Spectra Premium Cu1422 Radiator on 2040-parts.com

Insurance group lists its Top Safety Picks

After increasing its standards for 2011 models, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that 66 vehicles--more than double the 2010 total--rate as best in the industry at protecting passengers from front, side, rollover and rear crashes. Only 27 vehicles qualified last year after the group, funded by the insurance industry, required that vehicles pass a roof-strength test to earn a good rating, claiming that stronger roofs would reduce the risk of serious or fatal injury by 50 percent in a rollover accident. The most mentioned carmakers on the 2011 list are Hyundai/Kia and Volkswagen/Audi, both with nine vehicles to get the Top Safety Pick designation.

England's first motorway pub set to open

The British motorway network has a history of firsts. The first motorway was famously the eight-mile stretch of Preston bypass, which opened on the 5 December 1958. Then came the first motorway services at Watford Gap in November 1959.

Skoda Octavia vRS breaks 200 mph at Bonneville

Skoda Octavia vRS breaks 200mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats You can tell just how far Skoda has come from its days as makers of mobile skips when they can justify going out to play at the Bonneville Salt Flats with a Skoda Octavia vRS, just for the glow the outing will cast on its range. But they haven’t just gone to play, they’ve also achieved the quite remarkable feat of taking a modestly modified Octavia vRS to 202.15mph, which is going to do no harm whatsoever in drawing attention to the very appealing vRS cars in the Skoda range. To drag an extra 50mph plus out of Octavia vRS did necessitate a tweak or three, but nothing overly dramatic.