Toyota Auris (2012) first official pictures

Toyota will showcase the new Auris family hatchback at the 2012 Paris motor show from 27 September. Toyota claim the new car is lighter, more economical and altogether more distinctive than the somewhat forgettable first-gen Auris, but will their efforts be enough to tempt non-geriatrics away from their Astras, Focuses and Golfs? Read on for all the Toyota Auris details.

Up in smoke: Smokey Yunick's garage burns

Legendary NASCAR mechanic Smokey Yunick closed the "Best Damn Garage In Town" long before he died in 2001. But the main concrete-block, tin-roofed building on Beach Street in Daytona Beach, Fla., remained a stop on the NASCAR history trail for visiting faithful until Monday night, when fire destroyed the building. The building housed Yunick's office and a medium-size garage and more recently served as office space for Carbon Press, the publishing company that Yunick's daughter, Trish, operates and which produces products that include Yunick's salty 1,100-page autobiography and biographies of other racing personalities.

Theory driving test cost to be cut

THE COST of the written part of the driving test is to be reduced, the Government has announced. Under Government plans, which are now out for consultation, the cost of sitting the theory section of the test will be reduced from £31 to £25 from October 2014, with a further drop of drop of £2 planned in October 2015. The proposals could save learner drivers in excess of £100 million over the next nine years.