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

Toyota Prius Plug-In is practically perfect in London

Toyota Prius Plug-in - perfect London transport We though we ought to do Toyota the courtesy of a non-disparaging headline after the first interim results of trials of the Prius Plug-in in the hands of drivers in London have turned out to be very positive. Toyota and EDF Energy have supplied – on lease – 20 plug-in hybrids (PHEV) to London businesses and organisations (no Joe Public on this trial) to get some real-world feedback on usage, journey distance and recharging patterns. For those of you who don’t remember, the Toyota Prius Plug-in is a regular 3rd Gen Prius but with a length of flex and a set of lithium-ion batteries that allows users to grab some charge from the mains and to drive further in EV mode – up to 12.5 miles in perfect conditions.

Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid race car revealed

Porsche will bring its latest hybrid know-how to the racetrack in the form of the new 911 GT3 R Hybrid, revealed here for the first time prior to a planned public premiere at the Geneva auto show in early March. Developed by a team of engineers at Porsche's Weissach R&D center, Porsche plans for the stripped-out race car to act as a rolling laboratory. The German carmaker wants to explore the potential of hybrid drivetrains in a racing environment before an expected announcement that it will return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a factory capacity, perhaps in 2012, with a race car boasting technology based on that used in the 911 GT3 R Hybrid.

New software for cloud-based 3D model file sharing and reviewing

Sunglass is a new platform for sharing and syncing 3D models files over the Cloud has been developed, allowing designers to collaborate on a single model, regardless of their location. Created by MIT graduates Kaustuv DeBiswas and Nitin Rao, Sunglass allows designers, clients and co-workers to share, review and chat with others linked to the project in real time and virtually annotate onto the models directly in their browser without having to download any software. One of the main attractions of Sunglass is that it works with most 3D modeling software such as Autodesk, Solidworks, Rhino and sketch-up.