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

Europe’s economic problems sees UK become biggest Ferrari market in Europe

The Ferrari F12 (pictured) helped Ferrari to strong profits in the first half of 2013 The economic crisis in the Eurozone has seen Ferrari’s sales in countries like Italy and Spain plummet, and Greece managed just one sale in 2012 (and even that came to the UK). But Ferrari have a plan to keep profitability by limiting supply and achieving stronger revenues for the sale they do make – with stuff like Ferrari’s bespoke Atelier and Tailor Made services and Classiche work adding more revenue – to keep them powering forward, and it seems to be working despite poor sales in many European countries. In fact, despite an increase of just 2.8 per cent in volume, Ferrari has managed to increase their profits in the first six months of 2013 by an impressive 20 per cent, with total sales of 3,767 and net profits of €1.22 million.

Vauxhall Astra tweaked & Astra GTC BiTurbo diesel

The Vauxhall Astra Hatch and Sports Tourer (Estate) have been given a bit of a facelift and the Astra GTC BiTurbo diesel has arrived. It’s probably a bit of a stretch to call what Vauxhall has done to the Astra Hatch and Astra Sport Tourer a facelift, but it’s enough of a tweak for those who’ve just bought a new Astra to be less than thrilled. The main changes to the hatch and estate are a new grill, new indicators and new fog lights; a minor rhinoplasty.

McLaren tests MP4-12C GT3 race car

We know the McLaren MP4-12C is fast. But how about the race-car version? Perhaps lost amid the fanfare of the launch of the production car, McLaren has been hard at work on a competition model, the MP4-12C GT3.