Here is what can only be described as an extraordinary ride through the vineyards of Rally Deutschland. Your car is a Porsche 911 GT3 and your crew is Ruben Zeltner (driver) and Helmar Hinneberg (navigator).
Strap yourself in and get ready for 16 minutes of pure adrenalin. It takes enough concentration just to watch the video, imagine the efforts required to drive this stage, with its mix of almost motionless first gear hairpins and fully committed top gear straights.
[via Bridge to Gantry]
The world of motoring forums once again provide the source of some tasty industry fodder, as apparent production specifications for the highly anticipated Porsche 918 Spyder have been leaked.
Much of the technical spec has already come your way, but today’s info includes pricing and deeper levels of specification.
Sadly, we’re unlikely to see the 918 Spyder officially on Australian roads as it seems it will be built only in left-hand drive. But with Euro pricing starting at €768K, or €840K if you choose the Weissach package, we dread to think what Australian pricing would be. Far enough into seven figure territory to make your eyes water we suggest.
The official launch for the 918 über hybrid is still around 12 months away, so who knows how accurate these specs will prove to be. For now, at least, they make seductive reading. Check them out in full after the break.
[Source: Rennteam]
Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen didn’t get enough of Mount Panorama at the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this year so he decided to come back and take the Porsche RS Spyder for a spin during the Super Cheap Auto 1000 festivities.
We spent a fair amount of our time drooling over the car at the Australian International Motor Show, while at the same time Porsche released this on board footage of Bleekemolen’s exploits.
There’s no official timing for the lap, that we can find, but the estimated time is around 2 minutes 5 seconds. Fast, in other words. With enough time and resources spent setting the RS Spyder up for the 6.2km track, we’re confident it would break the two minute barrier. And with some comfort.
[Thanks to Chris for the tip]
We love Porsche for many things. Chief among them is the Porsche–Australia relationship. It’s a genuinely strong one, thanks largely to Norman Hamilton who played a key role in the development of right-hand drive Porsches and began importing them here 61 years ago.
One of the legacies of that relationship is the sight of a bona fide racing legend on our shores every year. It’s all part of Porsche’s living museum where they extend the life of their machines far beyond their racing days.
This year at the 2012 Australian International Motor Show the RS Spyder takes pride of place on the Porsche stand. Designed and built to race in the LMP2 category it won the ALMS LMP2 championship three years running from 2006–08.
The #6 car on display in Sydney competed in 11 ALMS races during the 2005 and 2006 seaons. It won four of those races and never failed to finish outside of the top three in its class. It is Porsche racing royalty.
To this day it lives on, with its 3.4 litre engine forming the basis for the 4.6 litre V8 used in the 918 Spyder. We have a special feature in store for you soon, which will show the RS Spyder in full flight. For now we hope we’ve covered the RS Spyder for you in every angle.
Of course, also on show in Sydney were Porsche’s comparatively bread and butter models. For your viewing pleasure we concentrated on the 911 and Boxster models.
Porsche has a new star at the top of its SUV tree, the Cayenne Turbo S. Clearly Porsche felt the 500hp/700Nm offered in the regular Turbo wasn’t enough, so it has bestowed the 4.8 litre V8 in the Turbo S with 550hp/750Nm.
The extra power results in a 0.2 second improvement for the 100km/h dash, which now takes 4.5 seconds. Top speed has been increased to 283km/h, a modest gain of 5km/h. Which begs the question, is the extra €30K (German pricing) Porsche asks for a capital S really worth it?
To help sweeten the deal Porsche has loaded the Turbo S with bags of fruit, including Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control, Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus, the Sport Chrono package and 21″ Turbo II alloys.
So, if you had the choice and the inclination, would you rather a stupidly fast Cayenne or a stupidly fast Panamera? Or, perhaps, something quite different altogether?
Harry Metcalfe from Evo is the latest person to blame for yet more Porsche 918 Spyder content. Here he chews the fat with Walter Röhrl, who was also kind enough to take Harry for a drive.
We quite liked Walter’s description of having “a lot of horsepowers to drive with this car.” It’s an interesting chat actually, and towards the end they discuss a bit more about the car’s sales release, which is still some 12 months away!
