Single Valve Cover 64-70 Pontiac Gto Firebird Catalina 2+2 Chrome on 2040-parts.com

Toyota i-Road – a three-wheel EV for Geneva 2013

The Toyota i-Road Concept has been revealed ahead of the Geneva Motor Show. It’s a three-wheeled EV designed as an urban transport solution. But if there is a way to make EVs acceptable to car buyers it’s to offer an alternative to the normal ICE car that works in specific and appropriate locations better than a full-sized ICE car can, not to try and make a normal car run on electricity.

Alfa Romeo 4C Concept video – lest we forget

Alfa Romeo release an Alfa 4C Video One of the most appealing cars at this year’s Geneva Motor Show was the Alfa Romeo 4C, a good-looking, mid-engined, 2-seater coupe. Better still, Alfa let it be known that this 4C Concept wasn’t just for fun, it was on the way to a showroom near you. In fact we believed the Alfa 4C was the car that would be the halo model for Alfa Romeo’s return to the American market, at that time expected to be in 2012 but, as we reported recently, that plan is going a bit awry.

Call for reform over road repair funding

FUNDING patterns mean most road maintenance is being carried out in "less-efficient, cold and wet" times, a report from a Government spending watchdog has said. The current pattern of funding, combined with the need to spend money within the financial year, means that most maintenance work goes on between September and March, said the report from the National Audit Office (NAO). It went on: "Although this is less disruptive for road users, it is less efficient than carrying out the work at other times of year because materials can be more difficult to handle in cold and wet conditions, and daylight hours are shorter." The report went on: "As a result of the additional funding for emergency repairs, which is made available at the end of the financial year, almost all highways authorities need extra capacity from the market at the same time, which makes it less likely that they will get value for money." The NAO report said there was a "lack of predictability" over road spending adding that historically, local highway authorities spent more revenue on maintenance, but were now carrying out fewer routine activities such as clearing gullies which are essential to preventing water seeping into roads' sub-structure.