Ken Block’s Gymkhana Five: The Streets of San Francisco

Everyone’s favourite Hooner and Drifter – Ken Block – is back with Gymkhana Five, a mad blat round the streets of San Francisco. If you want a car video full of tyre smoke, drifting and downright hooning madness, Ken Block’s your man. This time, with Gymkhana 5, the good Mr Block takes his 650hp Ford Fiesta on a blat round every familiar landmark in the streets of San Francisco, and manages to do it much more impressively than Karl Malden or Michael Douglas ever did.

New Mercedes CLA helps Daimler to 16% profit jump

The new Mercedes CLA (pictured) help Mercedes to a 16% profit jump. There’s an argument that the move in to more compact car sales by premium car makers will see their turnover rise and their profits fall as more compact cars tend to work on smaller margins than high-end luxury cars. But Mercedes has defied that logic by posting a 16 per cent increase in profits for the third quarter of 2013, boosted by sales of the new compact coupé – the Mercedes CLA.

Audi prepares a topless R8 GT

With production of the high-performance R8 GT getting under way, Audi is preparing a convertible version of the car. The German automaker released sketches of the R8 GT Spyder on Monday. A full debut is likely at the Frankfurt motor show in September.