Days of Gravel: Tom Cruise Drives Red Bull F1 Racecar

It’s not every day that you see a Hollywood megastar driving a racing car. Sure, many of them own one (or 10) supercars, and some, like former 90210 Beverly Hills lead Jason Priestley and Grey’s Anatomy Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd, aka Patrick Dempsey, double in motor racing as a hobby.

And no one can forget the late Paul Newman who competed as a professional racing driver from 1972 until 2005 winning, among other things, his class in the 24 hours of Daytona at the age of 70 years and 8 days. He was also the co-founder and owner of the successful Newman/Haas Racing Champ Car team.

Read more »

Coach One: President Obama Gets New $1.1 Million Super Bus

President Obama has a new addition to his means of transportation that already includes the Cadillac Presidential Limousine, the VC-25A (aka Boeing 747-200) Air Force One Jumbo jet and the Marine One VH3-D Sea King or the newer, Blackhawk-based VH-60N “Nighthawk” helicopters.

It’s a big black coach built by Nashville, Tennessee-based Hemphill Brothers and is fitted with the latest technology in security and communications, though both the company and the Secret Service wouldn't divulge any specific info.

Read more »

Bavaria's Polizei Takes in New BMW 5-Series Touring Patrol Cars

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann accepted a larger than life key to a new fleet of BMW 5-Series Touring police cruisers from the Head of BMW Group sales to public authorities, Alexander Thorwirth.

The ministry took in a total of nine specially modified examples of the latest 5-Series estate that will be used in Munich and other areas of the state.

Read more »

Video: True...Ladies Men Smoke Slap Girls on the Road [NSFW]

Adding a new dimension to the 'savoir vivre' of people who really don't have anything better to do with their lives (besides trying to prove that they may be the missing link in evolution), the occupants of this diesel-powered truck demonstrate their humor by asking girls on the road if they smoke and then blast them with a black cloud of exhaust fumes.

Not surprisingly, Harry, Lloyd, Snooki's doppelganger and the rest of the gang have no problem smiling....for the camera. Watch the videos after the jump.

Read more »

Video: Man Drowns Friend’s Porsche 911 Turbo into the Rheine River

Friends are supposed to, you know, be there for you whenever you need them, helping and supporting you. But that doesn't seem to be the case with two men from Switzerland that may have to face a potentially friend-shattering situation...

You see, friend number one lent his prized Porsche 911 Turbo to friend number two. And what did the latter do? Did he go to Germany to max it out in an autobahn? Did he get a ticket or the license plates seized by the Polizei? Did he have the car towed for parking illegally?

Nope…he just drove friend No1's supercar into the Rhine river. Not a pretty sight, as you can see from the "fishing" video that follows.

Read more »

Clarkson's Jaguar XJS Sports Train Pulls into the World of Top Gear Exhibition at Beaulieu

The World of Top Gear Exhibition at Beaulieu in Hampshire, England, has just added another toy from the popular TV motoring programme to its collection.

The new addition is the Jaguar 'Sports Train' that was featured in the fourth episode of season 17 when Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May set out to build the best automotive-pulled train.

Read more »

Video: You Know You've Really Done it This Time When…

Chances are you're going to get into trouble sooner or later if you're driving under the influence, but the…coffee stains really hit the fan when you enter the wrong lane and crash head-on with the County Sheriff's patrol vehicle…

The incident, which was captured by a police cruiser dash camera, occurred in Oklahoma at around 6:30 pm, this past Saturday.

Read more »

Privé London Dining Club Receives a Splash of Bentley Style

Mosimann’s, an exclusive dining club located in the heart of Belgravia in central London, has opened the doors to a new privé room inspired by, and dedicated to, luxury British carmaker Bentley.

The dining room for the rich but not necessarily famous, blends traditional British styling with unique Bentley accents. It is the work of Caulder Moore, which also designed the Bentley Living Room at the company’s headquarters in Crewe, in 2010, and can seat 14 people with standing room for 28.

Read more »

Great Balls of Fire: Fireman Doesn't Even Flinch when Car Explodes in his Face

Meet one of the most badass firefighters around. Why, we hear you ask? Well, despite the fact that he was only inches away from a burning car that exploded while he was trying to put the fire out, this man didn't even move during the blast and continued to do his job!

The incident took place in Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles last week, and was caught on camera.

Read more »

Video: You Know You're a Cheapskate When…

It’s not a matter if you can, or depending on the local laws, if you're allowed to tie up a mattress pad on the roof of your car, but there's something fundamentally wrong when you do it to a Porsche 911 Turbo - even if it's an older generation model (996 in this case).

You can watch the video for yourself after the break, just make sure to mute the sound if you're at work as the person filming the 911 Turbo makes some (unnecessary) foul comments.

Read more »

NASCAR Driver Kyle Busch Loses License for going 128MPH in a Lexus LFA Tester

Oh the irony…Less than 24 hours after Toyota released a new promotional video with NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Kyle Busch promoting the new 2012 Camry Hybrid on the Daytona race track, the 26-year old is making headlines again, this time for losing his driver's license for 45 days for speeding in a Lexus LFA test car.

