Range Rover Evoque - Big Deal...

Last month, TopGear Magazine released its 2011 Awards issue. That in itself is not very interesting, but what is interesting is some of the winners. The McLaren MP4-12C (a mid-engined, Twin-Turbo supercar) won the GT Car Of The Year award, thanks to its clever hydraulic anti-roll system, the quirky Citroën DS5 won Family COTY and the Fisker Karma beat the likes of the Rolls-Royce Ghost and Bentley Mulsanne to be TopGear's Luxury Car of choice. So...

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Video Weekday - Happy Boxer Day

Uploaded: 20/7/11Running Time: 3:43Views When Posted: 32,719According to my homepage, this is my 100th post on Small Blog V8. That's a lot. It's been 10 months, and I think I've roughly got the hang of it! Anyway, here is a video of one of my early inspirations, the late Colin McRae. Here he's doing his thing not in the signature 555 Impreza WRX, but in a Subaru Legacy RS, way back in 1993, when I was but a toddler. The video appears to cover an entire rally stage (although there is sudden rain at the end, so maybe not), which he of course scales...

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Photo Dump - Merry Christmas!

Hello SBV8'ers (if there are any regulars). I'd just like to wish you a Merry Christmas! Have a great day today and I hope you all get/got what you wanted. This is my 20th Christmas, and I'm still getting just as much chocolate, so I'm fine with that!  In the mean time, enjoy some snowy GT5 pictures I made yesterday. Click to enlarge!This would make quite a cool Christmas card. I should've thought of that earlier...Four-Wheel-Drive is a life-saver...

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Virtual Road Test - Toyota GT 86

Image slightly pixellated thanks to MS Paint and Vista...DISCLAIMER - Yes, I am aware that a virtual road test does not carry the same weight as a real one, and I can't speak of ride quality or mileage or pedal feel or interior quality, but this is mainly just for fun, so enjoy! Also, you can find my other posts on this car here and here.Unfortunately, I am unlikely to be upgraded from a small-time blogger to a writer for TopGear Magazine or such...

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Video Sunday - The Sprinting Horse

Uploaded: 13/12/11Running Time: 3:04Views When Posted: 15,010There are two things every self-respecting supercar owner (of which there are depressingly few) must do with their magnificent new acquisition. The first one is show off in it - preferably in front of a camera for YouTube's pleasure - and the other is to see how fast it can go. Thankfully, one gentleman in Germany has combined both, as he takes to the autobahn and embarks on a quest to achieve 200mph in his new Ferrari 458 Italia on an un-restricted stretch. Enjoy!The GPS-given speed...

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Video Saturday - Close Shave, Comrade

Uploaded: 14/12/11Running Time: 1:03Views When Posted: 439,216Over the Christmas holidays, you might find that with hearty servings of turkey and pigs in blankets and chocolate, your digestion takes a hit. If you do end up having a little bit of trouble emptying your pooh chute, don't bother with buying laxatives, just take a laptop or smartphone into the little petrolhead's room with you and watch this video on full screen. That should work nicely.Somewhere in Russia, people were having trouble coping with the slippery surface on this bridge,...

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A Brief History - BMC Mini

The first and last Minis everLook at these two cars and there's very little to tell you that they are separated by a full 41 years, or exactly 15,018 days. While the cream car on the right (621 AOK) came out of the Cowley factory on the 26th August 1959 as a cheap and innovative new small car for the housewife (according to chief designer Sir Alec Issigonis, not me), the final car on the left (X411 JOP) exited the Rover factory in Longbridge on the...

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Video Sunday - Best. Scene. Ever.

Uploaded: 29/10/11Running Time: 0:54Views When Posted: 248,478If you've been around on the internet, you may have already seen this clip as a .gif, but if not, then revel in the brilliantly awful, hilariously unrealistic nature of Bollywood action films. Also, aviators and a handlebar moustache make you invincible in all situations. This is a scientific fact. As factual as anything you're about to see, anyway...I've actually seen crazier, but I'll have to look for that and post it next week. For now, enjoy 54 seconds of Bollywo...

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Video Saturday - Sebastian Vettel Makes A Good Kimi Räikkönen

Uploaded: 4/12/11Running Time: 4:32Views When Posted: 185,472We often think of racing drivers as being robots, who say what they're supposed to say before and after a race and are only really focused on one thing, often leaving their personalities at home (perhaps to save weight). Nowadays though, we have people like Jenson Button, and this bloke, some German guy called Sebastian Vettel, whoever he is (apparently he won some kind of F1 race this year). Here he is at the Autosport Awards flexing his comedic muscles by doing an impression of 2012...

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Formula 1 - Brazilian Grand Prix 2011

Interlagos Circuit, São Paolo, Brazil.After 18 races, which should've been 19 were it not for Bahrain being a little busy to be holding a motor race, we come here, back to good old Brazil, home of Senna, Massa and Barrichello, for the final race of the 2011 Formula 1 season. For the 15th time this year, World Drivers Champion Sebastian Vettel had managed to extract the most from the fastest car on the grid and get pole position, setting a new...

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Video - Subaru BRZ GT300 Wakes You From Kimi-Induced Sleep

 Uploaded: 1/12/11Running Time: 3:04Views When Posted: 307As a follow-up to yesterday's news flash about the dual release of the Toyota GT 86 and Subaru BRZ (which are twins), I'm posting this video of the BRZ GT300 set to compete in SUPER GT next year. Judging by the music, I'd say this is the video they played at this week's Tokyo Motor Show. The other melody you'll hear is the 300 horsepower race-tuned Boxer-4 engine. Enjoy! I know I did. This coupé and its new racing variant are getting me more excited than any other car released or unveiled...

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Multiple News Flash - Kimi Räikkönen Back in F1, GT-86 + BRZ x GT300 = OMG

Subaru BRZ GT300. The words you're looking for are either "Dear Lord" or "Me Gusta"Before I start writing the report on the Brazillian Grand Prix, I thought I would share three pieces of good news. First off, Magnum-eating legend Kimi Räikkönen is returning to Formula 1, secondly, Toyota and Subaru have finally unveiled the production version of the FT-86 (now called GT 86, as I shall explain) and BRZ coupés, and sexiest of all, Subaru has already...

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How To Fix The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

A is the original layout and B is my version. You can tell because they're labelled in Altastrada font, which is superior to your font.Although double DRS and a lack of Vettel helped to spice up this year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it wasn't exactly Canada or Silverstone. Much of the problem with this race is in the track layout, as Hermann Tilke was probably far more interested in a) grandstands and facilities, and b) getting paid lots by sheiks, thus...

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Two Ways To Make A Porsche

There is a right way and a wrong way to build a Porsche. Or is there? Maybe, with the Panamera and Cayenne selling just as well or better than the 911 and Boxster/Cayman, there are two ways to make a Porsche, or maybe it's proof that people will buy anything with a Porsche badge on it... except a new-age Need For Speed game, perhaps. They all suck and so does EA for claiming exclusivity on using Porsches...Anyway, what we have here are two new cars...

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Formula 1 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2011

Yas Marina Circuit. Grotesque Ferrari World theme park adjacent...The Race In a Nutshell:> Sebastian Vettel's luck finally runs out as he gets a right-rear puncture into Turn 2.> 2nd place-starting Lewis Hamilton leads by 2.5s after lap 1.> Jenson Button slips back from 3rd to... 3rd. KERS fails for a while, partially reset later on, battles Mark Webber> McLaren make lightning-fast pit stops, Red Bull botch Webber's, he falls out of contention...

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