How to Convince Your Sweetheart to Watch a Car Movie on Valentine?s Day

Yep, it"s Valentine?s Day and we all know what that means: having to choose between Made of Honor and Eat, Pray, Love for our February 14th viewing (dis)pleasure. Is there nothing a heterosexual man dreads more than having to sit down with his partner to watch a boring, car chase-free romantic comedy?
Fortunately, we at Carscoop share your pain. We had to endure the horrors of the Sex and the City movie and overwrought melodrama of Julie & Julia. We?ve seen the worst and lied about it to our significant others afterwards. So, here?s how you get out of it: describe your favourite car movie as something that you"d interest her. It?s easier than you think:

Transformers
What it is: Giant robots that can transform into cars / helicopters / fighter jets fight each other in a struggle against flat acting, huge explosions and frenetic editing.
How you describe it: A troubled love story set amidst a violent, long-running civil war. It?s like Captain Corelli"s Mandolin, really.
Black Lightning
What it is: Russian youth saves lives and fights crime in a flying Volga. It?s like Batman Begins, if Batman Begins was freakin? insane and filmed in Moscow.
How you describe it: After the sudden death of his father, a Russian teenager takes over the family business and strives to live up to his old man?s image. It?s a touching story about courage, responsibility and personal growth.
Gone in 60 Seconds
What it is: Car thieves rush to steal fifty cars in a week to appease a mob boss.
How you describe it: A young man struggles to prove himself to his older brother, who is the only father figure he?s ever had in his life.
Bullitt
What it is: The most boringly realistic crime film you?ve ever seen, redeemed solely by an epic car chase between Steve McQueen in a ?68 Mustang fastback and a black Dodge Charger.
How you describe it: Like American Gangster with Steve McQueen.
The Transporter
What it is: Jason Statham drives a black Audi and kicks the living crud out of hundreds upon hundreds of faceless henchmen.
How you describe it: It has Jason Statham in it, and he?s sometimes shirtless. Also, he?s British.
The Fast and the Furious
What it is: Paul Walker and Vin Diesel fight to see who can underact more while competing in increasingly dangerous street races.
How you describe: An undercover cop and a criminal with a heart of gold forge a special relationship through their mutual interests.

Ayrton Senna Documentary Receives Positive Reviews at Sundance Film Festival [with Video]

Seventeen years after the great Ayrton Senna died, the documentary about his life, aptly named "Senna", was shown at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival last week and was met with critical acclaim. The work of British director Asif Kapadia and screenwriter and executive producer Manish Pandey, Senna tells the story of one of the greatest drivers who ever lived exclusively through archive footage.

That means that all the great racing sequences are there, showing incredible overtaking maneuvers, spectacular crashes and some of the greatest rivalries that Formula 1 has ever seen.

According to the LA Times, the documentary not only shows Senna?s incredibly competitive personality, but also his spiritual side.

?Though he drove like the devil, he was a spiritual person who believed deeply and profoundly in a higher power. A philosophical mystic with a jewel thief"s nerves and a poet"s sensitivity (and good looks), Senna was an altogether remarkable human being?, the review states.

The Brazilian pilot entered the world of racing driving karts and at the height of his career he won 33 races and three Formula 1 World Championships. Senna died aged 34 in a crash at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

The official trailer of the Senna documentary is available below.

By Csaba Daradics

Source: LA Times via Autoblog

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VIDEO: First Official Trailer of Fast and Furious 5, aka "Fast Five"

It"s been long in the making, but here"s the first official trailer of the next chapter in the Fast and Furious franchise. The fifth installment of the car-crazy film, which is being marketed as "Fast 5", brings back together many familiar faces from the previous movies including Vin Diesel as ex-con Dom Toretto, Paul Walker as former cop Brian O"Conner, and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, as well as some fresh faces such as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson who plays the role of federal agent Luke Hobbs.

This time the team of car bandits heads to Rio De Janeiro in Brazil. The film is set to be released on April 29, 2011. You can watch the official trailer right after the break and tell us what you think about it in the comments section below.

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Video: Top Gear Releases Trailer from "Christmas Specials 2010" Episode

Set to air on December 26, Top Gear’s [the original] newest Christmas Special will see Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May take the role of the three wise men, as they celebrate Christ’s birth in the Middle East (see a video shoot from Israel here). Other highlights of the show will be drag races between the Mercedes SLS, Porsche GT3 RS and Ferrari 458 Italia, set in the Big Apple. According to BBC’s Youtube channel, Danny Boyle will be the next star in the Reasonably Priced Car. Follow through the break for the video clip.

By Csaba Daradics

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Transformers 3 "Dark of the Moon" Trailer goes Live

Get ready for the third installment of Michael Bay"s Transformers franchise as the first trailer of the upcoming new movie called Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, has hit the air. Being that Megan Fox abandoned the series, we"re somewhat less excited about this one, and the new trailer, which gives a fictional twist to Neil Armstrong"s 1969 moon landing, ain"t helping much either. In any case, you can watch the clip right after the break.

