Woodvale Rally 2012 - an update

An official statement from the organisers of this year's Woodvale Rally regarding the change of venue:

A routine site survey at RAF Woodvale has found as of 11am Wednesday, May 30 that asbestos has been discovered at the airfield.

The survey has revealed that World War II buildings, which were demolished and buried have now found their way to the surface and contain asbestos. For health and safety reasons organisers of the Woodvale Rally are relocating the event to Victoria Park with the new dates of Sat and Sun July 28 and 29. 

General Manager Peter Wood said: 

“Although we are disappointed that we are not able to use the airfield after so many years we are more than happy with Victoria Park as a venue. Most attractions will go ahead as usual. The Southport Flower Show committee have been marvellous in accommodating the rally at Victoria Park.

“The 2012 Rally will have the benefit of a town centre location with free bus transport from Chapel Street station and free parking in Princes Park. The 2012 Rally will adapt to the new venue and will provide most of the usual events and attractions.”

Public camping will go ahead and we will contact all people who have already booked.

To see today's earlier post click here.

Woodvale Rally to be held at new venue on earlier date

EAGLE-eyed readers might have already spotted something unusual on our Events page about this August's Woodvale Rally. This year it isn't being held in August. Or in Woodvale, for that matter.

For all sorts of complicated reasons better left to the hard-nosed news bit at the business end of The Champion the event can't be held at the RAF airbase this summer, meaning that the show's now got an earlier date (July 28 and 29) and a different venue (Victoria Park, which visitors to the Southport Flower Show will already be familiar with).

As one of the many, many classic car fans who've headed there year on year to show off their pride and joy at the Rally it's a bit of a shock to the system, but despite the setbacks the organisers have still got my support. The show, as they say, must go on! The Woodvale Rally has long been one of the highlights of my motoring year because it gives enthusiasts the chance to check out hundreds of classic cars, bikes and other machines in a nice, friendly atmosphere which provides a fun day out for ALL the family. Behind the rows of Rover SD1s and owners' club flags there's fairground rides and stalls selling sunglasses and handbags, so you can leave your other half or your kids to wander around to their heart's content while you take fuzzy photos of old Jags. It is big fun.

Over the years I've enjoyed all sorts of perspectives of the event; I've been there not just as a showgoer, but as a litter-picking cub scout, as a venture scout pointing motorists to the car park, as someone who's offered a helping hand with the model railway tent, as a Champion journalist reporting on it and - most proudly of all - as a classic car owner exhibiting there.

I‘ve been to Woodvale pretty much every year since the early Nineties and still come back with a smile on my face, with the exception of the ‘95 event when - while litter picking with the cub scouts - I managed to fall over and came back with a gaping great big gash on my knee instead. That exception aside though the sunshine, the radio-controlled aircraft, the banter with the classic car owners, the hamburgers, the vintage buses that connect them all are what make it what it is - I love all of it.

Only time will tell whether the Woodvale Rally will prove just as enjoyable at a different venue on an earlier date, but that doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to it.

Car and bike fans urged to check out Cleveleys Classic Vehicle Show

FANS of classic cars and bikes are being invited to Cleveleys later this summer for a full-throttle show in the seaside town.

The Cleveleys Classic Vehicle show will see the one of the main streets in the Lancashire resort, Victoria Road West, closed off from 10am on Sunday, August 19 for a gathering of classic cars, sports cars, American automobiles, hot rods, modern classics, kit cars, motorbikes and specialist vehicles. The entrants, of which there are more than 100 registered for the show so far, will be parked along the main street up to the town's promenade.

Russ Larcombe, one of the show's organisers, told Life On Cars: "The show's aim is to draw people back to the town to enjoy a great day out amongst the displays and entertainment and visit the impressive and modern sea front promenade at Cleveleys.

"The event is being managed by The Thornton Cleveleys Association of Trade and commerce assisted by ukwheelsevents and the Lancashire Vehicle group. It is supported by several local businesses."

In addition to all the automotive action live music from a variety of bands will be performed throughout the day, while over the beach and weather permitting there will be an air display of radio controlled aircraft .

To register your vehicle or to find out more about the event go to the show's official website at www.thecleveleysclassicvehicleshow.com

The Renault Twizy and Vauxhall Ampera are electric cars you might actually want to buy

IT was, to get the obvious puns out of the way, a shocking conclusion. Out of a host of brand new cars I've just driven the most impressive were the electric ones.

