The Enyaq iV FestEVal actually sleeps four, with two up top in the roof tent and another pair below, with the rear seats folding down to form a double bed frame with mattress cushions to make the best of the Enyaq’s 1,710-litre rear compartment. 

The tent is accessible by a ladder which can be stored inside when not in use, and there’s an integrated torch and solar-powered fan inside the tent.

The vehicle is perfect for festival-goers as not only does it feature plenty of sleeping space, but there are cooking facilities too.

One of the cleverer aspects of the FestEVal is how the cooking unit, designed by fellow Czech company Egoe, slides out from the boot from under the folded rear seats/bed without compromising usable interior space.

The unit features a gas hob, collapsible sink with tap and hose, food preparation area and storage bins for essentials and utensils. The inclusion of a collapsible table and chairs adds to its utility.

Designed around a Skoda Enyaq iV 80, the FestEVal is powered by an 82kWh battery pack and a single electric motor driving the rear wheels giving it a range of around 338 miles. With charging speeds of up to 135kW, a top-up to 80% is possible in less than 30 minutes. 

Skoda based the FestEVal on a top-of-the-range Sportline Plus model with a 13in infotainment screen, digital instrument cluster and a head-up display. There’s an internet connection on hand with a capacity for eight devices, so users would be everyone’s best friend at any festival.

Cabin pre-conditioning means the interior never needs to be too hot or too cold on entry. 

Sadly, Skoda has no plans to put the FestEVal into production, so unless independent conversion companies or creative campers decide to get on the case themselves, it’s likely to remain a one-off.

There is hope on the way for those who’d like to get their hands on a factory-built electric camper van.

While there’s already a company-approved camper conversion of the Mercedes EQV by Swiss converter Sortimo Walter Rüegg, Volkswagen has said it will eventually build a California version of its new ID.Buzz electric van/ MPV. There’ll be a bit of a wait as it’s unlikely to arrive before 2025, though that’s probably still sooner than any camper-converted versions of Tesla’s Cybertruck.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram

Related articles

• After reading about Skoda’s FestEVal creation, you might like to read about the Volkswagen ID.Buzz
• Did you know that Volkswagen also makes a smaller camper using the Caddy?
• Read about the plans by the maker of the London Taxi to produce a PHEV campervan

Latest articles

• 
  Peugeot e-308 review 2023: An electric family car desperate to stand out from the family
• 
  Grand Theft Auto VI trailer reveals some of the copycat cars we can expect to drive in ‘biggest video game of all time’
• 
  Brexit tariff delay for British-built electric vehicles
• 
  Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer Electric 2024 review: Clean-living estate has the manners, but at a cost
• 
  Best-selling cars 2023: The UK’s top 10 most popular models
• 
  Could Alfa Romeo be about to make a dramatic return to Le Mans?
• 
  7 best windscreen covers to buy in 2023-24
• 
  Toyota previews new electric crossovers amid commitment to multi-fuel future
• 
  First reviews are in after troubled Tesla Cybertruck finally gets handed out to customers

The post One-off Skoda Enyaq iV FestEVal is the ultimate camping car appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Her fondness for the motor car is thought to have been firmly rooted during the Second World War, when the Queen was a driver and mechanic in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service.

To this day, it is believed that the Queen does not hold a driving licence. In a peculiar quirk, she is said to be the only driver in the country who is not required to have one.

More often than not, driving takes place when Her Majesty is at the Royal family’s Windsor residence, or at Balmoral, a 50,000 acre estate near Ballater, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

During Her Majesty’s historic reign, cars have come in all shapes and sizes, and not all have been as grand as one may imagine. But the common theme is they’ve all been built in Britain.

As we celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, these are the best of the Royal cars.

Bentley Bentayga

The styling of the £160,000 4×4 may have caused controversy but that didn’t seem to deter the Queen. “We have reserved the number one car for her,” Bentley CEO Wolfgang Duerheimer reported of the luxury British car, which was launched in 2015 in, er, Germany. The Queen was said to be impressed with its capability after testing it around the Balmoral Estate.

Daimler Super V8 LWB

With its bespoke handbag holder, controls for hidden blue strobe lights and phone fittings to enable direct contact with Downing Street, the Daimler Super V8 could only ever belong to one well known lady driver. For three years, from 2001, this Daimler was the Queen’s personal car, used around Windsor Estate and Buckingham Palace.

Jaguar X-Type Estate

When in residence at Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, the Monarch enjoys driving herself to church along the Long Walk, which runs through Windsor Great Park. Last year, The Queen was forced to take to the grass when a young family didn’t hear her approaching in her Jaguar X-type estate.

