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PSA: Maybe Get Yourself An R/C Car?

Photo: Rory Carroll

Even though most of us aren’t technically “stuck at home” now, the lucky and prudent among us are still going out into public spaces as little as possible—even if this is when we usually start to buy our Halloween stuff.

A lot of us are doing a lot less driving than we normally do, and since it’s just too damn hard for some people to simply spend $6500 to put together an iRacing rig, (or just admit they’re not hardcore gamers and buy a PS4) an R/C car might be just the ticket.

You may even have one in your house right now, quietly awaiting the landfill. If you don’t, have a few drinks to get the ol’ ordering finger warmed up and start shoveling what may or may not be your last paycheck into that famously still semi-functional and good sector of the economy, e-commerce.

And yes, some of these things are somewhat harder to come by than they should be in a developed nation such as this, but dig around! If all else fails eBay is chock full of people who suddenly know what they got, no lowballers.

That’s where I got good deal(?) on a whooped, modified Team Associated RC18B2 that was admittedly too fast for me to drive the first couple times out. (I know your car is faster. That’s awesome!) Now that I’ve sort of mastered the art of driving the thing without immediately doing a wheelie/backflip, I can be seen a few times a week ripping it up and down my mostly empty street and jumping it off of curbs. It’s not nearly as good as driving, but pinching that little accelerator and watching my little buggy go ripping down the street while I correct the oversteer does scratch a certain itch.

If going fast isn’t your thing, a little rock crawler can provide precious minutes of deeply satisfying, low-stakes ~~time not spent thinking intubation~~ entertainment. Maybe an adorable dragster or rally car, or drifty guy. For those who prefer cars that don’t run, a little kit packed with screws you can lose/ accidentally swallow. There are even little IRL Rocket League things for you to further alienate your cohabitants with.

In closing, let me be absolutely clear: being into R/C stuff doesn’t necessarily make you a dork. But if feeling like a dork has kept you from getting really into R/C stuff before, know that it’s Corona time. Nothing’s cool or good anymore. Do whatever you want, get into YA fiction. Nobody cares! Age of Horus baby!

Ferrari to shoot Monaco version of ‘Rendezvous’ movie

Ferrari F1 racer Charles Leclerc will drive a Ferrari SF90 Stradale through the streets of Monte Carlo for a short film in the style of ‘Rendevous’ | Ferrari photo

The Monaco Grand Prix race won’t take place May 24, but the circuit will be in use for the shooting of a short film by Ferrari and Charles Lelouch, the latter responsible for C’etait Un Rendez-Vous, the famed 1976 early-morning high-speed romp through Paris.

Also likely providing inspiration was the recent shooting of a similar film through the streets of Rome.

This time, a SF90 Stradale, Ferrari’s first series-production hybrid sports car, will be the camera mount for Le Grand Rendez-Vous, to be shot by Lelouch with Monegaseue F1 racing driver Charles Leclerc at control of the steering wheel.

“The new short evokes both the atmosphere of the beloved Grand Prix and the roar of the Ferrari 275 GTB that provided the instantly recognizable soundtrack to the 1976 film shot in Paris,” Ferrari said in its news release.

“This first post lockdown French shoot symbolically will also mark the start of a gradual return to the ‘new normal’ after the pandemic and the restart for the film industry, impacted significantly by recent restrictions.”

Ferrari said it welcomed partnership in the production “as a way of demonstrating support for its tifosi, clients and supporters as an expression of hope that the world will gradually be able to absorb the painful and complex health crisis which has affected everyone, allowing us to begin to look positively towards the future, also in anticipation of the expected restart of the F1 season in July.”

EV market share, Sonata Hybrid price hike, Tesla bidirectional charging: Today’s Car News

Global electric vehicle sales won’t fall as much this year as the whole vehicle market. Tesla reportedly adds bidirectional charging hardware to its cars. And how much will you need to pay to get that Sonata Hybrid with the solar roof? This and more, here at Green Car Reports.

The latest annual long-term projections on the electric vehicle market from Bloomberg New Energy Finance anticipate that global EV sales will show some resilience—reflecting an 18% drop in 2020 versus 23% for the entire vehicle market. In a business where market share matters, that’s growth.

