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

London's GPS-based speed-limit trial puts Big Brother's foot on the gas pedal

A fleet of 12 Toyota Priuses in London have been fitted with GPS-linked speed limiters to measure how drivers respond to having their speed controlled by a computer rather than their own feet. For now, the trial is local to London, run by Transport for London, the agency that manages the city's roads, buses, subways and trains. The agency is using its own fleet of Priuses for the test and will add a bus and a taxi later this year.

Lancia Delta (2008): first official pictures

By George Chapman First Official Pictures 05 February 2008 15:50 This is the car that will relaunch Lancia in the UK market – after an absence of 14 years. The new, more upmarket Delta hatchback, unveiled today, is designed to overcome memories of catastrophic rust, reliability and aftersales problems. The new Delta is based on Fiat Bravo underpinnings stretched to a wheelbase of 2700mm.

Better Place Electric Car visitor centre opens

Better Place have opened a visitor centre in Israel to demonstrate their battery swap technology for electric cars Last October we wrote about a start-up company in Israel – Better Place – that had a new way forward for electric cars by taking the purchase of battery packs out of the equation, and was developing a system for ‘Battery Swap’ stations where electric car owners could drive in and swap their battery pack for a fully-charged one in a few minutes. That story first brought to our attention our favourite quote of last year – by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn – who said “A hybrid is like a mermaid: if you want a fish, you get a woman; if you want a woman, you get a fish.” Which probably explained why Nissan – and its partner Renault – got involved with Better Place. Better Place aims to address the main concerns of electric car drivers by making the battery packs in electric cars ‘swappable’.