Quickcar Racing Products 51-070 Dual Timing Clipboard Clipboard Timing System, D on 2040-parts.com

Official: Renault & Caterham to build Alpine sports cars

Renault has confirmed it is to partner with Caterham to build a range of Alpine sports cars in Dieppe from 2015. The partnership between Renault and Caterham is a logical extension of their F1 partnership but now, with the joint venture to produce their own sports cars, goes much deeper than the almost badge-engineering Williams Renaults. A new company - Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham – will be jointly owned by Caterham and Renault and will develop models in small and large volumes to be marketed as both Renault Alpine and Caterham, and will be built in Renault’s Dieppe factory that currently churns out Renaultsport models for the road and track, and is the historical home of Alpine.

Mini Paceman

Mini has presented its latest model, the Paceman, as it ventures into a new vehicle class. Appearing – almost to the millimeter, bar colour and trim detailing – to be the Paceman concept seen at NAIAS 2011 in Detroit, the Paceman Sports Activity Coupe features many traditional Mini design cues. Where it moves away from them, it is in keeping the new-style squared off front lamps of the Countryman (with which it shares a front end up to the base of the windscreen) and a roofline which tapers down much more than we've seen in any previous ‘new' Mini before.

Think a sports car makes you more attractive? Think again

It’s a favourite stereotype: a man driving a flashy sports car is more attractive to women – or at least, so he might think. Now a survey by Motors.co.uk suggests that exactly the opposite could be true. While the same research reckons 48% of men subscribe to the stereotyped view, in actual fact women are more likely to find a man driving an eco car more alluring.