2015 Zoom Zoom Magazine High Octane Mazda Mx-5 Miata on 2040-parts.com

Prize for budding young motoring journalists

By Peter Adams Motoring Issues 03 June 2009 12:39 Aspiring young car writers searching for a gateway into motoring journalism may want to start typing and enter The Sir William Lyons Award 2009. The Sir William Lyons Award, which is sponsored by Jaguar and promoted by The Guild of Motoring Writers, is free to enter and open to anyone aged between 17 and 23, of British nationality and resident in the United Kingdom. The winner will receive a trophy and a cheque for £2000 at the Guild’s annual dinner and awards evening in London.

Hearst moves Road & Track

New York publishing house Hearst says it will move the Road & Track magazine editorial offices from Newport Beach, Calif., to Ann Arbor, Mich., home of its other auto-magazine title, Car and Driver. Additionally, Larry Webster has been named editor in chief, replacing Matt DeLorenzo. Webster had been automotive editor of Hearst's Popular Mechanics since January 2010 and before that was the Detroit editor for Popular Mechanics.

Driven: BMW i8

When BMW unveiled the Vision EfficientDynamics concept at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show, we wrote: "for our money, it's the first time a major carmaker has really attempted to communicate ‘green' technology in an aesthetic sense." Fast-forward five years and we've swapped the show halls of the IAA for a beauty spot on the north-west coast of Scotland. And, while the car's name has changed to i8, our sentiment towards this genre- and era-defining car remains. Admittedly the production car's design execution hasn't received the universal praise of its concept forebears, but, on a remote outpost of the British Isles, a Protonic Blue i8 couldn't look more exotic.