2008 Porsche Cayman Design Edition 1 on 2040-cars

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Chris Harris hits the track with the Porsche Cayman GT4

The Porsche Cayman GT4 offers the first legitimate chance for Porsche's more compact coupe to really step out of the long shadow of its brother the 911. By placing the 385-horsepower Carrera S engine into the center of a Cayman and sweetening the package with a ton of truly high performance parts, the model can now really show off. The ever-enthusiastic Chris Harris puts on quite a display behind the wheel of the German brand's latest hardcore creation. As is his wont, Harris slides the GT4 all over the Portimao circuit with little wisps of smoke wafting up from its rear Michelin tires. However, what he gets really excited about is Porsche's decision to fit a real manual gearbox, rather than the PDKs rapidly taking over the company's highest performance vehicles. For anyone who loves seeing a sports car's oily bits, stay tuned all the way through because after hooning around for awhile, Harris puts the model up on a lift to find out what's so special. Porsche touts the GT4's 911 GT3-derivied front suspension, but this really shows just how many mechanical adjustments it offers the demanding driver. Related Video:

Can a Corvette really be compared to a 911 with options costing more than the Chevy?

In this latest video from Drive, Chris Harris asks straight away, "Can you still compare a base Corvette to a Porsche Carerra?" That's an particularly interesting question in this film, as the 911 in question is a 400-horsepower Carrera S model that's been fitted with $60,000 in options. Base price of a Corvette Stingray? $51,995. Harris' tester features an automatic and some other goodies that push it right up to that $60,000 range. So yes, the options on the Porsche cost as much as this entire 460-hp Chevrolet.
Harris stresses that this isn't a full review, but he does exercise both cars in a more composed manner before reverting to his traditionally exuberant driving style. The impressions are, as always, spot on, with Harris favoring the pointy nature and V8 power of the Stingray, while enjoying the gearbox (Porsche's exceptional PDK transmission) and just about everything else on the 911.
Take a look below for the latest video from Drive, and let us know if you agree with Mr. Harris' views on these two sports cars.

Porsche clinches 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship

There's still another round to go in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship. But regardless of what happens in Bahrain later this month, Porsche has already laid claim to the manufacturers' title for this year. That's how far ahead it is of the competition. The championship was sealed this weekend when the Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber, and Brendon Hartley crossed the finish line at the 6 Hours of Shanghai in first place. That marked not only the fourth straight win for the trio, but the fourth one-two finish for Porsche and the fifth straight victory this season. That's pretty remarkable when you consider that Porsche only arrived in the series last year, and only serves to further sweeten the win it took at Le Mans this past June. This marks the first time since entering WEC that Porsche has taken the championship, which was claimed last year by Toyota and in the previous two years since the revival of the series by Audi. However Porsche, of course, is no stranger to the winner's circle in endurance racing, having taken 12 previous championships between 1964 and 1986. The victory in Shanghai also puts Bernhard, Webber, and Hartley in prime position to secure the drivers' championship. The trio currently sits in the lead ahead of Audi's Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler, and Benoit Treluyer. This despite the Porsche trio having failed to make the finish line in the opening round at Silverstone. Related Video: FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), LMP1, Round 7, Shanghai (CN), Race Porsche secures World Championship title by another one-two win Stuttgart. By taking the fifth victory in a row Porsche has made itself a World Champion in Shanghai. One race before the season's finale no one can take away the constructors' title in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) from the young team from Weissach. In China the winning drivers were Timo Bernhard (DE), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AU) in a six-hour race of which two thirds were held on a wet track. The sister car of Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) finished second and hence the season's fourth one-two victory for the Porsche team. Porsche has won the title with 308 points ahead of Audi (238) and Toyota (137). For Porsche it is the 13th constructors' World Championship title in endurance racing and the first since 1986. Between 1964 and 1986 Porsche took twelve constructors' titles in the then Sports Car World Championship.