Here's Mr. Stefan 'Titanium Knackers' Roser in an RUF Porsche 'Yellowbird', lapping the fearsome Nurburgring Nordschleife in a fashion somewhat at odds with the Highway Code:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAnMFhFMWAY

http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/news/150mph-bike-held-bootlace/article-774516-detail/article.html

This maniac won't be on the road for a while, although personally I'd rather his licence was pulled permanently.

Here's some footage that really made my eyes boggle a fair bit. This is footage of four Royal Marine Commandos in Afghanistan being flown into action to rescue a fallen Commando. The big difference being that they flew while sat on the stub wings of Apache helicopter gunships, landed while under heavy fire, and still managed to collect the body of their comrade without losing a man.

An amazing mission, IMHO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6qHcd4imKk&p=E3CC461323283FFC&playnext=1&index=10

And, on an entirely unrelated (and distinctly eye-watering) note, here's what happened to an American soldier who (somewhat unwisely) agreed to assist his so-called mates in the testing of a pneumatic air cannon. Somehow, I think those mates will find him rather less helpful in future:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECL-bsIPyaU

Speaking of Spitfires, when this Tv presenter told the pilot of this Spitfire to 'Just give us a low pass so we can have a decent camera angle' I don't think he meant quite this low or this fast.

Should a pilot really be making high speed passes at this altitude (or lack thereof)?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik0iBjHUCXM

Here's some footage of the French GP of 1961, held on the frighteningly fast (and especially dangerous) old street circuit at Reims. It was won by Italian driver Giancarlo Baghetti, who is still the only driver to have won a World Championship GP on his debut (although Tony Brooks, whom I respect enormously, won the non-championship GP at Syracuse on the island of Sicily in 1954 which was also the first time a British driver, driving a British car (a Connaught) won a GP since Sir Henry Seagrave won one in 1924.

Prepare to go back to a time when drivers were legends, cars were things of beauty and anyone who raced for a living could be easily spotted by the strange clanking sound they made when they walked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpyEfAdLQYc&feature=fvw

*Adopts voice of TV continuity announcer*

'And now, from the very farthest reaches of the human insanity spectrum, here are some complete maniacs who think it's an absolutely brilliant idea to put on fireproof suits and breathing gear, then abseil down into the crater of a live volcano. While that volcano just happens to be fully erupting...'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtGT-_7XoaI

The Green Hell.

Without doubt, simply the biggest, baddest, scariest racing circuit on the entire planet. Nothing compares to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Xa-xUcjhM

Greetings, fellow citizens of this fair realm.

I've been doing Le Mans now since 1999 and, with one exception, every visit I've made has been on foot carrying whatever I need on my back. I've got a route there and back that's fairly simple and that I know and like and I've got a clear idea of what I need to take.

For next year, I'm giving serious consideration to, shock horror, giving the Holiest of Holies that is the 24 Hours a miss and going instead to the Nurburgring 24 Hours (hopefully before the German Green Party have the Nordschleife turned into a cycle path or something equally appalling). I've always wanted to visit the infamous 'Ring, pootle round it in one of the Ring Taxi's and so on, but as I don't have a car or a driver's licence (medical reasons) I'll also have to be doing a trip to the 'Ring on foot.

Any advice for a Nurburgring Newbie who'll be carrying the world on his shoulders from Plymouth to Nurburg and back?

Personally, given Schumacher's established history of deliberately taking other drivers off the track when it suits him (Damon Hill) and trying to but not succeeding (Jacques Villeneuve), I'd prefer to see him permanently barred from racing, not only in F1 but in any other kind as well. He's not just a serial cheat, but he's also a dangerous serial cheat and now a proven menace to anyone who happens to be in his way.

With the Barrichello incident, MS wasn't even defending a point-scoring position, he wasn't going to win the race and he's never been in contention for the championship, which makes his actions all the more reckless and irresponsible. If he is allowed to continue getting away with stunts like this with only a slap on the wrist then what is currently a relatively uncommon occurrence is likely to spread because other drivers may well think that MS getting away with it means they can as well.

It's time the FIA made an example of him, revoked his race licence and stopped him driving completely, as far as I'm concerned.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=140&t=873833&mid=0&i=0&nmt=XK120%20banger%20racing!&mid=0

Yep folks, this comes from our friends at Pistonheads and the photographs (showing a sevrely battered XK150) would be enough to have any car enthusiast positively cheebling with ill-suppressed rage and horror.

I would humbly submit that being dragged through the streets and then publicly burned is the only way to deal with such individuals.

I've been planning my trip since November last year and haven't been to La Sarthe since 2007 so I'm well up for it. All that's left for me to do is finish packing, change some money, book a cab to the ferry terminal (I live in Plymouth, which is convenient) and I'm sorted.

Can't wait to get going, personally. I leave next Tuesday and fully intend to have a great one.

Let a thousand Beermountains bloom!

Mike Conway came of this with a leg injury, but has since been discharged from hospital and is on the mend. This is an absolutely massive shunt and I'm glad he came out of it as well as he did. It certainly makes an excellent case for the much-disliked catch fencing on racetracks nowadays, in my humble opinion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4CCWoF-DCU

Nice one, Lawnmower Man. I'm currently listening to the ALMS Series race at Laguna Seca while surfing the net and this will be especially helpful to me as I'm footslogging to Le Mans again.

Actually, I've reconsidered.

The Stalwart would be cool, but an SAS 'Pink Panther' Land Rover would be the talk of the campsites and also carry some high velocity pikey deterrents: