Getting a look at the official Porsche Museum is pretty cool, or so we’ve been told. So we can only imagine how awesome it would be to take a peek inside the company’s secret museum. It’s the place where the prototypes and test mules are hidden away, some barely saw the light of day even when they were current.
Chris Chilton from Car magazine gives us a brief tour of the secret museum. You may recall Porsche has already done this, too, but we don’t think anyone will mind a repeat performance.
Alexander Sims spent last weekend helping the Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3 finish second in class at the 24 Hours of Spa. We were lucky enough to join him onboard during the race for a one question interview.
We asked: “So Alexander, what’s it like to fly through Eau Rouge in a world class GT3 racecar?” Watch the video after the break for his reply.
[Source: GridStars | Thanks to Aaron for the tip]
Audi UK brings us inside the new TT with a brief video giving us a working look at its new virtual cockpit. You and I would call it a fancy dash display. More specifically it’s a 12.3 inch high-resolution TFT display which can be reconfigured in more ways than we can probably count.
One of the concerns for systems like this is that the movement of the graphics is fluid and there’s no annoying lag. On this evidence the virtual cockpit seems quite good. We’ll be keen to see this for ourselves once the new TT lands in Australia.
[Source: Audi UK]
It’s been said that Sebastian Vettel has suffered a fair amount of bad luck so far in the 2014 Formula 1 season. Perhaps that’s all about to change as his 360° spin during the Hungarian Grand Prix shows, captured here by a fan at the race. While there was a reasonable amount of talent required to avoid major contact with the pit wall, there was also a fair degree of good fortune.
[Source: WTF1]
Amateur footage uploaded to YouTube gives us another look at the opening lap crash from the 2014 German Grand Prix involving Felipe Massa and Kevin Magnussen. You can also see Daniel Ricciardo forced way off track to avoid the incident.
The race stewards investigated the crash and decided neither Massa nor Magnussen were responsible and no further action was taken. Of course, the drivers don’t always see it like that.
“Luckily I am OK but I am not happy,” said Felipe Massa. “I was in front going into the corner, and so to have another race ended by another driver is not easy. I am doing my best, the team are doing their best, and we just aren’t getting the chances we need.
“Going into the first corner I was near to Valtteri but had to back off to stop an accident, sadly some others didn’t do the same. I am obviously very disappointed.”
Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen defended himself saying he was unable to avoid contact with Massa.
“A real pity: I think I could’ve had a decent race if I hadn’t had the accident at Turn One,” Magnussen said. “I need to see a replay of the accident, but I feel that, if I’d had somewhere to go, then there wouldn’t have been contact with Felipe.
“I did my best to try and avoid the accident, but there wasn’t much else I could do.”
We all know the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car is a pretty good wepon of choice on a track. And now that Pikes Peak is tarmac all the way to the summit it’s probably a pretty good choice for that epic climb too.
But what if you bolt on some turbos, strengthen the engine internals and wind the boost up to 700hp? Thankfully Pikes Peak specialiast Jeff Zwart was kind enough to take on that investigative task for our benefit and these two videos are the result.
Sadly for Jeff he lost a fuel pump just after his ascent began. He drove on manfully—just listen the cacophony of whooshes—and came oh so close to breaking the magic 10-minute barrier. No doubt Jeff will back in 2015 and will cross off that bucket list item then.
[Thanks to John for the tip]
The latest track battle from Evo is totally pointless, but that’s precisely what makes it compulsory viewing! Dicke Meaden, no stranger to a racetrack, pairs up the awesome Audi R8 V10 plus with the fesity little Renault Clio Cup racecar.
Taking a quick view at the basic specs of each the ingredients of the script are pretty self-explanatory. We’ve got a 540hp+ mid-engined supercar weighing in at around 1500kg, plus driver, against a 220hp race-prepped hot hatch tipping the scales at 1200kg, including driver, with the added benefit of competition-spec slick tyres.
Whatever happens, even if it goes to the script you’ve formulated already, this is just a cool video. What a great day at work it would have been for Meaden. Jealous much!
And just as beautiful.
This is the Ferrari 330 P4. Petrolicious took on the enviable task of filming the car and having Nick Longhi, a Ferrari Corso Pilota instructor, tell us what it’s like to drive and a bit about the car’s history.
Crafted in 1967, the 330 P4 was built during the height of Enzo Ferrari’s battle for track supremacy with Ford. A grumpy Italian guy taking on the might of Henry Ford. Enzo wanted to win Le Mans with this car. He wasn’t able to do that—Ferrari’s last win at Le Mans was in 1965 with the 250LM—but the 330 P4 did claim an historic 1-2-3 finish at the 1967 Daytona 24 Hour.
Just like Scarlett, too, there’s only one of them in existence.
The first Formula E race takes place in Beijing in just under two months (13 September) and last weekend we got our first taste of what a full grid of electric open wheel racecars will look and sound like.
Donington Park in the UK was the location for four days of testing and Sebastien Buemi from e.dams Renault team set the fastest lap. Just one more day of testing in mid-August remains before the championship kicks off in China.
After the break you’ll see a series of videos from the Donington test. Some of the names taking to the track are well known, with a host of former F1 drivers on the grid.
If the cars can actually handle the rigours of racing Formula E could be a very interesting series to follow. There will be a novelty factor to overcome, the cars do sound a bit daft, inasmuch as they don’t sound anything like a racing car in terms of what we know and understand. But that’s precisely what makes the potential of Formula E so great.
It could be awesome, or it could be a total flop!
Evo has come up trumps with a great Porsche comparison. Jethro Bovingdon takes a brand new Cayman GTS and compares it to a 10-year-old GT3. Which is better? Which one would you buy?
[Thanks to Tim for the tip]
The title of this piece is a quote from a chap called John Pogson. He’s a mechanic (and a bit more) who owns Italia Autosport and, yes, he specialises in Ferrari F40s and most things from Maranello.
John’s quote above might sound like the words of an arrogant man who doesn’t offer his time lightly. Yet, in this Xcar film at least, he comes across as a humble bloke who just loves cars and happens to be good at what he does, either with a spanner or a steering wheel in his hand.
Then, just when you start to think this guy is a pretty cool dude, he goes and wheels out his 600hp AC Cobra!
[Thanks to John for the tip]
Word has come our way confirming the first batch of Australian-delivered BMW M3s and M4s have just arrived by boat. If you’re one of those lucky few with your name on one of those cars we hope the wait until delivery day is not too painful.
We also hope your car’s journey was a little more sedate than this boat trip brought to us by BMW Canada.