Small Round Of Applause - 5 May 2020

FOLLOW UP: FERRARI OPENS AGAIN

Thanks to their “Back on Track” initiative, which the chaps discussed on 14 April’s episode, Ferrari opened Maranello once more, to begin a phased ramping up of production. To read more on this and what else is happening around the world, click the Autocar link here.

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR APRIL 2020

Surprising no one, UK New Car Registration figures fell by 97.3%, with 4,321 registrations happening in April 2020. The cars in the Top Ten are a very different lot from normal. To read more, click the SMMT article here.

HITACHI PARTNERING WITH GRIDSERVE

Hitachi is investing in the electric service station developer, Gridserve, helping them to open the first of their planned one hundred EV dedicated charging stations. The first of which is due to open this summer. To read more, click the Autocar link here.

PORSCHE ADDS APPLE CARPLAY TO HISTORIC CARS

Porsche is offering the ability to retrofit Apple CarPlay into vintage cars, via their Classic department. These are discreet units that fit into older Porsches but allow owners to utilise their Apple devices. To read more, click the Motoring Research article.

SHEFFIELD CITY COUNCIL’S ANPR DATA EXPOSED

8.6 million vehicle records were accessible, covering thousands of vehicles, without a password or authentication. Individual vehicles, as well as their journeys, were traceable to anyone who logged into the management dashboard. Time will tell if anything happens or if ANPR was being used outside the scope the public expect it to be used. To read more, click the link to The Register article.

NOTTINGHAM REPORTS BACK ON ULEZ

Nottingham, one of the first locations for an Ultra Low Emission Zone, has reported back on the lessons that have been learnt in the first two years of the project. When reading the document, it can be seen that this was from before the lockdown, as could be expected. Some of the findings will now need to be re-evaluated but the chaps do commend Nottingham for reviewing the status and publishing their findings. To read more, click the ZapMap article here. If you would like to read the report itself, click the link here.

ITV INVITE RECREATIONS OF HONDA’S COG ADVERT

The ITV program, The People’s Ad Break, has asked for members of the public to recreate the famous Honda advert, that featured the parts being triggered to move. Good luck with your version, you have until 8 May to submit so get your skates on. To find out more and the chance to rewatch that superb advert, click the Motoring Research article here.

We are pausing our Patreon for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing crisis, however, if you are still able to help someone, we recommend supporting Mission Motorsport’s COVID-19 Response Fund. To find out more

FOLLOW UP: FERRARI OPENS AGAIN

Thanks to their “Back on Track” initiative, which the chaps discussed on 14 April’s episode, Ferrari opened Maranello once more, to begin a phased ramping up of production. To read more on this and what else is happening around the world, click the Autocar link here.

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR APRIL 2020

Surprising no one, UK New Car Registration figures fell by 97.3%, with 4,321 registrations happening in April 2020. The cars in the Top Ten are a very different lot from normal. To read more, click the SMMT article here.

HITACHI PARTNERING WITH GRIDSERVE

Hitachi is investing in the electric service station developer, Gridserve, helping them to open the first of their planned one hundred EV dedicated charging stations. The first of which is due to open this summer. To read more, click the Autocar link here.

PORSCHE ADDS APPLE CARPLAY TO HISTORIC CARS

Porsche is offering the ability to retrofit Apple CarPlay into vintage cars, via their Classic department. These are discreet units that fit into older Porsches but allow owners to utilise their Apple devices. To read more, click the Motoring Research article.

SHEFFIELD CITY COUNCIL’S ANPR DATA EXPOSED

8.6 million vehicle records were accessible, covering thousands of vehicles, without a password or authentication. Individual vehicles, as well as their journeys, were traceable to anyone who logged into the management dashboard. Time will tell if anything happens or if ANPR was being used outside the scope the public expect it to be used. To read more, click the link to The Register article.

NOTTINGHAM REPORTS BACK ON ULEZ

Nottingham, one of the first locations for an Ultra Low Emission Zone, has reported back on the lessons that have been learnt in the first two years of the project. When reading the document, it can be seen that this was from before the lockdown, as could be expected. Some of the findings will now need to be re-evaluated but the chaps do commend Nottingham for reviewing the status and publishing their findings. To read more, click the ZapMap article here. If you would like to read the report itself, click the link here.

ITV INVITE RECREATIONS OF HONDA’S COG ADVERT

The ITV program, The People’s Ad Break, has asked for members of the public to recreate the famous Honda advert, that featured the parts being triggered to move. Good luck with your version, you have until 8 May to submit so get your skates on. To find out more and the chance to rewatch that superb advert, click the Motoring Research article here.

We are pausing our Patreon for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing crisis, however, if you are still able to help someone, we recommend supporting Mission Motorsport’s COVID-19 Response Fund. To find out more click this link here.

WRC: RALLY PORTUGAL CANCELLED

Rally Portugal is the first event to be officially cancelled, as the organisers could not make a provisional October date work. We suspect it will not be the last that is cancelled. To read more, click the DirtFish article here.

Also on DirtFish is an article discussing a topic raised on one of their recent podcasts, cost-cutting and simplification of the rules to continue to make the sport attractive to manufacturers and teams. Citroën pulling out must have made alarm bells go off, within the WRC organising committees, the added financial pressures that will come following this pandemic are likely to put all motorsport in line for being cut. We saw how quickly VW dropped it’s motorsport commitments to deal with costs from dieselgate. Does not take much thinking to see others following suit. To read more, click the article here.

DESIGNERS MOOD BOARD: DONCKERWOLKE LEAVES HYUNDAI

Luk Donckerwolke has resigned, with immediate effect, as Hyundai Group Chief Design Officer, due to personal reasons. To read more, including some of the stunning concepts he presided over, click the FormTrends article here.

LUNCHTIME READ: MAZDA’S STORY ON THE FOURTH-GENERATION MX-5 DESIGN

Another FormTrends article, this time one about how Mazda produced the design of the fourth-generation MX-5. This is a fascinating read, about the process Mazda went through to finally emerge with the final look of the car. To read this, click the link here.

LIST OF THE WEEK: 25 THINGS WE LEARNED WHILE WATCHING MOVIES

This week’s list comes from the Double Apex site, where, with tongue firmly embedded in their cheek, they tell us what we should be doing whilst driving if movies are to be believed. Click their link here, to read more.

AND FINALLY: BMW HELPS WITH OUR EDUCATION

During this time of lockdown, there have been plenty of asinine posts about how you should be bettering yourself and if you aren’t what a fool you are. Well, we think that is silly, however, a little improvement is probably doable. BMW has come to our aid and released a video that tells us all how to pronounce BMW in German. Click the YouTube link here and then you will have a nice warm feeling as you have learnt something today.

THE ZOOM ZOOMERS

Alan takes part in a gathering of folks from the motoring world, on a Monday night, run by Damien Cross. If you would like to see last Monday’s meet up please click the Twitter link here.