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McLaren boss' exclusive Porsche 935 Street is worth three 911 Turbos

McLarens may be exclusive, but there are still hundreds - if not thousands - of people out there who can say they own one. Mansour Ojjeh is one of them, but he doesn't just own a McLaren - he owns McLaren. As in, the company that makes the racing and exotic supercars. Or 25 percent of it, anyway. As the head of Techniques d'Avant Garde, Ojjeh is one of the British outfit's largest shareholders, previously having owned Heuer watches (before selling it to luxury giant LVMH) and engineered Porsche's most successful foray into Formula One - winning the world drivers' championship three times in a row and the constructors' title twice with Alain Prost and Niki Lauda behind the wheel of McLarens with Porsche engines developed and branded by TAG.
In short, he probably could get any McLaren he wanted at the drop of a hat, but also had strong ties to Porsche in the 80s, and this is the car he wanted. It's called the Porsche 935 Street, and it's the only one ever made. Inspired by the 935 racer that won Le Mans and over 120 other races, Ojjeh contracted Porsche Exclusive when it was still in its infancy to make him one for the road. So they took a 930 bodyshell, slotted in the 3.3-liter turbo flat-six from the 934 but cranked output up to 375 horsepower, and gave it the brakes, suspension, BBS wheels and wide-body aero from the 935 racer. They painted it a deep metallic red and trimmed the interior with cream leather and wood veneer.
When all was said and done, a total of 550 modifications were performed, detailed on a seventeen-page invoice and costing as much as three new 911 Turbos at the time. Ojjeh only put 12,000 miles on the odometer, running up and down the French Riviera, and has now put it up for sale at the upcoming Bonhams auction at Spa where it's tipped to fetch upwards of 300,000 euros - equivalent to $410k at today's rates, or, once again, the price of about three new 911 Turbos.

Porsche previews new 911 in development

Porsche has taken the rather unorthodox step of releasing a series of photos of a new vehicle before it reveals it in full, sans brightwork and covered in dirt. That model, as you can see, is the new 911, expected to feature a number of upgrades and some big changes over the 991-generation line it will replace. The photos give us an advance look at the update, with more details to follow. Likely to be dubbed (unofficially) as the 991.2 or 991.5, the new 911 will encompass the usual array of visual updates: revised bumpers, headlights, rolling stock, interior equipment... the works, as we saw from the most recent batch of spy shots. But the biggest change will be under the hood, where Porsche is expected to fit a new family of downsized, turbocharged flat-six engines to replace the naturally aspirated units in the current models, likely with more power and improved performance to boot. We expect the launch of the new 911 to kick off a raft of new versions to follow, including coupes, convertibles, and Targas (as you can see from the photos), as well as rear- and all-wheel-drive versions in various states of tune. The current generation, after all, bred a about two dozen versions, and you can bet the new one will lead to just as many, from the base Carrera all the way up to the Turbo. That will (as in the all-turbo Macan range) likely remain the flagship model, even after the forced induction no longer sets it apart. The GT3, GT3 RS and a new purist model are expected to be the only hold-outs for atmospheric pressure, but the widespread adaptation of turbocharged power will put another degree of separation between the new 911 and the naturally aspirated, air-cooled models of old. For more details, we'll have to wait until Porsche reveals the full monte, but for a taste of what's to come, look no further than the 19 high-resolution images in this slideshow. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Porsche 911: Testing View 19 Photos Image Credit: Porsche Porsche Performance porsche 991

How Porsche got Patrick Dempsey into the driver's seat for Le Mans

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. Ask Patrick Dempsey and he'll likely tell you the same secret for landing a role on a hit TV show or, for that matter, driving a Porsche in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
That's because, like McQueen and Newman, Dempsey has earned his place in that rarified field of actors who also race. He's competed in Baja and Grand-Am, co-owns an IndyCar team, and this year returned to Le Mans where he and his teammates Joe Foster and Patrick Long finished fourth in the GTE-Am class behind the wheel of their Porsche 911 RSR.
It's a grueling race, and the fluid transition between drivers behind the wheel is a key element to success. Check out the satirical video below to see how Dempsey and company got ready.