Porsche shows how easy it is to make a lot of money

[baronWastelan]

Simply build the best in the world, and people all over the world will line up to give you their money :grin:

Porsche to launch new 911; global sales surge

By Christoph Rauwald
STUTTGART (MarketWatch) -- Porsche AG's global sales surged in August despite swirling recession fears in some of its core markets and the German sportscar maker expects further growth in coming months as it prepares for the presentation of the new generation of its iconic 911 model at the Frankfurt motor show Tuesday.

"We expect stable progress for the rest of the year," Porsche sales chief Bernhard Maier said in an interview at the company's headquarters here.

"We have the highest order intake in the company's history and are likely to reach our sales targets," he added. Porsche aims to sell more than 100,000 cars in 2011. It sold around 95,000 cars last year.

Maier's comments echo similar remarks by other European auto industry executives, who stated that to date the sovereign-debt concerns in Europe and the U.S., which triggered turmoil on financial markets in recent weeks, so far haven't hurt demand for new cars.

Maier said the four-door Panamera coupe could account for around 28,000 car sales this year, exceeding Porsche's initial sales target of 20,000 cars. He noted that demand is so strong at the moment that customers have to wait for up to 12 months [???] for certain versions of the revamped Cayenne sports-utility vehicle.

Porsche's global sales rose around 43% on the year in August to more than 9,000 cars. Sales in China more than tripled year-on-year.

In the January-to-August period, Porsche's global sales rose around 30% to more than 80,000 cars. The company is expected to release detailed sales figures Monday ahead of the Frankfurt motor show.

The seventh generation of Porsche's 911 model is set to contribute to sales momentum from December onward, when deliveries are due to start.

Maier said Porsche could sell around 30,000 of the new 911 cars per year once all versions of the revamped model are available. The 911 accounted for 21,000 car sales last year.

The new 911 Carrera features a six-cylinder engine with 350 horsepower that can accelerate to 100 kilometers per hour (60 miles per hour) in 4.6 seconds. The average fuel consumption is 8.2 liters per 100 kilometers. This compares to 325 horsepower, 5 seconds and 11 liters for the current model.

"North America is still the biggest market for us, closely followed by China," he said, adding that he expects "a head-to-head race" between its two largest sales regions in coming years.

Porsche plans to increase its Chinese dealerships by 12 to 45 this year and keep the number of North American dealerships stable at around 190.

He noted, however, that Porsche currently isn't considering producing cars outside Germany. He added that, particularly in Asia, cars made in Germany enjoy a reputation for top quality. Starting production abroad would be an option only if high import taxes would make a major market economically unviable.

For the full article: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/porsche-to-launch-new-911-global-sales-surge-2011-09-11?Link=obinsite

[Sternjaeger II]

uhmmm I dunno man, Porsche makes great cars (not all of them, the Panamera and Cayenne are an abomination IMHO), but the best in the world?

They have a valid point though in keeping production within Europe me thinks, look at the bloody shambles made by Volkswagen with their Mexico production!

There's still something missing on Porsches though, that oomph factor that other supercars and sport cars have: by definition, a sports car needs to be distinctive, not just performing.. it's like the German car engineering has killed (or never had) any "crazy factor" in its sports car production..

Even when they surpassed themselves with this

http://www.thesupercars.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/porsche-carrera-gt-back-view.jpg

someone in Stuttgart must have gone "Nein!! That's too crazy looking, we shall stick to the Beetle looks! FOREVER!!"

Come on Porsche, let the magic happen once more..

[Kongo-Otto]

Simply build the best in the world, and people all over the world will line up to give you their money :grin:



Just call it "Made in Germany" :cool:

[baronWastelan]

Not only made, also Tested In Germany

http://www.welt.de/multimedia/archive/00315/Trabbi_Go_Trabi_Go__315812a.jpg

[TomcatViP]

350hp & 8.2liters that I am dreaming off

(got a 13L per 100 here :( )

By the way for the price of the new Porshe what kind of plane could you get :rolleyes: and how many Steam account for CoD ?

