Coming to an Olympics near you...

Last Thursday I attended the ‘launch’ of the London Olympics car fleet. This was a press conference in a Westminster BMW dealership, because the German firm has the contract to supply around 4,000 vehicles for use during the Games. It’s providing a variety of its cars and motorbikes – plus a few MINIs – to ferry athletes, officials and media around the Olympic Park and other venues further afield. To me, the cars aren’t really the interesting bit. I’m more fascinated by the human interest story behind the logistics of it all. How do you train 7,000 volunteer drivers? They can’t go all day so where do they head for a coffee and the loo? Where are the cars refuelled? Where do they go at night? Who is going to clean them? The short answer is that there will be a number of depots around the capital where all this is going to take place. It’s a mammoth challenge and I hope to be finding more in the coming weeks.

Smart technology, not so smart name

Type ‘SkyActiv’ into Google and you will find out all about Mazda’s new fuel-sipping technology. It debuts on the CX-5 (pictured), and will spread to other models as they’re refreshed. But separate the word out, add the missing letter on the end and you learn the finer details of  that nice Mr Murdoch’s digital TV platform. There’s no doubt SkyActiv is clever. Mazda engineers say it’s 15 per cent cleaner than a comparable car without it. The issue is going to be one of marketing such a meaningless word. Most drivers still haven’t worked out that ‘blue’ actually means ‘green’ when it’s stuck on a boot badge. Advertising to promote the CX-5 and technology will help, but the trick will be to get people into Mazda dealerships. And with the firm’s UK sales last year down 30 per cent on 2010, that’s not going to be easy task.

So proud of my wife...

Normally try to keep this car-related as hopefully that’s why you read it. Today, a short post on the London Marathon. No, I didn’t do it, although after yesterday it makes me wish I could. Me and jogging don’t get on because of the back trouble I’ve had in the past. No, my amazing wife Emma completed the course in 4hrs 9mins – a stunning achievement for her first ever marathon. So proud of her for that, and the £2,500 she’s raised for charities in memory of two friends who died far too young. A memorable day out for me and the kids, to see her and be seen by her, to help her on her way. Even a cynical hack like me couldn’t help but be moved. So many tens of thousands of people out lining the route, shouting support for people they didn’t know. Fabulous.

Driven: Peugeot 107

How fast will a three-cylinder city car go when M25 traffic has made you late for a plane? Turns out the answer is 93mph and very impressive it was too. I’m not in any way condoning speeding, and it was my decision and my risk, but the life of a freelancer is simple. You don’t make money if haven’t got a story to sell. Foolishly I’d only left four hours for a two-hour trip – yes, you read that right – and so when the rush-hour jam finally cleared I had a last-minute dash to get to Farnborough Airport. The city car in question was Peugeot’s facelifted 107 and I walked away from it with a new-found respect. Okay, the engine was noiser than if I was driving at 70mph, but on the whole it was more than up to the challenge I’d unwittingly set it. I reached check-in just as the last of my colleagues passed through the x-ray machine. Perfect timing. The 107 has a new front end, higher levels of standard kit and emissions down to 99g/km. The same is true of its siblings, the Citroen C1 and Toyota’s Aygo. Competition in this sector has been fired up thanks to the arrives of another threesome – the VW up!, SEAT Mii and Skoda Citigo – but the Peugeot proved it’s ready for a fight.

Driven: Peugeot 208

When your name is Thierry Peugeot, it’s a given that at some point you’re going to have to take your place in the family business. To be fair, he went out and did other stuff first, living and working in different parts of the world including North and South America in businesses that were nothing to do with cars. But eventually he had to realise his calling and is now chairman of the Supervisory Board of PSA, the parent company of Peugot and Citroen. As a dinner guest at the launch of the 208 supermini, he was entertaining company. No startling news on future product plans, but honesty about the company’s present situation, good and bad. Interestingly, he confirmed they will be back in mainstream motorsport at some point, but explained the cost simply outweighed the benefit so the plug was pulled. The 208 is a decent enough successor to the 207 and offers a wide range of petrol and diesel engines, though a strange notchy and noisy gearchange. Whether it’s good enough to take Peugeot’s share of the supermini segment to the 10 per cent target – in the UK last year it was 6.8 per cent – is another matter. The French brands have been hit hard by the rise of the Koreans and that situation isn’t going to go away.

F-word wins the day

Inevitably there were various names knocking around for Jaguar’s smallest new car since the XK120 of 1954. Adrian Hallmark, the firm’s global brand director, said the long list ran to more than 30 options. The smart money seemed to be on XE, but in the end it was perhaps the most obvious choice – F-Type – which won out. The F-word comes with baggage, because using it immediately pitches the car as a successor to the iconic E-Type. When news of the name was announced at the New York Motor Show, I asked Hallmark about the pros and cons of the decision. He laughed, looked at his watch and replied: “How long have you got?”. He said it had been a carefully considered choice. “We carried out extensive research but F-Type appeals to both traditionalists and progressive fans. Everyone gets it, it needs no more explanation. Of all the names considered it had by far the most resonance, but the car will become its own character in time.”As a rival to the Porsche 911 and Mercedes SL, the debut of the convertible next year and a coupe soon after is just what Jaguar needs.

The reality of so-called fuel shortages

Couldn’t help but smile when I went to fill up with petrol at my local Sainsburys supermarket yesterday. I’d tried to go on Friday but the queue – caused by motorists fearing a tanker driver strike – was ridiculous. It was made all the more chaotic by the store staff trying to manage the line of cars by blocking off one of the entrances to the forecourt. It meant the only way in was through the actual car park, and needless to say the line of stationary vehicles there was causing tempers to rise because it was blocking all the parked shoppers in. Anyway, I took one look at it and did a three-point turn. I returned yesterday and drove straight on to the forecourt and to a pump. There was one other car on the whole site. Clearly none of the weekend shoppers needed to fill up, presumably because they’d sat in a queue for lord knows how long earlier in the week, completely unnecessarily.