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Think hot rods and most of us imagine tasty little t-buckets or chopped '32 coupes with classic or modern V8 engines. What most of us DON't think of are late-model Japanese V6 engines, 22-inch alloys and thumping big turbos. This rod breaks a lot of the 'rules' of hot rodding, but that doesn't bother Dean Wawryk, the creator of this unique and impressive machine. A mechanic by trade, but with some experience in engineering and fabricating, what makes this project all the more impressive is that it was Dean's first!

The Toyota Motorsport EV P001, with 100 percent electric powertrain and Jochen Krumbach at the wheel, set a new lap record of 7 minutes 47.794 seconds to beat the previous lap record, which stood at 9 minutes 1.338 seconds, by a very substantial margin.

Ford Australia has opened an historic archive centre to preserve and chronicle more than eight decades of Ford automotive history in Australia.

Launching the Summernats Chrome Jubilee, a street parade of 200 of Australia's best street machines will take to the streets of Canberra on January 5th.

Speed records continue to fall around the world with a Skoda claiming the title of fastest production car in the world. At 365 kilometres per hour, the Octavia vRS Speed records continue to fall around the world with a Skoda claiming the title of fastest production car in the world.

Mercedes Benz has announced the imminent launch of its brand new SL Roadster, featuring all-aluminium bodyshell, groundbreaking FrontBass acoustics and the innovative 'Magic Vision Control' windscreen cleaning system.

First deliveries of new Audi R8 LMS Ultra are slated for March 2012. The next generation customer sport race car embodies further technical development to ensure it outperforms its successful predecessor, the R8 LMS GT3 sports car.

With less than 100 days to go until the start of Rally Calder, the Bosch Australian Rally Championship is gearing up for historic change and a bold new course.

Lamborghini's spectacular Aventador LP 700-4 makes its Brazilian debut and the luxury marque extends its reach further across the globe.

Lamborghini have revealed what is billed as the most extreme Gallardo ever: the Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo Stradale. The new top of the range model is based on Lamborghini's most successful racecar and its exclusivity is assured with just 150 numbered units to be built.

A rare piece of movie history is coming up for auction in the US this December in the form of a genuine DeLorean from the 'Back to the Future' trilogy. Profiles in History, a dealer in rare manuscripts, autographs and other documents, will auction the DeLorean, along with a number of other related items, at a three-day auction from December 15 - 17.

Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek) was a motorsport showcase on October 18-19, when the NSW circuit once again hosted the Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge.

Bonhams' "Classic California" auction on November 12 featured a diverse collection of celebrity owned, themed and connected machines. From an Elvis Cadillac to Fonzie's Triumph, there was plenty of "star power" at the event , which was held at the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles. Amidst the celebrity-owned and themed classics was a car from a more modern era in the form of the Lexus concept car made famous by Tom Cruise in the 2002 movie, 'Minority Report'.

On November 17, Chevrolet revealed its new 'Corvette Daytona Prototype', choosing the appropriate location of Daytona International Speedway, Florida, for the reveal.

Bonhams' "Classic California" auction on November 12 auction featured a diverse collection of vehicles, from veterans to classics, late model performance cars to big dollar hot rods and customs, but the celebrity offerings were the highlights. In addition to the vehicles being auction at the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles, motoring memorabilia and genuine artwork from the likes of Von Dutch and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth were thrown into the mix as well.

While it's been largely forgotten now, Holden's Piazza was a car synonymous with the 80s. Filling the 'performance coupe' gap in GMH's lineup between the demise of the Torana and the arrival of the new Monaro, the Isuzu-sourced Piazza had its merits, but never really "found the love" with Australian drivers.

Jaguar's fastest and most-powerful open-topped GT ever built, the XKR-S Convertible blasts from 0-100km/h in a giddy 4.4 seconds. Its lightweight architecture belies exceptional torsional rigidity, making it the stiffest car in its class.

Fresh from Subaru's STI performance division, Subaru's BRZ Concept-STI (Subaru Tecnica International) sports car has been unveiled at the 2011 Los Angeles International Auto Show, a fortnight ahead of its scheduled production-version unveiling at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Audi has bagged this year's coveted "Golden Steering Wheel" award, with its Audi A6 business sedan winning the juried prize in the "Midsize / Luxury Class" category.

Toyota has announced it will make no less than five vehicle debuts at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, including its first showing of the prototype of its new compact sports car.

Bathurst's Mt Panorama race track was the scene for record-smashing speed last weekend when a Ferrari 458 GT3 broke the lap record. Driving the GT3, the racing version of the Ferrari 458 Italia road car, Allan Simonsen clocked a blistering 2:04.9560 time around the 6.2 km track during a practice session.

Proving that big cats can be efficient as well as powerful, an XF 2.2 Diesel has traversed North America from NY to LA averaging just 4.49 l/100 km over 4,641 km - making it the most efficient Jaguar ever created.

Bonhams' recent "Classic California" auction event, held at the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles, had a major touch of "Hollywood" about it, with cars from the movies amongst the consignments. Celebrity-owned cars were also part of the November 12 event, including a Cadillac originally owned by Elvis, and a Mercedes owned by Madonna.

After being postponed due to the Brisbane floods earlier this year, SPEED+STYLE+BEAUTY, a celebration of all things on wheels, is back, rescheduled for this coming November 25 - 27, at Brisbane's Portside Wharf at the Brisbane Cruise Terminal.