Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia 2000 Rear Left Combination Lamp [2815600] on 2040-parts.com

Porsche acquires Nardo Test Track as its new playground

Porsche Nardo Test Track (map from Google Earth) The enormous Nardo Test Track near Lecce, Italy, has been acquired by Porsche as a new testing ground. Top Gear viewers will probably remember the opening episode if the last series of Top Gear (series 18) with the Lamborghini, McLaren and Noble in Italy or, more specifically, in the Lecce region of Italy which nestles in the warmth of Italy’s heel. The Lecce region also houses the Nardo Test Track which is where the boys took their supercars to hammer round the slightly bumpy outer oval seeking top speed.

VW Touareg BlueMotion hits the UK

Volkswagen has announced the VW Touareg BlueMotion for the UK Offering improved economy and lower emissions, the Touareg BlueMotion manages to drop in to a lower Co2 band by emitting 219g/km (a reduction from 244g/km on the V6 TDi) and it delivers 34mpg as opposed to 30.4mpg on the V7 TDi. These improvements have been achieved by the usual ECU tweaking, low rolling resistance tyres, some aerodynamic tweaks and a lower ride height (exactly the same sort of stuff that Ford has done on the EConetic range). And the penalty for the lower emissions and better economy is very slight, with the Touareg BlueMotion still managing the 0-60mph in 8.5 seconds and a top speed of  126mph.

Urbee 3D-printed car: the greenest car in the world?

Not to be confused with a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle with a similar sounding name, Urbee stands for URBan Electric vehicle with Ethanol as back-up. You can see why they settled on Urbee now, can't you? The Urbee is also the world’s first 3D-printed car, and the plan is to drive it from San Francisco to New York - a distance of 2,905 miles - in less than 44 hours.