Latest car, EV, sportscar, supercar and motoring news, facts and industry gossip from Smart-Motoring.com.
I remember as a boy taking weekly shopping trips to the supermarket on a Friday at 7pm with my best friend and his mum. We didn’t have a car so they would drive us in their Beetle, a perfectly running little cream coloured affair with a painted on matt black bonnet protector that covered from […]
Do cars in Britain really need air conditioning? Read Post »
Two of Ford’s fastest and finest handling STs hard-lapped around the quick and twisting Llandow racetrack, near Cardiff. Tyres died and high octane fuel was burned, all in the name of hardcore hot hatch testing. Fast road fans and track day heroes read on…
Racetrack report: Ford Fiesta ST & Ford Focus ST Read Post »
With signs of sunshine peeping through and the Summer time creeping closer, this weekend’s Big Bang Camper and Bus Show is set to be a jam packed show. To kick-start the Summer, Performance Direct and Santa Pod Raceway have teamed up to offer 20% off both weekend and day tickets to this much anticipated event.
Win a Weekend Pass To The 2013 Big Bang Camper & Bus Show!!! Read Post »
One of the biggest, shiniest and fastest shows for all things Blue Oval built and RS powered rattled the scenery at Santa Pod yesterday, with plenty of big-bhp and big-dB drag strip action, miles of RS owners car club stands – featuring every era of gorgeous Ford metal – and a chrome-packed show ‘n’ shine
Show report: RS Owners Club Central Show 2013, Santa Pod Read Post »
For one day every April, the narrow streets of Bristol’s medieval Old City are filled with hundres of italian cars and bikes. Members of the Italian AutoMoto Club and the Ducati Owners Club come together to show off a spectacular range of Mediterranean metal ranging from classic Fiats and Laverda’s to brand new Ferraris and Ducatis.
Italian cars line the streets of Bristol Read Post »
It’s the Shanghai Motor Show this week, and as the world’s most new-car-hungry market, the major manufacturers are keen to show the Chinese punters some slick new concepts to tickle their fancies. It’s sure to be a big, new-model-packed event. In that neck of the woods it’s a case of the bigger the car the
New Mercedes-Benz Concept GLA gets laser headlights Read Post »
Peugeot’s most famous moniker is back for 2013 and the latest GTi, the 208 GTi, comes with all 200bhp-guns-blazing to a UK hot hatch market that’s already pretty steamy, thanks to the new 180bhp back-lane-blaster from Ford; the Fiesta ST. The 208 GTi brings a high level of equipment with its 200bhp, 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol
Test drive: New 2013 Peugeot 208 GTi Read Post »
After a good start, British spring time struck again at round one of the Maxxis British Drift Championship. After a bright morning for the Semi Pro and Pro qualifying sessions, the heavens opened on Lydden Hill circuit in Kent meaning the Super Pro’s had to wait. Which ment Sunday became 5 hours of non-stop drifting for
British Drift Championship brings out the sun Read Post »
The title says it all really – an early-spring-doors Santa Pod show for every VAG; new, old, fast, and seriously showy on big Bentley rims. Even with another VAG show on the same day and nearby – Early Edition – GTI Spring Fest had a very respectable amount of modified metal to enjoy on this
Show report: GTI Spring Fest 2013, Santa Pod Read Post »
Well, this sounds like it could all end in expensive fragments of carbon fibre, aluminium and leather. But fear not, while this new Aston Rapide S racer will indeed be running on explosive hydrogen at next month’s 41st ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nurburgring, and carrying 3.5kg of the pop-juice in four tanks – at
Hydrogen bomb! New Aston Martin Rapide S hydrogen racecar Read Post »
This Sunday on BBC2 at 5.30pm a documentary called ‘Driven: The Fastest Woman In The World’ will be screened. The documentary charts the rise of Susie Wolff in her attempt to become the first Formula One racing driver to compete in a Grand Prix since 1976. Susie Wolff has always had a fascination with speed
Williams Formula 1 racer Susie Wolff documentary, Sunday on BBC2 Read Post »
Backing up their now familiar, and pretty funky, DS3, DS4 and DS5 range of cars, Citroen has built this big and bold luxury SUV concept, called the DS Wild Rubis. Snigger-worthy name aside, we can definitely see shades of the DS4 car in the Rubis, as well as some very obvious chrome styling touches. It’s
The DS Wild Rubis: a luxury SUV from Citroen Read Post »
Some cars just scream ‘classic’ regardless of how old they are, and when it’s rocking such understatedly stunning design lines, like this nearly-new 2012 Maserati GranSport Cabrio Sport, it’s very easy to imagine them being just so desirable for so many years to come. It’s also very easy to imagine myself cruising down to the
A future classic from the Imperials classifieds: Maserati GranSport Cabrio Sport Read Post »
Yes, that’s right folks, the end of the world if nigh; Maserati are building a diesel. The new Ghibli, which is sniffing around the BMW 5’s territory, will be offered with a 3-litre V6 turbo-diesel motor or a 3-litre V6 turbocharged petrol motor. It’s all about the efficiency you see, with this new Ghibli part
New Maserati Ghibli. Diesel! Read Post »
I’ve always been fascinated by the world of marketing, the guys in the background that create subtle and not so subtle ways to make you think that you’ve made a completely unbiased buying decision based on your own views, when in reality, you have most likely been the victim of a brilliantly subtle marketing campaign.
