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Mark Webber treats Maria Sharapova to a Porsche 918 Spyder joyride

We don't much like Mark Webber right now. Part of being a racing driver is dealing with promotional stuff. It's not hard to find a driver that can't stand all this nonsense, whether it be promoting a product, meeting investors or attending some obscure event. Even a driver of Webber's caliber - a former Formula One driver for Red Bull Racing and a member of Porsche's factory Le Mans team - has to serve his time at the promo events.
Somehow, though, we don't think the Aussie driver minds this particular promo detail. In the video below, Webber attends the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. He then takes tennis superstar Maria Sharapova out for a spin behind the wheel of the Porsche 918 Spyder. The level of jealousy at the Autoblog office is palpable.
Take a look below for the video. And as we're super jealous of Mr. Webber, hop into Comments and caption the above photo based on what you think he's saying to Maria. Bonus points if you can work "vegemite" into the caption.

Singer's latest Porsche 911 has the most amazingly retro interior we've ever seen

Singer Vehicle Design doesn't just restore classic Porsche 911 models. The company says it "reimagines" the iconic sportscar for a reason – these are fully customized vehicles made specifically for owners who want something different than what rolled out of the factory floor. The latest twins to come from Singer debuted at the Quail Motorsports Gathering, and they are exquisite. Both the orange Targa (nicknamed Luxemburg) and the gunmetal gray coupe (nicknamed Minnesota) belong to the same owner, but they are very different in execution. Whereas the dark silver coupe is lovely and understated, the orange Targa is much more audacious. Luxemburg's (and yes, we do feel a bit silly using these names) most eye-catching feature has to be the multi-color leather seats. Large portions of the interior are swathed in deep blue leather, but the seats are covered in a unique seven-color leather weave pattern (two oranges, four shades of blue and one cream). The weave extends to the dash and door panels, and we absolutely love it. The removable roof panel is carbon fiber on the outside and blue canvas inside, but we'd have a hard time leaving it attached. Open air motoring is great, and better to enjoy the lovely sounds of the rear-mounted, 4.0-liter, air-cooled, flat-six engine. Minnesota looks almost looks mundane next to its orange sibling, but it's equally beautiful with its deep paint job and brown leather interior. Power for the coupe comes from a 350-horsepower, 3.8-liter, air-cooled engine built by Cosworth. Check out both Singer recreations in our galleries above and below. Related Video: Featured Gallery Singer Vehicle Design at the 2016 Quail View 23 Photos Related Gallery Porsche 911 Targa Reimagined by Singer Vehicle Design View 11 Photos Image Credit: Live photos copyright 2016 Drew Phillips / Autoblog Design/Style Misc. Auto Shows Porsche Automotive History Convertible Coupe Luxury Special and Limited Editions Performance Classics

2016 Porsche 911 R First Drive

Competition has forced the 911 GT3 RS to prioritize lap times over driving enjoyment. The 911 Carrera line has softened, now full of GT cars rather than the wild children of yore. Turbocharging is hitting the rear-engine Porsche en masse. All of this gave Porsche Motorsport a vacuum of emotion and purity to fill with just 991 examples of its glorious 911 R, a machine focused on putting unadulterated feel and enjoyment back into driving. Even amongst the diehard Porsche fraternity, just going faster doesn't work for everybody. They don't all want the thrill that comes from a high-downforce car running out of grip inches from a concrete wall. Not everybody loves suspensions so tied down that the slightest bump threatens the front splitter's continued existence. And many don't love turbochargers or want a computer to shift gears for them. Fortunately, just such people live, breathe, and work at Porsche Motorsport. This part of the company makes its living building Porsche's fastest machines, like the Cayman GT4 and the 911 GT3 and GT3 RS. But in an era when the bulk of Porsche's profits come from SUVs, Porsche Motorsport also sees itself as the guardian of the parent company's soul. Motorsport has enough pull that when it tells Porsche's board it needs a car like the 911 R the board listens. The quickest way to turn the 911 into a driver-connected car was to pull the weight out, and the easiest way to do that was to use the 911 GT3 RS as the basis. So it gets that car's magnesium roof, polycarbonate side and rear glass, carbon-fiber bonnet and front fenders, and lots of aluminum. The air conditioning got thrown out (you can pay to put it back in), as did the multimedia screen (ditto), the audio and navigation systems (ditto, ditto), the rear seats, and even the interior door handles. Cloth straps replace the latter so you can still get out of the car. At 3,020 pounds, the R is 110 lighter than the race-bred GT3 RS. Eschewing turbocharging in the interest of car-lover must-haves like induction noise, butterfly chirps, intuitive throttle response, and purity of sound, the 911 R simply borrowed the GT3 RS's 4.0-liter flat-six. So there's 500 horsepower of engine playing for keeps, the car ripping to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds from a standing start, hitting 124 mph in 11.6 seconds, and continuing on to 201 mph thanks to the lack of a monster, drag-inducing rear wing. The dry-sump engine revs and revs and feels like it wants to keep revving forever.