A Bavarian drink goes to the winner

[ATAG_Bliss]

Ahh! A thread about cars :D

I'm a bit of a horsepower nut. I don't think you can really have a "best of" cars as soo many people like so many different things.

Personally, I like obnoxious V-8's with tons of power. I'm a straight line racer and there's nothing quite like putting around in a fuel injected 1300 HP car that runs on pump gas. Not a whole bunch of street cars out there that run 154 mph in 1320ft at 8.85 seconds. There's nothing quite like being on the edge of losing control in something that's uncontrollable. Hard to explain, but I'll probably die in a creation of mine someday.

Ford is bar none my brand of choice. Pretty cool to take a factory SUHICKY (SOHC) block and be able to make that kind of reliable power that I could drive to and from the track. I usually take off the parachute mount for the street though.

Basically I can't own anything that's factory or stock. I grew up with welders, mills, presses, and a shop full of tools being raised on a farm. So fabricating metal and working on the farm machinery (then my own vehicles :D) was normal. Now sorting my time between work, games, and cars isn't easy. Thankfully I'm not a fan of sleeping or watching tv lol.

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/1839/dsc00628mb.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/dsc00628mb.jpg/)

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/6467/dsc00638x.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/577/dsc00638x.jpg/)

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/3787/dsg1023.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/692/dsg1023.jpg/)

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/8928/25108209.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/691/25108209.jpg/)

Anyone else a car guy? Post up some pics!

[baronWastelan]

You should like this Porsche: 200 mph in about 10 seconds. In 1973. With an air cooled engine. Even by today's standards this car is frightening. Oh, and it can corner too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYBtCJDQqqg

[Sternjaeger II]

You should like this Porsche: 200 mph in about 10 seconds. In 1973. With an air cooled engine. Even by today's standards this car is frightening. Oh, and it can corner too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYBtCJDQqqg

man, I love that fan on top, looks like a Tiger tank!! :cool:

You have to appreciate that one thing is a supercar of the times vs your own garage monster, made with your own hand and as wisely said by ATAG_Bliss, likely to kill you :mrgreen:

Truth is that thanks to technologies available nowadays, we have more pioneers and inventors around, who really have a great time and sometimes actually make something cool and interesting :)

How hard (or risky) is to do elaborations on a Porsche? I always got the impression that because of the little space available on the rear and for how normally well balanced things are, tweaking a Porsche is a bit of a no-no.. but then came the Cayman S..


I'm a bit of a horsepower nut. I don't think you can really have a "best of" cars as soo many people like so many different things.

that is unless you're a Porsche head :mrgreen:

[raaaid]

911 is a magic number

first started seeing 11:11 every where

then it would be 21:12 or 12:21

and now its 911 or 190 or 109

if i had the money i would buy that car just for the number :)

notice how also the "terrorist attacks happen in magic numbers:

911

7-7

11 march

hell this 11-11-11 better get the police ot work

edit:

they are transforming owe into terror

they did it with me with the 77 and 19 and 11

edit:


i dont know but id bet something on 911 a 777 was involved

[baronWastelan]

How hard (or risky) is to do elaborations on a Porsche? I always got the impression that because of the little space available on the rear and for how normally well balanced things are, tweaking a Porsche is a bit of a no-no.. but then came the Cayman S..

