Don't punish younger drivers. Just give them a Luton van

LOTS of people in cardigans have been using this last week to call for even tougher restrictions on those pesky young drivers who keep passing their test and then crashing.

Among the suggestions being bandied about by the bores-that-be are restricting them to cars as woefully underpowered as the one-litre Kia Picanto I tried the other day, banning them from venturing onto Britain’s highways and byways once the sun goes down, and bringing in yoof-specific drink-driving laws that’ll land them in prison for twenty years if they’re caught in the possession of wine gums.

In fact, the only sensible idea that hasn’t come from someone who’d otherwise suggest reintroducing National Service is tougher, more plentiful driving lessons, and a harder driving test to match. It’s mad, for instance, that my newly-qualified mate can freely venture onto the M6 at rush hour, despite not having had a single lesson on motorway driving!

I, however, have found an even better way to encourage careful driving after moving house last week. Insist everyone does their driving test – and all the lessons leading up to it – in a Ford Transit Luton van packed to the brim with their most prized possessions.

Driving something the size of a student flat is a little nerve-racking at the best of times, but knowing it’s weighed down with your furniture, your DVDs, your carefully accumulated copies of Evo magazine and the IKEA bookcases you gingerly screwed together on an idle Sunday afternoon does tend to focus your mind on driving more carefully.

The windy West Lancashire lanes I use to get to the motorway network – lanes I’d normally enjoy driving – were mildly terrifying, not only because a Luton van is so long and so wide, but because the cargo in the back is yours. It also encourages you, thanks to its appetite for diesel, to go easy on the throttle, and if you can park one, you can park pretty much anything.

Make cocky, over-confident new drivers – like me not that long ago – do their lessons and tests in vans fully loaded with their prized personal belongings and they’ll learn more about defensive driving and not taking risks than any 1950s-style motoring curfews.

You never know. There might even be a few less hot hatches wrapped around trees as a result…

Fire up the... Kia Picanto 1.0

KIA'S city car contender, for all its snazzy styling, is all about the numbers. Three or five doors, seven years of warranty, 67 claimed miles to every gallon and yours for a shade under eight grand.

There is, however, one figure in particular that defines this 1.0 litre, entry level twist on the pretty Picanto; the three cylinders you get under the bonnet. It makes an interesting, offbeat throb when you put your foot down, which is infinitely nicer, to my mind at least, than the 2CV-esque rattle you get from Fiat's TwinAir offerings. The only problem is you'll be doing that a lot, because this emphatically not a fast car.

The 1.0 litre triple, great though it sounds, really makes a meal out of moving you about, forcing you to hunt through the rev range to get the best out of it. That, in turn, ruins the real world fuel economy, and the owner of the particular car I borrowed struggles, despite his best efforts, to better 40 to the gallon around town. Weirdly, it reminds me of the Mini 1000 I had as my first car - it actually did less to the gallon than the 1.3 that replaced it simply because you had to work it harder. I reckon you can pull of the same trick with the Picanto; be smart, save up and go for the extra oomph of the 1.2 litre, four-cylinder version.

The rest of the Picanto package, however, fares rather better. It looks great, it's cheap, both to buy and run, the seven year warranty is something Kia - quite rightly - are particularly proud of, and on the inside it feels substantial in a way neither the Panda nor the Aygo/C1/107 triplets manage. All of which brings me to what I reckon is the Picanto's biggest flaw. If, like me, you're a little larger of frame, you'll find your elbows brushing the doors as you drive along, and that's something I haven't encountered in any of the other city car contenders.

Nor is it especially exciting to drive. There's nothing wrong with the way the Picanto goes, stops and handles - engine aside - the steering's too light and lacking in feel. Great for its natural habitat of congested city centres, but take it anywhere more challenging and you'll be craving the feedback you get from most of its rivals.

The Picanto's pertly styled, generous on both price and warranty and miles better than the company's previous entry-level offerings, but my money would still be on a Fiat Panda, Toyota Aygo or VW Up, all of which offer a more engaging small car experience for not much more.

This little Kia's got some great numbers on offer, but for me they just don't add up.

Morgan - a traditional sort of sports car

I'VE been asked, by my new employers, to find a secondhand car for sale at one of Britain's hundreds of classic car dealers and take it for a test drive. Will this suit the bill?

It's a 1997 Morgan +4 and if you're interested - which, if you like reading Life On Cars, you probably will be - it's yours for £24,500. Yes, I know that's the same sort of money as a showroom fresh Focus ST, a brand new Toyota GT-86 or a gleaming Golf GTI, but this is a much more enticing prospect. This is an immaculate Morgan that belies its years because it feels as though it's only just been run in.

Regular readers will already know I've got a soft spot for traditional sports cars and what I reckon this lacks in showroom-fresh reliability and warranty it makes up by just feeling more alive somehow. On a grey day at Southport sands it looked the part, and there's something about the view down that long, louvred bonnet that makes this a motoring experience rather than just a drive.

