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

SoCal stuff you just have to see

If you live in Southern California or might visit anytime soon, here are a few things to do: Legends Of Riverside III Riverside International Raceway may have been closed for 22 years, but it has never left the memories of those who drove on it and the fans who sat in the brown dirt and scrub brush around the outside. For the last three years, the Riverside International Automotive Museum has honored those memories with a big reunion of great drivers, race cars and movies. In 2009, the featured hero was Southern California's own Dan Gurney.

Mazda Shinari concept car (2010) first official pictures

Mazda's new design direction is embodied in the new Shinari concept car. Modeled to announce to the world the new styling language of future Mazda road cars, the Shinari ushers in a new look to replace the somewhat tortured Nagare mantra that has fizzled into a damp squib on the sides of the latest Mazda 5 midi-MPV. The Shinari won't be shown at the 2010 Paris motor show (apparently it's being held back for a 2011 Geneva debut), yet this is a landmark concept for Mazda design, under the new leadership of chief design Ikuo Maeda.

Volkswagen XL1

This, remarkably, is the production version of the Volkswagen XL1, the most fuel-efficient production car in the world, a car we'll see in Geneva in a little over a week. Barely changed from the concept version shown at the Qatar motor show two years ago, the production XL1 is the first production result of VW's 1-liter project – to design a car that uses less than 1l/100km (282.5mpg imperial) – that started with the lozenge-shaped, tandem-seat 2003 1L and the later L1 of 2009. The XL1 actually beats that by sipping just 0.9 liters with CO2 emissions of 21g/km.