Formula One and 2 are both notoriously known for the risks involved within the sports. Just recently the world of French cars and Formula 2 enthusiasts was taken by surprise when the Belgian Grand Prix saw a fatal collision take the life of French Driver Anthoine Hubert.
Hubert collided with the car of American driver Juan Manuel, before he was sent packing into the barriers. The accident happened on the second lap of the circuit.
The race was halted just after the accident, but once news of the injury and death of Anthoine Hubert circulated across social media, it was eventually called off.
McLaren declared its “heartfelt condolences to Mr Hubert’s family and loved ones, his colleagues at the Arden team, and the entire F2 community“.
Lewis Hamilton, who is a five time Formula One champion, also took to Instagram to talk about the accident. He mentioned ‘This is devastating. God rest your soul Anthoine. My prayers and thoughts are with you and your family today.
The entire world of Formula One and Formula Two racists is in a state of shock as they are still coming to terms with this freak accident. FIA has already begun probing the accident, as the weather and track were dry for the day.
The French are always quick to jump onto approaching opportunities. From recognizing the opportunity within French cars, to working on the industrial revolution, the French know how to cash resources around them.
While French cars have bossed the word of automobiles for quite some time now, we might be seeing some flying models soon, if the word of Franky Zapata is to be believed. Zapata, who is a renowned flyboard hero in France, has mentioned that he expects flying cars to be bossing the open spaces above by the end of this year.
Zapata, who is still fresh from his recent achievement as the first human to flyboard across the English Channel, is ready to move towards the challenge of flying cars. Zapata has no intentions of resting on his laurels and has mentioned that he and his fellow inventors are working on flying cars to make commutes easier and free of hassle.
Zapata recently flew across the Sangatte in Northern France to St Margaret’s Bay in Dover, England, within just 20 minutes. The achievement is the first of his kind and has positioned Zapata as a renowned name in the flying industry.
“People dream of flying, we’ve all lived with science fiction movies. We waited until 2015, and Marty Mc Fly’s hoverboard as in the movie Back to the Future. There were none, so we did it,” Zapata said at a press conference. “In 2015, we were also expecting flying cars as in The Fifth Element. There isn’t, well, we’re going to do one!”
The Marseille native spoke to local media station Made In Marseille: “When it is finished, my car will be able to go from Marseille to Montpellier (120km as the crow flies) in one go.”
The flyboard, Zapata has been working on since ages, is also a marvel in its own. However, the only drawback going against is that the board needs refueling after 10 minutes, which is why Zapata had to make a stop on the middle of a ship for refueling purposes.
Knowing all about refueling challenges, Zapata’s proposed flying car has a bigger and better mileage with Zapata having mentioned himself that the car would be able to fly 120 km without a stop.
The flying French car Zapata is working on will be able to travel at a fastest speed of 300 km/h and will have a solid chassis mounted on the rear.
Electric cars are all around us, and it is time for us to see how they will go in this ultra-modern era. While a lot of progress has been made, the infrastructure throughout much of Europe still leaves a lot to be desired.
A team of engineers from the National Grid went on a 565-mile round-trip from Wokingham to Teesside to test the facilities for electric cars and see how these cars reacted in the pressure.
The goal for the journey was to check the vehicle charging network across the UK and assess the speed, accessibility, and ease-of-handling during the whole journey.
The whole journey had 9 hours of driving and over 4 hours of charging, which goes to show that the infrastructure is still developing.
“We don’t know yet . . . what people really want to do in terms of charging,” Richard McMahon, from the Warwick university, told the BP conference.
“The [current] charging infrastructure, you can make it work . . . but if we want this to really take off we need big charging infrastructure,” said Dustin Benton, policy director at the Green Alliance, a think-tank.
“People talk about connecting these ultra fast chargers at strategic locations and various destination points [but] they potentially put a lot of local strain into the [electricity] distribution system and what we need to do is to start putting investment into that distribution system to allow it to cope with that,” mentioned Keith Anderson, who is the chief executive of Scottish Power, which owns electricity networks in parts of Scotland, Wales and north-west England.
