Ten things we learned this week: 3 February 2017 edition

Yes, Beyonce expecting twins is not exactly the sort of news you’d expect to find on TopGear.com. But it’s how Queen B chose to announce the news that has our attention. 

It’s not often that we’re lost for words, but… well, it’s a pregnant pop star on a Porsche 914 that’s been turned into a planter box. Anything we say can not do any justice to the sheer absurdity and ‘because I can’ mentality that’s going on here. 

At some point, as she posed for what’s basically a trippy album cover atop a Porsche 914, she must have thought, “Wait, this is weird.”

“Why am I on a poxy 914 when I could have had a 911?”

And the bigger question we have is this – did she just have a 914 laying around, or was it ordered in specially for the announcement?

In any case, the photo is up on Beyonce’s website under the banner ‘I HAVE THREE HEARTS’, which we assume means twins and not some unearthly genetic defect.

Alright, it's no Porsche plant pot. But yes, a Ferrari 250 Pininfarina coupe was found, sitting in a Hollywood apartment. And not a large one, either – the classic Italian coupe was set up on jacks in a one-bedroom flat.

It was also undergoing restoration, which must have been a treat for the owner’s neighbours.  

A Californian lawyer heard a rumour about “an old car in this building”. And, wouldn’t you know it, it’s a basically priceless Ferrari 250. 

So how did it end up in there? Well, apparently the previous owner (quite rightly) thought that LA was a bit of a rough-and-tumble place, so he cut open a section of the wall of an apartment he owned and hinged the cut-out section like a garage door. He then put the Ferrari in the dining room and sealed the door again. As you do.

Check out the thoroughly weird saga over at Petrolicious.

Photo: Petrolicious / Ted Gushue

The 2017 F1 grid won’t feature the blue and red back markers of the 2016 season, after no one stepped up to buy the team.

Manor’s parent company went bust last year – partly thanks to an 11th place in the constructor’s championship, which meant no prize money to use for this year’s season. 

Manor was born when the unsuccessful and underfunded Marussia team entered administration in 2015, but it seems that the end is permanent this time. 

So, just 10 teams are left in F1 2017. We didn’t realise it was Battle Royale rules…

UK-based company Quickco set out to find data from the 193 countries whose citizens are actually allowed access to the internet and to Google. They say that in certain countries, Google isn’t the biggest search provider (like in China, where it’s probably still Baidu), but, in our minds at least, it’s probably still a fair assumption that they’re looking up similar things regardless of their chosen search engine. 

Across 74 countries, including Australia, the US and China, Toyota was the most-searched brand. On Toyota’s home turf in Japan, however, BMW was the most looked-up. Similarly, in South Korea, BMW was the most-searched car company. You’d have to go as far afield as Russia, India or Peru for Hyundai to reach an overwhelming popularity. 

Fiat, unsurprisingly, is Italy’s first choice, Renault is France’s and Volvo is Sweden’s. The Danes love Peugeots, Finns love Mercs and Nigeriens (not to be confused with Nigerians) look up Bugatti more than any other manufacturer.

Check out the high-res version here for the full run-down. 

To be honest, this isn’t entirely surprising. Computers don’t get upset (HAL9000 and SkyNet notwithstanding) and they don’t make compromised decisions. Unlike the fleshy bipedal creatures that created them.

A study by the University of Southampton shows that retaking control of an autonomous car is a particular weak spot, with study participants taking up to 25.7 seconds to “take control from automation.” 

Of course, some of the 26 men and women studied were distracted at the time, but it’s worth pointing out that the autonomous car future is usually advertised with pictures of smiling men in suits reading and enjoying a cup of coffee. If that’s not distracted, we don’t know what is.

It just seems like something from The Phantom Menace, doesn’t it? Not that we’re drawing any parallels between Elon Musk and the dark side.

In fact, this competition is more a combination of University Challenge and The Right Stuff, with 27 teams competing to design and build the best Hyperloop transportation pod. And this isn’t some bush league competition, either – the best pods were run in the actual Hyperloop test tunnel at SpaceX headquarters. 

The winner? The Delft University of Technology team, with a carbonfibre pod that’s 4.5 metres long, a metre high and 149kg. On the short test track, it hit 56mph, but it’s apparently capable of 745mph on a long enough Hyperloop.

Fairly famous designer Pininfarina is designing a car for F1 champion and two-time Indy 500 winner Fittipaldi, and you’ll be able to drive it. Kind of. 

It’s apparently going to be a part of the upcoming Gran Turismo game, which might be why it’s called the ‘EF7 Vision Gran Turismo’. 

It’ll debut in the metal at the Geneva Motor Show, the first to emerge from Fittipaldi Motors. 

We could see ourselves driving a Fittipaldi, especially if it had a racing carbon chassis and was called the Mangusta or the Serpente.

Malaysia’s a big producer of rubber, and falling prices on the commodity market mean that the government is looking for ways to prop up the industry. So what’s the solution? Rubber-asphalt roads, apparently.

We’re told that rubber-infused roads are about 16 per cent more expensive than straight bitumen, but they’re also more durable and resistant to cracking. 

And, in the dry at least, they should be grippier, like the racing line on race tracks. Happy days, indeed.

Photo: Two Hundred Percent

What you’re looking at is apparently the first all-electric hearse in the UK. And, while it may not be quite as dignified as the coach-built Jaguar, it certainly has better eco-credentials. 

You could argue the environmental impact of internal combustion versus lithium battery production until you find yourself in a casket, but the question remains: would you like your last ever trip on the road to be in a Nissan Leaf?

Rather than try to build its own ridesharing network, Mercedes’ parent company Daimler has struck a deal with Uber to pair autonomous Mercedes-Benzes with Uber’s driving routes.

So, your next lift to the airport will definitely still come from someone with a heartbeat (unless something disastrous happens en route), but consider a future where you book a lift, get in a near-silent electric Mercedes, and get out the other end without an iota of human contact...