The South African edition of Top Gear magazine will serve as a print extension of the totally addictive television programme by the same name and will hit SA newsstands at the end of October.
 
“Top Gear is the biggest motoring media brand in the world. We’re very excited about working with BBC Magazines in bringing this highly enriched experience in motoring magazine journalism to South Africa,”  said Media24 Magazines CEO John Relihan in an interview on Monday.

As far as content goes you can expect a top class product from editor Pierre Steyn, former editor of topCar, the other automotive title in Media24′s portfolio.  A personal fan of Top Gear, Pierre had this to say ahead of the launch:

“What’s not to love about the highly entertaining mavericks of motoring journalism? The very unique content mix, irreverence and unpretentious tone of voice transcend all cultural and geographical barriers.
 
“The magazine also delivers on this brand promise, with careful attention to not simply repeating TV content. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May play a vital role in the magazine content; all three contribute monthly columns and features and rotate the Editor’s letter between them. The Stig is equally a part of the magazine, as we regularly put his driving talents to the test.”
 
I’m sitting here, twiddling my thumbs until I can my hands on the first issue of Top Gear South Africa on October 24, 2011.

Even if you are not a fan of the brand itself, VW has been a key part of growing up with TV in South Africa. I mean, come on- who remembers those ads with the little girl carrying the cute golden labrador, or the one’s with Sarel van der Merwe looking a qhole lot fresher than his current- “I am a veteran with grey hair vibe”.

VW SA is celebrating 60 years of existence this month (August, 2011) and as part of the diamond jubilee celebrations has produced a short video showcasing some of our favourite memories and stories from the decades past. If you’re my age and older, you’ll remember most of these ads- especially all the one’s from the 80′s (those crazy 80′s).

VW SA was established in 1951 in the small Eastern Cape town of Uitenhage and since then has grown into one of the top motor manufacturers in South Africa, supplying cars to the world.

Keen for those memories to come flooding back? Just hit the anniversary video link!

We all like to act like we’re rockstars from time to time. Unfortunately, not all of us have the budgets that most of these guys and girls do to pay for all of the legal fees that result from having “too much of a good time”.

This where the Cape Town is your Vegas concept comes in… It offers up an opportunity to cruise around Cape Town in a limo with free booze flowing while you visit two destinations of your choice. Not only is this a safe way to get around, it also includes an element of luxury with free VIP access to the destinations of your choice.

The limo comes complete with a banging sound system to keep you entertained while you entertain the other lucky peeps you’ve invited to come along. It’s ideal for events like bachelors or hen parties when things tend to get a little naughty.

Give the always friendly and ready to please (yes he’s that nice) a shout if you’re keen to hook something like this up.

BOOOM!

Audi has always been a brand associated with luxury and driven performance and this has not changed over the several generations of consumers for which the German car brand has always been first choice. Here at MyCityByNight we’ve been dubbed as curators of urban culture, which is the reason why the friendly peeps over at Audi and Ogilvy Cape Town decided to get hold of the crew to invite us to be part of the fairly exclusive launch of the Audi A6 in South Africa.

The whole experience started off with a typically German (precise) call from the organisers letting us know the itenarary for the 2 days of the launch. The South African (Cape Town leg) of the launch was split into two parts to allow all guests to have an opportunity to drive and interact with the car before attending a gala dinner at the Westin Grand with none other than Ben Collins (The white suit Stig from Top Gear).

I knocked off early on Friday and made my way over the Vineyard Hotel in Claremont where I would meet with the rest of the lucky guests and prospective buyers to oggle a parking lot full of brand new Audi A6′s. Everyone was pretty excited about getting going in the cars but this being an opportunity to market the brand we all had to endure what must have been one of the  most boring presentations I have ever seen. I do get that this was an opportunity to talk about how awesome Audi was when compared to everything else on the market, but really if I wanted to sit through a presentation laiden with graphs, figures and numbers I would have gone to an AU summit meeting.

Once we had finally made it through the “short” 25 minute presentation- we were able to pair up (no not have sex) and hop into the cars ready for an epic afternoon cruising the Cape Peninsula. Cape Town being the very concerned city that it is, played along and blessed all of us with beautiful sunshine (in the middle of winter) to really get a feel for the cars as we drove through to Camps Bay for a coffee (not that weather makes any difference to the new generation Quattro system). Once the first person had a chance to drive to Camps Bay- we stopped at Vida for a quick coffee and refresh before changing over and hopping back into the cars for the drive back.

I had the opportunity to drive the sort of middle of the range A6 (front wheel drive, diesel, no quattro). The car covered all of the bases that you would expect an executive sedan to, with the addition of some really nice technology including a head-up display and night-time infra-red cameras (which are all optional extras). Now everyone knows that I am a bit of a performance nut, so when we were given the fact sheet about the cars- my eyes went straight to the section on KW and Torque along with the related 0-100 sprint times. The car I was driving was one of the diesel models (3.0 TDI Multitronic), so I wasnt expecting the world as far as performance goes- thankfully I was pleasantly suprised. The torque from the engine (400nm) definately gave sufficient grunt to navigate any city with ease but I found multitronic-gearbox to be somewhat sluggish with change-downs when you forced it to do so when operating the car in the semi-manual mode. The engine is also incredibly effecient with fuel economy sitting at 3l/100km even with all of us thrashing it a bit. It is a diesel at the end of the day, which meant the engine note was rather uninspiring- my advice, if you’re looking for balanced performance go for the 3.0t quattro instead, if you’re looking for an all-round and useable package, go for the 3.0TDI (maybe spec it to get quattro if you can). 