Would I have one over a GT-86? Not if I had to use it every day - it's heavy, defiantly old fashioned and I get the feeling taking a +4 to Tesco would spoil the Morgan magic somehow. But given a sunny day and a set of windy lanes to a country pub, this would run rings around the Toyota.

I mean, just look at it...

It's (not quite) the end of the road for Life On Cars

THE END is nigh. Well, at least it would have been, because tomorrow marks what could have been the last time Life On Cars appears in The Champion.

After three-and-a-bit years of motoring mishaps I'm off to pastures new next week - a job writing for Classic Car Weekly - so it's probably a better time than any to reflect on the automotive adventures I've had so far. Adventures where I've been priveliged to have you, the petrolheads across Sefton and West Lancashire, in the passenger seat with me.

The sort of adventures which included nailing the Vauxhall VXR8's throttle on the high speed bowl at Millbrook or winding my way over a Welsh mountain pass in an MX-5, or that marvellous morning when I had some of the best roads in the Derbyshire Dales at my disposal and a Lotus Evora S to tackle them in. Then there was the intoxicatingly noisy fighter plane thrills of thundering through Southport in a Morgan Threewheeler, using a Peugeot cabriolet to get from Settle to Carlisle eleven minutes quicker than the Settle to Carlisle train can, and discovering just what 542bhp, courtesy of a Jaguar XKR-S, feels like.

But better still are the real world thrills I've shared. Stuff like the utter joy that is the steering, feel and handling on an original Mini. Then there was the revelation that a borrowed Ford Transit is far more fun through the corners than it's got any right to be, and the smiles that I've had by travelling back in time every time I start up my own classic car of choice - my 1972 MGB GT, which on two occasions I've had the privelige of parading around the Ormskirk MotorFest. Which brings me onto the car shows I've covered - and there were, when I counted, no less than 25 of them in 2012 alone - where I've met countless fellow enthusiasts and gawped longingly at legions of old Astons, Jags and Ferraris.

And that's before I get onto the one new car that's left more of an impression on me than any other.
While there'll always be space for an original Mini in my extended Euromillions winner garage there is one new car out of the dozens I've tested that, for me at least, blended real world frills, proper petrolhead thrills and sensible pricing better than any other. A final special mention, then, for a hot hatch I've raved about on several occasions - the wonderful little Suzuki Swift Sport.

Life On Cars will, for now at least despite the changes, continue both in The Champion and online right here. I'd still love to hear about your motoring stories and events. I'm looking forward to sharing even more adventures, even if they're from a bit further afield!

American classics at the Old Town Kissimmee Car Festival

WITH it being a bit wintry out there haven't been too many classics out on Lancashire's roads lately, with most waiting for the North West Indoor Show in a couple of weeks.

On the other side of The Pond, though, it's a different story, and my sister, who's currently holidaying in Florida, was kind enough to send over these pictures of what American enthusiasts are getting up to.

The Old Town Kissimmee Car Festival sounds like a great event; every weekend, thousands of classic car owners congregate in the Old Town in the Florida city of Kissimmee to show off their pride and joy - and, with my sister reporting it's around 28 degrees celsius there at the moment, conditions are rather more inviting than the sub-zero temperatures parts of the north west are currently enduring!

With it being an American show there was plenty of homegrown V8 muscle on offer - Corvettes, Mustangs, Thunderbirds and so on - but it was refreshing to see the people of Florida have just as much enthusiasm for Europe's classics, with a Fiat 500, Austin Healey 100, Jaguar E-Type, and numerous VW Beetles among the entrants.

Life On Cars - or rather, Life On Cars' sister Becky while she was on holiday - took these pictures at last weekend's event:

Life On Cars would like to thank Rebecca Simister for providing the pictures from the Old Town Kissimmee Car Festival.

You wouldn't steal a car...

A RATHER familiar looking article on an Indonesian website I clocked the other day reminded me of that advert you get on almost every DVD about why it's wrong to make pirate movies.

You can imagine I was just a tiny bit annoyed when I came across a motoring website yesterday, The Fast Cars, which featured an article about the author's reflections on their 1990, Mariner Blue Mazda MX-5. A lot like my very own, 1990, Mariner Blue Mazda MX-5.

Among the other articles featured on The Fast Cars was a piece on how the new Volkswagen e-up! has an amusing name which sounds a lot like a Northern English greeting - amazing really, given the site's based in the Far East and I doubt the author has heard of Lancashire, let alone visited it. Yet what really irked me was when I saw an in-depth article on Henry Segrave and his connections to Southport, plus the same images I'd tracked down for a feature in GR8Life magazine.

Yup, you've guessed it; weeks of research and effort for a lengthy motoring feature is being used, without my permission, on an Indonesian-run motoring website.

