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Watch the latest Civic Type R hit the track in Japan

The latest Honda Civic Type R is very sweet forbidden fruit because the launch of the new generation Civic in the US suggests that the 306-horsepower turbocharged hot hatch might not arrive on this continent in its current form. However, the next one should come here and could have an even more powerful version of the Ohio-made 2.0-liter engine. While North American buyers wait, Best Motoring host Keiichi Tsuchiya slips behind the Type R's wheel in this video to show us what we're missing. After the Drift King's drive, the CTR looks a little rotten. Tsuchiya seems to fight understeer from the moment he hits the first corner of the very tight Nikko Circuit, and it doesn't appear to let up over his couple of laps. Unfortunately, this clip doesn't have English subtitles, so we can only draw conclusions from Tsuchiya's driving – unless you understand Japanese. There could be a few explanations for the Civic Type R's performance in this video. There's still snow on the ground, so the performance tires could have trouble with grip in the cold. The track's layout also doesn't provide much opportunity to open the throttle. The tight corners really tax a vehicle's handling, and the hot hatch's front-wheel drive lap record at the Nurburgring suggests the Type R might prefer a quicker track. We also remarked on understeer during our First Drive, but it wasn't this bad. If you're unfamiliar with Best Motoring and Tsuchiya, you're missing out. The show puts racing drivers into mostly Japanese performance cars and lets them offer their driving impressions. Tsuchiya is the star and quite an accomplished racer, one of the drivers who took a class win in a Honda NSX in the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans. If you've missed out on these clips, prepare to waste a weekend watching the series on its YouTube channel. Related Video:

Petrolicious profiles the Triple Nickel, a 1968 Honda CB160

Petrolicious often puts as much of a focus on the owners as it does on their machines in its videos, but the latest one goes even further as a short documentary that tells the story of a woman getting back into vintage motorcycle racing after an accident. Stacie B. London bought her first bike in 2009, but she jumped into the hobby with both feet. Not too long after getting her cycle, she started competing on two wheels. Fantastic cinematography is always one of the great strengths of Petrolicious' clips, but it absolutely nails the audio here, too. If you enjoy the sound of vintage bikes revving for all they can, then this is a must see. Of course, the story of someone getting into vintage motorcycle racing is also fascinating. London's 1968 Honda CB160 wears the 555 number when on the circuit, hence the nickname Triple Nickel. Not only do we get to see her open up the bike up on the salt flats, but we get to watch part of her first competition on track after recovering from a serious crash. For a relative newcomer not only just to riding a motorcycle but also racing one, London already seems to be hooked.

China's largest dealer body pushes back against foreign automakers over huge inventories

Do not think for a second that automakers forcing inventory on dealers in order to pad the numbers is a ruse known only in the US. Stories of individual brands have hinted at the trouble Chinese dealerships are having trying to move units as the country's economic growth remains hot but comes off the boil, like the one revealing that 95 percent of Toyota-FAW showrooms are losing money. Yet Toyota isn't the only culprit, and the issue has become so dire that the China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA), the largest dealer body in the country, has written to the government to complain. Chinese car sales are expected to close out the year with an annualized growth of six-percent, down from last year's 14 percent when targets were set, while in the background the pace of overall economic expansion is the slowest its been since the early nineties. Automakers, shipping cars on schedule to make their earlier targets, have blown up inventories such that they are an average of 1.8 times monthly sales, when the preferred multiplier is from 0.9 to 1.2. According to the CADA, the price wars and necessary incentives mean that only 30 percent of dealers are operating in the black. That number is down a whopping forty percent since 2010. In response, Toyota has already said it will not make its 2014 target of 1.1 million cars sold. We're a long way from 2012, when Toyota planned on selling 1.8 million cars in China in 2015, a target that's now as realistic as a manticore. BMW, Honda and Nissan have erased numbers on their spreadsheets, too; BMW growth dropped from 20 percent to 8 percent midyear after it began "reducing wholesale supplies," and Honda has been reworking its plans as sales have decreased each of the past six months. It's a big deal for Chinese dealers to begin protesting publicly, the CADA saying, "In the past, dealers were angry, but dared not speak out. But now, they have to shout because the situation is getting so unbearable." With six-percent growth forecast for next year and dealers unwilling to remain underwater, The Year of the Sheep coming in 2015 could portend meaning beyond the zodiac. News Source: ReutersImage Credit: AP Photo/Andy Wong BMW Honda Nissan Toyota Car Buying Car Dealers