You'll already know that in the noble interests of Champion research I headed down to the motor industry's annual test drive day at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire last week - think of it as speed dating, just with cars rather than potential partners - and got to put a host of different motors through their paces, all of which you'll be able to read about in these pages over the coming weeks. Everything from the Jaguar XKR-S to the Fiat Panda's been given the Simister treatment.

Yet what surprised me most of all were two very different - but boldly brilliant - electric models. At the same event two years ago I drove a MINI of the volt-powered variety and concluded the world of electric cars needed to come on in leaps and bounds - and it has. The little Citroen C-Zero I drove last year nearly did it (ridiculous pricetag aside), but it's Renault's Twizy and Vauxhall's Ampera that I reckon are the game changers. Both of them pass the most crucial test of all. The “Would you actually buy one?” question.

Yes, I know the Ampera's got a petrol engine but it's emphatically not a hybrid - it is an electric car that occasionally uses a petrol engine to charge it up, which until they sort out the refuelling issues is the only way to make ‘leccy vehicles even mildly practical. Should you wake up tomorrow with a sudden urge to drive it to Inverness, there's nothing stopping you. Not even the price. It costs roughly the same as the Insignia, but that doesn't matter because it's roughly the same sort of car.

It's a hugely impressive bit of kit but it's not the first electric vehicle I've driven with a definite ‘want one' factor - that honour goes to Renault's faintly ridiculous Twizy. Think of it as a car and yes, it's rubbish, but think of it as the spiritual successor to all those bubble cars that bumbled around Britain in the Fifties and Sixties and it's spot on. It's a scooter for people who are scared of falling off. Oh, and as far as I know it's the only car this side of a Lamborghini Aventador which comes with scissor doors. It is, for want for of a better word, hilarious.

I don't think Renault, keen to be seen as an innovator of all things electric, were that happy though with my suggestion after my test drive. Wouldn't it be fun to fit it with a superbike engine?

Classic car fans invited to Bispham show

CLASSIC car fans are being invited to head to Bispham to check out a mouthwatering selection of motor cars from years gone by next week.

Hilldale Community Association said it was urging enthusiasts of all things automotive to head to the Farmers Arms, on Chorley Road, next Tuesday (June 5) as part of a series of events being held in Hilldale and Bispham, in West Lancashire, over the Diamond Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend.

A spokesperson for the event said: "There will be a fantastic display of motor vehicles from all eras. On show will be vintage and classic cars, vintage and classic motorcycles and classic mopeds. "There may well also be displays of racing cars and racing motorcycles from throughout the years. Why not take the opportunity to admire the many fine examples of automobile engineering?"

In addition, there will also be an auto-jumble sale on the day, with pitches costing £5 in advance or £10 on the day. For further details, ring Ian Smith on 01257 464640 or e-mail Ian at iangsmith@msn.com Entry to the show is free for visitors.

Fire up the... Hyundai i30

FORGET the five star rating in the Euro NCAP crash tests, or the generous warrantage package. Thanks to an ingenious publicity stunt at Knowsley Safari Park, all anybody knows about the Hyundai i30 is that it'll stand up well if it's attacked by monkeys.

So we all know that if you give Hyundai's new big hitter to a troupe of baboons it'll pass with flying colours, but what about if you give it to a rather different and more discerning pack of primates - people looking to buy a mid-size family hatch? These people are traditionally some of the choosiest in the car market, and with so much on offer they've every right to be.

Luckily the Korean contender's got plenty going for it - not only do you get a five year warranty, but they'll chuck in five years of roadside assistance too, and it's got plenty of gadgets and gizmos thrown in as standard. I drove the 1.6 diesel version because it's the one Hyundai are banking on being their biggest seller here, and while it's unlikely to scare you with its performance it's very silky and smooth on the move. In fact, that's the flavour you'll get should you chuck it into a corner - if you're looking for excitement you're probably better looking elsewhere, but if you just want to act like a grown up and arrive everywhere quietly and unruffled then the i30's more than up for the task.

While the styling's smooth - if a little generic - it's clear that a lot of effort's gone into the interior. We already know that it's tough enough to survive being attacked by monkeys, so it's unlikely there'll be any woes over build quality, but what's more impressive is the quality of the materials and the attention to colours and shades. It really is a nice place to be.