The car I tested was dripping with tech kit and all of this gadgetry combined with the BOSE sound system made it a complete joy to drive around town in. The Sat-Nav is very clever and I can’t see you getting lost in the this car… ever.

With the test drive over, I began looking forward to an opportunity to meet the man behind the white suit- Ben Collins. As a massive fan of motorsport, cars and driving in general- the chance to meet “The Stig” got me all giddy. Saturday finally came and I made the quick walk across the road from CTICC (where I was checking out the Cape Town Fashion Week 2011 closing night) to the Westin Grand Hotel. For anyone that hasnt had the chance to check out the Westin, do yourself a favour and book a stay- there’s one word to describe it… stunning.

All the guests were welcomed with canapes and a glass of sparkling wine (with a tiny little audi ring in). Apart from being a choking hazard, one of these rings would allow the lucky guest to win a set of Audi Titanium rings. Sadly- some young dude won it (he didnt look like he was old enough to even drive), but I’m just jealous that it wasnt me.

After all of the welcoming and pleasantries we got down to a cracking dinner and chat with Ben Collins. He talked about his work as a stunt driver on the Bond movie and his Le Mans Racing, as well as his time as the Stig on Top Gear. It was such a cool experience to listen to all of his achievements, watch some of his mad driving work and also relate to the guy on a more personal level. After the talk we all had the opportunity to meet Ben and get our copy of his latest book signed… Ben was a such a legend and we talked a bit of kak before he signed my book: I told him to write something inspirational and he wrote:

I never slept with your Mother

Sweet.

Long story short, Audi did well to involve all of their premiere clients as well as one or two massive fans of the brand who had a bit of a voice in media (yes I am sneakily referring to myself in the 3rd person again). Everyone had the chance to interact with the brand and find out a little bit more about the family of Audi and the new A6, which was way better than the same old emails and ads that we’re used to. My next car? Well probably not an A6, but I am definitely leaning towards joining the Audi family

The media world has been buzzing with renewed vigour about Cape Town’s F1 Grand Prix Bid after F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone chatted to Eye Witness News on 94.5 KFM radio and dropped the bombshell that Cape Town could be hosting one of the World’s premier sports event within “two years”.

Bernie “the Motorsport Supremo” Ecclestone (as we like to call him here at MyCityByNight) added that while he was unable to give any precise details about what was on the cards, he could let everyone know that a street circuit would work quite nicely, nestled between the Waterfront and Greenpoint. Then to plonk the proverbial cherry on top of the exclusive interview Bernie told EWN Cape Town that the negotiations were in the final stages and that he was hoping to make a decision as soon as the F1 lawyers had given it a once over (real good look) within the next couple of weeks.

I reckon that this is a fairly major step towards the establishment of a F1 Grand Prix calendar event in what is surely the most beautiful city in the world (Cape Tonian bias creeping in there a little bit) since the original bids, which had aligned proposed circuits to the airport, the West Coast and of course the third in Green Point. The company that has undertaken bringing the Monaco styled F1 dream to The Mother City (and most likely option given the 2 year time frame suggested by Bernie) is Cape Town Grand Prix SA, which has formally submitted a bid to F1 officials with Green Point and the awesome Cape Town Stadium at its centre that led to Bernie Ecclestone breaking his silence on the matter. Cape Town Grand Prix SA is led by 41-year-old Igshaan Amlay, who was jailed as a teen back in 1987 as a student during a protest against the rather terrible Apartheid Government- and man am I sure glad that he got out and that this country turned out as awesome as it did. Aint no F1 happening with Verwoerd around.

I’m a big motorsport fan and an even bigger Cape Town lover and I know that it would bring a massive smile to my face when the city packs out with the rich and famous and a collection of #mooiness that would make your eyes water. I can already picture those Formula One racing cars roaaarrrring in and out of street-level entrances to Cape Town Stadium come 2013 while the African sun tickles the ocean and Table Mountain that surrounds the track. Yup- I’ll take that any freaking day.

The inclusion of the stadium in the race is one of Cape Town Grand Prix SA’s ideas for the 2013 event, and it involves the use of the exit and entry points at street level as well as the stadium’s seating so spectators can watch the action at close quarters during the proposed race month of September.

Esther Henderson, the company’s chief communications officer, explained that there would be a chicane inside the stadium to slow them down and get some really epic noise from the acceleration through the twisties. Apparently, no major changes need to be made to the 55 000 capacity stadium. However, Henderson added that the biggest adjustment would be lifting the pitch and laying tar in line with the standard set by the International Automobile Federation, the world governing body of motorsport. Once the three-day Formula One event ended, the tar would then need to be re-covered with the traditional playing pitch (what a job!).

Unfortunately this sort of thing does cost a little bit of cash with infrastructure upgrades rumoured to be around R670 Million, which is a steal when compared to the R4 Billion it would cost to a build a new circuit. The small matter of some nasty people that don’t enjoy fun or life at all in the Greenpoint area is also bound to be another hurdle in the race for the races (there are 3 old age homes along the proposed circuit), but I’m sure sanity will prevail and that these residents would give the ok if there was adequate planning and consultation. As of today, the city’s mayoral council member for tourism, Grant Pascoe maintained that hosting the event was in line with the city’s goal to “establish Cape Town as the events capital” of the country but that the city had not yet been approached with a proposal to host the event, and could therefore not yet consider it.

