Porsche 911 993 Carrera on 2040-cars

Auto blog

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.

Touring Italy in a classic Porsche will have you feeling continental

It's hard to believe there was a time when a Porsche 911 didn't come to market with 400 horsepower. But as the latest video from Petrolicious reminds us, with this video of a 1968 911T, owned by Donato Maniscalco, that time wasn't so long ago.
You might think, being a distinguished man living in Italy, Maniscalco would be more enthused by a Ferrari, Maserati, or Lamborghini, but in reality, it was always Porsche that enamored the Italian as a boy. And it was that passion that led him to purchase the glorious 911T he's seen tossing about in this video.
Maniscalco goes into detail about what makes the old 911 such a legend, while also mentioning how he and the car participate in classic rallies and races. There's also some typically beautiful footage of the Italian countryside, as well. So take a look below for the latest video from Petrolicious.

2017 Porsche Panamera Turbo First Drive

The Porsche Panamera didn't need much improving. Okay, the humpback design was short of pretty, and people really liked complaining about the Spine of Many Buttons down the center console. But once you sat down in one (and could no longer see the shape) then set the chassis how you wanted it, the nitpicking stopped. Now back for round two, the Panamera has been visited with improvement in almost every area. We'll start with the styling. The 2017 design doesn't stray too far from the original's, but a handful of small changes come together to execute the stretched-911 look the car has always been going for – the rear roofline and side glass opening now mirror the sports car's. The back seat is no longer designed to fit a certain six-foot-six CEO, so the roof has been dropped slightly, although Porsche claims the seat cushion has been lowered by the same amount, making for a net-zero headroom change. The 2017 car's more pronounced shoulders, rear glass that reaches back farther, and a greater taper toward the rear bring it all together. There was less change in front – it's hard to tell a difference between the parts ahead of the windshield on this car and the face-lifted first generation at a glance; that's fine by us. If you liked the first Panamera's design, you'll like this one. And if you didn't, well, you probably still will. And anyone who liked how the last one drove will be into the second-gen car. The original felt tight, composed, and amazingly Porsche-like, more so than the Cayenne SUV that busted out of the company's mold before it. Porsche used its usual combination of technology and deft chassis tuning to make the first Panamera something more than a sporty sedan with a hatch on the back, and all of that carries over to this new one; the car is about the same size, with a slightly longer wheelbase, but it feels even smaller around you, which is mostly down to the many sophisticated chassis systems. They're too numerous to even list here, but you can read our tech backgrounder story for more details on what makes the car tick. We'll focus instead on how it drives. Although it has been changed, the steering manages to extend a through line from the last Panamera. The rack switches from hydraulic to electric assist, but the weight and feedback are similar to what the old car provided, at least in Normal mode.