The peoples' democratic blog of Matt Hayward

Yes I’m a huge Bon Scott fan. No I’m not a big Brian Johnson fan. After reading this book though, there’s probably no one else in the world I’d rather have a beer with. In much the same vein as the Top Gear guys put out books of their newspaper columns, this book is short [...]

The other week I was trundling through the tourist thoroughfare of The Rocks in Sydney. Basically looking at a bunch of tourist crap wondering why I was there in the first place. Then something grabbed me:
Dream Car
71 LT Celica – 13B Turbo
42mm waste gate  – shod with 305/28/18 (?)
plenty o poke – jaw dropper – [...]

Renting a car is a lucky dip. Then again I was never a fan of lucky dips. So when promised with a Hyundai Getz “or similar” on a recent trip, my expectations weren’t high. Lo and behold, when the car arrived at the rental desk, it was a Suzuki Swift! Things were starting to look [...]

With a title like this, it’s worth pointing out that Dave Gorman is a British comedian, not a Conservative polly. Or even worse, Max Mosley. It also happens to be a great road trip documentary. As if a cross-country road trip in a foreign country wasn’t enough of trial by fire, he vows not to [...]

Only a pragmatist could love a Porsche, pure and simple. Some are born so pragmatic that even as a small boy, a Lamborghini or a Ferrari is just not practical enough. In the words of Jeremy Clarkson in his Top Gear editorial, Porsches are for people who were caught masturbating as children. Well to elaborate [...]

On my most recent jaunt overseas, I decided to stock up on reading material for several bus and plane rides. Wouldn’t you know it, there’s a Malaysian version of Top Gear -the April 2009 edition as it goes. After all it’s all basically the same content right, with a few local contributions? All was looking [...]

Forgive me father of forced induction for I have sinned. There’s only one car in the world I truly covet. It’s the Mazda RX8. No father, it’s not that I have set my aspirations too low, or lowered my expectations. I do love Lamborghinis and Aston Martins. But there is no other car out there [...]

Top Gear is in Jeremy Clarkson’s own words a true boys’ own adventure. It’s a show that captures the hopes and dreams of all red blooded men in the same way books and radio serials used to in the olden days. And in a way that hasn’t captivated the masses since the days of crystal [...]

A few months back I wrote about this documentary on Ozsploitation movies. It was to my mind the most surprising and best documentary of 2008, opening your eyes to a genre of seventies and eighties drive in flicks I never knew existed. Well great news! Not only is the doco itself available on DVD, with [...]

Well if you don’t know who Tommy Chong of the legendary comedy duo Cheech and Chong is, good luck to you. You suck. Much like the Toyota Prius does. And people apparently agree with me. Not only is the Prius recently announced the seventh least stolen car in the US of 2008, it looks like [...]