Mechanics were supposed to be fixing a leaky radiator, but when the owner of a £30,000 Vauxhall Monaro car collected it from the local garage, he discovered it had been taken on a joyride at speeds of 125mph

The owner of the car, who doesn't want to be named, had installed a Roadhawk black-box recorder three months earlier.

When he left his car for repair at the garage in Redditch, there was a quarter of a tank of petrol left. When he collected it, he noticed the tank was empty.

"I looked at the video from the Roadhawk and was completely stunned. They had taken it out for a spin on the A435 at 120mph.

"When I confronted the garage they denied it. Then I told them I had the video and they admitted everything and apologised."

The Roadhawk device records video, GPS data and g-forces for every journey.

Video captured during the incident, which has been posted on YouTube, shows the driver overtaking cars and lorries on the A435 Alcester Road between Redditch to Portway.

The vehicle speeds past a garage at 100mph, before hitting a narrow slip-road at 90mph and continuing through country lanes.

The owner said: "The outside of that lane is marked off and lorries sometimes park up there. If you go wide on that corner at that speed you could easily slam into the back of one."

The 5.7 litre Vauxhall Monaro has a top-speed of 170mph and won Top Gear's best Muscle Car award. West Mercia police confirmed they are investigating the incident. The owner of the garage said he had seen the video but refused to comment.

British supercar make Keating has announced that its Keating TKR has become the fastest production car in the world (unofficially). The car, which made its debut at this year’s MPH Show featuring Top Gear Live at London’s Earls Court, is capable of hitting a top speed of 260.1 mph – that’s 3 mph more than the existing title holder, the Shelby Aero TT. It also beats the Bugatti Veyron by 7 mph.

Power for Keating TKR comes from a 7.0L engine that is capable of producing 1,800-hp. Other technical details will be made available at a later date.

The top speed record was done at the Salt Lake Flats in California last month. Keating must hit 260.1 mph once again for the Guinness Book of World Records to make it official.

Last we heard, Shelby Supercars said that its 2009 Ultimate Aero is gunning for a world-record speeds of 270 mph, topping its current record of 257 mph. Seems like they have some competition from Keating.

Source; eGMCarTech

This test was for IIHS's 50th year anniversary in the safety research business! The dummy in the Malibu suffered only minor leg injuries while the dummy in the Bel Air would have died instantly, this really shows how auto safety has progressed! Continue reading to watch the video!

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You name it, Joshua Bracci was ticketed for it.

The 21-year-old man led police on a harrowing 13-minute chase Tuesday night, hurtling through the upstate New York town of Greece at speeds clocked at 111 mph, authorities said. Bracci was given 56 tickets for that wild drive, police said. He was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, unlawfully fleeing police, resisting arrest and criminal mischief, among several other offenses, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.

To shake off police, Bracci allegedly turned off the lights of his car. Residents helped out by pointing out to police where he was going. The chase ended on Jade Creek Drive, a dead end street at 8:24 P.M., just after Bracci backed into a patrol car, police said.

Bracci was arraigned and remanded to Monroe County Jail. Bail was set at $25,000. He'll have to return to court for a hearing on Friday. Chances are, he won't be driving.

Source: AOL

That's the message from a Northeastern Kentucky family that's threatening to sue Papa John's Pizza in a dispute over a recent company contest.

"Papa John's Road Trip" was a nationwide contest that solicited people to help locate John Schnatter's 1971 Z-28 Camaro, a car he sold in 1983 to help save his father's bar.

Last month, Jeff Robinson of Flatwoods, Ky., came forward as the car's current owner and claimed the $250,000 prize. But, some of his neighbors claim they are the rightful winners because they first notified Papa John's about the car's location and its current owner. Continue in the jump...

Billie Slone told WLKY the Schnatters sold that car to her husband in 1983. She said he sold it off several years ago. When her son learned about the contest, she said the family began researching the history of their former car.

"My daughter got online to look at the specifics of the description of the car and, as it turned out, the car was purchased in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and my husband was working in Jeffersonville, Indiana, at the time," she said. "So we thought: 'wow, there's several coincidences here.'"

The Slones said a title search revealed their former car was, in fact, the car Schnatter wanted back.

"We knew who owned the car all along, even after my dad sold the car," said Erin Pope Slone.

Billie Slone said she contacted Papa John's with the information, believing her family had qualified to win the reward. Slone cites advertisements and a press release that promised the money to whomever could "reveal the car's whereabouts."

"We initiated contact with Papa John's and had conversations with them and told them everything we knew, and at that point believed we had fulfilled our obligation to win the $250,000."

Papa John's vice president of corporate communications said the Slones don't qualify for the reward because the contest rules clearly state the winner had to transfer the title to the company.

"They sold the car nine years before the contest came out, so there was no way they could qualify to be the winner," said Chris Sternberg.

Sternberg said the company has offered to pay the Slones $25,000 for helping locate the car.

"We feel we're going above and beyond," he said.

The Slones allege the company changed the rules mid-contest to exclude them from claiming the prize money. Sternberg said the only rule change increased the reward from $25,000 to $250,000.

