The Batmobile in The Dark Knight was the the most incredible yet.
The Batmobile in The Dark Knight was the the most incredible yet.

Motoring

Top 5: Most famous armoured vehicles of film

Aston Martin makes two appearances, both with James Bond behind the wheel, on this list of the toughest vehicles from action films throughout the years.

Kevin Hackett

June 30, 2011

1. Aston Martin DB5

Quite possibly the most famous car in the world, the DB5 that Bond used as his company car in 1964's classic Goldfinger offers some serious protection. Bulletproof rear screen, front-mounted machine guns, deadly extendable wheel spinners, smoke and oil spreaders and, best of all, a front passenger ejector seat. All of this packed into one of the most beautiful cars of all time; no wonder it captured our imaginations like no car before or since. Mind you, it wasn't much use when Bond crashed it into a tree.

2. KITT

Ah, The Hoff. Despite the mullet and the curious line in leather jackets, in Knight Rider he was upstaged by a car. And a Pontiac at that. KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand) was the Trans Am used in the original TV show that ran between 1982 and '86, as well as making a cameo appearance in the 2008 TV movie. The car spoke, used artificial intelligence, could drive itself at 320kph and launch into the air using "Turbo Boost" and was virtually indestructible, repelling bullets and hand grenades.

3. Batmobile

Always a star whether in the 1960s TV show or the movies, Bruce Wayne's ride has taken on many forms. None have been as startling as the vehicle conceived by Warner Bros as "a cross between a Lamborghini and a Hummer", which saw action in The Dark Knight. Its arsenal was formidable: a jet engine for performing ramp-less jumps, rocket launchers, front cannons, stealth mode and the ability to shed its body, transforming into the two-wheeled Batpod. We want one of these - where do we sign?

4. Aston Martin Vanquish

A forgettable Bond film, perhaps, Die Another Day nevertheless took the armoured Aston theme to ridiculous extremes. As well as "the usual refinements" like twin auto-cannons, five rockets behind the radiator grille and machine guns that raised from the bonnet vents, the Vanquish also featured "Adaptive Camouflage". This enabled the Aston to effectively become invisible to the naked eye, although the system was prone to fail when under attack. Barking mad yet brilliant.

5. OM Leoncino

Forget the tragic US remake - the original Italian Job should never have been messed with. And it featured a star turn for the OM Leoncino, which was a small lorry used mainly for postal delivery services in the 1960s. However, the film's producers decided to use it as the armoured wheels for transporting the gold that Charlie Croker's gang of thieves had designs on. The guards were overpowered and the lorry was pinched and driven into a lock-up, where they were finally able to "blow the bloody doors off".

On Women's Day

Huddersfield Town permanent signings:

  • Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
  • Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
  • Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
  • Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
  • Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
  • Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
  • Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
  • Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES

SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities

Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails

Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies

Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments

While you're here
Three ways to limit your social media use

Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.

1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.

2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information. 

3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

While you're here
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The biog

Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns

Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

Food of choice: Sushi  

Favourite colour: Orange

Results

Stage seven

1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 3:20:24

2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1s

3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 5s

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 25:38:16

2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 22s

3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 48s

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Denis%20Villeneuve%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Timothee%20Chamalet%2C%20Zendaya%2C%20Austin%20Butler%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%205%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A