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

Feds researching fire risks from EV batteries, regulator says

Federal safety regulators have begun an $8.75 million study of whether lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles pose a potential fire hazard, officials said Thursday. Kevin Vincent, chief counsel of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said researchers are looking at whether the high-voltage batteries can cause fires when they are being charged and when the vehicles are in an accident.

Could the McLaren P13 get a Honda engine?

The McLaren P13 is due to arrive in 2015 and we’re expecting it to get a de-tuned version of the 3.8 litre V8 already found in the 12C (pictured above) and P1, and be priced to take on the almost empty sector (in terms of price) the Porsche 911 Turbo occupies - somewhere around £125k. It’s a sensible plan to fill a potentially lucrative sector of the supercar market with a mid-engined, rear wheel drive ‘baby’ supercar with performance of around 3.8 seconds to 60mph and stunning handling. It should give the 911 Turbo a run for its money.

Mercedes SLM AMG – the mid-engined baby SLS

The Mercedes SLM AMG - a baby, mid-engined SLS Ever since the Mercedes SLS launched – in truth, even before – there have been rumours of a smaller version. Just like we’ve had with the Audi R8. But it seems that unlike Audi – who will be making an Audi R4 – Mercedes and AMG have decided that another front-engined supercar – even a smaller, cheaper one – would erode the sales base for the SLS.