Tesla, according to one teardown expert, appears to be building bidirectional AC charging capability into some of its vehicles, including some Model 3 sedans. The company hasn’t been as eager to embrace the grid-balancing and home-energy potential it presents, but now we’re curious to see how it fits in with the company’s upcoming million-mile battery.

Hyundai has raised prices for its redesigned 2020 Sonata Hybrid—the one that achieves up to 52 mpg combined and has the best highway rating of any hybrid sedan. At the top of its lineup, it’s also the one that gets the exclusive Solar Roof System.

And at our partner site Motor Authority: There’s a fair amount of discussion this year from executives regarding synthetic fuels that combine CO2 with hydrogen from the electrolysis of water. Mercedes-Benz’s R&D chief said this week that they aren’t viable in cars, even in the mid-term—and that electricity is a better solution.

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Pick of the Day: 1991 BMW 850i, a GT coupe powered by V12 magic

The BMW 850i is a powerful grand-touring car built for long-distance road trips

There are GT cars and then there are serious GT cars. Most GTs are powered by inline-6 or V8 engines, but the top-tier cars in this category have V12 engines under their bonnets.

There is something magical about the sound of a V12 starting up that is a visceral assault on the senses. And the music of a V12 as it approaches redline is the stuff dreams are made of.

BMW might be known for manufacturing some of the finest inline-6 engines in the world, but there was a time when they stretched their legs and gave us a V12 that was as good or better than anyone else had created. They placed this engine in the 750il sedan and the cars of the 850 series.

With a proper grand-touring car being a 2-door, the E31 850i seems like the ultimate German GT.

The Pick of the Day is 1991 BMW 850i in original unblemished condition with just 22,654 miles on its odometer, according to the Farmingdale, New York, dealer advertising the V12 coupe on ClassicCars.com.

Introduced in 1990, the E31 was a halo car for BMW. The company spent an estimated 1.5 billion Deutsche Marks on the project. The car was well-received when introduced but BMWs timing for a luxury V12 coupe could not have been worse.

RELATED: Pick of the Day: This ‘Grinch’ might steal your heart

A global recession took hold during the early 1990s along with a spike in oil prices, resulting in the $70,000-plus BMW with poor fuel economy becoming a slow seller. BMW sold only 7,232 8-series cars in the US during its seven-year production run and built a worldwide total of only 30,621.

But times have changed. Today, we have a temporary drastic reduction in the cost of fuel and these stunning grand touring cars can be had for less than half the price they cost when new.

In fact, during this time of sketchy air travel due to this stupid virus, we may be in a new golden age for these spectacular cars. The E31 is the kind of car that can cross the United States in smooth comfort in a few days, making it a viable alternative to getting on an airplane for a 5-hour flight that might be full of infectious people.

This BMW 850i is a two-owner car from new, the seller says, with its original paint in Calypso Red Metallic and factory beige leather interior. The car has been cherished from new and is in exceptional condition in all respects, the seller adds. �

From the pictures with the ad, this truly looks like a flawless example of a time-warp 850i. You should know up front that these cars can be a maintenance nightmare if you buy a bad one, so it would behoove you to obtain the best possible example available.

RELATED: Pick of the Day: Fast, attractive 1988 BMW M6 sports coupe

The biggest reason for trouble is the complexity of the car’s ignition and fuel-injection systems. Since BMW did not have another V12 before the 850 but had been building 6-cylinder cars for years, they decided to just double up on what’s essentially a twin 6. That means the 850i has two separate ignition and fuel systems, connected by BMWs first drive-by-wire throttle. They are not cheap to service, although neither are they the witchcraft some people make them out to be.

This very-low-mileage 850i survivor is offered with a fair asking price of $39,900.

To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.�

Even The Factory Floor Parted For The Miraculous Merging Together Of A Bugatti Veyron

The Bugatti Veyron has an unending list of accolades to its name. There was a time when it was the most sophisticated, powerful and, let’s not forget, expensive car on the road. It was mind blowingly powerful when it was released and it continues to be a wonder today. Such a chariot could not be built in something as gauche as a normal factory using average manufacturing techniques. No, even how the car was made needed to be a symphony of mechanical wonder.

The site Core77 brought this clip from a documentary about building Bugatti Veyron to our attention this week. The whole thing is fascinating, but here’s the relevant clip for our purposes:

The mechanism in the floor was built to protect workers from tripping over the exposed track when moving around their work stations. Are there less elegant, cheaper and easier ways to do this? Probably, but this is Bugatti, baby. A car like the Veyron can’t be built on some greasy assembly line by mere mortals.

The shop needs to be fitting for a car that was a was a legend the moment it was conceived, even if its 2003 launch was a total shitshow, with the pre-production vehicle spinning out in front of journalists at Laguna Seca. It would be two more years before the cars were perfected, but eventually, the 450 Veyrons the company eventually build over 10 years would come together in this elegant ballet of engineering to be delivered to their insanely rich new owners to never be driven again.

From shaky beginnings the Veyron rose as a marvel of engineering. It’s 8.0-liter, quad-turbocharged W16 is, effectively, two VR8 engines stuck together at 90 degrees capable of putting out anywhere between 1,000 to 1,600 horsepower. Imagine, 1,000 HP in 2005. It’s a high mark to reach 15 years later, at least with traditional combustion engines. While the Veyron was eventually overshadowed by its’ sibling, the Chiron, in almost every metric, the Veyron’s legend lives on as perhaps one of the very first “super” cars.

A youthful — and European — perspective on cars and driving

My name is Lars Madsen. I’m 25 years old and studying for a Masters in Business Administration degree at Southern Danish University in Denmark. Besides the study and student work in a great small company, I have a huge interest in cars and automobiles. My whole life I have been interested in cars, almost ever since I could walk.

I am honored to have been offered the opportunity to write a little column here on the ClassicCars.com Journal. For my first installment, I’ve chosen to write about myself and my car and about where I hope to be in the future when it comes to cars and the automobile industry.

My car, as you may have noticed in the pictures, is a little white hatchback. It is not very special, but it really means something to me. It is a Ford Fiesta, a 1.0-liter Ecoboost version with 125 horsepower.

“What?” you say? “That is the size of a bottle of milk!” You are right!

But 125 horsepower is quite a handful in a 1.0-liter engine and car car with a curb weight of 2100 pounds. You might wonder why I don’t ride a bicycle. Bikes are very popular and common form of transportation in Denmark. It is simply because I love cars. I live and breathe for cars. It is my biggest passion.

Why do I drive a brand new Ford and how can I afford it when I’m studying? That is because it is not brand new. My car is 7 years old, but I still think it looks new. You could say it is a less costly version of a (Ford-era Jaguar X-type), but still as fast as one. I have had this car almost since I earned my driver’s license. It has been the perfect car for me. I have driven more than 100,000 kilometers (thats 62,000 miles for you Americans) so far. It still pulls like Lamborghini from the 1970s. Or was it a new Lamborghini? I can’t tell the difference any more. Everything is left in the dust no matter what — I might just be joking.

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There is just something appealing about this little pocket rocket which still makes me keep it to this day. That appeal is the Focus FIA World Rally car. My car has some rally car DNA. It has a spoiler on the back and factory body kit all around the skirts. All in all, it has a very aggressive look considering it only puts 125 horsepower to the ground. But that’s what I like so much about it.

I live in the third biggest city in Denmark, called Odense. I study at the university here, so I mostly ride in the city center or urban areas. There are often tight curves which are quickly followed by traffic lights. This is where the small engine upfront combined with the low weight of the car makes it like go-kart on the streets. It is a dangerous combination and you quickly get addicted. Don’t do small light cars, kids. But it really suits the city environment, and is also a big reason why I don’t want to change car at the moment. It is perfect and has a bit of charm as well. Just look at the design for such a small little car! Reminds me of an Aston Martin V8 Vantage with the headlights.

RELATED: The very brief but still exclusive first drive

When it comes to investing, this car is not going to be a hot shot for the speculative guys out there. It is not like if I keep this for a longer time, people are standing in line to knock on my door, asking if they can purchase it. If you are looking for a more potent car for investment and joy, take a closer look on the Ford Fiesta ST 200. It debuted as a special edition just before the launch of the newest generation of the Ford Fiesta ST.

The interesting thing about the model I’m driving is the engine. Some people have pulled 200 horsepower out of it and say it still runs perfectly. Would I recommend pulling 200 horsepower out of the engine. Absolutely not, only if you have a wish on blowing up your engine faster than you are able to blink your eyes.

