Peter Mullin makes extravagant donation to Art Center College of Design

Peter Mullin, the purveyor of the Art Deco-inspired Mullin Museum in Oxnard, California, knows a thing or two about good design, and about nurturing good design. His contributions to Art Center have included the Peter W. Mullin Endowed Scholarship, which since 2005 has provided worthy students with financial aid.

Rosberg on pole for Mercedes in Japan – Vettel leaving Red Bull.

Rosberg beats Hamilton to pole in Japan Lewis Hamilton must have been confident of taking pole for the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka this morning after his resurgence in recent races – in the process taking the lead in the drivers F1 battle – but it wasn’t to be. Hamilton’s car needed a major front end rebuild after he ran wide and hit the barrier in final practice – which may have contributed to his qualifying result – but whatever the excuses it’s Rosberg in front of Hamilton for tomorrow’s race after posting a time 0.197s quicker than the Brit. Behind the two Mercedes cars it’s a Williams second row – with Bottas in third and Massa in fourth – followed by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in what is fast becoming his default place – 5th – and Daniel Ricciardo in sixth.

Steve McQueen’s Ferrari 275 GTB4 restored by Ferrari Classiche

Ferrari Classiche has taken Steve McQueen’s Ferrari 275 GTB4 and put it back to original Coupe form with and-beaten steel panels. We all know that classic Ferraris are one of the better investments you can make, certainly in the long term. Just look at the recent sale of a Ferrari 250 GTO for $35 million (new price in the early 1960s was £6k) for evidence of the enormous prices classic Ferraris fetch, certainly the pre-Fiat Ferraris where production numbers were small.