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

'Dracula' rides through Transylvania

A BRITISH man dressed as Dracula has just completed a bizarre road trip through historical Transylvania, riding a classic Ural motorbike fitted with a coffin as a sidecar. Nick Cunningham, 47, has just completed the ghoulishly good three-day journey along some of Europe’s best roads and scenery. And as if Dracula wasn’t enough for the locals to cope with, Nick’s companion for the trip, six-foot-four Nick Jackson, was dressed as Frankenstein’s Monster.

Aston Martin to continue with V12 engine as well as new Mercedes AMG V8

Aston’s Flagship cars, like the Vanquish (pictured) will still offer the V12 engine Aston Martin has certainly been looking to the future with renewed optimism over the last year as a series of deals gave them a lifeline to remain competitive in an increasingly corporate car world. Extra funding came in thanks to the involvement of Investindustrial’s new stake in Aston Martin, and a deal has been done with Mercedes AMG to supply new V8 engines and electronic architecture. Not only that, but Aston Martin are developing a new platform for their future range of cars, with the biggest investment in Aston Martin’s history.

Official: Aston Martin gets its hands on Mercedes AMG engines & Electronic Architecture

Aston Martin & AMG confirm they’re getting in bed together Back in December we reported that Aston Martin had new investment from Investindustrial and wondered if that would mean – thanks to an existing relationship between Investindustrial and AMG – if we’d see Aston Martin finally getting access to AMG’s engines and platforms. By May, things had moved on and it was clear that Aston Martin and AMG were in talks for Aston Martin to get access to their engines for the next generation of AML’s cars. Now those talks have borne fruit and AMG and AML have signed a letter of intent for Aston Martin to “access significant Mercedes-AMG GmbH and Mercedes-Benz Cars’ resources, allowing the development of bespoke V8 powertrains and the use of certain components of electric/electronic (e/e) architecture.” Interestingly, there’s no talk of V12 engines – which could mean Aston Martin are going to move from the current Ford V12 for the DB9 and Vanquish to a powerful V8 from AMG – and nor is there talk of sharing platforms.