Speedometer Cluster Previa 92 93 94 95 96 97 2wd 380039 on 2040-parts.com

2014 Performance Car Show Ready For Action

BRITAIN’S Best Driver’s Cars will take to the Live Action Arena at the Performance Car Show, running alongside Autosport International at Birmingham’s NEC from 9-12 January. Led by supercars such as the 468bhp Porsche 911 GT3 and the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S, ten cars will parade through the 5,000-seat Live Action Arena. Also assembling in the arena will be the Mercedes-Benz A 45 AMG, featuring the most powerful four-cylinder engine in production, as well as the Toyota GT86, Jaguar F-Type S, Porsche Cayman S and Ford Fiesta ST Mountune.

New BMW M3 and M4 engine secrets laid bare

BMW's M division has lifted the veil of secrecy on the inline six-cylinder engine bound for its upcoming M3 sedan and new-to-the-range M4 coupe and convertible, revealing a potent twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter direct injection gasoline unit that produces an official 424 hp at 7,500 rpm and what officials describe as "significantly more than 369 lb-ft" of torque. The newly developed engine, known under the internal codename S55 B30, shares its 84.0 mm bore and 89.6 mm stroke with BMW's standard turbocharged 3.0-liter in-line six-cylinder direct-injection gasoline mill, the M55 used across the German car maker's lineup, endowing the aluminum block unit with an overall swept volume of 2,979 cc. This represents a sizeable 990 cc reduction on the engine BMW's M division's new unit replaces, the S65.

MIT develops self-transforming materials that behave 'like robots without robots'

A cross-disciplinary research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a suite of programmable materials, including carbon fiber, printed wood grain, textile composites, rubbers and plastics, that self-transform when exposed to an external stimulus. Director of the Self-Assembly Lab, Skylar Tibbits, presented a TED talk on 4D printing in 2013, where he demonstrated how a flat sheet of material could effectively build itself when exposed to water, like a robot without a robot. Following positive feedback from industries including aviation, automotive and manufacturing, his lab has been working on developing materials that change according to different activation sources, including heat, light, and air pressure, in addition to water – all of which have automotive relevance.