Seadoo 787 Engine on 2040-parts.com

Caterham 620R heading for Goodwood debut

The Caterham 620R (pictured) will debut at the Goodwood FoS Caterham may be planning an assault on the mainstream car market with an SUV and a City Car, but it’s not forgetting its roots, with a new entry-level 7 in the mix and now a new range-topping 7 – the Caterham 620R. The Caterham 620R is heading for Goodwood this week for a debut – and consigning the current R500 to the history bin in the process – as the most powerful road going car Caterham have ever produced. The power comes from the same 2.0 litre Supercharged Ford engine as the R500, but in the 620R the wick has been turned up to 11, with 310bhp on offer, enough to scoot the 500kg 620R to 62mph in just 2.8 seconds.

Mandelson to announce help for car makers

Lord Mandelson is the man charged with finding ways to fund UK Car purchases (yes, he of the dodgy mortgage debacle – at least he should know a few tricks!) as the credit crunch has dried up funding, leading to an unprecedented drop in new car sales in the UK. Mandelson is due to make a statement in the Lords just after 3pm today, outlining the help the government is going to offer to ailing car makers. Central to this package is expected to be a funding channel directly from the Bank of England to inject liquidity in to the car financing sector.

2013 Audi A3 Sportback revealed (+video)

Audi has revealed the 2013 A3 Sportback ahead of a Paris 2012 debut, the five door version of the new A3. The new A3 Sportback is bigger than both the new A3 – by 35mm – and the old A3 Sportback – by 58mm – and it get a bigger boot than both – 380 litres with the seats up and 1220 litre with the seats down. There’s not a lot to say about how it looks, because it looks just like the new A3 with an extra pair of doors and a set of roof rails, but that extra length does mean a small amount more legroom in the back.