The last South African Grand Prix was run at Kyalami in 1993, and was won by Alain Prost- yup… that long ago. It is still in the stage where a great deal of work would need to be done to get the F1 boss and his team’s approval along with the necessary support from South Africa and Cape Town.

Once Cape Town Grand Prix SA has the opportunity to meet Sports and Recreation minister Fikile Mbalula about the bid and chat to all the parties involved I reckon the details as to whether it is going to happen or not will begin to become more concrete than the days of the original reports earlier this year in the Argus and now with the latest EWN announcement. Till then I’d say its advisable to start buying yourself some property on the new Cape Town Golden Strip- I know I’m giving my bank manager a call this week, you see, I’m an optimist

For ages peeps have been debating whether the car you drive makes you more attractive to a would be victim of your sexy. This is the basic premise behind the VW Date Drive campaign, which targeted celebrities, top bloggers and the South African consumer, in a bid to determine whether over the course of 132 Date Drives the new VW Polo GTI indeed made the driver more desireable.

To prove the point that people are actually ridiculously shallow and that driving a new Polo GTI really makes you more attractive, VW statistically analysed the success of each date and compared this with the national dating success average. This allowed for actual percentages to be generated to showcase exactly how much ‘hotter’ people are when driving a new GTI. Applicants were asked 8 simple pre-date questions about their dating life such as ‘do you usually get a kiss on a date?’ (duh kinda obvious, have you seen what Stacky looks like?). 

They were then given the GTI for the evening to go on a date and returned the next morning to complete 8 post-date questions – each correlating with one of the pre-date questions such as ‘did you get a kiss with the Polo GTI?’ The results from each of the  pre- and post-date questions were then compared after which some clever people (machines), came up with some accurate  statistics to show how much easier navigating the dating world could be in a polo.

The final stats revealed that drivers of the new GTI  attract 10.8% ‘hotter’ date partners, get 18.2% more ‘action’ during the date and are 34.9% more likely to be invited in for ‘coffee’ at the end of the evening – proving that the Polo GTI makes daters 27.8% more attractive. 
 
The campaign totally rocked and was a rather ingenius take on the traditional test drive, so I’ve got to give a big high 5 to VW and everyone involved.

ps: I drive a Type R & my mooiness is smoking #justsaying

hahaha…

We’re completely car-mad here at MyCityByNight and spend at least an hour a day in our chosen steeds, grinning madly as we cruise around the streets from meeting to meeting. If you weren’t already aware, there is a brand new Audi A6 on the horizon for the South African market and much has been made about this car and its ability to bend the laws of what cars mean for the people that drive them.

When you think of a slightly more grown up executive sedan- you probably have to inject adrenaline straight into your heart to stop you from falling asleep. Thankfully, the very clever people at Audi have come up with a car that is going to change all of that.

With a long sloping hood and tasty aggressive lines on its side the A6 looks like it could be the car to rock the automotive world. For the launch of the new Audi A6 in South Africa the PR, advertising & marketing geniuses at Ogilvy in combination with Audi have designed a Facebook custom tab and ad banner that allows you (the user and Audi fan) to submit questions live to the Product Marketing Manager of Audi South Africa, Rudi Venter. The basic idea is to showcase the new Audi A6, with Rudi being available to answer questions posted in the banner (as far as I’m aware, thats never been done before).

Next week, we’ll be taking the Audi A6 for a test-drive and having dinner with the executive team and a certain Ben Collins (yes thats right- THE STIG!!!!!!). We’ll definitely let you know it goes- needless to say… we’re freaking amped!

Check out the banners and give it a go… fairly epic stuff

Pulse of the City – for Range Rover Evoque is a campaign that is active all across the globe which focusses on carefully selected City Shapers who were chosen to represent their city as well as the Range Rover Evoque (which is only available later this year). South Africa’s City Shapers consist of Hlubi Mboya, best known for her role as HIV positive Nandipha in the hugely popular daily soap, Isidingo and HIV/AIDS ambassador throughout Africa; and Dr Sarah Britten, a Strategic Planning Director by day and blogger and writer & painter by night; Craig Jacobs, brainchild behind local Eco fashion brand, Fundudzi; and Siphiwe Mpye, deputy editor of GQ Magazine and recently voted one of South Africa’s most stylish men.
 
The campaign is completely focussed around the city and what the City Shapers are getting up to and doing to make Jozi the best city in the world in terms of the competition (because obviously Cape Town is the best city in the entire world)!  The global influencers or ‘City Shapers’ have been chosen because they are influential in their cities and have interesting points of view that people listen to. They come from different aspects of culture that make up the varied nature of their cities, from arts, the creative industry, film, music, fashion, media – anywhere where they’ve made their own mark and in a world first, the ‘Pulse of the City’ app, launches on iPhone, iPad and android phones, which uses GPS tracking to record the collective movements of people within the various cities.

Participants will also be able to add comments about their favourite walks, hot spots and journeys, creating a real time, evolving pulse of each city. Both ‘City Shapers’ and the public will be able to download the app for free.

Inspired by the new Range Rover Evoque and the cities that in turn inspired its design, the app will bring each city to life through the people who shape it. The Range Rover Evoque is the smallest, lightest and greenest car that Land Rover has ever produced which makes it perfect for city driving .

