Volvo Penta D6-480 Belt Protector 23395457 on 2040-parts.com

Lincoln opens first dedicated design studio for 40 years

Ford has opened the first dedicated Lincoln design center for 40 years in Dearborn, Michigan, as part of its ongoing brand reinvention. Last August Ford announced it would be creating the studio for its luxury brand as well as increasing spending, giving it unique interiors and powertrains in an effort to differentiate it from the core Ford offerings. The Lincoln Design Studio has been built on the campus of Ford's Product Development center and houses designers, sculptors, modelers and engineers who make up part of a larger Lincoln Product Development team that will create four new Lincoln vehicles by 2015.

McLaren P1 bare carbon fibre option

McLaren are considering a full bare carbon fibre option for the P1 (pictured) With the McLaren P1 now getting close to hitting the road as a customer car (and arriving at Goodwood on the move in July), the lucky few with pockets deep enough to buy a car that will cost them pushing on £1 million are busy poring over the options for the P1. We spoke to one such customer over the weekend who was busy deciding which boxes to tick on the P1 spec sheet, and he was under the impression that McLaren were offering a full bare carbon fibre option for the P1, and at no cost. Which didn’t sound right.

BAC Mono wins Supercar Class at Cholmondeley

The BAC Mono has won the Supercar Class at the 2012 Cholmondeley Pageant of Power, just a year from the Mono’s launch and in its first competitive event. The cynical might have imagined that the debut of the BAC Mono as yet another racer for the road from a  company most have never heard of would be another two minute wonder – loads of promise and little reality. But as we said when the BAC Mono burst on the scene in March 2011, ‘This is the real deal; a superbly engineered and beautifully built single-seat racer that just happens to be road-legal’.