Are you ardent a driver as you are a football fanatic? Bad.

A recent study, which was commissioned by esure Car Insurance and carried out by scientists at TTE Systems Ltd at the University of Leicester, reveals that listening to a football game on the radio while driving can heighten the possibility of a car crash.

According to the report, the excitement of the game, especially the goals, can be a form of distraction to drivers. Such normally results to motorists wanting to increase their speed on the road, which leads to hazardous on-road mishaps.

To date, there are around two million drivers confirming this theory.

And so, if you find yourself a direct target of the study, better equip your ride with the necessary auto parts and accessories that can enhance your safety on the road as soon as possible.

This just shows that customization isn’t just for the show, but also for matters serious as life and death.

Something’s brewing in Europe. It’s the type that makes engines pump paint and blood at the same time. It’s surreal, it’s big, and it’s coming to get you. It’s the Bottrop Kustom Kulture 2009!

Mark your calendars, mate. If it’s total Kustom Kulture domination you’re after—the hot rods, the Kustom cars, the big bikes, the mindfuck artists from all over the globe—then we’ll see you in Bottrop come June 5.

Be prepared.

Designers are once again urged to spill their creative juices to draft innovative auto designs as Michelin Challenge Design (MCD), which is on its eight year, mounts its 2010 leg.

Participants are tasked to design passenger cars that adhere to the theme “Electrifying, Beautiful, Innovative and Radiant,” which tries to echo the emergence of various novel technologies in the creation of electric vehicles.

The cars to be entered in the competition should feature an alternative powertrain with one or more electric-driven components, and should be presented “in new and unprecedented ways.”

Moreover, said cars should not just embody customer satisfaction but should also enhance energy efficiency and be environmental-friendly. Additional consideration will be given to entries that include a separate rendering of the tire and wheel component assembly.

Upon completing the online questionnaire, which is available until April 15, entrants are asked to submit photographs, drawings, and/or computer-generated images of their transportation designs, which shall be accompanied by a 50-100 word overview statement explaining how such proposals will meet the Michelin Challenge Design theme requirements.

For more information, log on to: http://www.michelinchallengedesign.com/.

You know those moments when you feel your heart just stopped beating? Or is about to burst? Behold.

Thanks to the confirmation of Citroen’s product czar Vincent Besson, we will not be seeing the Citroen GT supercar concept only in the virtual realm of the video game Gran Turismo 5; it will actually be put to a limited run, “possibly as many as 20 units,” Besson said.

And all we can say, face melted with jaws dropped low, heart racing ready to burst in awe, is, Wow!

The last thing I remember good when I think of seaweed is sushi. Yes, there is just no escaping the tang of that nori-wrapped Japanese cuisine gem (that is exactly the makizushi, ladies and gentlemen, and a lot more sushi variants are available in your favorite Japanese resto).

But with ideas evolving (weirdly, if I may say) and appetites for a tastier approach expanding, looks like things are about to change. The simplicity of things will soon catch up on this looming phenomenon of connotations massively sprouting from here to there. For instance, mention “seaweed” in the office of Toyota today and the people there will give a knee-jerk reaction different from this author’s. Let me warn you: do not be surprised if what they would associate seaweed with is a car. So in a long shot it may be possible. But, c’mon, even if this is Toyota we are talking about, it still does not make sense: seaweed is to car?

Or perhaps it does. Especially because, and I quote a headline, “Toyota Wants To Build A Car From Seaweed.” According to news, Toyota is eyeing to use this strange material to make a bioplastic body of a car (i.e. the 1/X plug-in hybrid concept) that is projected to be in showrooms 15 years from now. Not just because bioplastics are becoming a trend in the industry nowadays are the folks in Toyota considering the use of seaweed to take the competition a notch higher, but more importantly because the material can be key in having a car body and frame that are superior collision safety.

The very thought of such oddity is exciting, but David Buttner, Toyota’s senior executive director of sales and marketing, emphasized that realizing the kelp car is still a decade away. “However, it shows where we’re going. Our thinking is that post-2020, cars like the 1/X will be made of plant-based plastic,” he said.

So Audi has its share of handsomely thought of concept cars. And the brand’s vision for innovation is unquestionably remarkable. Especially now.

Audi recently divulged its plan of going futuristic—fast forward to 15 years from now—through its latest project, a design competition using the concept of the evolution-based game SPORE, which pretty much observes the same dynamics of Audi’s methods in creating cars: “starts at the concept phase, becomes a sketch, then a model, then gets color and trim and finally is realized as an actual car.”

Contestants are asked to work on real Audi models and from there conceptualize their own mastercrafts using the SPORE software. Entries are to be uploaded to Audi’s servers, from which the brand will choose what blueprints will best represent the company’s trademark design 15 years from now.

Grand prize winners will win an all-expense paid trip for two to the Audi Design studios in Ingolstadt plus VIP treatment at the posh Arlberg Hospiz Hotel. Meanwhile, second place will get a SPORE-themed gaming computer. Third placers, all 20 of them, on the other hand, will each take home a competition t-shirt.

Though quite a milestone of a feat, the contest is limited only to German participants. So if you’re one of them Audi aficionados beyond the region, sorry, but all you can do is wait. And see.

Some things just cannot wait. Or, perhaps we do some things to make this likely.

Like, for instance, what happened to the latest Giugiaro concept car, which was set to be a big surprise in the Geneva Motor Show slated March. Well, it can still work its mystery but then the whole shebang has already been spoilt as pictures of the concept car recently leaked on the Internet.

So now everyone knows the car’s appearance, which is unmistakably reminiscent of last year’s Quaranta concept, but much is left to our curiosity when it comes to its specs and features. And, since the lid of this thing blew off unexpectedly, we can anticipate Giugiaro, which promised the world the fastest hybrid, to tweak some things, pull some strings, and come up with yet some more tricks in the hat.

The auto industry can now expect thousands of car aficionados to troop to the sprawling McCormick Place complex as the 2009 Chicago Auto Show recently opened its doors to the public.

As in past Chicago Auto Shows, this year’s leg, the show’s 101^st edition, is set to showcase the latest produce of car giants such as BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, and Ford.

A bevy of alternative fuel vehicles, family sedans, hybrids, pickups, SUVs, minivans, and sports cars is to be housed in the 1.3 million square feet of the total 2.7 million square feet area of the McCormick Place complex.

The public display starts at 10 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m.

The entire auto show, which is produced by the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, the nation’s oldest and largest metropolitan dealer organization, will run until February 22.

Before staging the public show, organizers of the event first held a media preview and a black-tie affair, First Look for Charity, whose proceeds benefited 18 Chicago-area charities. In the event, two attendees won a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro and a 2009 Kia Borrego.

But the chances of owning the latest cars are not limited to fluke since the Chicago Auto Show, according to Jerry Cizek, Chicago Auto Show General Manager, sells car and trucks too.

And that, he said, is key to the success of the renowned auto show.

After headlining the recently concluded 47th Annual CARQUEST World of Wheels which was held at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, George Barris, proclaimed to be the “King of the Kustomizers,” revealed that he is getting some works done on two new cars: the Challenger and the Camaro, versions 2009 and 2010, respectively.

In an interview with SearchChicago, the 80-plus-year-old customizer, who, together with his brother, Sam, first manifested his genius on an old 1925 Buick in the 1930s, disclosed that has upgraded the Challenger by adding fiber pieces and a supercharger, painting it candy red, modifying its doors, then staunchly calling it “Red Demon.” He now plans to enhance its audio system and interior as well.

“I want people to say, ‘Why didn’t they [the factory] do that?,’” he said.

Meanwhile, Barris will give the Camaro a bulkier appeal by adding to it 22-inch wheels and tires. He also intends to furnish it with special graphic impressions on the doors and make better its interior.

The Camaro, according to Barris, will be available this summer.

Among Barris’s more popular works are the 1966 Batmobile, the decrepit truck used in “The Beverly Hillbillies,” and the original K.I.T.T. for the “Knight Rider” series.

“We have to stimulate people [and] get them excited again,” he said, enticing other customizers to be bolder and more creative with their works. “The key is to draw. Young people have some great opportunities I didn’t have: You can use a computer, take photos, scan them and cut them up, paste and sketch changes.”

This is one crazy collision.

A Japan-based custom shop toyed with the idea of mixing vehicles and came up with the Ferrari Hayabusa Trike, a three-wheeler mish-mash of a Suzuki GSX1300R and a Ferrari Formula 1.

Painted in the same shade of radiant red which has made Ferraris iconic and is using a converted frame, the trike was Trike Japan’s entry in the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon, which took place January 9 to January 11.

Trike Japan is a company known for designing and manufacturing trike conversions for some of the most popular motorcycles in Japan.

Despite aiming to be revolutionary, the concoctive effort has received unimpressive reviews. A motorcycle blogger tagged the item “bafflingly weird,” while Jalopnik.com, an auto website, addressed its makers with an amusing question: “What were these guys smoking?”

Similarly, a previous attempt months ago by an Israeli design student, Amir Glinik, to conceptualize a Ferrari motorcycle was not welcomed warmly. Reports also said that when a certain private owner tried to turn his limo into a Ferrari, the Italian sports car company “was not so pleased.”

Save for it retaining the stock Hayabusa 1300cc motor, little information is known about the Ferrari Hayabusa Trike. There were speculations, though, that it could feature HKS twinturbos that can power it up to 500PS.

“At least it has some go to back it up,” wrote Jalopnik’s The Auto Insider in his review of the Ferrari Hayabusa Trike, noting that the trike is but an “abomination.”