Bugatti Veyron stripped of fastest production car title Read Post »
Drama unfolded yesterday in Acton, West London when a 1971 Lamborghini Miura SV caught fire as it’s helpless owner looked on. It is not clear how the fire originally started but over the years Miura’s have gained a notorious reputation for catching alight.
£1 million Lamborghini Miura SV catches fire in London! Read Post »
With a quarter of all BMW new car sales coming from their X stable of models, a new X Series styling language is pretty big news. And here’s the first of the new X range, the Concept X4, revealed ahead of its public debut at the Shanghai Motor Show later this month.
BMW’s new X Series style Read Post »
Whilst trying to avoid going down the ‘jumpers for goalposts’ route and displaying to the whole wide world that I am insanely jealous, I must say that all I had to play with when I was growing up was some Dinky toy cars and an Action Man or two (so to speak). But times have
Superhero Grandfather makes a mini Batmobile for his grandson Read Post »
Okay, so maybe we’re jumping the gun a bit by calling the really-not-that-old-at-all Nissan GT-R a classic, but you’ll be a petrolhead that needs his petrolhead examined if you think that the GT-R supercar-smasher won’t be regarded as one of the all-time automotive greats, in the not too distant future.
A future classic from the Imperials classifieds: Nissan GT-R Black Edition Read Post »
Well, there are a couple of evocative motorsport names right there. The rally legend that is Sebastian Loeb goes on loan from Citroen WRC to a new Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak project. You might also remember another rather naughty Peugeot ‘T16’, the 405 T16 coupe from Ari Vatanen’s record-breaking 1998 Pikes Peak victory. Don’t
Peugeot 208 T16 and Sebastian Loeb to attack Pikes Peak Read Post »
How would you fancy having an £550,485 repair bill next time you prang your car? No, thought not, but that is what happened recently as possibly the most unfortunate mechanic currently practicing his trade in Germany took a priceless car for a ride. The car was a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing that was rather ironically, being restored –
Priceless Mercedes 300SL Gullwing wrecked by mechanic in Germany Read Post »
The seven-round Radical SR3 championship will visit the UK’s best circuits as top drivers battle it out for race and Championship honours. Each meeting features two 15-minute qualifying sessions and a pair of 40-minute endurance races, with the opportunity for one or two drivers per car. Teams are limited to one set of tyres per
This weekend is the dragster event, Festival of Power at Santa Pod. Performance Direct is an associate sponsor of Santa Pod, so it seems a fitting time to take a fascinating – and I do mean fascinating – look at how a dragster actually manages to achieve the awesome speed that it almost unbelievably does.
4 seconds of rocket fuelled pure speed – how a dragster works Read Post »
Okay, so this Motor-Vision feature is really just an excuse to show you some racecar honeys that’ll be strutting their sexy stuff through this 2013 racing season, and a few other red-hot racers that we’ve popped in purely to celebrate their pristine pedigree. Tin-top racing fans get ready for photographic perfection.
Some sexy racecars coming to a racetrack near you this year Read Post »
