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

General Motors Europe opens new Design Center

Being a car designer is often percieved as a glamourous occupation, but few people realise that this typically means working in some of the least inspiring places. Wolfsburg, Detroit and Birmingham are just a few of the locations that are home to some of the largest populations of car designers around the world. GM Europe's location in Russelsheim, Germany is also one of the less glamourous locations but the new design center building opened this week aims to redress the otherwise rather industrial feel of the place where tomorrow's Opels and Saabs are created.

Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid at the Nurburgring – Video

The Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid Nurburgring video below In February we reported that Porsche has developed the unthinkable – a hybrid 911. But this wasn’t a hybrid 911 with a bank of batteries and a fluffy-bunny conscience, but a rampant track 911 with a great big electro-magnetic flywheel and a KERS-like thump of an extra 160bhp – the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid. The 911 GT3 R uses technology developed by Williams F1 and comprises of a pair of generators in the front wheels that shove energy to a composite flywheel (conveniently located next to the driver – not sure how well that would go down on a road0going version) which is the stored and can be thrown at the back wheels whenever the driver wants, in a way very similar to KERS.

Mercedes fixes diesel injector problems

Mercedes say that a new injector system for C Class and E Class diesels with the OM651 engine have now been fixed. So extensive was the problem that many owners were waiting months for their cars to be fixed as Mercedes struggled with a mounting pile of broken cars and injectors that were failing. Mercedes tell us that the problem was fixed with the release of new injectors later in 2010, but Cars UK readers have continued to complain about their cars needing multiple visits to dealers with injectors failing multiple times (that original story garnered more than 500 comments from disgruntled Mercedes owners).