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Video: Darrell Waltrip laps Bathurst with V8 Supercar driver Jason Bright

One of the most entertaining things to come out of the Bathurst 1000 last weekend in Australia--besides Garth Tander and Nick Percat taking the checkered flag--was ex-NASCAR driver and commentator Darrel Waltrip going for a wild hot lap with V8 Supercar driver Jason Bright. After taking the first turn at speed in the 650-hp Holden Commodore, Waltrip yells, “Impossible!” The video gets even more entertaining around the Esses and the Dipper, two succeeding corners. The clip is full of repeatable one-liners from Waltrip including, “I lost my lunch, and I didn't even have lunch.” He calls the track on Mount Panorama a geological oddity.

Call for reform over road repair funding

FUNDING patterns mean most road maintenance is being carried out in "less-efficient, cold and wet" times, a report from a Government spending watchdog has said. The current pattern of funding, combined with the need to spend money within the financial year, means that most maintenance work goes on between September and March, said the report from the National Audit Office (NAO). It went on: "Although this is less disruptive for road users, it is less efficient than carrying out the work at other times of year because materials can be more difficult to handle in cold and wet conditions, and daylight hours are shorter." The report went on: "As a result of the additional funding for emergency repairs, which is made available at the end of the financial year, almost all highways authorities need extra capacity from the market at the same time, which makes it less likely that they will get value for money." The NAO report said there was a "lack of predictability" over road spending adding that historically, local highway authorities spent more revenue on maintenance, but were now carrying out fewer routine activities such as clearing gullies which are essential to preventing water seeping into roads' sub-structure.

Rolls Royce RR4 spotted

Rolls Royce RR4 (Rolls Royce Ghost?) caught testing before its unveiling at Geneva [ad#ad-1] This is a busy time for testers of upcoming cars in chilly climes. We’ve recently seen the next generation Porsche 911 (998) and Boxster out in the snow, and this time it’s the turn of the new ‘Baby’ Rolls Royce, the RR4. The new Rolls Royce (which is codenamed RR4 internally, but could well be the Rolls Royce Ghost) is based on the underpinnings of the latest BMW 7 series.