Seeking sanctuary

Career women are using their cars as a personal sanctuary to escape the pressure of work, says a report from America. A survey by Yankelovich Partners and Unilever found that 92 per cent of women regularly ate in their cars, 72 per cent applied makeup and 65 per cent did their hair. The survey backs up one of Auckland's unwritten road rules: real Auckland women drivers can apply eye makeup at 75 km/h in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Mini movers

Two new Mini Coopers were spotted on the Auckland wharf the other day. One was later sitting on a car transporter parked outside Newmarket Volkswagen dealer Continental Car Services. Our spy reckons that VW Beetle salesmen were getting a sneak preview of the born-again rival. Meanwhile, the dealer network in New Zealand for the mini will be called Team Mini. Showrooms will be set up in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The new model will be on show at Big Boys' Toys in Auckland next month and will go on sale next year.

Eco-powered

A Melbourne family is the first in this part of the world to buy the green Toyota Prius, the thrifty petrol-electric sedan. Environmental lawyer Arnold Dix and his wife Dr Karen Beckman said: "We aren't going to change the world but we wanted to set an example to our children." The Prius costs $A39,990 ($48,800) in Australia and Toyota expects to sell about 30 a month, mostly to fleets and state governments. The Prius is powered by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine in tandem with a 33kW electric motor/generator. Around town it uses less than five litres of petrol for every 100km. Toyota New Zealand has been testing the Prius for the past two years.

Carmakers grounded

Carmakers are cutting back on the time their executives spend in the air since the terrorist attacks in the United States. Nissan is reported to have banned overseas travel by its executives. Honda says it has stopped all but the most urgent business trips to America. Another report out of Europe says that London-based Wolfgang Reitzle, former BMW bigwig and now boss of Ford's Premier Automotive Group (Jaguar, Aston Martin, Range Rover, Volvo, Lincoln), has simply stopped flying. He is using a video-conference system to talk to headquarters in Detroit.

Bathurst reminiscences

Holden has won Bathurst six times and Ford once since the 1000km Mt Panorama endurance race was reduced to a two-make contest in 1995. Next year it might be seven and one, or six and two ... who's counting? Some people miss the old format, run between 1963 and 1995. Back then, Mum's runabout four-cylinder or Dad's six-cylinder company car mixed it with the V8s round the mountain. Closest thing to the old format these days is the Saturday Two-Hour Showroom Showdown, a race for near-production cars. The other day it attracted 12 makes, 23 models and 48 entries. Drivers included Aussies John Bowe and Cameron McConville and New Zealanders Craig Baird and Chris Dunn.

No easy laps

Bathurst winner Mark Scaife paid tribute to the Mt Panorama circuit: "It really is one of the best tracks in the world. It's unforgiving, it's fast, it breaks cars and we only drive there once a year. Every corner is exhilarating and if you make a mistake you'll hit a concrete barrier. At the end of each lap you say 'phew' and start thinking about the next one. There is no such thing as an easy lap. You can't even rest on the main straight because you're doing almost 300 km/h." Scaife, who exercises between 12 and 15 hours a week to keep fit, said the physical demands of such a race were enormous.

"The cars have power steering, but the loads are so heavy your arms and hands can be aching by the end of the day if you don't do the preparation. We do 40 gear-changes a lap and there's 161 laps. You do the sums."

We are the world

* It's Absolutely Fabulous - or that's what the auctioneer is saying. British actress Joanne Lumley is asking for bids on the web on her 1986 Ferrari 328 GTS. It has 72,000km on the clock and is said to be in good condition.