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

Webinars: Visualization & Digital Effect Creation with Autodesk

Car Design News hosted Visualization & Digital Effect Creation with Autodesk on February 9, 2011. This webinar explored how effective communication is key to 'selling' a particular design internally, and provided information on how to get your vision across using Autodesk Showcase, with an emphasis on materials, cross-sections and environments. We all know that a beautifully-rendered image captures the emotion of a design idea; convincing animations and digital effects place the product in a realistic environment and depict consumer interaction, making the design credible and relevant to the target consumer.

Driven: Volkswagen Golf Mk7

Walking up to the seventh-generation VW Golf, redesigned flip key in hand, you're in no doubt that this is a) new or – perhaps more importantly – b) a Golf. It's the "200 meter test" lead exterior designer, Andreas Mindt tells us and, while we're suspicious of the idea of self-conscious ‘iconic design', you have to concede he's right. In fact the Mk7 Golf's pared-back graphics and a return to a true two-box proportion create a more accurate vision of what we imagine when we think ‘Volkswagen Golf' than either of its two most recent predecessors.

Aston Martin dealer toasts record March

ASTON MARTIN Works is raising a glass this month after a record March that saw its best monthly sales results yet. The special showroom for the iconic British firm saw the extreme V12 Vantage S and the extremely beautiful Vanquish Volante lead the way in sales, with well-to-do buyers racing to place orders for the earliest deliveries of the two newest Astons. Based at the historic home of Aston Martin in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, Aston Martin Works has for almost 60 years been home to either the factory or, more recently, the brand’s specialist heritage, restoration and servicing operations.