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Jaguar Land Rover – Clever Finance Deal

JLR releases £170 million by financing cars in transit Car makers have been begging lines of credit from wherever they can in the last year as the recession has bitten hard in to their finances. Jaguar Land Rover started off down the Government Loan route, but it soon became clear that the strings attached to any Government sourced finance where unacceptable. But in a sign that the future of JLR looks pretty rosy JLR managed to secure £175 million in private financing back in August as part of a bid to raise £500 million, and Tata have refinanced the loans used to acquire JLR.

Lewis Hamilton takes pole at British Grand Prix – Mercedes front row

Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg (pictured) celebrate their front row at the British Grand Prix Mercedes may have turned in some stunning qualifying laps this year (although their race performance hasn’t really matched up) but Hamilton’s pole at the 2013 British Grand Prix was a stunner – almost half a second (0.452s) ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg. The pole for Hamilton – his first since the Chinese Grand Prix – was a corker (as was Rosberg’s, to be fair) and left the Red Bulls relegated to the second row with Vettel in third and the newly ‘retired’ Mark Webber in fourth. But whether the stunning lap by Hamilton presages an impossible task for Red Bull tomorrow, we’ll have to wait and see.

Video: 7 sexiest car-wash scenes on film

It's Friday afternoon, and in an effort to help you faster pass the last few hours of the work week, we want to call your attention to New York Magazine's video slideshow of the hottest car-wash scenes on film. The spread is entertaining enough in its own right, but the real fun comes from the deadpan commentary provided by Debra Gorgos of Professional Carwashing & Detailing Magazine, who critiques the scrubbing skills of these scantily dressed stars. As for the common (in Hollywood, at least) practice of using one's bikini-clad chest in place of a soapy sponge?