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offbeat news
offbeat news
Man Dies In Accident While Wearing Fake Seatbelt
It seems that fate is indeed not without a sense of irony. A New Zealand man with a history of fines for 32 seatbelt violations died in a car accident last week. Death came as a result of injuries incurred when he struck the steering wheel after crossing the center line and colliding head on with an oncoming vehicle. The coroners report makes note of... More »
hoon of the day
Get That Damn Car Off Of The Hill!
Remember the still photos we saw of Ken Block hooning his WRX on a New Zealand mountain in the company of a bunch of snowboarders? Well, courtesy of Connor (who also gave us some great LeMons in-car video, now we get to see some video of the hoonage, all set to a Primus soundtrack. Sure, the feel of the video is on the ragin'-dude snowboard-meathead side, but remember: New Zealand is where hoonage began!
detroit auto show
New Zealanders Know Detroit Auto Show is the BIG One
Despite recently aggressive posturing from the LA and New York Auto Shows, everybody knows the Detroit Auto Show is still the big kahuna in the North America, even Kiwis. New Zealand based Motoring.co.nz lays out some of the statistics of on of the Motor City's greatest assets in a recent article. Statistics like "enough carpet is laid in the Cobo convention centre to blanket 750 football fields and the exhibits alone will be worth $200-million". That's right! When it comes to carpet, we can lay it down like the best of em. We can't wait to trample all over that perpetually bumpy and treacherous statistic starting on Sunday and you can follow along easily with the RSS feed. If we trip, you'll know about it.
novelties
Boeing 777 Races Johnny Reid in A1 Black Beauty
We knew Top Gear's Bugatti Veyron vs. RAF Eurofighter race would spawn more stunts in the same flavor, but we didn't see this one coming. Organizers of the upcoming A1 Gran Prix in Taupo, New Zealand arranged for a Boeing 777 to take on Johnny Reid in his Black Beauty A1 racer. The first heat saw the big Boeing win with a handicap, the second was even odds and race car easily spanked it's opponent. Makes us wonder how something like the Thrust SSC would do in a race like this. [TV New Zealand]
offbeat news
Two Dead As Horse And Car Collide On Highway, No Mustang Jokes Please
A sad story from New Zealand as an odd horse v. car accident resulted in the death of two (three if you include the horse, which was mercifully put down by the police). The accident happened along State Highway 35 near Opotiki on the North Island of New Zealand after a horse, being ridden by a teenager, bolted from the sand dunes and onto the highway, where it was crushed by an east-bound car. It was the 15th car-related fatality in New Zealand over the holiday. More »
offbeat news
Woman Keeps Test Driver to Avoid Heat
In New Zealand, stealing a Mitsubishi Mirage carries only a penalty of 100 hours of community service if you've got a good excuse. A mother from Tauranga decided to test drive the Mirage after looking at a few cars and just decided to not come back because it was "too hot to walk." Having lived in Texas for most of our lives, there were times we'd have test driven an Aztec just to avoid the heat. More »
novelties
Kiwi Driver Wins Five-Year Battle With Police
As if getting thwacked by a speeding police van wasn't bad enough, Steve Brown of Auckland, New Zealand was charged with careless driving despite making a legal maneuver. The police investigated and initially offered to just forget the whole thing, admitting there was no blame, but he was eventually fined for poor driving. Not content to let his clear driving record get besmirched, Brown spent half a decade and thousands of dollars defending himself in court. More »
custom van
It Had To Happen: Customized Thames Freighter
Once we saw the mighty Thames Freighter van at Laguna Seca, we knew: someone, somewhere, had turned a Freighter into a full-on 70s-style custom van. Sure enough, crazy New Zealander Colin Cowie has created The Sorcerer from his Thames Freighter. We can practically hear the strains of Frampton Comes Alive from here! [Van Association of New Zealand]
gumball 3000
Nelson's Balkan Campaign: Athens to Tirana
For once on the Gumball, I woke up in a bed. After a long day's journey into night and Athens, Herr Roy decided he wanted to be as close as possible to the M5 and booked a block of rooms at the Sofitel in Athens, rather than taking his room at the Hilton. A French cameraman was booked into the M5 for the day, riding rear-seat shotgun next to a spare wheel and Ross and Roy's excess baggage. Alex texted me to invite me down for breakfast with Fly and Jarod DeAnda. The morning was quiet and jovial, highlighted by Alex and I engaging in an impromptu game of Star Wars trivia one-upmanship that left Fly and Jarod gobsmacked at the sheer geekery. Then the text came in: the cars were ready to go. More »
v8 supercar
Pukekohe Raceway Mashup
The third round of Australian V8 Supercar wrapped up long enough ago for this mashup to surface from the New Zealand leg of the circuit. V8 Supercar returns. Now with more lawn mowing and flame throwing than ever. More »
news
Happy Boss's Day, Walt: The Post-It Note Jaguar
