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

Bentley Celebrates Strong Finish At Mille Miglia

YOU can be forgiven for thinking Jaguar stole the Mille Miglia spotlight this year, what with its roster of celebrities driving a brace of desirable racers, but Bentley was the other British brand tearing across the Italian countryside. The Crewe-based luxury car maker fielded a handful of iconic pre-war models and, after the four-day, 1,700km marathon, the firm secured its best position to date with one of its iconic 4 ½ Litre supercharged Bentley Blowers. Rolf Frech, Bentley’s Member of the Board for Engineering and Jerome D’Ambrosio, finished in 73rd position out of the 438 cars that took part.

Lincoln aims at luxury crossovers with MKT

In an effort to grow the brand to customers who normally buy imports, Lincoln will offer up a full-size crossover, the MKT, that is due in dealerships in late summer. We saw the Lincoln MKT at the Detroit Auto Show. As sales of full-size sport/utility vehicles decline--Lincoln says industry-wide sales are down 5.2 percent for 2008--sales of crossovers are growing.

Where is Kinetic Design headed?

Martin Smith has been guiding Ford of Europe's design efforts since he was appointed to the position of Executive Design Director in 2004, coming straight over from an illustrious career at General Motors. During his tenure as Director of Design at GM Europe, Smith oversaw the Insignia concept car as well as much of the Opel range, including the acclaimed Astra. At Ford, Smith spearheaded the automaker's 'Kinetic Design' strategy and has since presented this vision in both concept and production car form.