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

Focus RS – get 345 Mountune horses from your Ford dealer

The Focus RS Mountune Power Kit gives you the power of an RS500 If you’re busy spitting feathers because you’re one of the unlucky thousands who tried to throw £35k at Ford for one of the limited edition Focus RS500s last week, worry not. You can save yourself a not inconsiderable chunk of change by taking your current Focus RS off to your local RS dealer and getting a Mountune Performance Upgrade Package and match the RS500 performance for rather less than the extra £10k the RS500 costs. Ford have a long history of working with Mountune to get more out of their production cars – Mountune even supplied the engines for the original Sierra RS500 BTCC entries –  and there are already Mountune kits available to get more from your Ford – without screwing with the warranty – for the Focus ST, the old Fiesta ST and even the latest Fiesta.

Aston Martin & Mercedes join forces

Aston Martin Production will soon see an injection of Mercedes DNA This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about a partnership between Aston Martin and Mercedes, but according to Car & Driver it’s now just about a done deal. As long ago as March 2009 we reported that Mercedes supplied the basis for the Lagonda SUV Concept (a Mercedes GL), and six months later we reported that Aston Martin were working on a Mercedes S-Class based Lagonda saloon. More recently we reported that the GL-based Lagonda SUV was back on and that Mercedes wanted Aston Martin to put together the next generation of Maybach.

Bugatti reveals footage of record-setting open-top run

In case there was any doubt, Bugatti posted footage on Monday of its $2.6 million Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse hitting a record-setting 254.04 mph at Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien test track. Chinese racing driver Anthony Liu was behind the wheel. If you'll remember, when Bugatti had its hardtop top-speed record pulled, it quickly set this test in motion to quiet any detractors.