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

VW XL1 SEV to take on the hillclimb at Goodwood Festival of Speed

The super frugal – and super slippery – VW XL1 (pictured) will take on the Goodwood hillclimb Visitors to the Goodwood Festival of Speed can spend endless hours watching a seemingly endless precession of supercars take on the hillclimb. But one supercar this year will be a bit different. Volkswagen are taking their super slippery, super frugal supercar – the VW XL1 SEV – to Goodwood next month and are planning on taking it up the hillclimb in the capable hands of former F1 champion Jacky Ickx.

Everything is bigger in Texas, even speed limits

Texas is preparing to open a stretch of toll road this November with the highest speed limit in America: 85 mph. The road between Austin and San Antonio will stretch for 41 miles, in an attempt to alleviate traffic congestion on nearby Interstate 35. There are already roads in Texas and Utah where the posted speed limit is 80 mph.

Cash for clunkers plan revives trade fight

Import brand automakers and dealers warned on Thursday that a vehicle scrappage proposal before the Senate would violate trade agreements and could weaken the economy. The Senate could vote on the plan on Thursday, which would offer $10,000 to any moderate- or low-income consumer who trades in a car or truck that is at least 10 years old and buys a new one that is more fuel-efficient and "assembled in the United States." The trade-ins would be scrapped rather than resold. The U.S.-made mandate "smacks of the protectionism that led to the Great Depression," said Barbara Nocera, the top Washington lobbyist for Mazda North American Operations.