Strange Choices

 It seems a strange choice to let your very small unrestrained child stick its head out of the car window when your travelling around:

Actually - it's just stupid - unless you don't actually like the child.

No, a strange choice would be to leave a lucrative job as Aston Martin's Design Manager having worked on the DBX, DB11 and Valkyrie...

...to go to do a similar job for Dacia.

But that is what this chap is doing:

He doesn't look like an Aston Martin designer does he?

His name is Miles Nürnberger - I've not heard of him.

But those cars show he is up to the job - and he's a bit older now and presumably wiser.  So there must be a good reason to move - probably financial but maybe the challenge or job security or he doesn't like his car-parking space - none of our business really.

What we do know though is that it's not that he gets to design the new Dacia Logo.

Sandero Logo's to GoGo.

 The Dacia logo is quite rubbish really:

I mean, what on Earth is that meant to be?

A boot release handle?

Upside down it could be the top of a car seat.

So here is the new one:

Double ended tuning fork?

It is meant to be the D and C from Dacia - the Autocar story is here.  It sort of reminds me of the badge on the front of a certain iconic car from the '80s:

Which in turn, mustn't be confused with this:

Anyway, walk this way and see how the logo does actually look quite good on the front of their concept small SUV:

Just a shame it is a small SUV.

Anyway, in some nice news, take a look at this:

No, it's not a graph or a weird steering wheel design - it is highlighting part of another famous graphic which has been renamed in honour of the late, great Sabine Schmitz.  That story, from the Top Gear website, is here.

Executive Chargeport Lounges

Audi are looking in to treating their electric car drivers as airline passengers.

Airport Executive lounges are a very acceptable way of spending time while trapped mid-journey.  So why not do something similar when you are waiting for your car to charge up?

The story is here.

It sounds like a good idea - presumably charge a bit more for the electricity but throw in some peanuts and phone charging and newspapers and toilets.  Will they let other drivers use their facilities though?  After all, your average Audi driver won't want to look up from his Financial Times and see a Dacia driver.

I'm sure that the rest of the VW Group brands will want to get some of this action too though.  The Scania one would have to be huge and the Ducati one would have helmet polishing facilities.

Presumably the Bentley one would have butler service and the Lambo one would be the most fun.

They all just need to make sure that they have a snooty person on the entrance to keep out the riff-raff.

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.