Footdown
Happy Father's Day
Please don't drive on Father's Day tomorrow: the roads are greasy after the recent storms, and too many Hong Kong drivers still drive too fast and close in the wet. We also issue a soggy-leaf and hidden pothole alert for weekend bikers on rural roads.
If you must drive, you might head for Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui. Spend more than HK$200 in the mall's outlets and you get two hours' free parking - and, in the unlikely event of a clear, sunny day, a beautiful harbour view.
The Four Seasons Hotel in Central, meanwhile, is offering a 'test drive' of an Aston Martin Vantage V8 for fathers who book into its Caprice restaurant. 'There are still a small number of tables left for lunch, and if we have cancellations, Saturday [bookings] may not be too late,' says the hotel's director of public relations, Nicola Chilton. Do check table and test-drive availability in advance, on 3196 8860.
Volkswagen! What a wagon
Volkswagen dealer Harmony Motors is taking orders for the Passat 36 Variant, says spokesman Wilco Ng. At 'approximately HK$550,000', it's a potential monster of a car (right) with a boy racer's must- have 300-horsepower, 3.6-litre, six-cylinder FSI direct injection engine and that terrific direct shift gearbox. Equipped with 4Motion four-wheel drive, the Passat R36 outstrips every other Volkswagen in sprints to 100km/h, in 5.8 seconds. Conceived by Volkswagen Individual, the marque's fast-car specialists, the R36 succeeds the 241hp R32, based on the fourth-generation Golf of 2002, and then the 250bhp all-wheel drive version of the 2005 Golf V.
All the best
Finally, we wish racing drivers Matthew Marsh, Fabrizio de Simone and Carl Rosenblad, and sponsor Chen Ying every success in GPC Sport SRL's Bauhinia-roofed Ferrari 430GT at Le Mans this weekend.
