Brits love cabriolets/cool convertibles/8 girls in a Russian convertible/lorry pushes Clio at 60mph/N-Dubz go French chic

Summer is just around the corner, and there’s no better way to enjoy the British sunshine than with an nice convertible, and it appears we Brits love them. Research has shown that the UK is second only to Germany, as a western European nation, who loves a bit of top down action. So today we embrace the appreciation of all things convertible with a collection of cabrios, including a pimped out Roush Ford Mustang with scissor doors, a nice collection from the low-rider show in Phoenix, even this Moskvich video entitled ‘eight girls and a Russian convertible’ has its appeals... Maybe not this redneck convertible though, who’s ownere is trying to make it drift. If you’re in the market for a drop-top, then there’s quite a collection of new metal and canvas on the way, including the BMW 335i Cabrio, Mercedes E-Class cabriolet, Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible and the Renault Wind... Further down the line though there’s a new Mercedes SL on the way, here’s some spy footage of it being tested... And further still will be an Audi A1 cabriolet – here’s what it might look like. Onto other news now, and here’s a video that caught our eye, of a Renault Clio doing 60mph on the motorway, sideways... It’s being pushed by a lorry driver who’s completely unaware the French supermini is trapped in front of it... Speaking of Renault, most R&B artists tend to have pimped-out Bentley’s, Range Rover’s or the obligatory Caddy Escalade in their videos, but not N-Dubz who are going all ‘oo-la-la’ in their latest music video, using the Mégane Coupe-Concept, with its dramatic ‘dragonfly-wing’ double doors...

McLaren MP4-12C supercar launched today

McLaren is officially unveiling its new MP4-12C supercar today at its technical centre in Woking. We've got a live feed of the press conference from 10:30am GMT with a presentation from McLaren chairman Ron Dennis, as well as a few guests with rumours of a couple of Formula One drivers making an appearance... I wonder who that could be? Plus of course the global unveiling of the MP4-12C.

Fuel prices on the up/boosting fuel economy/dumb drivers at petrol stations/New Porsche 911/BMW 5 Series Touring

As any motorist will know, owning a car isn’t cheap, and it doesn't look like it's going to get any cheaper. The big news is the cost of fuel is set to rise even further in April when the government imposes a 3p per litre increase in fuel duty. So what can we do to boost our fuel economy and save a bob or two? Well, according to this video, dimples on a car can improve your MPG. So it appears that all you need to do is take a hammer and bash a few divets into your car... That's probably not going to help your resale value. If you don’t want to mess up your cars looks, and we seriously advise against it, here are some real-world fuel economy tips. All this talk of fuel costs going up begs the question, why is fuel so expensive in the first place? Well here’s a video we found explaining how fuel is made, and might answer some of your questions. As an add on, here’s a video called James Bond Eco-car, which has nothing to do with the 007 character, or petrol, but we like it and there's some nice CGi. So, with fuel being the talking point of the day, we thought we’d lift the mood with some clips of fuel-filling knuckleheads, starting with a bloke who forgets about his handbrake, and a woman who has a fight with a petrol pump... and loses. Finally, here's a motorist who isn't paying attention when entering a petrol station. We've also found a clip of a petrol station and an F1 driver, linking petrol with the start of the Formula One season...See, there’s a clip of almost everything out there... In other news, a new Porsche 911 is on the way and it’s been spied testing. There's also a new BMW 5 Series Touring around the corner too, here it is on the move. The premium estate goes on sale in September and boasts one of the biggest boots in its class. Engine-wise, there'll be the same choices as the saloon, with prices starting at £30,380.

Tougher drink-drive limit/Funny drunks/New Mayback/Barbie Fiat 500/Motorsport mania

It looks like the government is set to cut the drink-drive limit to less than a pint of beer or glass of wine. That’s definitely a good thing, although it might mean clips like this one, which we're calling 'shocking drunk-driver', could become a thing of the past. Here’s a clip of a driver who’s been stopped on suspicion of having too much to drink, but he gives the game away a little too easily. You’d have thought that being taken to the local nick would be a sobering experience... well not for this driver. We can guarantee a drink-driver themed video week will be coming soon, and this would have to make the final cut. Although it’s not a drunk-driver in charge of a car, a fork-lift truck counts... pure carnage...Onto more news and it looks like Maybach has released images of its face-lifted luxury saloon. As soon as footage becomes available we’ll bung it up on the site, in the meantime, here’s a video of some Maybach images put together in a Hartbeat stylee, plus a cool video on how to purchase a Maybach... Elsewhere, Fiat has announced a new convertible version to the 500 line-up, available in any colour, as long as it’s pink. Type in Fiat, 500, and pink into the internet, and you’ll get this – 1 Fiat 500, 131 bottles of pink nail varnish, four days, two hours and two minutes. I think you can see where this is going... In honour of the start of the 2010 Formula One World Championship, this week’s theme is... motorsport... (I don’t know how we think this stuff up) and of course we’ve got some real beauties for you, starting with a pit crew member who head butts the nose of an F1 car...

