Mad About Cars

For any driver, wet roads present a particular hazard that must be accounted for. Grip is reduced, and in heavier rain there is the ever-present risk of standing water on the road, which in a worst case scenario could cause a car to aquaplane off the road.

Of course, good driver awareness and anticipation is important in such conditions. But a good choice of tyre will help assist the driver, and Goodyear’s Hydragrip tyre is designed for such conditions.

The key feature of the tyre is Goodyear’s patented tread design, which has been engineered to disperse water as efficiently as possible, maintaining the tyre’s contact with the road, this technology is also designed to be effective throughout the tyre’s lifespan, and is also designed to maintain efficient contact with the road during braking, meaning that grip is maintained as much as possible in the event of emergency braking. The edges of the tyre also feature biting edges on the sides of the tyres, which offer good levels of grip without compromising the strength of the tyre.

Although this is a premium tyre, prices are still very competitive compared to rival brands, meaning that the Hydragrip offers excellent value for money. The tyre is available across a wide range of fitments between 14 and 16 inches, with tyre profiles and widths covering most general production cars.

On a personal note, I have used these tyres on my Peugeot 406 HDi for just under a year, and found them to be a very good choice. They have drastically improved the car’s grip and control, especially in wet conditions, with low levels of road noise. The tyre also wears well; with 15,000 miles covered the rear tyres have plenty of life left in them whilst the busy front tyres are still well in excess of the legal minimum, with many thousands of miles motoring left.

Tom Cruise’s 1990 blockbuster movie Days of Thunder brought the action of NASCAR racing to the big screen with a heady mix of close racing action and romance.

During the late 1980s, Cruise had cemented his reputation as Hollywood’s biggest actor, with a string of hits such as Top Gun, Cocktail and Rain Man. And in 1990 he teamed up with Simpson & Bruckheimer, producers of the global hit Top Gun, to make an action movie based on the world of NASCAR.

The storyline saw Cruise play young rookie Cole Trickle, plucked from minor league sprint car racing by a small team owner, and managed by experienced crew chief Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall). Trickle is a fast driver, but wild and error prone, with an entirely different personality from Hogge. Following testing, Trickle and Hogge start to work together as Trickle improves and wins races before nearly being killed at the Firecracker 400 at Daytona.

Trickle begins a love interest with brain surgeon Dr. Claire Lewicki (Nicole Kidman), who treats Trickle and helps him recover. But the accident seems to have permanently damaged Trickles confidence and following a bust-up with a teammate, he retires from the sport. However, when old rival Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker) is unable to race, he enlists Trickle to drive his car at the flagship Daytona 500, as Trickle and Hogge face their demons and beat them on their way to victory lane.

Many of the characters were based on real life drivers, the relationship between Trickle and Hogge being loosely based on 1980s star NASCAR driver Tim Richmond, and his relationship with crew chief Harry Hyde. Meanwhile Rowdy Burns, a tough uncompromising driver was very much based on Dale Earnhardt.

Reception to the film was mixed, with many feeling the plot was far too similar to Top Gun, where Cruise’s young headstrong character Maverick faces a crisis of confidence after an aircrash, and faces his demons for a victorious finale. The film also had a mixed reception amongst NASCAR fans, as despite the excellent racing action, much of the contact between cars was vastly over exaggerated and very uncommon in real life.

Despite the criticisms, the movie has stood the test of time, and like many motorsports films has a dedicated cult following, whilst helping to bring attention of NASCAR to fans in the UK.

The new Vauxhall Insignia has been voted the 2009 Car of The Year by 59 international motoring journalists. The news comes as a great boost for Vauxhall, who release the car amidst serious financial difficulties for its parent company General Motors.

