Got a Mini Cooper EV? Perhaps park it outside a neighbour's house and run fast.
Please don't say we didn't warn you.
In the latest news from the wonderful world of electric mobility, which enables the building of new capabilities to enrich customer experiences and deepen loyalty, BMW is recalling 140,000 electric Mini Coopers because the car might catch fire or – as the mini meisters call it, "cause a thermal event".
There's no recall in Australia yet so if you are driving a Mini don't park outside your house. If you have a neighbour who really annoys you, I'd park it in their driveway and run.
A few weeks ago, BMW also recalled 26,491 Minis and Alpina Xs because of electric problems with the brakes. That might explain why the BMW Group is celebrating 45 years of its hydrogen adventure.
Hydrogen is used as rocket fuel and was the best lifting gas. If you wanted to take passengers and cargo on your airship, say from Friedrichshafen, Germany, to Lakehurst, New Jersey, hydrogen had double the range and lifting capacity. It did have some other issues.
And in a sign of how crook things are, the environmental darling of the liberal, well educated, upper middle class, Birkenstock set, the Chinese-owned Volvo have given up on their target of being all electric by 2030.
Luckily fans of the real Volvo can see the ex Jim Richards Bathurst-winning Volvo S40 competing in the V8 Sleuth Heritage Revival between October 10 and 13 on Mount Panorama. Happy 77 for last week Virgo Jim.
Better news for Aston Martin, with F1 design genius Adrian Newey joining the Gaydon, SDL (soap dodger land) firm next year. Adrian will be doing it tough after leaving Red Bull. His pay envelope will only contain $36m a year with overtime included.
Canadian billionaire, Lawrie Sheldon Strulovic (aka Stroll) owns 25 per cent of the biz. Just to show you the incestuous nature of the auto industry, guess who the second biggest individual shareholder is? Yup it's Irish lad Eric Li Shufu, the owner of Volvo owner Geely.
Yup in 2025 for a tad under a million dollars, you'll be able to buy the "back from the dead" Aston Martin Vanquish. The eco version of the family friendly touring car has a 605KW twin-turbo V-12 and a top speed of 344km/h.
But eco fans, for only $5m more you can buy the hybrid collaboration between Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing, the Valkyrie. Yes, it's designed mainly by Adrian Newey. And all 150 have been sold. And it will race at Le Mans next year.
Talking of Italy: a very brief report on the F1 Gran Premio d'Italia 2024! McLaren could have won but stuffed it up again. Ferrari had a one stop strategy. McLaren made their drivers do two stops. Lando clipped a sign on the way to a pit stop. Ozzie Oscar killed the start and drove the race of day, was very sad at coming second but he led for 32 laps.
Look, we only have two readers of the absolutely free Weekend Australian newsletter. Do your country proud by subscribing. Send me an email and I'll send you the news you don't want to know.