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

Vauxhall Astra VXR Extreme (2014) first official pictures

By Ollie Kew First Official Pictures 30 January 2014 12:50 Meet the Vauxhall Astra VXR Extreme – the most hard-core hot hatch ever to wear the Astra badge. Inspired by the Astra Cup racing car, it’s essentially an Astra with ‘Speciale’ or ‘GT3’ treatment applied to it, in the vein of Ferrari and Porsche’s fire-breathing specials. Expect less weight, less refinement – and a lot more on-track performance.

Goodwood names the date for its 2014 events

ON your marks, get set, open your wallets – the dates for Goodwood’s 2014 headline motorsport meetings have been announced. The immensely popular Festival of Speed is scheduled to take place from Thursday 26 June to Sunday 29 June. With action focused on the famous hill and in the grounds of Lord March’s estate, this increasingly family-focused event promises more of what’s made it so popular: iconic historic cars, an action-packed rally stage and plenty of manufacturer supported displays.

Goodwood Revival – with Mr Bean

Rowan Atkinson as Mr Bean will feature at this year's Goodwood Revival But one big petrolhead – who is a Goodwood regular – is Rowan Atkinson, and Goodwood has persuaded him to recreate the Mr Bean sketch – for it is Rowan who is Mr Bean – driving a Mini whilst seated on the roof ,utilising a variety of household articles to control the Mini from a comfy armchair. I can’t confess to being a Mr Bean fan (although I adore Black Adder), but Mr Bean has made Rowan a very rich man, so I’m sure it will prove a big draw. Apart from his daily sketch recreation, Rowan will be driving a 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S in the St Mary’s Trophy saloon car race, which this year is all-Mini and recreates a Mini race that took place at Goodwood in the early sixties.