The Good Oil: Speedy Mini proves hot but not heavy

The Mini Eagle packs almost 200kW into a bodyshell that has shed about 100kg. Photo / Supplied

German tuning specialist AC Schnitzer claims its Mini Eagle, a hotted-up model based on the John Cooper Works edition hot hatch, is the fastest Mini ever.

It packs almost 200kW into a bodyshell that has shed about 100kg.

Schnitzer says the Eagle lapped the Hockenheim GP circuit in 1min 13sec, a time that the BMW M3 and C63 AMG models had to work hard to beat.

Sexy wheels
Cars rule. We love driving them, talking about them, working on them - and we even love having sex in them.

An American sex survey done for condom-maker Trojan found cars rate as the most exciting place in which to have sex. Forty-eight per cent of 3000 adults surveyed felt that having sex in a car was more exciting than doing the deed in:

Someone else's bed (33 per cent)

The outdoors (27 per cent)

The beach or sea (23 per cent)

A hot tub (22 per cent)

Trojan reminded those who might want to add to the 48 per cent not to forget to turn off the engine, put the car in gear and pull on the parking brake.

Mountain spirit guides races to the clouds

Pikes Peak International Hill Climb races to the clouds tomorrow and, once again, the weather will pretty much determine whether competitors can crack the elusive 10min mark.

About 7.5cm of snow fell during the week with temperatures just below freezing. "It's really the mountain that decides what happens," says race director Phil Layton. "The mountain has a spirit of its own and it throws things at you."

Weather aside, the chances of the 10min mark being busted are better than ever. The 20km course is paved completely with asphalt, apart from a small stretch of dirt that will wait untouched until next year. The extra tarmac could make the difference between a good time and a historic time, say Pikes Peak specialists.

Climate contrast takes the apple

South Korean carmaker Kia's Brazilian advertising agency Moma was looking for a unique way to highlight the dual-zone air conditioning in the SUV Sportage.

It hit on the idea of showing two very different climates in the same situation.

The result raised temperatures among advertising watchdogs - but ended up winning an international award at the Cannes film festival.

Go to IBelieveInAdv.com to get a closer look at the gallery of ads.

Ford applies smarts for gridlock cure

Ford chief Bill Ford jnr is not just pushing the development of green technology, he's also homing in on cures for gridlock. Ford says the population of the planet is expected to jump from 6.8 billion people to about 9 billion by mid-century.

In turn, cars and trucks are expected to grow from about 800 million today to between 2-4 billion by 2050. Ford said solutions to gridlock are beginning to present themselves, including smart vehicles that can communicate traffic information to one another, but there is still a lot of work to do.

It's the super-Rover

Land Rover is looking at a super-luxury version of the upcoming Evoque, say reports in Britain.

It would be a swept-up five-door Evoque with a "Grand" badge, like the Vogue moniker on a Range Rover.

The reports say Land Rover is basing its plans on research that shows American buyers are pumping cash into luxury mid-range SUVs and that the Chinese market is also ripe for an explosion.

Where GM got it wrong - by an expert

Former General Motors bigwig Bob Lutz is still dishing it out to his former employer on talk shows promoting his new book: Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business. Among management decisions that Lutz says wasted money:

-All Chevrolet vehicles had to have five-spoke aluminum wheels and a chrome band up front, as part of the brand's overall image.

-Pontiac was required to use "see-through" headrests, even though they cost more to produce and gave no extra consumer value.

-All Buicks had to have a sweep spear in the exterior design.

-Cadillac considered building a 410kW supercharged Escalade.

-Proportion and shape didn't matter as long as all the brand-image boxes were checked.

As well, he says, many of the non-car-person GM board members drove imports.

Lutz says GM was run by people who focused on techniques and ideals that didn't work.

McLaren's first UK base lacks supercars

McLaren has opened its first British dealership at One Hyde Park, London, one of 35 such outlets in 19 countries. But the London outfit alone might not have too many cars to sell.

Reports quoting McLaren's regional director for Asia, the Middle East and Africa suggest that the new MP4-12C supercar is already sold out for the next three years.

Of course, those numbers may be based on initial production.

McLaren is gearing up to build 1000 MP4-12C models each year on the way to annual capacity of 4000 cars from the new assembly line at Woking.