Via: Jalopnik

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Caterham Retires The Stig"s Superlight R500 [with VIDEO]

The Caterham Superlight R500 took the world by surprise in 2008 with its 263 hp 2.0-liter naturally aspirated four-pot and sub-3.0 seconds 0-60mph sprint time. The same year it was launched, Top Gear’s racing driver, The Stig, drove it around the show’s test track completing a lap in just 1 minute and 17.9 seconds. That"s the seventh fastest official lap time ever recorded on the show, putting to shame "heavyweights" like the Bugatti Veyron.

But everything comes to an end, and today, Caterham announced that the special model is making its final journey next week before being retired from active service.

Caterham Cars’ marketing manager, James Drake, commented: "The white and orange R500 has already claimed its place in motoring history. It’s worked hard since the new R500 was launched in 2008 and we feel it’s now time to let it have a rest. It will still be available as a static display car, but its hard driving days are over. We’re stopping short of wearing black armbands in the office, but it’s still going to be a sad day when its final public engagement is over".

This will happen after it’s going to be displayed at the Marks & Spencers store in Kent, with the purpose of promoting a new range of remote control R500s. These motorized scale models will be available in the classic color scheme (white with orange stripes), and also in red with white stripes.

It seems that Caterham has no intention of selling the car, so Top Gear enthusiasts will have to be satisfied with the "regular" R500. Those who can’t afford the £40,200 price tag for the real deal, can check out M&S stores this Christmas, where they will be able to buy the RC for just £19.50.

By Csaba Daradics

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Ex-cop Busted for helping to Illegally Import JDM Cars, Including one that Starred in Fast & Furious

Recently there was a situation in California involving an ex-Orange County Sheriff"s deputy, some illegally imported Japanese cars, and what seems to be a plot from one of the rejected Fast & Furious scripts. One Daryl Alison, a 45-year old former law enforcement officer and entrepreneur of sorts, was charged with removing the markings from an imported Japanese domestic market (JDM) vehicle.

According to court documents, the cars, which included several Nissan Skylines and other Japanese right-hand drive cars as well as one that appeared in the fourth installment of "Fast and Furious" franchise, were disassembled, shipped to the States, and then reassembled at a place called Kaizo Industries out on Costa Mesa. If that"s not the backdrop for the next F&F movie, I don"t know what is.

Once assembled, the cars allegedly gained fake VINs and were sent on their merry way. When US Customs raided the Costa Mesa company that employed Alison this past summer they found a dozen cars values at over $450,000.

Now, Alison is potentially facing a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Let this be a lesson to everyone: A) crime doesn"t pay, and B) be smarter about the fake VINs you"re using when dealing with cars obviously not from around here.

By Phil Alex

*The 2002 GT-R racer shown in the picture is from Nissan"s archive

Source: OC Register and L.A. Times

VIDEO: Top Gear UK has finally bred a New Stig

Top Gear UK can be considered an aristocrat among motoring shows. And, being the true blue-blooded Brits that they are, the cast spends time doing things that befit this privileged status. Real nobles have interesting hobbies like breeding horses. Top Gear UK takes this to a whole new level: it actually breeds its staff... Watch the videos after the break to see how Jeremy Clarkson and the new Stig came to be.

It all started a few years back on Clarkson Island. There – according to an episode of the British sketch comedy show, Harry & Paul–, Jeremy Clarkson himself was "farmed". Take a look.

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Now, with all the Ben Collins drama unfolding, the show needed to either kill off or replace The Stig. Fortunately, producers chose the latter, but this way they had to divulge another "top secret" facility – the Stig-breeding farm. Scroll down to watch how this intricate process works, putting to shame similar secret agent-breeding CIA / KGB operations...

By Csaba Daradics

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Transformers Film Ford Mustang Decepticon for Sale on eBay

Is US$130,000 a little too much to be paying for a Vin Diesel-driven Dodge Charger R/T? Do you think the home of the American muscle car is Dearborn? Is your DVD collection populated with Bad Boys and Pearl Harbour instead of xXx and Stealth?

Carscoop hears you, and so does MotoeXotica of St. Louis. On eBay right now is the second of three quasi-Police issue Saleen Mustangs built for the first Transformers film in 2007.

The Mustang, which played the Decepticon Barricade in the movie, has all the Saleen goodies including a "3V modified" engine, 5sp manual tranny, 20 inch alloys as well as exterior, suspension and exhaust upgrades.

Saleen then handed the car over to the movie"s FX department who added the police pushbar, decals and a host of flashing police lights. The only downside is the absence of a supercharger, which was removed so it would not interfere with the microphones placed inside the car during filming.

The car has been well looked after with 7,200 original miles (11,587 km) on the clock, and is undamaged and 100% street legal. The bidding is currently stalled at US$35,100, which is less than the (undisclosed) reserve price.

By Tristan Hankins

Link: eBay

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