Porsche: Boxster S on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Porsche hybrids come up short at Le Mans

Two cars, one finish, zero victories. That's a brief synopsis of Porsche's hybrid-vehicle performance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France. There's always next year. Porsche entered two 919 Hybrid vehicles in the race. The No. 14 car essentially limped to the finish line after encountering drivetrain problems. The other Porsche hybrid, No. 20, was driven by Germany's Timo Bernhard, New Zealand's Brendon Hartley and Australia's Mark Webber. That car ran for more than 22 hours before its own powertrain issues did that racing team in for good. Both vehicles ran towards the front of the pack at times during the race, and the No. 20 car actually led the race after about 20 hours. Still, both teams said they were disappointed in the results. Porsche sister company Audi came up big for the 13th time in the race's long and storied history. One Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro won the race, while another finished second. The Toyota that had pole-position and was winning much of the race shut down after 15 hours of racing because of electrical issues and Nissan had trouble with is ZEOD RC. Check out Porsche's press release below, and read here for a more general race recap. STRONG PERFORMANCE BY PORSCHE 919 HYBRIDS BUT NO DREAM ENDING IN PROTOTYPE RETURN TO LE MANS Le Mans. After a strong performance by both Porsche 919 Hybrids, the Porsche Team was left empty-handed after a dramatic final stage of the race. Following more than 22 hours, car No. 20 driven by Timo Bernhard (Germany), Brendon Hartley (New Zealand) and Mark Webber (Australia) suffered a powertrain problem at the world's most famous endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Earlier in the race the LMP1 class car was leading overall for a significant period of time. The second innovative and highly complex prototype – in the hands of Romain Dumas (France), Neel Jani (Switzerland) and Marc Lieb (Germany) – likewise proved to be very competitive, but was hampered by a drivetrain problem. However, their No. 14 car crossed the finish line under its own power. After a thrilling start to the race with changing weather conditions, numerous accidents and a relatively calm night, Bernhard took the overall lead in the No. 20. The longtime Porsche factory driver returned to the top spot after 20 of the 24 hours. At 12:36 (CET) on Sunday, he handed the leading car over to Webber. Less than 20 minutes later the Australian was forced to slow down and drove solely on electric power back to pit lane.

Porsche unlocks secrets of its mid-engine 911

Porsche is beginning to realize that it's sitting on a goldmine of automotive history with its secret vault full of rare cars. Autoblog toured it a few months ago, and we were amazed at all of the curiosities hidden inside. Now, it's starting to let more folks in thanks to a new series of YouTube videos. The first covered the 965 prototype that shoved a water-cooled, Audi V8 into one of its cars. Next up, a mid-engine 911 that acted as the powertrain test mule for the Boxster.
The Porsche 911 is inextricably linked to its rear-engine layout. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. However, at the time Porsche was developing the Boxster, the company didn't want to lay all of its cards out of the table during testing. As opposed to using camouflage, it put a whole different car on top. The prototype looked just like any other 911 Targa of the day, but the biggest giveaway that something was amiss was the heavily tinted rear window. By obscuring it, inquisitive journalists couldn't peak at the new engine that replaced the backseat.
It might not look like anything too important on the outside, but this is a major piece of Porsche Boxster history underneath. Scroll down to watch the video about this fascinating prototype.

The art of being teammates

Returning home from a successful event for our CJ Wilson Racing team I couldn't help to think about just how many people are involved to support the drivers that stand on the podium. Friends of 15 to 20 years are actively involved in my life in motorsports and it amazes me daily. I'd like to think that I possess the right blend of passion and humility to make racing for a living a successful career, and each year the ups and downs of motorsports takes a toll on even the savviest racer. Having been a race driver for the past several years, I had long ago stopped taking for granted just how important friendships & relationships are in life. In motorsports we have a large array of relationships we build, from the perspectives of business, crew, competitors, spectators and of course, teammates. For any young racer or driver that is struggling to stay an integral part of the racing community, I can't stress enough just how important relationship building is and in our world of multi-class & multi-driver line-ups, the "teammate" is a big one. Now in my fifth year with CJ Wilson Racing, I started the season with my 10th different teammate, most of which, came in the first season as we were developing into a program that could operate a two-car effort. These are people that I have coached, improved with and become, in a way, brothers. Most I consider friends, people I actively stay in touch with – not out of obligation, but because they are like family to me. They have been a teammate – and in this industry and our series in particular – there has to be something more cohesive than just sharing a car. Standing on the podium with all of your teammates like we did in this year in Monterey (our #33 ONE Capital / MotorOilMatters and #35 Safecraft Safety Equipment Porsche Caymans finished 2nd and 3rd) is one of those moments that you don't forget, in part, because you get to share it with ones you typically spend the most time. I watched both Danny Burkett and Till Bechtolsheimer go to the front after the green dropped and drive perfect opening stints. Sure, while cameras were rolling I played it cool, but as soon as they turned away I was a beacon of giddy pride like I was watching a little brother riding his bike without training wheels for the first time. When it came my turn to get behind the wheel, I knew that one of my closest friends, Tyler McQuarrie, would be in our sister car.