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After the recent F1 disasters with their tyres exploding on a far too regular basis you would think that Pirelli would concentrate on making them safer.

Used Tires (Photo credit: www.ericcastro.biz)

Well in an effort to multitask it would seem that the designers have not only improved the reliability but they have brought out a new series of road tyres that they say reduces the road noise in a car by 50%.

Assuming that we won’t see a repeat of the F1 blowouts it’s worth noting that developments continue on road cars. The first cars to benefit from this new technology are the Audi RS6 Avant and RS7. They will be offered as optional extras (no I don’t know how much), but I guess they must be expensive if they are only offered as options on two of their top of the range cars.

In order to reduce the noise the tyres have a layer of noise cancelling sponge under the tread blocks. Pirelli says it reduces the amount of vibration and noise through the steering wheel.

Let’s hope the tyres don’t suffer the same problems faced by Hamilton & co.

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• Webber slams F1 tyres (sbs.com.au)

My first ever automatic was a big old Jaguar. It worked perfectly with just 3 forward gears, 1^st, 2^nd and Drive. Having just 3 gears wasn’t a problem, after all it was an automatic so after a while you didn’t even realise the car was changing gear.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Move on the lifetime of my children and my latest car, an E Class Mercedes has a silky smooth 7G,  7 speed automatic gearbox with paddle changes on the steering wheel for those that like to play at F1 racing drivers – in an E Class Mercedes – I know, I should grow up!

So I was surprised to read that the next E Class will come with a 9G, 9 gear automatic gearbox. The box will be launched in Europe later this year and in the UK next year. Mercedes say there is method in their madness as the new gearbox will reduce CO2 output and improve MPG but changing gear 8 times simply to get out of your garage seems a tad over the top to me – but what do I know?

If it means I contribute to the well being of Sussex and save money on fuel who am I to argue?

Are Ya Thirsty (Photo credit: Roy Montgomery)

As the weather continues to keep us in our shorts and the ice cream salesmen wring their hands with glee how are you keeping your drinks and food cool when taking the family to the beach or the park. The latest range of cool boxes allow you to keep everything cool whilst in the car via the car’s electrics. You can normally plug the unit into the mains then when you get into the car plug it into one of the auxiliary outlets in the back of the car or in the boot. These types of cool boxes don’t come cheap but could save a fortune in cold drinks when out. Auto Express have tested the best of the bunch and found that the Campingaz PowerBox 28L Deluxe priced at £89.95 to be the best. The capacity was good and the design of the inside made it one of the best to store cans and food. It also had a neat battery monitor in the plug. In second place and recommended came the Sealey 22L Cool Bag 12v. More of a bag than box it has non chilled pockets for items you don’t want cooled, maybe fruit and utensils. Priced at £50.34 it was good value albeit smaller than the winner. Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back. Don’t forget that with these units they are not refrigerators, they take time to cool so would benefit if the food and drink you put into the box is chilled already. Having said that the Rolls Royce of those tested, the Waeco Tropicool TC-21 will cool much lower than others and it ca also be used to heat. Good use of the 21 litres capacity made it a favourite of the judges. The cost is £169. Finally if there is a large group of you then you may want to consider the 40 litre Halfords Electric Coolbox. Because of its size it is fitted with wheels and a nice feature was the ability to set the level of temperature reduction. There is no power light or switch and at £129.99 it was expensive although, at the time of writing, there was a promotion on reducing the price to £79.99, that’s more like it.

Car Radio (Photo credit: nedrichards)

You know when you are on your computer and you start searching for holidays then by the magic of technology every time you open a page or carry out a search for something else you suddenly see holiday ads flash in front of you on the screen?

Well the same is about to happen on your radio. Instead of hearing general ads during programmes you will start to hear targeted ads.

Known as Aha Radio they say that instead of you hearing an ad for We Buy Any Car.Com you could hear we’ll buy your car for £8,900 based on your car being a 2007 BMW 320d with 80,000 miles on the clock, which of course is your car.

The new radio is in fact an Internet platform that will be bundled into infotainment systems in new cars from Porsche, Mazda and Ford so far. Their aim is to target the customers as they do on the Internet rather than scattergun.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

The ad breaks will be tailored based on the car you are driving, where you are going and where you are. For example it will detect that you are about to pass a branch of Starbucks and alert you to any deals going on at the time.

Safety experts might have something to say about this as it might prove to be a major distraction. A clever idea though. By Graham Hill Car Finance

English: 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car at the 2011 Washington Auto Show (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Google led the way in the US by gaining permission to test their driverless cars on public roads. We are now about to follow suit with the Government giving permission for driverless cars to be tested on public roads in the UK, preferably somewhere in the North as I live in the Sarf.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Researchers at Oxford University have been co-developing autonomous car tech with Nissan for some time and have already tested a prototype based on a Leaf (that’s their electric car not something hanging off a tree) on private roads and test tracks.

The announcement means that they will be able to carry out more extensive tests on quiet rural and suburban roads although to begin with they will have to test with a back-up driver as a safety precaution. By Graham Hill Car Finance

Related articles

• Report: UK to begin testing driverless cars in bid to ease congestion (autoblog.com)

Highways Agency Traffic Officers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It would seem that the Government is being a little bit sly. There is a bit of a hole into which the Government is going to have to pour a ton of cash before too long. In fact there isn’t just one hole there are thousands of them and not just any hole but pot holes.

It is a real headache for the Government but it will have to be addressed if the whole of the roads infrastructure isn’t to come to a halt or it causes a major catastrophe. The Government seems to have a solution because many of the delays don’t seem to be the lack of funds but unworkable civil service rules.

So Stephen Hammond, Transport Minister, announced that the Highways Agency will become a publically owned corporation. This move will free it from red tape and ensure funding going forward.

As a publically owned company it can be scrutinised more effectively. It can also offer better incentives to staff. The move is part of £28bn funding for UK roads and accounts for 8 years of funding up to 2021 ensuring at least 6 years of financial certainty.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

In the past funding has been on an annual basis, not good for making plans into the future, so this will allow them to plan ahead. The funding will also be protected against future governments wanting to cut this allocation.

There are fears that this could ultimately lead to the further privatisation of the Highways Agency and eventually lead to toll roads and other road charges so we need to keep an eye on this one!

Oh and in order to sort out the pot holes £12bn of the funding is set aside for re-surfacing and maintenance, half of which will be spent on Motorways and A Roads. It sounds good but as always the proof is in the eating. By Graham Hill Car Finance

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• RAY MASSEY: How the Government is teeing up the Highways Agency for future privatisation… just not before the election (thisismoney.co.uk)

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Image via CrunchBase

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