Archive for May, 2011
Our Cars : MGF VVC
Keith Adams Our new MGF is going from strength to strength. We’re racking up the miles and enjoying the experience. The only downside we’ve been encountering so far is the English weather, which continues to prove disappointingly drizzly and cold. It’s especially disappointing considering the heatwave we’d had here until the point I bought it [...]
May 31, 2011
· 
Keith Adams · 
No Comments
Head-to-Head : Ford Capri vs Triumph TR8
Richard Truett The final Triumph TR and the Ford Capri are two of Britain’s most iconic ‘affordable’ sports cars of the 1980s. One, caught up in corporate financial turmoil and never developed to its full potential, died prematurely in October 1981. It is only now being appreciated for its advanced styling, excellent handling, sensible cockpit [...]
May 29, 2011
· Keith Adams · 48 Comments
Bahar blows credibility, loses Lotus?
Chris Sawyer Well, having just read the entire Judgment in the ‘Group Lotus vs. Team Lotus’ case (my name for it), I can only say that Sir Walter Scott’s saying, ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive,’ pretty much describes the history of Lotus (Group and Team) and the [...]
May 29, 2011
· Clive Goldthorp · 12 Comments
Lotus : The High Court Judge rules in favour…
Keith Adams …of Team Lotus! Well, it’s a High Court case that’s been running since the end of 2010 and today it looks as though we might have a resolution – Mr. Justice Peter Smith has concluded that Team Lotus can continue running with the name. This is despite Group Lotus’ assertion that its title sponsorship deal [...]
May 27, 2011
· Keith Adams · 8 Comments
India Watch : Jaguar Land Rover opens new plant in Pune, India
Jaguar Land Rover has today officially opened its first assembly plant in India. The facility, which has been built at Pune in the Maharashtra region of India, will assemble Land Rover Freelander 2 vehicles supplied in Complete Knock Down (CKD) form from Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood manufacturing plant in Liverpool, UK.
May 27, 2011
· Clive Goldthorp · 3 Comments
Group Lotus : CEO Dany Bahar contemplates a future without Proton
Malaysia’s PROTON Holdings Berhad has been propping up Lotus cars for many years and has emerged as a key player in funding the British sports car company’s ambitious new product plans.
May 27, 2011
· Clive Goldthorp · 14 Comments
MG Motor UK : MG 3 Customer Clinics begin at Prodrive Kenilworth
Clive Goldthorp MG Motor UK Limited’s latest round of MG6 VIP Track Drives were not the only activity which the company was organising at Prodrive’s Test Track in Kenilworth this week. A select group of Dealer representatives and Motoring Journalists were invited to attend a Customer Clinic for the MG3 supermini. The MG3, which went [...]
May 26, 2011
· Clive Goldthorp · 55 Comments
AROnline Project : MGF
Keith Adams It’s all change at AROnline. Mike’s picked up a new HHR project (what is he thinking?) and I’ve cashed in my NSU Ro80 (no time, no space, best to avoid disappointment) to get my hands on Richard Kilpatrick’s ‘barn find’ MGF VVC.
May 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · 8 Comments
MG6 GT Dealer Launch : Feedback from the showroom floor
Clive Goldthorp MG Motor UK Limited and the MG Dealer Network have now had time to reflect upon the British public’s initial response to the Dealer Launch of the MG6 GT on 14 May 2011. Doug Wallace, the company’s Public Relations Manager, spoke to Enda Mullen of the Birmingham Post last week and said that: ‘Feedback has [...]
May 24, 2011
· Clive Goldthorp · 25 Comments
Kicking the habit : Project HH-R
Giving up Bangernomics is even harder than giving up smoking – and that’s a fact! Words and Photographs: Mike Humble Every New Year’s Eve, at the stroke of midnight, many folks up and down the land make those resolutions. The morning after, when the drink has worn off, most have been forgotten about and quietly fade away as [...]
May 23, 2011
· Mike Humble · 3 Comments
100 cars Britain can be proud of
Keith Adams A few months back the excellent Giles Chapman sent me a copy of his book 100 Cars Britain can be Proud of and, like a fool, I popped it on the pile and promptly forgot to read it.
May 21, 2011
· Keith Adams · 41 Comments
I drove an electric car… and I liked it
Robert Leitch The whispers had gone beyond audibility, to a constant rumble of anticipation. My dear employers had purchased a fleet of electric cars, soon to be rolled out in a blaze of corporate publicity. Already charging points were appearing around our rambling ‘multi-node’ campus, but a veil of secrecy remained. Unexpectedly, this morning, I became involved [...]
May 21, 2011
· Keith Adams · 26 Comments
My motoring week : AROnline and the MG6 GT
Keith Adams Monday Okay, it’s been a busy week at AROnline Towers but, apart from our hosting issue, it’s all been good. It started on Monday, as weeks do, with a flying visit to Longbridge to pick up an MG6 GT from the inner sanctum. Well, I say inner sanctum, more like the car park [...]
May 20, 2011
· Keith Adams · 64 Comments
And we’re back!
Keith Adams Well, if you’re reading this, then you’ll have already stumbled across our new server and found that the site should be exactly the same as it was before. After several late nights, Brian Gunn and I have transferred 2.5GB of data and 600MB of database to our new home at DBN Web Services. [...]
May 19, 2011
· Keith Adams · 26 Comments
So long Streamline, it’s been emotional!
Keith Adams Well, here we are – on the cusp of AROnline’s (or www.austin-rover.co.uk if you prefer) 10th Anniversary and it looks like we’re going to have something of an upheaval. It seems that AROnline is too successful for its current host and we’re going to have to move. I know I’ve been threatening this [...]
May 14, 2011
· Keith Adams · 29 Comments
James Ruppert : his take on the German industry
Keith Adams It’s a while since I’ve blogged on here, so firstly, apologies. You know how it is – too much to do, not enough time to do it in. That’s all good, though, because the last thing you want from me is a rant about UK roads or their drivers or to hear about [...]
May 13, 2011
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
Delta : Battery-electric E-4 Coupé launched at Silverstone
Delta Motorsport Limited, a highly innovative UK engineering consultancy based at the Silverstone Circuit, has designed and built the battery-electric Delta E-4 Coupé from the ground up. Delta’s focus on light weight and high-efficiency systems means that the stylish two-door coupe has a range of 200 miles on a single charge and yet can accelerate [...]
May 13, 2011
· Clive Goldthorp · 6 Comments
MG Car Club : Former BTCC star Anthony Reid to race at MGLive!
Former MG Rover works driver Anthony Reid has confirmed his participation in MGLive! – the MG Car Club’s annual Silverstone celebration which takes place on 24 – 26 June 2011. Reid will be campaigning an MG ZS with the high-profile Vulcan Racing team which races in the MGCC’s Peter Best Insurance Challenge Championship. The Glasgow-born speedster [...]
May 13, 2011
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
MINI : John Cooper Works WRC to make UK debut this weekend
Dani Sordo will drive the MINI John Cooper Works WRC on its British debut this weekend at the Cornbury Park Rally Show, fresh from securing a superb sixth place finish at Rally Italy and where the MINI WRC Team made its first ever appearance. The MINI WRC Team driver will put the car through its [...]
May 10, 2011
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Buses : MCW/Optare Metrorider – a bus right on time!
In a quiet part of Birmingham, MCW developed a midibus which was almost exactly what the market required in a post deregulation market. Dogged by early dismal quality, it became the most popular vehicle of its type and ended up being built in a former Leyland factory too! Mike Humble explains… Metropolitan Cammell Weyman (MCW) is often [...]
May 10, 2011
· Mike Humble · 10 Comments