Land Rover Defender

Land Rovers and Range Rovers of all shapes and sizes have been driven by the Queen. She is thought to have owned about 30 Land Rovers over her 70-year reign, from Series I models to the new Defender and a number of plush Range Rovers.

But it is the original Land Rover, which later became known as the Defender, which appears to have earned the greatest admiration of Her Majesty. A favourite is said to have been a 2002 Defender 110, featuring TD5 diesel engine, raised suspension and heated seats, and was used extensively for shooting parties.

Range Rover

Her Majesty may like the ruggedness of a Land Rover but she’s also partial to the comfort of a Range Rover. She owns a Range Rover LWB Landaulet, a stretched, open-top version used during parades, and until recently (due to failing health) enjoyed driving the model pictured above, which is fitted with Her Majesty’s personal bonnet mascot: a labrador carrying a pheasant in its mouth.

It’s thought The Queen has now taken delivery of a new Range Rover, which launched earlier this year, after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were photographed using the all-new model for their travels in Ireland this March.

Auxiliary Territorial Service Ambulance

In 1945, The Queen (then Princess Elizabeth, of course), aged 18, joined the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service as an honorary second subaltern. She trained as a driver and mechanic, and is pictured here beside a military Ambulance.

Rolls-Royce Phantom VI

This car was presented to The Queen in 1978 for her Silver Jubilee by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. It still resides in the Royal household, and was used for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, and most recently by Prince Charles as he stood in for The Queen at the State Opening of Parliament. It features a 6.75-litre V8 with about 220bhp.

Rover P5B

Two of these Rovers reside at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire, both owned and driven by Her Majesty. The Grand Tour’s James May once took one for a test drive, only to be left bitterly disappointed to find there was no tin of boiled sweets in the glovebox:

“In my own car, I keep a tin of boiled travel sweets,” he wrote. “On the lid is a little crest and the words ‘By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen’. I’ve always understood this to mean that these are The Sweets the Queen Herself Eats On The Long Haul Up To Balmoral. That, in fact, is why I buy them. But in the centre console of the Queen’s car? Nothing.”

Vauxhall Cresta Estate

Proving Her Majesty doesn’t require luxury cars all the time, here she is seen driving her Vauxhall Cresta Estate, circa 1980. Vauxhall remains a Royal Warrant Holder. The Queen has also been seen driving an Omega and Insignia.

Bentley State Limousines

The Queen has two Bentley official state cars ready for service. One was presented to her by a consortium of British-based car manufacturing and service companies for The Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002, and the second was added after being upgraded from the prototype.

Based on the Arnarge, the car brand’s full-size limo that was replaced by the Mulsanne, The Queen’s versions are even longer and taller, and feature armoured bodywork painted in claret and black. They also have puncture-resistant tyres and blue flashing lights. 

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram

Related articles

• After reading about The Queen’s Car’s as we celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, you might like to read about a Royal Range Rover in this article about star Rangies and their owners (spon)
• Last year the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s royal Range Rover went up for sale
• Take a look at the best luxury cars to buy in 2022

Latest articles

• 
  Peugeot e-308 review 2023: An electric family car desperate to stand out from the family
• 
  Grand Theft Auto VI trailer reveals some of the copycat cars we can expect to drive in ‘biggest video game of all time’
• 
  Brexit tariff delay for British-built electric vehicles
• 
  Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer Electric 2024 review: Clean-living estate has the manners, but at a cost
• 
  Best-selling cars 2023: The UK’s top 10 most popular models
• 
  Could Alfa Romeo be about to make a dramatic return to Le Mans?
• 
  7 best windscreen covers to buy in 2023-24
• 
  Toyota previews new electric crossovers amid commitment to multi-fuel future
• 
  First reviews are in after troubled Tesla Cybertruck finally gets handed out to customers

The post The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: the cars of Queen Elizabeth II appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Mercedes-AMG has released teaser images and a video of the car on Instagram ahead of its debut, and the rapper has said that the project would facilitate “inner city school engineering programmes to prepare our youth for a technological tomorrow”, indicating that the coupé may be auctioned off for charity.

Details are scarce, though there are a couple of clues that can be gleaned from both the social media posts. They show a vehicle based on the Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupé, but with major differences.

Instead of the GT’s four, conventionally hinged doors, the ‘W1X’ — as it is badged — features two counter-hinged suicide doors on each side and, while the slim taillights are similar to those on the GT, the front end is a hugely different story.

Head-on, the car’s front fascia appears to be modelled on that of the G-Class SUV, with the same square-jawed look, circular headlights and the bonnet rising proud of the front wings.

