Porsche 911 2011 News

... shows even sports cars have to watch their drinking.The seventh generation of the iconic Porsche now uses 8.2 litres/100km and has CO2 emissions of 194g/km — the first time a Porsche sports car has made it under 200g/km.The Carrera generates 257kW from the 3.4-litre boxer engine, while the Carrera S has 294kW from its 3.8-litre mill, which equates to a 0-100km/h time around 0.3sec quicker than the base Carrera's 4.8 seconds.Both cars rolls on a 100mm longer wheelbase.The Frankfurt show will also mark the premiere of the 3.0-litre Panamera diesel. An 80 litre tanks and fuel use of 6.3 litres/100km give it a theoretical range of 1200km.The race-bred 911 GT3 RS 4.0 goes on show with the company's most powerful naturally aspirated engine — a staggering 375kW — and the limited edition Cayman S Black Edition will also be menacing showgoers this week.

The McLaren MP4-12C tops the list of Dad's dream cars.

European sources point to 410kW at least and the picture shows wider guards, air intakes in the rear guards to cool the intercoolers and a new type of integrated exhaust system in the rear.

For the first time since he retired from fulltime V8 Supercar racing, the most successful driver of his generation will be back in action at Albert Park.But Skaife, who won Bathurst last year as a part-timer alongside Craig Lowndes and will continue in their 'dream team' at Mount Panorama this year, will not be racing a TeamVodafone Commodore at the AGP meeting. Instead, the veteran is taking on a new challenge as the guest star in the Carrera Cup championship for idential Porsche 911 racers.Skaife has had a brief trial in one of the cars at Phillip Island and told the Herald Sun yesterday he is looking forward to the challenge, including a battle against Carrera Cup specialist Craig Baird and V8 Supercar refugee Steven Richards."I'm at an age and stage that I can pick and choose what I want to do," Skaife said. "I'm not interested in novelty events or road rallies, but this looks good. It's an opportunity I've never had in my career because I've been so busy doing other stuff."To have a drive at the grand prix is relatively low-key, it's a circuit I really like, and a car I enjoy driving. It's a good thing to do."Skaife drove the Porsche for the first time at Phillip Island and eventually lapped just a half-second slower than Baird in the same car. He said he will take time to adjust to the car at Albert Park but hopes to be a contender."I don't expect to look like a megastar. I'm expecting to be up there somewhere. But I'm under no illusion, the guys who drive these cars are very good - Craig Baird is probably one of the best Porsche drivers anywhere in the world."

STEVEN Richards has signed to race the V8 Supercar endurance races with former full-time employer, Ford Performance Racing. The two-time Bathurst winner will partner Mark Winterbottom while long-time enduro racer Luke Youlden will drive with Will Davison in the other FPR car. Winterbottom and Richards have driven together before with Bathurst and Sandown 500 victories.AFTER 15 years as a full-time V8 Supercar driver, Steven Richards will follow his father, Jim, into racing Porsches.  He will compete in a full season of the Porsche Carrera Cup in a 911 GT3 Cup. His first race will be at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix from March 24-27. "Our aim for this year is to win the championship. It won't be easy. It's a competitive field," he says.SPANIARD Carlos Checa became the first rider to score a world Superbike clean sweep at Phillip Island since 2008 when he won both 22-lap races at the weekend. The Ducati rider was followed by world champion Max Biaggi of Italy on his Aprilia in both races. Briton Leon Haslam (BMW) and MotoGP convert Marco Melandri (Yamaha) claimed the final spots on the two podiums. The last rider to win both races at a Phillip Island WSBK round was Australia's Troy Bayliss. It is now the longest period since a local rider won at the island. Australians Troy Corser (BMW), Josh Waters (Suzuki), Mark Aitchison (Kawasaki) and wildcard entry Bryan Staring of Perth (Kawasaki) finished well down the order. Round two of the championship will be held at Donington from March 25-27, where Australian Chris Vermeulen is expected to compete after sitting out round one to allow his injured left knee more time to recover.NEWCASTLE'S Broc Parkes was pipped by 0.009 seconds for victory in the 21-lap World Supersports race at the weekend, but it was still his best result at Phillip Island. The Kawasaki rider was beaten by Yamaha's Luca Scassa, with Briton Sam Lowes (Honda) and Spaniard David Salom (Kawasaki) also involved in the drag to the finish line. It was Scassa's first World Supersport victory.BMW rider Glenn Allerton dominated the two Australian Superbike races at Phillip Island at the weekend. In the first race he gambled with slicks on a damp circuit to win by more than 20 seconds. He also won the second race on a dry circuit by a comfortable margin. Allerton is 13 points ahead of Suzuki rider Troy Herfoss who is only one point ahead of Arpilia rider Ben Atard. The championship continues this weekend at Symmons Plains in Tasmania.THE Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship will support two V8 Supercar rounds this year at Winton, Victoria, in May and Darwin in November. Organisers are also negotiating for a seventh round to be added to its 2011 calendar and have announced a "budget" race entry fee of $1600 per car, per round.FORD stalwart Dick Johnson will drive a GM product in his fourth Targa Tasmania. The five-time Australian Touring Car Champion and V8 Supercars Hall of Fame member will drive a V8-powered 2009 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 in the the 20th anniversary of the Targa in April.  The only Ford link for Johnson is that the car is owned by Yellow Cab owner Neill Ford, one of Dick Johnson Racing's sponsors.CHAD Reed has clung to third in the American and World Supercross after a dramatic clash with rival James Stewart in Atlanta at the weekend. The Australian led for 16 of the 20 laps, but collided with Stewart to finish third for the main event and hold on to third in the standings behind Americans Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey. The next event is at Daytona this weekend. (March 5) ITEM DEFENDING kart champions Matthew Wall, Cian Fothergill and Pierce Lehane dominated their categories at round one of the CIK Stars of Karting Series in Ipswich at the weekend. Round two of the national series will be held in Adelaide on April 2-3.MARCOS Ambrose has jumped 10 places in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings with a 16th at Phoenix at the weekend following a 17-car pile-up in the opening-round Daytona 500 the previous week. At one stage he was running second until a race caution put him a lap down. "I know I've got great stuff and I know I can really do well," the Ford driver said after the race. The race was won by Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet), while second-placed Kyle Bushc (Toyota) leads the standings. The next round is this weekend in Las Vegas.LUKE Ellery leaves for Florida next Saturday (March 12) to race in the first round of the F2000 series at Sebring March 17-18 and Petersburg on March 26-27. The 21-year-old Victorian will then fly home and return to the US for the third round in Indianapolis in May. The IndyCar hopeful is a former national kart champion and three-time state Formula Ford champion. He will drive a Van Dieman for JDC Motorsports in the US series.

