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

Start up mobility van maker VPG shuts down

Van maker Vehicle Production Group -- recipient of a $50 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy -- has suspended operations and is in the process of being sold, its former CEO said Wednesday. The Allen Park, Mich., company, which made MV-1 vans for the disabled, terminated about 100 workers and closed its offices in February.

Bob Bondurant at 80

Last fall, as we waited for our turn to partake in a braking drill at Bob Bondurant's driving school in Arizona, a black Cadillac CTS-V coupe came screaming out of the facility's parking area and onto the tarmac where we sat. The driver hustled the big two-door around a tight autocross course at a startling pace, though he likely would have been faster had he avoided some of the smoky, sideways stuff. Our instructor, Johnny O'Connell, grinned, “I guess it's good to be the boss.” Bondurant -- who turns 80 on Saturday -- started racing an Indian motorcycle as a teenager.

VW Polo R confirmed for 2013

VW Polo WRC makes the case for the 4WD VW Polo R We speculated a year ago that the Polo GTI wouldn’t be the top of the Polo tree, and that Volkswagon would roll out the VW Polo R in 2012, but perhaps with FWD instead of the 4WD its big brother, the Golf R, enjoys. But just a few months later it seemed clear that we would end up getting a 4WD Polo R at some point after Audi lost its bottle at the last minute and pulled the Audi S1 badge off a FWD A1, instead calling it the Audi A1 1.4 TFSI. That change of heart by Audi – saving the S1 badge for a quattro S1 – meant that a quattro platform would be developed for the S1, and as the A1 uses the Polo platform it meant a 4WD platform would be available for the Polo too.