MyWebNews

…London is home to every supercar imaginable…

By Simon Wittenberg

It happens every year. Wealthy businessmen from Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia ship their cars over to London for the summer to escape the sweltering temperatures and to reside in some of the finest hotels in the city. 2010 is no different, and may have not got off to the start that some had wanted. Even if you own the most famous store in town, it does not give you the right to park outside the front door, as the new Qatari owners of Harrods soon found out. A £1.2 million Koenigsegg CCXR and Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 Superveloce were the victims of the Westminster Council clamping team.

As you start to the tour the most plush hotels of Park Lane and Mayfair, it does not take long to come across a whole selection of cars that you possibly only see once in a blue moon. A Mercedes SLR and Bugatti Veyron outside The Berkeley, a Mercedes SLS AMG outside the Park Lane Hilton, and the former plus a Ferrari 599 GTB and a £305,000 Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe gracing the steps of The Dorchester (pictured). Who needs Salon Prive or the Canary Wharf Motor Show when you can do your very own tour? The Capital is fast turning in to the car enthusiast’s ultimate dream.

All London needs now is a race track, and Boris would be a very popular man…

BMW X1 sDrive20d SE

Saturday, 3 July 2010

Solid all-rounder: The BMW X1 sDrive20d SE

Price: £24,205
Top speed: 127mph 0-62mph 8.1 seconds
Consumption: 53mpg (combined cycle)
CO2 emissions: 139g/km
Best for: those too embarrassed to own a proper SUV
Also worth considering? Ford Kuga, Nissan Qashqai, Volkswagen Tiguan

It’s always nice to see a vehicle manufacturer putting the rulebook to one side, and defining their own niche rather than following the crowd. BMW did just that more than a decade ago with the creation of their X Series, starting with the X5 4×4, which was subsequently joined by the smaller X3, and the more road-dominant X6.

In the two years since the model line-up was last extended, the Bavarian automaker has now produced the baby of the family, the X1, by borrowing the platform of the 1-Series hatchback. The five-door X1 is, in BMW’s own words, a premium sports activity vehicle – which means it’s a close relative of the crossover rather than a traditional SUV. It’s also likely to remain unchallenged in the sector until the arrival of Land Rover’s long-awaited LRX and the Audi Q3 next year.

The X1 comes in either two- or four-wheel drive trim ranging from the 143bhp sDrive18d SE to the flagship 204bhp 4WD xDrive23d, and all models are diesel. We drove the real-wheel drive manual 177bhp sDrive20d SE, and although not luxurious, the interior is well put together, and comfortable, with generous room in the rear for luggage. Plenty of equipment comes as standard, including stop-start technology. The sweeping profile of the car also means that you sit in a somewhat elevated position, thereby providing good all-round visibility.

On the road, the steering is accurate and communicative, and the well-tuned handling makes this crossover wannabe an absolute joy to drive. The two-litre engine has plenty of power, and quickly comes into its element at 1,500rpm with the boost of the single turbocharger. Although you can still hear the diesel hum in the background, it is pleasantly subtle, and the cabin noise is refined.

The only detail you can really fault in BMW’s X-rated addition is its transmission. Despite the ratios being well defined, the six-speed manual gearbox is a little clunky, and finding reverse requires a bit more effort than you would like.

Overall, the X1 is a solid all-rounder, and if you’re looking for an affordable proposition that has plenty of room for the family, and breaks away from the status quo, it is definitely worth adding to the shopping list.

Simon Wittenberg was the highest bidder at last year’s Independent Christmas Charity Auction for the chance to road-test and review a new car in these pages.

See the road test at http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/road-tests/bmw-x1-sdrive20d-se-2015070.html or on p.55 of today’s Independent Magazine.

Don Wales of Project Runningblade

The Honour Motorsport-backed Project Runningblade has claimed a new landspeed record for the world’s fastest lawnmower at Pendine Sands in South Wales. Driver, Don Wales, steered the Kawasaki-powered Countax ride-on machine beyond the 87 mph barrier for the first time, surpassing the previous top speed of 80.792 mph reached by Bob Cleveland on a home-built lawnmower in 2006 at Bonneville Flats, USA.

In line with regulations, Don Wales, the eight-time landspeed record holder cut grass outside Pendine’s Museum of Speed, before beating the existing four-year old target on the military beach by nearly 6 mph on Saturday (86.069). The grandson of Sir Donald Campbell who made his debut in 1924 on the same sands, then went on to set the new outright world landspeed record for a lawnmower at 87.833 mph, after successfully completing two individually timed runs within a one-hour period along the shores of Carmathen Bay in Sunday’s session.

Don Wales not only enters the history books with nine such accolades to his name, but the latest attempt also marks the accomplishment of the dream of motoring author and Runningblade’s Team Principal, Stephen Vokins, who laid down the British challenge in 2009 following heart surgery. The project has equally raised significant funds for the Wessex Heartbeat charity which supports the Wessex Cardiac Centre at Southampton General Hospital where the TV presenter received the life-saving treatment.