But I might be wrong. This video with Chris Harris says something different. Maybe it is possible, but as I said, there is enough power to go quickly around the city with a smile on your face.

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What are my plans for the future? Investing in a new car. Maybe, I would like to speculate in various different cars, starting with some of the cars I have already written about elsewhere. There are so many cars out there that are so interesting and really worth looking into.

RELATED: Senna: Can you believe it was 26 years ago?

I am personally very much into BMW at the moment and am looking like a crazy man on the internet for a good one. There is really one BMW that has my full attention — the fantastic BMW 135i coupe from 2009. It offers the best from BMW in my eyes. Am inline 6-cylinder with 306 horsepower and rear-wheel drive. So much power in a such a small car! It’s like a design devil came up with when he was asked what kind of proportions his car would have. But for now, it’s just looking.

There is one year left here at the University and after that I hope comes a new car. Will it be a BMW? We will see when the time comes.

Stay tuned…

For GREAT deals on a new or used Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep or RAM check out Bravo CDJR TODAY!

2012 Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder – Edition 918

The 911 Turbo S edition 918 spyder (yes, it’s a mouthful) is a car you might not know of but it certainly has an interesting story. Anybody purchasing the upcoming, Porsche 918 Spyder hypercar has the option to purchase this special edition 911 Turbo S.

Just like the 918 Spyder, the exclusive Turbo S model is limited to 918 units. At its roots, it’s a “”regular”” 911 Turbo S, but it gets carbon trim inside and out, plus upgraded leather, along with the 918’s Acid Green paint on the brake calipers, illuminated sill plates, interior stitching and instrument needles.

This $160700 option is a beauty, no doubt, and its exclusivity means you’ll probably never get to own one. Yet lucky Hawaiian resident, Ken Kobatake, actually managed to locate one at a Midwest Porsche dealership.

It turns out, a 918 Spyder buyer no longer wanted his Turbo S, so Ken purchased it for a marked up $175000 with 1200 miles on the clock.

Sight unseen, he had the 911 delivered to BBi Autosport in Huntington Beach, CA. He wanted the car massaged and tuned, but not overdone. “”We just made it more of a visceral driver’s car,”” said Betim Barisha, owner of BBi.
2012 porsche 911 turbo s edition 918 spyder 02 Photo 2/11 | 2012 Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder 02

Starting with the motor, they gave the Turbo S the stage 2 package, that included a full BBi turbo-back exhaust with HJS 200CPSI HD cats and quad tips, as well as a large IPD Y-pipe and plenum plus BBi’s pump-gas ECU software.

Ken’s 911 musters 545hp at all four wheels, with a contact-patch decimating 585 lb-ft of torque at 17psi whenever the Sport+ button is pushed.

Of course, there’s no other way to drive this car than with that button illuminated. The exhaust becomes louder, more raw and exotic, throttle response is sharper and more immediate, and the car is a goddamn freight train.

I’ve driven high horsepower cars in many forms; naturally aspirated, turbocharged, supercharged, nitrous-equipped, but this motor was unlike anything before. It accelerated with explosive violence, and when the boost hits you feel as if your intestines were left in another dimension.

I’m the guy who hates automatic transmissions, too, but the Porsche PDK is phenomenal. When mated to a motor like this, it’s the only thing I’d want between myself and the next gear.
2012 porsche 911 turbo s edition 918 spyder passenger side profile 07 Photo 3/11 | 2012 Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder – Edition 918

Pulling away from traffic by rolling onto the throttle at 70mph means you’re doing 130mph in less than 5sec. While this is fun, launch control is where the giggles live.

With Sport+ activated and traction control disabled, place your left foot on the brake and mash the gas. The revs hang around 5000rpm and there’s a whistle and flutter from two Borg Warner turbos coming to life, mixed harmoniously with timing retardation and wasted gas; things are about to get exciting.

Release the brake, the radar detector flies off the windshield, my sunglasses lift off my face, flipping over my head and I’m straining my fingers to keep hold of the steering wheel; this is, hands down, the most intense acceleration I’ve ever felt. The sprint to 60mph takes 2.5sec in this calibration. It’s ridiculous, highly addictive and borderline painful.

