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Michael Schumacher is The Stig

June 22nd 2009 04:50
Michael Schumacher The Stig
The Stig's famous white helmet comes off....


The British version of Top Gear has just returned to air for its 13th season last night and boy did "the three musketeers" (Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May) have the studio audience all worked up with a surprise unmasking of tame racing driver, the Stig!


And believe it or not, it was the face of legendary F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher that appeared beneath the famous white helmet.



What a coup for Top Gear UK and an unbelievable way to start off another season of the world's most popular motoring show. Sure, the odds of Schumi actually being the full-time Stig is as slim as, well, getting laid with Jessica Alba, but props to TGUK for another hilarious and complete unexpected take on one of the net's most hotly debated topics: Who is The Stig?

Michael Schumacher The Stig
...and its Michael Schumacher!!!


We're no closer to finding out the real identity of the Stig but this gag will be talked about for quite some time to come.


Oh, and just in case you were wondering why Schumacher was on Top Gear - he was behind the wheel of a Ferrari FXX for a hot lap around the Top Gear test track. Check out the video and stunning lap-time below!




[Source: BBC, Youtube]









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GM files for 'Chapter 11' bankruptcy; Holden is safe

June 2nd 2009 14:15
General Motors logo


General Motors, once the world's largest car manufacturer and pride of corporate America, has filed for bankruptcy despite receiving more than $19 billion in US government loans to keep it afloat.

The title of "No.1 Selling Vehicle Manufacturer in the World for 76 Consecutive Years" means very little now as GM's bankruptcy listed $82 billion in assets and more than $172 billion in debt.


Bankruptcy reorganisation, or Chapter 11, will see the company sell off its good assets to a new GM, while the less desirable or bad assets will remain in bankruptcy to be liquidated. Meanwhile, the US treasury will provide an additional $30 billion to finance GM during its bankruptcy.

Holden


Iconic Australian marque, Holden, a subsidiary of General Motors will be “part of the new GM” and have been quick to assure employees there will be no changes to its Australian and New Zealand operations as a result of the financial woes of its parent company.

Holden managing director Mark Reuss has told a press conference in Melbourne that Holden is "not planning any job losses" and stressed that Holden in Australia operated as an individual business and "we're making our own luck". However, he could make no guarantees on the effects the international market might have on the company.

He said half the company's production went to export "and I can't say what's going to happen in the Middle-East or the US".

"GM has clearly stated that all of its businesses in the Asia Pacific region - and that includes Holden - continue normal operations and are not directly impacted by this process in the US.''

"No operations outside the US are included in the court filing or court supervised process,'' Mr Reuss said.

"Holden is a subsidiary of GM but we are a corporate entity in our own right - an independent company under Australian law.''

Holden has not made a profit in Australia since 2004, but benefitted from a taxpayer-funded $149 million to build a second car manufacturing line for its locally-built small car under the federal government's Green Car Innovation Fund.









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Top Gear's The Stig is Graham Hill

January 22nd 2009 22:30
Graham Hill The Stig


Iconic automotive show Top Gear has responded to persistent rumours over the past week as to the true identity of their tame racing driver, The Stig, and the answer is...*cue drum roll


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Ford's PowerShift dual-clutch gearbox

January 22nd 2009 04:30
Ford PowerShift gearbox


Ford has become the latest car maker to introduce a dual-clutch gearbox to its lineup in North America starting with the small-car segment in 2010. Dubbed PowerShift, the six-speed dual-clutch gearbox is essentially two manual transmissions working in parallel, each with its own independent clutch unit. One clutch carries the odd gears - 1, 3 and 5 - while the other takes of the even gears – 2, 4 and 6 - and reverse


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BMW M1 Homage heading to Melbourne Motor Show

January 15th 2009 14:30
BMW M1 Homage


The 75th Melbourne Motor Show starting on February 27, 2009 is the only major motor show to be staged in Australia this year so in spite of the global financial crisis, car companies are still planning to making the most of it


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Official: Porsche becomes major shareholder in Volkswagen

January 8th 2009 04:30
Porsche Volkswagen


German sports car maker Porsche has raised its stake in fellow manufacturer Volkswagen to a tick over 50% to become its major shareholder. After securing an $8.49 billion deal to purchase more ordinary voting shares, Porsche has successfully added another 8% to its ownership of VW to 50.76


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More than one-million new vehicles sold in 2008

January 6th 2009 21:00
Holden Commodore SS
Holden Commodore: Australia's most popular car for the 13th year in a row.


Despite the global financial crisis affecting the sales of new vehicles in Australia for the last few months of 2008, Australians still bought more than one-million new vehicles in a single calendar year for the second year in a row and only the second time ever


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Australian new car sales fall 22 percent

December 7th 2008 22:15
Toyota logo


The world financial tsunami continues to cause havoc with the local car industry with the latest figures showing a sharp fall in November with 71,647 cars, trucks and light buses sold - down 22.2 percent (20,434 vehicles) compared to the same month last year


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Honda: POLAR III Revolutionary Pedestrian Dummy

October 27th 2008 05:15
Honda POLAR III Pedestrian Dummy


In Australia, one in six people killed in fatal road crashes between 2001 and 2005 was a pedestrian and to this day, an average of 91 pedestrians are killed in road crashes each year. Honda, one of the leaders in automotive safety, became the first manufacturer in the world to develop a pedestrian crash test dummy that reproduced the human body’s kinematics during vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions


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Toyota: World's first rear window airbag

October 1st 2008 06:15
Toyota rear window curtain shield airbag


The airbag has evolved a lot over the years; from being exclusive to only the driver and then the front passenger, side airbags were later introduced to offer front and rear occupants protection against side-on collisions. More recently, curtain, head/thorax and even knee airbags have been introduced by car makers keen on making their cars as safe as possible


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FCAI: Sales slump in August 2008

September 4th 2008 04:30
Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries


According to the latest VFACTS figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), the Australian new car market is definitely slowing with its second consecutive month of flagging sales. In August 2008, just 77,324 cars, trucks and buses were sold, some 10,882 less vehicles (12.3%) compared to the same month last year


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Top Gear Live: Jezza, Hamster, Capt. Slow invades London in tank

September 4th 2008 00:15
Top Gear hosts tank


As Australia anticipates the arrival of our own version of Top Gear on September 29, the original UK hosts - Jeremy Clarkson (Jezza), Richard Hammond (Hamster) and James May (Captain Slow) - are about to embark on their UK and world tour


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Top Gear Australia to air on Sep 29

September 3rd 2008 00:15
Top Gear Australia hosts


It's hard not to look forward to it despite the fact that it would be less surprising if it was shockingly bad rather than good, but nonetheless Australia's version of Top Gear will air on SBS at 7:30pm on Monday, September 29


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Aston Martin relaunches Lagonda marque

September 2nd 2008 06:30
Lagonda


The Lagonda marque is set for a revival as a concept in 2009 - its centenary year - according to Aston Martin boss Ulrich Bez, who says the relaunched brand will use a unique design language as Aston Martin does


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