Anyone who blogs will be familiar with this practice - it's called 'content scraping' - which involves owners of unscrupulous websites taking your hard work, without asking you, and reposting it on their own sites. In my case, articles which have been written for Life On Cars have been taken and tweaked without my say-so, the pictures, even the ones where I've negotiated their use, copied and pasted, and the hyperlinks removed for ones which suit their own use. To add insult to injury the token link to Life On Cars credits this website as "a strange picture source". Charming!

I have written to the owner of The Fast Cars pointing out the obvious - that using content and pictures taken from other peoples' websites without their permission is theft, that I'd like the offending articles taken down with immediate effect, and that I'd consider legal action if they don't. While it's flattering that they'd want to use content from my blog and highly amusing that they make such a hash out of rewording it, it is still a breach of copyright that does down the hard work of motoring journalists across the UK.

Sorry this entry hasn't been terribly motoring-releated, but I'd love to know if you see any Life On Cars articles - indeed, articles written by any pukka UK motoring publication - which is being used this way!

End of term report: Mazda MX-5

THE roof has been lowered one last time. The revvy little twin cam engine has been switched off. I have, after nearly two years of small sports car fun, sold my Mazda MX-5.

Due to getting a new job - more on that in a few days, because that's another story for another day - one of the Life On Cars fleet had to go. The MGB GT, despite still being in winter hibernation, is my passport into a world of classic car shows and authentically old-fashioned driving experiences, and even though it hasn't moved in months I'd rather sell my right arm than get rid of the old warhorse. The Rover, meanwhile, has earned its keep by taking a small forests' worth of old wooden furniture to be recycled and taking hundreds of miles of motorway driving in its stride, so it's proved too comfortable, too practical and too useful to get rid of.

So it's the Mazzer, a small, two-seater roadster I bought back in 2011 after years of wanting one on my driveway, that had to go. Which is one of the hardest motoring decisions I've ever made, because I've loved almost every mile it's covered.

It hasn't, don't get me wrong, been plain sailing all the way, after a combination of cheap tyres and tail-happy handling prompted one repair and a split hose prompted another, but once both these issuse had been tackled it's proven one of the most enjoyable cars I've ever owned. If you pick a good 'un and look after it, an MX-5 is arguably one of the best automotive recipes ever concocted - authentically British sports car thrills topped off with bulletproof Japanese reliability!

The Mariner Blue, 1990 Eunos Roadster - meaning it found its way onto Britain's B-Roads as a grey import after starting its life in Japan, but don't let that put you off - has proved a perfectly reliable companion, which just happened to have a soft-top roof you could chuck down in seconds. Which is exactly what I did when I used it on my advanced driving test.

What's more, even in the company of more exotic machinery and grand automotive stages it's never been anything less than sublime. In the company of a Ford Racing Puma, a supercharged Volkswagen Polo G40, a Metro GTi and some stunning Welsh scenery in certainly didn't embarrass itself. It tackled the Buttertubs Pass and felt right at home, and even took the more boring stuff - like motorway tailbacks - in its stride. Not once has it so much as thought of refusing to start.

Would I point an aspiring petrolhead in the direction of an early MX-5's pop-up headlights? Definitely, given it's one of the cheapest routes into the world of authentic, rear-drive sports cars thrills (and, I suspect, a lot more reliable than a similarly priced MGF!). There's plenty of them out there, so choose one that hasn't succumbed to rot and shows signs of being looked after mechanically. Don't skimp on the tyres - particularly the rear ones, where the power goes - because it makes a big difference to how it behaves. Most of all, treat it with respect, but if you do the MX-5 is one of the most rewarding modern classics on the market.

My Mazda was a cracking little car. I miss it already.

Motoring groups give 2013 Budget a mixed reaction

GROUPS representing the nation's motorists have shared their thoughts on what this year's Budget could mean for your automotive wallet.

Chancellor George Osborne revealed a number of measures which will affect the cost of owning and running a car, including a proposed freeze in fuel duty rises later this year, which have met with a mixed reaction from motoring organisations.

The fuel duty freeze got a particularly warm welcome, with Professor Stephen Glaister, the director of the RAC Foundation, saying: “This news provides breathing space for families being smothered by the soaring costs of motoring, especially the 800,000 households spending more than a quarter of their income on operating a vehicle.

"Through this move, the chancellor will lose about £1bn a year in duty and VAT income, but tens of thousands of people will be saved from being forced to give up their cars against a backdrop of generally rising running costs.

"Freezing fuel duty does nothing to help the millions who rely on public transport. Bus services are seeing year-on-year cuts and government is still committed to above-inflation rail fares rises."

The chancellor, George Osborne, said: "We inherited a fuel duty escalator that would have seen above inflation increases in every year of this Parliament. We abolished the escalator and now we’ve now frozen fuel duty for two years. This has not been easy. The Government has foregone £6billion in revenues to date."