“We’re an industry built over 120 years of internal combustion, and shifting to a technology that’s not relatively new but is a fundamental turning point for the industry,” he further added.
Electric cars have still got a long way to go, and the current progress is not satisfactory by any means.
Gone are the days of automobiles on road, as mankind is slowly and steadily entering the phase of flying automobiles.
European airspace giants Airbus are in contact with Paris’s underground operators RATP to study the viability of flying vehicles within the city. Knowing the rich history France has in this respect, and how well gifted it is in this regard, it only makes sense for flying cars to make their debut on the airspace of Paris.
Both the firms are believed to be getting together for exploring the feasibility of the urban air mobility services within the French capital. The broader Ile de France region is also under contemplation for the advent of flying cars in the region.
“Airbus is developing demonstrators of autonomous and unmanned technologies,” mentioned Guillaume Faury, who is the company’s chief executive.
“This is not science-fiction any more, it is fact. Today we have all the technical tools. But they have to be integrated into everyday life without jeopardizing our priority, which is safety,” he added.
“RATP is a good partner in such a project because of its knowledge of the associated needs and services,” said Faury.
Chief Executive of RATP, Catherine Guillouard was also optimistic about the process. RATP is responsible for managing bus, underground and train services in the city of Paris. While mass transport is the core business for RATP, they are also looking forward to developing newer models of services and transport within the smart city for the future.
While there have been numerous advancements towards the development of flying cars off late, we haven’t seen anything concrete yet. The model designed by AeroMobil is under production in Slovakia and is yet to be put up on sale.
“Flying cars are definitely coming within the next two to three years. The regulation is in place and authorities are actively supporting the innovation,” a spokesperson from AeroMobil told AFP.
Levi Tillemann, who is the author of the 2015 book: “The Great Race: the Global Quest for the Car of the Future“, believes that safety is a big challenge when it comes to the car of the future.
“The only thing that really makes the idea of a flying car even remotely viable is a new generation of autonomous driving technologies that will reduce the likelihood of catastrophic failure.”
But Tillemann further added that “from both a cost and energy consumption standpoint, ground-based transit generally makes more sense“.
The VivaTech exhibition in Paris is host to some of the most disruptive and unique technologies within the world of flying cars. There are numerous prototypes on display within the exhibition, as innovators throng the city of Paris to display their models and to look at the disruptions happening here.
It is believed that more than 20 realistic projects are currently underway to manufacturer flying cars across the globe. Even ride sharing app Uber is looking for flying taxis as an option for commute.
French cars have long bossed the world of automobiles, and it remains to be seen whether this domination continues with flying cars.
The French government has had a lot of trouble to deal with during the last year or so, and we have to say that a lot of it is their own doing.
Now, as a government tasked with overseeing the smooth flow of operations within the country, how do you handle an increasing rate of road deaths within the country? You improve road quality. Increase road rules awareness. And, increase driver awareness. However, the French government has taken the comedic decision by decreasing the speed limits across the Mainland area.
The controversial new speed limits are said to be around 80 kmph or 50 mph. This is really low for most drivers, and French cars meant for tearing past highways would now be kept under this limit.
Road Deaths
It is believed that some 3,250 people died from road accidents last year. This figure is the lowest during the last decade, and is 9 deaths less than the previous record in 2013. Government officials believe that the low number of road deaths in 2018 were a doing of this speed limit. However, residents and drivers believe that other measures need to be implemented because they cannot drive powerful French cars at speeds less than 80 kmph on the Mainland highways.
Many analysts have also mentioned that this speed limit played an important role in instigating the yellow vest protests of last year. Residents were extremely unimpressed with the way the government conducted itself in such a situation. In a recently conducted survey, more than 78 percent of all respondents opposed the speed limits placed by the government.
The government has, however, stuck with this ridiculous measure, and believes that the drop in the number of deaths is reason enough to implement the speed limits, not realizing the need for improving road safety awareness.
