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

Bench Racing: New crop of supercars

It's been a while since we've hypothetically raced a handful of cars around the office; long enough that an entirely new crop of supercars has arrived for us to chart, graph and dissect. Today we're zeroing in on the $1-$3 million price tag range, which fits the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1, Pagani Huayra and the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. The first three fit neatly, pricewise, at about $1.3 million.

White House pushes for Friday deal on fuel-economy regulations

The White House wants to announce as early as Friday that it has reached agreement with most automakers on a plan to raise corporate average fuel economy targets to 54.5 mpg by 2025, manufacturers' representatives said Wednesday. While no automakers have signed on to the Obama administration plan yet, most--including Ford, Toyota, General Motors and Chrysler--are generally supportive and intend to do so, the industry officials said. Each manufacturer is trying to iron out technical issues with the White House before endorsing the proposal.

Design Services: Car Menu launched

Within almost every automotive design department throughout the world, their comes a time when a junior designer is dispatched to find a picture of some new model's tail lamp, the side view of a particular class leading competitor or examples of several new cars' colour and trim packages. Whilst looking at the competition is not necessarily a healthy way of finding ideas, it is often essential to demonstrate what is feasible, check in-house proposals are not too derivative, or show how advanced a design theme is relative to the same type of cars on the market. But even if the particular aspect of a car can be found, press packs and magazines typically show cars in the flattering light of an exotic location or being drifted around a corner on opposite lock; rarely are these images particularly useful.