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Some of the country’s top stunt drivers and riders will visit Northamptonshire this month to entertain the crowds at Santa Pod raceway’s stunt night.
The evening of high octane half-term entertainment will take place at the track, in Podington, on Friday, February 19.
Podzilla, Santa Pod’s monster truck, will be one of the vehicles on show on the night.
There will be two-wheel car tricks, a VW Jet Beetle and motorbike stunts. But the attractions are not all vehicle-based – there will also be children’s party games in Fueler’s Bar, a separate children’s entertainment area and fire juggling from the Poi Circus.
There will also be funfair rides suitable for all the family and the evening will come to a close with a big firework display.
Joanna Harris, from Santa Pod Raceway, said the event was particularly aimed at local people and had become increasingly popular over the past few years.
She said: “Stunt night is a great family fun evening event specifically for local people at the end of half-term, which doesn’t cost the earth.
“Over the last couple of years since we started the event we’ve seen an increase in local people attending, which is fantastic.
“We try to include local talent in the event and this year have Heart FM’s breakfast duo, Jagger and Woody, coming along to try their hands at driving Podzilla, Santa Pod’s Monster Truck, as well as the Japanese phenomena that is drifting.
“All in all stunt night is an affordable action-packed evening for all the family to enjoy.”
Adult tickets are £9 plus a booking fee in advance or £15 on the gate.
All children under 16 will be admitted for free, with a maximum of three children per paying adult.
The main attractions will take place between 6pm and 8pm.
Gates will open from 4pm to 10pm and the event will run from 5pm to 9pm.
Advance tickets are on sale and will be available until February 12.
There will be full catering and bar facilities at the track on the day.
More acts and attractions are still to be confirmed for Stunt Night.
CamperFest 2010 at Chester Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival
A brand new show, CamperFest, is to arrive at Chester Racecourse for the 9th Chester Food Drink and Lifestyle Festival 3rd -5th April 2010.
CamperFest is the family, fun festival aimed at those who love food, drink and camping in a relaxed, city centre location.
There will be four days of fabulous camping fun in the Chester sun with celebrity chef demos, hundreds of stalls to see, taste and buy everything that tickles your taste buds and luxury camping facilities to make your stay chilled out and comfortable.
There will be plenty for the kids to get involved in too, and along with The Academy of Culinary Arts, kids can learn how to cook yummy meals for themselves, mums and dads leaving you the chance to browse around the many food, drink and lifestyle stalls at leisure.
Gates open from 2pm onwards on Thursday 1st April. Tickets are priced at £20 per person in advance (£30 on the day)
The package includes:
Camping for four nights (Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun) on the beautiful Chester Racecourse – facilities include toilets and showers
Entry to the three day Chester Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival (Sat, Sun and Mon), where celebrity chef demos will be taking place
Entry to the Beer Festival
Entry to the home and garden show
To reserve your space please complete the booking form and return with full payment: Chester Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival, Concorde House, Canal Street, Chester CH1 4EJ
Or tel: 01244 355474
Or alternately email: rebecca@whiteevents.co.uk or alex@scwirrel.com.
VW Group chairman Martin Winterkorn has given the first official confirmation that a new entry-level Porsche sports car is being evaluated writes Autocar.
Talking to Autocar in Wolfsburg as the new VW Polo received its the 2010 Car of the Year Award, Winterkorn said: “The Porsche model range is firmly based on the 911, Boxster, Cayenne and Cayman, and it will stay that way. We are also investigating opportunities for a smaller sports car and a smaller SUV – but I cannot say more at the moment.”
When asked how likely the new models were to make production, he responded: “Let’s just say we do not usually waste our effort…”
Dubbed by some insiders as the “new 356”, the mid-engined machine will not, however, be a bargain basement model, despite initial rumours to the contrary. Given the final green light, it would cost from about £33,000 in today’s money.
Instead, the 356 is expected to be based on a new steel and aluminium platform that’s being developed by Audi for its own R4 mid-engined sports car.
Work on the R4 is already well advanced, and it’s due to be launched in June 2011. However, Porsche’s version of the car, which won’t arrive before late 2012, is expected to be significantly different.
Aside from its unique styling inside and out, the 356 is also expected to be one of the first Porsches to be fitted with a forced-induction flat four engine that is currently under development. This unit will also help ensure the Porsche and Audi have sharply different characters, even though the two cars have the same basic architecture.
