Finnish millionaire gets 111,888-euro speeding ticket

A Finnish millionaire Jari Bär, the former owner of the Iisalmi’s company Finnritilä was handed a fine of 111,888 euros (141,661 dollars) for doing 82 km/h (51 mph) in a 60 km/h (37 mph) zone on January in Siilijärvi, Finland.

According to Savon Sanomat if the speed had been 80 km/h the fine would have been only 115 Euros.

Looks like these extra 2 km were critical and cost him more than a brand new Porsche 911 GT3. In his case 20 km more would have been a standard fine, but these 2 extra kilometers made the difference.

Why such a huge speeding ticket? In Finland fines are issued according to ones salary per day. As Mr. Bär was 2 km over the standard fine range he had to pay his 12 days income. If his income in 2007 had been 50 euros a day, then the ticket would have been 600 euros.

It turns out that in 2007 he sold a majority stake in his company and in average made an impressive 9300 euros a day, which translates to a 111,888 euros speeding ticket. Of course Mr. Bär is not happy as his real income today is not that big.

In Finland tax records are public and there is no such thing as maximum fines. The more you make the more you pay!

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R35 + M35 = First Nissan GT-R Wagon!

By Ray Wert

What you're looking at is an 'R35' Nissan GT-R front end welded to the back two-thirds of an M35 Nissan Stagea. It's called the ‘StaGT-R' and it's on show at the Nagoya Auto Trend show.

GT-R Frankenwagon

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Now, this isn't not the first time the head of a GT-R has been frank-chopped onto a Stagea -– it's a popular swap in Japan -– but it's the first we've seen for the all-new GT-R. This GT-R wagon's been put together by the Japanese tuning house Kids Heart.

Obviously no one over there's been reading the GT-R manual. [Northwest Nissans via The Motor Report]

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Explorer Columbus 'named Pedro Scotto'

A Spanish historian claims the real name of renowned explorer Christopher Columbus was Pedro Scotto.

The great navigator who opened up the American continents to Europe was Pedro Scotto - the real name of the 15th century explorer known as Christopher Columbus, according to a Spanish historian.

Alfonso Ensenat de Villalonga disputes the usual opinions about the explorer's origins - that he was the son of a weaver in Genoa, Italy, or that he was from Catalonia or Galicia in Spain, or of Corsican or Portuguese origin.

He was from Genoa but he was "the son of shopkeepers not weavers and he was baptised Pedro not Christopher", Villalonga was quoted as saying by the ABC newspaper on Sunday.

And his family name was Scotto, not Italian but of Scottish origin.

"He had light-coloured eyes and freckles. He also had blond hair even though it quickly turned white. That's how his contemporaries described him. Nothing like the traditional images (of him), which are totally invented," the historian said, according to ABC.

Villalonga cites a chronicle of Catholic kings written by Lucio Marineo Siculo, who refers in his writings to "Pedro Columbus", not Christopher.

The historian also claims that the navigator once worked for a pirate called Vincenzo Columbus, and adopted that family name in order not to "expose" his relations.

Villalonga says his research involved combing the archives in the Genoa region along with those in the Spanish history academy and national library.

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