on 2040-parts.com

Rosberg on pole for Mercedes in Japan – Vettel leaving Red Bull.

Rosberg beats Hamilton to pole in Japan Lewis Hamilton must have been confident of taking pole for the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka this morning after his resurgence in recent races – in the process taking the lead in the drivers F1 battle – but it wasn’t to be. Hamilton’s car needed a major front end rebuild after he ran wide and hit the barrier in final practice – which may have contributed to his qualifying result – but whatever the excuses it’s Rosberg in front of Hamilton for tomorrow’s race after posting a time 0.197s quicker than the Brit. Behind the two Mercedes cars it’s a Williams second row – with Bottas in third and Massa in fourth – followed by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in what is fast becoming his default place – 5th – and Daniel Ricciardo in sixth.

A new batch of Ford Mustang Cobra Jets is on the way to racers

The 40th Anniversary 2008 Mustang Cobra Jet, announced about a year ago, has been such a huge success for Ford Racing that the company will build a 2010 model, available later this year. Like the '08 CJ, just 50 examples of the turnkey race car will be built, the minimum number to homologate the car for competition in National Hot Rod Association events. An '08 Cobra Jet won its inaugural event in the Stock Eliminator Class in February at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., just as the original 1968 Cobra Jet did.

Volkswagen builds 30 millionth Golf (2013)

VW has built its 30 millionth Golf. The milestone car, a Mk7 TDI Bluemotion model, rolled off the Wolfsburg production line today (14 June 2013) and will be displayed at the factory’s open day to celebrate. On average, 2000 Golfs have been sold worldwide every day since its 1974, according to VW’s maths. Over the past 39 years there have been seven generations of Golf, from the Giugiaro-styled original right up to today’s range, which offers 227bhp in GTI Performance form, or 88mpg in the case of the Bluemotion.