Designers dress up Mini Cooper

Canadian design duo DSquared2 has released initial sketches of the Mini Cooper Countryman it outfitted for this year's Life Ball, which is on May 21 in Vienna, Austria. Each year, the small-car maker commissions designers to dress up a Mini to be auctioned off at the Life Ball, which donates proceeds to the fight against HIV and AIDS. The “Red Mudder,” as the car is called, is branded with a maple leaf on both doors and a DSquared2 logo on the front shield and wheels.

McLaren P1 driven by Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson (video)

McLaren P1 driven by Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson (pictured) It’s only a few days since McLaren revealed the first customer P1s are now rolling out of McLaren’s clinical production facility in Woking, and it looks like Jeremy Clarkson has bagged one to play with. The video (below) shows Clarkson behind the wheel of the new P1 which, judging by the number plate, is probably one of the first customer cars on the road. The opinionated one is preceded in the video by a pair of Range Rovers – one new, one old – at least one of which is a camera car, so this drive of the Mclaren P1 is obviously heading for a TV screen soon – hopefully on Top Gear.

Bentley sells like Hong Shao Rou in China

Bentley - the Chinese can't get enough of 'em In case you’re wondering, Hong Shao Rou is a Chinese dish of cubes of braised pork belly glazed with caramelised sugar and Shaoxing rice wine. It was Chairman Mao’s favourite dish and so, despite China’s headlong dive back in to post-Mao capitalism, is a dish much loved and much revered in China. A bit like Bentley.