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Jack Olsen built a Porsche 911 to drive every day and conquer Willow Springs

Almost two years ago we wrote about the 12-Gauge Garage Jack Olsen built to house his multifarious Porsche 911 - its 1972 bodywork hides four decades of Porsche parts, like the transaxle from a 1977 911 and the engine from 1995 911, for example. It weighs 2,400 pounds and has 272 horsepower, and Olsen uses it daily driving and for track days, the latter excursions featuring homemade, bolt-on aero parts. German magazine Auto Bild stopped by Olsen's house to look in on the Porsche called "Black Beauty II," and we get a few more details about the mods he's made, like swapping out for fiberglass body panels and welding Fuchs wheel centers to wider Corvette barrels so he could run different tires. Most importantly, though, Olsen divulges his passion for lowering his lap time at Willow Springs. Randy Pobst set the lap record for a production car around the 2.5-mile Big Willow track in a Porsche 918 Spyder at 1:23.54 during a Motor Trend test (the outright record, according to Willow Springs, is held by Michael Andretti at 1:06.050 in a CART car). Further down the list, Steve Millen drove a 415-hp 911 GT3 RS around the same track in 1:33.14 - a car 600 pounds heavier than Olsen's. Over the past 14 years of tinkering with his car, Olsen says his data shows his lap time is now down to 1:26.88, achieved on the day of filming the Auto Bild video. That time would put him in between the 1:26 flat posted by Dominik Farnbacher in a 608-hp Dodge Viper SRT-10 ACR and the 1:28.93 put up by Pobst in a 400-hp, 991-series 911. You can hear Olsen tell it in his own words in the video.

MotorWeek proves '90s were awesome with Supra, Stealth, RX-7, Corvette, 968, 300ZX comparo

Oh, the heady days of 1993, back when the Clinton Presidency was just getting underway, and it seemed like every hot new rock band was coming out of Seattle. Sports cars in the US had finally shaken off the shackles that slowed them during the '70s and '80s, and you could buy any number of legitimately quick vehicles again. MotorWeek recently went digging into its archives to find this six-model test from 1993 showing off some of the best semi-affordable performance coupes that money could buy at the time, and it's priceless.
Featuring the 1994 model year Toyota Supra in twin-turbo guise and MY 1993 versions of the Porsche 968, Nissan 300ZX TT, Mazda RX-7, Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo and Chevrolet Corvette LT-1, MotorWeek definitely covered all of the bases. One thing that might surprise younger readers is these cars' performance. The video only provides 0-60 acceleration times, but several of these vehicles would still be considered pretty potent today - over 20 years since going on sale. The Supra is especially impressive, hitting 60 miles per hour in just 5 seconds. Even today, that's nothing to sneeze at.
Given their performance potential and still-attractive looks, it's amazing that some of these coupes are old enough to drink now. The progress of interior design and safety equipment in the intervening years is pretty shocking, though. In most of these models, having two airbags is touted as a big deal. Scroll down to watch a Throwback Thursday blast from the past about some of the '90s best sports cars.

Porsche needs more people for Mission E

In an effort to get the all-electric Mission E on the road, Porsche is hiring an additional 400 people – on top of the 1,000 it previously hired – to work on the production and development of the vehicle. The majority of the new employees will work at the automaker's plant in Zuffenhausen, which is located close to Stuttgart, Germany, while others will focus on e-mobility, vehicle connectivity, and other related fields. In addition to hiring these new employees, Porsche is also looking for roughly 100 IT specialists, 50 creatives, and 70 more apprentices as part of an industry-wide push, though the Mission E is still four years away from going into production. In an interview with Australia's Drive, August Achleitner, product director for the 911, revealed that the automaker does not have any current plans to put an electric 911 on to the road. "Right now it wouldn't make sense in our opinion to offer an electric 911, or hybrid version, because there are so many disadvantages of such a concept with this narrow layout of a 911," stated Achleitner. While the automaker is currently not interested in creating an electric 911, Achleitner believes that vehicle could become a possibility in the future – 10 years into the future. Achleitner points towards a lack of demand for an electric 911 as another hindrance to the vehicle. Achleitner's comments go directly against what Lutz Meschke, a board member at Porsche AG, stated earlier this year. In March, one of Porsche's official Twitter accounts claimed that the automaker would offer a hybrid version of every model in its lineup, including the 911. Porsche never released any specific dates on when its mass hybridization project would begin, as the automaker uses the term "near future" to describe its plans. Related Video: Featured Gallery Porsche Mission E Concept: Frankfurt 2015 View 37 Photos News Source: Drive, PorscheImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Drew Phillips / AOL Green Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Porsche Coupe Electric Sedan porsche mission e porsche mission e concept