What lies under that bonnet is currently unclear, but given Will.i.am’s position as Mercedes-AMG’s brand ambassador for electrified vehicles, the coupé could be powered by the same hybrid powertrain as the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E-Performance, which features a hybrid-assisted version of the 4-litre twin-turbo AMG V8 engine mated to a battery and electric motor to develop a total of 831bhp. #

Less impressive, however, is the hybrid GT’s electric-only range — just 7.5 miles.

Regardless of what actually powers the one-off concept, the whole package sits on a set of alloy wheels strikingly reminiscent of the Monoblock rims seen on Mercedes-AMG models in the 1990s.

This collaboration with Mercedes-AMG isn’t the Black Eyed Peas founding member’s first peculiar automotive creation. When he appeared on the BBC’s Top Gear in 2012 as the Star in the Reasonably Priced Car, he told Jeremy Clarkson about his passion for cars and that he would shortly launch his own car company called IAMAUTO.

“I’m a big technology freak and geek,” he later told host Jay Leno on The Tonight Show in the United States, “and I invested my money in building my own vehicle because I want to bring jobs to the ghetto that I come from, so why not invest?

“Like I invested in making a demo to start the Black Eyed Peas, we did that, now I want to invest to have a car company in the neighbourhood that I come from.”

The one-off car unveiled in 2013 wasn’t an all-new creation, but a heavily (and questionably) modified DMC DeLorean. Further vehicles (again, all one-offs) that have been given the drastic Will.i.am treatment by the California car modification company West Coast Customs have included an art-deco-styled Volkswagen Beetle, a Chevrolet Corvette C1 and a Tesla Model S.

In 2014, in a slightly tamer collaboration, Will.i.am worked with Lexus to create a bespoke version of the company’s then-new NX crossover.

Given what we’ve seen so far of the latest Mercedes-AMG project, it could well prove to be just as polarising as some of Will.i.am’s previous efforts.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram

Related articles

• After reading about the collaboration between Mercedes-AMG and Will.i.am, you might be interested to read all about the new Mercedes-AMG SL
• Did you hear that Audi and Porsche will enter F1 by 2026?
• Jeremy Clarkson warms to modern technology in review of the Mercedes-AMG GLE 53

Latest articles

• 
  Peugeot e-308 review 2023: An electric family car desperate to stand out from the family
• 
  Grand Theft Auto VI trailer reveals some of the copycat cars we can expect to drive in ‘biggest video game of all time’
• 
  Brexit tariff delay for British-built electric vehicles
• 
  Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer Electric 2024 review: Clean-living estate has the manners, but at a cost
• 
  Best-selling cars 2023: The UK’s top 10 most popular models

The post Musician Will.i.am collaborates with Mercedes-AMG on one-off coupé appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Out of the 2,000 motorists polled by YouGov, working on behalf of Bridgestone Tyres, some 67% said that they were considering choosing an electric vehicle to eventually replace their petrol- or diesel-powered models.

The figure represents a marked increase on previous similar surveys, with another from October last year conducted by YouGov for consumer organisation The Motor Ombudsman showing that 61% of drivers would opt for an electric vehicle in future, while just 47% of 18,000 drivers polled by the AA in 2020 said they would consider making the switch.

The steady increase is likely down to a number of factors including a greater availability of electric cars on the market (such as the options below) and the closer proximity to the government’s ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars in 2030.

Other factors indicating a perceived improved ownership experience may be at play, according to Bridgestone. Some 56% of respondents to its survey said they could see the environmental benefits of going electric, while 64% said they believed that the EV driving experience would be better than that of their combustion-engined car.

Running costs are a major motivator for drivers, and 47% of respondents told Bridgestone that they were looking forward to the fuel savings brought about by recharging rather than filling with petrol or diesel.

An appetite appears to exist for more information about the electric vehicle driving and ownership experience, with 43% of those surveyed wanting to know more about electric vehicle maintenance and how it differs from that of internal combustion cars.

Some 22% said they would like to learn new driving tips to help them get more from their electric vehicles. The range of electric cars can, for instance, be significantly extended by careful and efficient driving, a practice known as “hypermiling”.

Barriers to electric car ownership

Despite ever-higher petrol prices, an increasing number of electric vehicles on the market and the popularity of electric cars such as the Tesla Model 3 (the UK’s second best-selling car last year), there are still a number of hurdles to overcome to convince the remaining third of motorists to choose an electric car. Chief among these are the patchy nature of the public charging infrastructure and the relatively high purchase cost of electric vehicles.

