Car Blog

A dedicated British man is attempting to make it into record books by hand painting an entire car with nail varnish.

David Sheath, 28, will painstakingly cover an entire Fiat 500 in pink polish for his gruelling Guinness World Record attempt.

David is living and sleeping in a special studio in south London, while he completes the mammoth task, expected to take at least a week.

His progress is being streamed live and non-stop on the internet at http://www.pinkmyride.tv

It is estimated David will need 200 pots of pink varnish and make 240,000 stokes to transform the white Fiat 500 to a Fiat 500 Pink.

The effort which started yesterday is expected to be a huge internet hit.

David will also communicate to the viewers around the world using social networking site Twitter.

He will stay inside the specially set-up challenge room until the job is finished. To get through his monster effort he’ll have a television, bed, rug and toilet.

The wannabe record breaker, who is recently single, said: “I broke up with my girlfriend and thought this would be a great way to get through it. I hope to nail the job in seven days but I’ve never done anything like this before.”

A spokesperson for Guinness World Records said: “This sounds like a potentially interesting claim.”

Source: Fiat

Prizes Include Enough High-Performance Hardware to Build The Ultimate Street Machine & Treasure Trove of Hot Wheels Collectibles

Performance Therapy, a “social media car show”, launched this week with backing from top automotive aftermarket brands. The site, PerformanceTherapyContest.com asks enthusiasts to show the world how they enjoy their car by submitting a photo. The Grand Prize Winner will receive parts to build an incredible, high-performance supercar. Popular vote determines category winners – whom receive a $250 gift certificate. Sixty runners-up will receive a free t-shirt.

Performance Therapy Defined

Despite tough economic times, auto enthusiasts are packing car shows, races and events. Across seven continents and hundreds of niches, car fans have one thing in common: high-performance vehicles make them happy. Owning, modifying and driving cars is more than a hobby, it’s a lifestyle. It’s the cheapest form of mental therapy and provides quality entertainment for the entire family.

The Contest

The Performance Therapy Contest is a chance for enthusiasts to participate in one of the biggest online car shows of all time, show off other enthusiasts around the world and win a variety of fantastic prizes. The purpose is to help people have fun with their ride. For three months any enthusiast can submit a picture, show it off to friends and get as many votes as possible. With six categories and nine fantastic sponsors, there are dozens of ways to win and nearly 70 prizes will be awarded!

The Prizes

The Grand Prize is enough hardware to build a muscle car dream machine, including a Hotchkis Sport Suspenison system, Baer Brake system, Rushforth Wheels, Yokohama Tires, Flowmaster Exhaust, an MSD Ignition System, Red Line Oil & Lubricants, a Lifeline Fire Safety System and enough Hot Wheel Collectibles to fill a dream garage!

To enter or vote for your favorite car, go to www.PerformanceTherapyContest.com. For more information, email info@performancetherapycontest.com or click for more information on the rules, prizes and sponsors.

The Performance Therapy Contest is brought to you by Hotchkis Sport Suspension, Baer Brakes, Flowmaster, Hot Wheels Red Line Club, Lifeline USA, MSD Ignition, Red Line Oil, Rushforth Wheels and Yokohama Tire Corp.

Source: Performance Therapy Contest

The countdown continues in preparation for the 2009 World Car Awards winners’ press conference at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, April 9, 2009. Announcing the annual World Car of the Year awards at the New York show is a fitting finale to the international auto show season that begins each fall with either the Paris or Frankfurt motor shows.

From an initial entry list of fifty-one (51) new vehicles from all over the world, then a short list of ten finalists, the top three contenders for the overall 2009 World Car title were announced today by the international accounting firm KPMG. They are, in alphabetical order:

• Ford Fiesta
• Toyota iQ
• Volkswagen Golf VI

To be eligible for the overall World Car award, the contender had to be in production, and sold, on at least two continents during 2008.

Vehicles are selected and voted on by an international jury panel comprised of fifty-nine (59) top-level automotive journalists from twenty-five (25) countries around the world. Each juror was appointed by the World Car Steering Committee on the basis of his or her expertise, experience, credibility, and influence. Each juror typically drives and evaluates new vehicles on a regular basis as part of their professional work.

Three additional winners for the World Performance Car, World Green Car award, and the World Car Design of the Year will also be announced at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, April 9, 2009.

In preparation, KPMG announced today that the Top Three finalists for the 2009 World Performance Car award, presented by Mobil 1, are, in alphabetical order:

• Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
• Nissan GT-R
• Porsche 911 Carrera

While the winner of the overall World Car award must excel in a broad range of attributes, the World Performance Car award must demonstrate a specific and overt sports/performance orientation while satisfying the same availability criteria as for the overall World Car of the Year award.

Entrants may be chosen from that list of eligible vehicles, or they may be newly introduced variants that satisfy the same criteria, but are derived from existing rather than brand-new models. In all cases, they must have a minimum annual production rate of five-hundred (500) vehicles.

To be eligible for the 2009 World Green Car award, a vehicle had to be available in at least one major market during 2008. The vehicle or the green technology could be in production or an experimental prototype with potential near-future application, provided that it was released for individual or press fleet evaluations in quantities of ten or more during 2008. Tailpipe emissions, fuel consumption, and use of a major advanced power plant technology (beyond engine componentry), aimed specifically at increasing the vehicle’s environmental responsibility, were all taken into consideration.

Due to the complexity of some of the ‘green’ technologies, three (3) green experts were appointed by the World Car Steering Committee to extensively review all documentation and specs associated with each candidate. They were asked to create a short-list of five finalists for review by the fifty-nine (59) jurors in their second round of voting in February.

The fifty-nine (59) member jury chose the following top three finalists for the 2009 World Green Car award:

• Honda FCX Clarity
• Mitsubishi iMiEV
• Toyota iQ

Cars eligible for the 2009 World Car Design of the Year award are taken from the list of World Car candidates. Jurors then voted on the experts’ recommendations. The top three design finalists are, in alphabetical order:

• Citroen C5 Sedan / C5 Tourer
• Fiat 500
• Jaguar XF

Now in their sixth year, the annual World Car awards have become one of the most prestigious, significant, and credible programs of their type in the world.

The awards were inaugurated in 2003, and officially launched in January 2004, to reflect the reality of the global marketplace, as well as to recognize and reward automotive excellence on a global scale. The awards are intended to complement, not compete, with existing national and regional Car of the Year programs.

The awards are administered by a non-profit association, under the guidance of a Steering Committee of pre-eminent automotive journalists from Asia, Europe, and North America. There is no affiliation with, nor are the awards in any way influenced by any publication, auto show, automaker, or other commercial enterprise. For more information, please visit www.wcoty.com.

Source: New York International Auto Show