However, AA president Edmund King described the move as "relief, rather than joy" for drivers, while other transport groups were less supportive of the measures.

Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: "Freezing fuel duty does nothing to help the millions who rely on public transport.

"Bus services are seeing year-on-year cuts and government is still committed to above-inflation rail fares rises."

Nissan, meanwhile, publicly expressed delight that Benefit in Kind (BIK) tax levels - such as its LEAF model - will now be set at 5%, rather than 13% as previously.

A spokesperson for the firm said: "The Budget announcement means that by keeping BIK rates for company EV drivers at the lowest rate, more will look to choose an EV like the LEAF as their next company car.

"This should increase EV sales, at the same time as helping bring down emission levels which is a priority both for companies meeting their corporate CSR objectives and for cities such as London to meet future EU emission targets."

Do you think the 2013 Budget has helped or hindered motorists? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below...

Detroit Electric invites you to play Guess the Sports Car

NORMALLY Life On Cars doesn't do teaser shots - annoying images of cars almost completely hidden from view - but on this occasion it's worth making an exception.

This is the as-yet-unnamed sports car from Detroit Electric, a name that's been plucked from America's automotive back catalogue after an absence of over 70 years in order to create a trendy two-seater which will be made at a Michigan factory and officially launched next month at the Shanghai Motor Show.

Don Graunstadt, the company's chief executive, said: "We are proud to become the fourth car manufacturer born out of Detroit, and the first to manufacture a pure electric sports car from Michigan.

"We are committed to doing our part for this great revival of Detroit through innovation, entrepreneurship and determination – what we like to call ‘Detroit 2.0’.  Our investors and management team are thankful to the State of Michigan for the help provided in allowing Detroit Electric to carry on the legacy that began in Michigan so many years ago."

So what makes this otherwise obscure teaser shot so interesting? Well, very occasionally I'll get asked to play Guess the Sports Car - a largely Facebook-based game which involves successfully identifying the more obscure bits of Britain's roadster heritage - and for that reason my inner anorak almost immediately spotted a few familiar styling cues on Detroit Electric's offering.

Could this two-seater's "bold styling, outstanding performance, and exhilarating handling characteristics" be a bit British, by any chance? The LED lights and the minimalist door mirrors, I'm almost certain, are shared by a certain sports car I drove two years ago.

You might also like to know that one of Detroit Electric's backers is a chap called Albert Lam, whose CV includes a stint as the CEO of a car company and engineering group based in the Norfolk countryside. A company which already has a lot of experience of making electric sports cars closely based on its own models, like the Tesla Roadster and the Dodge EV.

Here's the wager, then. I'll eat my own shoes if the Detroit Electric isn't related, in some way or other, to the Lotus Elise...

E-up lad, this Volkswagen is now a production model!

FANS of The League of Gentleman, Wallace and Gromit and Stuart Maconie's marvellous funny Pies and Prejudice will doubtless delight that an electric VW concept car is now a production reality.

The e-up! is, of course, an all-electric, zero-emissions twist on the frugal and friendly up! city car that Life On Cars tested last year, which should be a good thing. All the eco-friendly goodness of something you plug into the mains at night, mixed with the style, solidity and strangely entertaining feel of its petrol-propelled counterpart.

But, as we pointed out more than three years ago, it has a stupid name because - in these parts of t'world, at least - it'll forever be confused with one of the phrases we Northerners use to greet one another. As a moniker e-up! takes me instantly into a world best summed up by that Hovis advert where a young boy pushes his bike up t'top o'world. E-up son, grand day t'take t'electric car t'pub!

Admittedly, I might have mocked VW just slightly in that original piece, by suggesting the e-up! match its Northern Soul name with a spec that includes a stereo which only plays Oasis and the Arctic Monkeys, the option of a hot hatch version called the YI rather than GTI to boost sales in Newcastle and Gateshead and proposed White Rose and Red Rose trim levels designed to appeal to subtly different customers in towns on either side t'pennines. What you'll actually get is the electronic equivalent of 55bhp, the chance to fill up 80% of its charge in less than half an hour and a top speed of 85mph, which is more likely to make it a hit in the likes of Huddersfield and Hebden Bridge.

T'e-up! - sorry, can't help it - will be available to order from VW showrooms across t'north of England from early next year. Grand!

Henry Segrave was a Southport hero of speed

Sculptures, plaques, statues and artworks. These are just some of the things which haven’t been commissioned for what surely ranks as the most awe-inspiring spectacle in Southport’s history.

On this day 87 years ago the world land speed record was set on the town’s beach yet there's barely anything in the resort in the way of pomp or ceremony to celebrate. In fact, the only lasting tribute to the day the seaside resort became the fastest place on Earth is The Henry Segrave, a JD Wetherspoon pub named in honour of the dashing chap who dared to push the edges of what’s possible at the driving seat of a car.

