OFFBEAT
The World Cup is drawing to a close, but those who can’t get enough football action can take solace is the knowledge that even after Germany/Argentina (delete where applicable if reading this on Monday) has taken home the sport’s most-coveted title, a whole host of football world championship action still awaits us this month. And like the FIFA version in Brazil, it is sponsored by a tyre maker.
Is it possible to establish gender through the car you drive? Apparently so, according to “luxury male grooming brand” The Bluebeards Revenge, which has compiled a list of the “World’s Manliest Cars” based on an email survey of 1,226 customers. In a break from removing stubble with the “lightweight yet comfortably substantial” Bluebeards Revenge Privateer Collection Mach 3 Razor, these arbiters of manliness voted the Dodge Viper 2014’s top representative of automotive masculinity.
This high-octane story has a whiff of Top Gear to it but we’ve been assured that Mr. Controversy and his two colleagues are in no way involved. Falken Tyre Europe shares news of ‘Milky’, a vehicle that started life as a utilitarian carrier of dairy products, but thanks to its extensive modifications may well now be the fastest milk float – in the world.
New research published by Direct Line for Business, reveals the A-team’s classic GMC Vandura is the nation’s favourite van. Despite the cult TV show ending in 1987 the A-team van has become an enduring pop culture icon capturing 43 percent of the vote. Thousands of Britons voted the iconic black and metallic grey vehicle with is characteristic red stripe, driven by Sergeant Bosco Albert “B.A” Baracus played by Mr T, in the show as their favourite.
It must be a new record, following a freedom of information (FOI) request by the Institute of Advanced Motorists, it has emerged that a man from Liverpool accumulated 45 licence penalty points in November without losing his licence. In normal circumstance a driving ban follows the accumulation of 12 points. According to the information released by the DVLA in response to the IAM’s FOI, the points were all for failing to disclose the identity of the driver or exceeding statutory speed limit on a public road, between 1 October 2012 and 20 June 2013. By all accounts this beats the previous record of 42 points.
Remember when you were 10 and Scalextric was top of your Christmas list? Then you’ll love this: Renault has produced a viral video showing off its electric cars competing in a life-size Scalextric race around central London. Electric vehicles are no strangers to motorsport – either in full-size racing, as Renault will show with its partners in 2014 with the FIA Formula E championship, or in miniature in the form of the ever-popular skirting-board scarring Scalextric models. Drawing inspiration from these two ends of the spectrum, Renault’s team hatched the idea to take things one step further and race two full-size ZOEs on a Scalextric track.
Many forward-thinking garages now offer nitrogen tyre inflation as an additional service to customers, but it’s safe to say that the inflation performed by Nie Yongbing would draw bigger crowds. The 63-year old from China’s SichuanProvince is able to inflate car tyre inner tubes using his nostril. During a demonstration held on 6 December, Nie inflated four inner tubes using this unique method in just 20 minutes.
If better braking and handling on snow and ice covered roads weren’t reason enough to buy winter tyres, Japanese tyre dealer Autoway Tires presents a nightmarish situation that can be best escaped with the appropriate seasonal rubber. In an ad that is definitely not for the fainthearted – it is preceded by a health warning stating this – Autoway Tires demonstrates the ability of winter tyres to get you out of even the most terrifying scrape.
New research published by Direct Line for Business reveals that Britain’s builders, plumbers, electricians and other tradespeople are living out of their vans – using them as mobile offices, bedrooms and entertainment centres. While not wanting to be accused of being asleep on the job, Britain’s tradespeople are using their vans as mobile homes with 11 per cent sleeping in their vehicle. Almost a third (31 per cent) of tradespeople use their van as a mobile office to manage their business. Vans are also used as mobile dining rooms, with just under a half (45 per cent) of tradespeople eating their meals in their vehicle.
Back in 2011, Tyres & Accessories brought you news of Bruno, the mastiff cross undergoing ‘therapy’ in New Zealand after his anger issues resulted in the destruction of tyres fitted to two police cars and another vehicle. While we don’t know whether Bruno responded to treatment or if he’s still barking mad, it has come to our attention that a local news report of the tyre-tearing dog has gone viral.
You can’t keep a good tyre man down. That’s what Manly Council in Australia is coming to terms with half a year after its order to remove a much loved local icon was carried out. The ‘tyre man’, a dummy who sat atop a tyre-ringed pole in the Sydney beachside suburb for more than 80 years, was taken down last August after his deteriorating condition was judged a hazard to passing pedestrians. But instead of disappearing forever, tyre man is back – and he’s off on holidays before resuming his vigil over Manly.
Waking up to find your vehicle’s tyres punctured is often followed by a phone call to the police, but if you live in the city of Abbottabad, in Pakistan, a call to the cops will also put you directly in contact with the tyre-wrecking culprits. The Express Tribune newspaper reports that the Abbottabad police, a force fed up with criticism about its powerlessness to prevent cars from being stolen, has introduced a new means of foiling thieves – the police opine that if you can’t move a car you can’t steal it, and based on this logic police officers now spend their nights puncturing the tyres on parked cars in order to immobilise them.
A US man has aptly demonstrated why tyres, firearms and alcohol don’t make the most congenial bedfellows. Oregon-based publication the Statesman Journal reports the story of Brandon Butler, who late on the evening of 14 December inspected a set of tyres being sold by an acquaintance, Anthony Catullo. According to the Statesman Journal, rather than offering cash for the tyres, Butler suggested a barter arrangement.
As regular tyrepress.com readers know, used tyres are often a point of discussion in the UK. They’re also a talking point in Bahrain, but the island nation’s issues with used tyres differ somewhat from ours. The Gulf Daily News reported on 5 December that storage centres are being set up across Bahrain; the purpose of these is to house used tyres in order, as the newspaper writes, to “stop saboteurs from burning them on the street and to protect the environment from fumes and smoke.”
On 15th November a team of gym members from East Sussex smashed two Guinness World Records for the number of people inside both a classic Mini and a 2012 MINI.
28 flexible ladies crammed their way into the MINI Hatch at Potters Fields Park, London as part of the eighth annual Guinness World Records day. The team broke their own previous record of 27 people, which they set in Eastbourne last year.
