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

Mini John Cooper Works WRC: the roll cage in detail

Mini claims it’s created the safest WRC car ever – with a little help from Prodrive.  And to prove the point, they’ve opened up the Mini Countryman WRC’s innards and spilled some of the secrets of its rollcage. The Countryman racer is stripped and fitted with a new type of rollcage designed by Prodrive. Its beams curve outwards and the Banbury engineers say it has been designed to withstand impacts much better than the straight crossbeams used in most WRC cars.

Peugeot 508 RXH HYbrid4 Frankfurt debut – on sale Spring 2012

Peugeot 508 RXH - on sale Spring 2012 It’s a bit of a Peugeot day today, what with the impressive HX1 Concept news and now we learn that Peugeot’s take on the Audi Allroad – the Peugeot 508 RXK HYbrid4 – will get a public airing at Frankfurt next month before going on sale in Spring 2012. But you already know that; we told you back in July that Peugeot were planning on taking the 508 RXH to Frankfurt and that it would go on sale next Spring. So what’s news.

Mercedes S 500 Plug-In Hybrid price & specs – costs from £87,965

The Mercedes S500 Plug-in Hybrid arrives in the UK It’s more than a year since the Mercedes S500 Plug-in Hybrid was revealed, and now it’s finally going on sale in the UK and, if your pockets are deep enough, it offers a perfect ‘cake and eat it’ car. Under the skin there’s a 3.0 litre V6 biturbo delivering 329bhp and an electric motor adding a further 116bhp which together give the S500 Plug-in the ability to blat to 62mph in just 5.2 seconds but return official economy of 100.9 mpg and emissions of a measly 65g/km. That combination means that you won’t have to pay Boris to drive through London, and your BIK rate will be a very modest 5 per cent, making the S500 plug-in Hybrid a perfect choice for every board member in the country currently paying 35 per cent on their petrol S500, BMW 7 Series or Audi A8.