Spectre Performance 5488 Engine Oil Pan on 2040-parts.com

Mini is 50: a Mini celebration by CAR writers and readers

By Tim Pollard Motoring Issues 13 October 2009 12:45 Mini is 50 this year and we've published a 33-page Mini special in the new November issue of CAR Magazine – packed with memories, drives and analysis of and with the cars and people that made Mini great.  Here we've asked some of CAR's top writers to remember their personal highlights from the past five decades. Gavin Green explains why he recently drove across Australia in a modern Mini, while Anthony ffrench-Constant recalls why crashing a classic Mini caused him to start a lifelong nicotine habit. Click on the links below for our new Mini stories – and don't forget we want YOUR Mini memories too.

Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 – a taste of SLS AMG Black Series? UPDATE +video

The track only Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 With the New York Motor Show spluttering in to life across the Pond, we’ll have a number of show stories to cover to keep you up to speed, the first of which is the official reveal of the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 track car. The Mercedes SLS GT3 will be an evocative site in the hands of customers going racing from 2011, reminiscent as it is of the hugely successful racing career of the original Mercedes Gullwing in the hands of iconic drivers of the 1950s such as Sir Sterling Moss. Mercedes have taken the road-going SLS AMG Gullwing and thrown a lorry load of carbon fibre in its direction.

Electric cars to be powered by AA-style batteries

A NEW COMPANY is claiming its new design of battery could see future electric cars powered by batteries no bigger than the current AA size. LipraLoof Techologies Ltd, a new start-up, has teamed up with City Car Club to trial the new technology in its fleet of vehicles. The new batteries use a complex mix of metal hydrates to create a quad, or 4A battery, which produces far more power than a standard battery.