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

MINI celebrates 100 years of car production in Oxford

MINI will be celebrating a century of car production in Oxford on 28th March 2013, 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford was produced. It’s 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford rolled out on 28th March 1903, since when 11,655,000 cars have been built – with as many as 28,000 people employed in its heyday – and even Tiger Moth planes and Iron Lungs built alongside 80,000 repairs to Spitfires and Hurricanes during WWII. What is now MINI’s Plant Oxford was founded by William Morris – and Morris Motors kept control until 1952 – and has been owned and run by BMC, then British Motor Holdings (when Jaguar arrived), British Leyland (when Leyland Trucks, Triumph and Rover joined), nationalisation in the 1970s saw a variety of names, Rover Group arrived in 1986 and was subsequently privatised and sold in 1994 to BMW.

Mazda RX-8 – a tidy before the Mazda RX-9?

Mazda is updating the RX-8 for the European market, before the launch of the RX-9 in 2012 So what exactly is the new, updated Mazda RX-8 going to get? In all honesty, probably not much beyond a minor tweak or two. It will still use the 228bhp Wankel engine that sets it apart from the crowd, and should still be a bundle of fun to drive.

2011 Ford Explorer set to debut new curve-control technology

During our first test drive, Dave Messih speeds around a curve at 50 mph. His foot never touches the brake, and the 2011 Ford Explorer prototype we're in knocks down a barrier of safety cones. OK, that's fun.