Volkswagen’s designers were faced with a tough challenge when they started the input of data and ideas into their CAD-CAM software in their quest to design a new Golf. Their brief couldn’t have been easy, but once summarised, it probably went something like this: "Make the Golf grow up, but don’t lose the sporty appeal our customers have so enjoyed for the past three decades, please."
Getting around our cities can be a real drag thanks to our over-congested roads, while finding parking once you’ve reached your destination can leave you frustrated. Those commuters who are casting their gaze toward owning a motorcycle instead of a car should consider Vespa’s new Granturismo 200L.
Whatever blows your hair back — well BMW’s ever-so-suave M3 convertible certainly did, and in less than 20 seconds, too. The beauty in this masterpiece from Bayrische Motorem Werke is not just swanning past your local News Café, which is bound to draw more than admiring glances. It is how the new ragtop does it without fuss.
It is the latest version of the imported American “high five.” But it is a rather sluggish kind of “high five” to be indulging in. In other words, there are not two players to play the game. It is a one-sided kind of slapping of the palms. This is because the opponent is in fact no longer even alive. He or she is a mere passive participant in the sport. This is how it strikes me as I read about the latest in a long line of human muti stories.
South Africa’s Olympic team arrive home from Athens on Tuesday morning carrying mixed emotions after an unforgettable experience in Greece. The 28th Olympiad produced heart-stopping moments of glory for the South Africans who won six medals, the most since the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
Hendrick Ramaala led a kamikaze pact among South Africa’s marathon men in the Olympic Marathon as the Athens Olympics drew to a dramatic close on Sunday over the route where the marathon was born. National record holder Gert Thys, who ran in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and Sydney 2000, was the only South African home in 2:16,08 for 16th, with Ramaala and Ian Syster having bailed out on the route from Marathon to Athens.
It began with a scandal in the sprints and ended with an ambush in the marathon. The first rocked the host nation. The second startled everyone else. All it proved is that for grand stages and stunning surprises, there is still nothing in sports quite like the Olympics.
Special Report: Olympic Games
Ronaldo got Real Madrid off to a winning start on Sunday thanks to an accurate assist from new signing Michael Owen, securing a 1-0 win over Mallorca in the Spanish league. In a late match on Sunday, FC Barcelona beat Racing de Santander 2-0 through a Ludovic Giuly tap-in and a controversial penalty by Samuel Eto’o.
Liverpool slumped to their first league defeat of the season on Sunday, surrendering a first-half goal to 1-0 at Bolton. On Saturday, Arsenal extended their record unbeaten run to 44 league matches with a 4-1 win at Norwich. Jose Antonio Reyes, Thierry Henry and Robert Pires each scored in the first half.