When you’re a brand as big as the famous German manufacturer Audi, you have to be extremely careful with the names you give to your cars. A brand with a global outreach has to factor in for global languages as well and make detailed decisions on what to name its cars.
However, Audi didn’t do their homework correctly and ended up making the biggest mistake in the book. While the German manufacturers were excited for the launch of their latest electric modeled car, the world couldn’t help but silently laugh at the name they had chosen for it. Francophones all around the world couldn’t stop themselves from giggling as Audi rather proudly pointed out the name for their new model; e-tron.
The name for the model is extremely similar to a word in the French language, pronounced as ‘etron.’ The word, rather funnily, is used to describe a turd or an excretion in the French language. While Audi had played their part in hyping up the model, the world couldn’t take them seriously with the jokes going around on Twitter.
Social media users immediately identified the mistake and were quick to pull jokes at Audi for missing such an important flaw. One Twitter user went as far as to say that no one in Audi speaks French, considering the poor standards they had displayed while naming their new vehicle. Another Twitter user pulled a new twist to the debate, saying this car was the most expensive pile of turdon wheels.
Audi, however, maintained a low profile on the drama and haven’t yet issued an apology or any statement on the matter at hand.
As funny and unique as this matter is, it isn’t the first time any global car manufacturer has found itself in hot water when it comes to poor naming conventions.
Just recently, Toyota had to change the name for MR2 to MR in countries where French was spoken. The name was changed because MR2 would literally translate to ‘em-er-deux’in French, which is close to the word ‘merde’meaning ‘shit’in the language.
Honda also faced a similar issue with their Fitta model back in 2001. All promotions had to be stopped after it was pointed out that ‘fitta’ meant ‘cunt’ in the Swedish language.
These instances just go to prove how careful you need to be while naming a car with a global reach.
Road rage incidents are increasing in number across the world, with new drivers barely being able to contain themselves on the road. There are so many videos of such instances being uploaded on a daily basis that there is nothing exciting or surprising about the new ones coming out ever so rapidly. However, even with the entire hubbub surrounding road rage, and the limited excitement of these videos, we’re sure this one will amaze you.
How often do you go out on a drive in your 4*4 and encounter someone who seems to be completely out of their mind? Not that often, right?
Driving an imported French car, the driver at the helm is not able to tolerate the constant honking by Mr. 4*4 anymore. Due to which he decides to give him some payback.
The situation which looked rather pacified at the start of the video soon picked up, and Mr. French car walked out with his alpha male bravado, carrying a pepper spray and clinchinghis fists.
Having watched multiple road rage videos on the internet, we can tell that this is when things got exciting. This is when things started to pick up.
Mr. French Car walks in his ominous style and jumps in, sucker punching the front window. The punch rattles the living hell out of the windows, but the glass somehow doesn’t break under the pressure. However, this wasn’t it for our desperate alpha male; he makes another swing of the likes you would see in a Friday night pub fight, which the glass cannot bear anymore. The glass succumbs under the pressure of the punch and Mr. French Car proceeds to spray his pepper can.
Now, Mr. 4*4 has had enough of this scuffle, and gets off the vehicle, while shielding his eyes from the pepper spray. This is what we call excellent situation awareness. Mr. 4*4 could have copied Mr. French car by displaying a similar male bravado, but he knew that in doing so he could risk his eyes.
Having gotten out of his car, Mr. 4*4 makes a dash for the rear boot. He probably has something that can be used as a weapon lying there. What do you expect it is? It’s a baseball bat guys. To be honest, with the image that America presents we wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be a gun.
By the time our protagonist turned villain takes out the bat, Mr. French car has made a dash for his own car. Mr. 4*4 tries a final wild swing, but it’s too little too late.
At the end of this rather brutal duel, all we can do is thank the real hero; the guy filming this with their dash cam. We need more brave souls like this one, for entertainment purposes, obviously.
