Porsche 911 2008 News

Testing of prototypes in Europe points to a preview sometime next year, even with the rollout of the current 997 continuing with everything from the GT3 to the ultimate GT2 RS.  Cars have been caught by Carparazzi in both winter testing in Scandinavia and hot laps at the Nurburgring, where a radical new hybrid 911 racer - using a kinetic energy recovery system developed by Williams F1 - led the Nurburgring 24-hour race a fortnight ago. The new 911 is the 998 series and European sources hint at a first public appearance towards the end of 2011, most likely at the Frankfurt Motor Show. That would indicate Australian sales sometime in the first half of 2012. Development of the 998, says Carparazzi, is focussed on improving the car's efficiency.  The current 997-series 911 has all-new engines so there will be no change in capacity for the 998, just more work on emissions and fuel economy. The car is also likely to be lighter, with more aluminium in key areas, and will have the latest paddle-shift PDK gearbox. Porsche tries to disguise the 998 test cars with fake air vents in the rear wings, hoping to distract with talk about something on the GT2 turbo front. But the car is definitely the new model, with a slightly lower line and what looks like a longer wheelbase.  It also has giveaway mirrors which have - like a growing number of cars - been moved onto the door itself from the area around the A-pillar. The latest Carparazzi picture also shows the car's genuine tail lamps for the first time and points to headlamps which are slightly more upright.

That's the bottom line on the 911 Turbo S convertible, which will be unveiled next month at the Geneva Motor Show before local sales in September.The force-fed droptop, which also comes as a coupe for $423,300, has had a major power boost from the 'regular' 911 Turbo's 368 kiloWatts to a full-house 390 - with 700 Newton-metres of torque.Porsche says the extra punch drops the 0-100km/h sprint time to 3.3 seconds and lifts the top speed to 315km/h.  The Turbo S comes standard with Porsche's Sport Chrono package, including launch control, as well as paddles to shift the PDK seven-speed, dual-clutch gearbox.It's the first new Turbo S model from Porsche in five years and comes with traction management, all-wheel-drive and a mechanical rear differential lock.Porsche says it has also improved efficiency with fuel economy of 11.4 litres/100km, no more than the regular 911 Turbo.

Only about five Porsche 911 Sport Classics — a hand-built, bespoke celebration of the 911's 40-year history — will come to Australia from a fixed global production run of just 250. So exclusive is the car that Porsche Australia spokesman Paul Ellis doesn't know the final price and has yet to take any orders. "But we know we'll sell what we can get," he says. "This is a very exclusive car that is basically hand built. It even has a woven leather interior as well as the very best components from Porsche." The Porsche 911 Sport Classic revives the aura of one of its most outstanding models, the 1973 Carrera RS 2.7. It's taken Porsche three years to develop this car and yet it will make only 250 units. To be shown at next week's Frankfurt Motor Show, the Sport Classic has been developed by the company's specialist department, Porsche Exclusive. Reflecting the Carrera's design is the Sport Classic's ducktail rear spoiler and the Fuchs-style design of the special custom-made alloy wheels. The distinctive double-dome roof is borrowed from the style of the 911 Panamericana show car and in the roofline of the Carrera GT. The coupe is further defined by its more powerful engine, unique exterior with reshaped front and rear styling, a new centre section in the roof, new side sills and new shape of front and rear lights. Porsche says that every car in this limited series comes in an exclusive paint colour called Sport Classic Grey with subtle dark trim strips. The interior is finished in Espresso Nature and is claimed to go further than the current customising portfolio available on the other 911 models. Power comes from a worked version of the 3.8-litre flat-six engine that now delivers 300kW. The engine has a unique six-butterfly intake manifold. The Sport Classic has a six-speed manual transmission and sprints to 100km/h from rest in 4.6 seconds and on to a top speed of 302km/h. Fuel consumption, for those who care, is claimed to average 10.6 litres/100km. While the limited edition 911 Sport Classic is based on the 911 Carrera S, it has aluminium doors and features the rear bodywork of the all-wheel drive models — meaning it is 44mm wider and has a rear track extended by 34mm.  