There’s been some changes to the provisional specs released back in August. Notably, Porsche now claims the 4.6 litre V8 produces 585hp, up from 570hp. Also, Röhrl mentions the 918 has four-wheel steering, which is the first we can recall hearing that.
Japanese mag MotorHead turns the cool dial up to 11 with this short film about a road registered Porsche 962C. It was one of Vern Schuppan’s early development models by the looks. Short interviews with the car’s current owner and Carrera Cup Japan Champion and GT300 driver, Yasuo Miyagawa (above), are featured, along with onboard footage as it roams the city streets.
If you had a 962 as a daily driver, of sorts, how awesome would it be to drop down to your local shops to pick up a soft drink? Even just driving in regular traffic would be a real highlight. Then, there’s the thought of driving it on the track. Oh yes!
[Thanks to James for the tip]
Finland, Finland, Finland! The country where I want to be. 😉
As we edge closer to our southern hemisphere summer, why don’t you consider taking the kids on a holiday to Finland to visit Santa Claus. They’ll love it and you’ll be living off the brownie points for years to come. “You’re the best Dad,” they’ll keep saying.
Oh, and while you’re in Finland you may as well check out the Porsche Driving Experience Winter program. It’d be a shame not to, really. Here’s what Porsche has to say on the matter:
Winter for many a time of calm an contemplation. However, we see things a little differently – very differently, in fact. This winter at the Porsche Driving Experience, we have a number of challenges for you on snow and ice. These take place in the far north of Finland at temperatures of up to 30 degrees below zero, on specially covered snow tracks or a frozen lake prepared exclusively for Porsche.
Go on, treat yourself your family this Christmas, you only live once!
We’re sorry that we’re bringing you even more Porsche 918 Spyder content. But when Walter Röhrl speaks, we tend to listen. Okay, in this promo piece from Porsche, Walter doesn’t really say a lot. Consider this, though; Walter Röhrl, the Nürburgring and Porsche’s latest supercar—it’s a combination that can’t be ignored. Don’t you agree?
We only hope that Porsche does the right thing and releases a full onboard video of Röhrl and the 918 completing their 7:14 lap of the Nordschleife.
Here’s part 2 of our 2012 Paris Motor Show in pictures gallery, which brings you manufacturers from M–Z. Join us as we admire the McLaren P1, the Mercedes-Benz Concept Style Coupé, the Peugeot Onyx and the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo.
We’re wavering a little with our admiration of the Mercedes-Benz A Class, but nothing can hide our amusement at the Nissan Terra or Vauxhall Adam, which must be a huge practical joke. We’re also lamenting the fact Seat has lost its styling edge with the new Leon and that Skoda has taken a step back with the incredibly bland looking Rapid.
And, of course, the Volkswagen Golf GTI is the model we’ll probably take home in the future.
When Chris Harris filed his video on the Porsche 918 Spyder he also wrote his usual summary for PistonHeads. Buried in that article was a link to the press kit supplied by Porsche when the 918 was at the Nürburgring. It’s not been made available to the general Porsche press outlets so we were keen to grab it and have a read. Now it only seems fair to continue sharing it.
Interesting things we’ve learned from reading through the info is that the 918 weighs 1700kg, or 1665kg for the Weissach package. Standing acceleration times are pretty rapid, knocking off 100km/h in 3.0 seconds, 200km/h in only 9.0 seconds and you’ll need 27.0 seconds to make it to 300km/h. We like the sound of the ‘Hot Lap’ button, which can only be activated when the 918 is in ‘Race Hybrid’ mode.
The very last line in the document also caught our attention; the 918 Spyder comes with a four year factory warranty.
[Source: PistonHeads]
The latest incarnation of the Boxster, the 981, is supposed to be very, very good. Similarly, the new 991 911 is also slowly winning over its critics, still pining at the loss of the remarkable 997 model that preceded it. But which is better, and should such a comparison even be considered?
Well, we don’t have to worry about working out the answer to that question because Jethro Bovingdon has already overseen a 981 v 991 grudge match, on behalf of Car and Driver magazine.
It’s Boxster S, with PASM and PTV, against a vanilla 991 Carrera. In Australian terms the price difference is substantial; you’re looking at around $150K for the Boxster and $250K for entry-level 911.
So, let’s find out where the smart money goes…