The Range Rover Evoque, available as a coupé or five-door and intended to open Range Rover to new target audiences, implies exclusivity, arouses emotions and has a sophisticated aura that matches the car’s urban elegance. It boasts a bold exterior design and a strong, clean interior that was designed by fashion icon, Victoria Beckham with a contemporary, sporting feel and is available with a beautiful full-sized glass panoramic roof that floods the interior with natural light.

For images or more information, log onto:

http://media.helloevoque.com/en-GB/StaticImagesCategoryIndexPage/default.html

www.helloevoque.com or http://www.landrover.co.za.

RANGE ROVER EVOQUE COUPÉ and FIVE-DOOR

Premium cabin with same high quality materials as the larger Range Rover and

Efficient powertrains and advanced lightweight materials

Smaller – 430 mm shorter and 187 mm lower – than the Range Rover Sport

Available in four-wheel-drive

Fuel-efficient, turbocharged, four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines deliver excellent performance with low CO2 emissions

Both diesel and petrol engines are offered with an updated six-speed auto

All-new chassis specification delivers dynamic and agile handling across all terrains, aided by Adaptive Dynamics featuring MagneRide™

Class-leading all-weather, all-surface capability with legendary Land Rover Terrain

Extensive selection of Range Rover technologies, including the latest Park Assist function, dual-view display for eight-inch touch-screen, Bluetooth audio streaming and Surround Camera System

Coupé with 3-Door bodystyle truly encapsulates the design and styling of the LRX

5-Door bodystyle with the bold exterior captures coupé design, with the same compact footprint but a slightly higher roofline. Combines concept car design with extra versatility and family appeal

Class-leading sustainability with sub 130g/km* CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency

Premium cabin, with the enhanced space and practicality of the 5-Door format

Versatility and luggage space of a compact station wagon

Sold in 160 countries worldwide, with deliveries from summer 2011

Back in 2002, Sarah Britten (pictured above) is one the Jozi city shapers who is recognised for her skills with lipstick and canvas. Her preference is for subject matter that adds another layer of meaning – apples allude to Adam and Eve, for example, pomegranates to the myth of Persephone, and roses to conventional notions of beauty. Currently she is experimenting with new techniques in her paintings for the Pulse of the City campaign.

I met Mr Cape Town for an early beer as people do in Cape Town and we bumped into the new marketing manager of Rikki’s Taxis - Dean. Mr CT has already done a little work with him and introduced me to Dean. I have never used a Rikki’s Taxi before but with the way I drink I should live in one. After chatting to Dean for a while I ended up thinking that this could definitely be a way for me NOT to drive on my birthday night last Friday. Ricky (ByNight) and I thought this was a great idea and ended up getting the Rikki’s Taxi to and from Assembly. Both times, I was late for the taxi and I must admit they were both there before I was outside the building, infact the initial lift to the jol – the guy was early which is always nice to know.

I have definitely found myself my new lifts in and around town, it seriously beats driving. I decided to get hold of Deano and see what I could do for you guys in terms of saving yourself some petrol money and a possible court case for drinking and driving. After chatting to Dean we decided on a R400 voucher give away for Rikki’s Taxi would be a good enough give away right?

So you want to know what to do to win this voucher?

1) Go to the Rikki’s fanpage on Facebook and LIKE it: (click here)

2) Once you have liked the page, go write on the wall of the RIKKI’s FANPAGE and tell us: Whats the funniest thing you would do inside a Rikki’s Taxi (Don’t be shy to get creative)

3) The person with the most likes on their comment will win the R400 voucher, so get all your friends to “LIKE” your comment as soon as it has been posted. (Obviously they have to be fans of the Rikki’s fanpage)

4) Like this post and share it with your friends to increase your chances.

The competition closes on the 24th of May.

Once I have used the Rikki’s service properly, I will give you a proper run down of how things work. Ricky (ByNight) has a good idea of the shared rides and all the ways to make sure you get cheaper rides. I saw this awesome discount  where they have made these “Assembly Free Ride” cards which will be starting on Wednesdays. Every 10th trip  to Assembly on the card turns into a R70 travel voucher – which will be a direct ride only. For more info:

Tel: 0861 745 547

Facebook Page: [click here for link]

Website: www.Rikkis.co.za

Marketing: Marketing@rikkis.co.za

Bookings: Bookings@rikkis.co.za

Nothing gets the blood pumping like the smell of petrol and burning rubber!!! And no, we’re not talking service delivery protests in Fiksburg… we’re talking about Street2Strip…

Raceweb.co.za ( an online magazine that details happenings within the automotive and customizing world) will be hosting the Street2Strip event and will be adding some their own special flavour to the evening. The basic idea is for all race entrants on the day to an online Raceweb database where future races and challenges can be set up online and can then be taken to the strip for everyone to see! Yes, that’s right, you will be able to settle your beef with a traditional drag race, just how they used to do it in the old days before.

The Easter edition of Street2Strip at Killarney Raceway will see a superbike go head to head against a supercar as well as a “Winners Lane” slot where racers race in their lane until beaten! Yup- old school arcade styles, put your 5bop on the machine!! In a super nice touch for all those peeps that couldnt be bothered to get down to the event, there will be a live webcam feed from the event so you can see who’s lining up with who and what’s going on. All you have to do is log on to Raceweb.co.za and check it out from there.

