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

Design Contest: LA Design Challenge 2008

The entrants for the fifth annual Design Challenge, part of the Design Los Angeles automobile designers' conference, have now been announced. Nine Southern California automotive design studios - including Audi, BMW, GM, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Volkswagen - have been pitted against one another and asked to develop a concept which best answers a brief entitled 'Motorsports in 2025'. "Automotive designers have always been fascinated with motorsports and this year's Design Challenge has provided them with the opportunity to use their creative talent to look at these cars with new eyes, using innovative technologies and approaches," said Chuck Pelly, director of Design Los Angeles and partner in The Design Academy, Inc.

New so-called 'stealth' speed cameras: don't panic

REX Speed cameras: rumours of their death have been greatly exaggerated. Two years ago we were reporting on the number of road safety partnerships switching off their speed cameras – now the Highways Agency has revealed a new system that will offer more cost-effective motorway monitoring. Though officially called Hadsec3 – Highways Agency digital enforcement camera system – the mainstream national press has already dubbed the new speed cameras ‘stealth cameras’, on the basis that they are small and grey, rather than bright yellow.

India turns the screw on luxury car makers

Land Rover will still be sending CKD to India despite the rise in import duty India’s economy is growing almost exponentially, as a result of which it has a big, rising middle-class with much the same aspirations as the middle-class in the West. Those aspirations include the accumulation of status symbols considered worthy of representing their success and new wealth, none more so than a good set of wheels. So it’s no surprise that the mainstream luxury car makers – Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, Audi and BMW – are ready, willing and able to provide exactly what India’s middles classes are looking for.