Panamera convertible/Makeshift convertibles/Unusual road signs

Gossip of the day, and it looks like Porsche is planning to make a convertible version of its Panamera luxury saloon. We’re not too sure about this, but it gave us some great opportunity to look for some footage of convertible cars, like these guys, who had a similar idea, turning their Datsun four-door into a drop-top. Not sure that’s structurally sound though. These guys had the same idea with a Fiat Uno. And I think we all know what happened when the chaps from Top Gear decided to turn a Renault Espace MPV into a convertible. Here’s a perfect example of when to keep the roof up on a roadster and a very good reason why you shouldn’t honk at an old woman, but to be fair, this isn’t just restricted to convertibles. Here’s something even Porsche hasn’t thought of, a redneck convertible with optional hammock... You have to see it to believe it. Honestly, some people have way too much time on their hands. In other news, Transport Minister Sadiq Khan has announced plans that all road works need to be clearly signed and meet strict rules. Perhaps if we could have road workers on the other side of the signs actually doing some work, that might help first. Anyway, in a bid to lighten the Friday mood, here’s some funny road signs some of which actually are real. Also how about this for someone who's not exactly firing on all cylinders. It's from Radio Merseyside and it involves a competition whereby callers have to answer the following question - Which European country drives on the left? Hilarity insues. And finally, never let a woman drive? That might be true for the previous video, but I don’t think I’ll be saying that to my other half, this clip is funny though, if rather un-PC...

Speed camera cashes in/Clamper gets clamped/Aston One-77/Supercar 'name that tune'

It’s been reported that an M6 speed camera has brought in over £160,000 in fines in just five weeks. The camera, which was installed during road works between junction 43 and 44 on the M6, has captured over 5,500 motorists busting the speed limit. Who said speed cameras weren’t a cash-cow? Which brings us onto a speeders special, featuring, the guy who throws a fit after getting a ticket, tips on how to avoid getting a ticket, an irate speeder who takes things a little too far, a speeder who gets tazered and a cop who accidentally tazers himself. Onto other news, and it's a good day for anyone who doesn’t like clampers, which is pretty much everyone - even clampers mums. Traffic wardens in Southend, Essex clamped and towed a private wheel-clamping firm after spotting it on the road without a valid road tax disc. We would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that one. Fortunately there’s no shortage of videos of clampers getting their comeuppance, like this and this. But should you get clamped here’s two ways of dealing with it, driving with the clamp still attached (not advised) or take an electric cutter to the clamp, (also not advised). Meanwhile, yesterday we reported about calls for level crossing questions to appear on the driving test, do doubt to avoid this, or this. Well one motorist has escaped a driving bad after being caught playing chicken with a train near Newcastle. Onto new cars now, and the Aston Martin One-77 is one of the most eagerly awaited supercars of the year, here it is on the move. Sticking with supercars, if you fancy a game of name that tune, but with supercars, then check out this clip of a selection of supercars driving around London. I think I got about four right... Don't forget to check out our cool car chase of the week, a true classic.

Railway crossing carnage/Audi RS5/Mini-mania/More woe for Toyota

There’s a lot of talk in the press today about the Network Rail chief calling for level-crossing questions to be included in the driving test. I mean really, how hard can it be??? lights start flashing, and you stop, simples. Clearly those instructions are a little taxing for this bunch of wreckless motorists. Most of the footage we found were close calls, like this, or this, not to mention this lucky Reliant Robin driver. But then there were a few clips we found of lorries taking on trains, and they didn’t come off well. Clearly this truck driver wasn’t paying attention, while this one did the sensible thing and started running...Pure carnage... In other news, rumours are rife about BMW producing a front-wheel-drive supermini. Why? don’t they already have one? Looks like the Germans want to out-Mini the Mini, which links us perfectly to today’s car chase of the day – a classic trio of Minis. And for Mini fans out there, here’s Mini stunt driver Russ Swift doing his thang. We can’t imagine him doing that while parking in London though, although it makes us realise why we love the dinky supermini so much. Elsewhere, the Audi RS5 was one of the stars of the Audi stand at the Geneva Motor Show and looks set to prise sales away from the BMW M3... So far we’ve only seen statics of it at the show, but here it is on the move. More bad news for Toyota, this time from the US, after one Prius owner had to call the police to help him stop after his accelerator pedal jammed open. Let’s hope he was using hands free. In response, here’s an advice piece on what to do if your accelerator pedal gets stuck... And here’s another one. It's not all doom and gloom though being a Toyota owner, here's a couple of clips that might cheer you up though... Plus this cool Toyota iQ advert. Don’t forget to check out the latest vid to go up from out Geneva coverage, the Bentley Continental Supersports convertible.

