Sunbeam Alpine 1724 Engine Block on 2040-parts.com

GM ride-and-drive event puts interns behind the wheel

Interns here at AutoWeek are fortunate enough to be in and out of all sorts of cars, from the little Fiat 500 to the phenomenal Lexus LFA. But rarely do we get our own event like the Intern Ride and Drive hosted by General Motors in downtown Detroit on Friday. The event, set up and run by GM's own interns, involved summer help from local broadcast-media outlets, newspapers and many Detroit-area automotive publications.

Is this a tease for the Pagani Huayra Roadster? (video)

Pagani has released a tease for what we assume is a reveal at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. Could this be the convertible Huayra – the Pagani Huayra Roadster? Unbelievably, it’s now two years since Cars UK exclusively revealed the first ever photo of the Pagani Huayra, Pagani’s replacement for the car that turned Pagani from a wannabe garden shed car cobbler together to a credible maker of ultimate supercars – the Pagani Zonda.

Brazilian students develop soapbox racers for Volkswagen

Brazilian design students have competed for year-long internships at Volkswagen's Brazilian design studio by designing – and racing – soapbox cars. Established 15 years ago by Volkswagen South America design director Luiz Veiga, the Volkswagen Design Talent Contest refreshed its format for 2013 by challenging students to develop a prototype for a gravity-powered soapbox racer instead of asking for sketch and render-based proposals. According to Veiga, Volkswagen was looking for someone "capable of working away from the desk and able to create design solutions, assess and build them".