How Obvious - 12 October 2021

FOLLOW UP: HYPER-MILING A MIRAI AGAINIn the United States a Toyota Mirai has driven 845 miles, on a single tank, to break the official record. The journey, which took two days, was carried out by Wayne Gerdes and Bob Winger in California at the end of August. TO find out more, click here for the Top Gear article. GENEVA MOTOR SHOW POSTPONED AGAINGeneva Motor Show has again been postponed, this time due to “industry wide issues”. To find out more, click the Autocar article here. FUNDING DROPS FOR ROAD MAINTENANCE The Local Government Association has stated that the Department of Transport (DoT) has reduced the funding for local road maintenance by about £400 million in the last year. The calculations for making the roads truly fit for purpose is an eye-water 10 billion, so to lose this amount is a huge dent in keeping the infrastructure of Britain fit for purpose. To read more, click here for the YesAuto article. BMW M DIVISION GETS A NEW OLD BOSSThe previous head of the M division, Frank van Meel, returns to his position as Markus Flasch moves to the position of overall vehicle development for luxury, upper and mid-range cars in BMW. To read more, click the EVO article here. MCLAREN GROUP’S CASH INJECTION COMES WITH CONDITIONSMcLaren Group is having to appoint five new board members as part of the conditions for the latest £550 million injection of funding. To find out more, click here for the EVO article. THOUSANDS VOTE TO BAN CARS FROM BERLINOver 50,000 people have signed a petition to ban all private cars from approximately 34 square miles of Berlin. There are stages to go through, but this radical plan could be made law. To find out more, click the Autocar story here. PUBLIC WIRELESS EV CHARGING TRIAL BEGINChar.gy has started public trials in Bedfordshire, with modified Renault Zoes and their induction wireless charging pads. Their plan is to make EV charging without cables and especially for those without off-street parking, viable. To read more, click here for the Autocar article. ——————————————————————————-If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST——————————————————————————-NEW NEW CAR NEWSMG ZS EV MG has updated their SUV EV, called the ZS. Now with a refreshed exterior design and a longer range up to 273 miles, an increase of 110 on the previous version. Further details on the specifications as well as pricing is expected next month. To find out more, click the YesAuto article here. Piëch GTPiëch Automotive will be launching the Piëch GT, a 595hp grand tourer, in 2024, with a range in the region of 311 miles. This sticks quite closely to the original concept revealed a couple of years ago. TO find out more, click the EVO article here. WRC: DRIVER CONFIRMATIONSThe WRC driver swap season has now ended, with the three teams confirming who will be driving for them next year. The big news, for M-Sport, is that Craig Breen has a two year contract to drive the Puma. Find out more about that by clicking the DirtFish article here. Hyundai announced that Soldberg and Sordo will share the seat of the third car, to find out more about that, click here for the DirtFish article. Ending all speculation, Ogier has confirmed he will race next season, but his co-driver of many years will retire. Ogier is going to share the third car with Lappi, who has been in the rallying wilderness since Citroen left. To read more about that, click the DirtFish article here. LUNCHTIME READ: THE HANDBOOK OF SLOANE RANGER CARS - PEUGEOT 504 & 505 ESTATESGiles Chapman, writing for Hagerty, takes us through why the Sloan Ranger would go for the Peugeot 504 and 505 estates. Click the link here, to understand why these cars are so special even though they did not go for flamboyant engineering like the Citroens and Renaults of the same era. LIST OF THE WEEK: 10 JAPANESE KEI CARS WE’D LOVE TO OWNKei cars are a quirk of the Japanese market due to legislation, but that doesn’t mean we don’t look fondly on from afar. YesAuot has suggested the best ten that we wish we could get hold of. Click the link here to run through the options, then tell Alan and Andrew if you agree with their choice and tell them what you would have. AND FINALLY: RENAULT TWIZZY SELLS FOR £27,500A Renault Twizzy, with design cues inspired by F1 racing, has sold for £27,500. The car is one of five made by Oakley Design. For those whom the Twizzy didn’t quite stand out enough. To find out more, click the Motoring Research article here.