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

Aston Martin V8 Vantage S: The Video

Aston Martin V8 Vantage S on track at the Ascari Circuit in Spain We’re always up for a bit of Aston Martin goodness, so we were more than happy to report in January that Aston Martin has added a bit of extra oomph to the V8 to create the Aston Martin V8 Vantage S. To be honest, there’s not a huge amount of extra power on the Vantage V8 S – just 10bhp – but there are a chunk of tweaks that make it very appealing, including a new seven speed Sportshift ‘box, sharper steering, better braking and a bit of suspension tweaking to make the V8S that bit more aggressive. All this new V8 S goodness was served up at the Geneva Motor Show last week, but we got a bit sidetracked with the new Aston Martin Virage – or DB9 Ghia – in a marmite shade of orange hogging AM’s Geneva stand.

Win the first new Jaguar XJ

Jaguar are hoping to raise £1 million for the NSPCC in a ‘Win a new XJ’ competition But the work of actually getting the XJ in to customers’ hands in now the focus, and although we did an update on the new XJ’s progress recently there is nothing much more to report until cars hit the road in January. But if you want to have the privilege of owning the very first new XJ off the production line – a 3.0 litre diesel Portfolio worth £62k – you can enter a competition Jaguar are running to give away that very first car. Jaguar are hoping that sales of tickets for the competition – which cost £125 each – will raise £1 million for the NSPCC’s ‘Child’s Voice’ appeal, which is aiming to raise £50 million in total to fund its helplines.

E-Type Jag is the nation’s favourite sports car

E-Type Jaguar - the Nation's Favourite Sports Car You may remember we reported a few weeks back that the organisers of the Silverstone Classic were running a poll to find out the nation’s favourite sports car of all time. The ‘nominees’ left a little to be desired, with some of the greatest sports cars ever built conspicuously missing from the list. But there were a few goodies from which to choose, and a few that should never have made the list in the first place.