It’s also likely that the Porsche will share its transmission with the Audi because the longitudinal unit used in the 911 and Boxster is thought to be too costly.
It’s expected the engine will be good for about 250bhp. That’s virtually the same as today’s entry-level Boxster, although fuel economy would surely be better.
However, there’s little chance that the 356 and Boxster will clash because, according to one rumoured product plan, the next-generation Boxster and Cayman could be moved sharply upmarket.
Driving while impaired by texting, Tyler Strandberg wrecked a VW Beetle, on U.S. 64 near Rocky Mount.
Like father, like daughter – only more so.
Tyler Strandberg of Rocky Mount has a hard time getting her mind off her BlackBerry when she drives writes newsobserver.com.
Each time, she was distracted from her driving because she was typing text messages or talking on the phone.
“Sometimes I will zone out and forget I’m driving,” said Tyler, 23. “If I’m on the phone talking about something that takes up all my focus, I’m looking straight ahead – but not even seeing what’s there.”
Her dad, Buckley Strandberg, worries that she will never curb her dangerous habit.
But Buckley, an insurance executive, confesses his own weakness for Blackberry and Bluetooth. He feels compelled to conduct business by phone and e-mail on long, lonely drives between his offices in Rocky Mount and Nags Head.
“That’s more than two hours,” said Buckley, 49. “I’m not just going to sit there in the car. I get a lot of work done on that straight, dead stretch of U.S. 64.
“And if I run off the road, there are rumble strips that divert me back onto the road. That has happened occasionally. They seem to work, those rumble strips.”
Buckley and Tyler Strandberg contacted The News & Observer to come clean about a problem they share with each other – and with a lot of us. They expressed embarrassment but spoke candidly about how they rely on their phones when they drive, and how they try to reduce their risks.
As many as 60 percent of drivers use their phones occasionally, researchers say, and 11 percent are on the phone at any one time. Cell phone use is a deadly distraction that causes as many as 28 percent of all traffic crashes, the National Safety Council says.
Readers share alarming stories about other drivers who swerve in traffic while clasping phones to their ears or gazing at little text screens:
“I saw her on her cell phone as she sped through the red light,” said Nancy McGrew, 77, of Garner, describing a driver who “banged into the back of our truck.”
“The driver never even put on her brakes,” said Janet Giannattasio, 66, of Raleigh. “She got out of her car, still on her cell phone. She told whoever was on the other end, ‘I just hit somebody.’ My daughter and I still have problems from the whiplash injuries.”
Distracted at the wheel
Tyler Strandberg graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill last May and is spending a couple of years in Wyoming. She has had three crashes while phoning or texting
The first was in 2007 on U.S. 15-501 between Chapel Hill and Durham. She was texting, didn’t see traffic slowing in front of her, and ran into a truck. There were no injuries, she says.
Then she totaled two cars within two months.
In February 2008, she was lost on Raleigh’s 540 Outer Loop, overdue for a family dinner. She and her father argued on the phone as she drove, and she couldn’t understand his directions to the Raleigh restaurant.
“I was mad, lost and late. It was sleeting, and I was really stressed out,” Tyler said. She hit an icy patch and spun into a green exit sign, smashing her Nissan Xterra.
“It was pretty scary being on the phone with her and hearing her going through the accident,” Buckley said. “She was screaming.”
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Volkswagen motorsport director Kris Nissen believes that Formula 1 will need more stability and a better image before his company considers entering writes www.autosport.com.
The German car manufacturer revealed at the end of last year that it was evaluating the potential benefits of moving into grand prix racing when new engine regulations are introduced from the start of 2013.
Although the situation remains completely open, Nissen says that the sport will need to make some changes before VW feels ready to commit.
“Formula 1 is facing one of the most difficult situations it has had for many years,” Nissen told AUTOSPORT.
“They need to handle that, and I really believe that [FIA president] Jean Todt and the teams will do that. I think that for manufacturers to come back, or for new manufacturers to enter Formula 1, you need to have stability, you need to have a slightly different image, and you need to bring the costs down.
“But this has been said many times, people are aware of it, and now I think the right people are working on it.”
Nissen also said that if VW did opt for an F1 programme, it was unlikely that the company would choose to run under the ‘Volkswagen’ brand name – meaning it could be as Audi, Bentley, SEAT or even Bugatti.
“There is a difference between the brand Volkswagen and the Volkswagen group,” said Nissen. “The VW group has a lot of brands, ten now, with different images. If the group enters Formula 1, they would need to decide which brand, and I personally think that they would decide on another brand than Volkswagen.
