1940 1941 1942 Studebaker Champion Door Handle on 2040-parts.com

Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart shifts gears, sells his stuff

Ivan “Ironman” Stewart’s high-speed lifestyle of flying through the desert, leaving a rooster tail of dust, is taking a turn down a calmer, gentler road. Stewart, 64, is ready to slow things down and create more time for himself and his family. “I’m not retiring,” he insists, “just changing directions.” Last weekend he sold his off-road racing truck business and everything that goes along with it.

Call for reform over road repair funding

FUNDING patterns mean most road maintenance is being carried out in "less-efficient, cold and wet" times, a report from a Government spending watchdog has said. The current pattern of funding, combined with the need to spend money within the financial year, means that most maintenance work goes on between September and March, said the report from the National Audit Office (NAO). It went on: "Although this is less disruptive for road users, it is less efficient than carrying out the work at other times of year because materials can be more difficult to handle in cold and wet conditions, and daylight hours are shorter." The report went on: "As a result of the additional funding for emergency repairs, which is made available at the end of the financial year, almost all highways authorities need extra capacity from the market at the same time, which makes it less likely that they will get value for money." The NAO report said there was a "lack of predictability" over road spending adding that historically, local highway authorities spent more revenue on maintenance, but were now carrying out fewer routine activities such as clearing gullies which are essential to preventing water seeping into roads' sub-structure.

Volkswagen Polo R WRC (2013) hot hatch pictures and specs

This is the Volkswagen Polo R WRC, a rally car-inspired hot hatch that shoehorns Golf GTI power into a Polo bodyshell. Deliveries of the strictly limited 2500-unit production run will commence in September 2013, but the bad news is that invitation doesn't extend to mainstream UK buyers. That said, VW hints that it could bring in a handful to the UK if there's enough demand.