11 12 13 14 Mazda 2 Power Steering Column W/motor Dr61-3210x Oem on 2040-parts.com

Rowan Atkinson’s McLaren F1 cost nearly £1 million to fix

Rowan Atkinson pranged his McLaren F1 in 2011 in Cambridgeshire and now, after a repair bill of £910,00, it’s back. We all know what a petrolhead Black Adder and Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson is, and most of the car world knows he owns a McLaren F1, and that he had a nasty accident in it in 2011. Rowan lost control of his F1 in damp and unpleasant conditions on the A605 near Peterborough and ended up going backwards in to a tree.

Merc to revive straight six, plus 4cyl and smaller V8s

Mercedes has just signed off a new engine family which will see most full-sized Mercs in future run four-cylinders, downsized V8s and… straight sixes. A friendly Mercedes engineer recently met CAR to disclose the engine plans for future models, including the surprise disclosure that Merc plans to switch to straight sixes, like its rivals over in Munich.  It's fair to say I almost choked on my breakfast croissant when I found out the details of the next MB engine generation which has just been signed off for release in 2015. Mercedes' future four-cylinder engines Again, there will be a family of new low-cost fours, and the big-bore V8s will be replaced by a series of downsized turbocharged 4.0-litre units.

Where did the word 'automobile' come from?

On Jan. 3, 1899, the New York Times printed the word "automobile" upon its austere pages. It wasn't the first publication to do so; Scientific American used the phrase "automobile carriage" in a May 14, 1898, review of the Winton Motor Carriage, but the Grey Lady -- a more influential publication -- was the first to debate the term.