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>The Reason Behind Porsche Ownership

29 Apr

>Even with all the 911 variants and all the magnesium pieces in the new 911 GT3 RS 4.0, the Porsche 911 C2 still stands as the simple and pure everyday sports car. Here, TennXX, who regularly shares a number of automotive short films shot in Thailand, has convincing demonstrated why an honest 911 can be the car for Goldilocks. It’s just right!


The Road is Calling. from TennXX on Vimeo.

>Freak of the Week: Chris Harris’ Kermit 911

12 Apr

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There are two schools within the general field of automotive journalism. Actually there are more, but let’s keep it at two for the sake of simplicity. The first school is those who write with number-centricity; laying out straight line performance data as well as cornering speeds, lateral g, etc. The second school is sensation-centric where the overall driving “experience” is of paramount. How does a car make you feel inside?

UK’s EVO magazine is a champion of the second. It’s tagline? Simply, “The Thrill of Driving.” Of their line of talented writers and journalists, Chris “Monkey” Harris is one of their more notable, as he made a name from his entertaining test drive episodes at Autocar before joining the EVO team. Moreover, Chris is an outspoken fan of air-cooled Porsches and I can certainly appreciate that.

It’s a bit of the “Holy Grail,” really, when someone is trying to describe the ultimate Porsche 911. Many have made the claim, but not soon later there’s always another person that would want to one up the current car in question. The most recent claim is from Singer Design and it certainly is the business and I’ll be sure to feature that car once I find something that hasn’t already been discussed but for FotW #17, I want to talk about the one Chris created.

The following video is from two years ago but surely this 911 still takes the cake. It’s quite an honest car and even without all the modern updates like carbon fiber panels that Singer chose to utilize, Chris’ 911 still weighs in at under 1000kg and its chassis has been enhanced to be more rigid than a 997. Don’t be mistaken that Chris sacrificed everything for weight and performance either. There’s a stereo system, the seats are leather Recaro, and the trim on the door is hand-stitched leather!

There you have it. Chris’ dream has just convincingly influenced mine!

>Porsche.

12 Jan

>It seems as though Porsche has become this week’s agenda here at Flappy Paddle Heads. And while Danny Chin was busy with the air cooled era 911s, he kindly left a bit of room for me to talk about this.

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But I have a confession. I know just as much about the new 918 RSR as you do. No more, no less.

Yes, Porsche ran the 911 GT3 R hybrid in the 24 hours of Nurburgring to field test its flywheel generator. Yes, Porsche considered it to be successful. Yes, they carried it over to a very sexy 918 Spyder hybrid supercar concept, which brought journalists to their knees at the last Geneva Auto Show. Yes, Porsche did it again with the 918 RSR, this time it’s at Detroit’s NAIAS.

I’ll run through the specs, but only because I feel that there’s always somebody who has to ask, “Well, how fast does it go?” Well are we ready? You better be because this is straight from Porsche AG’s website itself:

The V8 engine is a further development of the direct injection engine from the successful RS Spyder* race car and now offers an output of precisely 563 hp at 10,300/rpm in the 918 RSR. The electric motors on the two front wheels each contribute 75 kW, i.e. a total of 150 kW, to the peak drive power of exactly 767 hp. This additional power, which is generated during braking, is stored in an optimised flywheel accumulator.

*now we know they’re serious… especially since they used the word “precisely.”

But the numbers aren’t the reason why I’m writing. No. I won’t pretend like I understand even half the technology that Porsche put into the 918 RSR to achieve its figures. Moreover, I think we can better put the numbers into context if we got back to it after the RSR has raced a couple events rather than when it’s only spinning on a pedestal, polished in a coat of wax…

A bit of what you just saw in the video made me understand something. When I look back into history, I don’t believe Porsche was ever successful on first attempt. Take the 911; from day 1, Porsche has been criticized by many (ahem, Mr. Chin) for misplacing the engine behind the rear axle. Yet somehow, their decades of stubborn trial and error eventually brought us the masterpiece that it is today. The result? Now Porsche practically owns the copyright to the RR engine layout.

Now in this particular video, emphasis has been placed on another Porsche legend, the 917 race car. Porsche AG design chief, Mr. Michael Mauer says two things that captured my attention. First, “When we look back into the history, definitely the 917 plays one of the major roles.” Second, “I always wanted to express as well that the 918 is not really the successor of the 917. This car was supposed to be a symbol for the company and that we are still able to build the best sports cars and racing cars.”

