1981 Yamaha Xj550 Maxim Outer Clutch Basket/oem 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.

BMW i8 production car revealed – costs £99,845: Frankfurt 2013

The new BMW i8 Hybrid (pictured) will cost £100k in the UK The BMW i8 jas finally arrived in production guise at the Frankfurt Motor show, neatly creating the top end of BMW’s new i-brand range after the BMW i3 underlined the starting point. Looking really quite appealing, the i8 uses the same carbon fibre reinforced plastic bodyshell and aluminium chassis construction as the i3, but whereas the i3 is built to be a city car, the i8 is the closest we’re likely to get to a 21st century version of the BMW M1. Similar in size to the Audi R8, the BMW i8 is a 2+2 with a 3-cylinder 1.5 litre engine and generator sitting at the back and driving the rear wheels and an electric motor at the front driving the front wheels, with a petrol tank at the back and the batteries for the electric motor stored in the centre tunnel.

Caterham CSR 175 – Tokyo Catchup

The CAterham CSR 175 revealed at Tokyo We reported a few weeks ago that with the economic crisis still enveloping car makers round the world the Tokyo Motor Show was going to be almost exclusively domestic. Just Lotus – who brought the limited edition Lotus Scura – and Alpina – who brought the LWB B7 – were expected to be there to represent the rest of the world. But Caterham – inheritors of Colin Chapman’s Lotus 7  heritage – took advantage of some cheap floor space and turned up with a new car – the Caterham CSR 175./p> The CSR is Caterham’s top of the range, and this CSR 175 slots in as the bottom of the top – if that makes sense.