The 2008 Melbourne Grand Prix was a bit of a procession with Lewis Hamilton sweeping all before him. One highlight, for those enjoying the view from their couch, was David Coulthard’s outburst towards Felipe Massa after the two collided, forcing Coulthard to retire from the race. DC’s spray was captured live by ITV, and here it is for your viewing pleasure (language warning applies).
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Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 8
Episode eight rolled off Fifth Gear‘s production line last night. Starting off at Anglesea, as usual, was another pointless comparison, as usual. This week saw a Porsche Cayenne GTS against a BMW X5 4.8 V8. And just in case you want to know which SUV is quickest around the track, which of course you do, then get the Porsche.
Quite why the producers didn’t set Vicki on the track with the new Honda S2000 GT and Nissan 350Z GT is anyone’s guess. Actually, it was probably a good call as it was as plain as day that we’d be told the S2000 would make the best accessory du jour for all high street hairdressers.
Chemmy Alcott can ski better than she can drive. And at least when she is skiing she’s not making an arse of herself.
Citroen have bottled it and tried to make a German C5, so expect that to sell as well as the outgoing French one, even if Tom reckons it’s a quantum leap forward.
Jonny and Tiff actually do a damn good job of making NASCAR seem interesting with their Daytona 500 report. If only the cars turned right from time to time.
This weekend saw the world racing debut of the new R56 MINI Challenge cars. The 2008 Australian series kicked off at Sydney’s Eastern Creek and Neil McFadyen from the M3 Motorsports team has taken the round win. McFadyen claimed the chequered flag in Race 1 and Race 3, with Race 2 being won by Grant Denyer. The first clip above is the intro segment from the TV coverage, broadcast just before Race 3 went to air.
See below for clips of the race.
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Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 7
The seventh episode of Fifth Gear‘s thirteenth series aired in the UK recently. Crumbs, this latest installment really was scraping the bottom of the barrel. As usual, Vicki kicked off the episode by punting a couple of cars around Anglesea, this week’s thrashings were the Vauxhall Corsa SRi and Ford Fiesta ST. Is it ever bloody dry at that track?! And they really need to ditch that damn it’s new but is it any good segment, or at least, spunk it up a bit with some moderately interesting cars.
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Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 6
Episode six of the current series of Fifth Gear featured the highly anticipated Nissan GT-R and Audi RS6 (see youtube clips below). In fact, Fifth Gear claimed theirs was the world’s first TV clip to review the GT-R. Jonny and Tom had a camp-off, erm, pun intended, with a pair of Volkswagen vans. The second hand star was the R33 Nissan Skyline GT-R. And Tom stacked a Renault Laguna into a big old tree. Vicki kicked off the episode by punting a Fiat 500 and MINI One around Anglesea.
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Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 5
Episode five of the current series of Fifth Gear featured the much anticipated comparo between the BMW 135i and the Porsche Cayman (see two part youtube clips below). A short interview with Moto-X legend and rallying hopeful Travis Patrana showed some of his amazing career highlights. The second hand star saw Johnny looking for the best deal under £2400, I’d take his Mk2 Golf GTI 8 valve I reckon. And there was a bunch of daft scooters as well.
Other cars featured in Episode 5 include:
- Renault Twingo GT v Fiat Panda 100hp at Anglesea
- Land Rover Freelander v Nissan X-Trail
- BMW 135i v Porsche Cayman
This is one of those rare articles on AUSringers that has a solely Australian focus. In some great news for MINI fans, the 2008 Australian MINI Challenge has secured a superb free to air TV package with Channel 7. There will be a total of seven hours of programming, with the majority being broadcast LIVE into households across Australia. The first event will be at Eastern Creek in just a few weeks with race 3 on Sunday 9 March attracting live coverage.
Read the official press release and broadcast dates below for more information.
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Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 4
The latest episode of Five’s Fifth Gear saw Jason Plato take us behind the doors of the Segrave Club—the latest way to access the world’s greatest supercars, including one of my favourites, the Porsche Carrera GT. Johnny takes the new BMW 635d to Poland in search of cheap diesel fuel. And the second hand star was the Mk5 Golf GTI. Blimey, only feels like it went on sale a year or so back.
Other cars featured in Episode 4 include:
- Volkswagen Transporter 3.0 TDI Sportsline v Brabus Vito Sport-X at Anglesea
- Aston Martin DBS (see youtube clip below)
- Mercedes-Benz Unimog
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BimmerFile.com launched
My daily rounds of website scouting has seen me discover some good news for BMW fans. Gabriel Bridger of MotoringFile fame has just launched a new motoring blog called BimmerFile and yes, that’s right, it will focus on all things BMW. If Gabe’s new site is anything like his MINI site then this will be compulsory reading.
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Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 3
The latest episode of Five’s Fifth Gear aired in the UK yesterday. Johnny and Tom tackled the gruelling Exeter Challenge in a Volkswagen Beetle. A brief glimpse of the upcoming Ford Focus was given and a Fifth Gear special crash test featuring a London cab highlighted the dangers of children travelling unrestrained.
Other cars featured in Episode 3 include:
- Vauxhall VXR8 v Lotus Carlton at Anglesea
- Audi A3 Cabriolet
- Maserati Grand Turismo
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Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 2
The latest episode of Five’s Fifth Gear aired in the UK recently.
Cars featured in Episode 2 include:
- Renault Clio 197 R27 v R180 RT Rage Buggy at Anglesea
- Toyota Landcruiser
- Mazda 2
- BMW M3 v Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG
A clip of the BMW v Benz segment has already found it’s way on to youtube. That didn’t seem to take long, I wonder if Five will ask for the clip to be removed?
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Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 1
While this blog will mostly focus on the Nurburgring, I thought it might be a good idea to include a few updates for other things motor related. If you’ve found this site then it’s a pretty safe bet that you’ve seen BBC’s TopGear and Five’s Fifth Gear.
Series 13 of Fifth Gear has just started in the UK and as usual there’s some tasty cars and tasty driving featured.
Cars featured in Episode 1 include:
- Lotus Exige S and the Caterham 7 CSR 260 Superlight at Anglesea
- Bernie Ecclestone’s classic car collection
- Mercedes-Benz CLK AMG Black Series