PETFOOD magnate Tony Quinn scored the biggest success of his motorsport career when he drove to victory in the 2009 Targa Tasmania with his Nissan GT-R. His job was made easier when Jim Richards and Kevin Weeks both crashed out of contention, leaving the VIP Pet Foods boss with an eventual winning margin of six minutes over Jason White in a Lamborghini. Rex Broadbent completed a hat-trick with classic victory in his Porsche 911, while Greg Johnston took the showroom class in a Mitsubishi Evo.FOUR points was the margin between success and failure for Chad Reed in this year's AMA and World Supercross Championship as the superstar Aussie came up just short in the grand final in Las Vegas at the weekend. Reed scored 11 seconds places from 17 starts in the supercross series with his Suzuki, as well as three wins, but it was not enough to stop James Stewart lifting the title with a safe third place in Las Vegas.MARCUS Marshall surprised his V8 Supercar rivals by re-setting the lap record at Winton last weekend in his unsponsored BF Falcon. The speedy young Queenslander did the job in an ex-Triple Eight Ford on the soft Dunlop racing tyres used for the first time at Winton, dropping the benchmark time to 1 minute 22.9813 seconds as he raced to a memorable ninth place on Sunday afternoon.NICK Percat made another clean sweep of the Formula Ford championship races at Winton last weekend, with Chaz Mostert following him home in each of three heats. The weekend result gives Percat a 61-48 break over Mostert, with Mitchell Evans and Scott Pye next in the junior series.MARCOS Ambrose finished just outside of the top 10 in his latest Nascar start at Richmond in Virginia despite contact with the wall early in the event. Finishing 11th, after his benchmark fourth place a week earlier at Talladega, gave him his seventh top-20 result from 10 starts and moved him up to 19th in the Sprint Cup standings with his Toyota Camry.DEAN Canto and Luke Youlden have filled the co-driving seats at Ford Performance Racing for this year's V8 Supercar enduros. It is their second year alongside FPR regulars Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards at Phillip Island and Bathurst, as Nathan Pretty also returns for the long-distance events as a member of Kelly Racing.The pace-setting car in V8 Supercar racing is now driven by a woman. Amber Anderson, a 25-year-old Melbourne lawyer who is trying to build a racing career, has been chosen to drive the Nissan GT-R safety car at several rounds of the series and had her first start at Winton last weekend.SWINE flu meant an early end of the A1GP season which was planned to finish in Mexico City at the end of May. The series ended instead in Britain last weekend, when Team Ireland raced to the championship with Adam Carroll, as Team Australia trailed in eighth after an identical finish in the feature race in the UK by John Martin.THE popular Speed on Tweed historic festival has been revived as part of the program for Repco Rally Australia in September. The course through the streets of Mulwillumbah on the NSW north coast will also be used as a special stage during the running of Australia's event in the World Rally Championship.THE remaining events in the Aussie Racing Cars championship have been re-jigged for the rest of 2009, with a break until the Shannons Nationals meeting at Winton on June 27-28. The baby racers then head to Eastern Creek on August 7-9, Oran Park on August 29-30 and Homebush for the Sydney 500 meeting from December 4-6.The re-scheduled Victorian Open Sprint Kar Championship will be held this weekend at the Hume International Raceway near Seymour. More than 400 of Australia's best racers will compete at an event which was postponed from February 13-15 because of the tragic Victorian bushfires. 

