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

Vauxhall VXR8 & SMART for-two CDI take MPG Marathon honours

Vauxhall VXR8 & SMART for-two CDI take MPG Marathon honours On the face of it, it’s reasonable to expect a car as small as the SMART for-two CDI to be capable of astonishing economy if driven in a certain way. And the ALD Automotive / Shell FuelSave MPG Marathon, run last week near Cirencester, proved exactly that, with a SMART driven by Mick Linford and co-driver Ella Flynn managing to use less than four gallons of diesel to cover the 370 mile route. That means the SMART fortwo CDI averaged 99.24mpg on the route on real roads, an improvement of 16 per cent on the official combined figure of 85.6.

Firefighter leaves blaze to deliver baby in car

A FIREFIGHTER turned midwife today at the scene of a major blaze after learning his maternity ward skills watching the Channel 4 series One Born Every Minute. Ross McLaren delivered Antoni Zimnicki, who weighed 4.16kg (9lb 2oz), after his mum Ewelina and dad Jaroslaw got stuck in traffic around two miles from the North Middlesex Hospital in north London because of the fire. Mrs Zimnicka, who is now in hospital with her healthy newborn, said: "I thought I had a lot of time as my first baby's labour had taken a long time.

One Lap of the Web: Mini challenges Porsche; kit cars; and brand loyalty

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. Mini wished the Porsche 911 a happy 50th anniversary.