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

Ecclestone wants to bring the noise

FORMULA ONE supremo Bernie Ecclestone has vowed to address growing concerns surrounding the sport's lack of an appealing noise. Following Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Ron Walker, chairman of the organising company that stages the race, complained to close friend Ecclestone about the lack of sound. The piercing scream of the old V8 engine has gone, and in its place we now have a huskier tone, complete with whistles and whirrs from the 1.6-litre V6 turbo as F1 tries to become greener.

Ford KA sells 500,000 in the UK

Ford has racked up total sales of 500,000 KAs in the UK And despite a few reservations when we did our Ford KA Review a couple of months ago, it looks set to continue racking up the sales with the new KA, which has already racked up 11,000 sales in the UK since it was introduced. To be honest, our only real reservations on the new KA were a couple of subjective styling issues and the somewhat hard seats. But it is undoubtedly a funky and capable little car that will serve Ford well.

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse world speed record: Video

We hoped that tease might be for something really interesting and new – perhaps the much rumoured 1600bhp Veyron or even the Galibier –  but it was simply a new world record for an open-topped production car. Impressive, of course, but just more of what we expect from Bugatti, rather than something new and innovative. The new world record for the Vitesse was set at the VW facility at Ehra-Lessien where Chinese driver Anthony Liu took the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse to 254mph, creating a new world record for an open-topped production car and, more importantly for Bugatti, an excuse to produce a limited run of the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse WRC Edition with a black and orange paint job for €1.99 million each.