1978 Yamaha Xs1100 Xs 1100 Sidestand Kickstand Stand on 2040-parts.com

The Porsche P1 is lighter, greener and more exclusive than McLaren's new hypercar

Long before the legendary Porsche 911 -- before, even, the Porsche 356 -- Ferdinand Porsche was tinkering with alternative powertrains and designing road-worthy vehicles. Though it wasn't the first vehicle to bear his name, the “Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, C.2 Phaeton model” was the earliest result of his efforts. Perhaps getting the jump on the modern alpha-numeric craze/plague, it was shortened to a simple “P1.” The P1 (we'll refer to it as the Porsche P1 from here on out to avoid confusion) made its first appearance in Vienna on June 26, 1898, and it didn't last long in the public eye: Before Porsche decided to pull it out and put it on display, it had reportedly been sitting in a warehouse, untouched, since 1902.

Brabus Tesla Roadster (2008) : batteries with bling

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 13 November 2008 15:04 Cometh the hour, cometh the tuning company. Brabus, purveyors of all things fast and freaky, is turning its hand to the electric Tesla Roadster. It's unveiling this customised battery car at the 2008 Essen car show – and the company has launched a new arm called Brabus Zero Emission to cater for the growth in eco-friendly cars.

Four new electric speed records for the UK

Lord Paul Drayson has set a new World Electric Land Speed record for sub-999kg electric vehicles with an average speed of 205.139mph over the flying mile. This represents a modest 1mph increase over the previous record – which Drayson set last year in the same Drayson Racing Technologies all-electric prototype. But the ‘Lord of Speed’ (as we’ve just dubbed him) also broke four other records in the process.