Engine Timing Cover Dorman 635-811 on 2040-parts.com

PM opens Williams F1’s new Advanced Engineering Centre

Prime minister David Cameron has today opened Williams Racing’s new £8 million Advanced Engineering Centre in Grove, Oxford. The new facility will help transfer Williams’ four decades of title-winning F1 expertise into the world of road cars – and the PM has challenged the engineers working there to continue helping Britain compete on the world stage by developing new business opportunities. On Bing: see pictures of Williams F1 cars Nismo Williams!

Kia Soul EV revealed at the Chicago Motor Show

The new Kia Soul EV (pictured) has been revealed in Chicago The Kia Soul EV is Kia’s first effort at a proper mass production EV, and if you’re looking for an electric car it does look promising. Due to go on sale later in 2014 in the US – initially in California, New York and Oregan because of their charging infrastructure – and, Kia promised, the UK and Europe later in 2014 or early 2015, the Soul EV offers a real world driving range of 80-100 miles from a recharge taking half an hour for 80 per cent on a rapid 50kW charger or up to 5 hours for a full recharge from a UK 240 volt supply. The range is helped by Kia’s third-generation regenerative braking system which manages to capture 12 per cent of the car’s kinetic energy, feeding it back in to the battery as electricity during braking and coasting, with four different regeneration modes.

BMW releases power kits for the 135i and 335i models

BMW 135i and 335i models can now be retrofitted with two new performance power kits for more muscle and speed. The Version 1 kit has new engine software to optimize performance, while Version 2 tacks on an auxiliary water cooler and radiator fan to keep the engine from getting feverish during extreme driving. With either kit, horsepower increases by 20 hp, to 320 hp, on both models, and torque jumps to 332 lb-ft for models equipped with automatic transmission.