Now this takes balls…

Amazingly, the brazen chap got away and has yet to be caught.
[Jalopnik]

In times of financial hardship, footballers continue to keep the automotive industry afloat

Stephen Ireland may look like a prize muppet in his pink-wheeled 4×4, but he’s actually a trailblazer of Premier League automotive fashion. According to Nuts Magazine’s “Premiership Stars and their Cars 2009″ survey, the Range Rover Sport is the most popular of car among football’s elite. Drivers of the squirrel-squashing Chelsea tractor include John Terry, Steven Gerrard, Peter Crouch, Joey Barton and Xabi Alonso.

Here’s the top ten most popular cars in training ground car parks:

1 Range Rover Sport (£63,895)
2 BMW X5 (£53,465)
3 Porsche Cayenne (£76,760)
4 Aston Martin DB9 (£111,526)
5 Bentley Continental GT (£137,500)
6 Audi Q7 (£51,095)
7 Ferrari F430 (£135,685)
8 Mercedes SL65 AMG £151,101)
9 Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 (£151,101)
10 Cadillac Escalade (£50,100)

As you can see, the big trend is to have a huge gas-guzzling 4×4 - the type that will break down in the middle of the Tyne bridge.

Unsurprisingly, this beauty of a motor didn’t make the list.

Chimps duel in purpose-built arena

Speedway and MotoGP are great and all, but nothing quite compares to the sheer excitement, drama and passion of monkey bike racing.

The one in Las Vegas, that is

In two weheeled news, daredevil Robbie Maddison spent his new year driving onto the Arc de Triomphe at the Paris Las Vegas resort. Not content with the incredible jump, he then jumped off the 100-ft French replica and into the arms of concerned blonde hottie.

The man clearly has gigantic kahunas - we don’t think we could even look off the edge of that thing, let alone drive off of it!

[WithLeather]

The world’s worst attended burnout meeting ends with a few calls to the insurance company

Naff soundtrack, awesome car

Aside from that stroppy F1 driver, the Spanish aren’t particularly well known for their need for speed. This, however, could change next summer, when the IFR Aspid finally gets a release.

Its design may be a little “retro”, but it can do 0-62 in just 2.8 seconds, and can reach 100 mph in only 5.9seconds. That’s nearly Bugatti Veyron territory, folks.

The Aspid, whose Honda S2000 2 litre supercharged engine will rev up to 9,00RPM, was debuted at last year’s British Motor Show, and back then it was all set to cost €135,000 (£90,000). The price hasn’t changed, but thanks to our pitifully weak currency, it will cost £132,000 at today’s rate.

Engineer and creator Ignacio Fernandez showed his severe lack of business nous by declaring “If I sell just one car this year, it will be a sucess,” but if the vital stats of the Aspid are anything to go by, it will fly out of the showroom.

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