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

Show Review: Design LA

Design LA, the automotive design conference that incorporates the Design Challenge competition, has announced its winners, during this year's LA Motor Show. Chuck Pelly, who set up Design LA last year, introduced the event and the judges for the Design Challenge: Tom Matano , Director, Academy of Art University; Imre Molner, Dean, College of Creative Studies; Steward Reed, Chair, Transportation Design, Art Centre College of Design; and Bill Van Amburg, Senior Vice President, Calsart. This year's nine competition entries had a brief to deliver a 100 percent recyclable, five-year lifespan vehicle with 'accoutrements that add fun or function to represent California's unique green lifestyle.' The Acura FCX 2020 Le Mans is a Le Mans-style race car concept notable for its enclosed wheels and motorbike style forward-inclined driving position between the front wheels (which can just be made out in the translucent illustration shown here).

Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing – official photos

Mercedes has now sent us a big photo gallery of the SLS AMG Gullwing But Mercedes has now released all the official images, so we thought you ought to get to judge the whole deal for yourself. The leaked images we had looked much better than we’d expected, and the SLS does look good – a sort of Z4 on steroids mixed with design cues from the original 300SL Gullwing. But even though the SLS will be at Frankfurt next week it won’t be launched until 2011.

Alfa Romeo MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde, 2500 ballons & an Alfa competition

Alfa Romeo MiTo Quadrifoglio and 2500 Balloons Alfa in the UK rather like a bit of social media promotion. So they’ve set up a competition to promote the quite warm Alfa Romeo MiTo Quadrifoglio. But instead of just doing the usual ‘Like us on Facebook to win’, they’ve put a bit of thought in to the whole thing.