Prodive’s David Richards looks at Honda F1

It was a real surprise that Honda decided to pull out of F1 for 2009. True, they haven’t yet seen the sort of success that their efforts, and money, should have yielded, but they have a superb product and, more importantly, potentially one of the best set-ups in F1 led by the best of the best, Ross Braun, who was pretty much responsible for the renaissance at Ferrari and Michael Shumacher’s domination of the sport. But there could well be a light at the end of the tunnel for the Honda F1 Team.

Early Mercedes sells for £720,000

ONE OF the oldest surviving Mercedes cars has sold at auction for an astronomical fee. The Mercedes Simplex 28/32 HPs Phaeton eventually sold for £720,000 at the Coys auction house True Greats sale in London. Still in complete and roadworthy condition, the car was reported to be in superb, drivable condition before its sale, which was the first time it had been auctioned in its near-109-year life.

Detroit Auto Show roundup

The 2012 NAIAS in Detroit, MI has proved to be exactly the dose of salts the US auto industry so desperately needed after a few very lean years for the event. Numerous concept and production cars made their debuts in the halls of COBO and, as ever, Car Design News was on hand to provide our in-depth live show coverage. Here's a full rundown of our reportage from NAIAS 2012: Acura Acura NSX Concept: Living up to the name Cadillac Cadillac ATS: Finally breaking into the premium mainstream?