Boomba Dodge Neon Srt Sohc Fuel Rail on 2040-parts.com

Vauxhall Astra VXR EXTREME heading for Geneva as the quickest Astra yet

The Vauxhall Astra VXR EXTREME (pictured) is heading for a Geneva debut. The VXR range of Vauxhall’s – the sportiest of Vauxhall’s car range – is ten years old this year, so what better way to celebrate than with an even more extreme version of the Astra VXR. Vauxhall obviously agree as they’ve revealed the Vauxhall Astra VXR EXTREME as the new top of the range Astra VXR and it’s heading for a debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March before going in to limited production.

Aston Martin One-77 – in the flesh

The completed Aston Martin One-77 revealed at the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este But as we told you the other day, Aston Martin decided that the perfect place to show an ostensibly finished One-77 was the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este. Which, if it hadn’t rained (which thankfully it didn’t the whole time) would have been idyllic (actually, we had heard on the grapevine that Aston Martin had agreed that the first showing would be at this year’s Salon Prive at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham – glad we didn’t run that as a story!). I have to say the Aston Martin One-77 does look as glorious in the flesh as we hoped.

The scramble for scarce tires

North American automakers are struggling with a nagging shortage of tires, caused in part by tire plant closings and rising demand for low-volume specialty tires. Automakers are paying much higher prices -- double-digit percentage increases from a year ago -- as tire makers gain pricing power. "We have been bombarded from every side for additional tires, and we can't keep up," said David O'Donnell, Continental Tire's vice president of original equipment in the Americas.