At a whisker under £18,000 its price is pitched straight at the likes of the Focus, the Megane and the Astra, but I reckon that's fair game because in terms of quality and packaging it's more than a match for some of Britain's best sellers.

SMMT Test Day 2012 at Millbrook Proving Ground - a flavour of what's on the way

 

THE slightly guttural cough that accompanies the bellow of Jaguar’s supercharged V8, fitted to the frantic XKR-S someone had foolishly lent me, was worth the trip alone.

The sun has been shining on the nation’s road testers today – literally, as temperatures soared into the high twenties – at this year’s SMMT Test Day. Even though it meant setting the alarm clock for a depressingly early 4am it’s always worth the journey to the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, partly because it’s an incredible automotive playground in any car, but also because it’s a chance to find out more about some of 2012’s most important new arrivals.

I’ve put no less than 20 different cars through their paces and there’ll be more on here and in The Champion over the next couple of weeks, but to whet your appetite I can offer you a few snippets of automotive enlightenment I’ve picked up:

• The Jaguar XKR-S doesn’t need to have a supercharged 5.3 litre V8 pumping out 542bhp, but boy am I glad it does... 

• The electric entrants are getting better each year – in 2010 I was, er, shocked by what I drove, in 2011 I found a car that I would’ve liked if it hadn’t been cripplingly expensive, but this year I’ve found two that I’d actually buy. With money and everything! 

• I just couldn’t warm to one of this year’s most eagerly-awaited motors, no matter how hard I tried. Clue: it’s got three doors (or is it four?).

• It was a choice of testing 20 cars or queuing, Alton Towers style, to try just one; Subaru’s BRZ, which attracted queues of salivating journalists throughout the day. I’ve no doubt it could be the driver’s hit of the decade but the Life On Cars treatment will have to wait until another day... 

• ...as will a review of Vauxhall’s loopy Maloo pick-up (pictured above, next to the rather fetching vintage Vauxhall) which broke down and got withdrawn from the event just minutes before I was due to have a go. What a rotten bit of luck! Chances are, though, it'll be an awful lot like the VXR8 saloon I tested at Millbrook last year.

• The rebadged batch of Lancias that Chrysler’s taken into its showrooms are a bit of mixed bunch – but the good news is there’s an absolute gem among ‘em.
  
• Nobody I spoke to agreed on their winner of the great city car battle of 2012: Fiat Panda vs Up/Citigo/Mii. I’ll let you know my verdict in the next few weeks.

• It’s still possible to make a bad car, even in this day and age. I know, because I drove at least one today. 

• Chevrolet really ought to make the Camaro in right-hand-drive – it’s a great car for cruising around Wild West Lancashire! 

With variety being the spice of life I was keen to make sure that I didn't just stick to the shiny supercars (tempting though it was), and try and test a broad variety of cars that are significant in one way or other this year. That's why the 19 cars I drove included a Fiat, two VWs, two Chryslers, two Jaguars, a Land Rover, a Suzuki, a SEAT, a Ssangyong, two Vauxhalls, a Renault, a MINI, a BMW, two Hyundais and a Chevrolet. 

I’ll keep you posted...

Alfa Romeo and Mazda announce sports car tie-up

THE successor to Alfa Romeo's achingly beautiful Spider could be one of the most mouthwatering sports cars ever created.

Fiat, the Italian automotive giant which owns the Milanese motor makers, has announced that not only is it working on a new two-seater roadster, but that it's joined forces with Mazda, the makers of the best-selling sports car of all time, to create it. In three years' time, if the two companies play to their strengths, you'll be able to buy a car with classic Italian styling and the fun-to-drive factor of the MX-5.

I saw a mid-nineties Spider being driven along Southport's seafront on a sunny summer afternoon the other day and really, really wanted to be the chap behind the wheel. It never really took off with Brit buyers in the same way the Mazda did, because while the MX-5 had a rear-wheel-drive set up singlehandedly designed for being sporty, all Spider's since the model's '94 reinvention have relied on front-wheel-drive bits from the Fiat Group parts bin. Not that any of that mattered with the savvy souls who did take the plunge, because the reason why you bought any Spider was because of the way they looked. They were and still are, a delight to behold.

