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

A Fine Day For Birmingham Police

POLICE in Birmingham have discovered they are not immune from traffic fines, after figures released by West Midlands Police show that local law enforcement have fallen foul of the city’s tough stance on bus lane offenders. In a hard-line approach, which had drawn criticism from some drivers, Birmingham City Council put up new signs on existing bus lanes in the heart of the city barring all other vehicles from using them and enforcing the rule with traffic cameras to catch the culprits who flout the ban. As a result, a reported 60,000 fines were issued by the end of last year following the scheme's launch in September, with police drivers accounting for 408 of those transgressions and individual drivers responsible for payment of the fine.

Car Design News Contest

As one judge, Geert Jan Schellekens, Principal Automotive and Industrial Designer at SABIC Innovative Plastics, said; "From several hundred entries to 20 finalists in a day's time - what could have turned out to be a cumbersome process, if not a bureaucratic nightmare, actually became an intensive yet fun session with many intriguing and interesting interpretations of the contest brief - fuelling some lively discussions!" Another strong impression from judges was also of the variety of design entry and the effort that had been put into them, as Dale Harrow said: "I'm very impressed with the standard, and particularly with the diversity of entries to the contest". Derek Buckmaster,Global Market Director, Body Panels & Glazing for SABIC Innovative Plastics, said: "I was surprised by the depth of thought which the entrants had put into their designs to meet the diverse needs of the three 'milenniumites' described in the design brief. The designs displayed numerous approaches to meeting the environmentally-friendly and light-weight goals." All designs were considered relative to the Assessment Criteria a critically important part of the contest, created to ensure as much fairness in the process as possible and detailed in the Contest part of Car Design News.

Lotus Evora by Mansory (2011) at 2011 Geneva motor show

In the avalanche of hype surrounding Lotus's future ambitions, the current range of Lotus vehicles has been largely overlooked. With this in mind, Lotus has turned to an unexpected source to inject some media buzz and visual freshness into the Evora for the 2011 Geneva motor show: Mansory. Under the slogan 'Is it always wise to customise? If you must then do it with some style' Lotus has commissioned Mansory to customise the Evora – continuing the run of controversial new moves that the firm has made under CEO Dany Bahar’s leadership. Mansory has applied its well-known carbonfibre fetish to the Lotus coupe, bringing the Evora closer to the edgy styling cues of design chief Donato Coco’s next-generation Lotus concept cars.