Alfa Owner Magazines 12 Issues 1979 Alfa Romeo Owner's Club Magazine on 2040-parts.com

Pagani Zonda Tricolore: One-off Zonda at Geneva

The Pagani Zonda Tricolore - Geneva bound (click for bigger image) We already know that Pagani are taking the Zonda Cinque Roadster #4 to shove on their stand at the Geneva Motor Show, and you can add to that what could be considered an even rarer version of the Zonda – the Pagani Zonda Tricolore. This particulay Zonda has been created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Italian equivalent of the Red Arrows – the ‘Frecce Tricolori – and ordered up by a Pagani  distributor, which almost certainly means it’s already sold – for €1.3 million. Based on the Cinque, the Zonda Tricolore gets a fancy paint job which includes stripes which mimic the colours of the Frecce Tricori.

Vauxhall launches speed limit detectors on Insignia (2008)

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 19 June 2008 07:53 Vauxhall's new Insignia will be the first of a wave of cars to have a forward-facing camera that can read road signs. The optional kit will detect speed limit and no overtaking signs – and flash up a reminder to the driver on the dashboard.GM calls the tech, which will be launched in early 2009, Traffic Sign Recognition and it uses a small, wide-angled camera system supplied by Hella. It sits at the top of the windscreen near the rain sensors and rear-view mirror, scanning the road ahead taking 30 photos per second.It's 1984 all over again...With a range of 100 metres, the camera focuses on circular patterns and then interprets the numbers inside by contour comparison; if a match is found on the software's database, that road sign will be flashed up in the driver's binnacle.The front-facing camera is also used as a lane departure warning system, alerting the driver if they unintentionally swerve out of their lane on a motorway.Cars with cameras: a growing trendMore and more manufacturers are fitting cameras to their cars nowadays and you can expect a flood of systems like the Insignia's to be launched in 2009, including the new BMW 5-series.CAR tried out these new systems on Bosch prototypes in 2007.

Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes W196R F1 car sells for £19.6 million (video)

Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes W196R F1 (pictured) sells for £19 million The Goodwood Festival of Speed is all about cars and performance, but it’s not just cars on the ground and on the hillclimb. Goodwood is a Mecca for wealthy petrolheads as well as those who can only lust after the finest motoring metal – classic and current – so it’s a sensible place to run an auction for high-end cars. And you can’t get much more ‘high-emd- – at least in terms of value – than Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes W196R Formula One car which went under the hammer yesterday at Bonham’s Goodwood auction, and reached a world record auction price of £19,601,500 (including premium – £17.5m before).