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

Honda CR-Z Mugen (2010) first official pictures

Since its conception, Honda has been trying to persuade us that its CR-Z isn't merely a woolly hybrid but is in fact a proper sports car. As if to prove the point, Honda has announced that Mugen-fettled versions of the hatch are to be released for the British market. Recently making a splash in the UK with their banzai track-focused version of the Civic Type R, Mugen started in 1973 and specialise in building and tuning Hondas.

Mini Mk2 (2006): first official pictures

By Angus Fitton First Official Pictures 14 August 2006 15:01 The lowdown The disguise is off. No more speculation, spy shots or sneak previews - this is the face of the all-new, faster, bigger, better Mini. No, we haven't jumbled up the pictures - the car pictured really is the the new Mini, due to hit our streets in October.

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.