The recent XCS Designs Open Day at the firm’s Saffron Walden HQ saw the sportscar manufacturer throw open its doors once again to welcome customers and prospects, old and new, to tour the factory for themselves and examine the firm’s latest designs and demonstrators.

The weather played along, offering an incredible 30 degrees of heat and blistering sunshine from the very start of the day. If anyone was needing a meteorological encouragement to push them gently towards an open-top sportscar, then this definitely played its part, with XCS’s all-new Dieci and 427 Demo cars literally glinting in shimmering heat to welcome More >

Another of the UK kitcar industry’s hardest working and nicest blokes is Rob Hancock of Quantum Sports Cars and since the start of 2023 the ANC Replicar, too.

In recent months, Rob has been burning the midnight oil on a brand-new kit, a heavily revised version of the Replicar that he has christened the LMR-141. In effect, the company has shortened and narrowed the original bodyshell and made other changes such as moving the doors back. However, the Replicar ‘shell remains available.

The result is a coherent-looking package which remains based on the Mazda MX-5 donor car. Kits are priced at £7295 More >

New from Laser Tools is this voltage tester (part number 8599) that features a backlit LCD display, making it easy to read even in poor lighting conditions. It’s for direct current (DC) systems only and suitable for use on 3- to 60-volt systems, making it essential for use in the modern automotive workshop.

The stainless-steel test probe is two-position: pushed forward into the external position to measure voltage straight from a terminal or switch or held within the hook to pierce and test an insulated wire.

Use the tester with confidence – reverse-polarity, over-voltage or connection to an AC system is instantly More >

If you’re fabricating a roll cage, bumpers, bull bars, or some other part made from pipes or tubing, then you’re going to need a way to make round cuts and/or angled notches.

The Summit Racing Tubing Notcher is designed for use with 1/2in hand-drill and can create round or fishmouth holes in metal pipe and tubes from 3/4in to 3in in diameter. Other features include:

• Cuts angles up to 50 degrees in one-degree increments • Accepts standard hole saws • Hardened and ground spindle with needle bearing support for accuracy • Can be mounted to either a bench top or in a More >

On Sunday morning at Malvern, a new kitcar rolled into the hall (having missed the first day due to other commitments).

The Northern Light 630, a very innovative three-wheeler, is classed as an eBike and weighs just 77kg. One of the men behind the project, Graham Browne, is a noted automotive designer.

He started working at TVR in Blackpool as a student under the late Peter Wheeler, initially working on the Tuscan, interior stuff on the Lee Hodgetts, Daren Hobbs and Martin Smith designed T350 and then the T400, Typhon, the Sagaris, Tuscan convertible and Sagaris 2 as chief designer.

When Wheeler moved on More >