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

One Lap of the Web: The Talented Mr. Honda, electric airplanes and Viper-powered Jensens

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- A blog post at Hemmings called our attention to this fascinating profile of Soichiro Honda, which was originally printed in the June 16, 1963 edition of the British newspaper The Observer.

Brabus 800 E V12 Cabriolet – it’s a bonkers Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet

Brabus 800 E V12 Cabriolet So you fancy a Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet, but you feel Mercedes has failed miserably to endow any E-Class Cab with enough power to whip the skin off a rice pudding. What do you do? You go out and grab yourself an E-Class Cab tweaked and fettled by Brabus – something like the new Brabus 800 E V12 Cabriolet with 800 continental horses at its disposal – more than enough speed on tap to whip the syrups off your back-seat passengers.

Britain's low-carbon future

By Guy Bird Motoring Issues 25 March 2008 12:36 Higher purchase taxes for high emitters, ‘traffic-light style’ tax discs to indicate a vehicle’s environmental friendliness and mandatory dashboard-based driving efficiency technology are just three recommendations from a new report that looks set to inform Government policy for the next decade. Published on the same day as the Budget, the snappily titled King Review Of Low Carbon Cars Part Two (Recommendations For Action) was lost amid all the hoopla of new tax bands. But now we've had time to scrutinise it, we can assess the proposals that could affect your next car choice, from upfront purchase price to tax and running costs.