Adrian Honour, Managing Director of Honour Motorsport, explains: “We would like to congratulate Don Wales and the team for such a remarkable achievement. It has been a real privilege to be part of such an exciting project, and the success which we have witnessed today is a true testament to all the hard work which has been put in by all involved during the past year.”

By Simon Wittenberg

My last visit to a school reinforced the need to continue to teach students about the PR industry, because compared to ten years ago, little seems to have changed regarding the awareness of a possible career in this field. When asked, many school leavers and sixth formers have heard about PR, but few know what it actually means and how it works, even with the power of the Internet. Few have also stopped to actually think where the material comes from that forms the articles which they read in the papers. It was therefore incredibly satisfying to be able to educate students about the industry and let them know how to get PR, the importance of industrial placements, what it actually involves, and the pluses and minuses of a career in the media. If your organisation has the opportunity to volunteer in education institutions, it feels like the next generation of PRs really do count on our support to get them started. Come on, join in!

By Simon Wittenberg

With a year of trading now under my belt, attending networking events has been a very effective way to meet the London business community, generate leads, and above all make new contacts, especially when you are in the position of having to build a new brand. It takes time, effort, and committment, but you do get the rewards. The following are some useful tips:

- Try different networking groups in different locations before making a decision on which one to subscribe to.
- Membership fees vary, so check what works for your budget and time.
- It takes a lot of courage, but walk up to people, and don’t just wait for people to come to you.
- Remember, even if a business is not interested in your services, they may know people that are.
- First impressions count, and have confidence in what you are able to offer.
- Listen to what others have to say. They may be able to recommend you!
- If you go to a networking event with someone, make sure you split up to avoid spending too much time together during the session.
- Make sure that you take plenty of business cards and literature/samples with you. You never know who you are going to meet.
- Often you will have to do a 1-minute presentation on your business, so make sure that you have something prepared beforehand or at least have a few points written down.
- Follow up the meeting with an e-mail to acknowledge your conversation and try to set up a 1 to 1 meeting.
- Keep all business cards in an organised manner so that you can revist them when needed.
- and above all…. enjoy it and have fun!

Some networking groups in the UK that are useful to visit include:

BNI (British Networking International)
Key Connectors
The Business Club

By GUEST BLOGGER Tamara Baranova

The key to anything you do with social media is consistency. If you start a blog – you need to use it regularly. If you register a Twitter account you need to tweet every day. New tweets mean more content, more keywords for SEO, more links to share, more traffic to your website. You will be able to give your followers a very good idea about what you do, how you can help them, why they should keep following you or – even better – give you their business.

Every day, a few times per day, you need to send your message through on Twitter. Many people who start using Twitter often wonder first – what can I tweet about? Surely no one will be interested in finding out about what I had for dinner or about my friend’s party?

To be successful with Twitter you need to use a combination of tweets every day: personal, broadcast and business.
• Personal tweets are about you, your daily activities, meetings, things you like – they help people to understand what kind of person you are, to know and like you.
• Broadcast tweets are your blog posts, links to useful articles and blogs by others, news, resources etc. These posts will help you to be re-tweeted more and reach new followers. Good quotes by well-knows business gurus are another source of broadcast messages.
• Business tweets can be mini case studies, testimonials (especially if your customer can original a tweet and tag you in it!), your services – “mild” selling of you and what you do. This helps others to understand more about your business and your expertise.

The Don’ts of Twitter messaging are:
• Don’t spam people with repetitive messages of little value.
• Check your spelling – although messages are short don’t use SMS slang.
• Make sure your links are working – it’s embarrassing and annoying for your followers if they retweet your message which has a broken link (almost like recommending you and you failing to provide a good service).
• Don’t overshare – be careful about what you say. It may seem personal but remember that all public tweets are indexed by Google and you never know who could end up reading your tweets. If you are not happy for your customer to see it – don’t publish it.

And the most important part of tweeting is connecting with others. That includes replying to messages (@ mentions), RT-ing others, thanking for RT’s of your posts, asking questions, replying to questions asked by your followers. This helps you to build relationships with your followers.

It doesn’t take too much time to use Twitter every day – 10 to 15 minutes to start with and about 30 minutes once your following grows near or over 1000. There are applications available (most are free) which can automate and assist with the process. We recommend trying HootSuite, SocialOomph, UberTwitter and Listwatcher. To find interesting broadcast tweets you can search AllTops, Mashable and follow tweeters who broadcast content that you like.

Tamara Baranova is the managing partner in TJConsulting Virtual Assistant specialising in social media marketing and social media optimisation for small businesses.

