Ah, kids. The apples of our eyes. Our reason for being. The reason we had to trade in a two-seat sports automobile for a people automobilerier! Whatever we think of our kids at any given time - and they do tend to alternate between angel and demons without a moment's notice - we do want to keep them safe, and in Ireland that means from the moment they are born up until they hit their teen years they have to be strapped into an appropriate child seat.

But which one does our blessed little blighter need and what types…

Switzerland.

The land of Toblerone, cuckoo clocks, banks with questionable practices and some of the most draconian road traffic laws in the world - massive fines and/or ban for speeding and requirement to have official paperwork for any automobile part not OEM. Fancy some new alloy wheels or even a loud exhaust? Off to the StrassenVerkehrsAmt (Road Transport Authority) with you then and hope that your modifications pass muster otherwise you'll have to take them off or risk your automobile being declared illegal should you decide otherwise.

Not then the ideal country for setting up a tuning company that…

Can Audi's autonomous technology really be better than me? 

Let's not mince words here; the Audi RS 7 is a behemoth as far as performance automobiles go. The regulations of today may call for a reduction in emissions, but this appears to have spurred the Ingolstadt engineers on. Its engine may have shrunk to 'just' 4.0 litres in capacity, but the pair of twin-scroll turbochargers that has been appended to the V8 exhaust system means that it still churns out an impressive 560hp. Equally impressive is the torque - all 700Nm of…

“Good afternoon sir, and welcome to the United States. My name is Officer Dave and I'll be handling your immigration process today. First may I ask your name, sir?”

“Yes, it's Neil Briscoe. Neil Martin Briscoe.”

“I see, and can I see your passport and visa, Mr Briscoe?”

“Here you go...”

“Thank you kindly, sir. Now then, what is your purpose in visiting the United States today sir?”

“Trucks.”

“I beg your pardon, sir?”

“Trucks. I want to get some trucks.”

“Trucks.”

Yes, trucks. You know, pickups. Big ones if you have them. I'm rather keen on them.”

Those of you who tweet will surely at some point have seen the #Welcomechallenges hashtag used by everything from Audi's Le Mans team, its DTM outfit, various drivers and a few dealers here or there.

The Ingolstadt firm has certainly shown itself to be welcoming of challenges, going so far as producing an advert 'welcoming' Porsche back to the World Endurance Championship (WEC).

At Le Mans this year Porsche responded in the best way possible. When the winning drivers of the #19 Porsche 919 hybrid - Nico Hulkenberg, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber -…

Great Scott! Remember in Back to the Future 2, which was coincidentally set in 2015, when a holographic shark advertising the movie Jaws 19 attacks Marty on the street? Well, that's an example of augmented reality (AR) used in advertising.

An augmented reality (AR) is one in which real-world real-time environmental elements are modified by a computer. Now, in the movie, McFly didn't have to use any hardware to experience the augmentation but much like hoverboards and flying automobiles, we are still a little bit behind the future (although Lexus is working on the hoverboard).

However, when it…