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

Ultimate Street Car Association opens registration for 2014 season

Back in November, the Ultimate Street Car Association was announced at SEMA as a national race series to oversee the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational and Qualifying. Registration is now open for the first event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Those of you who picked up any tuner mag from the last six years will remember the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational, which played host to some incredible cars -- and demonstrated an overwhelming bias toward Camaros, it turns out.

Nissan opens new design studio in Beijing

Delayed by the deadly earthquake that hit Japan earlier this year, Nissan Motor Co.'s new design center in Beijing finally received a proper opening this week, when global design chief Shiro Nakamura showed off the studio as a new source of ideas for Nissan and Infiniti. Nissan Design China, as the Beijing-based center is known, "is not a studio to just generate ideas for China," Nakamura said in an interview with Car Design News. It's equipped to handle designs of show cars and production cars for both Nissan and Infiniti brands, aimed at customers in China, as well as around the world.

Amazing muscle car and rare supercars go to auction

The forthcoming RKM Collector Car Auction at the Charlotte Convention Centre, USA features - as you'd expect - a wealth of American muscle cars. But sift through the catalogue and you'll discover some very interesting lots from Europe and Japan, too. We couldn't help but take a closer look, starting with a McLaren F1 car, formerly driven by James Hunt...