So the news that Fiat and Mazda are planning to join forces is brilliant news if you care about simple, small, two-seater sports cars (and, let's face it, chances are if you read Life On Cars you almost certainly do).

Mazda president Takashi Yamanouchi, knows this full well, and said this week: "Establishing technology and product development alliances is one of Mazda's corporate objectives and this announcement with Fiat is an important first step in that direction.

"It is especially exciting to be collaborating with such a prestigious marque as Alfa Romeo on a new roadster based on the next-generation MX-5, which is such an iconic vehicle for Mazda and recognized as the best-selling roadster of all time."

 

The two companies plan to develop two different, distinctly styled, iconic and brand-specific light weight, rear-wheel-drive roadsters. The Mazda and Alfa Romeo variants will each be powered by specific proprietary engines unique to each brand, although both are expected to be built at Mazda's factory in Hiroshima, where it's made the MX-5 in its various iterations for more than 20 years.

The deal, which is expected to be finalised later this year, also includes the scope for further tie-ups between Mazda and Fiat. Does that mean we can have finally have a follow up to one of the best-looking sports cars of all time, the Fiat Barchetta?

Giving pre-1960 cars an MOT exemption is a seriously bad idea

MY CAR is sick. As I write it's licking its wounds in a garage because the powers-that-be have decided not to issue it with a clean bill of health. It is a reject. An MOT failure.

How does it feel to be a reject? Well, frustrating obviously, but strangely reassuring at the same time. It shows that the system still works. The MOT protects people like me from ourselves, by stopping us from taking unroadworthy cars onto the great British road network. It is, a great leveller of all cars over three years old - whether you've got a musty old Maxi or a McLaren F1, if it's got a shot tyre or a worn bush you'll still get a politely-worded computer print out explaining why it's failed to make the grade.

In fact, if anything I don't think the MOT goes far enough - it's amazing what mechanics aren't required or even allowed to check when yout car goes up on the ramp. It's nice to think that no matter what you drive, you've got to make sure it'll make the grade once a year. What I should have done, of course, was bought a car made before 1960. In which case I needn't have bothered. I know I've gone on about it before, when I described it as “possibly the loopiest bit of legislation ever to come out of Westminster” but the Government have actually taken some stupid pills and gone ahead with it anyway. It's official. As of November 18 your pre-1960 classic will no longer ever need to go through the rigmarole of an MOT ever again. Ever.

What if you drive an Austin A40 made largely of rust connected with bits of string? Not a problem. A Moggy Minor with knackered suspension? Go ahead. You are helping to cut Government red tape. The nation's deficit will magically shrink and jobs will be created every time you start your rusty old Ford Prefect up.

Of course, you'll still be legally required to prove that your car's roadworthy, but that's easier said than done if you don't go through the MOT. It's easy to clock a bald tyre, but there's lots of things even keen enthusiasts simply wouldn't spot unless the car's up on a ramp. I reckon - and a lot of classic car owners, mechanics and road safety experts I've spoken to agree with me on this one - a lot of people simply wouldn't know. All cars should go through an MOT simply because it's a safety net of sorts.

I'd rather the  mine get spotted now than be dangerous in six months' time. I've said it before and I'll say it again; exempting really old cars from what is a safety test is a seriously bad idea.

A Life On Cars tribute to the Raleigh Chopper

 Alan Oakley, designer of the Raleigh Chopper bicycle, has died today. Life On Cars writer David Simister, who owned two, pays tribute by remembering why the funkily-styled Seventies icon was such a class act...

It’s mechanically challenged, outgunned at the lights by any moped, and has room for just one on its rather exposed seat. Yet the Raleigh Chopper is no ordinary bike, being to cycling what the Mini is to motoring or the Volkswagen Caravelle to camping.

A legend in its own lifetime, it somehow encompasses both iconic and ironic within one spin of its tiny wheels. Running a Chopper is a surreal experience. I bought one way back in 2007 to replace my old Vespa, and although it couldn't hope to beat the Italian scooter on speed, it’s a surprising equal in the style stakes and yet far cheaper.

