Cars On The Mind (and Dirt Off Your Shoulder)

Apologies to readers outside of the UK, but the British among you who are keen on the beautiful game might remember a finishing feature of Match of the Day 2 when presented by Adrian Chiles known as  '2 Good 2 Bad' segment, featuring a couple of funnies from the weekend's football action. Here's my motoring equivalent with some recent odds and ends.



One of these is white. And very good.





The other is just a whiteg...
you see where this is going.

Firstly, Aston Martin have proudly announced that they have allocated 60 sales of their flagship One-77 ultra-hypercar. The bespoke £1million+ V12 car, featuring the world's most powerful naturally aspirated engine and enough tailored personalisation options to make every one of the 77 produced unique, is now to be toured around lucrative Far East markets such as Zonda loving Hong Kong and China, in order to soak up the last few available orders. Yet the Gaydon outfit have also tagged on that over half of customers so far have also opted to purchase a matching Cygnet, the Aston Martin-customer 'exclusive' city car, which for those of you unfamiliar with this abomination, is a rebadged Toyota iQ, with less than a tenth of the output of the One-77's 740bhp motor. Seems amazing to me that some of the the rich individuals blessed with the wealth and opportunity to own what is very possibly the world's most desirable car, then show a complete about-turn in taste and also pick up a bargain affront to the brand, which until now has surpassed itself for effortless cool. Can't really imagine James Bond in a Cygnet...

Next, a totally subjective piece of disappointment. Like most people with more than a passing interest in cars, I've been impatiently awaiting the arrival of the BMW 1-Series M Coupé. The turboed straight six has drummed up huge anticipation in the hope it negates the overpowered and overweight M3 and M6 coupés of late and shows a relative return to the spirit of the original M3. Beemer have been playing up to this hype with journo drives of test hacks and teasing detail shots of the finished article. However in their latest press release, the whole car is revealed at a few split second intervals, and I was very slightly let down by one aspect. It looks great from the rear, with 4 trademark exhaust tips and stout, squat, aggressive proportions. In profile the E46 CSL style wheels, in my opinion the best looking alloys of recent years, set the new M off wonderfully. It's just that from the front, where a car gains so much of its visual drama and purpose, the all-important 'face' just isn't quite as good looking as I was hoping it would be. The swollen wheel arches behind the headlamps give the car an over-inflated look from bang front on, and the lower splitter with the ducting and chin spoiler, is a bit of a mess. No doubt it'll be argued as functional for downforce and cooling, as well as setting the M Coupé apart from the standard 135i M Sport. However, it still jars the eye a little and spoils an otherwise great looking car. See what you think from the screenshots and video below, I just hope it grows on me before the worldwide press inevitably lavish it with praise.

Now for the good...

Here's Ferrari's new GT2 racer version of the 458 Italia. This must be one of the most aggresive looking competition cars of recent times. Until the racing homologated Glickenhaus P4/5 steals its thunder, this thing in racing decals with all those front vents and slashes will look evil. Interestingly, in a sign of our power-hungry times, the GT2 is restricted by the entry rules to a 470bhp ceiling, making nearly 100bhp less powerful than the road car. And, therefore, probabaly one hundred times less likely to burn to a crisp on an alpine pass.

Finally, since it's the season for giving, and explaining my tenuous Jay-Z link in the headline, the Jigga Man has revealed the 41st birthday present he scored from his star wife Beyoncé was a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport. Ordered over a year ago to ensure the handbuilt road rocket would be built in time, the world's fastest, most expensive open top car apparently went down very well with it's Brooklyn-born owner, who already owns a Zonda, Maybach, and the usual rap star essential garage. Makes the looming Christmas holiday a difficult follow-up to pull off; nevertheless Mr Carter was very grateful to his other half. Would it be too crude to say he's got 99 problems but a b*tch ain't one..?

I've just noted that this is a car blog, not a celeb gossip column or the NME. Normal service will soon be resumed.