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

Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid (2011) first official pictures

Porsche has released details of its updated 911 GT3 R Hybrid – the 2010 original nearly won last year's Nurburgring 24hr race before (ironically) it retired with petrol engine failure.  The 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid – the lowdown Before this report disappears in a chorus of ‘it looks the same as last year’s one’, let's outline where Porsche’s engineers have been busy. At the unfashionable end of the car remains a 4.0-litre flat-six engine producing approximately 470bhp. Up front are twin electric motors, now producing 75kW of power each (up from 60kW) and combined these give the GT3 R Hybrid a 197bhp electric boost, which can be programmed to activate automatically via the throttle pedal, or manually selected during overtaking. F1-derived hybrid tech for the 911 GT3 R Hybrid Power for the two electric motors doesn't come from batteries, but flywheel accumulator technology from Williams Hybrid Power, an offshoot of the Williams Formula 1 team. The flywheel, encased in a carbonfibre safety cell in the space where the passenger seat would be, spins at up to 40,000rpm and acts as a mechanical energy store for the electric motors. Regenerative braking feeds energy back into the flywheel system – no surprises there, as the technology is derived from Williams' exeprience with Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) in F1.

Toyota car design contest for kids makes us smile and wonder 'what if'

Toyota has held its eighth annual dream car art contest, inviting entries from children aged 15 or younger from all around the world to imagine their dream car. Entries have poured in, all on paper as digital methods aren't allowed. However, Toyota has turned the work of the 90 finalists into six-second Vine videos.

VW e-up! electric city car costs £24,250

VW e-up! electric city car costs £24,250 The Volkswagen e-up! (we’ve already done the northern jokes) was revealed back in March as VW’s weapon of choice for the electric city car market and now, with the e-up!