“If it was to happen, it would be ‘the VW group enters F1′ with whatever brand. But I can promise you that there will be at least a couple more Dakars to come before this decision is taken.”
VW will be debuting the New Concept Coupe (NCC) at the Detroit auto show today writes www.worldcarfans.com.
The New Concept Coupe is a full hybrid car, which in European media has been referred to as a Golf Coupe prototype. The car is likely based on the same platform as the Golf/Jetta and, although still in the concept stage, it will most probably come to be called the Jetta Coupe if it ever goes to market in North America.
The vaguely named New Compact Coupe comes with VW’s 1.4 liter TSI engine, a turbocharged 4-cylinder dialed up to 150 hp and 220 Nm of torque (177 lb-ft), coupled to a 7-speed DSG gearbox (a dual-clutch sequential transmission), as well as an electric motor with 20 kW/27 hp. Powered by a lithium-ion battery pack, the electric motor is able to propel the car on its own, which allows the vehicle to be classified as a full-hybrid. When the TSI engine is shut down, it is also disengaged to reduce any drag effect.
Performance numbers on the coupe are impressive – with only 98 g/km in CO2 emissions, the NCC does the 0 to 100 km/h sprint in just 8.6 seconds and has a top speed of 227 km/h (141 mph), all the while delivering 4.2 liters/100 km (45 mpg) in fuel economy.
The NCC comes in “Tungsten Silver Metallic” with bi-xenon headlights and LED daytime running lights, turn signals and tail lights. The NCC is 4.54 m (178.5 inches) long, 1.78 m (70.1 inches) wide and 1.41 m tall. Fitted with 19-inch “Lugano” alloy wheels, the NCC comes finished with a Grigio Quartz (grey quartz) and Berry White leather interior.
Styling on the coupe seems perfectly aligned with the rest of the VW lineup. Despite no confirmation yet, reports put the NCC already approved for production with sales starting within the next two years.
Farewell: Mourners carry the coffin at the funeral of Tony Minns.
MOTOR enthusiasts paid “the perfect tribute” to a fellow petrolhead with a convoy of classic cars accompanying the cortege to his funeral writes Peterborough Today. Tony Minns died, aged 46, from a heart attack on December 14. The stepfather-of-two’s funeral was held yesterday, and his coffin was carried to Peterborough Crematorium in his beloved Volkswagen camper van, followed by family and friends in a variety of classic VW Beetles, Golfs and camper vans of all ages and colours.
Tony Minns.
Many of the drivers carried pictures of Mr Minns in the windows of their cars on the way to the service. Mr Minns, of East Lane, Morton, near Bourne, was a passionate member of the Alldubs Klub, a club for Volkswagen owners in Peterborough, and his fellow enthusiasts arranged for the poignant tribute. Today his wife, Anna Miners (47) said: “We arranged for his coffin to be carried in his camper van – which we called Charliebus – because that is where he said he spent the best years of his life. “Over the past couple of years we took a camper van trip around Europe and Scandinavia, which was a fantastic experience. “The support the club has given me since he died has been incredible. “He was passionate about his Volkswagen, and the convoy from the club is the perfect tribute to him.” Matthew Eames, from the club, said: “He was a great bloke who got on well with everyone. “We have had people want to come and pay their respects from all over the country. “We think this the convoy is what he would have wanted, and is a perfect tribute.”
Sangyup Lee, the General Motors designer credited with the exterior design of the new Chevrolet Camaro, has left the company to join Volkswagen’s Southern California studio writes the New York Times.
The joint Audi-VW advanced studio, now in Santa Monica, is famed as the birthplace of the Volkswagen New Beetle and Audi TT concepts. Its longtime head, Derek Jenkins, left to join Mazda earlier this year. Now his successor, the studio’s executive design director Jens Manske, has hired Mr. Lee as chief exterior designer.
Sangyup Lee, right, exterior design manager for the 2010 Camaro, visited The Times last March with Micah Jones and Rebecca Waldmeir of the G.M. design staff.
Mr. Lee, who grew up in Korea, spent nearly a decade at G.M. He was employed for a time at Porsche before joining G.M., where he also worked on the 2004 Buick Velite show car and the Corvette Stingray Concept.
Mr. Lee studied sculpture and earned a bachelor’s degree in fine art at Hongik University in Seoul before turning to auto design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., from which he graduated in 1999.