It seems hard to believe, all these years, that it’s physically possible to drive along the beach at 152mph, a speed that’s more than twice what you can legally do on the motorway. The fastest I’ve ever driven was 130mph on a banked racing circuit at the helm of a V8-powered Vauxhall, and even on smooth tarmac in a modern car designed to cope, it was mildly terrifying. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would have been like going faster still on sand, driving a racing monster with no airbags, traction control or ABS - things which weren’t invented until decades later - and surviving to tell the tale.

In 1926, when most people’s experience of motoring was a bumble down the backroads in an Austin Seven, seeing Henry Segrave screaming down the sands in his Sunbeam Tiger must have been an epic sight. Record-breakingly epic, in fact.

Sir Henry O’Neil de Hane Segrave was, to borrow the cliché, a chap cast of the right stuff. Eton-educated, a First World War fighter pilot and a Grand Prix winner, he was exactly the sort of stiff-upper-lip yet heroic character you’d likely encounter in a Biggles adventure story, and as such ideally qualified for the risky business of breaking land speed records. To this day he’s the only person who’s ever held the land and water speed records simultaneously, and was actually killed at just 33 setting his final water speed record on Lake Windermere. After hitting a log at 98mph and crashing, he was recovered from the lake while still unconscious, and awoke in hospital to ask of the state of “his men” who’d helped him in the attempt.

He stayed conscious just long enough to be informed he’d broken the record, dying of lung haemorrhages less than half an hour later. You couldn’t make it up.

Yet it’s always his first record, the one he set on March 16, 1926 that sticks out in the mind. It wasn’t an easy record to break - on his third run, Segrave hit a gulley, sending his Sunbeam into the air for 49 feet - but he managed to eake 152.33mph out of the V12-engined, twin-supercharged Tiger, which he’d christened Ladybird on account of its red paint. Despite it being the fastest anybody had ever driven, it was an event which attracted few spectators.

The car, which is now part of a private collection of classic cars owned by an American enthusiast, was also the last land speed record contender to also be a competitive machine on the nation’s racing circuits, and owed its speed not only to the driver but also the immense punch offered up by its 350bhp V12 engine.

Journalist Wille Green, one of the few lucky enough to drive the machine, said: “This is one of the gutsiest, most torquey and powerful engines I’ve ever sat behind and even when you throw in the Alfa P3 and the Napier Railton for comparison, with big superchargers, you can sometimes get surge in a corner but the Tiger’s throttle response is impeccable in this respect. There is just instant, solid, vast power on tap.”

Even though the Southport record was smashed a month later, when John Parry-Thomas pounded along Pendine Sands in Wales at 171mph, it took more than 60 years before someone was able to make the Sunbeam go any faster, when the late John Baker-Courtenay took it to 157.44mph on the runway at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire. It’s his run, which attracted the attention of the world’s press back in 1990, which is likely to remain the ultimate tribute to Segrave and his incredible antics in Southport.

It is one of the most daring things ever to be done in the north west, yet in 2011 the only reminder you’re likely to find of Sir Segrave’s speed record is in the name of The Henry Segrave, a pub on Lord Street. With no museum exhibits, statues or plaques to commemorate the resort’s brief claim to being the fastest place on Earth, it is a record that’s almost slipped from memory entirely.

As records go it’s one that deserves more recognition than it has right now, and it’s high time that we in the north west did something to remember this brief but brave, bold and ultimately successful attempt to nab the world land speed record on Southport beach.

Statue, anyone?

A version of this feature originally appeared in the Autumn 2011 issue of GR8Life magazine. Life On Cars would like to thank Edwina Gibney, John Baker-Courtenay’s daughter, for her help with information on the Sunbeam Tiger and the Southport land speed record.

Disadvantaged youngsters to be given dream car rides at Aintree circuit

YOUNG petrolheads will be given the chance to speed around the historic Aintree race circuit in their favourite supercars as part of a charity event later this year.

Visitors to motoring events across the country might already be familiar with Sporting Bears - a group of car enthusiasts who give rides in their machines to raise money for a variety of children's charities - and this week they announced they will be taking 200 youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds for a spin at the former Grand Prix track on September 8.

Max Walker, the club's north west representative, said: "The event in September is all about giving kids who have had major issues to deal with, the chance to have a bit of fun and enjoy a unique experience.

"We are expecting around 200 kids on the day, many of whom are disabled or terminally ill, and they’ll have the opportunity to enjoy a ride on the Aintree race circuit in their choice of supercar."

The youngsters will be able to take to the track in some of the exotic cars familiar to visitors to some of the country's biggest motoring events, including Aston Martins, Ferraris, Jaguars, Morgans, TVRs, and Lotus sports cars among others, and get the rare chance to ride around the historic circuit.