Not trying to be flippant, but honestly, as an owner of an air-cooled Carrera, I can recommend a video game called "Forza Motorsport 2", if you want to get an idea of the performance mods and tweaks available for the popular Porsche models 911, 914, 930, 996 and 997 as well as the Cayman S. Sadly they didn't include the 964 or 993 Carrera (the 993 is only available in GT2 trim). I haven't played the game in many years since I no longer have my Xbox360, but one thing that really pi$$ed me off about FM2: every car had rear wings as available upgrades, except the Carreras. You might not think rear traction would be a problem with the engine back behind the rear wheels, but look at the profile of the 911: it's an airfoil. At 150mph, you will lose a lot of road-holding ability without some sort of rear spoiler, like the duck tail on the 2.7 RS. The automatic extendable rear spoiler that was introduced in 1989 is actually a retractable duck tail, and is still in use today on the latest Carreras. Many Porsche owners opt to replace it with a fixed wing, often in conjunction with front spoilers.

The engine mods in FM2 for the "high performance" cars like Porsche and Ferrari are to be taken with a large grain of salt. Whatever "cheap" improvements to ignition and exhaust are possible to increase HP have aready been implemented by the manufacturers (speaking mostly of the 1990's and later models). For the Porsches, suspension and tires are where upgrades can give the biggest improvement in lap times, in FM2 as in real world, since standard suspensions are tuned for ride comfort over high speed cornering. Big increases in power on the naturally aspirated flat-6 requires an expensive forced-induction solution, or in the case of sub-3.6-liter engines, a newer bigger engine. There are many real-world examples of naturally aspirated Carrera 3.6 engines that are running reliably with bolt-on blowers. You can try these as well for yourself in FM2. :grin: Probably in FM3 as well, I haven't tried that version.

[Sternjaeger II]

interesting point about the rear spoiler, a good friend of mine has a Carrera Turbo, his dad used to race with Porsches in Italy in the 70s. We were talking about the peculiar ducktail in one occasion and I remember his dad saying that sometimes it's hard to set the spoiler properly, the risk being some important understeer in certain situations.

I always got the impression that Porsches are well balanced cars (in my humble experience I have to say that the Cayman S actually handles better than a 911, but it's kinda deliberately not better..), so tweaking with them would be a bit sacrilegious, if you know what I mean ;)

[BadAim]

Ahh! A thread about cars :D

I'm a bit of a horsepower nut. I don't think you can really have a "best of" cars as soo many people like so many different things.

Personally, I like obnoxious V-8's with tons of power. I'm a straight line racer and there's nothing quite like putting around in a fuel injected 1300 HP car that runs on pump gas. Not a whole bunch of street cars out there that run 154 mph in 1320ft at 8.85 seconds. There's nothing quite like being on the edge of losing control in something that's uncontrollable. Hard to explain, but I'll probably die in a creation of mine someday.

Ford is bar none my brand of choice. Pretty cool to take a factory SUHICKY (SOHC) block and be able to make that kind of reliable power that I could drive to and from the track. I usually take off the parachute mount for the street though.

Basically I can't own anything that's factory or stock. I grew up with welders, mills, presses, and a shop full of tools being raised on a farm. So fabricating metal and working on the farm machinery (then my own vehicles :D) was normal. Now sorting my time between work, games, and cars isn't easy. Thankfully I'm not a fan of sleeping or watching tv lol.


Anyone else a car guy? Post up some pics!

I'm a Chevy guy myself (though I'm presently carless [if you exclude my 300HP service van]) but I'm a lover of all things with wheels that make the ground rumble. I'll see if I can dig up some photos of my cars. My favorite was a '69 350hp SS 396 Chevelle (I'll miss that car 'till the day they chuck me in the dirt).

Edit: You remember the Crane Fireball cam? I had one in that Chevell.....I don't remember the specs specifically, but it was ground on 108 degree centers to give it a nice lope at idle but she made power from 2500 to 6000, with the 650 spread bore double pumper it was as drivable as grannys car but had all the power I could ever use at 18. I really learned how to drive sideways it that car. :)

[baronWastelan]

balanced

No single word more important when it comes to the design of a sports car! Porsche has been building and competing rear-engined sports cars for over 60 years. Whatever sort of tweaking one could imagine has already been tried by now. ;)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads9/DR_PORSCHE_AND_XRON+568x4381163216100.jpg

With some research, you can find out whether your ideas will work before even attempting them. According to their website, Porsche has 20,000 different racing parts for sale. The car owner can call Zuffenhausen and tell them what he wished to do with the car, and they will tell you which part(s) to use, and where on the car they should go. They'll even build the whole car for you from the ground up, based on your intentions.

