2003 Kawasaki Kl650a Klr650 Header Pipe on 2040-parts.com

Enthusiast demand forces Aston’s hand: V12 Vantage coming America

Thanks to enthusiasts, the most powerful road-going Aston Martin ever is coming to the United States. The British sports-car maker confirmed on Friday that the V12 Vantage--packing 510 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque--will be sold in North and South America. This is a reversal from a year ago, when Aston tantalizingly showed off the car and promptly said it wasn’t coming here.

More photos, details of new Audi A1 (2010)

Audi has started the countdown to the official unveiling of the new 2010 A1 supermini. Ahead of the A1’s world premiere at the 2010 Geneva motor show in March, Ingolstadt has launched a 22-step (yes, there are 22 parts to this tease) programme that will showcase Audi's new Mini challenger over the next three months. Rather than write 22 separate stories on the new 2010 Audi A1, we thought it'd serve you better to add all the updates to a single page.

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.