Welcome to AdFeeder’s web Wednesdays, your weekly dose of the latest news and stories that have caught our eye. From technology news to the latest vehicle releases and everything in between, we aim to bring you a quick run down of what you need to know each week.

As we edge closer to the end of another month, this week’s Web Wednesday has plenty of stories you may have missed from the world of automotive and tech!

McLaren and Gulf create one-off livery for Monaco GP

For fans of motorsport, there are some cars and liveries that are instantly recognisable, even when travelling at ridiculous speeds. The brashness of the Porsche ‘Pink Pig’, the unpredictability of Colin McRae’s Martini covered Ford Focus, or the sheer coolness of the Sonax 190e DTM car as it bounced from kerb to kerb.

Liveries are often what draws fans to certain teams, with Formula One being the ultimate arena for designers to battle it out. F1 has seen some incredible one-off designs over the years, but McLaren have stunned the world with what they’re bringing to this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

McLaren has a deep-rooted and successful racing history with Gulf, and the two brands revived their relationship in July 2020 when the team announced the brand’s return as an official strategic partner. The retro livery will mark McLaren’s tribute to Gulf’s timeless design while reflecting a racing connection that began in the days of team founder Bruce McLaren.

The team will carry Gulf’s racing blue colourway alongside an orange stripe, based closely on Gulf’s classic design, for the entire race weekend of the Monaco Grand Prix. The theme will feature on both MCL35M race cars, the race suits of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, the race team kit and across all team social media platforms.

Additionally, Lando and Daniel will wear race helmets with bespoke retro designs, especially created for the event, to be raffled for the team’s mental health charity partner, Mind.

The 2021 Monaco Grand Prix will not be the first time a McLaren race car has carried the iconic Gulf livery. The #41 McLaren F1 GTR Longtail finished second at the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans while sporting Gulf’s racing blue and fluro orange colour scheme.

Time travel is now possible with this website

This website is one we just had to throw into a Web Wednesday episode at some point. Can you remember what you were doing ten years ago? 2011 was a year of all kinds of change, both in the automotive and technology sectors. Saab officially faded into the history books, while BMW teased their new line product line of electric vehicles that were still just a pipedream. With this website, conveniently named ‘Ten Years Ago’ allows you to rewind time and visit some key websites a decade in the past.

Take the Apple website for example, where upon entering you’ll be treated to the sweet sweet reveal of the ‘all-new’ iPhone 4. The boxy and seemingly tiny looking phone was the latest and greatest offering from Apple at the time, but it’s so interesting to see just how little their marketing has changed, particularly in the wording and captions used.

Elsewhere, you’ll also be treated to sites such as BBC, where you can find various news stories from that day ten years back, as well as everyone’s favourite movie site IMDB. What we love most about this site is seeing just how far the user experience and design of these websites have come. Sites like Amazon and GoodReads have dramatically changed their homepages and initial landing pages, making it easier than ever to navigate the sites!

Let us know in the comments what sites you always loved back in the day – bring back My Space we say!

The most recognisable car of them all is back

Show anyone, and we mean near enough anyone, a rough outline of the original Mini and they should be able to tell you almost instantly that it is, of course, a Mini. They are worldwide motoring icons, first released back in 1959 to combat the ever increasing fuel prices and road pollution.

A pointless fact for you right here – the very first Mini did not have a radio. The creator of the car, Alec Issigonis, was a heavy smoker, so he used the space for a very large ashtray instead.

Now, there’s a new (old) Mini on the block, and it’s better than ever.

Built in collaboration with tuning specialist Oselli – which has prepared classic Minis and MGs for competition use since the 1960s -production will be limited to just 60 units, in honour of the Mini’s recent 60th anniversary celebration. It won’t come cheap, though, with prices starting from around £98,000.

Upgrades include a strengthened crankshaft, new pistons and a “high torque” performance camshaft. The engine is topped-off with a hand-ported and polished cylinder head, a pair of SU carburettors and a freer-flowing exhaust system, making it one seriously enjoyable car out on track.

The result is 123bhp and 153Nm of torque. The tuned classic’s 0–62mph time is a claimed 7.8 seconds and, and it should be bearable to drive on the motorway, thanks to a new five-speed manual gearbox.

Electric BMWs set to get an Academy Award winning soundtrack

He’s a multi academy award winner, known worldwide for his hair-raising orchestral music that enhanced some of the finest movies ever created. We’re talking about Hans Zimmer of course. If you’ve ever seen films such as Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Interstellar and… The Holiday, you would have heard his incredible compositions, but what if I told you that Hans is now designing the soundtrack for your electric BMW? Bare with me on this one!

BMW IconicSounds Electric brings an unmistakable sound portfolio to BMW models powered by a fully electric or plug-in hybrid drive system. The collaboration between composer and curator Hans Zimmer and Renzo Vitale, Creative Director Sound at the BMW Group, has produced a distinctive driving sound which customers will soon be able to experience in a version developed specially for electric BMW M cars.

Zimmer goes on to say “for the electrically driven BMW M models we have developed a driving sound which accentuates their emotional driving experience particularly vividly and ensures their performance can be felt with even greater intensity.”

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time BMW and Zimmer have collaborated, having designed the sound options for when the Start/Stop button is pressed on all current BMWi models. This really got us thinking about how cars often make drivers feel, and whether that experience can actually be replicated through an impressive sound system. For customers of an M Car for example, they aren’t choosing that version for its impressive fuel economy or practicality, it’s very much a passion purchase, and one that is invigorated with each turn of the key. Will a synthetic sound create that same feeling? Only time will tell!