Now if you’re a fan of Porsche, you’ll know that the 917K had won both the 1970 and the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans. But sometimes you have to figure out what they AREN’T saying. While the 917 was put through its paces during development in 1969, test drivers said the car was incredibly unstable. Porsche responded by trying many ideas to curb the issue; modifying the frame, suspension, and aerodynamics but all to no avail. Because of this, privateers still preferred the predecessing 908 over the 917. Moreover, the first privateer driver to race a 917, John Woolfe, crashed his Porsche 917 on the first lap of Circuit de la Sarthe, at Maison Blanche, tragically ending his life.

One could say the rest is history. Porsche stuck to their guns, stubbornly unwilling to give up on the car, fully believing its potential. Their capstone achievement is of course their overall win of 1971. Martini Racing team’s Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep ran the #22 917 to a record setting distance of 5,335.313 km. This record has not been broken until just last year, when Audi’s R15 TDIs beat the record by 13.629 km. Obviously, Porsche will make sure that you never forget that. Even after Le Mans, the 917′s success continued. Porsche transitioned its participation to North America and raced in the Can-Am series from 1972-1973. In this period of participation, the 917 reached its final iteration, the 917/30. This beast flexed 1,580 bhp in qualifying tune, dominating the 1973 season of the Can-Am series. That said, the Porsche 917 is one of the few race cars that dominated multiple series events.

It will seem somewhat weird to explain it this way, but maybe Porsche thrives on doing things the hard way. And maybe they don’t win by being clever, or even by being practical, but win by simply never giving up.

We note that the 911 GT3 R Hybrid was the only hybrid racing car out of the 200 vehicles on the grid. It raced hard, led for 11 hours of the 24 Hours of Nurburgring before it broke down only 2 hours from the finish. Although the result was a DNF, and should’ve been considered a failure, the telemetrics were enough to convince the team that a hybrid system is definitely the future for Porsche Racing.

Porsche has shown us that they will be just as stubborn in their latest racing endeavor, and I can’t wait to see the 918 RSR make some hybrid history in motorsports.

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You didn’t think I was just going to end the post without some car porn, did you?

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Porsche 917/30
Martini Racing Porsche 917, winner of 1971 Le Man

Porsche 917 K
Gulf Livery 917 of Steve McQueen fame.
Note the paint and # similarities to the current 918 concept

>Porsche – Cold, Calculating, Precision-Built Porn

12 Jan

>I’m going to be honest with you right now.  I’m not a fan of Porsche.  Yes, I respect the engineering, the racing pedigree, and the history behind the marque but they just don’t tickle me in any particular way.  I guess you could say Porsche is like “Sex Panther” cologne to me.  “60% of the time it works, every time.”  Today, I’m in that 60% zone…

Porsche 918 RSR Concept on autoblog.com

Today seemed to be Porsche day around the intertrons and I couldn’t help but look at that chunky rear end with its flat 6.  After looking over various incarnations of the same car over and over again with nary a difference that my untrained eye could detect, I started to grow fond of these backward engineered cars…to an extent.  The stock 911, GT2, GT3, Turbo, and the like don’t do anything.  All these are supercars but none of them stand out to me.  To get my attention, Porsches need to be hardcore like the 918 above and purpose-built cars below:

1968 FIA Group 2 911 on motoringconbrio.com

From our friends over at motoringconbrio.com is this Group 2 racer.  It’s currently for sale in the hundreds of thousands range.  Head over to their site for some great pictures of this car including its perfectly restored interior.

These insane Porsches were modified by RAUH-Welt Begriff (RWB) and they are the widest, most imposingly demonic 911s that I’ve ever seen.  They weren’t created just to look crazy, either.  This group gathered to make a trip to Tsukuba to throw down some fast laps while there and on the way.  These cars are currently being documented on speedhunters.com in a two part series.  Click through that site to see some of the most spectacular photography in all of motorsports.

The RWB guys actually reminded me of the infamous R Gruppe, an international Porsche owners group that prides itself on modifying a car to individual tastes.  Read up on them here or just look at these sweet vintage 911s.

automobilemag.com

>Bass Ackward but Amazing (Caution: nerdy ramblings ahead)

5 Dec

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autoworld.files.wordpress.com

This year Porsche released their GT3 RS, which pumps out 450 horsepower from a 3.8 liter flat 6.  This is the latest version of Porsche’s horizontally opposed 6-cylinder range.  It has evolved over the years more than a Pokemon.  Any motor that produces 100 horsepower per liter of displacement is a marvel of engineering.  Complete this thought with the fact that this motor doesn’t have forced induction or direct fuel injection and this motor seems to be the pinnacle of Porsche’s legendary engineering pedigree.  Although, I can’t help but think that the limits of the iconic 911 may be drawing near.