Jeff Robinson told WLKY that when Billie Slone first approached him about the car, she didn't tell him about the contest, rather that she had located the car's original owner and he was willing to pay Robinson $125,000 for the car.

Robinson said Slone requested the car's Vehicle Identification Number, but he said he didn't give it to her, because he knew about the contest and was suspect of her motives. Robinson said a friend had e-mailed him about the contest prior to his encounter with Slone, and that after the encounter, he did his own research and learned the car had once belonged to Schnatter.

Slone denies lying to Robinson about the car. She said she asked him to split the reward money with her in light of the fact that she had notified Papa John's about the car's location and owner.

She said her family will sue Papa John's if the company doesn't give her family the $250,000 prize money.

"It's disappointing. It really is," said Sternberg. "Money makes people do strange things."

Source: WLKY

Robert Caton, 50, went to the supermarket to remonstrate with managers after the bed he ordered was delivered without a mattress. Unhappy with their response he flew into a drunken rage before driving his 1983 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit through the store's plate glass window as shoppers and staff dived for cover.

Moments before he had asked a security guard how long it would take to evacuate the store. Six women were treated for cuts, bruising and shock after his car smashed into the store and demolished two check outs.

Caton, of Cusden Drive, Andover, admitted dangerous driving and failure to provide a specimen of breath and was remanded in custody until September 25, when he will be sentenced.

He denied a charge of causing criminal damage reckless as to whether life was endangered and this was dropped by the prosecution.

After the hearing at Winchester Crown Court, prosecutor Tom Wright said Caton had driven his car into the store following a row about an order he had made with Tesco Direct.

Mr Wright said: "There was an argument about a furniture order and they did not deliver a mattress with a bedroom set.

"Staff in the store were trying to help him, but they weren't getting anywhere with customer service because it was a telephone order from Tesco Direct, not from them.

"The staff were on the phone trying to help him, but Caton was intoxicated and was getting agitated.

"Then he went and got in his car and had a conversation with at least one security guard and asked him how long it would take to evacuate the store.

"He said he was going to drive his car in there. A little while later he drives the car up to the glass and nudges it, and then reverses a bit and puts his foot down. "He went through a low brick wall and then through the glass and smashed into a till and went about 15 feet into the store."

Source: Telegraph

Most drivers who don't like their car either trade it in or sell it.

Police on New York's Long Island say a teenager set his BMW on fire "simply because he hated the car." Nassau County police didn't offer additional details on the alleged motive.

Police say a surveillance camera recorded the 18-year-old torching the 1992 BMW on July 10. At the time, it was parked about 2 1/2 feet feet from his apartment building.

The defendant was awaiting a court appearance Friday in First District Court in Hempstead. The charges include arson and reckless endangerment.

Source: AZCentral

A Missouri truck dealer hopes to reverse a nationwide slide in sales with a catchy offer: An AK-47 with every new truck purchase.

The website for Max Motors of Butler, Mo., features a drawing of the Soviet-made assault rifle and an animated cartoon character wielding two handguns against the backdrop of a waving American flag.

Mark Muller, owner of Max Motors, is upgrading an earlier sales gimmick in which he offered new truck buyers to choose between a $250 gas voucher or a gun voucher. The website says the dealer is giving away guns again "due to popular demand."

"Muller calls the initial deal an overwhelming success," Business Insider reports. "He also says it generates a lot of publicity and really angers 'liberals.'"

Muller tells CNN he is won't be handing out the free weapons personally but will give buyers a voucher to use at a gun store.

Source: USA Today

Wish I could say photoshop.

Five Birmingham police officers have been fired for a January 2008 beating of an already-unconscious suspect with fists, feet and a billy club, a battering caught on videotape until a police officer turned off the patrol car camera, city and police officials said today.

Authorities believe the video, taken after a high-speed chase by several area law enforcement agencies ended when the fleeing suspect's van flipped, has been seen by numerous Birmingham officers and up to a half dozen supervisors over the past year. But top city and police officials weren't made aware of the taped beating until they were contacted by the district attorney's office two months ago.

A 16-year-old boy is hospitalized today after the Ford Mustang he was driving crashed into a retaining wall, jumped over a pool and plowed into the family room of a home. No one in the home was injured, police said.

The incident occurred at 10:22 p.m. Sunday as the boy was driving eastbound on Pinehurst Avenue at about 85 mph and crashed into the retaining wall at the end of the avenue, said Placentia police Sgt. Ken Alexander. Bucky Maurin, who lives on Pinehurst, said he heard the engine of a car revving and ten seconds later heard “a big, huge impact…like an explosion.”

“This is the first time since they built the wall in 1984 that we’ve had an accident,” Maurin said, who ran out to find bricks scattered everywhere.

The Mustang landed inside the family room of a home in the 1000 block of Rashford Drive, Alexander said. The family was inside the home at the time of the incident, but no one was injured.

Source: OC Register

Glow in the dark stuff was AWESOME back when you were 8 years old. If there was a choice between a normal toy or a toy that glows in the dark, it was a no brainer - that glowing piece of crap had to be yours. Clearly, some haven't grown past this stage and have decided that their vehicles need to glow. If you ever see a car with this paint at night, please kick the driver in the nuts. I okay it.