At BBi, $10,000 in parts will give you this type of performance. Yet the real prowess of this 911 chassis is noticed when you enter twisty sections of Angeles Crest Highway, slicing through Southern California’s mountainous National Forest.
2012 porsche 911 turbo s edition 918 spyder rear bumper 08 Photo 4/11 | 2012 Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder Rear Bumper 08

The suspension on Ken’s Edition 918 Spyder is what transformed his Turbo S into a nimble track dancer.

BBi used the 997 GT3 for inspiration in what is called the Street Cup kit. It replaced all the rubber bits, along with new ERP upper rear control arms, rear adjustable bump toe-links, plus Porsche Motorsport lower control arms front and rear. A pair of 997.2 sway bars were also installed with adjustable drop-links to fine-tune the car’s behavior. But the heart of this setup is undeniably the Ohlins Road & Track coilovers with Eibach springs.

Paired with BBi’s wide track front package that pushes the wheels out 10mm on each side, the only hint that this 911 is all-wheel drive is its face-distorting traction out of corners.

Understeer is nonexistent, turn-in is precise and the car is stable. The Michelin Pilot Super Sport rubber is up to the task, measuring 245/30 front and fat 325/25 rear, mounted on BBi’s favored Motegi Racing TechnoMesh wheels.
2012 porsche 911 turbo s edition 918 spyder driver side profile 05 Photo 5/11 | 2012 Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder – Edition 918

The factory Brembo ceramic brakes are always there, complete with the lurid green paint. They work effortlessly and you barely detect a hint of hot friction material in your nostrils, even when hauling the heavy coupe to a stop from high speed. The car was built to impress, and it’s done so effortlessly.

While 918 units mean this particular 911 Turbo S is about as rare as they come, Ken can sleep at night knowing his example is rarer than just a carbon package and green paint. BBi has molded the car into a straight-up warrior, making us think differently about automatic transmissions and heavy all-wheel drive 911s.

Totaling about $22000 in parts alone, we’d be hard-pressed to say you could build or buy a better road-rocket with such sex appeal and duality for under $190,000.

_2012 porsche 911 turbo s edition 918 spyder interior 10
2012 porsche 911 turbo s edition 918 spyder bumper rocker panel 09
2012 porsche 911 turbo s edition 918 spyder factory seats 04

2012 Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder

Ken Kobatake
The Big Island, HI

Engine 3.8-liter H-6 DOHC 24v with BBi stage 2 ECU tune, exhaust with HJS 200CPSI HD cats, IPD large Y-pipe and plenum

Drivetrain PDK seven-speed automatic
2012 porsche 911 turbo s edition 918 spyder IPD intake plenum 06 Photo 9/11 | 2012 Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder – Edition 918

Brakes stock six-piston Brembo calipers, 15″” drilled carbon-ceramic rotors f, four-piston, 15″” r

Suspension BBi Street Cup package Öhlins Road & Track coilovers, Eibach springs, MODE spherical upper mounts, BBi front wide track package, 997.2 GT2 sway bars, Tarett adjustable drop-links, BBi rear sway bar adapter kit, ERP upper rear control arms and rear adjustable bump-toe links, Porsche Motorsport lower control arms front and rear

Wheels & Tires 20×8.5″” f, 20×12″” r, Motegi Racing TechnoMesh forged wheels, Porsche black centerlock nuts, 245/30 R20 f, 325/25 R20 r Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires
2012 porsche 911 turbo s edition 918 spyder motegi racing TechnoMesh forged wheels 03 Photo 10/11 | 2012 Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder – Edition 918

Exterior stock Edition 918 Spyder with smoked corners, Wrap Works clear bra and ceramic tint

Interior stock

Contact bbiautosport.com

How To Cope When The Alarm Bells Won’t Stop Ringing

Alarms are designed to give out a warning signal whenever they are being tampered with or there has been a breach of security. Just like some house alarms go off so regularly that the neighbors simply turn a deaf ear and try to ignore them instead of calling the police or even taking the time to investigate, so some car alarms appear to like the sounds of their own voice.

Don’t get me wrong – car alarms are a great invention and can be a great deterrent to any would-be car thieves or anyone who is tempted by the lap top on the back seat, but they can also be a form of utter embarrassment if they insist on going off at all times during the night or day, particularly if they won’t shut up again.
So what’s the best way to deal with a wayward car alarm? How can you make sure that your alarm only gives a warning signal when there is really something to give warning about?
Here are a few tips:
• Check the batteries in your key fob. Okay, so this might not actually stop the alarm from sounding but if the batteries in the key fob are flat or faulty you won’t be able to switch it off. If the alarm refuses to be silenced until you have opened and closed the doors a couple of times or pressed the button until your thumb is ready to drop off, you can bet your bottom dollar that the batteries need attention.