[335th_GRAthos]

I usually take off the parachute mount for the street though.



Jesus! You mean you are allowed to drive this car on the normal road???



@Sternjaeger II: Well, it depends what you mean with "well balanced". The 911s are not "balanced": Weight distribution is around 62% rear and only 38% front (varies by model)
which means that if you lose the rear grip with stability electronics switched off you need to have the skill of a F1 pilot to put it back on track.


~S~

[BadAim]

Jesus! You mean you are allowed to drive this car on the normal road???

~S~

Yes, so far you are, (allowed to) here in the States. It's one of the prices of freedom: You must decide for yourself whether or not a given thing is safe enough for you. Big brother is very quickly removing this hazard, as well as the freedom that creates it.

[335th_GRAthos]

Impressive freedom for a country with such low speed limits!

Just to remind you that in Germany we have no speed limits ;)
(for some parts of the speeedways, at least)

[BadAim]

All kidding aside, it's fairly easy to obtain a new car with 300 or 400 HP in the States. If that hasn't killed or maimed you, it's pretty easy to gain an extra couple hundred HP with bolt on parts. Quite frankly if the first 600HP hasn't removed you from the road (or this mortal coil) the next six or seven are pretty much academic.

Simple Darwinian selection.

[BadAim]

Impressive freedom for a country with such low speed limits!

Just to remind you that in Germany we have no speed limits ;)
(for some parts of the speeedways, at least)

Funny, that.

[ElAurens]

I have a fair amount of seat time in Porsche 356s and early 911s. Good cars, and the 356 is absolutely my favorite German car, period.

However, only the Italians truly understand the art of the passionate automobile...

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/5351/67330p4r1xg4.jpg
1967 Ferrrari 330 P4. The most beautiful car, ever.

That said I have a Triumph TR3 as my "collector" car, as only the British understand the verities of the small roadster.

[baronWastelan]

Italian artistry and passion versus German science and stubborness: the greatest rivalry in history. When that rivalry ceases it will herald the end of civilization as we know it.

[ATAG_Bliss]

I'm a Chevy guy myself (though I'm presently carless [if you exclude my 300HP service van]) but I'm a lover of all things with wheels that make the ground rumble. I'll see if I can dig up some photos of my cars. My favorite was a '69 350hp SS 396 Chevelle (I'll miss that car 'till the day they chuck me in the dirt).

Edit: You remember the Crane Fireball cam? I had one in that Chevell.....I don't remember the specs specifically, but it was ground on 108 degree centers to give it a nice lope at idle but she made power from 2500 to 6000, with the 650 spread bore double pumper it was as drivable as grannys car but had all the power I could ever use at 18. I really learned how to drive sideways it that car. :)

I'm a Ford guy for a few reasons: They've never messed up the mustang. In all the years it's been in production, up to the mustang of today, the entire engine is visible under the hood (can touch the bell housing) and there isn't a mustang made that you can't remove the entire engine and transmission in one huge chunk in less than 2 hours. I don't care if it's a 2012 or a 70 fastback, they were designed for ease of tuning. That's probably why no other car in the world has anywhere close to the amount of aftermarket parts for it.