The club also extended their thanks to Aintree Racecourse, who have helped to organise the event and to secure free use of the old motor racing circuit, which hosted the British Grand Prix on five occasions between 1955 and 1962.

Debbie Slee, conference and events manager at Aintree Racecourse said: "We host a number of charity events and balls here at Aintree but it’s great to do something really unique like this and give children the chance to enjoy a truly memorable experience."

Sporting Bears was formed in 1989 and has raised over £1m for children's charities across the UK.

New classic car insurance proposals are a step in the right direction

CLASSIC car connoisseurs of the younger variety are being promised some good news by a company specialising in insurance cover for their prized machines.

Footman James announced at the Classic Industry Forum, held this week at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, that it's come up with a new set of terms and conditions for enthusiasts aged between 17 and 23, which aim to make the dream of owning and running a classic car more accessible to genuine petrolheads.

Andy Fairchild, the company's managing director, said: "We have been working hard with our insurance partners to establish a range of criteria that will assist us identify the true classic enthusiast.  Young drivers who purchase classic vehicles as a means of obtaining cheaper insurance are not, in our opinion, true classic enthusiasts and a risk that insurers will not take on – a decision that we fully support."

"One of the ways of establishing true enthusiasts, in our opinion, is down to whether they are members of a car club.  We have, therefore, selected this as the primary qualifying criteria for the product and as a result, the product will initially be available to members of pre-selected clubs only."

As someone who's struggled with classic car policies before, and known of a case where a young enthusiast's quote for a classic Mini shot up from £600 to an eyewatering four grand overnight due to a company's change of underwriter, I'm supportive of any efforts to make classic cars more accessible to a new generation of genuine enthusiasts, rather than just cost-cutting youngsters who see classics as a way of cutting corners on their car insurance.

So, what's at stake for young enthusiasts? For the new terms and conditions, which come into effect next month, the company say enthusiasts must meet the following criteria:

•     The owner must be a member of one of the pre-selected clubs

•     The car must have been manufactured in or before 1985

•     The owner must have use of or own a second vehicle for everyday use.

•     The owner must limit their mileage to 3000 or 5000 miles per year.

•     The owner must have a maximum of one non-fault claim or minor conviction.

•     The car must be parked off the road or garaged

Which seems fair enough (although how that'll help one girl I know, who owns a 1972 Mini as her only car but who otherwise meets all of Footman's criteria, I've no idea), particularly as it'd stop the scourge of "crash-for-cash" one insurance expert told me about - teenagers buying a classic car on the cheap, crashing it deliberately and then hammering the insurance companies for the resultant compensation. Classic car insurance, logically, should be for classic car enthusiasts - people who cherish their old cars, no matter how old the owners themselves are.

However, the acid test will be whether what Footman - and, no doubt, other classic insurers when they inevitably follow suit - are proposing actually translates into cheaper and more accessible cover for genuine classic car fans who are being hammered through no real fault of their own.

Classic cars are a passion which we twentysomethings are happy to pay out for, but not when it's over the odds.

Are you a young classic car owner who's struggling to get cover? Let us know what you think of the proposals by sending an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk or by leaving a comment below...

The MGB GT V8 - a great car with a wonderful engine

WHAT do the Rover P6, the TVR Griffith, Range Rover and the Morgan Plus 8 all have in common?

Fans of loud, burbly exhaust notes will probably nail this one instantly - lift this very different variety of bonnets and you'll find, in one state of tune or other, a Rover V8. A aluminium thunderstorm which - thanks to it powering a string of my dad's Land Rovers and Range Rovers - provided the motoring soundtrack for much of my childhood.

 

Yet it was only yesterday I finally got up close to one of the rarer entrants from the Rover V8's back catalogue - the MGB GT V8, of which only 2,591 were made during a stint in the Seventies when British Leyland had the three litre Ford Capri in their sights. That's why I popped over to my friends at Parkhill Garage to see what should be an instant hit in my books - a Rover V8 in a MGB GT, a classic I'm more than familiar with.

It didn't disappoint.

You just have to click the video I recorded to realise why I was smitten as soon as it started up - just listen to that exhaust note! Compared to my own, four cylinder MGB it's got forty more horses to call upon, it does roughly the same to the gallon (weird, but true), and - because the aluminium V8 is such a light engine - it actually weighs a tiny bit less too. Oh, and it's rare and looks fantastic and goes like stink.

This or a Capri? You decide...

Have you got a motoring story or event you'd like to share with Life On Cars? Get in touch by sending an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk or leave a comment below...

Classic cars take over Southport street for retro film shoot

 

VISITORS to one Southport street would've been forgiven for thinking they'd stumbled into the Sixties as shooting for a forthcoming feature film resumed.

