Weldon Racing Fuel Pump Db2035a on 2040-parts.com

Call for reform over road repair funding

FUNDING patterns mean most road maintenance is being carried out in "less-efficient, cold and wet" times, a report from a Government spending watchdog has said. The current pattern of funding, combined with the need to spend money within the financial year, means that most maintenance work goes on between September and March, said the report from the National Audit Office (NAO). It went on: "Although this is less disruptive for road users, it is less efficient than carrying out the work at other times of year because materials can be more difficult to handle in cold and wet conditions, and daylight hours are shorter." The report went on: "As a result of the additional funding for emergency repairs, which is made available at the end of the financial year, almost all highways authorities need extra capacity from the market at the same time, which makes it less likely that they will get value for money." The NAO report said there was a "lack of predictability" over road spending adding that historically, local highway authorities spent more revenue on maintenance, but were now carrying out fewer routine activities such as clearing gullies which are essential to preventing water seeping into roads' sub-structure.

BMW M5 & M6 M Performance upgrades released

BMW M5 & M6 (pictured) M Performance upgrades released Many would think that the BMW M5 and BMW M6 come with everything you could possible need. But BMW want to tempts M5 and M6 buyers with a range of M Performance upgrades to help them make their new performance BMW more individual, and divest them of a sizeable chunk of cash in the process. The new M Performance upgrades are also to capitalise on Martin Tomczyk’s success in the DTM Series, and as he’s now out and about in an M6 Gran Coupe this all fits very well.

Fisker ‘Project Nina’ to debut at New York Auto Show

Fisker's Project Nina teased ahead of the New York Auto Show The ‘Project Nina’ from Fisker – a smaller take on the Karma – will debut at the New York Motor Show in April. It’s taken a very long time for Henrik Fisker to get the Karma out to the public, and even then it looks like it still wasn’t really ready to go, with reports of faults and breakdowns already starting to filter in from the handful of Karma owners. But the next stage of Fisker’s evolution in to a fully fledged maker of range-extending EVs is ‘Project Nina’, a smaller car that the Fisker – thing 3 Series – which has been funded to a great degree by the US taxpayer.