The new car is due to be launched shortly, replacing the Vauxhall Vectra, with Vauxhall hoping it will lose the ‘repmobile’ image that plagued its predecessor. The Insignia narrowly beat the hotly tipped new Ford Fiesta, receiving 321 points to the Fiesta’s 320, whilst the new Volkswagen Golf was a distant third on 223 points. Vauxhall’s victory in the poll is only their third victory in the history of the European Car of The Year since its inception in 1964, with the only other victorious cars being the 1985 Vauxhall Astra and the 1988 Vauxhall Carlton.

Vauxhall will be hoping that the new Insignia will be as successful as its other two Car of the Year victors, both of which went onto be sales successes. This is further highlighted by the fact that not all cars that have won the prestigious competition have gone onto be popular with the general public.

Whilst many cars, such the Ford Mondeo (winner in 1994) and the Peugeot 405 (winner in 1988) went on to be huge sales success, others, such as the Renault 9 (winner in 1982) and the Fiat Brava (winner in 1996) were less fondly remembered by the public.

Whether the Insignia will be successful remains to be seen. But the victory of European Car of The Year will be a huge marketing coup for Vauxhall as the first of the new Insignias hit UK showrooms soon.

When it comes to cult motoring films, few are as highly regarded at Steve McQueen’s 1971 film, Le Mans.

Although the film was only a moderate success at the box office and contains very little plot, it has gone on to become one of the most famous and iconic motorsports films of all time. Much of this is down to the quality of the filming, with close quarters racing action accurately captured without the need of computer imagery (much of the general race footage was filmed during the 1970 Le Mans 24 hour race, using a car actually entered into the race by McQueen’s Solar Productions company). In addition, the film features some of the most beautiful looking (and sounding) cars in motorsport history, with the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 sports cars being central to the film’s plot.

Whilst on the subject of plot, there is very little plot or dialogue in the film, and is only used to bridge gaps between the awesome racing footage. McQueen plays Gulf Porsche’s star driver Michael Delaney, who is returning to Le Mans for the first time since being involved in a heavy accident in the year before, resulting in the death of a rival Ferrari driver. Also attending the race is Lisa Belgetti, the widow of the deceased driver, as she tries to come to terms with the accident. Much of the plot centres around the relationship between two characters, and following a heavy accident (following an unrelated accident that causes serious injury to a rival driver) Delaney is forced to question why he races and what makes him want to race, before being called back into action by his Porsche team manager to replace a driver and take to the circuit again.

Whilst the film was very much a labour of love for McQueen, the lack of plot, and the American public’s unfamiliarity with Le Mans saw poor returns from the box office, which eventually led to the demise of Solar Productions.

Sadly McQueen was to pass away before his masterpiece truly came of age, as motorsport fans came to truly appreciate the film and the truly awesome quality that went into the racing footage, along with the sounds of the famous cars. Today the film is very much a cult classic, and whilst some motorsport films are better than others, Le Mans is seen as a benchmark that very few have been able to equal.

Five-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb recently tested a Red Bull Formula One car at the Silverstone circuit. Loeb had to contend with poor conditions on the day, but nonetheless acclimatised himself with the car well. The French rally ace, five-time WRC champion, was testing the car as part of a promotional link up with Red Bull, who are a principal sponsor of Loeb’s Citroen rally team.

With conditions on the day being ice-cold in the morning, turning to damp later on, Loeb ran his laps on wet tyres, completing approximately 30 laps of the circuit during his test session, and whilst the Red Bull team did not release any lap times, engineers from the team were pleased with his progress during the day. Following the Silverstone test, Loeb is set to test the Red Bull car at the warmer climes of the Barcelona circuit, where he will join several Formula One regulars at an official test session.

Loeb’s test session in the Red Bull is not the first time he has driven a Formula One car, having driven a Renault Formula One car at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, following a promotional ‘car swap’ with Renault’s Formula One driver at the time, Heikki Kovalainen. Whilst Loeb’s Formula One test session is highly unlikely to lead to a full-time drive in Formula One, it nonetheless allows motorsport fans to see how adaptable the French star is, being able to adapt to two disciplines of motorsport at the highest level.