That's not a Golf

It's a 3-Series BMW.

But it is in the Golf section of the BBC Website.

I'm not an expert on Golf but I would suspect that most top-class golfers would be able to hit a ball a great distance in a straight line.

So Paul O'Neill is doing the hard work in this successful World-Record attempt:

(click on the picture to see the video)

And yet Marcus Armitage gets to be the record holder.

I'm looking forward to seeing Paul in action next weekend for the return of the BTCC where he should be presenting and commentating for ITV Sport again.

Obviously, Paul was wearing a crash helmet for this attempt - I really don't understand why Marcus has one though.

At this point, please insert your own joke using the word "Driver."

Restoring the Faith

We seem to have a plethora of car make-over/restoration shows on UK telly at the moment.

We have series 2 of Channel 5's Classic Car Rescue on a Monday night.  We have ongoing Wheeler Dealers on Discovery.  Quest are repeating Chop Shop, London Garage on a Thursday and we have a new entry from Channel 4 on a Sunday namely, For The Love of Cars:

This features Philip Glenister and "internationally renowned car designer" Ant Anstead restoring classic British cars.  I put that bit in quotes because that is how Channel 4 describe him - I'd never heard of him before and he does seem to be an extremely competent mechanic/car restorer - not too sure about the relevance of his design qualifications though.

 

Ant gets on with the actual restoration work while Phil becomes DCI Gene Hunt with ever-varying amounts of stubble and goes out to have adventures and meet people and groups with stories to tell of whichever vehicle is up for restoration that week.

 

Week one saw the Escort Mexico in the picture above - the best bit was the look on the face of a Liverpool Police Officer who used to drive one in the '70s.  They were interviewing him for the series in a back alley somewhere on Merseyside and he suddenly heard the siren approaching of one of the cars in the fleet he used to use.  He got to drive it again and meet up with a '70s car-thief too.

 

Week two was the Series I Land-Rover where Phil got to meet a Landie enthusiast who you wouldn't want to meet down the pub and another who you definitely would - they even named the restored Landie after him.

 

Next week it's the Triumph Stag - really looking forward to see what they do with my favourite classic.

 

Classic Car Rescue, which I did a bit about Series 1 on, has changed a little bit.  There are still the silly, contrived, badly-acted arguments but I think there is a little more actual car restoration being shown.  The final valuation now comes in via "classic car expert" Paul O'Neill.  I put that in quotes because Paul O'Neill is an ex-Touring Car Driver who does the Twitter bits during the BTCC Coverage and is the brother of a Spice Girl.  I'm a big fan of Paul (him being a Scouser helps) but I've never heard him described as a "classic car expert" before.

 

Bernie Fineman's previous show, Chop Shop, London Garage is probably the nearest to what I think of as the original and best show like these, American Hot-Rod which I posted about back in 2011.  These two shows are more make-over than restoration but enthralling viewing to me.

 

According to wiki though, American Hot-Rod wasn't the first - Wheeler Dealers is older - and still going strong.  I love Wheeler Dealers but it's quite rare that I get to watch it because it is on Pay-TV - this is surely a prime show for Quest to take on?

 

Anyway, I hope as many of these shows continue as possible for many years into the future when one day they will be restoring Nissan Jukes and Citroen DS3s.

McFly Visiting The Wirral

I'll start by apologising to all Wirral-based fans of popular teen beat-combo McFly because this post has bugger all to do with them. I've discovered that by mentioning someone popular and famous in the post title, you get a lot of hits. By far and away my most-read post is How Russell Brand is affecting the Top Gear Celebrity Lap-Times Board which does actually do what it says on the tin and explain how Russell Brand was affecting the Top Gear Celebrity Lap-Times Board.

I've got nothing against McFly - as boy-bands go they do not come into the category of band I hate where the looks and the dances are more important than the songs or the ability to sing - I'm thinking Boyzone, Atomic Kitten, Steps etc. The Spice Girls also come into that category with such marvellous (not!) lyrics as:

"I'll tell you what I want what I really, really want
So tell me what you want what you really, really want
I'll tell you what I want what I really, really want
So tell me what you want what you really, really want
I'll tell you what I want what I really, really want
So tell me what you want what you really, really want..."

This continues for quarter of an hour before the answer is revealed.

"...what I really, really want is to Ziggy Zig Ah!"

Total crap. The only Spice Girl with any proper musical talent was Melanie Chisholm whose brother is popular BTCC Driver Paul O'Neill. This has finally brought this post back to cars but that wasn't where I was going with this.

No, the McFly I was referring to was Marty McFly who must have been buying some hardware from B&Q's Wallasey Warehouse today judging by their car park where I spotted this fine vehicle...
A fine 1980 (judging by the number plate) left-hooker (as were all but 16 according to Wikipedia) DeLorean DMC-12 - not a spot of rust on it - then again, being stainless steel there shouldn't be! My main observation though, was just how low it was - it if wasn't for the gullwing doors, then you'd have to be Michael J.Fox sized to comfortably get in and out.

I've checked the weather reports and there's no sign of thunder and lightning so I presume he's going to be hanging around for a while.