5 Interesting Things We Learned This Week

The world lost its mind in the run up to the #HolyTrinity hypercar mega test between the Porsche 918 Spyder, Ferrari LaFerrari and McLaren P1. And now that the videos have been released (most notably by CT friends Chris Harris and Salomondrin), Koenigsegg thought “Hey, hold on a damn minute…why weren’t we invited to the party?”

According to the Swedish hypercar maker, it had every right to be included because it’s been making cars as fast, if not faster, than the trio for years. That’s why the company released a brillaint open letter to the public to go over a few home truths.

I won’t bore you again with the details, but Paul Walker’s dad is now the last in a long line of people to foolishly try to sue Porsche for the death of his son on the grounds that the Carrera GT he was in at the time he died was too unsafe. (There’s no mention of the fact that Rodas was driving at up to 93mph on nine-year-old tyres, conveniently…)

Anyway, we asked you if you thought that Porsche should be held accountable for the death of Paul Walker, and unsurprisingly (because most of you are not delusional), 93 per cent of over 9000 CTzens who voted said that Porsche should not be held accountable. Amen for rational thinking!

Features Editor Darren Cassey wrote a brilliant feature this week titled 6 Things I Hate About Car Culture In 2015. In the article he highlighted a few worrying home truths, including the fact that young kids (some of them maybe even you guys) will stop at nothing - including running blind into a road - to get a picture of a #InstagramFamous car. He also pointed out that car vloggers often film themselves (holding a camera in one hand and the wheel in the other) while driving, which sets a seriously bad example to fans and which is also illegal.

These things tell me one thing: sooner or later, someone is going to get hurt or killed, and when that day comes, it’ll be too late to review the car spotting culture and make a change for the better. Make sure you take a look at the comments to Darren’s piece, and get involved in the conversation.

CT founder Adnan uploaded the first Car Throttle review four years ago this week. The car in question was a Skoda Fabia vRS, a decent starting point for a channel that nobody had ever heard of. In those four years, Adnan has grown a team of one to two people (focused mainly on the website) into a working CT family of 20, and in terms of the YouTube channel, we’ve just ticked over 800,000 subscribers. You already know what cars we have access to, and that’s all thanks to a green Skoda and your support.

(Lie down. Try not to cry. Cry a lot.)

News that there would be a BBC Top Gear Christmas special was a surprise to us all, but it’s happening and it’ll be called ‘Top Gear: From A-Z’. Unfortunately, though, Clarkson won’t be presenting it, and neither will Hammond or May. Instead, comedian John Bishop (a former Star in a Reasonably Priced Car guest) will be on voiceover duties as we get a look at the some highlights of the trio’s time on the show.