Vespa Granturismo Hi-lo Lamp Switch on 2040-parts.com

Schools Award and CDN Design Schools League Table

Schools as well as students are being recognized in this year's CDN-Interior Motives Student Design Awards, just launched, with a special award being introduced for the school whose students have the most success in the competition. CDN acknowledges that great teaching, as well as raw student talent, is needed to shape the work of the next generation of car designers. So along with the student finalists in 2012 will come finalist schools, as measured by the success of their students in getting to the shortlist stage of the competition, in becoming category finalists, or in winning an award or becoming overall winner.

Video: Michael Mauer on the 991-series Porsche 911

Porsche has released a video featuring its Design Director, Michael Mauer, explaining how he and his team went about redesigning the 911, an ‘automotive, engineering icon' as he describes it. "What we as designers are striving to above all is to optimize the width to height ratio with the result that although the 911's width has not increased, the front axle area has become wider, and we've managed to make the roof a bit lower," Mauer explains via a rather dramatic-sounding voiceover.

Edelbrock teams with Ohio Technical College to teach hot-rodders

Many of today's prominent hot-rodders and car customizers talk about how they learned their craft working alongside a mentor, turning wrenches in a garage for hours on end. Now, there's a school for that. Noted tuning-parts maker Edelbrock LLC has teamed up with Ohio Technical College in Cleveland to create the Edelbrock Academy.