Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Track and Field: Today's track day cars offer more for less

The imminent arrival of the Scion FR-S and the Subaru BRZ have many enthusiasts thinking about the track-day-filled summer ahead. Since both of these rear-wheel-drive coupes will be available in limited numbers, we're going to explore some other options for track-day cars that could be as fun as the new sheetmetal from Japan. We'll start with the less expensive stuff and work our way up, without crossing the $50,000 threshold.

Renault Formula E racer (2013) at Frankfurt motor show

Formula E, the new elite racing series for electric single-seaters, has got the FIA’s backing, confirmed the major cities that will host the races, and now we've finally seen the crucial racecar. This is the Spark-Renault SRT_01E, a joint project developed between Renaultsport and Spark Racing Technology (SRT) which has just been unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show. There’s also been input from F1 legends Williams and McLaren, plus Dallara (which builds all the cars for the IndyCar series in the US).

Mercedes launch new 9G-Tronic gearbox on E350 BlueTec

New Mercedes E350 BlueTec (pictured) gets 9-speed 9G-TRONIC auto It’s not exactly a million years ago that automatic gearboxes offered poorer performance and economy than manual gearboxes, and came as standard with just three gears. But now, automatic gearboxes are so good they can  change quicker than any driver and, with the proliferation of eight-speed auto ‘boxes, offer improved economy and performance too. The next logical step is even more ratios in an auto ‘box, and Land Rover has already revealed they’ll be fitting the Evoque with a 9-speed ZF ‘box from 2014, and the new Jeep Grand Cherokee gets a nine-speed auto ‘box too.