DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION

British drivers only concentrate for two thirds of their time behind the wheel, according to a new study commissioned by Continental Tyres. Six in 10 people also admit to ‘zoning out’ whilst behind the wheel with a massive 59 per cent of drivers finding they forget parts of their journey. And over half (51 per cent) switch to ‘auto-pilot mode’ on their daily commute to and from work.



The survey of 4,000 motorists for Continental Tyres found that drivers were only fully concentrating on the road for 67 per cent of the time spent at the wheel. And tuning the radio, talking to passengers and gawping at the scenery topped the list of everyday distractions.

The research found the average driver is on the road for 45 minutes a day and that they are in their own little world for 17 minutes of this time. They make an average of three trips in their car each day. They are distracted at least three times on each journey and for at least four seconds each time. At just 40 mph a car will travel over 18 metres every second.

Some 27 per cent of respondents believe their short attention span is to blame for their poor driving – with more than four in 10 being disinterested in the road ahead and not being able to concentrate for more than 37 minutes. It also emerged 45 per cent have crashed or had a close call due to being distracted whilst behind the wheel.

TOP 20 DRIVING DISTRACTIONS
1. Re-tuning the radio/inserting a CD into the player
2. Talking to a passenger
3. Looking at scenery
4. Eating
5. Listening to loud music
6. Reaching into the glovebox
7. Looking at houses
8. Drinking
9. Other drivers in cars next to you
10. Passengers asking questions
11. Texting
12. Trying to unwrap a sweet
13. Talking on the mobile phone
14. Looking at a hot girl/bloke walking down the street/in another car
15. Shop windows
16. Kids in the back seat shouting, or playing up
17. Trying to read a map
18. SATNAV
19. Looking at billboards
20. Singing

Source:Continental Tyres

VELOCE AT THE PORSCHE CLUB GB FESTIVAL '09

Veloce will be spending the weekend of July 11th & 12th at Blenheim Palace for the Porsche Club GB Festival '09.



We'll have a whole range of Porsche books, plus a selection of others, for you to browse through, so make sure you drop by to check us out.
Visit www.porscheclubgbevents.com for more info about the event.

MOTO GP GRANDPRIX

Image via Wikipedia

Note the time of the entire United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, round eight of the MotoGP World Championship in 2009.

Starting from the position of the four signs at the race start, Pedrosa and not guzzle gas passes directly tancap three drivers in front of it, Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. Position is not left out by other drivers until the end of the race and reach perdananya victory in this season.

Lorenzo is currently didera injury yesterday when the qualification does not make a start with a good enough so that any direct Pedrosa led the race, continue to maintain, until finally crossing the line in the forefront of finis.

For Pedrosa, this is the first victory this season. Previously, he can just finis in position only when the two fight in Jerez, Spain. After using the latest sasis's Repsol Honda duo increasingly improved, unfortunately for Dovizioso who should drop in mid-race.

Meanwhile, the position in two races at Laguna Seca, on Monday (6/7/2009) dinihari WIB, be inhabited by Rossi in the race should be a little duel with Stoner, but note the Stoner continue melorot physical condition due to a lack of support to the position taken over by Lorenzo. Rossi was also dibayangi by Lorenzo and opportunity, but want to disalipnya Lorenzo broad so again taken over Rossi.

Lorenzo is a start in the first position must be satisfied in the final three positions. This result is quite sizable considering the start after he had terlempar from the three major positions.

1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team — 44menit 1.580 detik
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team — 44menit 1.924 detik
3. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team — 44menit 3.506 detik
4. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team — 44menit 14.012 detik
5. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team — 44menit 23.243 detik
6. Toni Elias SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini — 44menit 23.621 detik
7. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 — 44menit 31.781 detik
8. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP — 44menit 34.437 detik
9. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP — 44menit 41.905 detik
10. Marco Melandri ITA Hayate Racing Team — 44menit 49.608 detik
11. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini — 44menit 50.390 detik
12. Niccolo Canepa ITA Pramac Racing — 45menit 20.111 detik

Tidak finis:
Gabor Talmacsi HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP
Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team
Sete Gibernau SPA Grupo Francisco Hernando

Diskualifikasi:
James Toseland GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3

TWITTER VELOCE VOUCHER GIVEAWAY!

Click here to find out more!

"A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LITTLE BRITISH SPEED DEMONS"

Another great review of Maximum Mini – The essential book of cars based on the original Mini by Jeroen Booij. Thanks go to Kris Ashton for the review in Australian Classic Car who gives it the thumbs up and awards it Book of the Month in the June edition of the magazine.

Click image to read review in full.



Click here for more info about the book, here to see a video of the Author talking about the book at MINI United 2009, or, click below to buy a copy of the book now using credit card or paypal.

PETER COLLINS INTERVIEW

I caught up with Peter Collins - Author of classic Veloce books - Lancia 037 - The development and rally history of a world champion & Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 - The development and racing history.



I also asked him about his two exciting new books - British Touring Car Racing – The crowd’s favourite – late 1960s to 1990 (Those were the days series) & Ferrari 312P & 312PB (WSC Giants series).

SMART LAUNCHES NEW SOCIAL COMMUNITY SITE

smart announces the launch of a new social community website: destinationsmart.co.uk.

This exciting new website gives smart owners, enthusiasts and fans the opportunity to register and interact with each other in a dedicated, smart-branded online space.

Registration on destinationsmart is free, and members can create a profile, upload videos and images, participate on forums, join groups and events and communicate with each other. A regular flow of interesting news features on relevant topics such as eco-driving can be shared using the full range of social book marking tools.

Members can interact directly with smart via the ‘Ask an Expert’ function. Through this unique facility, members can contact an expert directly with their questions about smart and receive a personal reply.

Dermot Kelly, Managing Director Mercedes-Benz UK, said: “smart is an iconic car which has a large fan-base: the smartclub in the UK for example has more than 30,000 members. We know from research that smart owners and enthusiasts like interacting online and it’s a valuable opportunity for us to get first hand insight into how our brand is perceived.”
PR Source: www.thesmartclub.co.uk