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Historic race cars highlight the RM Sotheby's 2023 Le Mans sale

Auction house RM Sotheby's is celebrating 100 years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans by organizing a big sale on the day before the race. The cars scheduled to cross the auction block have all spent time on the track, and the catalog shows how racers have evolved since the 1930s. Browsing through RM's auction catalog is like taking a five-minute course in the history of racing. The oldest car is a 1932 Aston Martin Le Mans 'LM8' that's had a remarkable life. It was developed and built for competition and entered in the 1932 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Aston Martin factory team, where it finished seventh. It was ultimately sold to a private owner but it survived, which shouldn't be taken for granted: teams often destroyed obsolete race cars, and the list of special vehicles that didn't survive World War II is longer than you'd think. Paul Sykes bought the car in 1955 and used it as his daily driver. Imagine walking out of a shop in a British village in the 1960s and finding a 1932 race car parked next to your Mini. Sykes ultimately bought another daily driver, but he kept the Aston Martin for a total of 55 years. The second-oldest car is a 1936 Delahaye 135 S with a body by coach builder Pourtout. RM notes that this is one of the most significant pre-war competition Delahaye models and adds that it finished second in the 1938 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It continued racing until 1956 and then spent several decades hidden in storage. It was fully restored in 2005, and it's now eligible to compete in historic races such as the Mille Miglia and the Le Mans Classic. Restoring it was easier said than done: the car was rebodied twice before being tucked away. None of the cars crossing the block were built in the 1940s, so we skip ahead to the 1950s with a 1954 OSCA MT4 by Morelli. It's one of 72 built, according to RM, and only 19 of those were fitted with the twin-cam, 1.5-liter 2AD engine. It raced at Le Mans in 1954 but ended up disqualified following an accident. Another highlight from the 1950s is a 1958 Lister-Jaguar 'Knobbly' finished in yellow and green. We said that all of the cars crossing the block have spent time on the track, but that doesn't mean they were built to race. The 1963 Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2 Series III is a street-legal model, yet it's included in the auction because it was used as a safety car during the 1963 edition of the race.

2015 Porsche Boxster GTS [w/video]

You know the sound: the startling pop-brraaap-pop-pop shotgun fire of unspent flammables coursing through exhaust pipes that usually signals a raw, naughty powerplant beneath the hood.
But when you're nestled in the Porsche Boxster GTS' snug seats, it's not a crackling small block V8 or a high-strung Italian flat crank making the devilish racket, but rather the new king of the Boxster/Cayman lineup, a 3.4-liter flat-six that produces 330 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque.
Within the emotional vacuum of a spec sheet, the Boxster GTS' pumped-up grunt seems pretty mild, with a gain of only 15 hp and 7 lb-ft, respectively. But the reworked acoustical experience goes a long way towards suggesting the GTS has a trace of racing blood in its veins, and might even be missing its catalytic converters. In addition to the sonorous, centrally positioned tailpipes, the cabin also fills with lovely mechanical strains thanks to the "Sound Symposer" acoustical amplifier that's trickled down into the Boxster/Cayman lineup from the 911 for the first time. Boxster S, we hardly knew ya.

Porsche updates 919 Hybrid LMP1 for 2015 assault [w/video]

Last season, Porsche returned to the top level of endurance racing with the 919 Hybrid, picking up a mantle that has seen the German marque win the 24 Hours of Le Mans a record sixteen times – more than any other manufacturer ever to compete at the legendary French race. Of course, Porsche didn't beat its sister company Audi right out of the box, but managed to win the last race in the FIA World Endurance Championship in Brazil before the season was done. This year it undoubtedly hopes to do even better, and this is the machine with which it will endeavor to take the top honors. Newly revised and optimized for the 2015 season, the new 919 Hybrid was just revealed on the eve of the first test session of the season at the Paul Ricard test track in the South of France. It may look largely the same as the model it succeeds, but benefits from numerous advancements made to help Porsche catch up with Audi and Toyota. For starters, Zuffenhausen has opted to step up to the eight-megajoule category, favoring the electric side of its hybrid powertrain over the internal combustion engine. So the compact 2.0-liter turbocharged V4 now drives in excess of 500 horsepower to the rear wheels, and the electric motor – powered by two energy recovery systems and a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery – kicks in upwards of 400 hp to the front wheels. The rest of the package has been comprehensively updated as well, giving it a lower weight, improved rigidity, revised suspension and reshaped aerodynamic elements. Porsche will field two cars at most of the races this season, but will increase its team to three cars for certain races – one in black, one in white and one in red. Following the "prologue" test session at Paul Ricard this weekend, the season kicks off with the 6 Hours of Silverstone on April 12, when the new Porsche 919 Hybrid will take on the similarly revised Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro and Toyota TS040 Hybrid for the first time in earnest. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) LMP1 presentation 2015 Porsche 919 Hybrid – proven base was extensively optimised Suttgart. At the Paul Ricard Circuit in France today, Porsche presented the second generation of its Le Mans Prototype 919 Hybrid race car as a technical evolution in a three-colour concept. Porsche also confirmed it will switch to the highest of the four energy categories in the LMP1 class.