Etc : Car News And Reviews

John Bitmead of Oxfordshire, England decided to take the iconic plastic kids’ car, the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe and created a full-sized, roadworthy version. Bitmead and his brother, Geoff, began with a Daewoo Matiz as a starting point.

We normally try to stick to adult-sized vehicles here on 95Octane, but from time to time, we’ll see an extraordinary go-kart or other conveyance that’s worth a mention. This is one of those times. What you’re looking at here is a tiny Aston Martin DB Convertible, perfect for kids (and small adults) ages 10 and up.

While you can’t yet own a Lamborghini Huracán, you just might be lucky enough to see one tooling around the streets of your city, like the folks who shot this video of one zipping around for a commercial shoot.

Renault has announced that it will be unveiling a new concept car at the New Delhi Motorshow on February 5, 2014. Along with the announcement, Renault released this mysterious teaser video showing a quadcopter flying around the bright, neon-colored grey, yellow, and red vehicle.

Custom car builder Mike Vetter, owner of The Car Factory, creates some amazing custom vehicles. One of his latest creations is a version of his ETV (Extra Terrestrial Vehicle) line of cars. This car, which apparently comes to us from the future, has a 270hp engine under its space-hood, with Lamborghini doors, and a custom-made body.

The current land-speed record for a vehicle was set all the way back in 1997 by pilot Andy Green and his ThrustSSC turbofan-powered car. It was the first supersonic ride on wheels, with his top speed hitting over 763mph over the course of one mile.

The Lazareth Wazuma V8F Matt Edition is an extreme quad bike with a Ferrari 3.0 V8 engine and a BMW M3 gearbox. We don’t have speed specs for it, but that’s a 250hp engine pushing just over 1,430 pounds down the road, so it’s got to be hyperfast.

We recently featured a virtual tour of the secret Top Gear test track done via a 360-degree camera and The Stig in a Mercedes SLS AMG Black. Well, it turns out Google turned up at the track with a “Street View” car and mapped the track while Stig stayed in his AMG.

Hot dog! Oscar Mayer has announced a Twitter contest in which the winner will get the chance to ride in the 2014 Oscar Mayer Wienermobile for a day. Simply tweet why you should be selected to ride in Oscar Mayer’s famous roadway sausage and include the hashtag #TWEET2LEASE.

Aston Martin first started building cars in 1914 when founders Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford began putting together cars to race along nearby Aston Hill. Since then, Aston Martin has been known for building some of the most beautiful sports cars in the world, including the timeless DB5 made famous in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger and the current V8 Vantage, DB9, and Rapide S models.

The inaugural Red Bull Frozen Rush event took place on the snowy mountainside of Maine’s Sunday River resort. With eight 900 horsepower Pro4 trucks competing on a figure-eight course with a steep climb, lots of snow, and even a cross-over jump, the racing was intense, to say the least.

Shelby American is celebrating 50 years since the Shelby Cobra first entered the FIA Racing world with a limited edition Continuation Cobra called the CSX7000 Shelby 289 FIA Cobra. Only 50 of these vehicles will be offered for sale, each painted in Viking Blue with Arctic White FIA stripes and roundels, a black interior, and special billet anniversary badges.

While games like Forza and Gran Turismo do their best to capture the realism of racing, the game we are truly looking forward to in this genre has to be Project CARS. The images and gameplay video we’ve seen from this upcoming video game are just mind-boggling.

When MINI announced they were entering the grueling Dakar rally, we were skeptical about the little car’s ability to keep up over sand, dirt and mountaintops. But color us impressed: MINI has not only won the cars category, but has taken the top three spots.

Renault will be entering five classic Renault 8 Gordinis in the 17th Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique beginning on January 24, 2014. The event is only open to cars that participated in the Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo between 1955 and 1980.