Didn’t The Bentley Boys Do Well?

AS Bentley gears up for a fulltime return to the racetrack, the weekend saw the Crewe-based luxury car maker score a solid fourth place overall at the Gulf 12 Hours of Abu Dhabi. Approached as a dress rehearsal ahead of the team’s attack on the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series, the three driver-strong outfit achieved a creditable third and fourth place finishes in the two six-hour races at the Yas Marina circuit. The race programme – the first factory-backed activity since its 2003 Le Mans win – sees the firm use a Continental GT producing 600 horsepower in competition trim.

Orphan Car Show highlights long-gone classics

Marvelous as it is a setting for car shows, Riverside Park in Ypsilanti, Mich., does present a risk: The park is built in the floodplain of the Huron River. When organizers showed up to stage this year's Orphan Car Show--the nation's largest to feature cars built by companies that no longer do business in America--on June 6, they found the judging stand underwater. An impromptu “show” throughout nearby Depot Town and at the host Miller Motors Hudson/Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum wasn't quite the same thing.

CDN - Opel/Vauxhall Interactive Competition - Exterior Phase Update

There are less than two weeks left for European design students to submit their exterior entry to the Car Design News - Opel/Vauxhall Interactive Design competition. The competition, which closes to entries on Friday February 11th, asks students to design a lounge exterior, based around the design of one of the three finalists of the interior competition. To register and view the brief go to www.cardesigncontest.com Students must base their exterior design around one of the designs by either: Victor Uribe and his ‘Opel City Lounge' - a maglev-inspired, levitating lounge in which users can sit in a variety of position thanks to the reconfigurable maglev interior surfaces.