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

Local Motors 'Design Our Car' competition opens

Local Motors has opened its first-ever ‘Design Our Car' competition, which encourages collaboration within the manufacturing community. The open-source automaker is providing two of its Rally Fighter cars, one of which will be built at the company's micro-factory in Arizona while the other will be built live in the Emerging Technology Center at September's International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. Ideas from the design and engineering community are being sought to help design and select a skin for the Rally Fighter that will be built by the Local Motors team this spring.

Aston Martin One-77 Nurburgring Spy Video

The Aston Martin One-77 gets a run at the Nurburgring - Video below For real car lovers the ‘Eco’ push in recent years has left us a little perplexed. Perplexed and confused as we try to come to terms with the joys of a turbo diesel (and there are joys, much to my surprise) and the loss of big V10 and V12 engines in production cars. Thankfully, there are still enough wealthy people in the world who don’t give a fig about the opinions of the eco-mentalists and who are inclined to buy the best that car makers can produce, regardless of eco-sensibilities. Which is why we can still glory in motoring delights like the Aston Martin One-77 even if its £1.2 million price tags is beyond the reach of most.

Infiniti Q50 to arrive at Geneva 2013 with ‘European Power’

The new Infiniti Q50 – the Infiniti formerly known as the G37 – will make its European debut at Geneva 2013 with a diesel and turbo petrol option. The Infiniti Q50 debuted at the Detroit Auto Show last month and came with the same two engine options the G37 got, namely the 3.7 litre V6 petrol with 323bhp and a 3.5 litre V6 hybrid sporting a total of 355bhp. But that engine lineup isn’t going to be enough to make sales of the new Q50 in Europe, where fuel costs so much more than in Infiniti’s core U.S.