Two of the UK’s world most renowned petrol-heads, Ben Collins aka the Stig and, Jodie Kidd, model and self confessed speed freak, were asked to take part in a short film which pitted themselves against each other in a head-to-head fuel efficiency challenge.

The films, created for the New Thinker’s Index – an interactive digital experience, aims to challenge the way people drive and think.

Both Stig and Kidd are used to driving at full throttle, but this challenge was to see which of the celebrity drivers could be the most frugal when it came to driving efficiently.

Top spot would be awarded to either driver who managed to curb their natural instincts to go fast and use the least amount of fuel throughout the race.

Jodie Kidd said about her experience: “Whilst it is great to sit behind the wheel and go hell for leather, this challenge needed me to think in a whole new way about driving.

“The New Thinker’s Index Big Green Race taught me a lot about fuel efficiency and how to affect it with my driving style, which is definitely knowledge that will be useful day-to-day.

Ben Collins agrees with his fellow petrol-head: “As a racing driver you can analyse and agree an approach to a race with your team before it starts because you have a good idea of the variables before you even get in the car.

Stig and Kidd are a part of a host of high profile personalities from a variety of walks of life who have been asked to challenge the natural way of thinking for the launch of New Thinker’s Index for Hyundai.

They include land speed record holder Richard Noble OBE, who was challenged to see if he could think differently and help a group of children increase their speed when they enter the Belchford Soapbox Challenge.

The series of short films look to prove that new ways of thinking are just as important and new technologies. There are also online tests, which will enable users to compare the way their mind works against great thinkers of the past; from sports stars, music legends and actors.

To see the films and take the test visit www.newthinking.uk.msn.com.

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The ‘small, yet mighty’ Picanto is seen leaping through the streets alongside a rather cute, acrobatic cat. The advert concludes with a confrontation between the cat and a fierce looking dog. I won’t spoil the ending for you just in case you haven’t seen it.

It’s a nice looking car too with ‘an eco friendly engine,’ which is always an attractive prospect these days with the worry of global warming and despite its compact size its crammed with the latest driving technology from electronic stability control and voice activated Bluetooth.

KIA are pretty confident about the quality of the new Picanto and as they say in the advert, all purchases of the car come with an impressive seven year warranty. Check it out in action below.

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Nissan are trying to change that though, with the genius titled Nissan Leaf, a brand new fully electronic car. Some of us will think it’s a wonderful step forward for eco-friendly transport, and others will be put off by some of the myths surrounding electronic cars. You know the ones, ‘it’ll be too expensive’, ‘it will run out of juice every five minutes,’ that sort of thing.

In an attempt to change our minds and debunk some of the electric car myths Nissan have made a series of video about the Leaf tacking some of the common misconceptions, the first being the misconception an electronic car will die on the way to work.

In the first of the videos some doubters who demoed the Leaf, having managed to last a week on one charge, the doubters are converted. Check it out below and see if Nissan can change your mind and prove that electric cars are a genuine alternative to petrol or diesel powered cars, or at least for those of us who live in big cities which actually have power-points.

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The Sport Cross vehicle, where “all-wheel drive agility and handling meets turbo charged performance,” cruises through the streets in an advert reminiscent of a channel four teen drama.

Though not cool as giant paintballs the Juke advert features bank robbers, transvestites, creepy toys, romance and a haunting rendition of a nursery rhyme.

If that doesn’t interest you then give it a watch just to check out the exciting little red car, which has a name a lot catchier and easier to pronounce than its big brother the QASHQA, in action.

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Check out the video trailer below to get an idea of what Dunlop have on offer.

Over at the ‘Inside Racing’ YouTube page there are some cool videos such as a car stunt in a multi-story car-park in Bristol, insights into past and present racing legends and a look at landspeed records. It’s like Top Gear without the occasionally annoying presenting.

It’s worth checking out. If you’re a motorhead there’s bound to be something on there to keep you interested.

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So is there a correlation between ‘Joy of life’ and the Megane? Watch the video below to find out. In some humorous scenes ‘Claude’ arranges a carnival in which Meganes can be test driven to bring out the hidden ‘Joie de vivire’ of Gisburn. Despite the rain 300 of the 500 residents of Gisburn turned up so Renault may have sold some more meganes since the campaign, I mean brought in some more ‘Joie de vivire.’ It’s certainly worth a look. The film was directed by Oscar-nominated director Henry-Alex Rubin, who shot 48 hours of film over five days and described Claude as a “French Borat with a heart.” Check out the video below:

And if you head over to www.themeganeexperiment.com you can check out the differences between Gisburn and Menton including Menton having been the location of a James Bond film and having no rich tea fans whilst Gisburn with no Bond film has 40% of its residents munching on the boring biscuits. You can also check out your own towns ‘Vivre’ rating and of course, book a test drive.

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According to them, “all too often inexperienced drivers give themselves away behind the wheel of a car, they lose their manners and sometimes their marbles too.”

So they’ve started a Facebook group where you can watch the videos from their brilliant add campaign and as the page suggests, click on ‘Like’ and support the ‘Respect on the Road campaign’ if you think the type of behaviour shown in the video is irresponsible and needs to change.

Along with the ‘Road Rage Kids’ videos, you can also check out ‘Cab-cam’ were a London Cabbie lets off some steam about bad driving.

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In the party named subject60 (after the S60) Volvo and their friends capture such shocking behaviour as people trampling on some flowers, trying to blag their way into a VIP area and snogging in a car! The rather impressive study spanned five different cities (Berlin, London, Paris, Madrid, Milan) and conducted 35 separate experiments on no less than 3062 participants to test their naughtiness.

27 hours of research concluded that Paris is the naughty capital of Europe. Another devastating loss for England this summer.

Check out the video below to see some of the antics:

If you want to see more of the Volvo experiments head over to http://naughty.volvocars.co.uk/ where you can also design your own S60.

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For those concerned with raising fuel prices the Econav is more than just a satnav system. The Econav takes into account the type of car you have and the number of passengers and plots routes which are the most fuel effective. Take a full car of passengers through some twisty country lanes might well be shorter but is it more fuel economical than taking the motorway. The Econav lets you know.

The manufactures say that it can save you over £200 in six months which is more than the cost of the unit! You can find out more here and here and you can get hold of one from Amazon.co.uk.

If you have a sports car then you might want to make sure you look the part while driving. How about a part of Bluetooth sunglasses? These great looking sunglasses not only keep the sun out of your eye but they will also keep you connected while you are on the go, but without the cyborg looking earpiece.

The lenses of the glasses have a smoke mirrored finish and the volume control and call answer buttons are cleverly located on the arm-piece. It is compatible with all standard Bluetooth equipped phones and it will give you a talk time of 3.5 hours and standby time of 90 hours.

You can get them for $49 (about £30) from ThinkGeek.

Finally for the all the iPhone users, there is now hands-free dictation available in the form of the Dragon Dictation.

With Dragon Dictation voice recognition application you can dictate your text and email messages directly to your phone. Although it isn’t completely hands-free as you still need to actually send the text message or email, but I am sure that you could do that while at the next traffic lights! Nuance, the makers of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software which is used in the Dragon Dictate app, say that it is up to five times faster than typing on the keyboard!

Note: At the time of writing it is only available in the US store but we are hoping it will become available in the UK in the future.

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