Four teams have reportedly paid the necessary deposit to reserve a supply of Cosworth’s customer formula one engine for 2010.

Accompanying the sport’s lower-cost future, the independent British company is set to return to F1 next year at the initiative of the FIA, guaranteeing a low-cost engine amid quit threats of engine makers that are currently involved.

Peter Windsor, the British journalist behind the USGPE (formerly USF1) team, confirmed at Monaco that accompanying a team’s official 2010 entry must be an arrangement for an engine supplier.

He said USF1 has indeed done a deal with Cosworth, and Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport claims that the arrangement must have involved the transfer of €2.5 million.

The publication said three other potential 2010 entrants have also paid the Cosworth deposit: including probably Campos Racing and Joan Villadelprat’s Epsilon Euskadi.

“It is true that we are trying (to set up a F1 team),” Villadelprat confirmed to the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

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Organizing an exclusive event for one of the most inclusive sports cars ever made - the Mazda MX-5 Miata - may seem paradoxical, but that’s exactly what Mazda France is doing this June at the Le Mans 24 Hours race. A maximum of 200 MX-5s and their owners will gather for a show and shine celebration at a field adjacent to the legendary race circuit.

The event will only be open to MX-5 roadsters of French or other European extraction, so travelers need not apply - unless their cars are native, of course.

2010 Mazda MX-5 facelift

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Chrysler today submitted three proposals outlining a $448-million plan to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in order to rapidly bring electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid models to market. The proposals were submitted in order to receive two initiatives established by the DOE - the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative and the Transportation Electrification Initiative.

Both are designed to speed up development, demonstration, evaluation and manufacturing of EVs and plug-in hybrids.

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What was just a rumor has now been confirmed, with Mini unveiling at its 50th anniversary celebrations a new special-edition John Cooper Works (JCW) Mini to mark the event as well as the achievements of John Cooper in the Formula 1 World Championships back in 1959 and 1960. The limited-run vehicle will be sold exclusively in British Racing Green – just like the original race cars - and is based around the same core as the JCW edition currently on sale. Incidentally, it was Sir Jack Brabham that won back-to-back titles at the wheel of the JCW Coopers, taking eleven race wins during these two seasons.

The latest car is called the ‘World Championship 50’ and it was just one of three special edition models unveiled at the Mini United 2009 event in Silverstone over the weekend.

Beatles ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ Cooper S

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In a hugely positive step for General Motors, the carmaker, together with the U.S. Treasury and United Auto Workers (UAW), reached a tentative bargain on how they’ll deal with changes to the current agreement in the face of the industry’s problems and GM’s increasingly probably bankruptcy. The details of the deal are being kept quiet until local unions ratify it later this week but a new report claims the outcome will see GM swap some equity with the UAW for its debts.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that the UAW’s trust fund for retiree health care would get a 17.5% stake in a restructured GM under the deal.

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Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis, offspring of one of Germany’s old and wealthy noble families and an avid race car driver, took delivery recently of a new Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 in Bonstetten, Switzerland. The car was a “must have” for the prince but despite his racing pedigree there have been no plans announced to race the world-beating supercar.

This pedigree includes the current European Lamborghini Cup title, vice champion of the German ADAC GT Masters 2008 and a stint in the FIA GT European Championship behind the wheel of a Lamborghini.

Corvette ZR-1

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It’s a well known fact that the U.S. market misses out on most of Ford’s hot products, but with a push for new global models taking shape in Blue Oval offices around the world hopefully we will start to see more of these coveted models make their way Stateside. Unfortunately, the Focus RS won’t be among them, according to the latest word from Ford’s RS product guru Jost Capito

The recently launched Ford Focus RS – a 305hp (224kW) stunner based on the Focus hatchback sold overseas - can’t be sold in the U.S.

Ford Focus RS Concept

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Every automotive enthusiast with an internet connection has likely seen the video of Ken Block drifting his Subaru Impreza WRX STI around a closed airbase Gymkhana style - it’s the sort of stuff that builds legends. But for Ken Block, that’s not enough, and he’s planning a second video that promises even more incredible displays of car control.

The video below is the second teaser for the upcoming exhibition, and while it doesn’t show any actual sideways, backwards, tire-smoking, pirouetting, donuts-around-a-moving-Segway action, it does document Crawford Performance’s tear-down and build-up of the stock 2009 Subaru WRX STI that will be used for filming.

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While major auto manufacturers race to bring new electric and hybrid cars to market, other companies are looking at alternatives to electricity - including using air to power cars. The idea of an air-powered car is nothing new, and companies have been touting the technology for the past few years but for now not much has emerged in the way of a production model, largely due to flaws with the design of the vehicles.

In fact, many engineers are skeptical of the technology’s use, as the energy required to power air-compressors in air-powered cars is massive compared to using that energy in an electric battery instead.

Zero Pollution Motors AIRPod

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They’ve been called budget supercars for years now, and the latest crop of factory hot-rods are seriously infringing on that performance territory. Take Mitsubishi’s new FQ-400 special for the UK, unveiled today: 3.8 seconds 0-62mph puts it on par with the Corvette ZR-1, Nissan GT-R, Lamborghini Gallardo, and a handful of other cars costing up to ten times as much as the hotted-up Evolution X.

And that’s the magic of the 2009 Mitsubishi Evolution X and other cars of its ilk. For just a few thousand dollars - or pounds sterling, as the case may be - more than a family grocery-getter, you can have four-door utility with supercar performance.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X FQ-400

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