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

Hyundai puts Michel Nandan in charge of WRC effort

Hyundai has appointed former Peugeot WRC technical director Michel Nandan to head up their assault on WRC. As Hyundai matures in to a credible mainstream force, improving brand perception is crucial to its long-term goals and 2012 is all about improving Hyundai’s brand experience and perceptions of the brand. A part of that focus is to take Hyundai back in to WRC rallying with a much modified i20, where Hyundai are hoping for a better experience than they had when they went rallying a decade ago – which should be a given considering the big strides Hyundai has made in its cars in the last few years.

What the Future Holds, Nobody Knows

It's a testament to the talent, charisma and relative celebrity of Ian Callum, Derek Jenkins and Franz von Holzhausen - heads of Jaguar, Mazda and Tesla design, respectively - that they managed to captivate a crowd of industry insiders at the tail end of the Los Angeles Auto Show's second press-preview day. This despite being given a nebulous topic to discuss with a moderator who knew little about the subject. Dan Lyons, a technology columnist at Newsweek, oversaw the panel discussion that was to focus on "Tomorrow's Cars...Practical Transportation or Groundbreaking Design?" He asked only one question on that topic before digressing into a more general discourse on the design strategies of Jaguar, Mazda and Tesla.

Nissan’s Juke-R vs Supercars irritating video trailers

Nissan's Juke-R vs Supercars Nissan are trailing a video of the Juke-R racing supercars in Dubai with a frustrating string of very short video trailers. Back in January we published an amateur video of the bonkers Nissan Juke-R racing a whole heap of supercars on a street track at the International Arena in Dubai and it was an interesting race, even if the production values were pretty much non-existent. But the real deal on the day was a professional video shoot by Nissan to allow a bit more Juke-R fairy dust to be sprinkled round the Interwebs with a slick and polished race story video, with Gran Turismo gamer Lucus Ordonez pitting the Nissan Juke-R against Salah Salahuddin’s supercar collection - which they’ve finally got round to editing.