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7 of the Most Outrageous Scandals in Formula One

F1 has always been competitive with the teams doing all they can to improve the performance of their cars within the rules, even if the letter of the law and the spirit might be interpreted as being poles apart…

The on-track scandals tend to involve ingenious technical modifications and inventive driving techniques. Off-track naughtiness is either spying or shagging.

Here is the Driven guide to 7 of the most outrageous scandals in Formula One, both on and off the track.

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6 Tips when Buying Car Breakdown Cover

The nights are drawing in, the ice scraper has been found and deployed and we’ve experienced the first flat battery of the season. This can only mean one thing; yes, it’s winter and time to think about buying some breakdown cover.

According to Green Flag the top 10-winter breakdown causes are:

1. Non-start/battery failure
2. Minor accidents
3. Tyre/wheel problems
4. Electrical
5. Mechanical
6. Drive system
7. Cooling system
8. Keys locked in the car/stolen or lost
9. Mis-fuelling/running out of petrol
10. Cables

All the above are problems that will be exacerbated by the cold weather; imagine trying to get back into your car after you’ve locked yourself out in a blizzard.

A thorough service will help prevent some breakdowns and many garages will check your car’s antifreeze strength and other winter-sensitive items like wiper blades and tyre condition free of charge but if you take advantage of this – and you should – you must remember that they are doing it to sell you stuff. If you take your car to two garages and they both tell you the same thing then it’s more likely that they do really need doing…

Sometimes, though, you can plan all you like but the great God of winter weather steps in and crushes you like a bug, no matter how careful you are. It’s at times like this that you’ll thank your friends at Driven for telling you how to get great quality breakdown cover at a very reasonable price.

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9 Myths When Buying a Used Car

Not many of us are lucky enough to be able to buy a brand-new car – and even if we could, most of us are too sensible to write off 50% of its value in the first three years.

This leaves us to buy from the sharks’ pool that is the second-hand car market. Few places are more dangerous, uncharted and likely to leave you penniless and heartbroken.

Fear not, though because we are here to help, based on years of buying dodgy cars, dealing with rogue garages and shifty salesmen.

We can’t promise that our guide will absolutely guarantee that you won’t buy a lemon – but it will reduce the likelihood.

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9 Tips for Safer Winter Driving

Well, winter is nearly upon us. We know this because tyre manufacturers are bombarding us with reasons why we should buy winter tyres, Radio 2 has just played the first carol of the season (festive tune rather than Decker), and The X Factor is getting to the stage where it’s almost worth watching…

Winter isn’t just about Christmas, snogging under the mistletoe and photocopying your arse at the work’s Xmas bash though. Oh no. It means ice, snow, frosty mornings and fog on your drive home.

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Drive Like a Boss – Driven.co.uk Guide To Drifting

Car enthusiasts across the world are addicted to Ken Block’s Gymkhana videos, admiring his inch-perfect car control and the awesome sound of 450bhp sliding around a disused airfield.

But not me. I do admire his skill but don’t really get the point. Shouldn’t car control have a purpose? Being fast and accurate should be a means to an end; not an end in itself, surely?

So, in the interests of fairness, I was despatched by Driven’s editor into the murky, seedy and very noisy world of drifting to find out what all the fuss was about.

Read on and find out how you can Drift Like a Boss.

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6 Reasons Why Bernie Ecclestone is Evil

So, the Poison Dwarf has sold the TV rights to screen all F1 races live to the Murdoch mob, leaving the BBC with sloppy seconds. We aren’t too surprised here at Driven as we’ve never trusted the little fella. (It’s not just us though; you can even join a Facebook group to express your disgust.)

Here are just 6 of the reasons why we’ve never liked the Midget Mogul.

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8 Incredible Things About Formula 1

Formula 1 might be a high-speed procession some weeks but don’t let this mislead you; it’s still the most competitive, dangerous and high-drama show in town.

No other sport invests so much money in development or has such complex equipment. Even the slowest F1 car can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 1.7 seconds, 100-200 km/h in 3.8 and reach their top speed of well over 300 km/h in less than 9 seconds.

Each costs well over £1 million to build and will be transported to the track in a 30-tonne tractor/trailer unit developing over 1,500 lb/ft of torque that has to be parked symmetrically in the paddocks or Bernie throws a hissy-fit.

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6 of the Most Evil Cars in the World

At Driven we love cars – probably more than we should, if we’re honest. If we aren’t driving them we’re plotting to buy the next one. We fall asleep reading about them and if we settle down for a quiet half-hour in the smallest room then a car magazine will be involved.

Our T-shirts feature them, our virginities were lost in them, we earn our living writing about them and we have even considered being buried in one.

But we have to acknowledge that some cars do display distinctly Lucifer-like qualities from time to time and their capacity to ruin your life is only exceeded by that of the tax man.

Here then, is the Driven guide to the Six Most Evil Cars in the World…

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9 Essential iPhone Apps for the Tech-Savvy Petrolhead

It isn’t an exaggeration to say that the iPhone has revolutionised our lives. Never before has it been so easy to access information and as a consequence we’ve become used to being bombarded with emails, knowledge, and news updates.

As a motorist we can now check our emails anywhere in the country when we stop for a break, look up interesting places and roads on the Internet, and phone home to say that we’ll be late when the sodding M1 is closed – again.

But there is so much more to Apple’s finest than that. Here is the Driven guide to the Smartphone apps that every petrolhead needs.

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8 Of The Best Real-Life Police Cars

Here at Driven we’ve led an interesting life, with stints as a lumberjack, used-car salesman – and copper.

But it’s not all doughnut-eating, form filling, and scrapping with tasty geezers, you know. Oh no, there is far more to the job than that. They also give you fast cars with lights and sirens and bless the whole lot with pretty much unlimited authority – and weapons.

We aren’t including cars here that aren’t really cop cars; a Lamborghini in cop-colours is a just a marketing stunt, and so is the inevitable Porsche/Ferrari/Bugatti/Caparo, etc.

No, our cars have absorbed the sweat of a million hard-pressed coppers, been stained with the blood from a thousand desperate villains, and earned their spurs in the never-ending race to keep us all safe and have a good tear-up.

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