A well-informed Grid Crasher spy tells us a sordid tale from a few years a go:

“During the race weekend, [xxxx] and his dad picked up a pair of prostitutes and took them to a hotel room.

They proceeded to take care of business, and swapped girls half way through.”

1. In fifteen of the last nineteen seasons - including each of the last three - the winner of the opening race of the season has gone on to win the Drivers Championship. Jenson Button is now the favourite and the best price available on him is 3/1 with Boylesports.

2. The winning team at the first Grand Prix of the season have won the Constructors Championship in seven of the last nine years. Brawn GP are still available at 11/5 with Boylesports but Ferrari, who broke this trend last season to triumph, are still favourites. The best price available on the Scuderia is 11/8 with Ladbrokes.

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

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.

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

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]

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.

We love it, do you? Let us know….

We’re resting our weary keyboards over the festive period, but will be back to full strength in January.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Hugs and kisses,

The Grid Crasher team

If you know someone who is incredibly difficult to buy for at Christmas, and that person’s life would benefit from a sickly-blue Mercedes Cl-Class with $180,000 worth of modifications, then basketball star Tracy McGrady has offered a solution.

For $150,000, one lucky eBayer will get to take home his pimped motor (which he has trouble fitting into, if the picture above is to be believed), and it comes complete with all kinds of useless crap:

T-Mac’s logo is all over the place, including the lid of the boot. (more…)

Apparently, Petter Solberg broke his wrist while executing this ungraceful manoeuvre at the Bologna motor show.

Now that Subaru have pulled out of the World Rally Championships, it looks like Petter won’t have the opportunity to embarrass himself in this manner again.

Manchester City striker Robinho, also known as the best paid footballer in England, was scared of driving on the left side of the road when he arrived from Spain. Fortunately, he has gotten over that fear and purchased himself a rather nice Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. Thankfully, he resisted the urge to get a sickly lime green one, instead opting for tasteful white. Click here for a picture of the Brazilian driving his new car to training.

At £170,000, it will take him just over a week to pay for it.

[The Spoiler]

Swiss F3 star Natacha Gachnang is the first female driver to sign up for the new FIA Formula Two Championship. Don’t be surprised if one day she makes it all the way to F1. The 21 year-old certainly has the genes to succeed in motorsport: she is the cousin of Red Bull test driver Sebastien Buemi, who looks set to win a 2009 race seat for Toro Rosso.

The new F2 category will use a new car based on a chassis built by Williams and an engine built by Audi.

Nicole Scherzinger stars in the January issue of Maxim Germany, and Gridcrasher has tracked down the best photos from her cover shoot. Because we care about you in that way.

More photos after the jumpy thing…

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After missing out on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Lewis Hamilton can take comfort in the news that L’Equipe has voted him one of their top five sportsmen of the year.

Hamilton came fifth in the voting, behind sprinter Usain Bolt (who was voted the Champion of Champions), swimmer Michael Phelps, tennis star Rafael Nadal and MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi.

Does this mean the French love Lewis more than us Brits? Shurely shome mishtake.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali believes drivers should not be immune from F1’s cost cuts. 

In an interview with Autosprint, Domenicali said: “I think in the following months there will be a major revolution, also with the drivers, as far as retainers are concerned.

“Let’s be clear: at a moment when the teams, whether big or small, must reduce costs in a significant way, one could feel like saying you need an ace (driver) to make the difference.

“However, I feel in the current climate the big teams won’t have the ability any more to think of offering certain amounts of money that some drivers get. So discussions can be held on this issue.”

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Carmen Jorda is 20 years old and cuter than a basketful of kittens. She drives in Spanish F3 for the Campos Racing team, which means she’s also more talented than a basketful of kittens. Last season, she finished fourth in the Spanish F3 Cup.

Carmen qualifies as a WAG because she’s going out with Superbikes rider Fonsi Nieto. The pair have just announced their engagement, so Carmen is off the market. Doh.

More photos after the jump…

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Lewis Hamilton is the latest star to be turned into a waxwork by Madame Tussauds. This week, the F1 world champion underwent 300 measurements in view of becoming part of the famous museum’s “Sports Zone” in 2009.

Many digital photos of Lewis wearing his McLaren racing overalls were also taken for reference, and other details, such as the colour of his eyes, were noted.

Hamilton’s wax double will reportedly cost £150,000, although it’s too early to say if the new model will be injected with as much personality as the original.

[F1 Fanatic]

Unless you’re a billionaire, in which case it doesn’t matter what you say to girls, it’s best not to use a slightly creepy “Hello…” as your opening flirt gambit. And especially not when your victims targets are a good 15 years younger than you.

More Top Gear awards after the jump…

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This season in Nascar, accidents and spins fell to their lowest level in five years. The new, sturdier model of racecar, introduced this year after a successful trial in 2007, was involved in 211 incidents resulting in a caution, according to Nascar race data. That represents a 12% drop from last season and marks the lowest total since 2004.

“Everyone is just getting better and better,” said Nascar star Carl Edwards, who finished second in this year’s championship. “Guys are realising how to race and not make mistakes, so I think part of this is the sport changing a little bit, and I think part of it is the car.”

This is unacceptable. Nascar needs lots of crashes (like the NHL needs fights, say), otherwise it’s just a lot of colourful brand names going round and round and round without incident. Sort it out, or we’ll change channels.

Crasher video bonus! Nascar crash compilation:

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