Eric Bana crashes while competing in Australian rally

Hobart, Australia – Australian actor Eric Bana crashed his painstakingly restored 1974 Ford XB Coupe into some trees during an around-the-state rally Saturday but emerged uninjured along with his co-driver.

Bana and co-driver Tony Ramunno walked away from the crash during the Targa Tasmania rally, where they had been in 53rd place in field of 115 cars in the Outright Classic competition.

Initially, Bana hoped that the car, which he has owned since he was 15, could be repaired to continue the final day of racing today. But a closer inspection by his support crew showed that the front right-hand steering and suspension were too badly damaged.

“We had been having a great day until then,” Bana said. “But I misjudged a tight left-hander and we went in a little too fast – the car understeered off the road and got onto the gravel and we went into a couple of trees at a fairly low speed.

“The car is a little battered on the driver’s side which is a real shame, as many hours had been spent reshaping its original panels to get it just right. It’s a real shame, but that’s motor racing.”

British Airways cuts Branson from in-flight Bond film

London – British Airways cut a cameo by Richard Branson from its in-flight version of the latest James Bond film and blurred out the tail fin of a Virgin Atlantic plane seen in the movie.

BA’s entertainment team cut a cameo appearance by Branson, chairman of the rival airline Virgin Atlantic, that appears in the original version of “Casino Royale,” a spokesman confirmed Saturday. In the original film, Branson can be seen turning around after walking through a metal detector at Miami Airport.

“We screen all films before they’re used on our aircraft so that we can control the content of what is displayed,” the spokesman said on condition of anonymity, in line with company policy. “We have full control over what is shown.”

The tail fin of a Virgin plane appearing in the film is also obscured in BA’s in-flight version.

BA’s entertainment team vets films on grounds of taste and suitability. Branson appeared in the film after his airline provided the producers with a plane to use in the movie.

Schwarzenegger to help ‘pimp’ ride to promote biofuel

Sacramento, Calif. – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is headed to MTV to promote Earth Day with an 800-horsepower car that runs on renewable biodiesel fuel.

The governor’s appearance on a special Earth Day episode of the popular show “Pimp My Ride” set for today is the latest environmentally themed event for Schwarzenegger, who drew international attention for signing a global warming law last year.

For the show, videotaped earlier, mechanics installed the powerful engine in a converted 1965 Chevy Impala, producing a vehicle that accelerates from zero to 60 mph in three seconds.

The governor said the converted car’s emissions of greenhouse gases will be 50 percent lower than a comparable gas-powered car. And biodiesel fuel can be made from recycled products such as vegetable oil.

“We take this cool show and they did something, and added something that was environmentally hip,” Schwarzenegger recently told a student crowd at Georgetown University.

When Schwarzenegger ran for governor in 2003, he was criticized for popularizing gas-guzzling Hummers. He has since reduced his personal Hummer fleet to four, two of which he says have since been converted to run on alternative fuels.