Some Say... ...He Assaulted Goodwood’s Hill with a Mustang Shelby GT350R

I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for Ben Collins now.

He can't do anything without being referred to as "the former Stig from Top Gear."

This story from Car+Driver has him driving a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R up the Goodwood Hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed which is on this weekend.  I look forward to the highlights show on ITV4.

Maybe one year I'll make the effort to get down there.  This year I made the effort to check out their Website.  I then got distracted by this story on it.  I love old Volvos - especially the ones I saw at Oulton Park competing in the British Touring Car Championships in the '90s.  So much so that I have a signed print (signed by driver Tim Harvey and also by the artist) of a drawing of them in action at Brands Hatch in my hall.

The picture is in my hall, Brands Hatch isn't.

Anyway, this is why I was drawn to that story:

It's a Volvo 240T Touring Car!  That I'd never heard of. But that is because it competed in the European Touring Car Championships in the '80s.

At this point I got distracted by the thought that I wish they were still competing - after all, back in 2012, I found this story about a new Volvo Touring Car.

So, a quick bit of  Internet research led me to the Scandinavian Touring Car Championships where Volvos have been very successful of late and they seem to have more manufacturers taking part too - including the likes of Dacia.

Now, the first Formula e race of the weekend has just started so I'll go and watch that.

Some say I get easily distracted...  ... ooh look, a duck.

TFI Top Gear

Remember where you heard it first - BBC News.  But I got it off them soon after.

Last Friday, after much advertising, Chris Evans resurrected TFI Friday for one last bash. On Saturday, The Telegraph did an article on how people didn't like the excessive car stuff in it.  In fact, they claimed "Audiences turned off by Chris Evans' lengthy Top Gear audition".

Hmm.  Interesting.

Especially since, on more than one occasion on his breakfast show, Chris has ruled himself out of that job.

Besides, according to the Guardian yesterday, he would like to ressurrect TFI as a full series.

But that would be very impactful on his other commitments - his Radio 2 breakfast show and his Friday evening edition of The One Show.

I never really watched TFI Friday - the only five minutes of it I ever saw were a sort of mock poetry competition where a pretty girl was allowed to read out her poem then when a young lad tried to read out his, they had some guy come up behind him sticking his arm between the young lad's legs to put him off in "an amusing way".

I also didn't watch last Friday's show but apparently I would have enjoyed it for the same reason the Telegraph readers didn't.  Jeremy was on it - so was Jason Plato - so was The Ferrari LaFerrari and the Top Gear Test Track.

And now they've given the Top Gear gig to Chris.

Maybe it was that or he joins Channel 4 and TFI leaving them with a hole in the One Show and possibly a bigger hole at breakfast time on Radio 2.

Or maybe he'll do TFI as well.

Evans overload.  Evans above.

No news yet on his co-presenters.  The Express were at least 33% wrong with their story on the new line-up.  Whereas I go with my suggestion of Jason Plato to join Chris:

I

I think that could work.  I don't know if Fifth Gear is still going since I don't have Discovery but I'm sure he could be prised away.

Actually - forget Chris - bring in Tiff, Vicki and Jason then Fifth Gear would need three presenters.

I know of three motoring show presenters looking for work.

Another 3 Points for Jose Mourinho

It's June and I miss the football season already.

So here's a Mirror story about Jose Mourinho amassing 12 Points and a driving ban for speeding.

Love the bit in the story that says "Mourinho did not wish to declare his income, however, the court said it would take his significant income into account.  He was ordered to pay a £750 fine as well as a £75 surcharge and £85 court costs."


While we're discussing football, here's a picture of an Oldsmobile 4-4-2:

Whistl Stop

No, I haven't spelt that wrong.

I wonder if these two BBC stories from the last few hours that I've just read are related.

The first involves the arrest of a truck driver who has managed to leave carnage on the road to Tunbridge Wells.

  

Here's his lorry.  Note the name of the company it belongs to - Whistl.

 

Doesn't sound like a health failure - it could be a mechanical failure.  But check out the second story.

Joyeux Noel

Why is he so joyous?

Because, according to The Telegraph today, he has an exciting new venture selling expensive cars.

Although, if I were Noel, I'd be joyous that I didn't look any older now (aged 66 allegedly) than I did in the late '70s when he presented Top Gear:

This is the story of how Noel Edmonds has teamed up with Suffolk Sportscars in Woodbridge to create and sell a highly-bespoke version of their Jaguar SS100 replica. He's calling it a LaRiviera.

And very nice it looks too.

He's selling them for between £175,000 and £195,000 a go - so if you fancy one, you'll probably need a friendly banker:

Now, of course, between Top Gear and Deal or No Deal, Noel has had many entertainment successes - his radio career and Multi-coloured Swap Shop to name but two.  But here's something that allows me to post a car picture: