Top 10 Most-Read News Stories In 2014

10. Hennessey Venom hits 270mph, officially faster than a Veyron

25 February 2014, 72,205 views

We knew the Hennessey Venom was absurdly quick, having already smashed through 200mph in just 18 seconds, but it needed a longer runway to topple the Veyron from its ‘fastest car’ throne. Enter the space shuttle runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, a 3.2-mile strip of tarmac ripe for a top speed run. The Venom hit 270.49mph, but could’ve gone faster; the driver had to lift off prematurely as he was running out of runway.

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9. Ken Block's new Gymkhana weapon unveiled as 845hp retro Mustang

4 November 2014, 72,441 views

Some shaky mobile phone footage of some kind of Frankenstein Mustang was all we’d seen of Ken Block’s newest Gymkhana weapon, so when this crazy modified ‘Stang was revealed we lost our collective minds. With a 6.7-litre V8 packing 845hp, the ‘Hoonicorn’ became an instant classic, thanks largely to its ludicrous styling.

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8. NSX goes up in flames

24 July 2014, 97,221 views

The hotly anticipated Honda NSX had been tearing up the Nurburgring in July, when its batteries decided to catch fire and burn the prototype to the ground. Considering it’s being benchmarked against the Ferrari 458 and Porsche 911 - both of which had a tendency to catch fire in their early days - we’d say Honda’s right on track…

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23 October 2014, 99,415 views

When Teknikens Värld, a Swedish car magazine, tested the four-wheel drive system on a Honda CR-V, it found that the car failed to transfer any torque to the rear wheels on a simple low friction test. We contacted Honda, who responded by saying that it uses a ‘lightweight’ system which has torque limits placed on it to save damaging the unit. The above test results in those torque limits being exceeded, and doesn’t accurately portray a real world test.

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3 October 2014, 101,305 views

The first of two Top Gear controversies in this list, this incident is still rumbling on well into December. After using a Porsche with a number plate that Argentinians claimed was a deliberate Falklands war reference, the crew was attacked by angry locals. This is the shocking footage of their escape.

Read the full story here.

5. Guy who stole part of the Paul Walker Porsche wreckage is jailed

15 August 2014, 127,251 views

When Paul Walker and Roger Rodas lost their lives in a horrific Porsche Carrera GT crash late last year, the whole car community was shocked and saddened. Unfortunately one idiot took the opportunity to grab a slice of history, stealing a section of the car’s wreckage as the recovery vehicle was stopped at lights. A judge threw the book at 18-year-old Jameson Witty, sentencing him to six months in jail.

Read the full story here.

17 November, 137,677 views

Another stupid kid making a stupid decision, Jack Cottle decided it would be funny to drive his girlfriend’s VW Polo onto Brands Hatch during a race. Authorities weren’t as amused as he was, however, saying he had ‘endangered many lives.’ He was sentenced to eight months behind bars.

3. Clarkson gets called a racist

1 May 2014, 142,415 views

Behind-the-scenes, unaired footage of Jeremy Clarkson supposedly uttering a racist term was leaked online earlier this year. The Top Gear presenter strenuously denied the accusation, but that didn’t stop people calling for him to be fired. He was given a warning by the BBC, and told not to court controversy in the future.

Read the full story here.

2. Audi dealership wakes up to a nasty surprise

14 November 2014, 173,010 views

This is not what the staff at this German Audi dealership were expecting to deal with when they woke up one morning. Upon arriving at work, it was discovered that a number of alloy wheels had been stolen from new cars. Quite how the gang responsible managed to achieve such a heist unnoticed is actually kind of impressive.

Read the full story here.

1. The new Toyota Supra... or is it?

13 January 2014, 332,576 views

When the Toyota FT-1 (Future-Toyota) was unveiled we all lost our minds. This is evidenced by the fact that this story is far and away the most-read news story on Car Throttle this year (helped a little bit by Chloe Moretz).

Is it the new Toyota Supra? The bigwigs have denied it, but we all know Toyota and BMW are working together on a new sports car, and that a new Supra (or at least its spiritual successor) is almost certainly happening… so it’s definitely maybe the new Supra? All will be revealed in time, but if the new car has exotic styling like this, we can’t wait.

Read the full story here.