Yamaha Pulley #2 6cb-1264a-00-00 F50-300 2009-2010 Models Portside on 2040-parts.com

One Lap of the Web: Willys CJ2 rat rod, Blade Runner sketchbook and vintage Alpine A110 footage

-- Even if you don't remember every nuance of the plot of the 1982 film Blade Runner, or even which of the myriad versions of the film you saw, its powerful visual images and bizarre-but-plausible technologies have likely stuck with you. From glowing umbrellas to the unforgettable flying "spinners," Blade Runner was fascinating look at a future that wasn't. Although technically the film was set in 2019, so we've got a few years for replicant technology, and Los Angeles smog levels, to catch up with fiction.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage S (2011) at 2011 Geneva motor show

Good news for fans of Aston Martin's V8 Vantage, and especially those who found it a touch slow: the new, musclier V8 Vantage S.  The Aston Martin Vantage S is a tweaked-up version of the regular Vantage, and a full production model. It's the fastest Vantage yet! The biggest change is under the bonnet. The 4.7-litre V8 now has a stouter 430bhp, which makes it 20bhp more powerful than the Vantage N24 and 30bhp up on the N400 special editions.

Tomorrow's world: lightweight carbon composites

Once all the dust settles on The Great Battery Farce (the idea that the world's ills will be taken care of by sticking a battery in everything that moves and charging it up) we may eventually face up to the fact that the best way to move something around more economically, is to move less of it. That means making things lighter, a lot lighter. Car makers are working on it and manufacturers like Audi and Jaguar have already become masters in bringing aluminium to the mass production.