Oh ya… and then as is the case with EVERY car show, there will be MOOINESS!! Apart from the usual  Raceweb.co.za models, there will also be a bikini “dirt moving session” aka car wash hosted in the new pit facility as well as an SPL testing session hosted by Ice Audio. (More info: Matthew – 071 879 5011). Cape Town’s top Dj’s will be spinning the decks inside.

ENTERTAINMENT IN THE NEW PIT AREA

Come and get and experience the various fast food stalls:

Boerewors, Steak Rolls, Salomies, Koeksisters, Samoosas and Pies, Tikka Chicken, Tuck Shop available for necessities.

Entertainment:

Be prepared to be rocked all day long by top Dj’s mixing up a Storm:

- DJ Grant (411 Good Hope FM Show as guest DJ)

- Kurt Storm (411 Good Hope FM Show as guest DJ)

- Sherwin Brydon (New talent rocking Cape Town)

DRINK SPECIALS ALL DAY LONG!

STREET TO STRIP AFTER PARTY FROM 4PM

ExecuJet, Lanseria Airport is no stranger to Luxurious travel but last week the hanger was graced with a never before seen (in SA) luxurious beast slightly different to the usual jet! The hanger was transformed for the launch of the new Bentley continental GT. MyCityByNight was there to get a sneak peak at the new beast due to be on sale later this year!

 This event was one of true style, class and ultimate luxury. The hanger, laced with Learjet’s and glimmering with jewels was the scene set to unveil the newly styled and improved Bentley continental GT.

The Beast:    

After the mooiness sporting Breitling watches and some hot new fashion lines warmed the stage the beast rolled through a sheet of water on the stage for the grand unveiling and it was clear this was something special. The new harder lines and more pronounced “Bentley signature” front grill, oh  and yes bigger rims, gives this ride a more aggressive and dominant presence. The interior certainly exceeds expectations with wood and leather finishes stylish enough to be a feature on the Eclipse yacht and yet sexy enough to wet the runway!

This 2320kg of steal and technology is no lean beast, so a 6.0-litre, W12 engine has the job of rocketing the newly styled Bentley effortlessly from 0-100 in 4.6 seconds. With two turbochargers to seal the deal, the W12 produces 423kW (11kW increase from the old car), and with a delicious 700Nm of torque to play with at just 1700rpm, the Bentley brings the beast to the beauty!

 The Beast will be gracing the city of Cape Town early may as part of its launch tour.

Enjoy

This weekend Cape Town carheads and fans of the energy drink that gives you wings, will be treated to a bit of F1 (yes fingers are crossed for getting that bid in for F1 next year).The Red Bull Racing F1 Showcar event has moved to Killarney Race Track to better accommodate the expected crowd who will be attendance to see the true potential of the Formula One car at the home of the Western Province Motor Club.

On 1 January 1960, the Cape Grand Prix was held at Killarney. This was the first time the track and the Western Cape had a taste of Formula One. Now, for the first time in over 50 years, Red Bull Racing brings F1 back to Killarney. Siiick!

Driving the Formula One car this weekend in Cape Town on Sunday 27 March is Swiss native, Neel Jani, who started his racing career at the age of 12 and has since joined Red Bull Racing as an F1 test driver assisting Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber to qualify P1 and P2 at the Melbourne GP in 2010. So basically he’s has a tough time buying Christmas every year

Join the Red Bull Racing Formula One Team on the 27th March 2011 for their first time in Cape Town as they take to the track for a day of F1 speed and sound.

Red Bull Racing Formula One Showcar Run in Cape Town:

Venue: Killarney Race Track

Date: Sunday, 27th March 2011

Time: 13h00

Entrance Fee: Free of charge Visit http://www.redbull.co.zafor more information or check out the Facebook event page

What a weekend for knockout football in the UK! In the biggest news of the 4th and 5th round of the FA Cup, current holders Chelsea were knocked by a clearly better Everton side after playing to a draw and losing the replay on penalties.

After a Chelsea huffed and puffed to a goalless draw after 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge, Lampard gave the current holders the lead in the first-half of extra-time before Baines curled in one of the best free kicks I’ve seen in the last minute of extra time to take the match to penalties. Phil Neville sealed it with a nicely taken penalty to Everton to the final 16 with a 4-3 spot kick victory. Everton have got former Premiership side, Reading at Goodison Park in their fifth-round match on Tuesday.

In 2 of Saturday’s other fifth round matches, Birmingham City and Stoke City both breezed past their lower league opposition, each emerging victorious with scores of 3-0. The greatest team in the world Manchester United, fielded a severely weakened side ahead of four away matches in the next two weeks that includes trips to Marseille, Chelsea and Liverpool and managed to see off the rather tenacious non-league Crawley Town with a Wes Brown header in the first half in front of the Old Trafford faithful.

Mini have decided to break into new markets and by some innovative and clever thinking along with some very creative design, they have come up with the Scooter E Concept. With the amount of traffic in Cape Town, this would be ideal right now. To be honest, the reason I am showing you this is purely for the reason of technological advancements in the world we live in today. Watch in example one (The British designed Scooter), half way through the clip below and notice how they have to start this little bad boy. Tell me that isn’t the most insane thing in the world? I want one… 

I want one NOW!

(Thanks Ricky)

All who know me are well aware of the fact I am a huge car nut and die hard supporter of Honda and the work they have done in the world of car creation.

As with Mercedes and their AMG performance division or BMW’s M division- Honda also has its own group of highly skilled technicians that take standard cars and turn them into things of beauty under the Spoon Sports banner.

