Brake Drum - Crown# J5352476 on 2040-parts.com

Secrets of bidders: Is this your year to steal a car at the Arizona auctions?

Each January, enthusiasts flock to Arizona for the most exciting events on the auction calendar. Seven companies--Barrett-Jackson, RM Auctions, Gooding & Co., Russo and Steele, Kruse International, ICA Auctions and Silver Auctions--will duke it out, with more than 3,000 collector cars on the block. But with real estate tanking, the economy in a tailspin, consumer confidence at an all-time low, retail car sales bottoming and automakers begging for loans in Washing-ton, is this any time to buy an old car at auction?

Lotus C-01 superbike leaked images

Our friends at Motorcycle News (MCN) have acquired world exclusive images of a new Lotus C-01 superbike – and have kindly let us reproduce them here. The images, which come directly from a source inside the factory, show that the kind of original thinking that has made the Norfolk-based sportscar marque such a legend on the four wheels could equally turn it into a two-wheeled force to be reckoned with. The Lotus Motorcycles C-01 superbike looks utterly wild.

More than a (gull)wing and a prayer

They make up just six percent of Mercedes car sales in the United States—but nothing preserves and proliferates the top-shelf, seductive image of a Benz like a sports car. This is a point that's been driven home to me in a wide array of circumstances this year: Mercedes sports cars are still rock stars. I'll admit, I've often been a skeptic.