The Champion has already reported that the former American diner on the corner of Union Street had been transformed into a fish and chip shop while filming of the new movie Noble takes place. Last week the same location was turned into another street scene from decades gone by, complete with classic cars from the 1960s, including a Ford Anglia, Austin Westminster and Vauxhall Victor VX4/90.

Written, directed and produced by Stephen Bradley, the film will star Deirdre O'Kane in the lead role as it focuses on the true story of Christine Noble, who overcomes a difficult childhood in Ireland to discover her destiny on the streets of Saigon in Vietnam. Actress Deirdre, who also stars in the series Moone Boy, will be joined in the film by EMMY and BAFTA nominated Downton Abbey star Brendan Coyle, Game of Thrones actor and film star Liam Cunningham, and actress Ruth Negga, who previoulsy played singer Shirley Bassey in the BBC television movie Shirley.

The film is due to be released next year.

The flying car is still a bit of blue sky thinking

I WAS planning on doing a piece on Alpine's latest decision to go adventuring at Le Mans but then a mate sent me something which is much more up my street - an ad for a roadgoing aircraft!

The PD-2 is built by Plane Driven, an American company which, rather than going to the expense of creating a Jetsons-esque flying car has taken an existing aircraft, changed the wheels, fitted a second engine and made a few tweaks to turn it into something you can drive on a US highway. I briefly thought it was brilliant until I saw the $60,000 pricetag - and that doesn't include the cost of the aircraft before it's converted.

It also loses two of its four seats, you have to fill it up with two completely types of fuel, and - depending on which US state you live in - you have to have a driving licence, a pilots' licence and a bike/trike licence to actually use it in the way its creators intended. What the chaps at the Department for Transport would make of it I've no idea.

Far better, I reckon, is to use another marvel of flight as the basis for an automobile of the airborne variety - the picture you see above is of Yours Truly at the helm of a microlight, for a feature I wrote for GR8 Life Magazine nearly two years ago. I've always said that if I win the Euromillions there'll be one in my dream garage alongside the TVRs, Land Rovers and Jags, because microlights are like motorbikes you can take into the sky.

More importantly though, a roadgoing microlight would make much more sense than trying the same trick with a plane. A microlight is smaller, cheaper, has wings that are designed from the outset to fold away, can take off pretty much anywhere and - for someone used to classic car fuel bills - doesn't get through extraordinary amounts of unleaded either. All we need now is someone of Ed China's ilk to work out a cheap 'n' cheerful way to make that wonderfully revvy Rotax engine drive the wheels, and a way of convincing the powers-that-be that microlights belong on the A1 as much as they do an airstrip.

Microlights, then, are the best bet for a flying car you can actually afford. You heard it here first...

The real world stars of the 2013 Geneva Motor Show

YOU'D be forgiven for thinking the Geneva Motor Show has been packed with millionaire motors, given the amount of shiny new supercars that have been grabbing the headlines.

The Swiss show is one of the biggest dates in the car calendar for new models and announcements, and while the Alan Sugars and Kanye Wests of this world can gorge themselves on a smorgasboard of new Ferraris, McLarens, Porsches and Astons, there's also scores of stunning new arrivals which are aimed firmly at real world motorists.

Take, for instance, the new estate - sorry, Tourer - version of Honda's Civic, which you'll like because it's reliable, roomy and reasonably priced but I like because I think it looks as good as it does. There's also confirmation there's a new Civic Type R on the way, which is great news for hot hatch fans who aren't taken by the new VW Golf GTi, which was also unveiled at the show.

Renault, meanwhile, are eyeing up a slice of the sales cake currently enjoyed by Nissan's Juke, with the new Captur proving to be a high-rise, smartly-styled spin on the firm's recently reinvented Clio. It'll have tough competition, however, with Peugeot trying a similar trick with its new 2008 model.

Ford are hoping to find their feet at the show with the Ecosport, a small off-roader which uses the company's clever Ecoboost engines and slick styling which the Blue Oval are hoping will help it repeat the success the model has already enjoyed in South America.

There's also a lot of fans of al fresco motoring which has been newly unveiled too, including the convertible version of the Toyota GT86 Life On Cars touched on a few weeks ago, and the Cascada, a full-sized four seater which Vauxhall are hoping will win plenty of fans.

Oh, and there's the new V8 version of Jaguar's F-Type, the most powerful Rolls-Royce ever produced, a replacement for Bentley's Flying Spur, McLaren's successor to the F1, the imaginatively-titled P1, a new Porsche 911 GT3 and the LaFerrari, the fastest, most powerful Ferrari to date.

Not that any of you real world motorists would be interested in any of THOSE, of course...

Woodvale Rally organisers confirm airfield axe for 2013 event

 

THE Woodvale Rally will not be returning to its traditional home at the RAF Woodvale airbase, its organisers have confirmed this week.