The Spoon Headquarters in Japan is so well known across the car community that LEGO have now decided to recreate the entire building in multi-coloured little blocks. To some of you this may be as exciting as watching paint dry but to me this is the best thing since sliced bread- I mean they have combined two of my favourite things- cars and lego.

Go Honda!!!

This is the upcoming new Audi RS3 Sportback, or as I like to call it the 1′er M killer (bring the hate)! As a massive Audi fan, this just gave me a semi!

Listen to this thing growl and my word how much fun does this look! Don’t worry, a super review of this little orgasm giver will grace our pages as soon as its available here is SA.

Now then… off to my local Audi dealer.

That’s all.

Enjoy the video (stats, info and gallery after the video)!

The RS3 adopts the 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine from the TT RS.

With 250Kw on tap Audi can, for now at least, stake a claim to the hot hatch top trumps.

Audi quotes a 0-100kph time of just 4.6 seconds. It’s not so many years ago that this would be supercar-flattening accelaration.

Top speed is unsurprisingly limited to 250kph. Should you need to shave off all that speed swiftly the RS3 comes standard with massive 14.5-inch discs on the front and 12.5-inch at the rear.

Being an Audi, Quattro four-wheel drive is standard. Let’s hope it’s good, as the RS3′s ESP can be switched off entirely.

No manual ‘box is available and all RS3′s come with Audi’s seven-speed S-tronic dual-clutch transmission, complete with paddle-shift change and launch control.

Differentiating the RS3 from a regular A3 are polished titanium-look 19-inch alloys, matt aluminium-look mirrors and a roof spoiler.

Look even closer and you may spot the rear diffuser insert, twin exhausts and various RS3 badges scattered around the bodywork.

The cabin is pepped up by RS3 logos aplenty, leather sport seats with silver stitching and a flat-bottomed leather multi-functional steering wheel.

Interestingly, the RS3 also comes with a lap timer. Should make for an interesting conversation if you get your collar felt by Plod and it’s turned on.

We reckon the first SA deliveries will in June 2011, seen as though the UK gets their ones in April.

The cost of laying your hands on one is still to be known…. Won’t be as pretty as the car and sound though!

We’re all car nuts here at MyCityByNight, which is why we thought that the brand new and final (we think) installment in the Fast & Furious car porn series. Its pretty much more of the same with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Paul Walker and the rest of the modding crew finding themselves on the wrong side of a ruthless drug lord and a relentless federal agent (played by The Rock- who has a weird reverse beard thing).

Fast and Furious 5- Fast 5 comes out in South African cinemas on the 6th of May 2011… Oooh- itching to go for a nice night time drive but these police are making it difficult to have a spiritied mission

Just an update, that the BP Ultimate Ride 2 RACE feature is now available and the MCBN Crew have their cars and internal challenge against each other going! Feel free to challenge us. I’m Stalin Edition should you wish to search for a challenge! Ricky and Kreg will give their car names in the comments below should you want someone to beat Feel free to add your car names so we can send a challenge! maybe we have our own little winner. someone wins something (not a R650k Gti from us though!) Lets get it on!

MyCityByNight are monster fans of mooiness and cars, amongst other things (as you well know)! So combine the 2 and you get a ménage à trois of ecstasy from the crew in MCBN HQ!

When we heard about a competition where you could win a mooiness car that will most certainly get you noticed by mooiness (albeit the shallow kind – which we dont mind), we just had to share it with all of you!

BP ultimate Ride 2 is the case in point. A sexy VW Golf GTI worth R350k is awesome enough, but that’s not good enough for them!

They are adding R300k yes that’s R300 000 worth of modifications to it! So that a R650k whip pimped out by the best modifiers in SA ride!

They did a similar thing a while back with the Ultimate Ride competition, where they gave away a modified Scirocco… But things have just gone to a whole new level with this!

They have made it an awesome fun process for all you car lovers and even the non car lovers by launching a site that allows you to design a GTI (well 5 of them actually) of your dreams, earn street cred and then enter it into a virtual auto show. The site is amazing! 3D moving images of the car, modifications of wheels, paint, parts and so on. Its AWESOME!

The competition starts off with a stock standard white one as your ‘canvas’ for you to go wild on!

You can then share it with your Twitter, Facebook and email mates and they can vote etc which earns you street cred. The likes help your chances of winning the car!

The credits give you access to modifying the car and moving through the stages of novice to expert!

There is a RACE tab too, that brings a pop up of coming soon. If the site is anything to go by, that is going to be off the reservation type of awesome! Can’t wait!

Just check some of these screen shots of the MyCityByNight Rider (like what I did there) so far! Not being funny, but you are out of your mind if you don’t enter this!

No pun intended, but I’ll race you there! [CLICK HERE]

http://www.bpultimateride.co.za

Its time for me to announce this like a mooiness having the time of her life… Oh yes oh yes oh yes… ahhhhh…

That’s right MCBN’ers the Pirelli Calendar 2011 is out. 2011′s theme is Greek mythology, with Julianne Moore as a goddess. It’s still full of naked women (and men) selling tires, but classier naked women.

Yes we like that!

As we have a huge female readership, we have included the GODS and not just the GODDESSES!

Our main man Karl Lagerfeld’s has done well with this shoot, not that he is kuk! Naked Gods, Goddesses are at it again!

