A Bare Behind

Second post in a week where I felt the need to Post because I thought of a good title.

Although it is actually a bear behind:

A fluffy pink teddy bear wearing a Hi-vis jacket to be precise.

The Fox News story is here.

I'm not actually too sure what it proves - it was an experiment by the IIHS - the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. I think it told us that drivers who were experienced with automatic lane control systems were more observant than those less experienced in the systems when it comes to spotting cuddly toys on the highway.

Woof Rack

Some good car news and some bad car news out of The States over the last week or so.

I was in two minds about commenting on both until the above Post Title came in to my head for the second story and I just couldn't waste it.

But first, from Fox News of all places, some good news - unless you are a racist motorsports fan.

NASCAR's flag ban opens sport to diverse new crowd.  It seems that having less symbols of oppression at a sports event means that you get more people turning up.  The Confederate Flag has been banned from the circuits - the theory being that "for every fan who complained about lost heritage, someone new would discover a sport far more inclusive than initially perceived."

Turns out the theory was borne out - probably much to the annoyance of your typical Fox News viewer.  Good.

The second story, from Car+Driver, is bad news - but only if you like to let your dog ride loose in the back of your pick-up in Utah or six other US States.

In Utah, Letting Dogs Ride in Pickup Truck Bed May Be Illegal Soon.  A proposed bill, from a Democrat, "would make it illegal for people to drive faster than 40 mph with unrestrained dogs in the back of their truck. There are exceptions for working farm dogs and hunting dogs or if the sides of the bed are at least 46 inches tall."  Apparently, there have been some horrific cases of dogs falling from vehicles killing themselves and injuring other road users.

I envisage Fox News reporting on this the same way that they reported that "Barack Obama wanted to ban all guns" - when he actually was trying to make their usage safer - for example by preventing terrorists from buying them.

There is another solution:

Grid Lock

This post title is cleverer than it seems.

You see this is a racing grid...

...with a huge amount of cars.

But that is the end of the story.  We need to be at the start of the story - after all, the Grid lines up at the start.

It all starts in 2018 when, as Touring Car Times tells us, UK motor racing circuit Rockingham, got dropped from the 2019 BTCC Race Calendar.  They cited the possible impending sale of the venue preventing  organisers from being able to confirm a meeting that year.  Shame.  Rockingham was intrinsically different to all of the other other BTCC Circuits in that it is built as an American-style banked oval with added in twisty bits to keep the UK punters happy.

It was different - which made it interesting.

We've not had banked curves in this country since Brooklands closed - unless you count Scalextric.

Anyway, thinks me, I'm sure the new owners will get it back on the calendar the following year.  And then I thought no more about it.

Until I read this BBC story this evening.  At which point I learned that in November of 2018 it held its final race and the following January it was announced that the Grandstands would be demolished.

It is now the home of Rockingham Logistics Hub (the eagerly anticipated new owners) and is now apparently "the UK's new centre for automotive logistics".  Not overly sure what that means but they are storing thousands of unwanted used vehicles there - including lots of ex-rental vehicles and lease cars.

Mind you, depending on how you crop your picture, it didn't look that different in 2015:

Snow Joke

 It's been trying to blizzard a bit here today.

It's not sticking.

Merseyside tends to not get a lot of snow which has been useful this week - while the Eastern half of the country has been blanketed, this has been going on in Liverpool:

They are filming a TV version of the film The Ipcress File.  I don't know why that Austin Cambridge looks so stunning, they were ten-a-penny when I was a little boy.

Meanwhile, over on the Eastern half of the UK, we have the annual story of some twerp driving whilst looking through a little porthole he's made in the snow on the windscreen.  This year's is set in Dundee and is particularly stupid:

That is a Peugeot under there.  It was on an industrial estate but he could still have killed someone wandering by.  Maybe he was trying to get away from that ominous looking black square that is behind him.

Meanwhile again, over in the Eastern half of Europe this time - or maybe even beyond - we have these twerps:

Four Play

Autocar are playing with what the new Renault 4 will look like.

I have to say I was quite excited when i saw what the new Renault 5 is looking like - so were Top Gear Magazine - you'll have to buy the February edition to read the article:

Anyway, Renault are planning a retro-style electric vehicle called The Renault 5 which is an obvious nod to the old Renault 5.

They are starting with:

and coming up with:

Which, let's face it, is pretty cool.

There was also speculation that the same thing was going to happen with the Renault 4.

Now, that is a much uglier starting point:

A horrible, utilitarian 2CV rival.

Autocar got confirmation that it is going to happen and decided to produce their own rendering:

I'm afraid I just don't see it.  I could see that as the modern take on a Clio Williams but not a 4.

And let's be honest, we all know that the new 4 will be another bloody SUV.

Which is a shame, because if we are having a 21st Century Renault 4 then it has to be ugly and not an SUV - somebody I've never heard of called David Obendorfer did a perfectly good job of exactly that ten years ago - check out the pictures in this Carscoops story.

Much truer to the original - and hopefully available in brown.