BYD S6 Hard Top Convertible Launching Soon

Seen in China Car Times, BYD has a new hard top convertible ready for launch in the next few months and it seems they are more than ready. I caught this production model testing on Shenzhen roads last month but did not have time to post the hastily taken pictures due to a busy work schedule.



The car was cruising along at about 50 kmh and I could not tell much from running along side.



I can only say is the clone wars are still on-going but surely, with 1.4 billion brains to tap on, someone could think of something a little more original...
Read more...

Nanjing Bus Driver Runs Down Cyclist And Drags Body 5 km

Nanjing local media reported an incident where an off-duty public bus driver Wang stole a bus from the bus company where he worked at and went out with the intention of killing someone. According to witnesses, Wang drove dangerously till he hit a cyclist riding on a motorized bicycle.




After hitting the cyclist, he continued driving for another five kilometres despite other drivers pulling alongside to yell for Wang to stop.



The reason for all this? When he was on duty driving the public bus, he closed the motorized door on a passenger boarding the bus and the passenger got caught between the doors. For that incident, he was scolded by his superior and he was unhappy at the ticking off and wanted to kill someone to take out his anger.

Having lived in China for several years, nothing surprises me any more. This is a sign of a society that has forgotten its Confucian roots and priciples. Fortunately, this incident provoked angry responses from the public. The question is: what will they and their government do about this after the anger has died down and the public debate has blown over.

Sources:
Original Chinese article
Partial translation of article on Shanghaiist
Read more...

Chinese Man Builds A Car Using Wood

It is amazing what a little bit of determination and inventiveness can do. Check out this home-made car made of wood planks by an ingenious Chinese man. He has basically made sure all the required items are replicated.


Read more...

Unbelievable Accident At A Toll Booth

Another hazard of driving in China. Bet no one has ever seen an accident like this. I still haven't figured out where those two huge tires came from. Knowing that this is China, my guess is that it probably fell off the wheels of a truck nearby. Chinese truck drivers are notorious for overloading their cargo way above limit, at least double to triple the maximum load limit of their vehicles. Coupled with infrequent service intervals, since they clearly subscribe to the old adage of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", it is a proven recipe for spectacular disasters like the video below.

Read more...

Spyker C8 spotted in Beijing

Seen when aimlessly surfing youku.com, a video sharing site that is China's equivalent of Youtube.

The guys who took this first video spotted the car in Beijing headed towards the airport expressway and being curious as to what car it was, gave chase and tried to keep up with the Spyker. Luckily for them, the Beijing traffic was in their favour and the Spyker could not put its power to effect although there are short stretches of clear road where the power and acceleration was obvious. Cool number plate too. And the black coloured licence plate in China means the car is registered to a foreigner or a foreign owned (or part foreign owned) company.



In a separate video, this young girl (you could see the reflection off the car) chanced upon the same car parked and took a closer video of the car with her mobile phone. The quality of the video is pretty decent.



The car in question is a Spyker C8 and the car has a V8 4.2l engine sourced from Audi in normally aspirated form for the base model and a twin turbo. I tried to figure out which model it is but unfortunately the Spyker website only has the 2009 models and the trim is slightly different from the car in question. Anyone know what specific model this car is?
Read more...

Changan Mini Truck Drifting

This is a crazy "Fast and Furious" style drifting on a Changan mini truck. Note that the truck is old and bone stock too. Well worth the few minutes watch even if you do not understand the language.


More videos following the jump.



Amazing what you can do with loads of effort and next to no equipment. And this young man from Guizhou in China became so famous after his videos went online that the television station invited him to meet the challenge of a professional racing driver in a training track.


Read more...

Irresponsible Chinese driver runs away from accident he created

This happened on the 5th January 2009 at about 1pm along Shennan Road in Shenzhen (深圳深南路) just outside the Overseas Chinese Town (华侨城). The driver in front pictured driving away stopped abruptly in the middle of the main road to read a road sign (he claims) and the taxi (pictured along with the taxi driver) rear-ends him lightly causing little visible damage to the dark blue Buick Excelle and cracking the taxi's front bumper. The driver gets off his car looks at the damage to the taxi, proclaims it minor and drives off immediately, fleeing the scene.



Meanwhile, I was driving behind the taxi and following a bit too closely I must admit and I bumped the taxi, sandwiching the poor taxi. The taxi driver and I resolved the matter but I am appalled at the total lack of irresponsibility of the driver who caused the entire thing in the first place. So, if you know this driver, he's an ass and an irresponsible one at that. The photo is taken off my camera phone. I whipped out my phone and snapped a photo when I saw the blue Buick driver making the run.

This is where it happened.

View Larger Map

More on cars Read more...