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

2010 BMW X6 M: Fast and fun--whatever the heck it is

Barreling around the racetrack, there's little lean entering the corners, plenty of thrust on exit and a monster amount of grip everywhere, and if it feels taxed at all, it's ever so briefly as the nose aims left and up from turn five for the steep climb out of the esses. Road Atlanta is plain ol' fast, and the BMW X6 M does well to keep pace, spilling gobs of power all over the track, blazing down the long back straight to nearly 140 mph, maneuvering like no two-and-half-ton pile of metal should. It's exhilarating stuff, to be sure, only we're left asking very many questions, and all of them are: Why?

VW Amarok pick-up (2010) first official pictures

VW has unveiled its first UK-bound pick-up for a generation, the new Amarok. It's coming here in September 2010 in the double-cab bodystyle pictured; a single-cab variant will follow in 2011. The new VW Amarok has workmanlike figures, with a 1.15-tonne payload, a 2.52 sq m cargo bed and a 2.8-tonne towing capacity.

Storms batter Britain

THE MET OFFICE has issued a "red" weather warning for exceptionally strong winds in western parts of Wales and north-western parts of England, while the Thames is predicted to rise to its highest level in more than 60 years in some places. On the day dubbed Wild Wednesday, gusts of 108mph hit Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula in north west Wales, while 96mph winds were recorded off the south coast of England at the Needles, on the Isle of Wight. The Met Office has forecast 2.75ins (70mm) of rain by Friday in the already-sodden West Country - more than the region would normally get in the whole of February - with south Wales, western Scotland, Northern Ireland and other parts of southern England also expected to bear the brunt of the deluge.