Think you know about cars? Well, do you know who is the world’s fastest blind driver… and what is the Taliban’s supercar like? Or who spent 50 years driving an electric egg and why was a German teenager banned 49 minutes after passing his test?
Former Top Gear researcher and writer Simon Heptinstall knows some of the most amazing, unlikely and downright weird motoring facts and stories.
His latest book Very Good Car Stories has just been published on Amazon – so we’ve picked ten of the best stories in it to test the motoring knowledge of even the biggest car nerd. How many of these do YOU know?
Former Top Gear researcher and writer Simon Heptinstall has revealed some of the most amazing, unlikely and downright weird motoring facts and stories from his new book. How many of these 10 automotive pop quiz facts do you know?
1. Who is the world’s fastest blind driver?
Former bank manager Mike Newman of Bolton, was born blind… but now has the unlikely title of the planet’s fastest blind driver.
While still working at a bank he set the word record for blind driving – by taking a Jaguar XJR to 144mph (232kph) in 2003.
He has since beaten his own record three times. His latest speed run achieved 200mph (322kph) in a Nissan GTR.
Mike drives on the empty airfield alone but has a live radio link to a ‘navigator’ in a car following him – to warn if he is veering off course.
Mike Newman and his guide dog Ross pose in front of a BMW he used to set one of many land speed records for a blind driver
Mike Newman in his Jaguar XJR breaking the land speed record for the blind in 2003 at Elvington, York
2. What is the shortest driving career ever?
A German 18-year-old was banned from driving after being caught speeding at almost double the limit… just 49 minutes after passing his driving test.
3. What is the world’s most expensive motoring holiday?
This month a high-end holiday operator called Ultimate Driving Tours is offering three-night breaks to the Las Vegas Grand Prix for a massive £17,766 per person.
The price, equivalent to buying a small hatchback, includes three nights at the Bellagio Hotel and VIP hospitality at the F1 race on November 20.
Preparations to retrofit Vegas’ streets for the upcoming F1 race. Pictured here is the famous Las Vegas Strip, now featuring catch fencing and track lighting infrastructure
4. Where is the least likely home of a major motoring museum?
An unlikely museum recently opened in the strict Islamic state of Iran… featuring 55 luxury cars. The Historical Cars Museum on the outskirts of Tehran exhibits vehicles owned by the fabulously wealthy Iranian Royal family before it was ousted by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
After more than 50 years of being kept in secret storage the collection is now attracting thousands of bemused locals.
Cars include a one-off Mercedes gifted by Hitler and an American 1930’s limousine with gold-plated bumpers and headlights.
At the time, it cost around an eighth of the entire Iranian national budget.
The Iran Classic Cars Museum, on the western outskirts of the capital Tehran, with the collection of 55 luxury cars previously hidden away for up to half a century
5. What was the weirdest ever excuse for speeding?
When a police deputy in Florida, US, caught a car that raced right through a stop sign at 20mph above the limit last year he found the driver had a unique excuse. He was fleeing imminent nuclear war.
Footage of the officer’s webcam appeared on social media.
The unnamed driver is heard saying: ‘The truth is I just found out that Putin says he’s going to launch thermonuclear war against the world.
‘I was just trying to get back to my house to find out what is going on. I’m freaking out here. I got people in Ukraine.’
A Florida man caught speeding in Palm Coast told the deputy Vladimir Putin was to blame
6. What was the lowest top speed of any Rolls Royce?
In 1905 Rolls Royce built a luxury 3.5-litre V8 car with a top speed limited to just 20mph (32kph).
That wasn’t necessarily its top speed, though.
It was restricted to 20mph because that was the UK speed limit at the time.
7. Who is the biggest tyre manufacturer in the world?
The biggest tyre manufacturer in the world in numbers sold is not Michelin, Pirelli or Dunlop…
It’s Lego.
According to the Guinness World Records, Lego’s tyre production peaked in 2010 when the Danish company churned out a staggering 381million sets for its buildable vehicles.
Ever since, it has held the record for the largest annual volume toy tyre manufacturer, making around 306million tiny rubber tyres every year.
Lego produces more tyres than any other company in the world
8. How many vehicles are simply abandoned in the UK every year?
Recent research involving all British local authorities found that there are an astonishing 21,106 cars reported as being left abandoned every year.
The commonest abandoned vehicles are the Ford Transit, Vauxhall Astra and Ford Focus.
The towns with the most abandoned vehicles are Bradford, Milton Keynes and Barnet.
Over 21,000 vehicles are abandoned in the UK every year. The most common to be ditched – the Ford Transit van
9. What is the Taliban’s own supercar like?
The Taliban of Afghanistan recently unveiled its own supercar.
The Mada 9 was revealed at a ceremony in Kabul to astonished journalists who have often characterised the Taliban as a semi-terrorist organisation.
The low-slung two-door Mada coupe is powered by a highly-tuned Toyota Corolla engine. Taliban officials say the locally produced car will help boost the Afghan regime’s international image.
An image of the prototype posted on social media by manufacturer ENTOP showed the car’s sleek and aggressive styling
10. Who drove an electric egg?
The Electric Egg, or ‘L’Oeuf Electrique’, was a city car way ahead of its time, produced by eccentric French engineer Paul Arzens in 1942.
The aluminium-bodied, single-seat plexi-glass bubble car used five normal car batteries under the back seat to power to 43mph (70kph) with a range of 60 miles (100km).
Arzens drove the Electric Egg around Paris for 50 years until his death aged 86 in 1990.
Pictured here is a L’OEuf Electrique (Electric Egg), which Catton explains was invented in 1942 by French artist, engineer and designer Paul Arzens. It had a range of 60 miles, a top speed of 43mph and ‘was quite capable of keeping up with postwar city traffic’. Catton says that the car was built using aluminum ‘to circumvent war-related rationing of steel’
Want to know more oddball motoring stories?
Do you want to know what happened when an 80-year-old Paul McCartney tried to recreate walking across a busy Abbey Road using the famous zebra crossing?
Or which fifties car was marketed at ‘Her Majesty, the American woman’ and had a tube of lipstick in the glovebox?
Or are you wondering which car manufacturer sells more sausages than cars?
Find the answers to these important motoring questions in Very Good Car Stories by Simon Heptinstall.
The former Top Gear writer’s own eccentric motoring career includes once setting a world record for driving to the most countries in one day (12), managing to drive from Lands End to John O’Groats in a car that cost just £50 and accelerating a supercar into a lamppost.
The book is now available on Amazon as hardback, paperback or e-book.
CARS & MOTORING: ON TEST
This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk
