1981 Yamaha Maxim 550 Rear Brake Drum/hub on 2040-parts.com

Win a signed sketch of the Renault Dezir concept

The new October 2010 issue of CAR Magazine features a beautiful shoot of Renault’s new Dezir, a rear-wheel drive electric supercar concept that will be unveiled at the 2010 Paris motor show. And CAR’s editor Phil McNamara has been to Paris early, for an audience with Renault’s design director Laurens van den Acker, and to see the stunning Dezir in the metal. It’s the first of six concept cars from Renault, before we see the new van den Acker-led design language appear on the Clio 4 in 18 months time.

Feds researching fire risks from EV batteries, regulator says

Federal safety regulators have begun an $8.75 million study of whether lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles pose a potential fire hazard, officials said Thursday. Kevin Vincent, chief counsel of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said researchers are looking at whether the high-voltage batteries can cause fires when they are being charged and when the vehicles are in an accident.

Land Rover Freelander Black & White back for 2013

Land Rover has resurrected the Black & White Limited Edition outing for the 2013 Freelander 2 with extra kit on a Freelander S for a 600 run. Land Rover does like to divvy up a special edition at the end of the year to give car sales a bit of New Year impetus (and, if Land Rover’s recent sales figures are anything to go by, it certainly works), and this year we get the Land Rover Freelander Black & white Edition. Again.