MotorMad

Classic Car Experience

Driving routes to challenge and inspire you. Driving routes which will take take you into the most hidden, scenic and remote corners of Ireland and Wales. Driving routes which, as one motoring journalist put it, you would never find on your own unless you were seriously lost! That is the promise made by The Classic Car Experience, based in South Wales, UK, should you decide to join them on one of their motoring tours.

Motormad's Favourite Motoring Websites

We have selected some of our favourite motoring websites for you to check out.

UK Motoring Directory
The home of British motoring - Directory of motoring/automotive web links

Loeb Wins Record Sixth World Rally Race in Argentina

Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb dominated the Rally of Argentina to become the first driver to win six successive rounds of the World Rally Championship. After recovering from hitting a bull on the seventh stage, Loeb finished 26.1 seconds ahead of Finland's Marcus Gronholm and notched up his seventh victory in nine starts and his sixth straight win.

£4m Spent At Number Plate Auction

Desirable number plates went under the hammer for huge sums of money at an auction in Crewe. The DVLA auction at Crewe Hall saw hot bidding on a range of registration plates which will set vehicles apart from the rest. But the one which caused the biggest stir, attracting bids from across the country, was SCR 4P. A mystery buyer, believed to be a scrap dealer, paid £54,000 for the privilege of the number plate adorning his car while a boating enthusiast paid an undisclosed sum for 5 ROW.
Bidders with a penchant for designer clothes, bags and shoes by Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior had their purses and wallets at the ready when 30 LV and YSL 600 went under the hammer. And there was a flurry of activity among fitness fans when RUN 10K was offered for sale.
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Chinese Cars Arrive in Europe

Reuters has reported that the first Chinese cars for sale in Western Europe arrived in the Antwerp on Tuesday, threatening to undercut European manufacturers already struggling with weak demand for their own models. Dutch car dealer Peter Bijvelds said he had already found buyers for the 200 landwind five-door Sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and was confident of selling about 2,000 of them this year.

Alonso Finishes First in French Grand Prix

This time, 20 cars started the race, 15 cars crossed the finish line, and the five that dropped out did so through the "natural causes" of mechanical problems well into the event. Two weeks after the fiasco at the U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis when only six cars raced before 120,000 paying spectators, the series put on a bigger show for a smaller crowd of 80,000 at the French Grand Prix on Sunday.

Dumped cars 'would reach Berlin'

The number of cars dumped in England last year would create a tailback from London to Berlin if laid end to end, the Liberal Democrats have said. Figures from Defra show 221,424 cars were dumped in England between 2003 and 2004 - equivalent to 607 a day. The amount dumped in London alone - 57,000 - would cover the London Marathon route six times.

Police Cars Get Fingerprint Readers

Police patrol cars in Northamptonshire are being fitted with mobile fingerprint readers as part of a trial that could be used by all UK police forces if successful. Northamptonshire Police are using the mobile fingerprint readers to help identify drivers pulled over during automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) checks. ANPR captures passing vehicles' number plates and checks them against the Police National Computer to spot any suspect vehicles.

Toyota Worker Torches Cars

Police have arrested an employee of Toyota Motor Co. for wilful destruction of property. Junji Kubo, 26, admitted to setting fire to several cars.

"I did seven or eight cars," he told the police. He later added: "I did it because I was worried and frustrated."

Toyota has seen 34 reported car torchings since the start of April and the Toyota employee is the prime suspect. Police said the specific case for which Kubo was arrested was for torching the rear light of a car parked outside a Toyota home on the morning of June 30. The area near where Kubo was arrested had been plagued by arson attacks on cars and motorcycles since April 12. A car matching the description of Kubo's vehicle was spotted near the scene of many of the blazes.

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The Car That Parks Itself!

Thanks to new technology parking is soon to become easier. City Park will look for a space, decide if your car will fit, then slot your vehicle in backwards at the first attempt. Engineers at PSA Peugeot Citroen are currently trialling the technology in a specially equipped car.