Every winter UK roads seem to descend into chaos for a few weeks. But it really doesn’t have to be like this. There are two factors vital to safe driving on snowy or iced roads, the correct winter tyres and adequate driver skill. It is a sad reflection of our attitude to driving that for […]
Heritage and Engineering are two words that don’t often hang around in each others company. But maybe they should.
Heritage and Engineering Read More »
There wasn’t so much an actual ‘Design Brief’, more a sort of chat about really cool things to have on a car, and which were the best-looking desert race cars ever…
Project Swarm: Top Gear’s Mitsubishi L200 Desert Warrior Read More »
Sacrifice is a strong word. A very strong word. It could mean giving up one’s life for someone you love, or a country you love. It can be used in many ways, but all of them are powerful. Service is a gentler word. In my world service could mean the things you do to keep
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There is a lot of comment about the UK government announcement that by 2040 they will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. Most of the comment seems to be ill informed, made by people with little or no understanding of the motor industry or technology. The government 2040 announcement is typical politics,
As a teenager in the 80s I wrote an essay on how robots would end up being the next stage in human evolution. I had grown up reading great novels by people like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clark, my family were all engineers and I was studying science and technology at college. The future
AI: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Read More »
Here is an interesting observation: most drivers don’t want to be there. Unlike enthusiasts, such as myself, who really get a deep enjoyment and fulfilment from driving, in the mass market most car owners don’t actually like driving at all, it’s just become a necessity of modern life. That’s why so many of them don’t
Autonomous Zombies Read More »
There are some deluded factions of the motoring press that have loudly and ignorantly derided a very useful and miss-understood service that helps motorists in need and saves police time. The motorway Traffic Officers are referred to by one loud mouthed buffoon as ‘wombles’, but they answer a long standing complaint made by hoards of
The same basic principals apply to both XJ-S and XJ6/12 cars. First up which car to go for. The V12 in 5.3 form is fantastic on the race track with a 6500rpm rev limit and over 300bhp readily available, although the standard cooling system is dire. The first V12s had flat cylinder heads and can
How To Make an Old Jag Fast Read More »
The chances are you have already heard about the ‘Saturday Club’, a band of enthusiastic engineers who designed the stunning Jaguar XJ220 in their own time just because they had a burning desire to make their dream into a reality. But what happened after the concept was unveiled and why did the V12 get dropped
XJ220: A Hidden Story Read More »