2012 Ford Boss 302 Engine W Wiring Harness /factory Intake on 2040-parts.com

New car sales surge by 7.6%

THE SURGE in new car sales has continued into the new year. There were 154,562 new vehicles registered last month, a 7.6% rise on January last year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. The society said sales of alternatively fuelled vehicle increased by 25%.

John Hennessey unwinds modified Chevy SS

Perhaps it's not as impressive as John Hennessey's recent 200mph blast down Houston's new Grand Parkway in a warmed-up Stingray, but we figured we'd show you his latest run down the same road in a Chevrolet SS equipped with his company's HPE600 Supercharged package. Thanks to GM's engineers, the four-door hits its top speed of 163 in 5th, rather than 6th, but what impressed us the most was watching the numbers climb on the VBOX — the car pulls John-Bonham-hard all the way up to its top speed. Hennessey hasn't released details of the mods performed on the SS yet, but we're anxious to see what this anodyne-looking monster will do on the top end once the gearing nag's sent off to the glue factory.

Car production up again in June

THE NUMBER OF CARS produced in the UK rose last month. A total of 136,419 vehicles were manufactured in June 2014 - a 3.7% rise on the figure for the same month last year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. The latest figures took the year-so-far total to 791,314 - a 3.5% increase on the January-June 2013 figure.