Black And Decker Valve Grinding Machine on 2040-parts.com

Banks and Ryan ready for Pikes Peak

Gale Banks, part-time stunt driver Mike Ryan and the diesel wizards from Gale Banks Engineering will return to Pikes Peak this year with the Freightliner Cascadia that finished ninth in 2012. Competing in the Pikes Peak Open class, the team has been furiously working on the truck at the Banks Performance home base in Azusa, Calif. To get the semi tractor up the 12.4 mile road, Banks is installing its Super-Turbo setup on the 14.7-liter, Detroit Diesel-equipped truck.

Concept Car of the Week: Chevrolet Astro (1967)

It gave its name to a boxy van in the 80s, but the Chevrolet Astro I was one of the most exciting dream cars developed within the GM styling studio. Presented in New York Auto Show in 1967, it was the first of three Astro concepts shown in annual succession and illustrates GM's desire to develop models that were both aerodynamic and attractive. What we might take for granted in aerodynamics nowadays was almost untouched territory in the mid ‘60s.

Vauxhall Ampera: Try for 30 days – and then give it back

Vauxhall are offering buyers of the range extender Ampera the chance to buy risk free for 30 days and return the Ampera. So in an effort to get more car buyers looking seriously at the Vauxhall Ampera range-extender, Vauxhall have come up with a scheme to allow Ampera buyers to grab a new Ampera, try it for 30 days and then give it back if they don’t get on with it. It’s a clever scheme, because the Ampera is a good car.