---

TOP TRUMPS Extreme Wheels

---

THIS BOOK IS THE SIZE OF A NOTEBOOK, but not many (paper) notebooks have ever contained as much information packed into it as Top Trumps Extreme Wheels.

Haynes and Top Trumps have got together to produce an exciting series of books based on the best-selling card games. Illustrated with out-standing photographs, they are a mine of information and are designed to keep kids (and adults!) quiet for hours.

These books answer the questions thrown up whilst playing the game and act as a great introduction to their subjects. Top Trumps Extreme Wheels is the latest in the series and follows the winning formula with vital statistics, detailed background information and all the facts and figures you'd expect relating to the
45 sensational vehicles that are featured from the world of extreme motoring.

Top Trumps Extreme Wheels is not only a desirable little mini-guide to have in your bookcase but it's only £4.99 and will fit in anywhere! It includes cars from the Caparo T1 — it hits the ton in five seconds and is the closest you can get to a road-going F1 car — to the "bizarre" Nissan Pivo. Motoring enthusiasts will be enthralled and even those with just a passing interest in cars and car design will be fascinated by these vehicles — some of which you'd not even dreamed of.

How about the ultra-amazing Fiat Oltre? Never heard of it? It's a super-duper off-roader, very muscular and has (not surprisingly) been chosen for use by both the British and Italian armies.

Think you'd like a little ultra-mod space-age machine? Take a look at the Fuel Vapor Alé from Fuel Vapor Technologies in Canada. This cute machine has a maximum speed of 140mph and it is claimed that it
could make the 800-mile journey from Vancouver to San Francisco on
a single ten-gallon tank of fuel.

Cuter still is from an Austrian motorbike manufacturer — the KTM X-Bow, powered by Audi's TFSI engine. And looking for all the world like
a moon buggy is the Mercedes-Benz F300 LOife-Jet, presented at
the 1997 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Other weird and wonderful examples are the Renault Zoom and the Tesla Roadster — or even VW's Concept T, the Ford Airstream or the Hummer HI. We loved the retro-mod Efijy, designed and built entirely in-house at Holden in Australia under the watchful eye of chief designer Richard Ferlazzo. With an extreme rating of 9, this 2005 21st Century hot rod with its sexy body celebrates Australia's first auto-motive icon, the 1950s Holden FJ. A nod to retro, married to state-of-the-art technology.

It is now more than thirty years since British youngsters first caught the Top Trumps bug. The game remained hugely popular up to the 90's, when it dropped into obscurity until it was rediscovered by Winning Moves in 1999. After a thorough make-over, it was introduced to a whole new generation.

There are Top Trumps titles for just about everyone, with subjects about animals, cars, ships, aircraft, films and television shows. A pack of Top Trumps is bought every six seconds in Britain!

Youngsters in Australasia, the Far and Middle East, Europe and North America are all familiar with Top Trumps. You can play games on the internet or on interactive DVD, on your games console or even on your mobile phone.

Top Trumps Extreme Wheels "features 45 of the worlds largest, most powerful, innovative or wacky vehicles, from ultimate production vehicles to made-to-order specials and weird custom cars to outrag-eous conversions and monster machines". An essential pocket guide
to the world of extreme cars, the book is ideal as an interesting and visual reference or to buy to give to someone as a stocking-filler this Christmas.

• TOP TRUMPS Extreme Wheels by Tim Oldham is out now in paperback from Haynes books at an RRP of £4.99. ISBN: 978 1 84425 460 6.

Specialising in motoring and sport, author Tim Oldham is an experienced freelance features editor. A former features editor for Top Gear Magazine, he has also worked for the Radio Times and BBC Sports magazines.

home • top of page • all car book reviews