Home / Posts tagged 'Porsche'

• 918 and Life: Chris Harris Tests the New Porsche Supercar [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 17 May 2013

  

  Not even 24 hours ago we brought you the skinny on the production version of the Porsche 918 Spyder, Stuttgart’s shapely plug-in hybrid hellraiser. It looks wicked cool (particularly with the flashback-fabulous Weissach Package), and puts up staggering performance and economy numbers, but how does it look (and, more importantly, sound) when in motion? The one and only Chris Harris RSVP’d to the car’s launch at Porsche’s Leipzig test track (which is adjacent to the Cayenne and Panamera factory) to find out.

  It’s safe to say that Chris finds himself quite smitten with the driving experience, but he’d really love to see a lightweight, non-hybrid version. Frankly, we’d be curious to see how such a creation would perform, too, but we realize that, like the McLaren P1 and the LaFerrari, the 918 was designed around a hybrid powertrain and thus plays the role of technological showcase and assuager of greenie anger toward its maker. Besides, it’s damn fast and sounds like Wagner’s subconscious, and by Georg, that’s good enough for us.

  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE >>

   

• Porsche 918 Spyder Production Model Revealed in Full

  In Auto News / By Tom Anderson / 16 May 2013

  

  In 2010, Porsche stunned the automotive world by revealing the 918 Spyder Concept, a plug-in hybrid supercar. Not long after the concept completed its tour of the auto show circuit, Porsche announced it would be putting the 918 Spyder into production, with assembly of the first car set to begin on September 18 (9-18…get it?) of this year. Granted, Ferrari and McLaren beat Porsche to the punch by premiering their hybrid hypercars at Geneva in March, but there’s still anticipation aplenty surrounding the 918.

  Now Porsche has pulled back the curtain on the production 918 Spyder’s shape, as well as its technical details. And even though it’s the last of the big-name green supercars to go public, we don’t think that has even a slight chance of hurting its chances for success.

  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE >>

   

• ALMS 2013: Back to Back Wins at Laguna Seca for Muscle Milk

  In Motorsports / By Andre Ravinowich / 13 May 2013

  

  The American Le Mans Series travelled once again (and sadly for the last time) to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this past weekend. And for the second time in 2 years, the #6 Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03a driven by Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf took the top step at the podium. This was Luhr’s 43rd victory in ALMS, making Lucas the winningest driver in ALMS history.

  Luhr and Graf battled for the entire 4-hour race with the #12 Rebellion Racing Toyota powered Lola B60/12 driven by Neel Jani and former F1 driver Nick Heidfeld. Jani had actually set the fastest time in qualifying the previous day with a lap time of 1:13:429. Both Rebellion and Muscle Milk took turns leading the race, trading places 3 or 4 times throughout the 4-hour battle.

  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE >>

   

• Enter “Project Nasty”: Roughing It in BBi Autosport’s Bantamweight ’85 Porsche 911 [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 8 May 2013

  

  When shopping for a tuning shop in the Western United States to make your water-cooled Porsche 911 (i.e. 996 and 997) even more of a thrill ride (particularly if it’s a factory-boosted Turbo or GT2), you can’t do a whole lot better than BBi Autosport in Huntington Beach, California. However, having said that, the company hadn’t popped it’s air-cooled 911 (993 and earlier) cherry until recently. But boy oh boy, was BBi’s first time one for the ages.

  The owner of this heavily modified 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera – BBi Autosport co-owner Joey Seely – essentially wanted the antithesis of the majority of the cars he and the team put together for customers: Spartan, simple, light-on-its-feet and naturally aspirated, in addition to the aforementioned air-cooled powerplant. And after watching it in action in the latest episode of Tuned, the Matt Farah-hosted show on the YouTube-only Drive network, we’re convinced this Whale-tailed temptress – provocatively nicknamed “Project Nasty” – meets all those objectives and more.

  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE >>

   

• 2014 Porsche Carrera ‘Hurricane’ Rendering by Maher Thebian

  In Design / By Staff / 8 May 2013

  

  Automotive designer Maher Thebian is back at it again… We have been fans of his work for some time now, ever since his creations first started making their way around the Interwebs. Now, he has turned his attention towards the 2014 Porsche 911 Carrera, with a bold re-envisioning dubbed the Hurricane. It almost seems to be a cross between the current TechArt offering and the extreme nature of the RWB 993s.

  Maher’s take on the new Porsche 997 involves an aggressive wide-body kit with massive flared fenders, a huge open grill and shark-like front fascia, a large mesh rear fascia with an integrated diffuser along with a ginormous rear spoiler. There are scoops, sills and fins strategically placed as well as a host of carbon fiber bits. The rendering also showcases two sets of deep dish wheels, one bright orange and the other bright green. While it is definitely over the top, it somehow all works very well together.

