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

VW Polo R confirmed for 2013

VW Polo WRC makes the case for the 4WD VW Polo R We speculated a year ago that the Polo GTI wouldn’t be the top of the Polo tree, and that Volkswagon would roll out the VW Polo R in 2012, but perhaps with FWD instead of the 4WD its big brother, the Golf R, enjoys. But just a few months later it seemed clear that we would end up getting a 4WD Polo R at some point after Audi lost its bottle at the last minute and pulled the Audi S1 badge off a FWD A1, instead calling it the Audi A1 1.4 TFSI. That change of heart by Audi – saving the S1 badge for a quattro S1 – meant that a quattro platform would be developed for the S1, and as the A1 uses the Polo platform it meant a 4WD platform would be available for the Polo too.

Tomorrow's world: lightweight carbon composites

Once all the dust settles on The Great Battery Farce (the idea that the world's ills will be taken care of by sticking a battery in everything that moves and charging it up) we may eventually face up to the fact that the best way to move something around more economically, is to move less of it. That means making things lighter, a lot lighter. Car makers are working on it and manufacturers like Audi and Jaguar have already become masters in bringing aluminium to the mass production.

McLaren upgrades MP4-12C for 2013

The McLaren MP4-12C supercar will get a bevy of updates for 2013, and current 12C owners will have access to most of them at no charge. First and most importantly on the list is a power increase, from 592 hp to 616 hp, a 24-horse bump through engine-remapping. The boost in power helps pull the McLaren to a 10.6 quarter-mile, one-tenth of a second faster than in the previous year model.