Let's Do The News! (June 19, 2015)

- Prayers are held across the United States after the recent Charleston church shooting that killed nine people by the suspect named Dylann Roof, who was arrested by policemen during a traffic stop in Shelby, North Carolina. About six women and three men, including the pastor, were killed in the attack and an investigation has been launched.

- Greece has ordered an emergency summit of eurozone leaders on Monday after the latest attempt to resolve the debt crisis failed with no breakthrough. Greece has less than two weeks to strike a deal with its creditors or face default on the existing loan.

- Mount Shindake in Kuchinoerabu Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, has been erupted again. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, a gray smoke shot up 200 meters from the crater around 0943 hours Japan Time. So far, the eruption alert is at the highest level of five and calling on people in the region to remain on alert status.

The MERS death toll in South Korea is now upped by 1, bringing the total count of 24. Meanwhile, Thailand has reported their first MERS case in the form of a male from Oman.

- Senator Grace Poe is once again at the top spot of the preferred Presidentiables in next year's elections, this time based on the latest survey conducted by Social Weather Stations. She received 42% of the ratings, 11% more than last March's survey.

- Jule Hamp, a female executive from the North American division of Toyota, may have illegally imported medicine tablets that contain a narcotic banned in Japan. She was arrested for allegedly violating Japan's narcotic drugs control act.

- The new Peugeot 308 GTi has been unveiled with two versions; a 250 model and the top-sped 270 model. Both of them are armed with Peugeot's 1.6L THP 4-cylinder engine with supercharged air cooling system.

2016 Peugeot 308 GTi

- Incoming Top Gear presenter Chris Evans announces tryouts for the next presenter of the hit motoring TV show. This is your chance to be part of the TG team!

- The invasion of a thousand Pikachus in Yokohama is happening again this August!

TTFN!!!

Forza Horizon 2: The Gauntlet #02

If you want to advance to Tier 4 of your Storm Island progress, you need to clear the second Gauntlet after you meet the certain number of trophies needed. In your second Gauntlet challenge, you'll be driving an offroader most of your opponents will likely yell the name NEMESIS because this is the Bowler Nemesis...err...the EXR-S, the road-legal version of the Nemesis.

Part rally car, part weekend race car, the EXR-S is more of a multirole machine that can take on circuit racing or cross country offroading, it's a tough and durable machine capable to survive even Storm Island's toughest terrains. It's started out in life as a Range Rover but Bowler morphed Solihull's finest into an extreme offroader. It comes with a supercharged 5.0L V8 engine from Jaguar which produces 550HP of power and 461lb-ft of torque. Even though this is a heavy offroader, it's lighter than the Jaguar XKR-S so it's power-to-weight ratio is better than the Jag.

All right, enough explanation. Time to give Nemesis a time to shine in the second Gauntlet challenge.



Amazing. Even though it's made for casual Fridays, it's still a Bowler, meaning it's still a great offroader that you can take on the weekends. Better still, I have completed my second Gauntlet and my road to the Island Finale continues...

Daihatsu Copen Cero

Last year, Daihatsu brought back the Copen kei roadster in the form of two styles; the Robe which is much derived from its Tokyo Motor Show concept car from 2013, and the X-PLAY which looks like the Robe only with some crossover-ish looks that pretends to be it's ready to hit the beach. These different styles are because of the Copen's Dress Formation on the D-Frame, meaning customers can personalize their own Copen just the way they want.

2016 Daihatsu Copen Cero

As promised, the third variation of the Copen's resurrection has arrived and this variant harks back to the first-generation Copen of 2002, giving customers a nostalgic feel to the once-forgotten kei-roadster. They've called it the Cero. Copen Cero.

2016 Daihatsu Copen Cero

2016 Daihatsu Copen Cero interior

2016 Daihatsu Copen Cero interior

With the Cero added to the Copen lineup, people who are looking forward to buying their own Copen can choose one of the three styles from the Robe, X-PLAY, and the Cero. However, there's a major catch when you're opting for the Cero model because it's 54,000 Yen more than the Robe/X-PLAY model for the CVT as well as for the 5-speed manual model.

That's a huge price to pay for nostalgia but despite the nostalgic looks for the Cero, it still retains the same 660cc 3-cylinder turbocharged engine from the Copen Robe so it produces the kei-car maximum limit of 64PS power output and 92Nm of torque, while mated with either a 5-speed manual or a CVT gearbox which comes with a 7-speed manual mode.

For fuel economy, the CVT version returns 25.2 km/L while the manual gearbox version returns at 22.2km/L.

It still comes with the same driver-focused interior as the other two, meaning that you don't get a radio unless you've opted for the DIATONE SOUND NAVI optional extra. For the Cero, you get two interior color combinations with the latter known as the Red Interior Pack which gives the Cero a much more charismatic taste while driving.

So, if you're in Japan and shopping for a new Copen, which of the three styles will you choose? The Robe? The X-PLAY? Or the Cero? The choices are endless when it comes to choosing your own Copen and feel free to mix and match until you have the Copen that's right for you.

Available Colors: British Green Mica, Pearl White III, Bright Silver Metallic, Black Mica Metallic, Matador Red Pearl, Tonico Orange Metallic, Jaune Yellow, and Clear Blue Crystal Metallic.

Photo: Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd.

Let's Do The News! (June 18, 2015)

- According to Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, Greece has a "political and moral" duty to reach an agreement with creditors over the nation's debt crisis but Thursday's meeting of eurozone finance ministers was unlikely to bring an immediate solution. In return, creditors want further reforms from Greece.

