Written by Andrew Frankel, It is entirely to his credit that despite the hand-bagging that he fully expects his car to receive, Duncan Johnson is still sufficiently game to lend me his Aston Martin Cygnet. Unless you count things like the Tickford Metro, there has never been a car like the Cygnet and I suspect that it’ll be a while before there is again. Despite being, in real terms, the cheapest car ever to fly the Aston wings, it seems that to call sales glacial would be to insult slow-moving mountains of ice. Although Aston goes all coy when you ask how many it has sold since the Cygnet went on sale in 2011, speculation suggests it was considerably less ... Read More

Vettel was repremanded, team fined for breaking a few F1 rules You don’t see donuts — or burnouts — after wins in Formula One very often. Then again, you don’t see four-time champions very often either. Sebastian Vettel broke ranks a bit on Sunday in India when he celebrated with a burnout in front of the main grandstand on Sunday. While the fans loved it, the FIA handed down a fine of more than $34,000 (U.S.) and a reprimand to Formula One’s champion. Source ... Read More

So. The Indian Grand Prix this weekend, and the near certainty that Sebastian Vettel will win his fourth world championship in a row. All he needs do is bring the RB9 home fifth or higher, and Fernando Alonso’s purely mathematical chance to take the title disappears. It’s going to happen now, so get over it. It’s just a question of when Red Bull get to break out the winner’s T-shirts and the BBC try once again to make Seb cry. So prepare for the shirts and the sentimental VTs this weekend. Take a look at Vettel’s form this season: 3-1-4-1-4-2-1-DNF-1-3-1-1-1-1-1. From Canada onwards, and with the sole exception of Hungary, if he’s finished, he’s won. And don’t forget those records ... Read More

If you have eyes, you may have noticed that there are many new white cars on the road. An observation galvanised by reports that white paint is the most popular car colour… in the world. PPG, the largest supplier of transportation coatings, claims that one in four buyers chose white paint for their car, and its popularity‘s up three per cent from last year. Silver and black tied for second place at 18 per cent each, followed by grey – of which there are at least 50 shades, we discovered – red, “natural hues” (isn’t that a mid-seventies skiffle band?), blue, then green. But white dominated. In recognition, and to pay tribute to the Stig’s favourite chroma, we’ve put together ... Read More

What do we have here? It’s an off-the-shelf Leon Cup touring car, which you could use for anything from track days to the actual world touring car championship. Seat has a decent history with tin-tops, having won the WTCC in 2008 and ’09, and the BTCC – with a pair of diesels – in 2006. There’s also a one-make series with a whole grid of near-identical Leons, not to mention various other championships and one-off races. Is there a road-going Leon lurking in there? Like the road car, it’s built on the VW Group’s MQB platform. It shares about 30 per cent of its bits with the road car, including the 2.0-litre turbo engine and multi-link rear suspension. Of course, ... Read More

Barely four months since BMW officially put the axe into its ubiquitous two-door with the new 4 Series Coupe comes this, the new BMW 4-Series Convertible. And just like its coupe counterpart, this one is lower, longer and wider than its predecessor, with BMW claiming it to be a “more overtly sporting car” than before. As you can see, it follows the fine form set by the 4-Series Coupe, all massive kidney grille, hexagonal headlights, huge air intake and Hofmeister kink. Of course, this one comes with a three-piece folding metal roof that can be raised or lowered in 20 seconds at speeds of up to 8mph, while we’re told – wait, what? 8mph? Yes, improvements to the roof – including a new sound-absorbing headliner – mean ... Read More