When I was at university in Carlisle I used my Raleigh Chopper (pictured below) every day to get between my student digs on one side of the Great Border City, the campus on the other and the supermarket, somewhere in between the two. I loved it so much that it was one of the treasured possessions I took all the way to Bristol with me after I graduated, and after a couple of weeks I realised how cool a bike it was after a couple of bolt cutter-wielding thieves stole it while it was chained up a stone's throw from the SS Great Britain. I responded by immediately getting another one - even though it meant travelling to Yeovil on the train to get it - which I still have to this day.

My red Raleigh Chopper MK3, even though it's now in need of a restoration and has sat unloved in the garage for years because it isn't a car, is still one of my most treasured possessions. It is, put simply, as much an icon of Seventies Britain as the Capri or the Rover SD1 were.

Compared to a normal bike, the Chopper feels very odd to ride at first. Those enormously high handlebars seem to have no control over where the tiny front wheel goes, while the comparatively enormous rear makes every getaway a wheelie. Yet given time and a slightly different riding style, it becomes easily one of the most amusing forms of transportation ever conceived. The wacky proportions raise eyebrows, but the reincarnated Raleigh has enjoyed massive success three decades after the ancestor’s heyday.

It’s even practical - the chrome backrest is perfect for loading shopping bags onto, and much safer than dangling them off the handlebars off a normal bike. The modern Chopper’s just gone out of production, but there’s never been a better time to buy second-hand.

Compared to the hundreds of pounds the 1970s originals fetch, now is definitely the time to buy. BMXs might be the more obvious choice for bike-riding yoofs, but with the Raleigh Chopper, you’re making a cool, retro statement.

It’s still not really motoring, but going back to the 1970s has never been cheaper.

I think I might have found the worst car in the world

I THINK, after years of looking, that I've found the worst car in the world.

It is - drumroll please - a Peugeot 407 I borrowed the other day, which I entrusted with the task of getting me to Ormskirk and back on the hunt for a story for our West Lancashire edition. Note, by the way that it's  a specific 407 rather than the breed as a whole, because I'm convinced other examples would be capable, if not astonishingly brilliant, Mondeo-baters.

Nor is this a dig against Peugeots because, by and large, the company's upped its game in recent years. The RC-Z coupe might lack a little involvement when you really chuck into a corner on a challenging road, but well-made, sensibly-priced and utterly wonderful to look at. The 508 - the 407's successor - is arguably the best of the repmobiles right now. True, I haven't driven the new 3-Series yet but right now it's the Pug that's got the measure of the Mondeo and the Insignia.

No, this particular 407 was bad because while the clock read 79,000 miles, it might as well have done 79 million, because it showed what an excess of miles and lack of love can do to even the most modern of motors. Funnily, there does seem to be a correlation between cars which have been ragged to within an inch of their lives and the Peugeot badge. I don't know why, but there just is.

The seven-year-old example sounded... well, it sounded a bit sick. The dashboard lit up like a disco with all the warning lights, a soundtrack of warning bongs and beeps provided the accompanying soundtrack and the key actually broke while I was trying to start it. It also came with a great radio - Radio One, which you couldn't turn off, or even turn down because the audio controls were broken. Not that the din of Chris Moyles bothered me much, because he was drowned out by a diesel engine which rattled like something you'd find fitted to a Ukranian trawler.

If it's any conselation it was at least comfy, spacious, sipped fuel with all the frugality of a budget-strapped Cabinet minister and - unlike quite a few cars I've owned - it did at least make its destination without breaking down. It's also probably a bit unfair to blame the car itself for being a bit battle-weary, but it provide a profound insight into what can happen to a car years after it's rolled out of the showroom.

It's also handy, if you're always driving cars that are at the very least quite good - as brand new motors usually are these days - to drive a really, really bad one once in a while. It gives you a sense of perspective.

Ferrari have got a surprisingly good reason to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee

I WAS a bit confused when Ferrari announced how it'd be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee.

Italy's most iconic car maker are not only sending a cavalcade of their finest creations to Windsor to mark the celebrations, but they're also bringing a division of the mounted Carabinieri (that's Italian for bobbies on horses) with them. All this for a foreign head of state who, while being fabulously rich, has never actually owned a Ferrari. Prince Charles we all know for being a bit of an Aston man, but I don't recall Queen Elizabeth II being on the waiting list for the 458 Italia.

