One Lap of the Web: The Markchurian Candidate

-- When does a cartoonist become a short-track racer? When he's Bob Englehart of the Hartford Courant, and he writes a book about his childhood in and around Indiana, a childhood spent fixated on oval racers. Englehart, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his political cartooning, explores why America's youth are willing to risk their lives to drive in circles -- and why he himself is so addicted to it.

Honda Civic Type R Mugen 2.2 revealed. But why bother?

Honda Civic Type R Mugen 2.2 - will it sell? When Honda finally confirmed the Civic Type R Mugen for very limited production – just 20 were being made – back in 2009, we did comment that the price - £38,599 and a £12k premium over the stock Type R – did not auger well for sales. In the event Honda has only managed to shift sixteen of the original Type R Mugen, but despite that sales failure they have decided to punt out a more powerful – and inevitably more expensive – version of the Type R with a bored and stroke 2.2 litre version of the original 2.0 litre in the Type R – the Honda Civic Type R Mugen 2.2.

New Audi Quattro supercar: could this be it?

Audi has released surprise pictures of one of the concept cars it will be bringing to the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show, on its international media site. The new concept currently comes with no other information – not even a name. However, given the way it looks so similar to the RS5-based Quattro concept from 2010 and the presence of the Quattro text on so many of these illustrations, it seems fairly clear what this new supercar will be called.