• Check out the owner’s manual when you first buy the car. This should give you a clue about how the alarm works and which buttons can switch it on or off. Many of the new cars at Downey Nissan are fitted with perfectly functioning alarms; you just need to know how to work them.
• If you can’t silence the alarm with the remote button you might have to use the key to manually unlock the driver’s side door. That should restore peace and tranquility to the neighborhood. If the door is unlocked and the alarm is still ringing you should try locking and unlocking the door a couple of times. That should sort it out.

• Starting the car engine will sometimes quiet a badly behaved alarm. Many modern cars are programmed to switch off the alarm when the engine starts, just so long as the alarm hasn’t affected the immobilizer as well.
• If you really aren’t having any luck at all then it may be time to take drastic measures. Check in the manual for the location of the fuse which connects the car battery to the alarm and remove it. This should be classed as a strictly temporary measure however; disabling an alarm is not a very wise thing to do in the long term. Pull the fuse and get your car alarm fixed as soon as possible.
• If all else really has failed you might have to disconnect the car battery as a very last resort. Disconnecting the negative terminal will bring the sound of silence to the air as well as cutting off the electrical system to the entire car. A little bit like re-booting a computer – wait for 30 seconds or so before reconnecting the battery and hope for the best.
At Downtown Nissan they’ve got lots of different new and used motors available, and if you have any trouble with the alarms you can simply take them back for their professional mechanics to sort out any sorts of problem once and for all.

2014 Porsche 911 GT3 – First Drive

It has a 9000rpm rev limit. Let that sink in for a couple of seconds… With peak power developed at 8250rpm, the 3.8-liter flat-six in the new GT3 is the highest revving Porsche production motor ever built.

The 997 RS 4. had the very last incarnation from the Metzger engine, and so a heavily tweaked version of your current 9A1 direct-injection flat-six motor takes the baton and runs with it within the 991 GT3.

A long list of lightweight reciprocating and rotating parts within the engine reduce inertia, while new manufacturing processes and coatings ensure robustness.

The big numbers are 475hp at 8250rpm, with peak torque of 325 lb-ft at 6250rpm. This equates to specific output of 125hp per liter in a car weighing 77 lb more than before, translating right into aHaving an open road in front of you, the latest engine screams round the rev counter from the intermediate gears, while the brilliant seven-speed PDK transmission ensures the 475 able-bodied horses provide an uninterrupted push inside the back.

The deep baritone roar from your twin central exhaust outlets is overlaid by a fearsome battle cry of valves, induction and high-lift cams running ever faster because they convert air and fuel into forward motion like never before in the road-legal naturally-aspirated Porsche motor.

Yet the most deeply impressive aspect of the new GT3 will be the province of the seven-speed PDK, completely revised from its Carrera roots for this particular highly focused application.

Upshifts are so fast and seamless you just hear the motor drop its voice slightly while rapid forward motion continues unabated. The system also blips the throttle perfectly going down the ‘box, leading you to sound like a racer to onlookers.

Importantly, should you choose to utilize the gear lever instead of the paddles, the shifter now works correctly in manual mode; forward to get aareas of an automatic inappropriate to a hardcore sportscar have been edited out. One is kickdown, the other is the tendency to shift down if you short-shift, but then head to full throttle, giving you power over your gear selection.

The purists are screaming from the rooftops about the manual gearbox being the last link between the car and driver, but Porsche now considers them relics of the bygone era. In fact, GT model chief, Andreas Preuninger told us the PDK was just chosen late in the development and, as a purist, he had to be personally convinced beyond doubt.

During an in-house test it emerged that the dual-clutch trans was worth 4sec per lap on the Nürburgring, which is substantial. Ultimately, the GT3 is all about going fast, and PDK makes it faster, period.

