Suspension Ball Joint Sbk6345 on 2040-parts.com

Autodesk Automotive Days - Munich 2009

Autodesk's Automotive Days design conferences, launched in Munich in 2008, have highlighted the key growth area of digital prototyping. And at last month's conference the focus was once again broadened to include coverage of conceptual design and creative visualization (at the very beginning of the design process) and design for manufacture - at the culmination of the process. Speakers from Autodesk outlined the innovative features of their latest product suites, while keynote presentations from leading automotive designers such as Frank Stephenson of McLaren and Volvo's Rickard Franklin showed in fascinating detail how the benefits of these software systems were being maximized in busy corporate design studios.

One Lap of the Web: Rolls-Royce in Thailand, 130-mph lawn mowers and Formula One in Canada

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- Check out some factoids about Formula One in Canada and how drivers have faired at Canadian tracks over time.

Peter Horbury replaces Steve Mattin as Vice President of Design at Volvo Cars

Ford Motor Company announced key changes to both Volvo Cars and Ford's Americas design operations today. Effective May 1, Peter Horbury, currently Executive Director of Ford Americas Design, will return to Volvo as Vice President of Design, replacing Steve Mattin who, according to Volvo, "elected to leave the company". Insider sources tell us he was forced out.