2002 Porsche 911 Carrera 2dr Carrera Cabriolet 6-spd Manual on 2040-cars

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Porsche 960 could come with quad-turbo flat-eight engine

Getting a bead on the target that is the so-called Porsche 960 is not easy, as the target keeps moving. First labeled the 960, then the 961, and now back to being called the 960, it is Porsche's take on a supercar specifically aimed at Ferrari - the latest report in Automobile says that Porsche's internal moniker for it is "FeFi," which stands for "Ferrari Fighter." Because it is expected to cost as much as the top-tier V12 Ferrari, Porsche wants the engine solution to justify the price tag. That means, according to author Georg Kacher, a 3.9-liter, quad-turbo flat-eight engine with 650 horsepower.
Last summer, the engine was mooted to be a twin-turbo flat six. A few months later, the rumor was that it would use the 4.6-liter V8 from the 918 and have about 570 horsepower. This new mid-engine configuration would be quite the leap, giving the 960 more power than the 918 Spyder (pictured) and 911 GT2 RS, and utilize other tech features like four adjustable camshafts and "a complex multistage intake manifold." In this scenario, power would be run through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive.
Build materials are still slated to be a hodgepodge of materials including aluminum, steel, carbon fiber, titanium and magnesium. The boosted flat-eight, all-wheel drive and a 3,000-pound weight could get the 960 from zero to 60 miles per hour in just 2.5 seconds. Since it is looking squarely at Ferrari, the idea that the 960 will be a "four-door coupe" can probably be put to rest. For now.

'Faster. Farther.' dives into the history of Porsche racing tech

No doubt, Porsche has produced some of the best endurance racecars around, such as the turbocharged, slant-nose 935 of the 1970s and the ground-effects-enhanced 956 and 962 of the 1980s. But the company's most famous racecar, its first overall winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, was the 917.
The 917 embodied many of Porsche's technological achievements up to that point, such as the company's first 12- and 16-cylinder engines (the flat-16 was never used in competition), fiberglass bodies that implemented early aerodynamic practices and the use of new, exotic materials, such as magnesium and titanium.
The racecar was commissioned by the head of Porsche Motorsports, Ferdinand Piëch, to win overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970, after he realized a loophole in the rules that allowed cars to compete with engines up to five liters in the Sport category if they were also production models. Piëch saw opportunity: the top prototype class was restricted to three liters; the production minimum to compete in Sport was 25 cars. And so, with much effort, Porsche assembled 25 "production" 4.5-liter 917s and had them parked in a neat line for the race inspectors to verify their legitimacy. It didn't take long before people realized the new Porsches were much faster than the prototype racers, with a top speed approaching 250 miles per hour.

Autocar pits Porsche 911 Turbo S against Formula 4 racer

There is a long-running argument among performance car fans: power vs. weight. In one corner you get cars generally with small engines making modest numbers but able to corner like they are telepathic, and in the other there are big thumping mills that are rocketships in a straight line but lumber in the turns. Autocar takes an interesting look this continuum in a recent video pitting a 552-hp Porsche 911 Turbo S against a 185-hp Formula 4 racecar. It hopes to find whether the Porsche's huge power advantage is enough to defeat the better grip and aero offered by the nimble racer.
There's no doubt that the Porsche is an utterly fantastic road car. The 911 Turbo looks mean with all of those intakes to suck in cool air, and it backs up the posture with huge amounts of grip available thanks to its all-wheel drive-system. However, at 3,538 pounds, it's a bit of a porker compared to the 1,135-pound Formula 4 car. The open-wheel car boasts just a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder from Ford and a six-speed sequential-manual gearbox, but it has loads of downforce to make up for it.
It shouldn't be a surprise that the formula car wins in the corners. After all, that's what it's made for. So do you think the massive horsepower superiority of the Porsche is enough to even the playing field? Scroll down to watch the video and find out, and even if you're not curious of the winner the 911 does some mean powerslides.