For those of you who don’t know or have even bothered reading this far, The Pirelli Calendar started out as an in-the-know publication designed to reward loyal dealers and customers, blossoming into an almost mythical creation. We don’t think that extremely well known, famous, exceptionally gorgeous mooiness had anything to do with that… Sure!

So feast your eyes and enjoy the beauty of this legendary calendar!

Following on from Stacky’s awesome car game theme, I thought that the release of one of the longest running game series by the name of Gran Turismo 5 deserved a mention.

Gran Turismo has always been at the forefront of what was possible with gaming machines and their ability to mirror real life driving accuracy with pain-staking detail- right down to how each car sounds and how much quicker that difference in rim kreb weight makes to acceleration out of the bends (oh yes, its motor porn).

This edition is no different with the detail of racing being so close to real life that you could probably learn to drive on the “Real driving Simulator” that is Gran Turismo 5.

If you’re still wondering whether to purchase the game or not just take a look at the Gran Turismo 5 (which came out for PS3 on Wednesday) launch video.

Here it is you car mad MyCityByNight fans! Arguably man’s ULTIMATE wet dream… the Aston Martin One-77! Here is some footage of it tearing up the tarmac in Germany around the Nürburgring, and this puppy starting up! Yoh! I get goosebumps!

Enjoy!

Now that car is super hot hey. I wouldn’t mind driving that at all, yes Volkswagen I am hinting that you swing one my way! I seriously do wish but when I saw the advert for this car I had to give the creative team who did it a little clap. Very clearly done and well thought up and made me chuckle after it finished.

I really enjoyed this one, I hope you do too… 

Cool huh?

Everyone who isnt a satanist will know that the iconic driving and car series Top Gear has lost its mystical and rather talented test driver the Stig to some serious drama around the revealing of his true identity and an equally goss tell all book surrounding his exploits. Fear not though there are hundreds of statistically better drivers to choose from to replace him on the overall Castrol Driver Rankings.

After all, he’s only hitting a fairly lowly 672.

If you go by the Castrol rankings, a global ranking system based on the performance of every race and rally driver across all disciplines of motorsport, you’ll soon realise that there are a whole bunch of other awesome drivers to choose from including the likes of me…

Ok not really.

The real list is currently led by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and team mate Mark Webber but includes F1, World Rally championship and the World Touring Cars. The ranking system list more than 2000 drivers across 47 major motorsport series.

These are the current Top 10 in the rankings:

1 Sebastian Vettel – F1

2 Mark Webber – F1

3 Sébastien Loeb – WRC

4 Fernando Alonso – F1

5 Lewis Hamilton – F1

6 Jimmie Johnson – Sprint Cup, GrandAm

7 Will Power – IndyCar

8 Jenson Button – F1

9 Dario Franchitti – IndyCar, GrandAm

10 Kevin Harvick – Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Nascar Trucks

And to make matters around the Stig’s successor all the more messy Top Gear’s ousted masked racing driver, has been snapped up by rival motoring show Fifth Gear to be a full on presenter without a suit. Sies.

This year’s Paris Motor Show (2-17 October) has some amazing cars, and MyCityByNight have only gone and done a round up of what we feel are the sickest of them all so far!
Don’t worry mooiness, we not going into the facts and figures, just sexual imagery of cars, that even a non car loving mooiness will appriciate! Enjoy!

Here is our list of show stoppers in Paris so far:

Lamborghini Sixth Element Concept
Jaguar C-X75 supercar
Audi quattro concept
Audi e-Tron Spyder Concept
2011 Audi A7 Sportback
Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale
Ford Fiesta WRC
MINI Countryman WRC
2012 Nissan GT-R facelift
2015 Lotus Elise
Lotus Esprit
Lotus Elan
Lotus Elite

Stay tuned for all the updates!

Not often do the crew at MyCityByNight scream like little girls, so we feel the following is apt… OMG WTF and whatever other 3 letter Gossip Girl abbreviations you can think of…

The R8 V10 Spyder is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yes that’s a lot of exclamations)

MyCityByNight were lucky enough to have a test in both wet and dry conditions in the gorgeous Spyder, and let me tell you, it didn’t matter that there was a little bit of rain, that car is like its name sake, a bloody spider (forget that little Miss Muffet crap, with the whole down came the rain and washed the spider away), this spyder gripped the tarmac like I was gripping the steering wheel when they came to take the car away again (picture white knuckles).

Ok, so some exciting pant wetting specs for you and a look around this beauty:

The Spyder runs the same 5.2-liter V10 engine found in the coupe. Maximum power is 386kW and peak torque is 530Nm. The 0 – 100mph time is 4.1 seconds while the manual can deliver a top speed of 290kph. Here that little baby revving for you…

Enjoy a nice little 4 minute walk around this mooiness with me in HD below… (feel free to watch a minute or so and move on to the good stuff – this is only here for the true car lover who appreciates the curves, design and beauty)

Now listen to her purrrrrrr

This car should be the next bat mobile, and to be fair, I should be the next Batman! It shifts through the gears like Ricky takes down the numbers of mooiness, fast! Our test car had the fancy gearbox that allows you the fun of manual, or automatic. Automatic is sweet and cute, ahhhh, manual, well that’s like Mrs Ex Tiger Woods on hearing about her fun having hubby, GOLF CLUB WIELDING MENTAL!
You need to be one skilled gear shifter, as these gears are relentless! The kick from 1st to second is enough to tear your arms off, so hold on! Put it this way, if you were planning on buying this sweetheart for your sweetheart, then think again… You need to drive this lady like you just stole her off the arm of a mafia don, fast and hard, she knows no different and expects nothing less!
That V10 purrs and kicks you into the back of those sexy seats like it’s no ones business and before you know it, you doing 200kph, and before you have a chance to get to 250kph, some twat in a (in his mind Ferrari) pulls out in front of you! It’s not all bad though, you get to accelerate from 80kph again, and that’s all sorts of fun!

The drilling part now, again in HD… We even took the luxury of taking a call at 220kph, just to prove you can talk on the bluetooth with the roof down and still hear (well done Audi and B&O)! Seriously! The daughter of the mooiness that was driving with me and videoing decided to call… Pfft the nerve!

Terrible landscapes we have in Cape Town to drive in aren’t they. Amazing how everything seems so much more beautiful when the tops are down doing 200kph!
Slight problem for most… Price, R2,149 million… Feel free to shed more than one tear here as most of us will never get to own one…

So that said, just enjoy what we have here for you and remember MCBN’ers, its cost sweet FA to dream, so enjoy your sleep tonight dreaming of this mooiness!

MyCityByNight are all about getting the exclusive to you ASAP!
We have not failed, as per usual! I (Stacky) have a R8 V10 Spyder to play with for 2 days… Booo bloody hoooo!
So I could’nt contain myself and need to give you a taster… More footage and full test post of 2 days with the car on Monday! Its all in FULL HD too!

Enjoy guys, and ladies, get a speaker, turn up the base and take a seat! Grrrrrr

MyCityByNight got a test drive in the all new VW Amarok, and may I say… it amaROK’s! (like what I did there)

Firstly, you feel like you looking at something that’s just done the Paris Dakar, oh wait, it did actually do it as a support vehicle of the Paris Dakar! It’s a about foot or so longer and wider than a Navara, but doesn’t feel 1 tiny bit bigger! The looks are hard ass and ready, yet soft and cool enough to take mooiness to the Nelly for a munchy (that’s the Mount Nelson for the folk that don’t rock Stacky’s jols).

Then you open the door to the interior, that quite honestly isn’t you average interior of a double cab bakkie! From the leather to the feeling you in a low spec’d Toureg; it’s anything but a bakkie. The one thing that i noticed that really makes you feel you in a car type bakkie (whatever i mean by that), is the back windscreen. It’s actually a back windscreen and not some just some glass put there. From a feeling of space point of view to a class point of view, it really makes the Amarok feel different.

I drove the 2.0 diesel 4motion (that’s VW’s 4 wheel drive system for the non-petrol heads), and the drive is awesome too, it’s smooth and responsive, and like most diesels, has some killer low rev torque (oh yes; now I’m talking dirty). The Amarok cruises comfortably at cruising speed (that’s whatever speed you decide, we chose the speed limit – sure!), and its pulling away from a stand still is lekker too! Light to light ek se!

Got R360 odd grand to blow on a double cab or similar, thinking of a Toyota Hilux? Toyota Fortuner? Nissan Navara? Think again… This Amarok will most likely change your mind!

Watch out Asia, ze Germans are coming to take the double cab market from you!

MyCityByNight are everywhere… Like air!
Last week we showed you the arrival of the very 1st 458 in Cape Town, this is just some simple straight forward drving footage of the Ferrari 458 Italia today on the M5, N2 amd M3 that Stacky just happend to capture as it came past him… Naturally he dropped a gear, went to video camera on the Blackberry and filmed! Ooooh life on the edge!

The MyCityByNight crew work their asses off, and are still not even owners of 1 super car! For this little fella though, there is NO problem!

21-year-old student Dhiaa Al-Essa, son of a mega wealthy Saudi businessman, Dhiaa is the youngest person to own a collection of 30 supercar and luxury vehicles worth £4.5million at the young age of just 21. The collection includes five Ferraris, five Porsches, three Lamborghinis, two Rolls Royces and a McLaren Mercedes to name a few. But the list doesn’t stop there. Next year the value of his collection will double when he takes delivery of a Koenigsegg Agera for his 22nd birthday and a Bugatti Veyron – £1.6million. (How you boys from Bishops feeling now? Inadequate? Pissed off with your 21st or 22nd birthday present? Then call us on 0800-SHAME!)

There was supposed to be another highly anticipated arrival to the collection in the form of a Ferrari 458 Italia, but it was one of the 458s that suffered in a warehouse fire at Heathrow Airport. Including customizations such as a Dolce and Gabbana interior, the 458 Italia was priced at £300,000, however Dhiaa received an inadequate compensation offer of only £30,000 by Emirates airlines and warehouse owner Servisair. Dhia is considering legal action.

Dhiaa stated, “I won’t be getting another Ferrari 458 Italia. I think it was an unlucky car as I had to take it back to the dealer because of heating problems.”

They say jealousy makes you nasty right? SO DHIAA, YOU NOT IN CAPE TOWN BABY WHERE THE MOOINESS IS MOOI… SO GO EAT A DICK!

MyCityByNight are huge fans of legends… Ayrton Senna is one of those legends we hold in extremely high regard!

Ayrton Senna was regarded as one of the greatest formula one drivers of all time.
Before his untimely death he had 3 Formula 1 world titles. The tradgedy accured in 1994 while leading the San Marina Grand Prix.
Brazil declared 3 days of mourning for the legendary racing driver.

Now it only seems fitting that Ayrton Senna’s life be commemorated with a movie and here is your first chance to check out the trailer.