1980s, while the E31, more widely known as the 8-Series, was the brand's flagship GT coupe in the 1990s.

But one German owner had the bright idea of taking a 1989 325i Convertible (albeit with pre-1987 tail lamps) and fusing the front end of an 850i Coupe on its nose. Of course, there was a slight problem with the width of the 8-Series fascia that was solved by…removing one of the BMW kidney grilles.

Read more »

Friday, October 28, 2011

Giggidy Giggidy Goo or What the Deuce? Miss Tuning Calendar 2012 [NSFW]


For better or for worse, tuning shows are as much about modified cars as they are about booth babes - and that's regardless of where they take place. Just wait and see at next week's SEMA Show.

But just to get your engines running – or so to speak, we have a special treat for you, and no, we're not referring to the Nissan 180SX/200SX ...

Read more »

Warning: Meet the Worst Accident Scam Artist in the World [Video]


Traffic accidents involving pedestrians are all too common but once in a while, you get your archetypal "please hit me" scam artist that will try anything to get something from you or better yet, your insurance company.

And truth is, unless there's a witness or two around, you'll either waste or have a pretty hard time proving your innocence. On the other hand, if you've installed a dashboard mounted camera on your car, an accident con can turn a nightmare scenario into a rather enjoyable 30 second clip.

Enter the world of the one of the worst fraudsters we've ever seen in action. Period. According to the person that uploaded the video, the incident took place somewhere in Korea. You can watch it right after the break.

Read more »

Raw Video: Driver, Beware of the Spicy Newscaster…


We can't see what reporter Alison Ariotti from Australia's Nine Network was wearing during this live TV broadcast, but the…package must have been interesting enough to distract the driver of the black Mazda CX-7 SUV who zoom-zoomed his attention from the road and on to the young lady and as a result, collided with a Mazda parked behind her.

So the lesson here folks is that if you happen to stumble upon a TV crew filming in the side of the road, please keep your eyes where they should be…

Read more »

Thursday, October 27, 2011

What a Feeling: Carscoop Reader Takes Lexus LFA for a Spin around Silverstone


Say what you want about the Lexus LFA and whether or not it is worth the hefty $375k sticker price; if you're a true-blue petrol head and you were given the opportunity to get behind the LFA's wheel for a lap around a professional circuit, you'd do it in a heartbeat no matter what you thought about the car.

And that opportunity came for Carscoop reader Jean-Luc Cartwright from Britain who was able to drive the V10-powered Lexus LFA at the Silverstone racetrack in England.

Read more »

Read Why Steve Jobs' Car Never Had a License Plate


Steve Jobs, the charismatic founder of Apple and Pixar, was a man who changed not only the way computers are made and marketed, but also popularized a number of novel products, such as the iPhone and the iPad, which made buyers form long lines outside Apple stores and the competition always play catch-up.

Sadly, Jobs passed away on October 5 at the age of 56. After his death, one of the rumors circulating the web was that of his car’s number plate – or rather its absence.

Some said that he didn’t care about paying the fines, as he surely could afford to, while others claimed that he had somehow obtained a special permit to drive without one.

Read more »

Porsche Offers Drivers First Taste of New 911 through Winter Experience Program


Porsche enthusiasts will be happy to learn that the German sports car maker has launched its new Winter Driving Experience program that offers drivers the opportunity to test-drive the brand-new 911 in extreme conditions.

The company says that regardless of the driver's level of driving skills, instructors will teach them to improve their skills and refine their driving style through a carefully selected mix of theoretical and practical lessons.

Read more »

A Look at Some of the More Odd Creations of BMW's Individual Division


For the past few decades, BMW's Individual customization division has been catering to the needs of the Bavarian firm's more affluent clientele that are willing to dig a little bit deeper into their pockets to personalize their vehicles.

The firm's Individual workshop promises to fulfill almost any wishes as long as they comply with safety requirements and legal stipulations.

And while one client's request to base all colors used on an M6 Coupe around a Hawaiian Koawood trim worked out nicely (see video here), we can't say the same for the lamb wool floor mats found on a 2008 7-Series or the custom fabric interior trim on the 1992 7-Series.

Read more »

Army Fail: How to Flip Over a Tank


You may think that it's extremely difficult to flip over a heavy machine like a tank, but that's because you haven't seen these army guys in action. And yes, they managed the unthinkable while trying to place the vehicle on a special truck bed for transportation.

Watch the video for yourself right after the break.

Read more »