Steve Davies

Last Saturday was 'AE86 Day', a day when fans from around the world celebrated the legendary Toyota Corolla AE86 - Hachi-Roku (Japanese for "eight-six") - which in the past 28 years has become an icon of the Japanese drift scene. So Toyota Australia thought they'd mark the occasion by releasing a billboard promoting its successor - the FT-86.

If you've already taken a look through this month's issue of ROAD Magazine (#17) then you'll know that it's devoted to Tim Schrick and the 'Crazy English Edition' of his TV show on Germany's Sport 1 channel.

Which is faster? Man or MiTo? That's the question posed by Alfa Romeo in a light-hearted social campaign run on Facebook. Olympian Iwan Thomas was challenged to beat an Alfa MiTo in a 3.8-mile race around central London’s bustling city streets, starting and finishing at Tower Bridge.

Comedian Rowan Atkinson was involved in an accident whilst driving his McLaren F1 supercar yesterday evening, colliding with a road traffic sign on the A605 at Haddon, near Peterborough.

Ahead of the Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace this weekend (5-6 August) Alfa Romeo ambassadors Kelly Sotherton (400m), Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (100m), Lisa Dobriskey (1500m) and Iwan Thomas MBE (former European and Commonwealth 400m champion) stepped off the track and into the studio alongside an Alfa MiTo Sprint - shedding their clothing somewhere along the way.

Special Editions. Sometimes they're really special, whilst at other times it's just a way of freshening up a familiar model which has been on sale for a few years. Few would question its effectiveness when selling a few extra super-minis or roadsters during the summer months, but there's been a growing tendency during the past 24 months to follow the special edition route with performance cars.

You'd consider it somewhat odd to order a Vindaloo curry at your favourite Indian restaurant and then be asked if you wanted it hot or not, or buy a set of Kitchen Knives with the option of sharp blades, so I'm always slightly suspicious when a sports car maker announces a new 'sport' pack for what should already be a performance-oriented car.

I'm sure I'm not alone in finding Mazda's tech-speak a little challenging to decipher. We've become so used to such all-encompassing phrases such as Efficient Dynamics, Intelligent Performance and ECOnetic that initially Mazda's SKYACTIV has me wondering if the Japanese car maker has invented some form of anti-gravitational device. And how does SKYACTIV fit with ZOOM-ZOOM? Or is that SO last decade?