The AA’s 2020 survey revealed that 69% of those who said that they were not prepared to buy an electric car were put off by poor public charging infrastructure. At present, there are just over 28,000 public charging points in the UK; however the state of the network has been branded a “postcode lottery” with some areas much better served than others.

According to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which published a report on the topic in 2021, the public charger network needs to expand tenfold by 2030 to between 280,000 and 480,000 in order to meet the demand that will be created by the government’s ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars.

Bridgestone findings

• 67% are considering moving to an EV in the future
• 56% see environmental positives from EVs
• 47% are looking forward to making fuel savings
• 64% believe an EV driving experience will be better
• 27% would like to learn new driving tips to help them get more from their EV
• 43% want to know more about EV maintenance and how it differs from standard cars
• 22% want all cars in the UK to be zero emission by 2030 instead of 2035

Although running costs are lower, electric cars are also still more expensive up front than their internal combustion equivalents, the price difference chiefly down to the higher cost of battery production.

Even though battery prices have tumbled in recent years, manufacturers such as Nissan say that it will be the second half of the decade before battery prices come down sufficiently to allow electric cars to achieve price parity with their internal combustion counterparts.

Other factors cited as concerns that would put buyers off choosing an electric car included range anxiety, the length of charging times and the difficulty for those without off-street parking to charge their cars overnight.

Why are tyre companies focusing on EVs?

Bridgestone, which commissioned the most recent survey, is betting big on electric vehicles, having announced last October that it plans for EV-specific tyres to account for 90% of its global sales by 2030.

It also announced that it would no longer compete with budget tyre brands from China and South Korea and that it would end budget tyre production in Europe to focus on EV tyre sales. The company currently supplies tyres to Volkswagen for its ID. range of electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles combine a number of challenges for tyre manufacturers, mainly due to demands for lower road noise because of the lack of a masking effect from an engine, a greater need for efficiency by lowering rolling resistance and the ability to deal with higher loads due to the increased weight of electric vehicles.

Bridgestone’s latest range of tyres combines a raft of new technologies that, due to the company’s manufacturing processes and the material construction of the tyres, are claimed to reduce rolling resistance by around 30% and overall weight by 20% compared to in-house tyres not using the same “Enliten” technology.

Techsyn, another one of the company’s processes, combines synthetic rubber with silica particles to further reduce rolling resistance by 6% compared to other Bridgestone tyres and to reduce tyre wear by up to 30%.

Pirelli also has a range of electric vehicle specific tyres, know as “Elect”. These are fitted to Porsche Taycan electric grand tourers, among other vehicles. The company also recently launched a new “HL” (High Load) designation of tyre designed to cope with heavier electric and hybrid vehicles.

French tyre brand Michelin also has a range of electric vehicle-specific tyres, aimed at not only cars but also motorcyles and scooters.

Bridgestone is going further, though. Last year the company announced that it was partnering with charging firm EVBox to create a network of rapid charging locations at its retail and service locations, first in France and Italy and, over the next five years, expanding to other European countries including the UK.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram

Related articles

• If you were interested in how more than two thirds of motorists are considering an electric vehicle as their next car, you may also like to check out all the car makers’ electric vehicle plans
• Wondering what are the best EVs right now? Check out our electric car reviews here
• And don;t miss Bridgestone’s city of the future, which includes self-driving cars that replace their own tyres

Latest articles

• Peugeot e-308 review 2023: An electric family car desperate to stand out from the family
• Grand Theft Auto VI trailer reveals some of the copycat cars we can expect to drive in ‘biggest video game of all time’
• Brexit tariff delay for British-built electric vehicles
• Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer Electric 2024 review: Clean-living estate has the manners, but at a cost
• Best-selling cars 2023: The UK’s top 10 most popular models

The post More than two thirds of buyers considering an electric vehicle as their next car appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

With a broad smile, Franchitti told the audience that he sold a couple of his kids and is living in a tent having bought one. He was clearly joking, but this gives you an indication of the desirability of this car which has been widely seen as the natural successor to the F1, the car Murray designed for McLaren.

Image credit: Jayson Fong/ Goodwood

It may also be a canny investment for those lucky and, of course, rich enough to have their names on the 100 build slots for a car with a price tag of £2.4 million. If it performs even a fraction as well as the F1 it will prove to be one of the better automotive investments of recent years. An F1 bought in 1992 would have cost £540,000; they are now fetching north of £15 million.

