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

Local authorities cashing in with CCTV fines

Councils are turning to CCTV cameras and spy cars to raise £312m in revenue, that’s according to Traffic Spies, a report published by civil liberties group, Big Brother Watch. Using a series of freedom of information requests, the group has discovered that many councils are continuing to use CCTV to hand out fines, despite the government’s Surveillance Camera Code of Practice, which highlights the need to use CCTV for traffic offences “sparingly”. Council parking ’spy car’ gets speeding ticket Cameras to catch illegal parking on the school run Yet despite this, the number of CCTV cars in operation has increased by 87% since 2009.

Ram introduces CNG-powered pickup

Aside from the Honda Civic Natural Gas, compressed-natural-gas-powered vehicles have usually been converted after the fact, generally for fleet use. Chrysler is hoping to carve out a niche in the corporate-pickup segment by selling a factory-built CNG Ram 2500 that can seamlessly switch over to gasoline operation when the natural-gas tanks run dry. The twin 4.6-cubic-foot CNG tanks (which store the equivalent of 18.2 gallons of gas) take up a section of the bed, while an eight-gallon gasoline tank provides fuel during start-up and then reserve capacity when the compressed tanks are tapped out, allowing the bruiser a measure of operational flexibility.

Mazda celebrates the Miata's 20th birthday

Hard to believe, but the Mazda Miata is 20 years old. And Mazda didn't let the birthday pass without a party. On July 17, parked in the inner courtyard of Mazda R&D in Irvine, Calif., were examples of every significant Miata and MX-5 Miata ever made.