2003 Porsche 911 / 996 C2 Targa on 2040-cars

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Driving 50 years of Porsche 911 history

Raiding The Porsche Museum For A Fun Track Day
It seems everyone is celebrating anniversaries this year: it's Aston's hundredth, Lamborghini's fiftieth, Ford Mustang's fiftieth, Chevy Corvette's sixtieth - and Tesla just turned ten or something. It's been a little out of hand, frankly, all these forced marketing festivities, but if we had to pick one milestone to really celebrate hard and party all night, the Porsche 911 would be at the top of our list.
Get ready for a major 911 blowout bash at next week's Frankfurt Motor Show. It was on September 12 back in 1963 at this very show where Porsche unveiled its "901" painted in a rather boring shade of beige. Though drably finished, the car caused a worldwide frenzy in the budding German sports car sphere.

Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo returns in these spy shots

Way back in 2012, Porsche got enthusiasts all hot and bothered with the Panamera Sport Turismo at the Paris Motor Show. The concept imagined a hybrid wagon with a shapely rear end. Porsche said at the time production was "possible," but these spy shots indicate the vehicle is actually under development now. Take a close look through the gallery and you'll see that this test car sports some light camouflage at the back, but it does nothing to hide the new rump. Compared to the sedan, the longer roof looks to provide extra headroom for rear passengers, along with a few extra cubes of cargo space. The rear glass sits more upright, and a spoiler visually lengthens the five-door. The wagon's front end is identical to other recent spy shots of the future Panamera. We don't have any technical details about the wagon, but it would likely share powertrains with the sedan. The cabin layout would probably also be identical, including touch-capacitive controls to replace traditional buttons. A Panamera wagon makes sense in the Porsche range. The long-roof version would offer all of the sedan's performance but have a little more room. If a customer with a family doesn't want a Cayenne, this would be the obvious alternative, and the massive 911 range shows Porsche isn't afraid to build a bevy of model variants. If you think a Panamera station wagon seems odd, just remember people thought a Porsche SUV was weird, too. And, of course, that move turned into a huge success for the company. Related Video:

More details on Lanzante's F1-engined Porsche 930 restomod

Not long after last year's Porsche Rennsport Reunion, we posted on Lanzante Engineering's restomod project with the original Porsche 911 Turbo. McLaren Formula One used TAG-branded Porsche engines for four years in the 1980s to win two constructor's and three driver's championships. McLaren sold 11 of those engines to Lanzante — nine of which have been raced, one with a win to its credit — and Lanzante is installing them into the original chassis of some 930s. PistonHeads stopped by the shop to find out more. By the end of its service in the MP4/3, the TAG-Porsche TTE P01 motor rang up 1,060 horsepower in qualifying and 960 hp in the race, revving to a 12,600-rpm redline. Porsche engine legend Hans Mezger had led the development, coaxing those numbers from just 1.5-liters of V6 aided by two large KKK turbos at a max of four bar. All that was fine for a time when F1 ran with unlimited testing and unlimited parts, but a modern owner doesn't want to pay five techs to live in his garage and keep his car running. Lanzante asked Cosworth to make the engine more drivable and reliable. Cosworth installed a new crankcase, adjusted the air-fuel mixture, and installed smaller turbos for quicker power delivery, decreasing max boost by 25 percent to three bar (43 psi). The redline has come down to 9,000 rpm, for final output figures of 503 hp and 310 pound-feet of torque. According to PistonHeads, power climbs a "steady incline to redline," and more than half the rev band delivers maximum torque. The 503-hp rating doesn't sound like much today, when a Mustang gets more than 700 hp. Yet the first 930 Turbos got 296 hp and 243 lb-ft from a 3.0-liter flat-six with one big KKK turbo. The most powerful 930 Flatnose worked up 330 hp and 347 lb-ft from a 3.3-liter flat-six. Lanzante's taken out a ton of weight, though. The TAG engine is already 220 pounds lighter than the 930's 3.3-liter; a new carbon fiber hood and engine cover, and aluminum door skins shed more pounds. The total package weighs roughly 2,430 pounds, which is more than 500 pounds lighter than the original Porsche Turbo. That includes the extra pieces needed to make an F1 engine power a passenger car. Lanzante had to swap in a 930 Flatnose front bumper, which replaces the fog lights for oil coolers. The team put radiators at the front of the car as part of a brand new water cooling system. The climate control is entirely electric, because F1 cars didn't come with HVAC.