1973 Porsche 914 Base 1.7l on 2040-cars

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Porsche 911 Aerodynamic prototype cheated the wind ahead of its time

You might think that sports cars would have the lowest drag coefficient of all cars. And yes, they do tend to be more slippery than, say, SUVs or convertibles, but the sleekest vehicles on the road tend to be EVs, hybrids and luxury sedans. Sports cars, on the other hand, have aerodynamically detrimental needs for downforce and additional engine cooling. Still, the Porsche 911 is better than most, and has only gotten more so over the years. Its relatively narrow track and compact form mean it has a smaller frontal area than some other sports cars, and the gradual sweeping back of its headlights and windshield have only augmented its capacity for cheating the wind.
This 911 prototype, however, is even more aerodynamic than most. It's based on a "G model" 911 from 1984, but employed such features as covered wheels, a new rear spoiler and a reprofiled front end to drop its drag coefficient from 0.40 to 0.27, making it as slippery as a modern sedan and better at cheating the wind than just about anything built up to that point, save for maybe the Tatra 77, Citroën SM or Tucker Torpedo.
Elements of this prototype ended up gradually making it into production Porsches for years to come, and you can clearly see early influences on the second-generation 964 and even on the 959. It's featured here as the latest installment in a video series on rare historic Porsches unearthed from the company archives, following previous clips that featured a rare V8-powered 911 and a mid-engined 911 prototype. Scope out the latest episode in the video below.

Corvette gets slidey with Britain's best performance cars

Autocar wants to find Britain's best driver's car, and it's challenging a murderers' row of some of the world's best performance vehicles to find out, including the latest Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. All of them were therefore assembled at the Castle Combe Circuit to find a winner.
If it wants to take the crown from this pack of mostly European competitors, the 'Vette has to beat some steep competition. Its challengers include monsters like the Ferrari 458 Speciale, Ariel Atom 3.5R and Jaguar F-Type Coupe. As a further hurdle for the winner to clear, Autocar also has last year's champ among the fighters - the Porsche 911 GT3.
Even if you're not at all interested in the C7, there's still something here for practically any fan of fast cars. The competitors include relative oddities among the pack like the Renault Mégane RS Trophy and Alfa Romeo 4C. Plus, Autocar has some well-positioned microphones that let you hear the Atom wailing like a banshee and the roar of the 458 Speciale. Check out the video to see which one of these all-stars takes home the award this year.

Porsche (finally) unleashes full, official details on 918 Spyder

Porsche has finally let released all of the details on the 918 Spyder, the German brand's challenger to the McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari, after months of leading our poor, performance-loving hearts on. The covers were lifted at the Volkswagen Group night, an enormous precursor to the Frankfurt Motor Show, and include a massive, 11,000-word press release that's attached at the bottom of this page.
The 918 Spyder features a mid-mounted, dry-sump-lubricated, 4.6-liter V8 engine that generates 608 horsepower when left to its own devices. Combined with a trio of electric motors, which produce 286 hp, the total system horsepower for the 918 Spyder rests at 887 ponies. That's less than the McLaren P1 (903 hp) and the LaFerrari (949 hp), but the Porsche is also likely to be a bit cheaper, starting at $845,000, while the McLaren will be in the seven-figure range for certain, and it will more than likely be joined by the LaFezza.
The 918 Spyder counters with a 2.8-second jog to 62, a 7.7-second run to 124 and it will hit 186 in 22 seconds.