Focus RS – get 345 Mountune horses from your Ford dealer

The Focus RS Mountune Power Kit gives you the power of an RS500 If you’re busy spitting feathers because you’re one of the unlucky thousands who tried to throw £35k at Ford for one of the limited edition Focus RS500s last week, worry not. You can save yourself a not inconsiderable chunk of change by taking your current Focus RS off to your local RS dealer and getting a Mountune Performance Upgrade Package and match the RS500 performance for rather less than the extra £10k the RS500 costs. Ford have a long history of working with Mountune to get more out of their production cars – Mountune even supplied the engines for the original Sierra RS500 BTCC entries –  and there are already Mountune kits available to get more from your Ford – without screwing with the warranty – for the Focus ST, the old Fiesta ST and even the latest Fiesta.

Videos: Chris Bangle shares his views on design and the future of car design

Chris Bangle is a man that needs no introduction on these pages. Both revered and castigated, Bangle's work has undoubtedly been influential for a generation of designers. His unconventional practices – employed at a time when design was still largely segregated from other departments during the development process – yielded many avantgarde and contentious designs, but Bangle's fundamental understanding of the design process, creative vision and desire for change can never be cast in doubt. While Bangle shares his views on the future of the car in the video to the right, the video to the left provides an insight into the former BMW design chief's thought processes and gives us a glimpse into his home and studio in the Piedmont region of northern Italy.

Buick duplicates toughest roads in the world for virtual testing

Buick is cloning real-world roads so they can be used to virtual test cars. Engineers use cameras and a laser to scan the road surface and to create a three-dimensional virtual copy. Buick has used this system to replicate the road leading to the Cerro del Cubilete shrine in Mexico.