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

Audi Snook at the 2008 Michelin Challenge Design

German design student Tilmann Schlootz has been named one of the winners in the 2008 Michelin Challenge Design competition for his Audi Snook project. Selected for special exhibition at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit by a jury of professional designers and educators, the Snook scale model concept answered a design brief entitled: 'Sharing the Road - Big Safety/Small Vehicles', which called for enhanced real and perceived safety for smaller vehicles through design innovation. The visionary concept vehicle, which rides on a mono-sphere wheel, is heralded as a new vehicle category, implementing the principles of agility through instability learned from aerospace technology.

Budget 2011: Fuel duty CUT & tuppence for potholes

Motorists Budget 2011 No once expected huge give-aways in George Osborne’s second budget – especially as we now have cruise missiles to pay for in Libya – but the hope was that the Chancellor would at least address the inexcorable rise in the cost of fuel. Which he has – sort of. Fuel was due to increase by around 5p a litre next week if he’d left Labour’s fuel duty escalator in place.

BMW Concept5 X5 eDrive revealed. It’s a plug-in Hybrid X5

The BMW Concept5 X5 eDrive (pictured) will debut at Frankfurt The arrival of the BMW Concept X5 eDrive ahead of its debut at Frankfurt next month doesn’t preview and immediate addition to the X5 range of a plug-in hybrid, but it does show what will be on offer in a year or two. Just like yesterday’s Mercedes S500 plug-in hybrid, the X5 eDrive is another example of how car makers have developed their way round CO2 taxation levels by throwing electric motors at ICE engines to create a car that offers impressive emissions and economy on official tests. In the case of the X5 eDrive that means a four-cylinder twin power ICE engine (BMW aren’t saying, but we’re assuming its a petrol engine), a 94bhp electric motor and a lithium-ion battery under the boot all working together to produce an X5 that is capable (at least in official tests, which is all that matters) of 74.3mpg and emissions under 90g/km.