The static car was unveiled months ago and there is no denying the DNA link to its famous predecessor. The exterior design feels related and the obvious similarity is the three seats in an arrowhead formation, with the driver front and centre. The recent McLaren Speedtail aside, it seems strange we have had to wait almost thirty years to see this seating layout return.

The other less obvious link is an H-pattern manual gearbox. There was no other viable option for the F1 in the nineties but these days, most self-respecting supercars and hypercars have flappy paddle semi-automatic transmissions. Yet, that is not the Murray way and this car is all about the driving experience and keeping it as analogue as possible.

“The car was wheel-spinning under acceleration down the straight in fifth gear”

He is so keen on this being a driver experience car as opposed to a driver boasting car that he has not released the usual gasp-inducing top speed and acceleration figures. It’s as if Murray realises that these Top Trump bragging rights are no longer relevant in a world where anything over 200mph is frankly meaningless … and just a little bit vulgar. It’s not about the terminal speed anymore – it’s how you get there that counts. And at 650bhp and only 986kgs, it gets there in a frenzied hurry.

The party piece is without doubt the engine. At only 178kgs the Cosworth GMA V12 is the lightest, highest-revving, most power-dense naturally-aspirated V12 engine ever fitted to a road car. The facts may delight the nerds but it is the sound that cheers the masses. This car screams, or should it be sings all the way to a glorious 12,100 RPM redline.

Image credit: Jayson Fong/ Goodwood

The sight of Franchitti wrestling the car around a damp Goodwood circuit had the crowds attention, but it was the spinetingling noise from that tiny V12 that brought them to their feet. The Scotsman did an admirable  job of keeping the T.50 on the black stuff in challenging conditions and he later admitted the car was wheel-spinning under acceleration down the straight in fifth gear.

Safely back in the paddock, it sat alongside the T.50S ‘Niki Lauda’ track version with its naca ducts, rear wing and front splitter. By most standards, it’s hardly an overdone or fussy race version of the car, but what it does serve to do is remind you of how pure the form of the road going T.50 is. It’s such a clean, compact design.

Image credit: James Grindel/ Goodwood

Standing alongside was its creator and he had every right to feel as proud as he looked.

Speaking to him about the car bearing his name he pointed out something remarkable that makes him smile and seems to sum up what he tried — and succeeded — in achieving: creating a powerful, V12 hypercar that comes with 280 litres of luggage space and room for three people, but in a package that’s lighter and within the same footprint as a Porsche Boxster. Now that’s a car to stamp your name on.

David Green is motoring editor of Times Luxx magazine.
Main image by Phil Hay for Goodwood

Tweet to @ST_Driving Follow @ST_Driving

• If you enjoyed reading about the Gordon Murray T.50’s dynamic debut at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting, you might be interested in the full lowdown on the spiritual successor to the McLaren F1.
• You might also like to hear the GMA T.50’s V12 revving to 12,100rpm.
• And don’t miss this story about the ultra low-mileage McLaren F1 that set an auction record earlier this year.

The post Seeing the Gordon Murray T.50 in action at Goodwood confirms why the £2.4m hypercar is a canny investment appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

And after some speculation this summer, it was also confirmed that the GT7 will be released for both the PlayStation 4 and new PlayStation 5 consoles.

When it was first announced, GT7 was slated to be a PS5 exclusive but in June PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst said it would “make sense” for Gran Turismo 7, along with God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West, to be made available to the 110 million+ PS4 owners, too.

The announcement came as part of the PlayStation Showcase 2021 live stream looking at the highlights among the upcoming games for Sony’s console.

Polyphony’s trailer is a slick affair featuring cars from Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes, Jaguar, Toyota, Ford and countless others.

Real-world circuits such as Tsukuba, the Nürburgring Nordschliefe, Le Mans and Laguna Seca will be driveable, judging by the trailer, along with gravel and snow rally stages.

Polyphony has also confirmed that fictional tracks including Trial Mountain and High Speed Ring, which will be familiar to long-time Gran Turismo veterans, will appear.

Players will be able to play in “Campaign Mode”, which sees the player embark on the traditional Gran Turismo journey of winning races in order to gain money and unlock an expanding range of cars. The player will be able to drive and tune more cars than ever before and, in most cases, customise their looks and liveries.

The variable time and weather system has been improved compared to earlier instalments, which should provide players with a more realistic experience, especially in long-distance endurance races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the weather can rapidly change and drivers must race through the night.

Gran Turismo 7, first announced in June 2020, had originally been scheduled for the first quarter of 2021, but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hulst’s decision for Gran Turismo 7 to be playable on PlayStation 4 is likely to have delayed the release even further.

