The good oil: All eyes on Formula One

A handful of heavyweights from the West McLaren Mercedes Formula One team will be in Auckland next Wednesday night at what used to be quaintly called a film evening. These days it's called an audio-visual and in this case takes a behind-the-scenes look at Formula One racing. The Bruce McLaren Trust and Giltrap Group are hosting the presentation at Coutts Cars in Newmarket. Tickets are $15. Procrastinators and late starters can phone 529 3888 for details.

Cop this lot


British copper and anti-speed zealot Assistant Commissioner Paul Manning enjoys a high profile, certainly since insisting publicly that motorists caught even doing 2km/h over the limit should be fined and lose their licences. His profile grew even more the other day when he was nicked doing 43 mph (70 km/h) in a 40 mph (65 km/h) zone. He fell back on an excuse the average motorist he so wants to regulate often uses: "The camera may say 43 mph, but I know we were doing 40 mph."

Datsun, the son of Dat


The Japanese car industry has come a long way since the Second World War. Most modern Japanese car companies had their origins in the 1930s. A cork-making company called Toyo Kogyo launched its first car back then, naming it after the Zoroastrian god of truth and light, Mazda. Nissan bought a company called DAT, which had built a three-wheeler car in 1934, and thereafter called its cars "son of DAT," or Datsun. Toyota was up and running too, like other carmakers, tooling for war production. But after the war, with Japan in ruins, car assembly took a long time to resume. Many companies kick-started production with often sloppy replicas of European cars. In the early 50s, with the Korean War and the spread of Communism, Japan was strategically vital to America. Its economy grew and in 1960 it exported 10,000 cars. Thereafter it revolutionised car assembly, pioneering ways to produce cars that were cheaper, better built and more reliable than those from America or Europe. Surveys today say nothing has changed.

The women's vroom

It's no surprise that the Sony PlayStation is just as popular with females as it is with males - and its biggest female audience is in New Zealand. For what it's worth, 21.6 per cent of players here are females. The fact that one in five New Zealand homes has a PlayStation might go some way to explaining the female fascination. For the record, Sony has sold 230,000 PlayStation consoles in New Zealand in four years. The best-selling game is Gran Turismo. Worldwide, since its launch in Japan in December 1994, it has sold 50 million consoles and 350 million games.

We are the world


* Formula One team boss Frank Williams once promised Jackie Stewart that if the Stewart team ever won a grand prix, he would wear a pair of Scottish tartan trousers at the next race. Williams honoured the bet at the Malaysian GP. But he didn't expect Stewart to tell every photographer about it.

* A massive pile-up in Holland caused more than 50 injuries - and it had nothing to do with cars. It happened on a car-less day when a bloke on rollerblades tripped on a cycleway and sparked a massive tumble of humans on skates and bikes.