Good oil: Even Lamborghinis get out of control

A fellow rang us to say that the driver of a Lamborghini Murcielago pulled out of a side street on to Brighton Rd, Parnell, and "put the car into a tree and then a pole". How would he have done that?

A couple of people who know about these things have assumed what happened to the 432kw (580bhp) V12 supercar, which was up for sale on trademe.co.nz.

As the driver blipped the throttle while turning right, the rear wheels lost traction and the tail swung out. The driver, we assume, then turned the car's front wheels to the left to counter the slide.

But the car's electronic all-wheel-drive system had already sent drive to the front wheels. That's what it does when the rear wheels lose grip. The front wheels, still pointing left and, by now, largely driving the car, hurled it into the tree.

Things happen quickly when a 300km/h supercar with snap-back acceleration loses its way under throttle. But why didn't its electronic traction control system intervene before things got ugly?

Because the driver of the $450,000 exotic had turned it off. Formula One champion Michael Schumacher said of traction control in supercars: "If you have the skills of a Formula One driver, turn it off. If you don't, don't."

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Subaru NZ general manager Wally Dumper has been largely responsible for the success over the past 10 years of the Japanese all-wheel-drive specialist. Now he has a new challenge as managing director of Motorcorp Distributors, a new company responsible for Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo in NZ.

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A wealthy English couple have been convicted and fined $30,000 for trying to avoid paying for two $150 camera speeding fines.

Stewart and Cathryn Bromley invented a Bulgarian friend who they said was driving their car when the offences happened. They addressed a postcard from the Bulgarian admitting all and flew 2200km to Bulgaria to post it.

The court picked apart their hoax.