302 Ford Engine on 2040-parts.com

Mini Rocketman concept (2011): a guided tour

Anders Warming, Mini's new chief designer who took over from Gert Hildebrand in December 2010, spoke to CAR about the new Rocketman concept car at the 2011 Geneva motor show. Here's the Danish designer's guided tour to the Rocketman - and thoughts on Mini design in the future. CAR: Mini Rocketman: tell us about the front view Anders Warming: 'The front view of the car has to be instantly recognisable Mini, but it also has to have a face that really tells you that the brand is going to the future. That’s why we are emphasising the light rings around the headlamps: the icon of a Mini, but now with LEDs.

McLaren P1 lapping the Nurburgring in UNDER 7 minutes in stunning new video

The McLaren P1 laps the Nurburgring in under 7 minutes Ever since Ron Dennis claimed the McLaren P1 would be able to lap the Nurburgring in under seven minutes, we’ve been waiting for McLaren to prove it. It seems their initial attempts failed to get below the magic 7 minute barrier – unlike the Porsche 918 Spyder which lapped the Nurburgring in 6m 57s – but last month we reported that the P1 seemed to have achieved its goal by going 10 seconds faster than the Porsche in  an almost unbelievable 6 minutes 47 seconds. Unfortunately, we still don’t know officially just how quickly the P1 got round the Nurburgring, but we do now know that it was under 7 minutes thanks to a new video just released by McLaren.

Philip Hammond: Winter Tyres are no good in the UK. Wrong.

Philip Hammond drops a clanger on Winter Tyres Throughout all of last year’s snow we lost count of the number of times we were asked if winter tyres were a good idea. You see, winter tyres are not something the Brits know much about. Ask most UK drivers what a winter tyre is and they have visions of something bordering on a James Bond special with spikes to get a grip.