Lego set its sights on the BMW R60/2
Forget Guinness World Records or stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – you haven’t arrived until you’ve been recreated in Lego form.
Lego’s eerily accurate renditions of classic metal have included Fiat 500s, Lotus Sevens and Mini Coopers in the past, and now the Danish brick-builders have turned their attention to another road legend: the BMW R60/2.
The original, human-sized R60 is certainly worthy of the recreation, as perhaps one of the greatest motorcycles and greatest BMWs of all time. For those of a ‘Four wheels good, two wheels bad’ mentality, let us clue you in on the R60’s greatness.
The updated, second-generation ‘/2’ version of the R60 rugged and classically beautiful R60 was introduced back in 1960, with a barnstorming 30bhp driving the rear wheel – up from 28bhp in the 1956 original.
But the R60/2 wasn’t about sheer speed; it was about being more or less invincible, and the most versatile bike for all conditions. There were mounting points for sidecars, for instance, and it used a shaft to drive the rear wheel, rather than a chain, because the shaft was insulated from the elements and required far less maintenance than a chain. The practical upshot of this was that the R60 was a bike for all conditions. This was proven to its logical extreme by Danny Liska, who rode from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in one trip, then backed it up with a trek from Europe’s North Cape to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. It was even one of the stars of the seminal Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
So, definitely worthy of immortalisation in Lego.
But, if you want to own your own, you’ll need to get over to Lego’s ideas hub and vote to make it a reality – and if you have an idea of your own (an S1 Lancia Fulvia Coupe, for instance, but no pressure), you can submit it for votes, review by Lego and even mass production. If that doesn’t excite your inner six-year-old, nothing will.
Google’s autonomous car program got a big push and a new name
Google’s autonomous car has emerged from the skunkworks of its ‘X’ development facility – the same one responsible for all of Google’s wackiest concepts, like balloons full of internet.
And, like all realised concepts, it now has its own name. Which is, er… Waymo. Which means something, surely.
Name aside, what Waymo is doing is finding a way to remove the concept of ‘drivers’ from a car, by building what’s essentially a Johnny Cab from Total Recall, minus the freaky marionette up front. And, for keen drivers, this is a lot better than it sounds.
Think about the state of public roads at the moment – endless traffic, speed cameras, overzealous plod, roadworks, people refreshing Instagram rather than driving – and think about how much of a drag your commute is. If you have a boring car that will do the Monday morning slog for you, all the better, because it will leave a spot in your driveway free for a hopelessly impractical two-seater for weekends. And, even if you still drive your old-school, non-autonomous car to work, you’ll benefit from sharing the road with teraflops of processing power, rather than distracted and impatient human beings, who couldn’t care less about driving.
Google’s new corporate format, where individual companies rest under the the umbrella of its ‘Alphabet’ holding company, means that Waymo now exists as its own company, next to other operations like Calico, where they’re researching ways to live forever, and… well, Google, where you search for gifs.
Vengeful VW customers turned in their recalled diesels. Or at least, most of them
In one of the biggest car-based snafus of all time (which everyone with an internet connection is now painfully aware of) Volkswagen fibbed about its diesel-powered __cars to the EPA and is now reaping the whirlwind, as it were.
In the US of A, the whirlwind has now become more of an… er, storm. Courts ruled that VW had to buy back every single dishonest diesel they sold, and compensate the owner on top of the buyback price. But it seems that not even compensation is enough to mollify certain Vee Dub owners, who have expressed their displeasure with Volkswagen by returning their __cars in less than showroom condition.
The EPA’s ruling means that cars only have to go back to VW in “operable” condition, which means that it’s able to “be driven under its own engine power”, which is an exceptionally lax set of standards. And it’s one that some owners - according to various sources - are taking to its legal limits.
Spare wheels, seats, and even the entire front end of a Golf are have all been ‘reclaimed’ by the disgruntled owners, as trophies, ways to make a few bucks on the spares market, or just a method of turning the knife in VW’s side.
From there, it’s getting really ugly. Suggestions for how to prep a VW TDI for buyback include replacing the coolant with water from a storm drain, removing all the filters and taking the doors off.