Mr. Lee was working in the Corvette design studio of Tom Peters when Mr. Peters was asked by G.M.’s design chief, Ed Welburn, to quickly develop proposals for a new Camaro as part of an internal competition. Mr. Lee said that his low-roof, angular sketches were inspired more by comic book and automobile magazine images than by any vehicles he had seen growing up in Seoul — and were less overtly “retro” than some of the other proposals.
Mr. Lee was also put in charge of seeing the design through to production, working with engineers at Holden, the General Motors arm in Australia, where the car was being developed. He recalled that every fraction of an inch of hood and roof height was an occasion for battles with the engineers.
The Beetle has a bigger role to play for Volkswagen India than just the numbers writes business-standard.com.
At Rs 20.45 lakh ex-showroom Delhi, the Beetle – unlike its illustrious predecessor – is not exactly a people’s car. Though you’d never realise that going by people’s reactions when they see it.
Volkswagen India has been steadily drumming up the hype around the Beetle, leading to the eventual climax of its launch earlier this month. Though VW launched the impressive battletank-like Touareg SUV along with the Beetle at the same event, it’s the little Bug that’s still being talked about. And the blitzkrieg continues. Just last Thursday, VW had an innovative promotion of the Beetle where they flew a huge banner in the skies above Mumbai – it certainly would not have come cheap.
For a car that fits in an extremely niche segment in the country and contributing to very small numbers, the hype surrounding it seems completely disproportionate. Neeraj Garg, member of the board/director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India however justifies the activity surrounding the car. “The Beetle is our brand foundation. To lay the VW foundation here, it is but very natural to introduce it in India and therefore the huge communication activity,” he says.
Indeed, Volkswagen owes its very existence to the Beetle. The original one, introduced to the world just after WWII, turned out to have an incredibly long production run, with over 21 million units produced before it stopped trundling out of VW Mexico’s plant in 2003. Amazingly, it was VW’s mainstay well until the 1970s. Considered one of the greatest cars of the twentieth century, the Beetle was an essential part of popular culture, let alone a mere car. It is the cult of the original Beetle that still powers the new iteration today.
Designed in California by an American designer, the new Beetle was built on the front-engine, front-wheel drive underpinnings of the mass-market, fourth-generation VW Golf. It was designed to evoke the classic looks of the old one, but had all the contemporary features seen in a modern car. Introduced in 1998, the “new” Beetle can be considered old today – most modern cars go through a generational shift every seven years or so. But VW can safely claim that the Beetle is a retro car and is designed to evoke nostalgia. That was the thinking behind its creation anyway – to capture the hearts of US baby boomers who owned the older one in their younger days.
Which is why its welcome by Indians is all the more surprising, because our association with the original Beetle is nowhere close to the craze it was in other parts of the world. Far from nostalgic middle-aged Indians, it’s the well-heeled youngsters who are getting themselves the new Beetle for its sheer novelty value.
“The new Beetle is about an expression of personality, a state of mind, a lifestyle,” says Garg. “Our study of the intended customer showed that the pull-factor for this car was in its style statement and its head-turning uniqueness,” he adds.
That seems motivation enough for wealthy scions to make a beeline for the car. Even before the official launch, VW India received 150 bookings. And that forbidding price tag notwithstanding, there is a waiting list behind the car going all the way up to May 2010 with a total of over 200 bookings. That’s better than what can be called its nearest competitor – the Fiat 500 – managed, with 62 units sold since its launch in July 2008 at a price of around Rs 15 lakh.
Beyond the numbers, the Beetle has an important role to play for VW India. The manufacturer is aware of the Beetle’s universal appeal and the positive reaction it evokes wherever it goes. In a country that’s unfettered by the powerful nostalgia of the old Bug, the new Beetle is a cute and rather different looking car that attracts eyeballs. The Beetle also plays the role of a magnet to get attention to the marque, while also getting gawkers into the showroom.
The manufacturer needs to keep the excitement about the Volkswagen brand at a high pitch before they start selling their first mass-market product in India.
The Polo, which will be unveiled at the Auto Expo in Delhi next month, is expected to go on sale by March 2010. Till then, the hype surrounding the Beetle plus the recognition of VW in India as makers of this loveable, huggable car seems to make the communication activity surrounding the car worth it for VW. What is left unstated however is that the new Beetle is a moving – and extremely effective – billboard for Volkswagen in India.
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