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One Lap of the Web: Porsche flat-fours, hot rod artists and German car shows

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- You've heard of watching paint dry, but NHTSA has a new hobby: watching Fords rust.

Toyota smashes electric car lap record at Nurburgring

Toyota has set a new electric car record at the Nurburgring – with a silent but speedy 7min 47.794sec lap of the Nordschleife. You can watch the record lap in our video above. Ring specialist Jochen Krumbach was at the wheel of the Toyota Motorsport EV P001 racer, obliterating Peugeot's previous 9min 1.338sec record in the EX1 concept car.

Used car sales return to pre-recession levels

USED CAR SALES reached 7.1 million units in 2012, on a par with pre-recession levels and a climb of 6.4%, according to a comprehensive market report. The 2013 BCA Report by British Car Auctions valued the used car market a £38.1 billion in 2012, putting it £5.8 billion ahead of the new car market over the same period. In particular sales of younger used cars (0-2 years) increased significantly, rising by 18.6% to 762,000 and reversing a three year trend of falling volumes in this age sector.