In the world of high performance cars, it seems like having about .5 liter of displacement per cylinder is the Holy Grail of engine design.  This allows the pistons to remains small with an oversquare bore.  An oversquare bore in itself contributes to an engine’s ability to reach stratospheric rpm.  Take for example the Honda S2000 and the current BMW M3.  They each have a displacement of .5 to .6 liters per cylinder.  The BMW hits its redline at 8400 rpm while the S2000 will shriek to a staggering 9000 rpm (in its 2 liter form).  The skyrocketing rpm allows a small capacity motor to make great horsepower due to the equation:
                                           
                                              Horsepower = (Torque X rpm)/5252

So, while these engines don’t produce the torque of a small block Chevy or 8 liter Dodge Viper V10, they are still able to produce amazing horsepower numbers due to their ability to rev higher.  What does this all mean in terms of Porsche’s engineering?

3.8 liter courtesy of cartype.com

For the 2010 model year, Porsche developed a new motor to replace their aging 3.6 liter powerplant.  The new motor displaces 3.8 liters and makes 450 horsepower without a supercharger, turbocharger, or, to a lesser extent, direction injection.  As stated above, this is phenomenal!  However, this is getting further and further away from that beautiful .5 liter/cylinder ratio.  Not to pooh-pooh this motor, it is an award winning mill after all but I am hesitant to believe that this motor can evolve much past its current state.

The addition of direct injection will definitely improve combustion efficiency for better fuel mileage as well as horsepower.  After that, the only solution to making more power is higher engine speeds to comply with the formula above or to bore out the cylinders to increase displacement and torque yet keep the oversquare cylinder ratio for high revs, which are a necessary trait for sports cars.  Either way, a weight loss program needs to be enacted for everything from connecting rods to valves.  To increase engine speed, lighter materials like titanium and magnesium need to be employed or the engine will tear itself apart due to the reciprocating mass.  The same can be said about option 2, enlarging cylinder diameter.  Increasing the bore would necessitate a bigger piston diameter as well as larger valves to accommodate the needed air, fuel, and exhaust flow.  These larger parts would not change direction as easily as the smaller bore siblings and also require lightweight materials.

The lightweight approach would work but it would also cost a premium for the consumer.  Maybe this new motor is part of a tiered approach to improving driving dynamics and efficiency.  Take a step back and look at the whole picture.  Perhaps the goal isn’t to increase power but to maintain it in the most efficient manner while reducing the overall weight of the car.  Reducing overall weight would maximize performance across the board as opposed to just acceleration properties.

Porsche has been a powerhouse in the automotive world for close to 80 years.  I’m sure their engineering group has its wits about them.  If not, they should call me for a job.

>Porschefest

13 Sep

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Porsche owners at Porschefest… like brothers of a strange fraternity.


In another car driven (in both a literal sense and in motive) trek to Boston for the weekend, we cover Porschefest.

Porschefest is exactly as it sounds, a get-together picnic at the park for Porsche owners, in a friendly and intimate setting at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum of Brookline, Massachusetts. Attendees would walk amongst some of the most significant cars of Porsche’s colored history.

Er… so we thought.

In its defense, The venue was very well thought out with lots on the lawn specially dedicated to 356s, another for 928s, Boxsters/Caymans, and also for a handful of 924/944s and 914s in the mix.

And yes… a Panamera was present too.

But we expected that. We knew those cars were going to be there. What we hoped for is something more exciting– Chin’s friend, Dave, looked forward to a Carrera GT, I was honestly expecting to see more than a few R Gruppe owners, a 550 Spyder, maybe a RSR, a 959, hopefully a 917 and other endurance Porches, even RUF and perhaps a 9FF (FF stands for f*ckhein führocious).

A 959 was actually there!! But otherwise there wasn’t even a single 2.7RS.

I’ll admit, when i saw the 959, I had a crisis in the middle of the lawn. Mmm… um, yeah, I promise to cover that for another time.

Perhaps the problem is with me. No, I didn’t actually expect to see a 917 there. I read the flier. But I am still a bit of an idealist when it comes to Porsche ownership and unfortunately I’ve come to the conclusion that the Porsche owners that day were more like brothers of a strange fraternity, patting each other on the back or giving each other the smug nod for bone stock Boxsters, restored 914s to stock production spec, cookie cutter 930s and 356s.

