Guests may want to take sea sickness tablets
As a fledging automotive writer, I haven’t been to many car launches, but I suspect that advising invitees to take a sea sickness tablet doesn’t happen all that often. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a car’s ride and handling, is it? But on the night before I crossed the Solent in a Volvo Ocean Race yacht, all became clear. Read more 
PetrolBlog at the Michelin Pilot Performance Day, Estoril
Day one in Portugal was a rather gentile affair. A leisurely stroll around the streets of Lisbon, a quick stopover in a café for a taste of some Portuguese tarts and then a short coach trip along the coast to the hotel. All things considered, it was a rather pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
Day two in Portugal was an altogether different experience. Pleasant wouldn’t be an accurate way to describe it. Pick anything from exhilarating, momentous, awesome and mind blowing and you might be closer to the mark. Allow me to explain. Read more
Cutbacks for the PetrolBlog Fleet
Funny how things work out. This time last week I was looking forward to taking the Audi S6 to the inaugural Dawn Refuelling event. Fast forward seven days and I’ve just finished writing a for sale ad and placed her on eBay.
But that’s not all, as she’s been joined on eBay by the much loved Land Rover V8. So in the space of a few hours, the PetrolBlog Fleet has been reduced by 50%. With drastic cutbacks like this, I’m fully expecting a call from the government. Read more
A damp start for Dawn Refuelling
You have to be a pretty committed petrolhead to prize yourself out of bed in the early hours of a Sunday morning and head to a motorway services on the M5. When you awake to the sound of pouring rain, you’d be forgiven if you switched off the alarm clock, pulled the bed covers over your ahead and squeezed in a couple of hours extra sleep. Read more
Purple days: Porsche 968 Sport
It’s funny how things work out. One minute I’m trying to make up my mind which member of the PetrolBlog Fleet should accompany me to Goodwood, then the next minute I’ve been offered a Porsche for a day. This was thanks to Porsche specialist, Adrian Crawford, who made the kind offer and told me he could supply “something suitably retro” for my trip to the Festival of Speed. So I immediately considered two things, the first being whether or not I should cancel my trip to Goodwood and simply spend the entire time driving a Porsche on my favourite roads. But then, remembering I had a date with a certain Volvo C30, I came to my senses and turned my attention to the other consideration – exactly what Porsche would I be taking custody of? Read more
Real World Review: Vauxhall Vivaro 2900 LWB panel van
Antony Ingram arrives on PetrolBlog and posts a Real World Review with a difference. This one’s on a van! You can follow White Van Man Antony on twitter at @antonyingram.
You wouldn’t normally put up with a car that had a lazy, agricultural diesel engine, a sky high driving position and very little in the way of what most of us would consider “handling”. Yet give that car a huge load area, chunky controls and a sprinkling of bloody-mindedness and curiously you suddenly have a vehicle that even the most ardent of sports car fans still loves to drive.
I am of course talking about a van. Vans are great. They may not handle but there’s a brutal honesty about them that you can’t help but love. And with examples like the 58-reg Vauxhall Vivaro I’ve been driving for the last few days, you don’t even feel short changed by the standards of modern cars. Read more
Economy drive? Volvo S60 DRIVe SE
On the face of it, there’s much to admire about the Volvo S60 DRIVe SE. The level of quality is exceptional, the standard of safety is astonishing and on paper at least, the economy credentials are eye catching. Having given the C30 T5 Polestar a glowing reference, I was keen to see if the brilliance could be carried into the rest of the range, so where better place to start than Volvo’s 3-series and Mondeo rival, the S60? Read more
The UK’s nightmare car?
Warranty Direct has revealed what is classes as the UK’s ‘nightmare car’. Based on the company’s database of 50,000 live policies aged five years on average, the ‘nightmare car’ would break down every other month and cost around £2k per year in repair bills. Considering the current PetrolBlog Fleet, this all seems rather reasonable to me. Read more
Rob writes: The luxury sports car
Rob’s back on PetrolBlog. It would have been earlier, had I not missed the email Rob kindly sent to me on Friday evening. Sorry Rob.
So without further ado, here’s Rob with some words on the luxury sports car. Follow him on twitter at @robgt2 or on his personal blog at www.griggs-taylor.co.uk. Read more
An ill-informed history of…Group B
Tom Richards is back with the first in a new series of ‘ill informed histories’. First up, the brilliant Group B rallying. Don’t forget to follow Tom on twitter at @teorichards.
A distant hum, the sound of an angry swarm of bees fast approaching. The crowds lining the road turn their heads at first, then push forward as they realise what’s coming. The crackle of an exhaust on overrun, followed immediately by a pumped-up, testosterone-fuelled metal leviathan screaming around the corner, spitting flames, stone chips and violent, loud waves of sound into the baying audience.
Yes, it could only be rallying, and never was it more exciting than during the 1982-86 Group B era, a period in the World Rally Championship’s history which was marked by excessive speeds, ever more exotic silhouettes, and, crucially, four-wheel drive. Read more
Dawn Refuelling: an update
Just a week to go until the planned Dawn Refuelling event, so I thought it would be a good idea to confirm a few details. Read more
The Goodwood Festival of Parking 2011
This time last week, the exceptional Goodwood Festival of Speed weekend was drawing to a close. PetrolBlog was in attendance on the Friday and among other things, was treated to an adrenalin fuelled 60 seconds in the Volvo C30 Polestar. Nice. But although the supercars, organic food stalls and hill climb were obvious attractions, I found the greatest source of interest to be just outside the gates. In the car park.
Read more
From Shatchbacks to Supercars courtesy of Michelin
PetrolBlog is in Portugal. Or to be more precise, PetrolBlog is staying in a hotel near Lisbon with Michelin Tyres following an invite to one of their Pilot Performance Days. This means spending most of tomorrow test tyres and driving supercars on the former Portuguese Grand Prix circuit at Estoril. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. Read more
All white Audi, enough is enough
Maybe they did it as a joke? After a few days of thinking time, that’s the only logical explanation I have for Audi’s ridiculous decision to display nothing but white cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2011. Perhaps Audi UK wanted to prove that the ‘ze Germans have a krazy senz of humour’. Read more
First impressions: Peugeot RCZ GT THP 200
Introducing PetrolBlog’s latest test car, the Peugeot RCZ THP 200.
Up the hill in the Volvo C30 Polestar
Just after lunch on Friday 1st July 2011, my motoring year may have just peaked. At a little after 2pm I was treated to a passenger ride in what is probably one of my favourite concept cars of all time, the Volvo C30 Polestar. That’s right, the 405 bhp, all-wheel-drive, fire breathing monster that’s unlikely to ever make it into production. What’s more, the ride took place on the fabled Goodwood hill at the Festival of Speed 2011. I can summarise the whole experience in one four letter word – epic. Read more
