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Caterham in surprise motorbike racing move

Caterham has today revealed it is moving into motorbike racing, with the launch of a Moto2 World Championship team that will debut in 2014. The two-bike team will compete in the feeder series to the ultra-popular MotoGP championship, with one rider – American Josh Herrin – already being confirmed for one of the race seats. Caterham AeroSeven unveiled in Singapore Caterham Seven 165 prototype stars at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show Caterham will team up with Swiss motorcycle racing experts Suter Racing Technology to design the new bike.

Insurance group lists its Top Safety Picks

After increasing its standards for 2011 models, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that 66 vehicles--more than double the 2010 total--rate as best in the industry at protecting passengers from front, side, rollover and rear crashes. Only 27 vehicles qualified last year after the group, funded by the insurance industry, required that vehicles pass a roof-strength test to earn a good rating, claiming that stronger roofs would reduce the risk of serious or fatal injury by 50 percent in a rollover accident. The most mentioned carmakers on the 2011 list are Hyundai/Kia and Volkswagen/Audi, both with nine vehicles to get the Top Safety Pick designation.

Who killed Pontiac? Ask Bob Lutz

Bob Lutz is not a man who can be contained within 140 characters. This past weekend he spoke at the Petersen as part of the Inside the MotoMan Studio series, hosted by friend of Autoweek George Notaras (past events have been with Ralph Gilles and Derek Jenkins). Lutz talked at length about his childhood in Switzerland, early memories working for Ford and Chrysler, the time he swayed BMW management away from building Mercedes-like luxoboats, and what Lee Iacocca was really like behind closed doors.