Then it clicked. The bosses of the most obviously petrolhead company on the planet are paying tribute to something you probably didn't know about Her Majesty. Whisper it softly, but the Queen is a car enthusiast! You probably thought Britain's highest profile motoring fan was Jeremy Clarkson, didn't you? There are, even if you exclude the presenters of Top Gear, all sorts of powerful and influential people who have a passion for motoring. Steve Coogan, for instance, or Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay. Chris Evans, meanwhile, is a proper Ferrari ambassador, and has an entire collection of the Prancing Horse's finest. Arguably, though, the Queen is more high profile than any of those. She appears on our banknotes and everything!

Don't believe me? Well, it's a fact that Her Majesty The Queen is a trained mechanic, and while she could have done all sorts of different things to help the British war effort in the 1940s she spent most of the conflict in a boiler suit underneath army trucks, mending things. It's also true that she had a Rover P5B Coupe (a proper, regal old Rover from the days they were fitted with plush carpets and thumping great V8 engines) which she had not as something she could be chauffeured about in, but so that she could actually drive it herself, simply because she enjoyed it. When she eventually got rid of it she got a Jag for exactly the same purpose.

There's something strangely comforting in these austere times about knowing that the ruling monarch, deep down, is a keen driver with a James May-like command of mechanical knowhow and a taste for V8-engined luxury saloons. No wonder Ferrari thought it'd be a good idea to celebrate 60 years of her reign by showing her some F40s and Daytonas.

Deep down, I reckon she'd like ‘em...

MINI John Cooper Works GP II promises to be a hot hatch hit

POWER. According to the Spiderman movies, having lots of it comes with great responsibility.

So it's a shame then that BMW's being tight-lipped about just how much responsibility the latest hot MINI will need to be entrusted with, because at the time of writing exact horsepower figures for the Cooper Works GP II are a little hard to come by. However, they are promising it'll be at least as hardcore as its illustrious predecessor from 2006, so chances are it'll be rather a lot.

The company proudly claims of its mightiest MINI yet: "Only once has there been anything like it, but even that wasn’t as quick. With the MINI John Cooper Works GP, the British premium brand has come up with another car of exceptional talent designed to deliver extreme performance on both the race track and the road.

"The sportiest road-registered MINI ever made will go on sale later this year in a limited run of 2,000 cars. It is currently completing a programme of testing in preparation for series production, part of which has involved setting an impressive fastest lap of the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife circuit."

So while there's no word on power it will have a limited production run, no back seats at all, beefed-up brakes and suspension and a scrabbly turbo engine based on the one you get in the normal Cooper S.

Oh, and a pricetag expected to be at least £25,000. Chances are though it'll be at least as collectable as the original from six years ago, though!

Hyundai i30 passes The Monkey Test at Knowsley Safari Park

HYUNDAI has headed to the north west to put one of its models through the toughest test Merseyside can throw at it - a trip to Knowsley Safari Park!

A troupe of baboons based at the wildlife attraction were let loose on the new i30 to test the toughness of the hatchback's interior and exterior fittings - and unlike many a motor that's had the odd mirror or two knocked off by the animals - it was still fighting fit at the end of the visit.

David Ross, General Manager at Knowsley Safari Park, said: “For a baboon, to have a car to play with for a whole day is manna from heaven! If you put them on any car they will scour it for the weak points and find any faults. At one point there were 40 monkeys in the car, pushing it to its limits – that’s ten times the size of the average human family.

"I’ve seen thousands of cars pass through this enclosure, get mobbed by monkeys, and none have lasted the distance as well as this Hyundai. These baboons are incredibly inquisitive."

 

Hyundai said the car's paintwork had been smeared and scratched after being attacked by the monkeys, but otherwise the i30 had emerged unscathed from the experience.

 

Felicity Wood, i30 Product Manager at Hyundai, said: "At Hyundai we believe in new thinking, which is why we decided to take a new approach with this durability test. You have to be pretty brave to subject a car to the most rigorous quality testers in the world, and the monkeys certainly gave our i30 a thorough examination!

"The fact that it survived with only a few scrapes is testament to the way a modern Hyundai is designed and engineered. We really do give a monkey’s about building tough cars!"

 For more information about Knowsley Safari Park visit www.knowsleysafariexperience.co.uk or call 0151 430 9009.

Why the Lakeland Motor Museum is well worth the visit

ONE of the great things about the TVR Car Club's gathering in Cumbria last weekend was that I could pay another visit to the cracking Lakeland Motor Museum.