Some commentators expressed concern that in releasing Gran Turismo 7 for the PlayStation 4, the hardware of which is now eight years old, it may have stifled the game’s technical capabilities compared with if it had been released solely on the latest platform.

The decision may, however, have been a pragmatic one.

With the current dearth of PlayStation 5s on the market thanks to supply-chain issues – partly caused by the global chip shortage – Polyphony and PlayStation Studios would be releasing Gran Turismo 7 into a limited market had it released the game just for PlayStation 5.

Instead, with so many PlayStation 4s sold and in use, and the PS5 extremely hard to get hold of, releasing it on both consoles greatly expands the market reach of the big-budget game.

Helmen Hulst said: “You can’t build a community of over 110 million PS4 owners and then just walk away from it, right? I think that’d be bad news for fans of PS4, and frankly not very good business.”

How much is GT7 and where can I pre-order it?

The game isn’t available to pre-order just yet, so we’re not sure about the price. However, when it is we expect it to be available from the following retailers:

• Game – here
• Amazon – here
• Argos – here
• Playstation Store – here

This article features products that have been chosen independently by Driving.co.uk journalists. We may earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to affect our opinions.

Tweet to @ST_Driving Follow @ST_Driving

• After reading about Gran Turismo 7’s launch date, you might be interested to know that Tesla’s new U-shaped steering wheel is legal in the UK
• Or read how Aston Martin revealed a £57,000 racing simulator
• If you like racing, perhaps you’d like to know more about F1’s new sprint qualifying format

The post Gran Turismo 7 gets launch date and is now confirmed for PS4 and PS5 appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

As the name suggests, it has been stripped back to the bare essentials, with Smith (below) introducing new elements that focus on the three themes of ‘Simplicity, Transparency and Sustainability’.

While the Mini’s basic electric running gear remains the same, including the 181bhp electric motor up front, nearly every other element has been changed in some way.

The internal construction of the car’s bodyshell has been painted a distinctive metallic blue, while the exterior panels have been left unpainted and even display the grinding marks left during the car’s manufacture.

A thin layer of clearcoat has been added to protect the galvanised steel, but the bare metal has been described by Smith as “the perfect imperfection”.

The clear roof panel made from recycled Perspex exposes the car’s metalwork beneath, while the blank grille up front and aerodynamic wheel discs are also made from recycled Perspex.

Mini expects the changes to boost the EV’s range, although no figures have been quoted for the Mini Strip – the regular Mini Electric can cover up to 141 miles on a charge according to WLTP tests, though during a long-term test we found the range was not much more than 100 miles between charges.

The hatchback’s familiar black plastic wheelarch extensions are attached with exposed screws, while elements of the bumpers and plastic trim pieces have been 3D printed.

It’s inside where a number of wholesale changes have been made. The basic dashboard is the only element of the Mini Strip that’s carried over from the standard car, while most of the plastic trim has been ditched so that the car’s blue-painted frame is visible.

Components of the car that are normally hidden are also exposed, including the car’s wiring and airbags.

Where parts of the car’s interior needed to be reinstated, Smith has used sustainable materials. The dashboard features a transparent smoked glass section with the Paul Smith logo, while Mini’s large circular central instrument display has been replaced by a simplified insert with a dock for a smartphone, which then becomes the car’s control centre.

There’s no leather or chrome inside, and the seats are trimmed in knitted fabric. This is what’s called a mono-material design, which means that the fabric is fully and easily recyclable at the end of its life.

Recycled materials are also found in the floor mats, which are multicoloured because they are made from recycled rubber.

The door trims are now made from fabric mesh to expose the window mechanisms, while orange climbing rope is used for the door pulls. The door shoulders, as well as the parcel shelf and dashboard topper, are made from recycled natural cork. Cork has the potential to replace foamed plastic in the assembly of new cars.

Finally, the steering wheel is trimmed in bicycle-style handlebar tape, while the driver’s airbag is visible behind a mesh-finished steering wheel boss.

“For me, the Mini Strip shows in an impressive way that Mini and Paul Smith share the same bold way of thinking about the future in terms of innovation and design – and together we create more,” said head of Mini Design, Oliver Heilmer. “Paul asked essential questions right at the start of the design process with his non-automotive and therefore fresh perspective. We are proud to have developed such a strong character statement together.”

The classic Mini received a special Mini Paul Smith edition makeover in 1998, two years before new Mini was launched. It was available in blue – or black and white in some markets – though the designer also famously created a one-off with 86 different coloured stripes covering the body.

