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

McLaren Automotive First Anniversary: 1,000 McLaren MP4-12C sold and counting

McLaren Automotive is a year old and is celebrating selling over 1,000 McLaren MP4-12Cs in the first twelve months. It’s actually a bit more than  three years since Ron Dennis announced the formation of McLaren Automotive, which had a live launch on Cars UK on 18th March 2010. But McLaren don’t seem to acknowledge that date as the start of McLaren Automotive but instead prefer the date the first MP4-12C was sold – exactly one year ago today on June 21st 2011.

CDN-GM Interactive Design Contest August Update

It's hard to believe that the summer's almost over already, and with it your chance to win one of five paid internships (including housing) at GM's Warren, MI design studio in the CDN-GM Interactive Design Competition 2012. There has been some very high quality work coming in since June and with 19 days left, there's still plenty of time to put together your design for the next Buick Lacrosse, Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Camaro, or GMC Terrain. The competition is open to all full-time college or university students from across the US and Canada, and is a fantastic way to make a name for yourself, improve your skills in the "off-season", and get a head start on your career.  The judges and mentors are participating heavily in the comments, so remember to show as much work as possible, from inspiration and mood boards to thumbnail and ideation sketches, in order to get the best feedback for your final design.

Mercedes S 500 Plug-In Hybrid price & specs – costs from £87,965

The Mercedes S500 Plug-in Hybrid arrives in the UK It’s more than a year since the Mercedes S500 Plug-in Hybrid was revealed, and now it’s finally going on sale in the UK and, if your pockets are deep enough, it offers a perfect ‘cake and eat it’ car. Under the skin there’s a 3.0 litre V6 biturbo delivering 329bhp and an electric motor adding a further 116bhp which together give the S500 Plug-in the ability to blat to 62mph in just 5.2 seconds but return official economy of 100.9 mpg and emissions of a measly 65g/km. That combination means that you won’t have to pay Boris to drive through London, and your BIK rate will be a very modest 5 per cent, making the S500 plug-in Hybrid a perfect choice for every board member in the country currently paying 35 per cent on their petrol S500, BMW 7 Series or Audi A8.