Car Parts 2011

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.

2011 2003 Seat Ibiza 1.4 Tdi Features, specifications with pictures
Jaguar Car newshttp://masti-jokes.blogspot.com/search/label/Jaguar%20cars

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!

Badge Loyalty. I'm willing to bet that more than some of you will think of that guy with the Ford logo tattooed on the back of his head (true story, this guy actually exists) or the family with a mailbox in the shape of the ubiquitous Bow Tie. Today, I submit a different definition- A marque's loyalty to the essence of the badge they place on the hood of their automobiles.

"Win on Sunday; Sell on Monday" is a phrase that's been used since the inception of motorsport.  It gained huge popularity with marketing departments in the 60s when muscle cars ruled the dragstrip and NASCAR's ovals were filled with cars that were close to showroom stock.  There are still cars like the Porsche GT3, Corvette Z06, and Viper ACR that abide by this marketing scheme.  However, these are all quite expensive and extensively modified for race duty.

In the world of motorcycles, this old adage still holds true. Although Honda didn't reach the top step of the podium at Daytona this weekend, this wasn't always the case.  One man has held two very rare Hondas in their original shipping crates for nearly 20 years.




Novices to the sportbike world will just see these two bikes and think of old graphics schemes and square tubed frames.  For road racing enthusiasts, these were the cream of the crop.  Their engineering at the time was second to none.

The RC30 (VFR750R) was a race homologation used in superbike series around the world.  It housed a 90 degree V4 which displaced 748cc.  Redline was achieved at 12,000 rpm with the help of titanium connecting rods and power figures are listed as anywhere between 86-112 horsepower depending on the country of sale.  All this was wrapped in a 420lb package.  Those are on par with today's inline-4 600cc supersport bikes.

The NR750, on the other hand, was primarily a road bike because its concept had previously failed in Grand Prix racing.  The NR's 747cc V-four motor used oval shaped pistons to increase the cylinder size and therefore fit eight valves per cylinder instead of the conventional four.  Of course the reasoning was that more valves resulted in better flow and more power.  It's value lies in this quirky technology and exclusivity.  Only 200 were made with a $50,000 price tag.

Here are a few more videos for your viewing pleasure:

Since we've been talking about incredibly rare Porsches and old episodes of Top Gear, I thought I'd combine the two topics.  Conveniently, this brings us to the most recent limited edition uber-car from Stuttgart, the Carrera GT.  It just so happens to be, in my opinion, with its unique V10 whoooop whhhooooooop, the best sounding car... in the world.



I know we all dream about driving this car or one of its contemporaries, the Mclaren Mercedes SLR and Ferrari Enzo.  Still more people dream of owning an exotic like this V2 rocket.  However, very few understand what it takes to maintain a hyper car.  Well I'm here to do my civic duty as a blogger and reblog the images of Jason Tang and words of Rowan Horncastle.  Click here to see the complete list as well as more pics.

People always say that one man's trash is another man's treasure.  Although I'm not a fan of dumpster diving, this seems to be very true considering we have things like Craigslist, Ebay, and 50% divorce rates.  After seeing the two following Ebay listings, I can completely understand the trash part of that statement as well as 50% divorce rates.

At first glance, this doesn't look so bad. It would seem to be a nice piece of military memorabilia and that is exactly what it started life as.  This is a Humber Pig that was built in the United Kingdom.  It could transport eight soldiers along with two crew members.  Well, that's not the case anymore.
Now, it's a 6 ton party wagon that's decked out with leopard print, a 32" flat screen, and a disco ball.  I'm sure that's exactly the kind of life this British soldier wanted to live after its years of service.  Still, the basic principle of hauling a bunch of loaded dudes still applies.

The next vehicle is the very tragic result of the combined forces of a man's wallet and his misplaced passion for car design.  This car started life as a Porsche Boxster with all of its lithe, nimble handling.  Then it apparently fell victim to some sort of elephantiasis.
I can't bear to look or talk about this travesty anymore.  Just click the link.

Many people consider the Ferrari 458 to be the pinnacle of automotive excellence.  It is the ultimate in high performance, vehicular perfection.  With its combination of active aerodynamics, lightweight exotic materials, a horsepower dense power plant, and lightning fast transmission, this car sits at the top of the evolutionary charts.  Although for the everyday enthusiast like myself, it marks the end of an era that many people never really got to appreciate...

deshow.net

Turning sixteen (in most parts of the country) is the biggest day in a young enthusiasts' life.  The world is full of new possibilities all thanks to one little card with your picture on it, your driver's license.  For me, this meant the ever increasing challenge of perfecting my driving abilities.  It didn't matter if it was learning how to negotiate a blizzard in order to get to the grocery store or clipping a late apex on a decreasing radius on-ramp to find my gap in the flow of traffic.  One of the easiest tasks to accomplish but hardest to master for any driver is the manual transmission.  For every perfectly smooth take-off from a light, there are a handful of smoky burnouts and a single glorious sounding rev-matched downshift for every half dozen jerky gear changes.  Those are the times that inspire us to stick with it (no pun intended).

about.com

I know being an enthusiast in America who loves to drive a manual transmission means that I'm in the minority.  I'm OK with that!  In fact, I embrace it.  It's like meeting another member of a secret society when you discover someone else drives a stick too.  I've been lucky to meet people and they've been gracious enough to let me drive their cars.  The next generation won't be able to feel the thrill of that perfect gear change or the camaraderie of fellow manual drivers.

automobilemag.com

The Ferrari is the first step in this backwards evolution.  Yes, the dual clutch transmission can shift faster than any human could possibly achieve.  Yes, it will improve everyone's lap times.  But, honestly, how often are we on racetracks where we get to see those results listed in tenths of a second?  One of the biggest thrills to me is finding a beautifully sinewy piece of asphalt, dropping and rev-matching a gear or two, and following the ribbons at about a 7/10th pace.  Every step of the clutch, blip of the throttle, and "snick" of the gear lever is on purpose and for a reason.  For just a short time, everything is right in the world as man and machine conquer that road.

seriouswheels.com

Some would say that I'm being hard on Ferrari.  Granted, they are a company built on racing.  It's only right that they push the development envelope to produce the fastest cars on the track.  However, they are also the most revered company in the automotive world.  Their decision to not offer the 458 with a manual transmission is having a domino effect on its main competitors.  McLaren will not make a MP4-12C with a manual and Lamborghini will do away with the archaic device altogether once it releases its Murcielago replacement.  It can only be assumed that companies like BMW, Porsche, and Audi are watching the sales of these cars very carefully.  The majority of their performance cars still offer the option of a manual for the most part.  It's only a matter of time before they realize that profit margins can be improved by only having to tool their production plant for one transmission at the expense of alienating a small community of enthusiasts.

Whether we like it or not, dual clutch transmissions are here to stay.  I just hope that automakers can see that they will lose a percentage of enthusiasts to competing marques if they don't offer proper manuals.  If this isn't the case, the next generation of drivers might as well be born without opposable thumbs.

Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE , a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury high performance automobiles, owned by the Piëch-Porsche family. Porsche SE is headquartered in Zuffenhausen, a city district of Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg.

Porsche Gt
Porsche Wallpapers

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.

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?