By Simon Wittenberg

When most people thought that live was going to get easier with the emergence of the country from recession, motorists should think again. Fuel prices are edging ever closer to £1.20 a litre across the majority of forecourts, levels not seen since the summer of 2008, when oil prices reached a peak of $147 per barrel. The ironic factor this time, is that the cost of oil is nowhere near this, and is hovering around the $80 mark, but instead it is the wholesale price of petrol which is to blame which has risen by 17% during the last 4 weeks. This is not the end of the story though, and could get a lot worse for drivers, depending on what happens next…

There is an ever increasing lobbying exercise to try and persuade the government to postpone the planned 3p rise in fuel duty on 01 April which would save 20,000 jobs according to the haulage industry in the UK. This comes only three months after the government has pocketed an extra 2.5% from the VAT hike, so perhaps with the election coming up, there may be some rest bite to win the hearts of voters if Labour were to pull an early pre-election present out of the bag?

Something has to fill the gaping black hole in the country’s coffers others may argue, but let’s hope that the latest campaigns bear some fruit or alternatively we may have to join Boris in his quest to make Londoners consider battery power instead..Any thoughts?

By Simon Wittenberg

The five-month long wait for the 2010 F1 season is officially over today following the completion of the first practice session for Sunday’s race in Bahrain. Not what you would have expected, and it looks like the upsets could start early: Adrian Sutil has gone fastest for Force India, with Alonso the quickest out of the four world champions on the this year’s grid which confirms rumours that he is going to be a real contender for the title.

However, this year, it’s all going to be about fuel economy (mid-race refuelling has been banned for the first time in 17 years), and therefore with a full fuel-tank weighing 160kg, looking after tyres is going to be crucial. Pit stops are now only set to take around two seconds according to Christian Horner which means that we should see a lot more on-track action.

All the ingredients are there for what is set to be a truly exciting season: three new teams, new drivers, new engine supplier, new rules and 19 races. My money is on Ferrari or McLaren this season and will Button be able to open his account with another win at Sakhir on Sunday?

The team line-ups are:

McLaren Mercedes
Jenson Button (1) Lewis Hamilton (2)

Mercedes GP
Michael Schumacher (3) Nico Rosberg (4)

Red Bull-Renault
Sebastian Vettel (5) Mark Webber (6)

Ferrari
Felipe Massa (7) Fernando Alonso (8)

Williams-Cosworth
Rubens Barrichello (9) Nico Hulkenberg (10)

Renault
Robert Kubica (11) Vitraly Petrov (12)

Force India-Mercedes
Adrian Sutil (14) Vitantonio Liuzzi (15)

Toro Rosso-Ferrari
Sebastien Buemi (16) Jaime Algesuari (17)

Lotus-Cosworth
Jarno Trulli (18) Heikki Kovalainen (19)

Hispania Racing-Cosworth
Karun Chandhok (20) Bruno Senna (21)

BMW Sauber-Ferrari
Pedro de la Rosa (22) Kamui Kobayashi (23)

Virgin-Cosworth
Timo Glock (24) Lucas di Grassi (25)

By Simon Wittenberg

The London Eye, one of the Capital’s best PR assets, yesterday celebrated it’s 10th anniversary after opening on 09 March 2000. Since then, not only has it been visited by 36 million people, but has also played host to the launch of the Fiat 500 city car, and 433 weddings amongst the numerous champagne receptions. It only takes 28 minutes to capture a glimpse of what the city has to offer from the 32 capsules, and three quarters of visitors are from abroad which is set to rise with the weakening of the pound which has most recently dipped to below the $1.5 mark and is practically on a parity with the Euro, bar a few cents.

The London Eye was borne out of delay and debt, and was nearly shut down in 2005 because of a row over rental payments, but these sorts of achievements should be more celebrated amongst the doom and gloom which dominates the media. If we spend more time PR’ing what London does best, instead of focusing on the rising cost of living, then surely this will have a positive impact on the wider economy? Fancy a ride?

The Porsche 918 Spyder

By Simon Wittenberg

With over 250 exhibitors from 30 countries, and 100 fantastic car premieres, this year’s Geneva Motor Show certainly produced one of the biggest spectacles for a decade, and the 80th edition of the salon proved far from disappointing. With the ever growing pressure on manufacturers to go green, hybrids were dominant across the show. One of the most publicised concepts has been the stunning Porsche 918 Spyder concept which is powered by a pair of electric motors and a 500-horsepower V8 engine which can catapult the car to 62 mph in 3.2 seconds, whilst getting an amazing 78 miles per gallon, and emitting a mere 70 grams of CO2 per kilometre. Also, playing the green game was Lotus with their 414e Evora Hybrid, and is apparently very close to being production feasible.

As always, Aston Martin grabbed the attention with a limited-edition, purple-black DBS Volante personally specced by Ulrich Bez, but equally showed how city driving can be done in style courtesy of the Cygnet where prices will start from £30,000. However, for those wanting to get behind the wheel, they will have to start queuing behind existing customers of the Gaydon marque.

Other highlights included the long-awaited Suzuki Kizashi (only for the Swiss market), three new Kia vehicles, the MINI Countryman, and the latest Nissan Micra, whilst the higher end Infiniti came up trumps with the new M saloon and limited edition FX. For any car enthusiast, this year’s spectacle is not to be missed, and definitely worth the trip over to Switzerland for a taste of glamour and fondue.