Courtney new hopeJames Courtney will be back in his new FG Falcon when the V8 Supercar championship gets underway again in Hamilton, New Zealand. The crash-prone new star of the Jim Beam team was relegated to an old BF Falcon for the Australian Grand Prix meet while his car was being repaired after slapping the wall during the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.Reed near world titleChad Reed is on track for the world and AMA supercross titles despite another second place to American James Stewart in Toronto, Canada, last weekend. With four rounds to run the Aussie on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki has an eight-point break from Stewart.Boost for WallDavid Wall leads the Australian GT championship after the support races at the grand prix last weekend in his Porsche Carrera Cup S. He benefited from a disastrous weekend for Craig Baird in a Mosler. Tony Quinn was second in his Aston Martin and Jim Richards was third in another Porsche.Windus switchDarren Windus has switched brands for his home event in the Australian Rally Championship. The former Ford factory driver has hired a Toyota Corolla from Neal Bates in a deal that gives the defending champion the cash he needs to compete in the Forest Rally near Busselton, WA, this weekend.Percat at the doubleNick Percat is heads the Australian Formula Ford championship after winning both races at Albert Park ahead of 14-year-old New Zealander Mitch Evans. Chaz Mostert was third for the round. The Formula Ford title fight resumes at Winton on May 1-3.Stoner toast of JerezCasey Stoner has put another BMW in his garage after winning the qualifying test in the final pre-season MotoGP test at Jerez in Spain. The former world champion rode the latest Ducati to a 0.7 second win from Italian ace Valentino Rossi in a significant hitout before the season opener in Qatar.Mossig aims to motorPearcade rider Kade Mosig deubts for the Motorex KTM team on Sunday in the first round of the national motocross championship at Albury-Wodonga. Mosig will ride a KTM 250SX-F in the Pro Lites class and rates teammate Tye Simmonds, Matt Moss on a Suzuki and Kawasaki's Luke George as the riders to beat. Pro Open champ Jay Marmont will be the man to catch on his Yamaha.Tickets to BroadfordThe Honda Broadford Bike Bonanza is your chance to hit the track during the Easter holidays. Visitors can enjoy any or all of Broadford's circuits in a relaxed, non-competitive outing. The complex includes speedway, dirt track, minibike, observed trials, an enduro and three scrambles/motocross tracks. carsGuide has 10 passes to the event to give away.To enter, SMS the word BIKES and your name and address to 1993 3300 or ph: 1900 999 174. Competition calls cost 55c incl GST. More from mobile or public phones. Competition open to Victorian residents only and closes at midnight on Sunday. Winners will be notified by phone. 

Last week’s Pickles auction in Sydney sold a late-model Ferrari GTB with just 2293km on the clock for $355,000, plus the 33 per cent Luxury Car Tax component.The car was nabbed by Ateco Automotive Ltd, which distributes Ferrari in Australia and has since been onsold to an enthuasist.Ateco spokesman, Edward Rowe, says the GTB was now back in the Ferrari fold.“Ferrari guards its residual values jealously,” Rowe says.Although Rowe would not comment on the price paid, Carsguide believes it was well over $500,000 and just shy of its new car price of about $600,000.The Ferrari was one of several high-end cars that went through Pickles quarterly luxury and exotic auction.More than $4.5 million worth of vehicles went under the hammer.Other rich pickings included a 2006 Aston Martin Vantage sold for $162,000 and a 2008 Porsche 911 Turbo all-wheel-drive fetched $280,000. Even with the LCT component added into the price the cars were bargains.Some home-grown performance cars also sold.A 2007 Ford Performance Vehicles F6 Typhoon fetched $38,500, not bad when new it cost $63,310.Apart from Pickles, GraysOnline and ManheimFowles auction houses are reporting a lift in distressed prestige sales by finance companies and cash-strapped owners and the economic crisis bites.For the managing director of GraysOnline, Cameron Poolman, the downturn is proving a boon.He says the traffic on Grays’ site has increased more than 25 per cent since the economy took a dive.“We expect that it will continue to rise,” he says.“People are still looking to buy but they’ll try to get it at a reduced price.”Poolman says GraysOnline has helped take out the middle-man and dealers.The upside of increased interest in cars going through auction houses is that it is helping push used values up.Private owners and fleets are holding on to their cars for longer, leading to a shortage of used stock coming into the market.This is lifting used prices of some popular late model cars by up to $1500.

Nissan is standing firm on its claim to the production car lap record at the Nurburgring despite a blistering attack from Porsche.

Nissan is gathering evidence in Tokyo before unleashing a rebuttal of Porsche's claims that its GT-R could not have achieved a claimed 7 minute 25 second lap at the Nurburgring.