Eco Porsche/Eco Nissan/Eco Tom Hanks/Not so eco 2,000hp streetcar/Caravans go wrong/Bad ambulance

There’s no question the star of the Geneva motor show was the stunning Porsche 918 Spyder eco-concept, and here's Loui giving a rundown on the facts. If you'd prefer to see it on the go, then we've tracked down some footage of that too... Following close behind on the star stakes at the Swiss car show was this, the two-seater, coupe-roadster from Renault, called Wind. We’re not too sure about the name, you’ve no idea how many fart puns we were going to use, but we reckon it’ll be a big hit when it lets rip in the summer. Sorry. Keeping with the Geneva motor show, and yesterday we launched our report of the new Nissan Micra, which made its World debut last week. But if it's more 'eco' you're after, here’s some footage of the Leaf, Nissan’s ‘affordable’ zer0-emissions family car which was also on show. It's the sort of car Hollywood a-lister Tom Hanks might be interested in. He's a big fan of planet-friendly transportation, so much so that here he is giving a low budget presentation on his electric Toyota Rav 4, or as Tom calls it, the R-A-V four. Sticking with the eco-theme, yesterday we showed you some footage of the Audi A1 e-tron, an environmentally-friendly premium supermini, well here’s a video of its more stylish performance coupe cousin on the go, the e-tron concept car. If you feel tainted by all this environmentalism, then worry not, there's some dirt on the way, in the form of a 2,200hp, 9.3-litre, street-legal road car that does 0-60mph in a claimed one second. Anyway, enough of this talk about which cars are environmentlally friendly, and which car aren’t. In a complete change of topic, here’s an elephant washing a car. We have to admit here on Smoked out, we’ve been a bit remiss. We had no idea there were so many funny videos of caravans on the internet. Here’s one classic clip of someone trying to fit a round peg in a square hole, but with a caravan. Then there’s this clip, which shows the importance of having a reliable car to tow your caravan, especially when going up a hill. Need we say more? And finally, this clip might be a bit tenuous but here’s an ambulance you don’t want a lift in. Till tomorrow.

Planets worst gas-guzzing cars/eco cars in LA/Cartoon motor show/Theme of the week: car chases

A week after the Geneva Motor Show, and there isn’t much going on in the car world, so we’ve tracked down a video of the planets worst gas-guzzling cars . Now, in another video, Arnold ‘I’ll be back’ Schwarzeneggar is trying to show off his green side by welcoming some alternative fuel cars to LA. Lets’s hope he left his collection of Hummers at home. Elsewhere we found a video feature on micro-cars... One of these for London driving would come in very useful indeed. Now the Geneva Motor Show might be last week’s news but heres an old school cartoon looking at auto shows. It makes for interesting viewing. The cool video theme this week is cool car chases, and we’ve found some real beauties, starting with a classic Aston Martin DBS chase. If you liked our crashed supercars theme last week, then we’ve got a whole load more on our crashed exotics page. We dread to think how much this lot cost to repair... As for Geneva here’s some videos we’ve put together, starting with the new Audi Supermini, badged the A1. Sticking with superminis, here’s the next generation Nissan Micra, which will be costing probably around five grand less than the Audi. Looking to the future, and here’s a nifty concept from Honda, called the 3 R-C which solves the problem of inner city commuting, beautifully. And smoked out, wouldn’t be smoked out without a convertible supercar, so say hello to the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible. Don’t forget to keep up to date with all our Geneva Motor Show videos.

Geneva video update

Guest presenter Loui Batley has been in to our studio to record the extras for the Geneva show. Time to crack on with the edits... Will keep you updated with our progress...

Geneva Motor Show Special

Morning everyone from Geneva. We're here for one of the biggest events on the motoring calendar and will be bringing you some of the highlights from the show. So stay tuned for all the latest news...