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

Mechanics qualifications gained using Haynes manuals

MOST MEN enjoy a good Haynes car manual, whether they really understand it or not, but a group of youngsters has used the workshop guides to achieve their first qualifications in car mechanics. The first wave of the Haynes Mechanix scheme has seen a mixed gender youth club group, aged 15-25 and from Islington in London, use Haynes manuals along with guidance from experienced mentors to fix real problems on a real car. The donor Volkswagen, known as Percy the Polo, was a theoretical MOT fail and needed replacement spark plugs, a brake fluid replacement and much more, to give the aspiring tinkerers a broad spectrum of challenges.

Concorso Italiano: A new section of last year's course, great cars and everyone's happy

More room, flatter fairways, more cool cars and even a section of barn finds and beaters made this year's Concorso Italiano one of the best ever. As you may recall from the 26- or 28-year history of this perennial classic, recent servings of Concorso Italiano have been a little up and down, with venue changes and field sizes that didn't always show these great cars in their fullest possible glory. There were the buses that took us around the first year of the Black Horse golf course, followed by the year of the cold, hard cement of the Marina Airport, and then the box canyon of last year's show.

BMW displays Calder art car, racers and classics at Amelia Island

The first BMW art car -- a 1975 3.0 CSL wearing a paint job designed by Alexander Calder -- headlined a class of significant cars from the German automaker at the 2014 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. It was joined by a BMW M-powered McLaren F1 GTR, a first-generation 320i, winners of the 1975 12 Hours of Sebring, a BMW 320 Turbo race car, and the first BMW convertible. The Calder art car is the first in a series that has spanned more than 40 years of Roundel history.