I've been before to the Newby Bridge site but not with a camera good enough to show off the cornucopia of classics they've got stashed away in there, which prove a mouthwatering draw for any motoring enthusiast, no matter what their marque of preference is.

The museum's laid out logically enough, going chronologically from the dawn of motoring right through to the Eighties and Nineties, with the treasured exhibits including the world's oldest TVR, the Cumbrian-engineered Ford Focus rally car campaigned by the late, great Colin McCrae and a delivery-mileage, and a Bentley owned by speed record ace Donald Campbell, fittingly finished off in Bluebird colours.

In fact, speaking of the Bluebird legacy the site has an entire section dedicated to the machines of Malcolm and Donald Campbell, which is worth the admission price on its own. Seeing some of the Bluebirds boats and cars brought together in the same place for the first time, if you've got a passion for speed and machines, is a stirring sight.

The museum, as my emphatically non-petrolhead girlfriend told me afterwards, something you don't even have to be into cars to enjoy...

 

More information about the museum can be found by visiting the website or by calling 015395 30400. The postcode for your satnav, if you're thinking of going, is LA12 8TA.

Would you Adam and Eve it? The quirky name for the new baby Vauxhall

ARE you the sort of person who gives your pride and joy a name, like you would a pet?

Don't worry, you're in good company if you do - as an enthusiast, I've always thought giving a name to a car shows you've formed an emotional attachment to it, which is why in true Gone In Sixy Seconds tradition all the sportier motors I've owned have always had girls' names. Richard Hammond infamously christened an old Opel as Oliver on an episode of Top Gear after he got attached to it. Plenty of people I know have given all sorts of cars all sorts of names.

Vauxhall, with their new small car, have decided to go a step further and actually name it for you. Their new hatchback, on sale, next year, is not a Corsa or an Agila. It is called Adam!

Adam is the company's answer to what the car industry calls the ‘premium urban hatchback' - in plain English the likes of the MINI and the Fiat 500, which over the past decade have proved runaway hits for the companies which created them. In the past few years plenty of companies have tried the same trick of putting executive car luxuries into supermini-sized packages, with Alfa Romeo offering you the MiTo, Audi the A1 and Citroen the DS3.

Although few details of the car's looks or specification are available at the moment - word is that it'll be unveiled officially at this year's Paris Motorshow in the autumn - the car will be pricier than the larger Corsa model and have an emphasis on offering a premium feel to the interior, a sportier drive and more of an emphasis on styling. Adam will be offered as a four-seat, three-door hatchback, and is rumoured to be around the same size as the current MINI.

The company is aiming to attract more affluent, image-conscious customers who would currently consider the likes of the MINI and the 500, but are turned off by the current Corsa and Agila.

Will you be welcoming Adam with open arms? Do you give your cars names? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below...

The easy way to work out what you're getting for your gallon

THE pensioners in their mollycuddled Nissan Micras powered past me as I puffed uselessly up the incline. My 40-year-old car, despite looking a bit sporty, doesn't really do hills.

It didn't really help that I was a bit nervous this time last Sunday. You'll probably already know that I've got an old MG and I've been on all sorts of adventures with it, but in the two year it's spent under my wing it's not once ventured beyond the fields of West Lancashire. Mainly because I wasn't entirely convinced it'd go much further.

But there's a first time for everything and as I gingerly ventured onto the M6 and pointed that never-ending bonnet northwards I was keen to find out not just whether my MG BGT could make it to places outside Lancashire without conking out on the hard shoulder. I also wanted to answer - and stay with me on this one - the all important question of fuel economy.

If you've ever wanted to work out what your car actually does to the gallon - and it's worth doing, because most of the manufacturers' figures are a tad optimistic - there's an easy way of doing it. Simply brim your tank until the fuel pump clicks, drive it around for 100 miles or so, and brim it again. Even though you've got to faff about converting the amount from litres into UK gallons you can fairly easy, and accurately, work out whether your car's as frugal as it should be.

I've done it with each and every one of my motors - in fact, I did with the MX-5 the other week, which despite being driven with a particularly weighty right foot around the windy roads of Wales still returned 34mpg. The best I've managed so far was with my old Renault 5, which despite having been to the moon and back mileage-wise still knocked up a respectable 43 to the gallon. Your car, if you're sensible and drive a diesel hatch like everyone else, should do at least 50 on a good run.

