Jalopnik: hotd

German Man Fires His Skoda Octavia Into Church Roof

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:30:00 EST

A German man was likely filled with the spirit, or at least spirits, when he lost control of his Skoda Octavia at high speeds, launching his car onto the roof of a church.

A police officer in the village of Limbach-Oberfrohna in eastern Germany was on patrol when he witnessed a man and his magic speeding Skoda lose control in a turn, drive up an embankment and fly across the street into the roof of a small church. Emergency crews were on the scene within minutes but it took firefighters equipped with a ladder truck to get the seriously injured driver out of the little Skoda. It took a crew equipped with a crane to get the vehicle out of the roof.

If it turns out the man was drunk, he'll likely face a prison sentence and years of overcompensating when the collection plate comes around at church. (Hat tip to Franzouse!)

[BBC News]

Polish Hoons Roll Volvo V40 Station Wagon, Celebrating Kubica?

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:45:00 EDT

We're not sure if these Polish hoons were actually intending to roll their Volvo V40 wagon when they hooked up the video cameras, but that was the result. An unsuccessful attack at a turn leads to the driver doing his best Robert Kubica impression (wherein Kubica crashes at, instead of wins, the Canadian Grand Prix). It doesn't look as if anyone is injured — it's a Volvo after all — but we're guessing someone is going to be switched from driver to camera operator on the next trip. (Thanks to Marcin) [Tapespace]

Swedish Hoons Hold Crazy Illegal Burnout Contest

Mark Arnold — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:40:00 EDT

If you thought the Swedish limo drifting was awesome, you're really gonna like this. It's an annual illegal burnout competition held in Stockholm, and the contestants don't hold anything back. Ripping tires to shreds? That's nothing. Pour down some gasoline and bring on the flames!
[h/t to Bo at sportbilen.se!]

Hoon Of The Day: Japanese Car Soccer

Ben Wojdyla — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:15:00 EDT

Japan is just the gift that keeps on giving, from kei cars to lovable but bizarre concepts like the the Toyota i-Real, but it's the extracurriculars which make for today's auto amusement. Sure drifting Previas are sexy, but car soccer is a ballet of crushing metal and gigantic balls. How does it work? Take all the rules of regular soccer and play the game with cars. We'll admit the judges seem pretty lax on handing out penalties, and it looks more like a sneaky way to have a demolition derby, but it does look like a lot of laughs. We took the liberty to clip out a section of footage from a game and the whole game is available below — if you're into that kind of thing.

First Half (~8 minutes)

Second Half (~7 minutes)

[Youtube Part 1 and Youtube Part 2, via About Cars]

Hoon Of The Day: 1967 Camaro + Wall = Compact Car

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:15:00 EDT

It takes a lot of work to build your very own, custom 1967 Camaro drag racer. Though accidentally crashing it doesn't necessarily make you a hoon, taping it from multiple angles and putting the outcome in a video that's book-ended by before-and-after shots is awesome. While the driver and the camera come out of the unfortunate incident without much in the way of damage, the poor Camaro comes out Corolla-sized.[YouTube via Edmunds]

Hoon Of The Day: News Van Drag Racing

Matt Hardigree — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Oops. While drag racing a news van in a larger market like San Antonio or Houston wouldn't cause such a stir, in El Paso it'll get you fired. The difference? In those big cities they have more live trucks, production vehicles and satellite rigs to cover a war. Chris Bernal, a photographer for KDBC, found out the hard way that heads will roll if you race the station's only live truck. Though they may have thought they had a monopoly on coverage of the event, you can hear someone in the video saying "every cell phone is out" to film it. Oops. [CarScoop, KVIA]

Good Clean Rental Car Fun On A Frozen Lake

Mark Arnold — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:30:00 EST

Those Canadians are always trying to kill time in the winter. Even the clean-cut youth like these kids feel the need to get a rental car and bring it over to the frozen lake for some hoonage. They warm up with some trunk-skiing, but then progress to the obligatory reverse 180 spins. And what's this season's hoon-tivity of choice? That's right, ghost riding! We wonder, would the car falling through the ice be covered in the rental insurance?

[YouTube]

Hoon Of The Day: How Many Licks To Get This Toyota To Blow Up?

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:15:00 EST

Today's hoons are following in the grand tradition established by Top Gear of trying to destroy Toyota trucks. Unfortunately, we don't have anything quite as cool as a Toyota Hilux to mangle. As with the Hilux, it takes a serious amount of full-throttle reverse action to put the hurt on this already well-worn Toyota pickup. If only there was a body of water around to give it the old high tide treatment. Don't try this in your new Tundra. [YouTube]