Yamaha 701 62t Complete Kit W/seals. on 2040-parts.com

Porsche 959 prototype to cross the block at Barrett-Jackson

When Professor Helmuth Bott arrived at the fledgling Porsche sports-car company in 1952, he was in his late 20s. The young engineer's first assignment was setting up a gearbox test stand for the company's new all-syncromesh Type 519 transaxle. Thirty-one years later, he gave the go-ahead for the development of a car that was to be the ultimate bleeding edge of what Porsche knew about building a rear-engined sports car.

Vettel enjoys title toast

WORLD CHAMPION Sebastian Vettel has revealed he celebrated his fourth successive drivers' title with an impromptu night in his hotel bar before spending some time at home in quiet contemplation of his achievements. Vettel did not have too much time to bask in the glory of yet another all-conquering championship season as the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix follows just seven days later but he did admit the team spent a little while in the bar following the race win at the Buddh International Circuit. "Obviously it was a great relief when I crossed the line on Sunday," he said.

VW announces seven-passenger CUV at Detroit auto show

Last year at the Detroit Auto Show, VW showed the CrossBlue concept. Built on VW's new MQB modular architecture, the CrossBlue was designed to both showcase the versatility of MQB (it also underpins the upcoming Golf, the new Audi A3, as well as SEAT and Skoda models) and illustrate that VW was serious about the seven-passenger market in the United States. Prior to the Frankfurt motor show, we took the CrossBlue for a spin.