Mike Hanlon

The Shannon Solo Dumper is an easy-to-operate, remote-control, four-wheel-drive, high-tipper-dumper with a carrying capacity of 500 kg (1100 pounds) and remote-control-range of 100 metres from the operator. Apart from doing a lot of work at cheap rates, reducing many two person jobs to single person tasks, it significantly reduces operating risks where there is a risk to the person operating a traditional drive-on dumper: demolition sites, sites where there is a threat of falling debris, with a gradient, confined spaces, narrow access, busy highways, contaminated land, unstable ground, ad infinitum. The GBP12,750 (US$20,000) Dumper has been so well received that the Solo Fire Hose (GBP19,500 - US$30,600), Solo Sprayer (GBP13,500 - US$21,200) and Solo Mower (GBP17,950 - $28,200) have been added to the range and a portable winch version will soon be added.  Read More

Another Brough Superior motorcycle has moved into the top 10 most valuable motorcycles sold at auction when the 1929 SS100 commonly known as ‘Moby Dick’ sold for GBP 210,500 (US$333,210). The auction result continues the trend of Brough Superiors becoming the most valuable brand in the world, with four of the 10 most valuable motorcycles now coming from the famous (and recently resurrected) brand name. Interestingly, yet another Brough Superior SS100 will front the auctioneer on November 16 (est. GBP165,000-185,000) and it will almost certainly become the eighth Brough Superior in the top 20, and the eleventh of this group to have been sold by Bonhams.  Read More

If you fell in love with the De Lorean in the Back to the Future movie series, the good news is that in 2013, you'll be able to buy a real one again. It won't have a flux capacitor, won't time-travel and it'll still be a thirty year-old design (albeit styled by Giugiaro and structurally redesigned by Colin Chapman of Lotus fame after De Lorean himself screwed up the first design), but it will have a 200+ bhp electric motor (the original had an asthmatic V6 producing 130 bhp) and those awesome gull-wing doors and it'll be … errr ... really cool. No, really! It won't be called the DMC-12 any more either, because the 12 stood for its new price at launch - US$12,000. The new one will cost you between US$90,000 and US$100,000.  Read More

One of the greatest accomplishments in motor racing history will most likely be achieved on Sunday and the statisticians of the autosport world appear to have missed it. Currently, three men have designed cars that have won seven world F1 constructors titles. Last year Red Bull's Adrian Newey joined the other two (can you name them?) with his seventh title (Williams FW14B of 1992, Williams FW15C of 1993, Williams FW16 of 1994, Williams FW18 of of 1996, Williams FW19 of 1997 and McLaren MP4/13). On Sunday, Red Bull needs to score just one point more than McLaren for Newey to take his eighth title with the 2011 Red Bull RB7. Two of the top four designers in F1 history are British, and two hail from South Africa.  Read More

Nissan Motor yesterday revealed a new Fuel Cell Stack for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) that packs 85 kW-h into a 34-liter package. Through improvements to the Membrane Electrode Assembly and the separator flow path, Nissan has improved the power density of the Fuel Cell Stack to 2.5 times greater than its 2005 model, and in so doing has created a world’s best 2.5 kW.h per liter power density. Similarly, by reducing the need for platinum by 75 percent, manufacturing costs have been reduced by 85 percent.  Read More

Sebastian Vettel won his second World F1 drivers championship today, and although only taking third place in the Japanese Grand Prix, he is still on track for the most dominant season in F1 history. His third place at Suzuka gave him 324 of the 375 points on offer – a stunning 86.4% of available points and still ahead of Michael Schumacher's best during his reign with Ferrari. Like most other records in F1, Vettel is once again the youngest to achieve the feat. For Red Bull Racing, it's the team's second drivers title and it is closing in on the constructors title with a lead of 130 points and just four races to go. Perhaps more ominously, the team it has assembled, and the relationship with both Infiniti and engine-suppliers Renault looks more than capable of sustaining the success.  Read More

The historically-significant De Dion Bouton et Trepardoux Dos-a-Dos Steam Runabout which we wrote up a few weeks back has sold at auction for US$4.62 million. Apart from being the winner of the first automobile race in history, it's also the world’s oldest running motor car, and now also the most valuable early motor car yet sold at auction.  Read More

In the world of automotive design, Gordon Murray has no living equal. His F1 cars won 22 races for Brabham, then four successive double world titles for McLaren. He then created the McLaren F1 supercar, the McLaren Mercedes SLR, and more recently the much-more-ambitious City Car Project. Now his design consultancy has created an electric sportscar. Its power and weight are remarkably similar to icons of a bygone era, such as the Austin Healey Sprite, Triumph Spitfire and MG Midget, but the AR.1 promises much more fun.  Read More

UPDATED: NEW VIDEO Nissan is building two Juke-R concept cars. The tiny rocketships will be comprised of the all-wheel-drive drive-train and 480 bhp 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 engine from the Nissan GT-R supercar wedged into Nissan's diminutive crossover city car. The cars are being built by RML for Nissan Technical Centre for Europe (NTC-E) with a view to testing the “public’s reaction to a seriously sporty Juke.” The performance of the tiny super-city car is not yet known, but given the horsepower and dimensions of the vehicle, it will no doubt be one of the fastest accelerating roadcars in existence. There's also just a hint that should reaction be positive, it just might eventuate as a production model.  Read More