Horny In a Safari Park

Fox News have this new driving tip today:

Don't get between a mother rhino and her child.

Fair enough.  But surely one for West Africa rather than the West Midlands?

Well not according to this story.  Or this Skoda Fabia that got between a rhino mother and her child:

The story helpfully has a picture of the rest of an undamaged Skoda Fabia so that the American readers have an idea what we are talking about here.

Bit of a boring car but at least it isn't a cross-over.

The West Midlands Safari Park (for that is where this happened) are refusing to pay out as apparently the Terms and Conditions that you read and accept (well "accept" anyway) on entering state that you take responsibility for any rhino damage to your vehicle.

And it's not the first time this has happened.  Check out the Birmingham Mail from 2015.

Again, terms and conditions were referenced when considering the considerably less damage to the rear of a Mitsubishi Warrior - a huge ugly tank of a vehicle.  the woman in charge of it (the car not the rhino) said, "We were absolutely petrified. I dread to think what would’ve happened if we’d been in a smaller, lighter vehicle.”

Well now she knows.

Not Fine

Back in May, I posted about the story of a Tesla Driver's close call with death when a load of concrete slabs fell off an HGV and crushed his car.

The case came to Court today.  The BBC reported it thusly.

Lorry driver David Terry pleaded guilty to "using a motor vehicle where the weight, position or distribution of its load involved a danger of injury to any person"

I'd have thought "endangering life" would have been a better description.

His punishment was miniscule - a fine of £267, a victim surcharge of £34 and £85 in costs and three points on his driving licence.  I'm sure that the £34 will help with the loss of a £50,000 car.

I'm normally a softy lefty Liberal.  All words that right-wingers think are insults because they don't know the meanings of them - like "Socialist".

But come on!

His speed wasn't safe - his load wasn't safe - MULTIPLE PEOPLE COULD HAVE DIED!

It shouldn't need a death to match the punishment to a crime like this.

At least the morons in this other BBC video today did actually get banned:

Powerless

The BBC have had a go at Boris Johnson today.

Unusually.

Political reporter Jennifer Scott was much harsher than Laura Kuenssberg would have been.

Good.

Basically, Johnson made a speech which was supposed to promote electric motoring and green business to the CBI.  But he lost his place and waffled on about Peppa Pig World for a bit making a few lame jokes.

Embarrassing.

An earlier version of the Jennifer Scott story had lots of motoring references about him taking the wrong turn and other such also lame jokes.  That version seems to have disappeared.

Probably for the best.

Now, talking about electric cars and the BBC and embarrassing, did you see Top Gear this weekend?

After a promising series opener last week with a very moving tribute to Eddie Kidd, this week they went caravanning using luxury electric cars as their tow-cars. It included a puerile and pointless attempt to lap their cars around the top of a mountain while eating stronger and stronger chillies culminating in Paddy McGuinness spitting out a mouthful of milk over Freddie Flintoff and the interior of a Mercedes EQC.

They then had to drive to Barnard Castle (which brings us back to Johnson embarrassment) without recharging - and they ran out of charge.  Actually, Chris Harris did get there but only by ditching his caravan so the whole exercise was a waste of time.

There is only one solution to both of these situations.

Healing Words

There are a couple of Facebook Pages that I follow for their interesting motoring content.  I can recommend them both.

One is Silodrome.

The other is Hagerty UK. Other nationalities of Hagerty are available.

Both of them had Healey stories this week - although strictly speaking, the Silodrome one was a Healy story.  That spelling just looks wrong.  But then again, so does the car:

The Nissan Micra rear lights don't help but the Mini front lights make it look like a bloated Mini Convertible.

It probably looks quite good in the flesh though.

It is a kit car based on an MX5.  It is from Healy Designs reimagining a modern day Austin-Healey 3000.  I can see where they are coming from and I think they are making a fair fist of it.

The Healey name with an "e" allegedly belongs to a company called HFI Automotive and according to Wikipedia, without any citation, so it could be a load of tripe, in 2007 it was announced that Nanjing Automotive (NAC, who own the Austin name and are currently producing MGs) signed a collaborative agreement with them that aims to recreate the Austin Healey and Healey marques alongside NAC's MG.

The Hagerty story, on the other hand, harks back to how Ford could have but didn't invent the Hot Hatch.

With this car:

It was developed in the late '70s by Healey Automotive Consultants who were owned by the Healey family and went on to be sold to HFI Automotive who may well have signed a collaborative agreement with NAC in 2007 that aims to recreate the Austin Healey and Healey marques alongside NAC's MG.  It was actually Ford of America that was leading on this which is why it is a left-hand drive car and has American plates even though the letters and numbers point at a 1978 UK car.

According to MyCarCheck, that UK plate is now on a 2015 Ford Escort Sport - more tripe because there is no such thing.  I suspect that somebody has spotted the headlights on this exact car and re-registered it wrongly on it returning to the UK in 2015.

God I'm good.

I've just looked it up on the Government MOT-check Website.

Not only does it confirm that we ARE talking out this Healey Fiesta, it also picks up on the one thing that really annoyed me when I first saw the photos of this historic car.

Under "Repair Immediately" it states<

• Offside Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))

A Colossal Mistake

Fox News got me all excited.

But I'd made a colossal mistake.

I thought they were going to be holding a round of next year's NASCAR at The Colosseum in Rome:

The story is here.

It looks really exciting. They are laying down a temporary track like did at Wembley for the Race of Champions.

It will also be a showcase for the Next Gen NASCAR cars. Which are nowhere near as innovative as the next Gen BTCC cars.

But they seem to like them.

Now although the Colosseum is the right shape, I wondered about the size.

I was right to wonder - I'd got the wrong Colosseum - even the spelling is wrong.

It should have been the L.A. Coliseum:

Much more suitable.

And easier to get to for your average NASCAR fan.

The only NASCAR Racing that would fit comfortably into the Roman Colosseum would be this version:

And that set isn't even an oval.

Braking Bad

Many years ago - mid-Eighties in fact - while sat in my driving instructor's 1983 Toyota Starlet, I was informed what you are supposed to do when you bring a vehicle to a stop - for example at traffic lights.

This is not that car - wrong country for a start - but it is about the right vintage and I think the colour is right too.

I was informed that when you bring your vehicle to a halt, you should apply the handbrake and put the transmission in to Neutral (or Park if it is an automatic)

I was informed correctly - this Driving Instructor's blog quotes the recommended manual on the subject and states why you should do it.

SO WHY DON'T PEOPLE DO IT?

This evening I was plagued by roadworks with traffic lights and took these stills from my Dashcam:

The second and third pictures are the same car - I was stuck in the same stream of traffic for two changes of the lights.

My handbrake was applied and my car was in Neutral at the time of each of these stills.

The problem is blindingly obvious.