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EVO "2012 Car of the Year: The Track Battles" is a sports car salmagundi

EVO has come out with another gotta-watch-it video, throwing its 2012 Car of the Year contestants around the UK's 1.5-mile Blyton Park track. It's actually a 15-minute teaser for the full-length DVD detailing the magazine's Car of the Year selection, but the tease is worth every penny free second.
Tiff Needell and sports car racer Richard Meaden handle the wheel duties, the two driving five pairs of sports cars: Lotus Exige S vs. Porsche Boxster S, Morgan Three-Wheeler vs. Toyota GT86, BMW M135i vs. Porsche 911, Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series vs. Alpina B3 GT3, the marquee event pits the McLaren MP4-12C vs. the Pagani Huayra. After a head-to-head lap with commentary during drifts, Meaden takes each car out to set a representative lap time.
You'll find the verdicts, lots of tire smoke, and lines like "Anything you can do sideways I can do sideways" in the video below.

Vintage-ish Porsche 911 buying guide

Harry Metcalfe is always great at showing viewers the intricate details of the vehicles in his collection as part of the Harry's Garage series. This time he's helping out future buyers by explaining what to look for when purchasing a classic and slightly more modern Porsche 911. His examples for this lesson are two absolute beauties that are about to cross the block from Silverstone Auctions in the UK: a 1972 2.4 S and a 1991 964-chassis RS Clubsport. The '72 in creamy white here epitomizes the look of early 911s. The coupe is handsome, purposeful, and fairly compact by modern standards. According to Metcalfe, when looking at one, don't worry about a wobbly gearshift. Apparently, they're all like that, even ones as well cared for as this example. As with any used car purchase, he recommends trying to get as many service records as you can. It's just good to know as much about the vehicle's life as possible before throwing down any cash. Where the '72 911 shows the more gentlemanly side of the brand, the '91 RS Clubsport is Porsche proving the company's performance credentials. Metcalfe slightly dings the switch to an aftermarket air filter here, but overall it's hard to find a major fault. These cars were essentially road-going racers in this trim. The engineers in Zuffenhausen chopped out as much weight as possible and then fitted Recaro racing buckets and a roll cage. This thing was meant clock as many laps around the 'Ring as the driver could stand.

Porsche moving all Boxster/Cayman production to Zuffenhausen

The Porsche Boxster and Cayman have been built at a variety of locations over the years. But in its latest announcement, the German automaker has revealed its intentions to bring production of its entry-level models back home to Stuttgart. The decision was announced today as part of a major investment program being undertaken by Porsche. Porsche intends to spend over ˆ1.1 billion (equivalent to over $1.2 billion at current exchange rates) to expand several of its facilities. Those include the factory at Zuffenhausen, the sales and marketing department at Ludwigsburg, and the famed R&D facility at Weissach – all of which would undergo upgrades and renovations by 2020. The biggest component of the wide-ranging plans, however, would ostensibly be the expansion of the Zuffenhausen assembly line. While the Panamera, Cayenne, and Macan are handled largely at a second facility in Leipzig, the 911 is built at the company's historic home at Zuffenhausen, on the outskirts of Stuttgart. The Boxster and Cayman are built there as well, but excess capacity has been outsourced to other facilities: first by Valmet in Sweden, and then at the former Karmann plant in Osnabruck, Germany. That additional off-site production, however, will come to an end starting in August 2016, both for the current models and their replacements. In addition to the expansion of the assembly plant, the Zuffenhausen site will also get a new body shop and engine production facility. In the process, Porsche has also ruled out laying off any workers until 2020. The entire proposal was announced by the company's Executive Board and the General Works Council that represents its employees, but still needs to be approved by the Supervisory Board. Related Video: Executive Board and the General Works Council sign agreement to secure locations Porsche is getting fit for the future: Further flexibilisation, a high level of investments and safeguarding of jobs Stuttgart. The Executive Board and the General Works Council of the Porsche AG have adopted a pioneering package of measures for the long-term safeguarding of the company locations. Porsche is to invest more than a billion euros in the expansion of its factories. The objective of the new agreement with the title "Fit for the Future" is also to boost the productivity, flexibility and efficiency of the company while maintaining the social standards for the employees.