07 - 08 Yamaha R1 Rear Swingarm Back Suspension Swing Arm on 2040-parts.com

Government abandons plan to make driving test tougher

Proposals to make learning to drive much tougher in a bid to improve road safety amongst young people have been abandoned by the government, Radio 1’s Newsbeat reports. The changes would have involved the introduction of a probationary licence for the first 12 months, a curfew on driving late at night and compulsory lessons on motorway driving. But plans have been scraped because they would restrict young drivers’ lives too much.

Video: BMW instructor attempts to break world drifting record

The Guinness Book of World Records has the longest drift set at an amazing 19,035 feet, or about 3.5 miles. It was set in China in 2011. On May 11 Johan Schwartz, BMW Performance Driving instructor working in Greer, S.C., aims to bring the record back to the United States.

Ford gains ground in customer perception

The Ford brand gained ground in consumers' minds this year as Toyota slipped, though the Japanese juggernaut still leads the pack by a slight margin. Over the last two years, Ford climbed 35 percentage points while Toyota dropped 46 percentage points, according to the latest survey from Consumer Reports. During this time, Ford (144) moved within three points of Toyota (147).