Ben Barry

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Results 1 - 10 of 54

The ultimate car geek tour: we go inside Ferrari

3.5

Ben Barry, 09 May 2013 16:00

Tues, 7 May. 9.30pm After a flight out of Heathrow and a bewildering detour on a bus, we finally arrive in Maranello for a late dinner at the Museo Ferrari. There's bags of interesting stuff here, but the 288 GTO-based GTO Evoluzione [left] catches my eye - it never raced, but fed into the F40 project – as does the F40 Competizione, ...

Why a new 2013 BMW M5 costs less than a used one

4.5

Ben Barry, 21 February 2013 09:00

A new BMW M5 retails for £73,000, so it’s understandable if a would-be owner considers the secondhand options; BMW’s approved used scheme throws up plenty of year-old models for £55,000 or so, including my old longtermer . How is it, then, that the new car can be substantially cheaper than a pre-owned equivalent? Because of the vagaries of personal car ...

Stalking Kimi (CAR archive April 2010)

4.5

Ben Barry, 16 August 2012 09:30

This feels wrong. We’ve only just arrived at Färjestad – venue for the Super Special Stage that kicks off Rally Sweden – yet in a few seconds I’ll be standing next to Kimi Räikkönen, one-time F1 world champion, now full-time rally driver – the only F1 driver ever to make such a full-time switch. We’ve sneaked in to an autograph ...

Ben Barry's Caterham Seven drift day blog

Ben Barry, 10 July 2012 09:17

A couple of months back I was lucky enough to drive the Caterham SP300R, a slicks and wings racer that bridges the gulf between a Caterham 7 and an F1 car. But before I was allowed to drive the SP300R on track, Caterham sent me out in a 7 to get a feel for things. Truth be told, I haven’t ...

Vauxhall Astra GTE: Ben Barry on his first hot hatch

4.5

Ben Barry, 18 June 2012 11:12

Last year, my parents’ home caught fire. No-one died or anything, and the fire brigade caught the blaze before the whole place burned down, but there was some pretty significant damage, so my folks took the decision to gut the house and start again. This was a significant event for me, because I’d lived in that house since 1976 and, ...

Road rage and me: a personal view

Ben Barry, 16 May 2012 07:00

Some people will scoff at this, but I like to think of myself as a fair and considerate driver: I don’t undertake people, I don’t tailgate (okay, I sometimes give dodderers a gentle push out of the fast lane, and there’s another caveat below, but bear with me), I stick to my urban speed limits, and on motorways and dual ...

Driving the classics: Lotus Cortina (1965) CAR review

3.5

Ben Barry, 08 May 2012 13:31

We deal with new cars here at CAR Online, but every now and again an oldie captures our attention and we just have to go and drive it. The Mk1 1965 Lotus Cortina you see here ticks that box, especially within the current context and the recent drama at Hethel. I’ve known Paul Wankle from Classic Cars Ltd in Pleasanton, ...

The demise of lollipop ladies and what's replacing them

Ben Barry, 25 April 2012 11:37

Just round the corner from where I live, a lollipop lady used to turn out every morning and every afternoon to dodge speeders and shepherd primary-school children across the road. Then, a little while ago, she disappeared. I don’t mean she’s a missing person or anything bad like that, but our 30mph zone became a lollipop-lady-free zone overnight. For a ...

Subaru BRZ, Toyota GT86: not as drifty as you think

3.5

Ben Barry, 12 April 2012 07:02

Where Audi is intent on creating cars for market segments that don’t yet exist, the Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT86 sports coupe twins do almost the opposite: they have a market segment all to themselves – the £25k, rear-wheel drive sports coupe market – because everyone else has abandoned it. In decades gone by, young tearaways would have had their pick of ...

Korea: one of the great driving destinations?

Ben Barry, 29 March 2012 10:11

I’ve been to South Korea twice now for CAR with Kia and Hyundai, and each time it’s been an incredibly memorable experience, quite unlike anything I’ve ever experienced with car makers in America, Europe, Japan or Australia. So I thought I’d share a few iPhone snaps to give a taste of what it’s like, especially as the North seem to ...

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