The last two to three weeks has been quite a tumultuous time for the French government, as residents have been out protesting against the latest hike in the prices for fuel. The rate hike in the prices for fuel has meant that consumers will have to pay almost 10 cents more for each gallon of gas for their car.
Consumers didn’t take well to the measures and came out in numbers, protesting against the Government and the impoverished measures of austerity. Many took the law in to their own hand, and burnt cars scattered across the roads.
The French government previously stated that these taxes had been levied to fight off the threat of climate change in not just France, but the world as well. However, a rights group by the name of the Yellow Vest movement, comprising of poor, rural Frenchmen has been protesting since many weeks about the poor living conditions in the country, despite the fact that it has some of the highest rates for taxation in the whole of Europe.
While the government had at first remained steadfast, they had to eventually retreat in the face of constant opposition from the group and other violent mobs. The u-turn by the French government is a reflection of how today’s politicians are fickle and have zero control over public violence.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe finally bowed down in front of the mayhem and gave in to the demand of the mobs. The government had previously spoken highly of standing beside their policies, but with this latest decision they have given an indication of how spineless they really are.
Thousands of rioters marched around French Streets throughout last week, setting on fire more than a hundred French cars. The lives of many residents were disrupted, as the mobsters went from street to street, setting fire to the expensive cars across neighborhoods.
Not only did the government fail to restrict the protestors and the damage they were causing, but it also bowed down in front of them. The state failed against some cheap rioters with no clear mission up their sleeves.
The French government has showed the rest of the public how there is nothing that can be done when angry mobsters turn towards burning French cars. Next time someone falls out of favor with the government, they can set out to burn French cars, because that’s what scares the government.
We all know that police chases can get nasty, but things took a really wild turn when a driver, who was being chased by the police, broke through barriers to enter the runway of Lyon’s Sant-Exupery Airport. The car driver, who had broken multiple motorway rules, was being followed by police cars when he decided it was okay to run down the fences, which were guarding the airport, and take the high profile chase to the runway.
Now, the runway is a place for the planes to land and not some random foolery involving a police car chasing a psycho driver. This interception meant that the airport had to remain closed for several hours—over 80 flights were cancelled.
The video of the event has gone viral, as onlookers film the driver taking the police on a cat and mouse chase across the runway. The car, however, soon came to a stop, and the man tried to run away, expecting the same drifts and speed from his own legs. However, he was soon caught by two burly policemen, who felt accomplished at their achievement after having disrupted 80 flights in a span of several hours.
We now get to the crux of this article, where we will mention vital lessons to learn from this incident:
Never drive a car on a runway. Well, even though runways are smooth and offer better drifting and burn-out opportunities, please stay away.
No one wants to be chased by the police. But when one of these unruly, brave men do try to pursue your car, pull over and stop.
Finally, you can’t outrun a police car. So, if your car runs out of petrol during a police chase, just sit there, munch on some snacks, and let the inevitable happen. Don’t run around and make a fool out of yourself.
Did you know that the 22nd of September is celebrated as the Annual Car-Free Day? If you didn’t already know that, then you should know that we’re not kidding about it. In fact, this day was ACTUALLY celebrated in Paris and Brussels this year. A person with a skeptical mind cannot help but think about what exactly such a celebration has to offer. After some deep thinking, one is likely to come up with only one logical conclusion: possibly nothing!
It’s not that the officials at Paris and Brussels were content with the mere celebration of the day in their respective cities; they call forth for ALL the countries in Europe to join them on this bandwagon of fools. What these officials don’t understand is the fact that, unlike them, the officials and administrators are busy running their cities and making the lives of their inhabitants easier. The people of Brussels and Paris would benefit if, instead of declaring a car-free day, the officials did something for their betterment.
If you think about it, the thought of a car-free day in this day and age feels tiresome. These modern times are known for being fast paced. During such times, why would you wish to make a statement by “freeing” your cities of something that represents progress?
Actions like these makes one doubt the aims of the current French government. Is it to take the French citizens forward into the future or back to the stone ages? There is no doubt that their actions appear to be in service of the latter!