Busch pleaded guilty to speeding and no contest to reckless driving in North Carolina after he was nabbed earlier this year by the Iredell County Sheriff's department going 128mph (205km/h) in a 45mph (72km/h) zone. Busch was caught in a brand-new Lexus LFA he had taken to test drive for 24-hours.

Read more »

In the Spotlight: How to Overkill a Ferrari 458 Italia

Electric lamps are so passé these days. The way of the future is LEDs or Light-emitting diodes that can be found just about everywhere. Lately, LEDs have taken the automotive industry by storm with carmakers offering them either optionally or standard on most of their models.

But it’s not only regular carmakers that have adopted the new lighting technology; so has the tuning industry which discovered a new toy to attract consumers. The results, as you can see from this example of a Ferrari 458 Italia slathered in LEDs, aren’t always graceful. Video follows after the break.

Read more »

Video: It’s a Dog's World in Russia

And Honda though it discovered the wheel with its canine-loving equipment package for transferring man's best friend in the Element crossover…

Over in Russia, a crafty Lada owner improvised a…tailored setup to allow his pooch to travel in its own compartment separated from the passengers by –literally-cutting up a space in the boot. Watch the clip after the break.

Read more »

Video: Just Another Drifting Day in the Middle East

For those of you that think driving through the congested roads of Manhattan or Paris is bad, maybe you should take a look at the following video, which seems to have been shot somewhere in the Middle East (if you happen to know where, leave us a comment below).

In broad daylight and while normal drivers are using the road, numerous wannabe drifters, mostly in American and Australian rear-wheel drive saloons like the Ford Crown Victoria, Chrysler 300 and the Holden-based Chevrolet Caprice, are showing off their rides slideways.

Read more »

Mercedes-Benz Teams up with LEGO to Create the Largest TECHNIC Model

When it comes to building LEGO, size does matter and with an impressive length of 38.6 cm (15.2-inches) from bumper to bumper and more than 2,000 pieces, the 1:12-scale Mercedes-Benz Unimog will surely be one heck of a challenge to build.

The LEGO Unimog 4000 was created to celebrate the Mercedes-Benz truck's 60th anniversary this year and it is available to buy from Argos and LEGO stores with pricing in the UK set at £154.99 (about €177 or US$255).

Read more »

Oh NASCAR…Driver Steve Wallace gets his Hair Pulled from a Crew Chief

If you though hair pulling is a girls sport only, then you probably missed out on the events that took place at last Saturday's NAPA 200 race in Montreal, Canada.

It all started when Nationwide Series driver Steve Wallace came in contact with Canadian driver Patrick Carpentie on a very tight corner sending him spinning out of the race.

Carpentie, who was running for Pastrana Waltrip Racing, had previously announced plans to end his 27-year motorsport career after the Montreal race. Understandably, this wasn't the way Carpentie or his crew wanted him to retire so tempers were at the flashpoint.

Read more »

Ferrari 458 Italia Xbox 360 Steering Wheel Brings Some Maranello Magic to your Playroom

Chances are most of us will never have the opportunity to drive, let alone own, a Ferrari 458 Italia. But a racing game for a gaming console like Microsoft’s Xbox 360, is certainly within the reach of most.

Even though you will have to do without the hand-stitched cream leather of the interior, the actual G’s squeezing your body in corners and, of course, the gorgeous bodywork, Thrustmaster wants to bring the 458 experience closer to with the Ferrari 458 Italia Racing Wheel for the Xbox 360.

Read more »

Chilling Mazda MX-5 Touch and Roll Over Accident

The accident you are about to watch in the video after the break occurred during the third race of the Ma5da MX5 Mk1 Championship at the Snetterton circuit in the UK.

It all went down when the Jamie Ingram (car No.108) lost control of his Mk1 MX-5 and hit Mark Leach's blue MX-5 (car No.16), who at the time was passing on the right. Leach's car was launched into the air and then rolled over seven times before coming to halt.

Fortunately, despite the severity of the accident, Leach made it out alive but not without some injuries including a bruised lung, some whip lash, and a broken arm.

Read more »

Dutch Facepalm: Mutant Opel Astra Station Wagon

Of all the excessive custom creations that we've shown you through these pages over the years, this 1999 Opel Astra Station Wagon from Holland must be one of the most bizarre –and that's an understatement- ever.

While keeping the standard model's…82HP-strong 2.0-liter diesel engine, the owner modified the late 1990s Astra estate with anything he could find including an Audi front end, a wide body kit with excessive wheel arches and more vents than a cheese grater.

Read more »

Vancouver Riots Victim will Continue to Pay for her Burned Down BMW M5!

We suspect that you remember our story about the young woman trying to save her E60 BMW M5 from the manic hooligans during the Vancouver riots that erupted in June after the Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup.

As seen on several videos, the young woman, who was later identified as Jazmin Perez, tried in vain to save her BMW M5 from being destroyed. Perez had parked her car outside a store in downtown Vancouver, and when she returned, she found the mob burning down her V10-powered bimmer “to silver metal” as she told CBC News.

Read more »