Puma Trainers

Two different motoring stories caught my eye yesterday but I didn't add them to my 'Blog because I was busy watching Wales beat Norway in the UEFA Nations League.

The first, from Auto Express, concerns Ford returning to the World Rally Championship after a couple of years off that were preceded by four years using a Ford Puma of all things!

If Wikipedia is right, then it only won 3 races in all that time.

And one of those had Sebastien Loeb at the wheel.

That will be because it is a cross-over SUV.

And significantly lowering it didn't make enough difference.

Because SUVs are not sportscars!

They presumably didn't want to use the historically successful Focus and Fiestas because they knew that they were due to be discontinued.

So they destroyed their fan base instead.  No racing fan is going to be interested in a tall vehicle tackling winding roads.  And no Puma buyer is interested in the WRC.

Now Ford have realised this so are returning in 2028 with THE FORD FIESTA!

That they stopped building in 2023!

Similarly, in the BTCC, the brilliant Ash Sutton has just won his fifth championship in a FORD FOCUS!

...that they stopped building earlier this year.  And, it was the saloon version that he used - WHICH WAS NEVER SOLD IN BRITAIN!

The "B" of BTCC stands for "British" you know.

So they are prostituting their racing heritage just like they have prostituted the names Puma, Mustang and Capri.

They are also taking advantage of new WRC regulations given that, from 2027, the cars don’t need to share their shell or chassis with a road-car alternative. They must only "reference a road car that the manufacturer builds".

So they can build whatever they like, with whatever chassis and whatever engine - and call it a Ford Explorer Rally Car.

I think the World Rally Championship has just become pointless.

A bit like asking young people in Northern Ireland if the new Graduated Driving Licence is a good idea.  

Although, the BBC, who do like to give both sides of the story, have found one who isn't totally against the idea.

The GDL (not to be confused with DRL which is something completely different altogether and is so commonplace it doesn't get mentioned any more) kicks in for anyone who hasn't passed their driving test by April 1st 2027 with extra restrictions for under 24 year-olds.

The strange thing for me though, after hearing lots of stories about "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland over the past few decades, was reading the line,

For the minister behind the Department for Infrastructure reforms, Sinn Féin's Liz Kimmins, graduated driver licensing is about reducing the risks faced by those getting behind the wheel for the first time.

It's positive that a party with an "interesting" past is now able to participate fully in positive changes which, after some recent tragedies on both sides of the Irish Sea involving young drivers, has to be a very good thing.

So it does.

REO Speed Wagon

REO Speedwagon the band are named after REO Speedwagon the fire engine - and other truck-based vehicles.  It was manufactured by the REO Motor Car Company and the REO is pronounced "Rio" despite standing for its founder R.E.Olds and despite the band pronouncing it "Oreo" if I remember correctly.

Thank you Wikipedia.

Anyway, they became defunct in 1967.

Also thank you Wikipedia. (for the information that is, not for them going defunct in 1967)

Well, REO are back in the news today.

Or at least a reincarnation of the company is.  Car+Driver have the story here.

And  Frank Stephenson, star of my post last year and also designer of the McLaren P1 will be doing the styling.

Most start-ups seem to fail in the automotive industry.  Top Gear Magazine, as well as featuring Frank Stephenson every month, also feature a failed start-up every month.

Let's hope for Frank's sake - he only appears the once in future editions.

Medium Wave Hello

Two and a half years ago, I posted about how discussions were taking place to make it compulsory to have am band radios in cars in the US.

Well it looks like it's coming closer.

"The bill would require automakers to put AM radios in every car made or sold in the United States."

It doesn't use the word install though.

So my suggestion in 2024 of buying a cheap one and putting it in the glove box should do the trick.  Modern ones (if there is such a thing as a modern am radio) can be powered from a USB-C cable.

It does use the word made though.  So every car built in the States has to have an am radio!?

What will the rest of the World make of that?  My car was built in The States.

AM won't be a very useful feature where I live:

Due to the mass shutdown of the UK's analogue transmitters over recent years, the AM (Medium Wave) radio spectrum is heavily reduced. Local favorites like BBC Radio Merseyside (1485 AM) and Radio City / Greatest Hits Radio (1548 AM) have permanently turned off their AM signals.

However, you can still tune into a few national and ultra-local stations on the Wirral:

📻 Active AM Stations on the Wirral

talkSPORT (1089 kHz or 1107 kHz AM): Strong reception across the peninsula. talkSPORT actually operates a dedicated local low-power transmitter in Wallasey on 1107 AM, while the high-powered 1089 AM signal comes across from the Moorside Edge transmitter.
BBC Radio 5 Live (693 kHz or 909 kHz AM): The main national home for live news and sports can still be picked up clearly across the North West.
Radio Clatterbridge (1386 kHz AM): A true local gem. Based at the Clatterbridge Health Park in Bebington, it is one of the oldest hospital community radio stations in the world. While its low-power AM signal is meant for the health park, it can often be picked up in the surrounding mid-Wirral areas.

Thank you Google AI for that summary.

I wonder what next will they want installing in our cars?

Let me just float that by you...

What happens if you live in a flood plain and want to keep your car safe?

Car+Driver have this idea from Japan.

So your parking space is a giant block of polystyrene.

Or, more precisely, a large, resin-coated slab of waterproof foam that floats up with the floodwater.

So, what's to stop it floating away?

Well, those shiny metal tubes are fixed to the ground and the large, resin-coated slab of waterproof foam has holes that accommodate them.

So what happens if the floodwater is so high that it clears the shiny, metal poles?

Then your car floats away.

Instruments of Torture

BMW haven't learned from Volkswagen's mistake.

They did learn from their own mistake though.

But it looks like Hyundai haven't learned from BMW's mistake.

They want to charge extra for an instrument binnacle!

An instrument binnacle that stops the car looking like the inside of a Tesla.

The cars it's slated for are the Ionic 3 and the Elantra.  The Elantra looks really good from the outside.

Shame it'll be ruined by the inside.

Meanwhile, Ford are charging Mustang Mach E buyers $495 to use their front boot.

But then people who are buying SUVs that are named after sporty cars will be gullible enough to pay up.