2005 911s on 2040-cars

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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.

Why won't automakers slap on a turbo badge anymore?

Where have all the turbos gone? Not the actual pieces that go in the engine, mind you, those are everywhere these days as automakers downsize cylinder counts and boost efficiency and CO2 claims. But the turbo badges and fanfare are missing. Back when turbos were something to get excited about there was "turbo-driven," "turbonium," and "The Turbo Zone," among other silly lines. But now that basically every car is getting some sort of boost even on the lowliest trims, automakers are almost sliding in the turbos under the radar. Or if you look at some of the nomenclature, pretending they don't exist at all. The 911 Turbo badge shows where the car goes from being sane to lunatic. It's an important border. The latest automaker to hide that it has boosted the turbo presence is Porsche with the 2017 911 lineup. Even the standard Carrera models now get turbocharged flat-six engines, meaning the 911 Turbo models aren't quite as special as they once were. Porsche is in a sticky situation with this. The 911 Turbo, after all, signifies where the 911 family takes off from being a sports car and becomes the Ferrari fighter. The 911 Turbo badge shows where the car goes from being sane to lunatic. It's an important border, but now Porsche has crossed it and is trying to downplay the fact. There are a lot of exaggerations with displacement badges today, with claims the 2.0-liter turbo four in a Mercedes C Class equates to a naturally aspirated 3.0-liter six to make a C300. Volvo is pretty far up there, too, saying an XC90 T8 means V8 power, even though it's a 2.0-liter turbocharged and supercharged four with electric assist. I don't know why BMW can't just call the car a 330i Turbo, rather than inflating the numbers up to 340i. Saab tried all of this back in the '90s when it decided to turbocharge its entire lineup, from light pressure units all the way up to models actually called "Saab 9-3 HOT" (for high-output turbo). But then the brand deleted any external reference to the turbo under the hood and people wondered why they were buying a $42,000 four-cylinder convertible. And that didn't turn out well. Even though these turbo replacements often make more power than their naturally aspirated predecessors, they're very different engines. People knew something changed when they exchanged their leased 328i with a 3.0-liter six for a 328i with a 2.0-liter turbo four.

Porsche 911 Targa 4S special makes us want to go Dutch

There's a long list of things that make us love the Netherlands, and not all of them involve activities that would be illegal in most of the United States. Like this latest special edition Porsche 911, for example. Unveiled at AutoRAI 2015 – Holland's premier car show that opened last week – the Porsche 911 Targa 4S Exclusive Edition celebrates the 50th anniversary of Zuffenhausen's iconic partial convertible. It's decked out in Gulf blue, but instead of contrasting with bright orange, nearly everything else on this special Elfen is blacked out: The 20-inch Fuchs-style alloys, the throwback quarter-panel racing stripes, the LED headlight frames... everything but the signature Targa roof bar, which keeps its brushed metal finish. The interior is rather more subdued than you'd find on most special editions, with throwback houndstooth fabric seats and silver stitching. Power comes from the 3.8-liter boxer-six driving 400 horses to all four wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The Sport Chrono Package Plus, a sports exhaust, adaptive suspension and Bose audio system are all fitted as standard. Options include carbon-ceramic brakes, a seven-speed manual transmission and a 30-horse Powerkit. As the name suggests, though, this is a rather exclusive edition indeed. All fifteen examples will be made available exclusively in the Netherlands, priced from ˆ223,230 with the PDK or ˆ229,500 with the manual. That's more than you'd pay for a 911 Turbo Cabrio in the same country, and works out to more than $240k at today's conversion rates. Related Video: Speciaal voor Nederland: Porsche 911 Targa 4S Exclusive Edition - Zeer exclusief uitgevoerde 911 Targa 4S in Gulfblauw - 15 exemplaren om 50 jaar 911 Targa te vieren - Debuut op de AutoRAI Leusden, 16 april 2015 – Porsche Nederland presenteert op de AutoRAI 2015 de 911 Targa 4S Exclusive Edition. Dit model wordt in een oplage van 15 exemplaren door Porsche Exclusive geproduceerd om '50 jaar Targa' te vieren. Alle modellen zijn uitgevoerd in het herkenbare Gulfblauw met accenten in hoogglans zwart en lichtmetalen wielen in het klassieke 'Fuchs-design'. Elke 911 Targa 4S Exclusive Edition wordt geleverd met een fotoboek van de auto en het productieproces. Aansluitend aan de AutoRAI start de levering. De 911 Targa 4S Exclusive Edition is er vanaf ˆ 223.230. De 911 Targa 4S Exclusive Edition is speciaal voor de Nederlandse markt ontwikkeld ter ere van 50 jaar Targa.