Just how much of this will be tolerated by beleaguered VW dealers is anyone’s guess, but the lesson for VW (and everyone else) is that no one does bitterness better than an American.
Porsche made a bittersweet farewell video for Audi
It’s no secret that Audi’s departure from the World Endurance Championship has left a big hole in the competition, with just Toyota and Porsche remaining in the top class.
Porsche is clearly struggling with the loss, and has put together a wonderfully simple, yet somehow poignant, video. We won’t spoil it – just check it out for yourself.
Mazda tried to solve the problem of selling convertibles in winter. With a paint job
To be honest, selling drop tops in the colder months is akin to selling ice to Inuits. Mazda’s British arm is undeterred, however, and has slapped a new paint job and a bit of tinsel on the (admittedly very good) MX-5 for the limited edition ‘MX-5 Arctic’.
Arctic silver trim pieces and blue paint probably won’t help you enjoy the weak winter sunshine – we think the heated leather seats and rain-sensing wipers will be much handier for a sub-zero Sunday cruise.
McLaren built its 10,000th supercar…
…and it’s grey. Huh. They are a bit of a sober bunch over at Woking, aren’t they?
In any case, the good news here is that McLaren’s road car programme is really gaining momentum with some truly excellent cars, which are thankfully not powered by Honda engines.
The 10,000th car is McLaren’s gift to itself, and it’ll sit in the ‘Heritage Collection’ vault, alongside McLaren’s greatest hits.
Mercedes brought back the night
The Night Edition, to be more precise. In essence, it’s pretty much a regular S-Class coupe, restyled by someone who took the lyrics to ‘Paint it Black’ a little too literally. So, it’s a black radiator, black alloy wheels, black exterior mirrors and so on. And the interior trim? Well, curiously enough, it’s also black, if you can believe it.
Ford released a follow-up to beer goggles: the hangover suit
We all know not to drink and drive, but Ford’s new message is that you shouldn’t drive when hungover, either – even if there’s no more alcohol in your bloodstream.
To get its point across, Ford went to the very official-sounding Meyer-Hentschel Institute in Germany, and asked them to make a suit that replicates what it feels like to be hungover. Luckily, they’re diligent researchers over there, so they immediately got knee-walking drunk and recorded how they felt the morning after. For science!
The torture suit uses special lenses and lights to give you that ‘Agh, my retinas are on fire’ feeling, which sounds like fun. Special headphones that amplify ambient noise take care of the ‘Why did everyone pick today to use a jackhammer?’ sensation, combining the outside noise with the sound that blood makes as it thunders through your temples. Finally, the attractive-looking weighted headset simulates a pounding headache, lethargy and dizziness. In all, the suit apparently renders the wearer about as useless as someone the morning after an absolute blinder.
That’s all well and good, but we’re not entirely sure how the team behind the suit would go about reproducing a couple of hangover symptoms, like a stomach that churns like you’re trying to cross the North Sea on a dinghy, the incredible, Joy Division-esque levels of malaise and the general feeling like you’ve been poisoned, bludgeoned and infected with Ebola.
A luxury car dealer came up with a novel way to separate Lambo fans from their money…
…with perhaps the, erm, most unique stereo known to man. Styled to look like the rear end of a Lambo (in case that much wasn’t already patently obvious), the 800-watt ‘ESAVOX’ stereo actually runs some pretty decent sound equipment, with twin 24-bit DSPs and neodymium speaker drivers. But that’s kind of like putting pushrod suspension and a twin-turbo V12 in a Chrysler PT Cruiser.
It gets better: the 53kg setup will cost nearly £20,000 when it arrives in store (rather oddly) just after Christmas. Just imagine the kind of person who’d walk past the B&O store and pick up one of these instead.
Red Bull promised to stream the World Rally Championship for free
The 2017 World Rally Championship is set to run the best-looking and quickest cars in recent memory, and should be well worth a look. So, that means subscribing to expensive sports channels or sitting down for brief catch-up shows on Channel 5, right? Nope.
Red Bull has signed a deal with the WRC to broadcast live footage and detailed catch-ups on redbull.tv and through the Red Bull app. And, joy of all joys, every moment will be 100 per cent free.
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