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The 1994 Porsche 911 Speedster only looks weirder with age

The 1994 Porsche 911 Speedster is undoubtedly a rare car, and it's even rather quick by the standards of the era. However, the designers weren't at their best when they created the odd shape at this model's rear. MotorWeek remembers this classic Porsche's exciting performance and weird look in its latest Retro Review. The Speedster's design isn't all bad. The front end still looks fantastic thanks to the nose of the 964-generation 911 and a steeply raked windshield. We can even live with the body color wheels. However, things get much worse at the rear where the hard cover, which hides the roof, gives the convertible a hunchback. As MotorWeek shows, fitting the manual top is quite fiddly. Porsche might have been better off from a styling perspective by leaving the back smooth and completely ditching the complicated roof. You can't get a good look at the weird rear from the driver's seat, and MotorWeek says that the Speedster excels once you're behind the wheel. The handling and braking are reportedly especially good. Sport seats grip the driver closely, and even with 247 horsepower, the convertible gets to 60 miles per hour in 5.4 seconds. With the weather starting to warm up, it sounds like a great experience, and you can imagine taking a ride in MotorWeek's latest video. Related Video:

Porsche sells final 918 Spyder amidst excellent year of sales

2014 has been a banner year for Porsche, as the company has moved over 169,000 units through November, an increase of around 12,000 units over the same period in 2013. During last month alone, the company's sales saw a year-over-year jump of 25 percent. The European market, meanwhile, saw an 18-percent jump in sales, while its North American efforts have jumped 13 percent. "This strong November is evidence that our strategy is working extremely well," Porsche board member Bernhard Maier said in the accompanying statement. "It also confirms our commitment to taking advantage of every opportunity presented in the global markets." Those notable sales gains aside, this latest sales report comes with some bad news for the overwhelming majority of Porsche fans – the last 918 Spyder has been sold. All 297 cars have been spoken for, with US deliveries set to begin soon. According to Porsche, there are currently around 100 Spyder owners spread across Germany and China. Porsche exceeds previous year's sales by November Last unit of the 918 Spyder sold Atlanta. Porsche AG increased global deliveries to customers from January to November this year to more than 169,000 vehicles, already exceeding the overall total for 2013 of 162,145 new vehicles. This represented a growth of 15 percent over the same period last year (January to November 2013: 147,290 vehicles). In the month of November, Porsche delivered 17,700 vehicles – an increase of one quarter over the same month last year. "This strong November is evidence that our strategy is working extremely well," said Bernhard Maier, Member of the Executive Board – Sales and Marketing of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. "It also confirms our commitment to taking advantage of every opportunity presented in the global markets." In Europe, Porsche delivered 54,500 vehicles from January to November 2014 – an increase of 18 percent over the previous year, with the domestic German market accounting for 22,200 of the sales. The American region also showed a significant 13 percent increase over last year with a total of 51,600 deliveries. In addition, November announced the finality of sales for the 918 Spyder hybrid super sports car. With a limited run of 918 units, the majority of the cars – 297 – will be shipped from the Zuffenhausen manufactory to buyers in the USA. In both Germany and China there are already around 100 proud new owners who have taken delivery of the super sports car.

Porsche Supercup racer dies in crash in Australia

Even with great strides made towards increasing the safety of motor racing, fundamentally it's still a dangerous sport. And now it has claimed another life.
That life belonged to one Sean Edwards, an accomplished GT racing driver. Edwards was killed at Queensland Raceway in Australia, riding shotgun in a Porsche 996 GT3 while acting as instructor. The driver was airlifted to hospital with critical injuries. Sean Edwards was 26.
The son of former F1 driver Guy Edwards (whose car he drove in the filming of Rush), Sean won the European GT3 Championship in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and drove a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 to repeat victories at the 24 Hours of Dubai as well as this year's Nürburgring 24 Hours. Edwards had been competing in the Porsche Supercup, whose standings he currently leads with just two rounds to go, and could be crowned champion posthumously.