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

Le Mans champ: laser lights are the future

Three-time Le Mans 24 Hours race champion Allan McNish has told us that technology first trialled at the world famous endurance event often makes it on to road cars – and this year’s big thing will be laser lights. Speaking ahead of Le Mans 2014, McNish said that racing is more relevant to everyday cars than people think – with features from seat belts to windscreen wipers debuting at the race. Audi R8 V10 plus review (2013 onwards) Las Vegas debut for Audi Sport Quattro laserlight concept “The laser light’s on this year’s Audis will make it onto road cars straight away,” McNish told us.

Renault Formula E racer (2013) at Frankfurt motor show

Formula E, the new elite racing series for electric single-seaters, has got the FIA’s backing, confirmed the major cities that will host the races, and now we've finally seen the crucial racecar. This is the Spark-Renault SRT_01E, a joint project developed between Renaultsport and Spark Racing Technology (SRT) which has just been unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show. There’s also been input from F1 legends Williams and McLaren, plus Dallara (which builds all the cars for the IndyCar series in the US).

Vauxhall Astra GTC 2011 / 2012 revealed

Vauxhall Astra GTC - the 3 door Astra will be revealed in June Actually, we’re not sure we should really have called this a reveal of the new Vauxhall Astra GTC. It’s more the reveal of the production version of the GTC Concept we already saw at the Paris Motor Show last year. Surprisingly, the Astra GTC manages to hang on to quite a bit of the style of the GTC Concept, such as the blistered wheel arches and the deep grill, although the usual conpcety stuff – like oversized alloys – have had to bite the dust.