Tweet to @ST_Driving Follow @ST_Driving

• After reading about Mini joining forces with fashion designer Paul Smith to create a one-off sustainability special, you may be interested in this recent story about a driver jailed for using a laser jammer to block speed cameras
• Read how Mini is to end sales of plug-in hybrids
• Check out the Mini Urbanaut, the self-driving living room on wheels

The post Fashion designer Paul Smith reinvents the Mini Electric in one-off special edition appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

The 819bhp plug-in hybrid, which has a real-world 0-62mph time of 2.9 seconds, is now available to players thanks to a collaboration between the Italian car manufacturer and Fortnite’s creators, Epic Games.

The tie-up was teased in a tweet by Fortnite showing a single image of the iconic Scuderia Ferrari shield before an official announcement tweet, complete with video and a link to a blog post about the car.

Get ready to feel the thrill of the ride ?️

Buckle up and get ready to experience @Ferrari‘s new 296 GTB on the Island.

Learn all about this new vehicle and new Ferrari-inspired cosmetics coming to the Shop in our latest blog!

?: https://t.co/bzb9KaeUOo pic.twitter.com/LDpex4XU3L

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) July 22, 2021

Players of the Fortnite game have been able to drive cars since the feature was added in 2020, but until now these vehicles have been generic versions of different types of vehicles, as developers were keen to avoid any copyright infringements. What’s different now is that the Ferrari 296 GTB is an exact representation of the car’s design in real life.

The game’s creators say that while the Ferrari will play like other vehicles in the game, the 296 GTB will sound like the real car.

Players will have to find the car and will be able to drive it in a number of challenges within the game. These include a time trial, driving the 296 GTB through the Storm (a barrier to keep gamers in the playable area, which shrinks as the game progresses) and reaching the car’s top speed.

Epic Games already has links to Ferrari. The Italian car manufacturer uses Epic’s Unreal Engine software to run its online car configurator that prospective buyers use to explore specification options. 

The appropriately-named Davide Ferrari, car configurator IT product owner and technology innovation architect at Ferrari described the configurator as “all about giving justice to the product” made possible via the Unreal Engine’s real-time rendering.

“We have millions of combinations. Having everything pre-made was not possible anymore, and pre-rendering every possible combination isn’t viable.”

Francois Antoine, director of advanced projects at Epic, said: “The car featured in the game is built on the same source data and using the same Unreal Engine features as the 296 GTB in Ferrari’s own car configurator.

“This artistic and technical collaboration with Ferrari has been no small feat to bring the first realistic, experiential vehicle into Fortnite’s dynamic and scalable cross-platform multiplayer environment.

“It’s been a fantastic way to continue to push towards our vision of the Metaverse by releasing a fully functional, gameplay-enabled, realistically rendered vehicle into the stylised world.”

Which may be gamer-speak for “it’s good”.

Tweet to @LordHumphreys Follow @LordHumphreys

• After reading about Ferrari appearing on Fortnite, you might be interested in Ferrari’s eSports controller based on the steering wheel used in last year’s SF1000 F1 car
• Read about what cars have appeared most in video games
• We’ve also compiled a list of the five best driving video games.

The post Ferrari 296 GTB stars in Fortnite video game appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

The “Outspiration” challenge is open nationwide from today (May 29, 2021) until June 6 and involves visiting the outspirationhunt.com website to find the nearest treasure hunt locations on a map.

By visiting one of the 200 locations across England, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man and the Channel islands, and opening the page on a mobile phone, treasure hunters will be shown a pop up with information about the area and why it has been selected.

They will also get an augmented reality experience, using their phone camera to find the Outspiration ‘pin’ at the real-world location. Five types of pin are available to find, depending on the type of terrain, labelled Peak, Water, Scenic, Landmark and Cultural.

Land Rover believes the treasure hunt will not only encourage the British public to explore the great outdoors but also help improve mental health and wellbeing, following the recent nature-themed mental health awareness week.

Going for walks outdoors has proved to be one of the major coping strategies during the Covid-19 pandemic. Research by the Mental Health Foundation reported 50% of people found spending time in green spaces has been vital for their mental health.

There’s an added incentive for taking part in the Land Rover Outspiration treasure hunt, though: prizes. Finding a pin and receiving the badge enters players into a prize draw to win up to £30,000 worth of goodies, including one of 50 half-day Land Rover off-roading experiences, one of ten weekend Land Rover road trips through the brand’s affiliate rental service ‘The Out’, or the top prize, a week-long luxury adventure holiday in Scotland with the use of a Land Rover.

“After spending over a year in and out of lockdown, and the current uncertainty around foreign travel, Land Rover hopes that this campaign will encourage people to get out and explore the great outdoors,” said Anthony Bradbury, Jaguar Land Rover UK marketing director.

