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

Ultimate Street Car Association opens registration for 2014 season

Back in November, the Ultimate Street Car Association was announced at SEMA as a national race series to oversee the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational and Qualifying. Registration is now open for the first event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Those of you who picked up any tuner mag from the last six years will remember the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational, which played host to some incredible cars -- and demonstrated an overwhelming bias toward Camaros, it turns out.

One Lap of the Web: 1970, rollin' in sight

-- Come with me to a time when people raced Datsun 120Ys and when Rinspeed ruled the world. A simpler time, when going fast was the only entry in the racing rulebook. A ridiculous time, when the world was presented with a Simca Maxi Turbo and didn't think much about it.

Mercedes GLA goes in to production in Germany

The Mercedes GLA (pictured) goes in to production The new Mercedes GLA – Mercedes’ latest spin-off from the A Class – arrived at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September as an urban SUV come Crossover, extending Mercedes reach in the premium compact sector with a serious competitor in the urban SUV market. With the growing fondness for high-riding cars – and something that’s a bit butch too – the SUV/Crossover take on the Mercedes A Class is a sound way to go and now, with production starting in Germany this week of the new GLA, Mercedes is getting close to having the GLA in customers’ hands. The first GLAs to get in to the hands of customers will probably be the GLA Edition 1 – a launch model with plenty of toys – but the model that will perhaps be most interesting is the GLA 45 AMG, with the promise of the same rufty-tufty compact SUV goodness as the rest of the range but with the 4WD platform and high performance 2.0 litre Turbo from the A 45 AMG.