95 Jeep Grand Cherokee Shift Assembly 30427 on 2040-parts.com

The cars of Ayrton Senna

Twenty years ago today – 1 May 1994 – the world lost arguably the most talented Formula One driver ever: Ayrton Senna. Numbers alone don’t quite describe the genius the Brazilian driver showed at the wheel of all manner of cars throughout his career, finding time and speed where others simply couldn’t. So, on the 20th anniversary of Senna’s death in a tragic accident at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola – only a day after Roland Ratzenberger, a young Austrian driver and friend of Senna, also sadly lost his life, while qualifying – we’re celebrating the life of one of Formula One’s most charismatic drivers.

Toyota's quake-hit Yaris plant offline for at least another month

Toyota's quake-hammered Miyagi assembly plant, which makes the Yaris small car for export to the United States, is expected to be offline for at least another month. Workers have completed repairs at the factory and restored electricity, but the facility cannot get supplies of natural gas, a person familiar with the situation said. The assessment underscores the long road facing Toyota and other Japanese automakers in bringing plants back into full operation following the deadly quake, which killed more than 11,000 people, ruptured gas lines, shutdown electric grids and snarled logistics across half the country.

Ford once planned to race fiberglass-bodied Mustang touring cars

Tucked away on page nine of the May 9, 1964 issue of Competition Press and Autoweek is an intriguing little story: “FIA Rejects Ford Bid for Homolgation [sic].” At the time, the Mustang had just made its world debut, but Ford was already scheming to fold the car into its “Total Performance” campaign. The automaker apparently proposed to do so with a fleet of crazy fiberglass-bodied touring cars. According to Competition Press, Ford tried to get the new Mustang classified as a touring car for international racing.