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

Better Place Electric Car visitor centre opens

Better Place have opened a visitor centre in Israel to demonstrate their battery swap technology for electric cars Last October we wrote about a start-up company in Israel – Better Place – that had a new way forward for electric cars by taking the purchase of battery packs out of the equation, and was developing a system for ‘Battery Swap’ stations where electric car owners could drive in and swap their battery pack for a fully-charged one in a few minutes. That story first brought to our attention our favourite quote of last year – by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn – who said “A hybrid is like a mermaid: if you want a fish, you get a woman; if you want a woman, you get a fish.” Which probably explained why Nissan – and its partner Renault – got involved with Better Place. Better Place aims to address the main concerns of electric car drivers by making the battery packs in electric cars ‘swappable’.

Ferrari 550 Barchetta Zagato GTZ sells at Bonhams

The Ferrari 550 Barchetta Zagato GTZ - fetched £350k at Bonhams Regular readers may remember that we exclusively reported that Zagato were working on five Ferrari 550 Barchettas to create the Ferrari 550 GTZ just over a year ago. That report caused all sorts of grief as Zagato and their photographer threatened us with all manner of hellfire and brimstone for spoiling their secret. The resulting grief meant we had to take down their photos, but our story stood.

Fiat at the Geneva Motor Show – Abarth Punto EVO

The Abarth Punto EVO - Geneva bound Fiat’s hot Herberts – Abarth – don’t just have the Abarth 500C Convertible to stick on their stand at Geneva, they also have a tweaked and sorted Punto EVO – the Abarth Punto EVO – to get the attention of show-goers. The performance division of Fiat have stuck a bigger turbo on the Punto EVO which ups the output to 165bhp and drops the 0-60mph time to 7.7 seconds. But economy and emissions don’t seem to suffer with the EVO managing 47mpg and emissions of 142g/km.