07 08 09 Nissan Altima Brake Master Cyl on 2040-parts.com

Bellissima! Exotic Italian cars hit Brooklands

We were blessed with brilliant weather over the first May bank holiday weekend of 2014, and what better way to celebrate the onset of summer than with a celebration of stunning motor cars? That’s exactly what happened at the home of British motorsport, Brooklands, with thousands of Italian vehicle owners turning up to Auto Italia magazine’s Italian car day at the famous location. From Fiat 500s to Ferrari F50s, this gathering of iconic Italian metal had it all.

Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations division launches

Cars like the Jaguar F-Type Project 7 (pictured) will come from JLR’s Special Operations If the creation of the Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations division to create bespoke, heritage, ultra luxury and high performance Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover cars doesn’t shout how positive JLR are about the future, nothing will. Jaguar call it “meeting the increasing expectations of today’s most discerning and enthusiastic car customers“, but what they really mean is that JLR have now got so much back on their game with cars like the new Jaguar F-Type, new Range Rover and new Range Rover Sport that they now have buyers with deep enough pockets to pay for just about anything, so that’s what JLR are going to do with the Special Operations division; give them anything they want – at a price That will mean car like the Jaguar Project 7 F-Type we saw at Goodwood last year being possible, ultra-luxury versions of the Range Rover and even the creation of heritage cars like the new Lightweight E-Types could become a regular occurrence. With a team of engineers and and designers led by Paul Newsome, recently recruited from Williams Advance Engineering, the plan is to create halo vehicles for both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, and a team of 150 at a new Technical Centre near Gaydon will have a customer commissioning suite for bespoke and premium personalisation.

Ford names Freeman Thomas as Strategic Design Director

 Long-time DaimlerChrysler designer Freeman Thomas is joining Ford Motor Company from June 1. Thomas, 47, will become director of Strategic Design, reporting to Peter Horbury, executive director of Design, North America. Based in the company's Irvine, California studio, Thomas will lead advanced design teams in both California and Dearborn.