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| Licence to edit |
British Airways passengers are being deprived of a glimpse of Virgin boss Richard Branson in the latest James Bond epic Casino Royale, as the UK carrier has taken the decision to airbrush out their rival's appearance in its inflight movie.
Like all airlines, BA edits its films for onboard viewing, but it seems more than a coincidence that Branson's short scene at an airport has been dropped, as has a shot of the tailfin of a plane which clearly shows the Virgin logo. |
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| Ridiculous ruling |
In a surprising verdict, a Spanish court has excused a motorist who was caught driving his Audi A8 at 258kph on a 120kph-limit road.
Constantino Garcia told the court in Burgos, northern Spain that he presented 'no definite danger' because his car was designed to go that fast, the road was straight, there weren't many other vehicles on the road and visibility was excellent. He said that '90% of people would have done the same' under those circumstances, and the court agreed, throwing out the charges. |
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| Whale of a tale |
American marine biologists have hit upon an unusual method of transmitting data by satellite from one of the least hospitable places on the planet.
In order to collect information about water temperatures in the icy seas between Greenland and Canada, scientists from the University of Washington have strapped transmitters to three narwhals, deep-diving arctic whales with long, spiral tusks. The fishy oceanographers are sending back details of their environment as well as their own biology. |
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| Wwwacky website |
Feeling low? Then why not try blaming your biorhythms.
These are indicators of your emotional, physical and intellectual wellbeing that are thought to fluctuate throughout your life and are predicted on the basis of your date of birth. To find out whether you're on a low or a high, simply go to www.facade.com/biorhythm/ and punch in your birthday.
A handy personalised chart pops up in seconds, free of charge, and displays your biorhythms over 28 days. The idea is that you can then plan your diary to suit your mood, so you can make sure that important meeting is scheduled when your intellectual biorhythm is at 100%. |
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Volume 12.05
May 2007 |
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Hello Welcome to the May issue of Fleettorque, brought to you by Fleetcare!
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Baby Fiat expected |
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 No doubt inspired by the success of BMW's new Mini, Fiat has jumped on the retro-car bandwagon with a 21st-century reincarnation of its classic 500 city car.
Although the last 500 rolled off the production line back in 1975, Fiat thinks it is set for a revival and has planned for the new generation model to hit European showrooms in July this year, exactly 50 years after the launch of the original.
Known affectionately as the 'Bambino', the 500 was created as a fun and affordable runaround and came with a cheeky charm included as standard. Although the new version still has only the three doors of the original, it is generally bigger to accommodate modern safety regulations and today's larger engines.
When the brand new 500 arrives here early in 2008 it is expected to be priced to match the basic Punto, which sells from $19,990. |
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Fantastic plastic |
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 According to Hyundai, plastic cars could be on our roads as soon as next year.
Pioneering the use of new plastics for automotive design, Hyundai has already shown off this plastic concept car at the Geneva Motor Show and arrangements for manufacturing panels of the material are now well advanced. Although plastic panels are not new - Renault's Clio and Suzuki's Swift both feature them - innovative composites and designs allow the lightweight materials to be moulded to shapes that have never been possible before. And when the plastic car reaches the end of the road, its panels can be recycled and used again. |
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Nosey parker |
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 This clever new split-screen mirror will really put parkers in the picture when it is offered as an option on Mazda's new CX-9 SUV.
The innovative rear view mirror has a built-in LCD screen, which displays images from a camera mounted low at the rear of the car to help with parking and to avoid accidents while reversing.
The CX-9 is the seven-seat version of the CX-7 and will first be offered to American buyers later this year before being re-engineered for right-hand drive and shipping here early in 2008. |
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Jeep Compass |
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 Jeep has come up with its first ever softroader and it's now on sale here. Envisaged to give the likes of Nissan's X-TRAIL and Toyota's RAV4 a run for their money, the Compass is the first of two road-oriented compact Jeep SUVs due to be launched this year.
With its wagon-like styling the Compass is a slightly more curvy take on Jeep's trademark design, though the seven-bar grille and round headlights identify it with the very strong Jeep brand. Its standard equipment includes ESP and front and curtain airbags, as well as air-con, cruise control, alloy wheels (with full-size steel spare) and keyless entry and alarm on all models, which are priced from $32,490. |
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Push for pedallers |
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 Drivers could soon be overtaken by cyclists, thanks to this wacky invention from the US. Called ThrustPac, it's essentially a giant fan that attaches to a shoulder harness and blows the bike and its rider along at speeds of up to 35mph. The kit's engine and propellor weighs 9kg so the cyclist would need to be pretty fit and quite determined to give the four-wheeled traffic a run for its money.
To control the ThrustPac, all the rider needs to do is bend a few fingers, while relaxing them tells the fan to slow down. The US-made gadget costs between $1000 and $2500.
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