  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE >>

   

• 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo and Turbo S Bring High Tech and High Velocity [w/ Video]

  In Auto News / By Tom Anderson / 3 May 2013

  

  When Porsche introduced the first production 911 Turbo (codenamed 930) in 1974, it instantly expanded the definition of the term supercar. And in typical Porsche fashion, the company has made it significantly better with each successive generation, making it more powerful, better handling, and altogether more civilized. In fact, if you take a drive in the most recent 997-series Turbo, you’d never believe it evolved from the 930 which, thanks to the unfortunate combination of huge turbo lag and a comparatively Paleozoic rear suspension design, was oversteer incarnate.

  So if the previous evolutions of one Turbo to the next are any indication, the new 991-based 911 Turbo should be the best one yet by a wide margin. Is that the case? Judging by the newly released specs (and photos and a video), it certainly seems to be.

  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE >>

   

• TechArt Dresses the New Porsche Cayman to Thrill

  In Tuning / By Tom Anderson / 29 April 2013

  

  In our occasionally-humble opinion, the new Porsche Cayman (chassis code 981) is one of the best looking new cars on the market. Whereas the first-gen Cayman (both pre- and post-facelift versions) were stubby looking Boxsters-with-lids, the new car cuts a much more balanced profile, and features details that help make it look much more sophisticated, like sculpted side scoops and a rear spoiler that flows into the taillights. Bottom line: Porsche has made the Cayman as wonderful to gaze upon as it is to drive.

  However, we can’t be alone in feeling this way. This means there’s a pretty good chance Caymans will soon be fairly common in well-heeled neighborhoods. How will you make sure yours doesn’t blend in with the herd? Well, you might want to start by getting in touch with TechArt.

  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE >>

   

• It’s a Round, Round, Round, Round World: Porsche Cayman Throws Us a Curve [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 29 April 2013

  

  Confession time: We don’t truly love very many new cars. We think most 2013 and 2014 vehicles are overstyled and overstuffed with complicated electronics that will make it harder and more expensive to keep them alive as time goes on. However, there are a few freshly-built automobiles we’d love to own, and the gorgeous new Porsche Cayman – which we were lucky enough to watch make its world debut at the L.A. Auto Show last November – is certainly one of them.

  So you can imagine we were eager to watch this promotional video featuring the new Cayman (or as it’s known to the Porsche faithful, the 981). Thanks to some clever camera work, it looks like the world literally revolves around this mid-engine beauty. Of course that’s not the case, but if it was, we’d be okay with it.

  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE >>

   

• 2013 ALMS: Muscle Milk Pickett Racing Victorious at Long Beach…Again

  In Motorsports / By Andre Ravinowich / 21 April 2013

  

  For the third time in 3 straight years, the Muscle Milk Pickett Racing P1 entry driven by Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr took the top step on the podium at this year’s Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series race at Long Beach this past Saturday. The HPD ARX-03a prototype took the win by a margin of only 36.329 seconds over second place finisher Rebellion Racing. The No.12 Lola B12/60, driven by ex-Formula 1 driver Nick Heidfeld and Neel Jani had qualified first the day before.

  Extreme Speed Motorsports dominated the P2 category at this year’s race – finishing 1-2 in its class. The highly competitive GT class also saw a 1-2 finish by the same team, with the BMW Team RLL’s No. 55 BMW Z4 GTE driven by Bill Auberlen and Maxime Martin taking the win. This was only the team’s second race with the new Z4. The Prototype Challenge class win went to the No. 05 CORE Autosport entry driven by Colin Braun and Jon Bennett, also for the third straight year in a row.

  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE >>

   

• The Top 25 Homologation Specials of All Time

  In Featured / By Tom Anderson / 18 April 2013

  

  Purpose-built racing cars – be they single seat open wheelers, sports prototypes, dragsters or any other automobile whose sole reason for being is to compete – have always inspired awe and been capable of extraordinary performance. But when it comes to truly connecting with the fans in the stands, these thoroughbreds are no match for production-based (even if it’s just the shape of the body) machinery. The idea of watching a particular car win a race and then walking out to the parking lot and driving home in or driving to the local dealer to check out an identical (save for some safety and performance equipment and a whole heap-o-decals) car holds widespread (if not universal) appeal.

  Of course, to stand a better chance at winning on Sunday so they can sell on Monday, manufacturers load their showroom-bred competition models with go-fast bits. However, many sanctioning bodies used to require (though, sadly, very few still do) that those same upgrades to be fitted to a certain number of the street-legal models Joe Bloe can buy, meaning the factories have to sell what are known as homologation specials in order to race that model. The annals of automotive history are brimming with such four-wheeled entry forms, yet we’ve managed to pare that manifest down to the 25 fastest, coolest and most outrageous ones ever to wear a license plate.

  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE >>