42085s Simpson Racing Pilot Chute - Safety Orange on 2040-parts.com

Tomorrow's world: lightweight carbon composites

Once all the dust settles on The Great Battery Farce (the idea that the world's ills will be taken care of by sticking a battery in everything that moves and charging it up) we may eventually face up to the fact that the best way to move something around more economically, is to move less of it. That means making things lighter, a lot lighter. Car makers are working on it and manufacturers like Audi and Jaguar have already become masters in bringing aluminium to the mass production.

2009 Ford KA – Verdict

Cars UK [rating:4.0] Ford KA - The Verdict The original Ford KA was a hard act to follow – despite its age and the fact it was based on an even more ancient Fiesta underpinnings – and conspired to look fresh and contemporary right to the end. But the new Ford KA manages to cohesively bring together all the charm and style of the original in a modern and well thought out package. If we were running round a City on an everyday basis we would have to look hard to find anything better as an everyday drive.

Spy photos: BMW i8 hits Swedish test track

Spy photographers caught the new BMW i8 testing on a secret track wearing the company’s familiar psychedelic camouflage. The test car pictured is a preproduction model rather than a concept BMW i8, similar to what should appear in 2013. As reported earlier, we’re expecting BMW’s 2014 i8 hybrid coupe to get a 1.5-liter, three-cylinder direct-injection gasoline engine--essentially the same unit earmarked to head into the next-generation Mini and the front-wheel-drive BMW 1-series due out in 2014.