Yamaha Banshee Rear Fender on 2040-parts.com

Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid (2011) first official pictures

Porsche has released details of its updated 911 GT3 R Hybrid – the 2010 original nearly won last year's Nurburgring 24hr race before (ironically) it retired with petrol engine failure.  The 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid – the lowdown Before this report disappears in a chorus of ‘it looks the same as last year’s one’, let's outline where Porsche’s engineers have been busy. At the unfashionable end of the car remains a 4.0-litre flat-six engine producing approximately 470bhp. Up front are twin electric motors, now producing 75kW of power each (up from 60kW) and combined these give the GT3 R Hybrid a 197bhp electric boost, which can be programmed to activate automatically via the throttle pedal, or manually selected during overtaking. F1-derived hybrid tech for the 911 GT3 R Hybrid Power for the two electric motors doesn't come from batteries, but flywheel accumulator technology from Williams Hybrid Power, an offshoot of the Williams Formula 1 team. The flywheel, encased in a carbonfibre safety cell in the space where the passenger seat would be, spins at up to 40,000rpm and acts as a mechanical energy store for the electric motors. Regenerative braking feeds energy back into the flywheel system – no surprises there, as the technology is derived from Williams' exeprience with Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) in F1.

Saab gets a ray of hope from China

Victor Muller sees a glimpse of sunshine from China The saga that is the long and painful demise of Saab seemed to reach its nadir last week when courts in Sweden refused to offer the beleaguered car maker sanctuary in its protection. We thought that would be the end for Saab – despite a never-say-die appeal of the decision by Victor Muller, due to be heard tomorrow – with nowhere left to hide from trade supplier debts of €150 million, and the wrath of Sweden’s unions ready to file for Saab’s bankruptcy over unpaid wages for Saab employees. The nadir for Saab should reasonably be followed by its rapid consignment to the annuls of motoring history, but a tiny glimmer of hope has risen from Saab’s putative investors in China.

BMW 1 Series M Performance Parts teased in a blur

BMW tease the 1 Series with M Performance Parts BMW are teasing a range of M Performance Parts for the new 1 Series with a blurry video. Expected to launch at Geneva. It looks like BMW’s video bods have got the hang of their new selective blur filter for their promo videos.