Vintage Guide Taillights Pickup Trailer on 2040-parts.com

Mandelson to announce help for car makers

Lord Mandelson is the man charged with finding ways to fund UK Car purchases (yes, he of the dodgy mortgage debacle – at least he should know a few tricks!) as the credit crunch has dried up funding, leading to an unprecedented drop in new car sales in the UK. Mandelson is due to make a statement in the Lords just after 3pm today, outlining the help the government is going to offer to ailing car makers. Central to this package is expected to be a funding channel directly from the Bank of England to inject liquidity in to the car financing sector.

Gordon Murray Design T27 crash tested

The original Smart car probably did more than its fair share to persuade us that small cars needn't necessarily be unsafe. But now Gordon Murray is on the same mission: to persuade us that his titchy T27 city car is as safe as houses too. Gordon Murray Design has just issued its first crash test results, showing a T27 electric car after a crash test at the UK's MIRA industry research lab.  The crash test in question was the European-standard 40% offset deformable barrier front high-speed impact.

Le Mans regulations for 2014 announced

The organisers of the Le Mans 24-hour have announced a raft of radical new rules on the eve of the 2012 race - including the less restricted use of hybrid power for the top-flight LMP1 racers from 2014. The governing ACO (Automobile Club de l'Ouest) unveiled the major changes due in two years' time as the teams start the 80th 24 Heures du Mans event which runs from Saturday 16 - Sunday 17 June 2012. In order to stay in tune with our environmentally-conscious, economically-chastened times, the focus of the alterations is to improve the efficiency of the elite LMP1 cars' technology and cement a link with roadgoing hybrids, as well as making the race cars safer.