We know from tipster Sean's e-mail that this was the boss's car, and other sources tell us it was a car parked at the wireless company InPhonic. Other than that we've no idea what "Walt" did to deserve the post-it treatment, but he's probably glad the office got an extra box from 3M rather than a few more shipments of white-out. Just sayin'... More »
news
Drunk Dad Passes Out While Pumping Gas
I can only guess what issues Wes Anderson has with his father, but I'm fairly sure the senior Anderson has nothing on this delinquent dad from Auckland, New Zealand. With his two year-old girl in the car, he drove into a local gas station and attempted to pump gas. Nothing strange there. But, allegedly, he was so drunk (four times the legal limit) that he fell asleep midstream next to the car. When he woke up 40 minutes later, the bad dad was in police custody and his car was being hooked up to a tow truck. Let's all just be thankful that this story ended with incarceration and not immolation. More »
news
Kiwis And Steak Sauce: Germany's Nico Hulkenberg Takes Double Win In New Zealand A1GP
Although you're probably more interested in the "grid girls" — Team Germany's Nico Hulkenberg took the double win in Taupo, New Zealand, running in first place from start to finish in both the morning Sprint race as well as the afternoon Feature race. The win times two puts Hulkenberg's highly precise team firmly in the top spot in the "World Cup of Motorsport" standings. The nation of Bruce now has 65 points going into the next race in Sydney, Australia on February 4th, firming up the lead over new-to-second-place France with 46 points and the new-to-third-place hometown boys from New Zealand with 43 points. Coincidentally, that's also how the three nations finished the Feature race, allowing the 80,000 and some-odd crowd to bear witness to the first A1 Team — New Zealand's Jonny Reid, obvs — to place a driver on the podium in front of their home crowd. Still, the comment of the day's got to go to Germany's Hulkenberg, who told us everything we could ever want to know about the steak sauce man-love as he described the race:"I got into my rhythm, I was able to find my pace and I could make a little gap between us. My manager was a little bit sick this week and I think I have caught something off him but I am all right."Next time maybe Nico should use some protection, because the rhythm method's not going to protect him from nasty bugs — or even unintended pregnancy for that matter. Full gallery of the race — including the always awesome "grid girls" — below, courtesy of A1GP. More »
ad watch
Ad Watch: "Happy Together" with Toyota's RAV4
For my money, there's nothing like domestic violence for sheer comedic value. Saab covered this ground a few years back with a TV spot that pitted a blatantly bougie couple against one another, in a valiant effort to wrest first dibs on a 9-5. Now, it's Toyota's turn. While you might find fault in this New Zealand spot's me-too status, you simply must have to admire its comic virtuosity and level of destruction. Even the achingly obvious use of the Turtles' "Happy Together" adds to the injurious gestalt. Points off for bowling-ball abuse. More »
schadenfriday
Schadenfriday British Edition: Tover
Look, we here at Jalopnik love Top Gear. By proxy that means we love Jeremy Clarkson. Which means that we take his weirdo "global warming is bollocks" opines and Britannica Over All Others nonsense in stride. Sometimes he's even right (about the latter). Like the time he said Alan Shepard was the first American to ever do anything the Brits hadn't done first (full disclosure — we're British on both sides of the family). But what Jezzo always fails to own up to is that when England goes wrong, they go so fucking far a field it's nauseating. The above Tover is blood pudding proof. Yeah, it's got a 3.5-Liter Rover V8 like 92% of all British cars do, and that's it. The builder claims to have, "Surprised many would be boy races at various traffic light controlled intersections." Um, old chap, in the Tover, even if you win, you don't win. All the Fieros rebodied to look like Countaches in the world do not equal this unforgivable sin. Oh crap, it's from New Zealand? Somehow, that makes sense. A thousand apologies, Mr. Clarkson. More »
news
In The Grip Of Steak Sauce Grand Prix Man-Love: Kiwi Reid Wins From Pole To Second Checker Flag At Sentul
That's the hero of the day, New Zealand's sweat-soaked Jonny Reid, being grasped by a man we can only assume is his pit chief in what we can only assume is a hetero cele-brah-tion after Reid picked up the pole on his way to a victory for the boys and girls from Aotearoa during this morning's 15-lap sprint race. The win was the first ever for New Zealand in the "World Cup of Motorsport," but the celebration didn't end with the pole party above. Because in the steak sauce Grand Prix, they give you a second race, a "two-fer" if you will. Reid's sprint win gave him the pole for the Feature race — which he went on to dominate as well, giving New Zealand it's second win in A1GP racing. Sounds like a reason for the man-love to us. As for Team USA — driver Phil Giebler, after an inspiring fourth place finish in the morning's 15-lap, continued the American team's quest for slowness, coming in a man-love-less 9th place — but only after the disqualification of Team Netherlands allowed USA to move up one spot in the final results. Full race-day gallery below, if only because it gives us the chance to show you a picture of two Canadian men wearing shorts in a rickshaw. More »
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