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

Tomorrow's world: lightweight carbon composites

Once all the dust settles on The Great Battery Farce (the idea that the world's ills will be taken care of by sticking a battery in everything that moves and charging it up) we may eventually face up to the fact that the best way to move something around more economically, is to move less of it. That means making things lighter, a lot lighter. Car makers are working on it and manufacturers like Audi and Jaguar have already become masters in bringing aluminium to the mass production.

Audi plans expansion of hybrids, electrics

Audi plans a rapid expansion of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles over the next few years as a key component in Volkswagen Group's strategy to dominate the alternative-powertrain market by decade's end. Michael Dick, Audi's board member for technical development, told Automotive News that the next-generation A6 sedan will have the potential to be a full hybrid by the end of 2012. The A6 would join the recently introduced hybrid A8 sedan at the Geneva auto show and the soon-to-be-launched Q5 hybrid crossover.

One Lap of the Web: Indy 500 memories

-- In 1995, Jacques Villeneuve won the 79th Indy 500 and went on to the CART Championship. Viewers who tuned into ABC and saw the introduction to its Indy 500 broadcast, a five-minute rundown the entire history of American motorsport, were hyped up beyond belief to watch some cool-as-hell racing. Nineteen years later, the video can still get race fans PUMPED UP.