Goodyear Engineered Products 49300 Belt Tensioner Assembly on 2040-parts.com

All-new MINI dashboard goes mainstream (spy photo)

The all-new MINI – the third generation of the new MINI – is due later in 2013 and will be getting a more mainstream dashboard. Whatever you may think of the ‘new’ MINI – the one BMW make – it’s been a huge success. And it’s been a huge success because it’s managed to evoke the spirit of the original Issigonis Mini without being a pastiche.

Is this supercharged V8 destined for the Corvette ZR1?

This is a big week for spy shots, and apparently a friend of a friend of a “friend” snapped this little ditty of what could be the motor of the next Z06, or ZR1. Corvette Online nabbed the shot of a supercharged LT1-looking V8 mill; they cite the injector cover shape and the throttle body. The site also noted the twin-rotor supercharger with an LSA/LS9-style pulley on the front.

Mickey Thompson: A life remembered

Come celebrate the life and fast times of motorsports legend Mickey Thompson with the people who knew him best: his son, Danny Thompson; his first wife and Danny's mother, Judy Thompson Creach; fellow hot-rod hero Alex Xydias; drag racer Tom Jobe, and turbocharger mad scientist Gale Banks. The event will come in the form of a panel discussion at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, Calif., on May 15 at 2 p.m. The incomparable silver-tongued Dave McClellan will serve as moderator.