It would be unfair to say that there weren’t any hoonin’ Porsches on the lot at all but still, you’d think with so many trims and variations for 911s, more owners would adopt a philosophy of individualism and customization. Mustangs owners did (on that note, one of the more notable cars for Chin that day was the Shelby GT350H), so why should R-Gruppe be so exclusive?

So, I’ve brought it unto myself to deliver. The following are some of the Porsches we would have wanted to see at the perfect fest–

R Gruppe owners courtesy of europeancar.com
Porsche Carrera GT courtesy of rsportscars.com
Porsche 917 courtesy of 917flatout.bravehost.com
9FF GTR9 courtesy of coolthings.com

Porsche Turbo RSR courtesy of sportwagen.online.fr

Porsche 911 2.7RS courtesy of EVO Magazine
RUF “yellowbird” courtesy of lindseyracing.com

Let us know of your favorite Porsche!
See more of our pictures here.

>Porsche. It’s not a sellout.

18 Aug

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You prefer feeling secure? Go buy a wittle puppy. Porsche understands this.


Danny Chin and I rarely agree on all things Porsche (pronounced Poor-sha!). I remember a particular conversation we had where I was convinced, unfounded or not, that a 911 is a car that is truly befitting of my character… to which Chin responded with a Jezza-like remark, “Because of its ass-backwards engineering?”

You haters might as well throw in some Volkswagen Beetle jabs while you’re at it. After all, one of founder Ferdinand Porsche’s first projects was the creation of the Beetle for Nazi Germany, which eventually became the building block for the 356. With the engine, suspension and chassis Volkswagen derived, the Porsche 356 was essentially an aluminum bodied Beetle with a sportier silhouette.
Ironically, the modern Porsche 911 is more true to its Beetle roots than the New Beetle on the market. While the New Beetle was modernized to a front engine fwd layout, the 911 is still and, mark my words, always will be rear engine and rwd.
It is also this stubbornness to move the engine that is the main gripe for many people who dislike Porsche 911’s. There just isn’t enough weight to keep the grip at the front tires. Come into a turn too quickly, and you’ll understeer. You’d think lifting off will be enough to correct it and the next thing you know you’re facing oncoming headlights while spinning backwards. Think of the piece of mind you’re going to feel not having to worry about seeing what you’ll eventually end up smashing into. It’s a plus.
Okay okay fine. Maybe it isn’t a plus. But what about the Lamborghinis that spontaneously combust? Or what about the happy buyer of the new Ferrari 458 Italia who wrote-off the red head in less than 24 hours? Easy come, easy go. You want to be coddled? Buy a Regal land yacht. You prefer feeling secure? Go buy a wittle puppy. Porsche understands this. It’s no accident that the bat sh*t crazy GT2 RS has the looks of a serial killer too.
courtesy of Autoblog
What about the other models? That ridiculous Cayenne? The ugly as sin Panamera? You might think, “Surely, Danny, Porsche is tainting their brand with other vehicles in the line-up that don’t belong. It has abandoned its sports car pedigree to embrace a more promising future as a luxury brand.”
Yes and no. I see this in a different angle. In multiple occasions in the past, Porsche has come dangerously close to bankruptcy. But I believe Porsche will do anything, absolutely anything, to continue selling 911’s. It will do anything, absolutely anything, to prove that they are, and always will be, the best sports car brand in the world, period. If this means that they must sell an SUV and a sedan in order to finance the future of their performance legacy, so be it.

The “always will be” will prove difficult. CAFE laws governing emissions and mpg aren’t doing the future of performance cars any favors. In the car shows of the past year, we’ve seen a new era of hybrid or EV concepts from every sort of manufacturer— veterans like Toyota, sophomores like Tesla Roadster, and the new kids including Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, Tesla’s new sedan, the Lotus Evora hybrid that many of you may have forgotten, and Ferrari’s green colored 599 hybrid. The one that takes the cake, though, is the Porsche 918. And I’ll tell you why.

Courtesy of Autotribute

This year, companies were introducing hybrids for one of either two reasons; either 1.) The company figures that everyone else is doing it and it’s a good idea to go into something that’s lucrative and 2.) It’s great for the company’s public image. Take that Ferrari 599 HY-KERS for example. Arguably, it was more of an afterthought, an accumulation of existing parts just so they have something to show people. The Chevy Volt was done because our Federal government bailed them out with taxpayer money and we told them to make things happen or else. The Nissan Leaf, the Fiskar and the Tesla were all made by accountants with the intention of profits. The Porsche 918 is a whole new prototype. “A vision for the future of the brand.” Their noble cause is to ensure the survival of the sports car.

They are not sellouts. They are survivors.
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