CRAIG Lowndes leads a surprising Audi attack on the Bathurst 12-Hour race over easter with a pair of race-prepared R8 coupes. Rule changes for the endurance event at Mount Panorama have opened the event to sports cars and Audi has a pair of R8s coming from Europe - V8 Supercar racer Warren Luff will share with Lowndes - to take on the Porsche 911s that are expected to fight for victory.THE struggling Australian Rally Championship is headed for a revamp and improvement to its relevance under new chairman Scott Pedder. The retired driver intends to make the series more appealing to carmakers from 2011 and move it away from the reliance on the Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Evo contenders that dominate entry lists.THE full-scale renewal of the V8 Supercars field will take place in 2013 when the category's Car of the Future will become compulsory. There was talked of an optional phase-in for the change in 2012 but V8 Supercars bosses now say the transitional year has been dumped in favour of a single switch at the start of 2013.CITROEN stalwart Dani Sordo, who was superstar Sebastian Loeb's sidekick for five years at Citroen, is moving to Mini for this year's World Rally Championship. Mini is only planning a limited program against Ford and Citroen before a full-scale season in 2011, but has signed Sordo the Spaniard as lead driver alongside Chris Meeke of the UK.FORMER champion Chad Reed made a tentative return to AMA Supercross racing in the USA last weekend riding a Honda for his own team for the first time. The Aussie was fifth at Anaheim Stadium in Los Angeles as Ryan Villopoto won on the Monster Kawasaki he used to ride.

The first international auto exhibition in Sydney since 2008 is the most expensive the city has seen, based on the value of the cars assembled and the millions it has cost certain of the 30 exhibitors to ship and assemble their showcases, some of which are themselves worth in the region on $1 million.Organisers expect in excess of 200,000 patrons to see the show which runs until next Sunday. Organisers said the 44 new models revealed at AIMS is an "absolute record" for any Australian auto show.Ford's stand is part of a globally travelling display based in Paris bought to Sydney for the launch of the Ranger ute. Mercedes-Benz commissioned a one-off car specifically for the show.Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries which runs AIMS, said $50 million was a "conservative estimate"."I think it'll be the best show we've had for a good number years and one of the best in the world this year," he said.  "It's important that we bring this sort of event to Sydney. People have missed it, but it's a good agreement to have it here every other year."While some are calling it the "Sydney ute muster" due to the dominance of work and lifestyle vehicles, it's the "car porn" the supercars and performance rockets that will get the punters through the doors.At $700,000 the first Lexus supercar, the LFA, is among the most expensive on show. Eight have been allocated to Australia, all have been pre-sold. So too have all seven of Porsche's brutal 911 GT2 RS, which is the most powerful ever of its kind and, at $560,000, the most expensive new Porsche sold here.You'll likely never see a Hulme CamAm again in the metal. Only 20 of the manic road going race track car, hand built by a New Zealand company for performance connoisseurs, will be made. Those in search of an exotic bargain should veer over to the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 at a mere $399,000 it's the cheapest way to get into a brand favoured by the conspicuously wealthy including Ibrahim.

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.  

A new-age family of turbo-only Porsches could be coming as the sports car specialist looks for more speed with improved efficiency.