So what about the MG, which uses two enormous carburettors to shovel high-octane petrol into an engine designed in the Fifties and made largely from pig iron? Well, on a 150 mile run on motorways, country lanes and the A6 through rural Lancashire it managed 25.3mpg. Pretty poor compared to a new car, I'll admit, but not bad for an older model I'm still smitten with.

What's more, my car did an entire journey to somewhere far away, and back again, and didn't break down! A summer of adventures await...

TVR Car Club show at the Lakeland Motor Museum

TVR fans were in for a treat this weekend when fans of Blackpool's finest rocked up at the Lakeland Motor Museum for a special show.

Members of the TVR Car Club travelled to the museum, based at Newby Bridge in southern Cumbria, for a triple celebration. Enthusiasts had travelled from across the north west not only to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the company's M-branded sports cars, and the 30th anniversary of their wedge-shaped successors, but could also see the oldest surviving TVR, which is kept at the museum.

Life On Cars took these pictures at the event:

Have you got an event you'd like to share with Life On Cars? Get in touch via The Champion or send an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk

Prepare to fire up the.... Mercedes G-Class

WHY launch just the one luxurious off-roader when you can announce a trio of new arrivals instead?

That's the approach Mercedes has taken this month, after it confirmed details of no less than three different 4x4s aimed at upmarket buyers. The most family-friendly of the three is the new GL range, which the Benz boys are touting as a sort of S-Class saloon on stilts with the same sort of gadgets and luxuries included in its cavernous interior. Prices and UK specifications haven't been confirmed yet, but expect them to be in them to be in the region of the £58,000 the outgoing car currently commands.

While it's unlikely to be short of grunt the offering it'll still be easily outpaced by the latest AMG version of the smaller M-Class, which might cost an eyewatering £82,995 but will muster up a mightly 525bhp from its twin-turbo V8 engine. However, Mercedes insist that it's still more efficient and economical than its equally lairy predecessor.

But for the ultimate in off-roader bravado it'll be hard to beat the latest version of the original - the G-Class might still be related to the original G-Wagen of the 1970s but it's crammed with all the trimmings you'd expect of a big Mercedes. Available with either a twin-turbo AMG or a more sensible diesel V6, the latest G-Class will go on sale later in the autumn, and although prices haven't been announced yet chances are it's more likely to be seen posing than tackling the tricky terrain it's designed to handle.

Audi fans tempted by fastest TT ever

HOW much horsepower should Audi's TT coupe be allowed to handle?

The answer, Audi, reckons, is a thumping 360bhp - more than a Lotus Evora or a Porsche 911 Carrera - which British buyers will be able to check out for themselves when the latest model, the TT RS Plus arrives later this summer.

A spokesman for the German company said: "The resulting 360bhp and 465 newton metres of torque can be channelled to the quattro all-wheel-drive system through either a six-speed manual gearbox or the seven-speed S tronic twin-clutch transmission.

"With the latter installed, the TT RS Plus Coupe catapults from rest to 62mph in just 4.1 seconds to the tune of an addictively full-bodied five-cylinder growl, closely followed by the Roadster, which needs 4.2 seconds. The top speed is limited to 174mph."

However, it's also the most expensive TT to date, and you'll need a cool £48,945 to get your hands - that's nearly £4,000 more than the standard, less powerful TT RS. The RS Plus version is available to order from Audi's showrooms now.

An MGB GT that's even better than mine

CONTINUING our occasional series on classic cars casually spotted during lunch breaks, here's an MGB GT I found a stone's throw from the seafront earlier.

If you saw the pictures of the MG Icon earlier this week it'll be obviously from these pictures which car from the company's back catalogue inspired it; everything from the nostalgic red paintjob to the bluff, chrome radiator grille and the rear hatchback comes straight from the Sixties sports coupe.

More annoyingly though, it's in almost concours condition, making my own beloved B GT look a bit rough round the edges by comparision - even though mine's got the desirable Webasto full length sunroof and I'd be much happier parking it on a side street than this beautiful G-reg example. Envious, me? Not at all...

 Do you own this classic car? Get in touch with Life On Cars by sending an email to david.simister@champnews.com and let us know more about it!