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Malaysia has been fortunate to be among the countries chosen to host the Hot Wheels Legends Tour. This is the world’s largest travelling car event which searches for a custom vehicle worthy of being immortalised as a 1:64 scale Hot Wheels die-cast vehicle.

In the past two years, one Malaysian entry has been picked for the Global Semi Finals and this year, the entry is most appropriate to represent the country: a customised 2015 Proton Suprima S. The car was built by William Chong, a trailer truck technician from Negeri Sembilan, who was among the 204 entries (a 25% increase over last year).

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Isuzu owners in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor have one more outlet where they can obtain full sales and aftersales support. The outlet is located along Jalan Jinjang Permai in the northern fringes of Kuala Lumpur and offers the full range of Isuzu models.

Operated by Autoexec Corporation, the 3S (sales service and spare parts) centre has a bolder and more vibrant façade with a distinctive logo tower, major elements in Isuzu Malaysia’s new retail outlet design.

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Before pick-up trucks were allowed for private registration, they were used only for business purposes, usually on construction sites of logging camps. Their main use was transporting things, so seating was needed just for the driver and an assistant. This made the single cab bodystyle more common than the double cab.

As private use of trucks grew and people took their families in them, the double cab became the more common version. The single cab was still around but of interest mainly to businessmen. As demand was low, some companies decided to stop offering the variants (in Malaysia).

However, Sime Darby Auto ConneXion (SDAC) has always included a single cab variant in its Ford Ranger range and with the new generation, this is also the case. While the Ranger Single Cab was not announced earlier, it is now added to the range in the form of the XL 4×4 Single Cab Manual variant.

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Ariel is a small British carmaker that makes the unusual Atom and open-framed Nomad cars since the early 2000s. The Atom began as a student university project which drew enough interest that it became commercialized. It uses a few different engines, including Honda’s VTEC engine, and typically weighs under 650 kgs.

Now the company is also going electric with a new sportscar called the HIPERCAR that has a radical body design with the chassis and subframes made of aluminium and body of carbonfibre to keep weight low. A fully operational prototype of the HIPERCAR (which stands for High Performance Carbon Reduction) has been completed and will form the basis for low volume production.

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Being kept informed and aware are very important elements when driving. In earlier years, the driver only had a few instruments to monitor and to make things easier, warning lights were used so they would only give an alert when something went wrong. Then with electronics and miniaturization increasing from the 1980s, more meters could be inserted on the instrument panel to monitor more areas.

However, many meters were still physical and the number that could be installed was limited. Some even went onto spaces on the dashboard so the driver had to look at two areas. Slowly, the amount of information grew, and there was also more emphasis on being aware of what was going on outside for safety. So the driver began to have a lot of information to view, absorb and process and unlike computers that kept increasing their processing power.

This led Volvo to develop IDIS – Intelligent Driver Information System – an approach which was introduced in the S40 in 2003. IDIS was to prevent information ‘overload’ so the driver would not be distracted while driving but still be alerted if there was something important relating to the car’s operation. The system worked by prioritizing the information and services in the car, depending on the current driving situation. If necessary, the system would delay information during times when the driver was in a situation of higher ‘workload’. However, information vital to safety was never delayed and even the delays were maximum 5 seconds.

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At the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, the start is like a drag race as the first turn is 800 metres away. So being in pole position, as Max Verstappen was, did not necessarily mean having a great advantage but he was not too concerned since his car had an edge over the Mercedes-AMG of George Russell on the straights anyway.

So on lights out, the Red Bull driver got ahead, with Russell and Lewis Hamilton getting in behind him. Verstappen’s team mate, Sergio Perez, was watching for an opportunity but with Russell in his line, he was impeded a bit. Nevertheless, he pushed on the second corner and Russell had to go wide (with what seemed like a slight contact) and got ahead to emerge third after the corner.

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