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

Michelin design contest inspires young minds

The College for Creative Studies in Detroit held its 24th Michelin Design challenge, in which Michelin sponsors a design and development project for one of CCS' transportation design classes. The competition works like this: CCS and Michelin get together to develop a theme, then CCS picks which transportation design class will work on the project. The idea, Michelin says, is to celebrate and promote the kind of vehicle design that highlights original thinking and innovation.

Porsche Macan out playing in the desert ahead of an L.A. debut (video)

Porsche Macan (pictured) out playing in the desert ahead of an L.A. debut With Porche’s baby Cayenne – the new Porsche Macan – due to make its public debut in production guise at the Los Angeles Auto Show next month, Porsche has been busy building up interest in what should be their biggest seller in the years to come. There’s already a microsite for the Porsche Macan where Porsche has been busy teasing those who are interested with snippets of information and disguised photos, but now we get the Macan out frolicking on the sandy desert dunes in Dubai, the sort of video you’ll see from any car maker with a vehicle to show off that has off-road pretensions.

McLaren P1: New photos & video of production P1

The McLaren P1 production car pictured hot weather testing We’ve had a surprising amount of McLaren P1 news in the last couple of weeks, with a claimed lap time at the Nurburgring that didn’t quite meet expectation, P1 customer Jay Leno getting to grips with the P1 at the Top Gear track  and the news that the P1 is all but sold out. Now, with the first P1s getting close to delivery (McLaren are about to start building customer cars at the rate of one a day), McLaren has released photos and video from their final stint of hot weather testing in the US, with a completely undisguised, production version P1. McLaren have been in the west of the US, where temperatures reach 52 degrees, putting the P1 through its paces in extreme heat in California, Nevada and Arizona, both on the road and at the Willow Springs International Raceway in California, just to be sure it doesn’t melt in the sun.