Back in the 60's Henry Ford had a deal worked out with Ferrari to purchase the company. Ferrari backed out. Henry got mad enough, that he called all his engineering support staff together and basically told them to build a car to destroy Ferrari at LeMans. The Ford GT40 won LeMans 4 years straight. Pretty cool for a car company to be as passionate about cars as that. Now you see CEOs for large companies that have nothing to do with the business operations at all. (Potato chip company CEO's taking a job and working for a hand tool company and so forth)

The other reason is quite simply, they've made their tuner car (the mustang) to be easy to make power. There isn't a single mustang made past 1996 (mod motor cars - 2v,3v,4v 4.6's) that won't handle 500RWHP with a completely stock base engine. Depending on the transmission, that's over 600hp at the flywheel. Pretty impressive for an inexpensive car. For a mustang, just buy a blower kit (twin screw whipple, etc.) and have a 10 second car with a simple bolt on and tune. It will get good gas mileage, and drive/idle just like a factory car.

The mod motors (4.6/5.4's) use cracked rod caps (they will not shift EVER), cross bolted main caps, and depending on the block, splayed caps. There isn't a single factory 4.6/5.4 block made, whether it came from a ford truck or ford car (aluminum or steel blocks - types depend on the car/truck) that won't handle at least 800hp from the factory. The steel blocks handle well over 1000hp to give you an idea.

The reason the Ford GT still holds the standing mile record and has for almost 5 years is because there isn't a manufacturer out there that has built their car knowing full well people like me are going to try to get some crazy HP #'s out of it. The Ford GT has roughly 500 flywheel horsepower from the factory. Well here's a stock bottom end (all OEM), stock fuel system (all OEM), with 2 turbo's mounted on it. Well over 1000 rear wheel horsepower (1300-1500 at the flywheel) that's 100% daily driven and reliable. I know they tried to do this to a few vettes (new zr1's) and all of them blew up on the dyno, because the internals are not made to take it. 800hp and kaboom. Those guys at SVT know people like me exist. And for that, I'm very grateful.

But just like you, I like all powerful cars. V8's are definitely my thing though.

Just check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kgK2DlEhZw

Jesus! You mean you are allowed to drive this car on the normal road???

~S~

Well yeah! It's a fuel injected mustang :) It idles and drives just like a factory car. Heck, it's not really that much louder than one either (until you get on it) I can cruise and get 22mpg without my foot in it. Granted I don't have air conditioning, power brakes, heat/defrost, and much creature comforts anymore. But by all means, it would pass an emissions test and I could drive it across the country without any problems. I still have a check engine light :grin:

[TomcatViP]

Tht's simply awesome. The car looks so great and that number 8.85 is hypnotic to me :-)

[Rickusty]

Italian artistry and passion versus German science and stubborness: the greatest rivalry in history. When that rivalry ceases it will herald the end of civilization as we know it.

You're right... and when that will happen, the Chinese will take us over! :cool:
Let's try to work hard and together fellow europeans.

There it goes my rant of the day...

Cheers
Rick

[baronWastelan]

Don't you like to see "Made in China" or "Hecho en Mexico" on your replacement parts? Why would you want parts made in Europe, where the workers are treated with dignity and can earn a comfortable standard of living, and doing all the manufacturing without poisoning the earth?

[baronWastelan]

GRAND-AM: Porsche Motorsport Mid-Ohio race report



[B]Jacksonville’s Brumos Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Wins Rolex Grand-Am GT Season Title

Lexington, Ohio - September 17 -- Andrew Davis and Leh Keen finished fourth at the Emco Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Saturday to capture the Rolex Grand-Am GT championship in Brumos Racing’s first season in the GT class. The co-drivers of the No. 59 Brumos Porsche GT3 were trailing Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito, drivers of the No. 70 Mazda RX-8, late in the event. However, Keen beat Bomarito out of the pits following the final pit stop and held that advantage for the remainder of the event.

Their fourth-place finish was enough to overtake the Bill Lester/Jordan Taylor Chevrolet Camaro as Lester spun and lost a lap in the opening minutes, and the team finished eighth. Here are the final points in Rolex Grand-Am GT:

Leh Keen/Andrew Davis 319, Jordan Taylor/Bill Lester 317, Jonathan Bomarito/Sylvain Tremblay 315

“At the beginning of the year, Brumos Racing team manager Hurley Haywood sat us down and told us we were going to race to win races and championships. Winning the championship in our first year shows what Brumos is made of. This championship feels better than my first, doing it the way we did it and how it all unfolded, bringing Brumos back to GT. At first we wanted just to get a podium. Then we kept winning and winning,” said Leh Keen, who was racing for the storied team for the first time this year.

