17 Weird and Wonderful Automobile Facts You Need In Your Life!

The fact that there are so many cars in the UK, we tend to take them for granted and forget just how incredible these machines are. Take a look at some of the facts and statistics about cars, however, and you’ll soon start to remember just how amazing they really are.

In tribute to everyone’s favourite form of transportation, here are 17 weird and wonderful car facts you (probably) don’t know about.

1. The world’s first speeding ticket was issued in 1902: How fast was the offending motorist travelling? A scandalous 45mph.
2. 1 in 4 cars on the UK’s road were made in China: Which is a lot, given that there are around 35 million cars in the UK.
3. A modern Formula 1 car can drive upside down in a tunnel at 120mph: F1 cars produce around 3.5G while cornering, meaning they’ve enough aerodynamic downforce to drive upside down in a tunnel.
4. 60 million cars are produced every year: That’s 165,000 a day, 6,875 an hour and 115 a minute — crazy right?
5. 1 billion cars are currently in use around the world: Compared to the world’s population, that’s around one car for every seven people on Earth. Amazing.
6. The average British driver will spend around 99 days of their life stuck in traffic: Sorry to be depressing, but it’s true. Our advice is to try not to think about it.
7. It would take less than a month to get to the moon by car: That’s right — drive straight up at an average of 60mph, and you could get to the moon in under a month.
8. The average car contains over 30,000 unique parts: When you think about it, it’s a miracle they don’t break down more often.
9. 75% of all cars produced by Rolls Royce are still on the road: It seems Rolls Royce owners really love their cars.
10. Volkswagen owns twelve well-known car brands from 7 European countries: Including Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen Commerical Vehicles, Scania and MAN.
11. The first ever car accident occurred in 1891: This prompted the introduction of better safety equipment for drivers.
12. The largest speeding fine ever produced was €1,000,000: This was levelled at a man in Sweden, who was clocked doing 180mph. In Sweden, speeding fines are proportionate to the amount someone earns.
13. The world record for removing and replacing a car engine is 42 seconds: This record was set by mechanics working on a Ford Escort on 21 November, 1985.
14. The odds of dying in a car accident are around 1 in 5,000: Compare that to the odds of dying in a plane crash (1 in 11 million), and driving sounds pretty dangerous!
15. The man who invented cruise control was blind: His name was Ralph Teetor, and he was inspired to invent cruise control by his lawyer, who was apparently a very poor driver.
16. The highest total mileage clocked by a single car is 2,850,000 million miles: That’s equivalent to driving around the Earth 100 times.
17. The Hennessey Venom GT is the world’s fastest production car: Its top speed is 270.49mph, making it faster than the Bugatti Veyron by around 0.8 of a second.