“Land Rover has always stood for capability and adventure: go wherever, whenever, whatever the weather and with some inspiration from Outspiration, the British public can explore near or far like never before; and while there are plenty of prizes to be won in this competition – the real prize will be the feeling of reconnecting with nature.”

Tweet to @wdron Follow @wdron

• If you enjoyed reading about Land Rover UK’s ‘Outspiration’ digital treasure hunt, you might also like to read about the limited edition Land Rover Defender Works V8 Trophy
• Also take a look at Land Rover’s plans for electric cars
• And don’t miss what Jeremy Clarkson had to say about the new Land Rover Defender

The post Land Rover UK launches digital treasure hunt to reconnect us with nature appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

More than 90 years down the line, Bentley is picking up production on a car that it last built when Gloria Swanson could be seen but not heard. In recent years we have witnessed the growth of “restomods” – cars such as the Jaguar E-type and Porsche 911, restored and modified with re-engineered parts, fit for the purpose of modern motoring. However, this “new” Bentley takes the concept to a higher level.

The Blower Continuation is a phenomenal achievement. To accomplish this task, the team in Crewe took apart the famous Bentley Team Car #2 and scanned every part in its construction. Team Car #2 was developed by Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Birkin was the figurehead of the “Bentley Boys” of the Twenties, whose esprit de corps and hedonistic lifestyle set the template for motor racing as a glamorous sport. So Car #2 is probably the most valuable Bentley in the world.

The car is a fitting master model for the project, which is being overseen by Bentley’s Mulliner coachbuilding division. Mulliner can trace its history back hundreds of years to a time when they were building coaches of the horse-drawn variety. Mulliner’s director, Paul Williams, explains the importance of this continuation model.

“It’s a chance for us to be able to enhance and recreate a little bit of Bentley’s past, both in terms of its vehicle and its racing heritage,” he says. It was a daunting project, requiring the re-engineering and remaking of a staggering 1,846 parts – and that was not all.

The assembly was equally challenging. These days, Bentley is more accustomed to creating cutting-edge, uber-luxurious vehicles, often with hybrid engines, but its headquarters and design and manufacturing centre in Crewe were created during the Second World War, when the government needed extra capacity for aircraft engines.

Employing 10,000 people, the plant produced 25,000 Merlin engines. The facilities that were developed to run-in and test these massive Merlin V12s before they were fitted to Spitfires and Hurricanes have been in place ever since. Bentley adapted them to accommodate the Blower’s 4.5-litre engine, which was designed by WO Bentley himself.

This time, though, they were linked to a computer-controlled dynamometer, allowing the engineers a new degree of precision and monitoring.

Bentley wasn’t alone in this endeavour. A group of some of the finest artisans shared skills – passed down through generations – to make this venture come together.

Israel Newton & Sons, a 200-year-old company from Derby that builds boilers for steam locomotives, was tasked with forging the heavy-gauge steel chassis. Bridge of Weir, a multigenerational family firm that provided the leather for Concorde and the House of Commons, created the sumptuous oxblood leather for the seats, which were each filled with 10kg of horsehair – a padding that had not been used in the Bentley trimming department for decades.

Only 12 cars will be made and options for the lucky customers are limited to external and leather colours, all in pleasing period tones, and a few tweaks such as string wrapping for the steering wheel, which you certainly would not expect to see on a modern car.

Bentley is a company on the move, looking forwards as well as back. Although it has recently committed to going fully electric from 2030, this project is a testament to its craftsmanshipmore than 90 years earlier. The Blower is a work of art that fires into life and Bentley is confident that buyers will be using these cars, rather than wrapping them in cotton wool for display. Many are predicting a post-pandemic Roaring Twenties. Driving into that era in a period car sounds like a marvellous idea.

The Bentley Blower Continuation costs £1.5 million plus taxes. Visit bentleymotors.com

David Green is a TV presenter and Times Luxx’s motoring editor. This article first appeared in Times Luxx on May 15, 2021.

Tweet to @ST_Driving Follow @ST_Driving

• After reading and watching David Green on the £1.5m Bentley Blower Continuation, check out our news story about these incredible cars here.
• Jeremy Clarkson is a huge fan of the Alfaholics GTV restomod — see what he had to say about that £320,000 updated classic car here.
• Clarkson also loves the Eagle Lightweight GT, a modern interpretation of the Jaguar E-type – see his thoughts on that here

The post Behind the wheel of the £1.5m Bentley Blower continuation car (video) appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.