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Felicity Ace sinks with thousands of VWs, Porsches, Lamborghinis

The stricken ship Felicity Ace sank overnight after a week of salvage efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful. The ship, which was carrying up to 4,000 VW Group cars, went to the bottom unexpectedly while a salvage team was attempting to tow it to shore, Bloomberg reports.  "Initial reports from the local salvage team state that the vessel had sunk at around 9AM local time having suffered a list to starboard," Mitsui O.S.K. Lines transportation company (MOL), which owns the Felicity Ace, said in a statement released early Tuesday.    "The last vessel position was around 220nm off the Azores," MOL said. "The salvage crafts will remain around the area to monitor the situation. Further information will be provided as it becomes available." The ship sank after being battered by waves and listing 45 degrees to starboard, the ship’s operator said. “The weather was pretty rough out there,” Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for MOL Ship Management (Singapore), a unit of Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., said by phone. “And then she sank, which was a surprise.” VW, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini-branded models were aboard the ship, which was headed to Rhode Island from GermanyÂ’s Emden port when the fire broke out on Feb. 16.  Rough seas and ongoing fires fueled by the lithium-ion batteries of EVs onboard delayed the ship's salvage and recovery operations for the better part of a week. While the likelihood of salvaging the smoke and potentially fire- and water-damaged vehicles from Felicity Ace's hold was slim to none, some had held out hope that their special-ordered vehicles might survive the mishap.  The Panama-flagged Felicity Ace was safely evacuated of its 22 crew members by the Portuguese navy after a fire started in its hold more than a week ago. The ship can carry up to 4,000 cars. European carmakers declined to discuss how many vehicles and what models were on board, but it appears to have been transporting approximately 2,500 cars, including roughly 1,100 Porsches and an undetermined number of Volkswagens.  The cars aboard were on order. Porsche customers in the United States were being contacted by their dealers, the company said. “We are already working to replace every car affected by this incident and the first new cars will be built soon,” Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, Inc., told The Associated Press in an email. The ship sank in water nearly 10,000 feet deep, the Portuguese Navy said.

Watch the Safari 911 do its thing off road

American racing driver Leh Keen spends his working hours in the No. 22 Alex Job Racing WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT America campaigning in the United SportsCar Championship. From the looks of this video, he spends his free time off-roading in a Porsche of his own specification: a 1981 Porsche 911 SC modded into an homage to the rallying 911s of the 1970s. Privateers began rallying the 911 not long after it went on sale 50 years ago, winning European events and the European Rally Championship as soon as 1967. After some good showings in the early 70s the carmaker took a 1978 911 SC to the Safari Rally in Africa going for the overall victory, but an encounter with a rock meant the team could only claim second place. Keen's Guards Red coupe channels that ancestor with a lift kit from Elephant Racing and a light rack and mud flaps shipped over from Europe. The engine gets a little more power thanks to intake modifications, some SSI heat exchangers, and a Danske exhaust. To help keep it together on the trail, the bumpers get pulled in and use steel bash bars for protection, and the side mirrors are aero numbers tucked into the A-pillar angle. The interior has been entirely redone. Keen apparently said "he wanted a 911 he could 'go anywhere' with," and the video above shows him doing just that. You can read more about the car in this month's Porsche Club of America magazine, check out Fatlace for the short story and a few pictures, or head to photographer Clint Davis' site for an eyefull of high-res shots of the beast. Related Video: News Source: PCAHQ via YouTube Porsche Coupe Luxury Off-Road Vehicles Performance Videos rally leh keen

Porsche Panamera Turbo S vs Ariel Atom Supercharged in unlikely drag battle

David versus Goliath battles are always an enticing proposition, because they offer the chance to watch scrappy underdogs take on their bigger rivals. Evo has set up just such a battle with its latest drag race between the minimalist Ariel Atom 3.5 Supercharged (Ariel Atom 3 pictured below) and the plush Porsche Panamera Turbo S.
The two cars couldn't be more different. The Atom personifies Lotus founder Colin Chapman's well-known axiom: "Simplify, then add lightness." Most of the car doesn't even have a body; it's just an exposed frame with a 310 horsepower supercharged Honda four-cylinder mounted behind the driver. On the other side, there's the Panamera Turbo S. In the latest version, it packs 570 hp and 553 pound-feet from its 4.8-liter twin-turbo V8 and it features all-wheel drive. Of course, all of that comes with a significant weight penalty.
Off the line, the differences are even more apparent. The Atom doesn't have any of the Porsche's technological wizardry, so launching it challenges the driver to build the revs and let out the clutch just right. The car screams like a banshee as it goes, though. The Porsche is the exact opposite. Its launch control system lets the driver hold down the brake, get on the throttle and accelerate away in just the right way.