”My stint was very eventful. Coming from the back to the front was a lot of fun. Our strategy helped, but once I was up front, I was able to drive away. It was great to lead a few laps after our disappointment in qualifying,” said co-driver Davis.

Brumos won two races during the season – Watkins Glen Six-Hour and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca – en route to the championship in their first year of Grand-Am GT racing since the ‘90s.

Jens Walther, president of Porsche Motorsports North America, Inc., was particularly proud of the Brumos Racing win as their 911 GT3 Cup car as the team’s hard work earned them the Rolex Grand-Am GT championship.

“Leh Keen and Andrew Davis never quit during the season, including today when they had to start from the back of the pack. The Brumos team worked hard to keep the car on the track, and it paid off in a championship. We are proud of all our Porsche customer teams, and we are so happy for owner Dan Davis and the entire Brumos Porsche organization,” said Walther.

Since the Rolex Grand-Am championship was initiated in 2000, Porsche drivers have won the GT championship eight of the 12 years in the Porsche 911 GT3 R, GT3 RS, and GT3 Cup cars. Brumos Racing had previously won the Daytona Prototype title, but this was their first GT championship.

http://www.motorsport.com/#/grandam/news/grandam-porsche-motorsport-mid-ohio-race-report/

[ElAurens]

Too bad the rest of the "Canned Ham" series is so pitiful.

The "Daytona Prototype" spec racers are the most hideous contraptions ever put on a road course.

But that's what happens when NASCAR people get involved with road racing. They hate it and continually try to make it go away, just like they have done with their buy out and control of AMA PRO motorcycle racing.

The fans stayed away from the Mid Ohio AMA PRO weekend in droves. It used to be the second or third highest attendance race weekend on the Mid Ohio calendar, but not any more.

NASCAR is the death of real racing.

Be sure.

[baronWastelan]

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6015/6019699415_8ae5880b20_b.jpg
#45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR [always did love the livery on this team's 911's]

Monterey, Calif. – September 17 – Patrick Long (USA) and Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) have led their #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to the American Le Mans Series GT class victory on the last lap at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca each of the last three years, and this year’s ModSpace ALMS event was no exception.

Also, running for the just the second time in the North America, and only the third time outside of Germany, the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid racing lab made its West Coast debut this weekend. Not eligible for points, the flywheel-equipped 911 GT3 R started from the back of the field, but finished ahead of all the GT class entries by virtue of turning the fastest race laps along with just three pit stops, compared to five or more for the other GT competitors.

“The drivers like to say it’s about the power – the four-wheel-drive and 200 extra horsepower generated from stored braking energy, but the Porsche hybrid racing system is much more than that. It’s generating those things with fewer pit stops and more efficiency. Beating this world-class field of factory GT cars is really something special for us,” said Romain Dumas, French-born Porsche factory driver and former ALMS GT and LMP2 champion.

In GT, Long and Bergmeister swapped the top spot with the leading Ferraris and BMWs during the entire six-hour event, with Joerg making the final pass with less than 500 yards to go as the leading #62 Risi Ferrari ran out of gas just before the checkered flag. Last year, it was Long passing the #56 BMW late in the race, and, in 2009, it was Bergmeister edging the #4 Corvette right at the finish line.

After being the class champions the last two years, 2011 has been a disappointing year for the pair with only one podium finish (Lime Rock) to their credit, so this first win of the season was a satisfying one, according to Bergmeister.

“We have had a very good car on multiple occasions, only to have something bad happen, either our fault or someone else’s,” said Bergmeister, who also won the GT championship in 2008 with Flying Lizard Motorsports and co-driver Wolf Henzler.