- Engineers are investigating the balcony collapse in California that killed six people and injured seven others say water damage may have caused it. The collapse occurred during a 21st birthday party in the early hours of Tuesday in the city of Berkeley. The victims were mostly Irish students who are temporarily living in the US as part of the work exchange program.

- The South Korean MERS death toll is now 23 with three more deaths reported according to the nation's health ministry.

- The European Union has agreed to extend economic sanctions against Russia over their standoff with Ukraine until the end of January of next year.

- Senator Grace Poe leads the latest survey for the presidential race in the 2016 national elections conducted by Pulse Asia. She takes the top spot with a 30% rating while VP Jejomar Binay's 2nd with 22% and Davao mayor Rodrigo Duterte is 3rd with 15%.

- REPORT: Honda will bring the Civic Type R to Japan this fall. The latest Civic Type R, built from the UK, is the pinnacle of the super hot hatch royalty when it was debuted at this year's Geneva Motor Show. It is the first Type R to come with Honda's brand new 2.0L VTEC Turbo engine which produces 310PS of power and 400Nm of torque. It lapped round the Nurburgring in 07:51.42, making it the fastest hot hatch to lapped round the legendary racetrack.

2015 Honda Civic Type R

- The Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class has been unveiled and it's served as the replacement to the GLK as part of the luxury carmaker's renaming structure. The new model promises to be a more capable leisure activity vehicle than the GLK it replaces and apart from the choice of petrol and diesel models, they're offering the first ever GLC 350 e PHEV model as well.

2016 Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class

- The Koenigsegg One:1 megacar eclipsed the 0-300kph-0 time of 17.95 seconds, that's 3.24 seconds quicker than the Agera R's!

TTFN!!!

Golden State Warriors named as 2015 NBA Champs

The Golden State Warriors are named as the 2015 NBA Champions after successfully defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers at the score of 105-97 in Game Six to win the NBA Finals 4-2. This is the first win of the team since 40 years ago. Draymond Green recorded the most rebounds by 11 and the most assists by 10 while Stephen Curry scored 25 points per game, six rebounds, and eight assists but the MVP of the season is Andre Iguodala whose record is 25 points, five boards, and five assists. It was one heck of a thriller between two teams vying for the summit.

Report: http://www.nba.com/warriors/gameday/20150616/recap

Radio DJ Chris Evans named as new TG host

Chris Evans

After moments of speculations, it's official that the BBC announced that radio DJ, not to be confused (and no relation) with the actor of the same name, Chris Evans, is named as the new presenter of the hit motoring TV show, Top Gear.

Serving as one of the replacements of the ousted trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May, who left the BBC after the scandal last March, Chris' knowledge and passion for cars as well as his personality might push the famed TV show to the top. The BBC also confirm that shooting for the new Top Gear will commence within a few weeks but in the meantime...

The extended, never-before-seen, Series 22 episode of Top Gear, featuring the ousted trio, will air on BBC Two on Sunday, June 28. The first clip will see the trio driving classic roadsters while the second clip will pit them into driving second-hand SUVs with the finale where the loser faces a much embarrassing punishment.

Forza Horizon 2: Driving the Lotus Exige

This is the Lotus Exige S, and it's the fastest and most powerful Lotus ever made thanks to its combination of big power and light weight that is uncanny for most British lightweights. It maybe 500lbs more than the old Exige but it has a Toyota-derived 3.5L V6 engine with added superchargers which develops 345HP of power and 295lb-ft of torque. It does 0-100kph in under four seconds and onwards to 274kph.



Back in the original Horizon, I started to fall in love with Lotus' finest masterpiece not because of its combination of power and lightness but also the agility and the precision it delivers if the setting's left untouched, probably, and it's the same story goes when I drove it on FM5 where all of its goodness starting to come unraveled in most parts of the world. In the world of FH2, it's starting to feel at home when I take it round the parts of the Southern Europe. It's like if love moves in mysterious ways and oh! Speaking of "mysterious", looks like the Exige deserves a special treatment I came up with...





Now here's the little scamp that I came up with and because I'm still in the process of celebrating THE iDOLM@STER's 10th birthday, the theme for my Exige S in FH2 I made is...yes, you've guessed it, Takane Shijou. It's a bit of a "Secret, Secret, I have a secret" thing but trust me, this theme deserves to be persevered because even though she's more of an arrogance and her mysteriousness really keeps you guessing like a nude Irene Adler appeared, you're most likely to spend some time with her until you're fully seduced by her witty charms.

That's why I chose this for my special treatment because this car moves in unpredictable patterns but only when left untouched. On its own, the Exige S is a wonderful car to drive full stop but because it fell onto the category dominated by cars whose power-to-weight ratios eclipsed the almighty Bugatti Veyron, the Exige finds it to be difficult to stick through its opposition and when I improved this car around to Ariel Atom territory, it feels more sensitive when it faces to corner. As a rule, you would never want to max out this car to compete with ultra-light machines because while it's fast on the straights, cornering it can be very nightmarish, and I shall demonstrate it with a championship I've booked for this car.



See? I told you it's much difficult to drive the Exige when maxed out to Ariel Atom levels but still, I've managed to survive all the way to victory. Looks like I won't be doing that again after all this but driving this Exige never made me so thrilling because I had fun driving a Lotus that combines big power and light weight into one unique package and the way it moves is unpredictable. Yes, it's as unpredictable as the design I made for the Exige.