‘Selfie’ drivers risking their lives

ONE IN 14 drivers admits taking a ‘selfie’ photo on their mobile phone while driving, despite official figures showing that one in ten (9%) of drivers have had an accident while using the phone at the wheel. Young drivers are the most likely to use their mobile phone to take a selfie, which is a picture of the phone user taken by themselves. A further one on 20 drivers also owns up to using a social media app on their smartphone while driving to send photos they have just taken friends.

Old is new again: Will a floor-hinged throttle pedal be in your future?

If you think that every little nut, bolt, switch, gear or widget in your new car wasn't scrutinized by a team of highly educated, overworked car geeks (read: engineers), think again. A couple of recent conversations with automotive engineers confirmed that virtually nothing that goes into a car today is taken for granted. During the recent Pebble Beach weekend, I had the pleasure of spending time with an engineer for Jaguar, and the subject turned to materials used for various switches in the cabin.

Hennessey Venom GT hits new, unofficial, speed record (video)

The Hennessey Venom GT (pictured) hist 270.49mph on a NASA runway Top speed records for production cars is starting to seem pretty irrelevant as there’s almost nowhere an owner can ever hope to hit those record speeds. And the performance of cars like the new McLaren P1 – where  performance and handling are much more the focus than outright top speed – has added the the irrelevance. But that doesn’t stop some car makers aiming for the bragging rights of the world’s fastest production car, and John Hennessey and his Hennessey Venom GT are back with another claim on the title.