As first reported on Life On Cars last Friday, ongoing concerns about asbestos at the airfield, near Formby, have meant plans for the event to return there in its traditional format are no longer possible, although the show's organisers are now working on a smaller scale event, which is set to be held in Southport this June.

This week's Southport Champion newspaper has followed up the story, and today's front page story, by my colleague Natasha Young, reads:

THE popular Woodvale Rally will not be returning to its RAF airfield home after organisers were dealt a health and safety blow.

The long-running event had to be relocated at the eleventh hour last summer, when it was due to take place at RAF Woodvale for the 41st year, after a trace of asbestos was found at the site.

The move to Southport's Victoria Park hit organisers financially and also meant that key attractions such as the model aircraft demonstrations couldn't go ahead due to the lack of runway, but the team behind the event remained hopeful that the rally would be able to make an RAF Woodvale return this year.

As previously reported in the Champion, organisers went to seek advice from specialists after a Government report on the site was released, and were told there was no risk to the public from the asbestos and an affected area could easily be fenced off during the event with air monitoring also being carried out in marquees.

Now rally manager Peter Wood has been told that the RAF can't issue permission for the event to be held at the airfield, and told the Champion this week: “Because there's been a trace of asbestos at Woodvale, although we had a report saying there was no danger, they are unable to issue us a report saying we can use the airfield.
 
"I think we're out of RAF Woodvale forever."

He added: "There's such disappointment because the event's been there for over 40 years. The whole event was built for RAF Woodvale."

Despite the bitter blow, organisers are now determined to salvage some of the rally by coming up with a new event in Southport.

Rather than trying to recreate the Woodvale Rally at a different venue like last year, the group is now in the early stages of putting together a new two-day family event.

It is hoped the festival, which has been given the working title of Woodvale Transport Extravaganza, will be able to take place at Victoria Park on June 22-23.

If all goes to plan it will feature the classic cars, displays and family entertainment that the rally offered and, while the flying displays will no longer be able to take place, tickets will be cheaper for visitors.

Mr Wood explained: "We're going to give a much reduced admission, like £5 for adults and children free, and free car entry. We're really trying to make this one work.

An email has been circulated to car club members in the area to get their views on the idea for the new show, which could potentially still include camping and possibly parking on Princes Park.

Meanwhile, Mr Wood said a catering company used at the rally is already on board and Sefton Council is said to be pleased about the prospect of an event being held in the resort in June, which is currently a clear month on the town's events calendar.

“We hope this will succeed. The only disappointment will be the model flying,” added Mr Wood. “We just hope people will give their support.”

The latest news will be a blow to car and bike enthusiasts across the north west, who are among the exhibitors who have been attending the Woodvale Rally since its inception, although they are being encouraged to support plans by the organisers for the successor event.

Life On Cars comment:  LOSING the Woodvale Rally, in its traditional form at least, is a huge blow for car and bike enthusiasts right across Sefton and West Lancashire, as well as further afield. What's more, to my mind at least the RAF's decision triggers more questions than it answers.

Crucially, why has it been decided it's too dangerous to hold an event there, even when the Rally's organisers have been told by independent findings that the asbestos found at the airfield poses “no danger” to the public? Perhaps, most importantly of all, what does it all mean for the car clubs, the bikers, the exhibitors and the Great British Public who've supported the show for so many years, especially when it relocated to Victoria Park for last year's event?

I don't - and I'm sure I speak for hundreds of Rallygoing classic car owners - blame the Woodvale Rally's organisers for a second, who've a) fought tooth and nail to keep the event at RAF Woodvale going despite the setbacks, and b) kept the fans updated, particularly on their Facebook page.

For as long as I can remember the Woodvale Rally has been a highlight of my car nut calendar, for all sorts of reasons. Who can forget the flypasts of World War Two aircraft? Or the rows of classic cars and bikes seemingly stretching to the horizon? Or even the heady aroma of fast food being served to thousands of visitors? The airfield event, for all sorts of reasons, is just part of my childhood, and now that I'm a fully grown boy I'm saddened by the latest developments.

I'm sure even the Woodvale Rally's most ardent fans would admit the 2012 event lacked the scale and variety of the airbase extravaganzas of previous years, but then the people behind it had it did the best they could with a show that'd been relocated at short notice. The show, as they say, must go on.

It's a crying shame that the memories of wandering through legions of old cars on hot August weekends are set to remain just that - memories - but I reckon the team behind the Woodvale Rally have got the skills, contacts, experience, and crucially, goodwill to turn a blow into an opportunity and create something to fill the vacuum in the motoring events diary.

That should be top of the organisers' to-do list, but it leaves the region's motoring fans with a mission of their own too. We need to lend them their support, because that's the only way to create an even more memorable event for the next generation of car nuts to enjoy.

The Woodvale Rally is dead. Long live whatever replaces it!

What do you think? By all means leave a comment below if you'd like Life On Cars to follow it up...