“We hope to have a similar result at Petit Le Mans, and have some momentum going into the 2012. It is also important that we have a good finish so Porsche can gain maximum manufacturers points,” said Bergmeister.

Long pointed out that the Lizards’ strategy for this race was to protect the car and stay away from the pushing and bumping that had been creeping into the class, but it just didn’t work today.

“During Joerg’s opening stint, there was rough driving right from the start, and we laid back, choosing to let the officials handle the consequences. When things didn’t calm down, we just tried to stay on the track, race hard, and be there at the end, and we put ourselves in position to win with the right amount of fuel, good tires, and a fast car,” said Patrick.

After the race, the #62 Risi Ferrari was penalized 90 seconds for avoidable contact with the Lizard Porsche, which pushed them from third to sixth place.

The other Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs did not have such a good day. The #17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with Bryan Sellers (USA) and Wolf Henzler (Germany) aboard was hit by a GT Challenge car early in the race, shattering the water pump, crushing the airbox, and bending the chassis. The second Lizard Porsche (Seth Neiman/Marco Holzer was ninth, and the Paul Miller Racing Porsche of Sascha Maassen/Bryce Miller was tenth after shearing the pins to the wheel in the left rear upright.

Although the Dirk Mueller/Joey Hand BMW clinched the driver’s championship, Porsche is still in the running for the top spot in the manufacturers championship.

In GT Challenge, there was another last-lap pass for the win. For this victory, it was the #66 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Spencer Pumpelly/Duncan Ende/Peter Ludwig edging the class points leaders Tim Pappas/Jeroen Bleekemolen/Sebastiian Bleekemolen in the #54 Black Swan Racing Porsche to take the win. TRG took a chance on a green flag pit stop late in the race to get new tires and fuel, losing almost a lap to Black Swan, but a yellow flag with 11 minutes to go closed the gap and Pumpelly was able to get by Bleekemolen using the advantage of fresh tires.

Pappas has a 21-point lead going into the last event at Petit Le Mans, with 30 points available for the win.

Click HERE for race standings (PDF) (http://www.americanlemans.com/files/results/2011/ALMS%20Laguna%20Seca%20Prov%20Race.pdf)

http://www.motorsport.com/#/alms/news/alms-porsche-motorsport-laguna-seca-race-report/

[Sternjaeger II]

Italian artistry and passion versus German science and stubborness: the greatest rivalry in history. When that rivalry ceases it will herald the end of civilization as we know it.

if you had more brass than sense, which car would you buy?

I'd get me one of this: not the best performance, but it looks and sounds like god having an orgasm

http://www.motorauthority.com/review/1026281_first-drive-alfa-romeo-8c-competizione

[ElAurens]

This...

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/1113/ferrari250gtberlinettat.jpg

Ferrari 250 Tour de France.

[baronWastelan]

I'd have a custom built street legal 917 coupe using one of the 16 cylinder engines that Porsche developed in 69 - 70 as an alternative to the turbo 12, but never used. I don't really care so much for the 800 HP, but the sound of an air-cooled flat 16 behind me could be quite amusing. Not to mention the possibility of laying rubber at 180 MPH.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Porsche_16cyl_engine.JPG

[Sternjaeger II]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Porsche_16cyl_engine.JPG

holy smokes! :shock:

That's the mechanical rendition of the sound of Armageddon!

Please tell me there's an audio file of that bad boy somewhere!

[Welshman]

cool cars , im into rally cars for my sins , not the best on the strip but i have managed a poltry 12.2 , sounds crap but actually its fast compared to most supercars .

i have a celica gt4 st205 running around 400hp with 4wd , currantly im building a corolla ae111 wrc car copy from an old ae111 corolla and a scrap st205 celica i have , should be a blast when its done as it will be 200kg lighter than the celica and a bit shorter .