Repair work to hit key road route

A KEY ROAD ROUTE into London will be affected by closures at some weekends next summer for the completion of repair work. The summer 2014 work will be on the Hammersmith Flyover on the A4 in west London. Before that, there will be night-time lane closures starting next month as the final phase of work to strengthen the flyover's 16 spans begins.

Crunch watch Jan 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard, Ben Pulman and Gareth Evans Motor Industry 30 January 2009 12:39 Friday 30 January 2009• Honda is about to close the Swindon factory for four months when Friday's shifts are finished; the shutdown will affect 2500 of the 3700 staff, who will receive full pay for two months and then 60% pay for the next eight weeks (BBC News)• Porsche has announced a sharp drop in sales and likely profits. It forecasts a 27% drop in 911, Boxster, Cayman and Cayenne sales to around 34,000 units in the six months to the end of January 2009 (Financial Times, subscription required)• Ford wants Washington to do more to stimulate car sales, after posting a record loss of nearly $14.6 billion earlier this week (Detroit News)• Honda's quarterly profit has crashed by 90% – forcing the Japanese car maker to halve its annual profit target (Detroit Free Press)Thursday 29 January 2009• Ford of Europe is a bright spot in the Blue Oval's quarterly results today, making $1.06 billion pre-tax profit in 2008 (up from $997m in 2007). It's the first profit of more than $1bn since 1989 (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)• Volvo suffered a 'disastrous 2008' with a pre-tax loss of $1.46bn.

Bentley Continental GT V8 S & ‘Old Number 1′ at 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Bentley Continental GT V8 S (pictured) will make its Goodwood debut in June It’s only three months before the world’s greatest petrolhead gathering takes place in Sussex, and the offerings for the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed are now starting to come in to focus. As you’d expect, Bentley are as keen as ever to make a good showing at Goodwood and are taking along plenty of new stuff to keep Goodwood visitors happy, with the new Bentley Continental GT V8 S making its Goodwood debut, as is the Flying Spur V8. The more powerful GT V8 S turns the power up on the regular GT V8 to 521bhp, enough to make its 0-62mph the match of the W12 GT but with a more focused driver appeal thanks to better throttle response and a tweaked chassis, as well as a few go-faster bits like a diffuser at the back and a butch set of side sills.