In the early stages of Sebastien Loeb’s WRC career he ran a few races in a Toyota Corolla. After the break you can enjoy a short and sweet clip from 2000 showing the, then, young French starlet forging a career that would go on to become superior to all those to have gone before him.
En route to film his latest piece for Drive, Chris Harris shares with the viewer his reasons for buying a modest diesel-powered Volkswagen Passat Estate. A bit later in the film he reveals the recipe for the driving he enjoys the most.
As it turns out it’s a Porsche 911—no real surprise there—but it’s not a fancy pants modern 911. No, he likes to get his thrills at the wheel of a 365hp, 1000kg classic tarmac rally 911. And why not!
Harris explains it like this: “Everything you do has an effect on the behaviour of the car.” It’s a mechanical marriage of man and machine, with no electronic nannies to be seen.
The opening part of the clip is mostly talking and explanation about the racing category the 911 has been created for. At the end, though, when Harris is blasting around the track—what a symphony of sounds!
[Thanks to James for the tip]
Fifth Gear luminary Tiff Needell moonlights for Evo in his latest track comparison. His weapons of choice are the MY12 Nissan GT-R and the 991 Porsche 911 Carrera S. Nissan v Porsche, it’s the Ford v Holden of the supercar world.
In many respects it’s an astonishing question to ask, but can the 394bhp normally aspirated Carrera S ever be a match for increasingly extraordinary 542bhp GT-R? For example, the GT-R annihilates the 911 in standing start acceleration.
Which one do you want and do you think the results of this video could change your opinion?
Henry Catchpole was given the gig at Evo to test the new Porsche Boxster S. He’s no Chris Harris, but does offer some worthwhile insights. His comments on the steering in the new Boxster are particularly interesting. What we’re also continuing to learn is the gap between the entry-level Boxster platform and the 911 is lessening. So much so that the Cayman, the model we’re really waiting for at AUSmotive HQ, may no longer have a space in between.
We thank Motorsport Retro for bringing our attention to this video of much loved Colin McRae at the wheel of the Jordan 196 F1 car (it’s actually a really nice looking car too).
McRae was at the peak of his powers at the time, coming off his 1995 WRC title win and seemed to enjoy his time at the wheel of Eddie Jordan’s racecar.
Of course, there’s no such thing as a free ride and McRae had to offer a seat in his rally car to Jordan driver Martin Brundle.
You’ll also enjoy seeing McRae drifting around Silverstone in his Rex. Noted exponent of the discipline Ken Block was probably still in nappies at the time!
We’re not exactly sure why Mazda decided to see if its little Mazda2 could defy gravity, but they have. To do so they went to the ‘Wall of death’ at the Demon Drome in Cornwall, UK and asked ‘Dynomyte’ Dave Seymour if he wouldn’t mind ditching his trusty motorcycle and doing a few laps in a wee Japanese hatchback.
Only minor modifications for ground clearance were made to the Mazda2 prior to getting really sideways. A seemingly modest 50km/h and some driver skill was all that was required to make the stunt a reality. You can see video of the Mazda2 in action after the break.
The advent of the tuner’s blank canvas that is the Toyota 86 hasn’t taken long to be exploited. In fact, all that’s left of this one is the outer shell, pretty much. Gone is the pissy 147kW 2.0 litre four cylinder boxer engine, replaced by an altogether meatier 311kW 5.0 litre V8 from a Lexus IS-F.
Yep, that’ll void the warranty. And it’s the most extreme Toybaru we’ve seen so far.
Japanese SuperGT driver Max Orido is the man behind this creation and it seems he’s also pretty serious about his drifting. There’s three videos for you after the break. The in-car footage is pretty amazing to see, and best to start at around 5:50 we reckon. If you want more check out the build thread from Tune86 using the link below.
Enjoy!
[via Tune86]
The Pagani Huayra is beautiful. So we reckon you’ll enjoy this short video from noted YouTube contributor Marchettino.
For a moment we’d like to direct your mind to its immaturity box, break it wide open and indulge in the silliness of the latest world record for the most number of donuts being performed at the same time. The new records stands at 75 and was set in the controlled confines of Infineon Raceway in California. You might actually be disappointed to know that this breaks the previous benchmark set by 57 like-minded Aussies.
Videos of both can be seen after the break. It’s stupid but looks like a hell of a lot of fun. Just don’t try this at home kids.
After his disappointing piece for the BMW M550dX Chris Harris is back in form with this Porsche Boxster S review. For the first time it has him questioning his preference for the mighty 911. That’s some wrap for what he has previously termed a girl’s car. We don’t necessarily agree with that because the Boxster has, generally, always been a cracking drive that rewards drivers, male or female.
However, it’s not all rose coloured glasses for the new 981 Boxster. In his review on Pistonheads Harris had this to say about the car’s electronic steering: “It takes about 10 seconds to spot the steering. The wheel is slightly dead in the hands compared to the old car—it doesn’t feel unnatural, just mute.”
It soon won him over, though: “Point the Boxster into a turn and it does two things completely at odds with the expectations laid-down by that initial numbness. It turns with unusual speed and efficiency, then clips the very point on the road you’d been aiming for. Repeat this process for 15 minutes and, like me, you’ll be left guppy-like with admiration.”
The video is all yours after the break.
The Pagani Huayra is the latest creation from Horacio’s mind. First revealed over 12 months ago Pagani confirms they now hold 85 confirmed orders and have met their production targets. As such full-scale production, if you can ever call it that for Pagani, is about to commence.
Alberto Giovanelli, Head of Sales at Pagani gives us a small insight into the production timetable, “In 2012 25 Huayras will see the light of day, another 40 will follow in 2013. The first deliveries will be made in April.”
That job will be made easier with the completion of new production facilities. A process that began two years ago.
Despite taking the company into new markets Giovanelli ensures you won’t be likely to see a Pagani on the street every day, “The Pagani dealership family has grown in 2011 and 2012 with new dealerships in Chile, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom and in the United States, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco. Nonetheless Pagani is very strict about safeguarding the exclusivity of its small volume production in the respective markets.”
Helping to bring you closer to the Huayra is this short documentary taking you inside the various factories used and the construction techniques applied. There’s no sideways tyre smoking action, just proper nerdy car stuff. We reckon you’ll like it.
“The car rolled down and cut in two.
“I walked away from it and drove home that evening.â€
They’re the words of Bill Brown in reference to his spectacular and famous accident at Bathurst in 1971. That’s him there in the picture above, you can see his head about to make contact with the wooden fence.
Back in the day, that’s all there was separating spectators from the competitors at McPhillamy Park. Not the best place to have a tyre blow out at around 180km/h.
Speaking to Speedcafe, Brown explained, “I thought we were in trouble then there was banging and crashing and I was rested upside down.
“I went around to have a look at the car and they said they’d take me to hospital, they wanted to put me on a stretcher, but I refused.
“The car didn’t have a roll cage as such, I was fortunate though when I came to rest my hat was only grazed on the left hand side, I was pretty lucky.â€
You don’t say! Having seen footage of that crash many times we’ve always wondered how on earth Brown survived.
Follow the link below to read the full article. It’s a fascinating insight into Australian motor racing in the 1960s and 70s. There’s also a video of the incident after the break which shows rescue crews working on the car after the crash.
[Source: Speedcafe.com]