Hayden 2691 Thermal Fan Clutch on 2040-parts.com

Seat Leon Cupra 280 breaks Nürburgring lap record (2014)

By Ollie Kew Motor Industry 05 March 2014 11:00 You’re looking at the fastest front-wheel drive car ever to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife: the Seat Leon Cupra 280. A paddleshift DSG-equipped three-door example has lapped the 12-mile lap in 7min 58.44sec – smashing the previous record of 8min 7.97sec, held by the Renaultsport Megane Trophy. It's a slap in Honda's face too: the Japanese maker wanted its new Civic Type-R to be the first sub-8min hatch.

Bristol Cars sold to China. Possibly.

Bristol Cars - is it a Chinese Takeaway Earlier this month we reported the sad demise of the quirky and eccentric supercar maker that is Bristol cars, forced in to administration through a shortage of equally eccentric millionaires to buy their creations from another time. The good news is that they still look like a viable entity if they’re properly marketed, so we didn’t expect it to be too long before a buyer popped up and grabbed the Bristol Cars name, its Kensington showrooms and the handful of staff left. So we weren’t surprised to get an email this morning from China telling us the press there are reporting that the Xinjiang No1 Tractor Company – a State-owned maker of tractors (you’d never have guessed) – had snapped up Bristol Cars from the administrators.

VW planning to sell 2 versions of Polo compact in U.S.

Volkswagen plans to sell two versions of its Polo compact car in the United States: a sedan smaller than the current Jetta and a four-door hatchback roomier than the one shown this month at the Geneva auto show. Both versions would be designed especially for the United States, said Volkswagen Group of America CEO Stefan Jacoby. Sales could start in 2011, he said.