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

Family Favourite Gets A Refresh

FORD has taken the wraps off its refreshed Focus. The car, which remains a firm favourite with both private buyers and business users, gains a more distinctive nose and a technology boost. Expected to hit the showrooms later this year, the Focus adopts Ford’s new exterior nose treatment – a version of which has already been adapted for the recently refreshed Fiesta supermini.

'American Nitro' is back!

"Seventies drag-race mayhem is back!" bills "American Nitro," a schlocky drive-in exploitation film whose only quote of praise, from a dog-eared period issue of "Car Craft," reads, simply, "SPECTACULAR CRASHES!" Director Bill Kimberlin says that he made "American Nitro" in 1979 as a response to Tom Wolfe's influential 1965 essay, "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby." "I was just getting out of high school in a small town in Northern California when Wolfe's book came out," he said. "Nitro came about as my response to the car culture I was exposed to in the small valley town of Boonville, Calif. Instead of 'American Graffiti,' I made 'American Nitro.'" A fitting comparison, in fact, considering Kimberlin later worked for George Lucas at ILM, starting with" Return of the Jedi." Now the movie is being released on DVD for the first time -- beware of bootlegs, warns the website -- and digitally remastered, while retaining the explosive charm and goofy narration of the 1979 original.

Alfa Romeo 8C based Disco Volante by Touring makes limited production

The Alfa Romeo Disco Volante (pictured) is going in to limited production The Alfa Romeo 8C is a beautiful – if flawed – supercar from Alfa, made even more individual by by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera with their Alfa Disco Volante Concept in 2012. That Concept – which arrived at the Geneva Motor Show in 2012 – has now been updated for 2013 and is being put in to limited production for those with deep pockets to indulge in an Alfa even more rare than the 8C itself. The Disco Volante pays homage to the 1952 Alfa Romeo Disco Volante – based on the Alfa 1900 – and is built from aluminium and carbon fibre to keep weight in check, although under the skin remains pretty much Alfa 8C.