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

One Lap of the Web: Car creatures of the Hollywood Hills

-- Jay Leno, presumably back from filming McQueen's Jaguar XKSS, now places his chin atop the front seat of a 1925 Doble E-20, which, being steam-powered, fulfills Leno's interpretation of alt-fuel. Abner Doble built his first steam car while he was still in high school, and by 1915 the Doble Detroit had set new standards of reliability, convenience, noiselessness, and speed -- in 1925, Howard Hughes drove Leno's Model E to 132 mph. -- Los Angeles, car culture capital of the world, has its fair share of hipsters, eccentrics, airheads and Chrysler LeBarons.

Porsche Cajun – the ‘Baby’ Porsche Cayenne

Porsche Cajun - the baby Porsche Cayenne It seems like the car world has been predicting a ‘baby’ Porsche Cayenne ever since the original stepped on to the world stage in 2003. The baby Cayenne has long been dubbed ‘Roxster’, but it appears it will in fact be the Porsche Cajun. VW boss Martin Winterkorn – who by default is now Porsche’s boss – has been giving Der Spiegel the benefit of his thoughts on all things car, and in particular all things VW.

New Vauxhall VXR8 GTS gets 576bhp & costs £54,999

The new Vauxhall VXR8 GTS gets 576bhp If you’re going to make your most potent saloon car more powerful, you could just tweak the engine management a bit to add a few more horses. But Vauxhall have gone a bit further with the latest VXR8 GTS – it gets a 6.2 litre V8 from the Camaro ZL1, a whole 150bhp and 140lb/ft of torque than the old VXR8. Vauxhall has based the GTS on Holden’s new GEN-F GTS – Australia’s maddest production Holden – and the increase in power comes courtesy of a supercharger, new exhaust system.