Articles by Mike Ryan

Bonhams' "Classic California" auction on November 12 auction featured a diverse collection of vehicles, from veterans to classics, late model performance cars to big dollar hot rods and customs, but the celebrity offerings were the highlights. In addition to the vehicles being auction at the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles, motoring memorabilia and genuine artwork from the likes of Von Dutch and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth were thrown into the mix as well.

While it's been largely forgotten now, Holden's Piazza was a car synonymous with the 80s. Filling the 'performance coupe' gap in GMH's lineup between the demise of the Torana and the arrival of the new Monaro, the Isuzu-sourced Piazza had its merits, but never really "found the love" with Australian drivers.

Jaguar's fastest and most-powerful open-topped GT ever built, the XKR-S Convertible blasts from 0-100km/h in a giddy 4.4 seconds. Its lightweight architecture belies exceptional torsional rigidity, making it the stiffest car in its class.

Fresh from Subaru's STI performance division, Subaru's BRZ Concept-STI (Subaru Tecnica International) sports car has been unveiled at the 2011 Los Angeles International Auto Show, a fortnight ahead of its scheduled production-version unveiling at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Audi has bagged this year's coveted "Golden Steering Wheel" award, with its Audi A6 business sedan winning the juried prize in the "Midsize / Luxury Class" category.

Toyota has announced it will make no less than five vehicle debuts at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, including its first showing of the prototype of its new compact sports car.

Bathurst's Mt Panorama race track was the scene for record-smashing speed last weekend when a Ferrari 458 GT3 broke the lap record. Driving the GT3, the racing version of the Ferrari 458 Italia road car, Allan Simonsen clocked a blistering 2:04.9560 time around the 6.2 km track during a practice session.

Proving that big cats can be efficient as well as powerful, an XF 2.2 Diesel has traversed North America from NY to LA averaging just 4.49 l/100 km over 4,641 km - making it the most efficient Jaguar ever created.

Bonhams' recent "Classic California" auction event, held at the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles, had a major touch of "Hollywood" about it, with cars from the movies amongst the consignments. Celebrity-owned cars were also part of the November 12 event, including a Cadillac originally owned by Elvis, and a Mercedes owned by Madonna.

After being postponed due to the Brisbane floods earlier this year, SPEED+STYLE+BEAUTY, a celebration of all things on wheels, is back, rescheduled for this coming November 25 - 27, at Brisbane's Portside Wharf at the Brisbane Cruise Terminal.

For Nigel Petrie, 'Engineered to Slide' really covers two things: what he does; and what he loves. Away from his full-time position as a fitter and turner, Nigel devotes time to building cars to compete in drifting competitions under the 'Engineered to Slide' name. Nigel's current drift machine is a Nissan 180SX, but a desire to create something different led him to start this impressive project, based around a Toyota Hilux utility. While still a 'work in progress', this project has already made a big impact in the drifting scene. Ahead of the recent 'DriftAttack' event at Victoria's Calder Park, Nigel took some time to explain more about his unique creation.

The Targa Tasmania run has been revised and expanded for the first time in five years, giving entrants an additional 70 kilometres and an extra night on Tassie's west coast.