To underline its superiority versus the stopwatch, Porsche test driver, Timo Gluck, recently set a benchmark time of 7min 25sec on the Ring – 7sec faster than the 530hp twin-turbo 997 GT2 and legendary Carrera GT. It’s also 2sec faster than the outgoing 500hp GT3 RS 4., and 6sec better than its RS 3.8 predecessor. And the 991 GT3 lap time was achieved having a 475hp production engine powering the 3152 lb car.

None of that more weight is in the wrong places, with all the extra 44 lb of your PDK compensated for by removal of a similar amount from the engine.

Are best left for the racetrack, although the PDK Sport button on the center console is tempting, as is the firmer setting to the PASM active damping. Sport is generally too trigger-happy for public roads and the firmer suspension is commonly appropriate for smooth roads or perhaps the racetrack. It also activates the dynamic engine mounts that tighten for optimum cornering, however.

2013 porsche 911 GT3 chassis support

2013 porsche 911 GT3 performance gauge

2013 porsche 911 GT3 cluster gauge

If you turn the GT3 steering wheel you notice it’s by far the very best iteration from the 991’s power steering, moving the car with unerring balance and stability. It benefits from electro-mechanical rear-wheel steering that enables the rear wheels to move about 1.5? , shortening the effective wheelbase at low speeds for increased manoeuvrability, and lengthening it for enhanced stability when you gain pace.

Under 30mph the machine moves the rear wheels inside the opposite direction from the steered fronts, making the car more agile at parking speed.

Above 50mph, the rear wheels turn within the same direction as the steering, pre-loading the back tires and removing their latency, where the rear often takes longer to adhere to the front.

On your way, you don’t feel anything different and, should the sensors identify you’re intentionally drifting the car, it would actually assist you toAs was discovered during high-speed testing at Nardo in Italy, an additional benefit of the rear-wheel steer is less tire wear since they don’t work so difficult.

Even though the rear-wheel steering system is a tremendous factor in the GT3’s faster lap times, the new variable-ratio limited-slip diff also plays a role in handling consistency. Allowing a wide open diff in the overrun for improved stability, it apportions traction towards the individual rear wheels with greater accuracy than before.

Extra stability at speed is conferred by a 20% rise in downforce, or 265 lb at 125mph, with a drag coefficient of .33.

The damping is actually superb, absorbent at low speeds but anchoring body movement when you’re pressing on. Actually, it rides better than a normal Carrera – no mean feat when the GT3 sits on 20×9 and 20×12 forged wheels shod with 245/305 and 35/30 track-day rubber. These are the latest generation Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres within a Porsche-specific compound.

The new 911 GT3 may be a road-legal homologation special as well as the best driver’s 911 ever, but it’s docile enough for daily use and throws the dynamic shortcomings of more expensive supercars into stark focus. It’s a stern warning to other carmakers that “exotic” is no longer an excuse for faults.

Dai Yoshihara Spec Subaru BRZ Drift Machine debuts at SEMA 2013

Round 7 of the 2013 Formula D at Irwindale Speedway was an emotional moment for both Dai Yoshihara closed out the season by bidding a final farewell to his 2010 Championship car for one last time. The loss was short lived since we caught news that quickly across the tuner world that Dai along with his team were not in vain and had already been prepping a new drift platform for your upcoming 2014 FD Championship season, although saying goodbye is never easy. With the help of current fabricator Scott Dodgion of SPD Metalworks based in Placentia CA. And the rest of the group, the team transformed a 2014 Subaru the monster you can seesomewhat plain but there’s a very good reason why. Falken Tires and Forza Motorsports recently disclosed to us that they are throwing down a competition to see that can design the most well liked livery. The winning graphic scheme will likely be placed on your vehicle for the entire 2014 FD season. . That’s how awesome?

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Kei Miura, the guy who designed the legendary Rocket Bunny wide body kit played an integral part in offering his newest Version 2 kit for the exterior with the addition of DY Champion wheels and a few additional body modifications per Dai’s request. The “no frills” interior layout offers a roll cage and bucket seat along with all the necessary gauges to keep close monitoring of the engines vitals.

The vented hood is reminiscent of the Subaru WRX because it plays an essential role in order to keep engine temps to a minimum in addition to offering additional clearance for the soon to be installed V8 power plant, like the one that powered his beloved S13. With an estimated 800whp on tap, you can be sure that the high horsepower machine and its lightweight chassis is sure to evoke some fear in FD competitors the upcoming season.