Acdelco Oe Service 15809056 Transmission Cooling Line/hose on 2040-parts.com

Call for reform over road repair funding

FUNDING patterns mean most road maintenance is being carried out in "less-efficient, cold and wet" times, a report from a Government spending watchdog has said. The current pattern of funding, combined with the need to spend money within the financial year, means that most maintenance work goes on between September and March, said the report from the National Audit Office (NAO). It went on: "Although this is less disruptive for road users, it is less efficient than carrying out the work at other times of year because materials can be more difficult to handle in cold and wet conditions, and daylight hours are shorter." The report went on: "As a result of the additional funding for emergency repairs, which is made available at the end of the financial year, almost all highways authorities need extra capacity from the market at the same time, which makes it less likely that they will get value for money." The NAO report said there was a "lack of predictability" over road spending adding that historically, local highway authorities spent more revenue on maintenance, but were now carrying out fewer routine activities such as clearing gullies which are essential to preventing water seeping into roads' sub-structure.

Porsche 918 Spyder laps the 'Ring in 6:57

The stunning Porsche 918 Spyder was revealed at the Frankfurt motor show on Tuesday. The near million-dollar car has a price that's four and a half times higher than the Porsche 911 Turbo S. It was built to battle the new crop of supercars including the Ferrari LaFerrari and McLaren P1.

Rolls-Royce's revised Phantom meets bloggers

'Rolls-Royce only embraces new technology where it enhances the overall experience.' Reassuring words delivered calmly but assuredly in Germanic English by Jörg Bause, director of manufacturing for the Goodwood-based prestige car manufacturer. Somewhat surprisingly this wasn’t a crowd pleasing-speech designed to rouse an audience of loyal clientele, but rather to a small congregation of seasoned Southern journalists, television news reporters and... bloggers?