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

Insurance group lists its Top Safety Picks

After increasing its standards for 2011 models, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that 66 vehicles--more than double the 2010 total--rate as best in the industry at protecting passengers from front, side, rollover and rear crashes. Only 27 vehicles qualified last year after the group, funded by the insurance industry, required that vehicles pass a roof-strength test to earn a good rating, claiming that stronger roofs would reduce the risk of serious or fatal injury by 50 percent in a rollover accident. The most mentioned carmakers on the 2011 list are Hyundai/Kia and Volkswagen/Audi, both with nine vehicles to get the Top Safety Pick designation.

One Lap of the Web: The Talented Mr. Honda, electric airplanes and Viper-powered Jensens

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- A blog post at Hemmings called our attention to this fascinating profile of Soichiro Honda, which was originally printed in the June 16, 1963 edition of the British newspaper The Observer.

Volkswagen, Dogs & Star Wars – a Super Bowl Ad

VW gets the dogs out for its Super Bowl Advert Volkswagen is planning a new Star Wars themed advert for the Super Bowl, this time with dogs singing the Star Wars theme. It may not be a big deal for us on this side of the Pond, but adverts in the Super Bowl are a very big deal for car makers in the US. Last year Volkswagen managed a viral hit with their ‘Little Vader’ take on Star Wars for the Super Bowl Ad, so they’re back this year with a variation on the same theme, with a choir of dogs barking out the Star Wars Theme.