In a swiftly changing motoring environment carmakers are searching for new ways to cut fuel use and emissions and improve efficiency.Among the hundreds of concepts and new and updated models on display at the Paris motor show over the next 15 days are some definite standouts. Renault has combined gull-wing doors, comfort, refinement and a slippery design with a hybrid diesel engine and plonked it all on massive 23-inch wheels in its range-topping Ondelios concept car (cover picture).It's 4.8m long and has a hybrid 150kW version of the 2.0-litre dCi engine.There are also two 20kW electric motors at the front and rear to provide extra boost recovered during braking.Mercedes is unveiling one of the world's fastest cabriolets. The SLR McLaren Roadster 722S has 478kW of power and accelerates from 0-100km/h in 3.7 seconds before reaching a top speed of 335km/h.Just 150 of the two-seater supercars will be built. It complements Mercedes' other show star the ConceptFascination, a wild two-door sportswagon. It's a modern version of the old British “shooting-brake” where a wagon tail has been planted on a sporty saloon.Citroen's crossover concept, Hypnos, hasa 150kW engine that boasts miserly fuel efficiency figures of 4.5-litres per 100km.However, it what's inside that is different. An extremely colourful rainbow light show highlights its sleek styling.Honda is using the Paris show to highlight its green commitment. Star of its stand is the new Insight Concept, a dedicated petrol-electric hybrid car in the vein of Toyota's Prius.It is expected to go into production within the next few years.From the US, GM will debut a close to production version of its revolutionary Volt electric car. Chevrolet is showing its new crucial small car the Cruze, plus its first seven-seat multi-purpose family car, the Orlando show car.A form of SUV-family van and wagon crossover, it has a 2.0-litre diesel engine.Alfa Romeo is unveiling its little MiTo compact which is due to come to Australian the middle of next year.Fiat is showing the MiTo's likely competitor in the super-mini category, the 120kW 500 Abarth EsseEsse (SS) plus its PUR-O2 eco-range of cleaner, greener 500s. New technology includes the ability for the engine to turn itself off while idling and back on to continue driving.Mini will show its all-wheel-drive Crossover Concept, while BMW will premiere its X1 wagon. The Mini is intended for adventurous twenty-somethings, while the Concept X1 will go into production as a safe, practical family car.Chasing a similar small, sporty car market is Audi with its new A1. The near-production version will be a feature of its stand.Saab is exhibiting its 9-X Air concept car, while Volvo is debuting its production-ready ultra-safe XC60 crossover which is headed for Australia.Porsche has several new models in the911 range plus the go-anywhere Cayenne S Transsyberia super-4WD.Mazda's all-new Kiyora urban compact four-cylinder concept car will sit alongside the world debut of production cars, the new generation MX-5, the Mazda6 with a 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine and the Mazda2 1.6-litre diesel.Lamborghini has joined the rush to GT supercars with its four-door Estoque concept.Like Porsche's Panamera, Maserati's Quattroporte and Aston Martin's upcoming four-seater, the Estoque, brings a new versatility to one of the world's most uncompromising sports marques.Lamborghini stresses that although there are no production plans for the AWD Estoque it has been developed as fully production capable.Toyota has three world premiere vehicles ranging from its little four-seater city car, the iQ, to the all-new Avensis sedan and wagon and the 1.4-litre diesel-engined Urban Cruiser All Wheel Drive.Ford is debuting the all-new Ka city car with a choice of 1.2-litre petrol and 1.3-litrediesel engines, the hot Focus RS and the new economic Fiesta.Volkswagen will show off its latest Golf GTi. The hot hatch for 2009 is cleaner, smoother and much more refined than earlier cars.It will still come with a 155kW turbo petrol engine and the promise of a 7.2-second sprint to 100km/h, but is missing the wild body bits of earlier GTi road runners.Nissan's debuting Nuvu concept is just three-metres long. It only has two normal seats plus a third that folds down for luggage and groceries. The city car has solar panels on the glass roof.Ferrari will debut its chic two-seater V8 California sports car.From Korea will come Hyundai's i20 small car and a 2.4-litre engined hybrid SUV.Kia is showing its Soul range of urban crossover concepts that come with either petrol or diesel engines. There's also a hybrid version. Additional reporting by Kevin Hepworth and Paul Gover. 

Porsche has just run its own back-to-back tests with the Japanese company's GT-R supercar and says it could not get within 25 seconds of Nissan's claimed record time of seven minutes 29 seconds in Apr