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Las Vegas Motorcycle Auctions show strong results, easy access

Results are in for Bonhams fourth annual Las Vegas motorcycle auction, and the ancient British firm sold a whopping $3.3 million worth of motorcycles at its Thursday night event at Bally's on The Strip, with some fairly high-dollar bikes setting records. One of the Ducatis from the Silverman Museum Racing Collection lead the field, as it no doubt had on the track back in its day -- with a record $175,500 hammer price after what Bonhams called “spirited bidding.” The 1978 Ducati 900 NCR was in great shape after its spirited competition life. Next-highest seller was a 1940 Harley-Davidson EL from the Pierce Family Museum Collection that sold for $159,000.

Pininfarina adds product-development director

Starting on Dec. 1, Andrea Maria Benedetto will serve as Italian car-design firm Pininfarina S.p.A.'s product-development director. Benedetto, who last served as the vice president of body and chassis function in the research and development division of Toyota Motor Europe, will organize engineering and R&D activities.

Opel Astra OPC Extreme debuts before Geneva

The Geneva motor show starts next week, which means we get to see an awesome selection of cars that will never come to our shores. On Wednesday, Opel added the Astra OPC Extreme to that category, which now includes the Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake, Volkswagen Polo and Aston Martin Vantage N430, among others. The Astra OPC Extreme is 220 pounds lighter than the already-hot OPC, thanks to the use of carbon fiber.