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McLaren P1 vs Porsche 918 vs Ducati 1199 Superleggera in epic standing-mile drag race

We live in a high-tech supercar renaissance, with the Porsche 918 Spyder, McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari all duking it out for performance supremacy. All three members of this power trio place the engine behind the driver and use some kind of hybrid assist. However, each one finds a slightly different way to make that setup work. While all of the tech is insanely cool, let's just admit that we are all really wondering which one is the quickest and which is the fastest. Autocar aims to find out in a new video pitting two of them against a surprise challenger in the standing mile.
Unfortunately, the race is missing the Ferrari, despite Autocar's best efforts. So instead, it has another limited-edition, high-performance vehicle from Italy in the form of the Ducati 1199 Superleggera. The bike has just two cylinders, but at 1.2-liters of displacement, it makes over 200 horsepower, and all that gumption is packaged into a magnesium monocoque body with carbon fiber bodywork to keep weight low. Granted, the cycle is going up against the 875-hp Porsche and 903-hp McLaren, but traction, aerodynamics and gearing all play a part in this fascinating video.
There's no sense in ruining the winner before watching, but Autocar teases that the finish is one of its closest drag races ever. Check out the video to find out just what that means.

Porsche to replace chassis components in 918 Spyders

The entire production run of the Porsche 918 Spyder is completely sold out, but 205 of them need to make a trip to the dealer for a repair estimated to take about two days. According to Porsche, it found quality problems with unspecified "chassis components" on the hybrid supercar and has instituted a plan to fix them as a precautionary measure. There were no reported breakages of these parts or complaints from customers. The German automaker already contacted all of the affected owners directly to have the 918s repaired in 2015. When reached for comment, Porsche Director of Corporate Communications Achim Schneider told Autoblog via email that "due to the supplier relationship we did not announce further details regarding the components so far." He also said that 43 vehicles are affected in North America, which includes the US and Canada. The 918 Spyder was affected by a small recall in the US earlier this year when Porsche found that the rear-axle control arms could potentially break. The campaign covered only five cars, though. Porsche replaces chassis components in 205 vehicles worldwide Atlanta. As a precautionary measure, Porsche will replace chassis components in 205 vehicles of the 918 Spyder model worldwide. The reason for this is that for vehicles that were manufactured in a certain time period defective parts were used from a delivery batch, whose functionality cannot be permanently guaranteed. No complaints have been made known (such as a break of a component) from customers up till now. The problem was identified during in-house quality inspections and remedied immediately. The owners of the vehicles, which could be exactly traced, were contacted directly by their competent Porsche representatives. The workshop visit, which will take place by appointment at the onset of 2015, takes about two days to complete at no charge. Featured Gallery 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder: First Drive View 51 Photos News Source: PorscheImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Michael Harley / AOL, Porsche Green Recalls Porsche Hybrid Supercars porsche 918 spyder porsche 918

Petrolicious profiles the rare Italian Porschephile

If you're Italian, you love Ferrari. It's almost a national requirement. If not Ferrari, then Lamborghini, or if you're a bit contrarian, perhaps Alfa Romeo or Maserati. This common belief, though, flies in the face of Rosita Corato's devotion to a certain unique Porsche. Despite growing up around cars from Italy's most treasured automakers, Rosita's family of coachbuilders had a passion for Porsche. This love was fostered by her father, who made a living repairing Ferraris. Despite his work, he'd longed for a rear-engined German, finally picking up a 1959 356 Speedster that was in desperate need of restoration. Rosita describes it as "practically a heap of metal" before her masterful metalworking father got to work on it. While it was originally meant to be a racer, it could best be described today as a restomod, and Rosita still uses it regularly on rallies. The engine and brakes have been upgraded, while the ratios on the manual transmission have been tightened up for improved performance. To save weight – remember, Rosita's father wanted a racer – the doors and hood were replaced with aluminum units, while other aesthetic upgrades were made as well, such as moving the fuel access up onto the hood. Check out Rosita's gorgeous 356 Speedster in the very latest episode from the team at Petrolicious. Related Video: