Dorman H381063 Brake Hose, Rear-brake Hose on 2040-parts.com

MINI celebrates 100 years of car production in Oxford

MINI will be celebrating a century of car production in Oxford on 28th March 2013, 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford was produced. It’s 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford rolled out on 28th March 1903, since when 11,655,000 cars have been built – with as many as 28,000 people employed in its heyday – and even Tiger Moth planes and Iron Lungs built alongside 80,000 repairs to Spitfires and Hurricanes during WWII. What is now MINI’s Plant Oxford was founded by William Morris – and Morris Motors kept control until 1952 – and has been owned and run by BMC, then British Motor Holdings (when Jaguar arrived), British Leyland (when Leyland Trucks, Triumph and Rover joined), nationalisation in the 1970s saw a variety of names, Rover Group arrived in 1986 and was subsequently privatised and sold in 1994 to BMW.

Dakar Rally 2012 Day 2 update

The first major motorsports event of the year, the 2012 Dakar Rally, began its two-week trek across South America on Jan. 1. Four hundred and sixty-five vehicles (171 cars, 185 motorcycles, 33 quads and 76 trucks) with drivers representing 50 nationalities will attempt to cover 9,000 kilometers (more than 5,500 miles) over 14 days throughout Argentina, Chile, and Peru.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 launches

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 hits the roads next month The only surprise about the new Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 is that Aston Martin has chosen to reveal it today rather than this last weekend at Goodwood. But at least  it gives us some supercar news even though Goodwood is over for another year. If you remember the last stripped down, lightened and ‘Superleggera-fied’ Aston Martin Vantage – the V8 Vantage N400 – you’re not going to be struggling too much to work out what’s on offer with the Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420.