Tag Archives: Porsche

Motor Trend’s 2012 Best Driver Car

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You’re going to want to set aside a solid 45 minutes to watch these videos. We continue to reap the benefits of YouTube paying good money to car magazines for original content to rival traditional TV shows. Motor Trend’s latest installment is their 2012 Best Driver’s Car compilation. I like the way they do this annual comparison because a lot of people tend to misuse the term “driver’s car,” but Motor Trend has got it right and they stick to their guns. What makes a good driver’s car goes way beyond the numbers of the performance statistics. The 0-60 time doesn’t say anything about the car’s balance, feedback, fun or driver engagement. Those things are much harder to describe, but thankfully we have Johnny Lieberman, Carlos Lagos and Randy Pobst here working together to convey the driving experiences of this dream car lineup. This year they rounded up the Jaguar XKR-S, Subaru BRZ, Lamborghini Aventador, Porsche 911 Carrera S, Ford Shelby GT500, Nissan GT-R Black Edition, Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series and McLaren MP4-12C. The boys start out by doing winding road introductions of each car and then they turn them over to Randy for hot laps around Laguna Seca. They finish up by choosing a top 3 and then driving them some more to pick an overall winner.


Keeping with Motor Trend tradition, tall of the cars get lined up for a massive drag race once all of the testing is done:
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RAUH-Welt Begriff

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The RAUH-Welt Begriff story is a pretty amazing one. The organization started off as a street racing team in Japan which then turned into a tuning shop whose work became a worldwide sensation a couple of years ago. Lucky for us, they also caught the attention of a talented videographer named Luke Huxham of Maiham-Media. I’ll let him tell you the RWB story.

Meet the heart and soul behind RWB style, Akira Nakai.


Fatlace TV x RAUH-Welt BEGRIFF // Nakai-San from Maiham-Media.com on Vimeo.
 

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Drag Race: Porsche GT2 RS vs. Ducati 1199 Panigale S

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Chris Harris hops into a 997 Porsche GT2 RS to go head to head with his counter part on a Ducati 1199 Panigale S Tricolore. He makes the video fascinating in his usual style by showing the 2 practice runs for the car and the bike. The guys had some trouble figuring out how to get the machines off the line smoothly given the ludicrous amount of power they make. They answered some questions and brought up some new ones for some sequel videos that I’m very much looking forward to.


Source: DRIVE on YouTube

Chris Harris on the 2012 Porsche Boxster 981

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The Boxster has always had a strange place in the Porsche lineup. It was introduced as an entry level model in 1996 to attract new buyers to the brand. Porsche decided to design it with a mid engine layout instead of their trademark rear engine layout that they’ve used on all of the 911’s. While the original Boxster was sporty, I don’t think very many people viewed it as a true sports car. Things got tricky as the Boxster became a sales success and Porsche began to improve its performance. The mid engine layout used in the Boxster and its sister car, the Cayman, is theoretically superior to the rear engine layout Porsche has gotten to work so well in the 911. Last year’s hardcore performance variants, the Boxster Spyder and the Cayman R, started to get dangerously close to outshining Porsche’s venerable 911. Some of the media reviewers even thought that Porsche purposely limited the performance on the Spyder and R with inferior spec tires so that they wouldn’t compete directly with the bread and butter 911.

Now there’s a new completely redesigned Boxster for 2012. Chris Harris attended the launch at the Route Napoleon on behalf of the DRIVE channel to review the new car. I’d say that this is one of his best reviews. First, he addresses the heritage and expectations of the new model. Then he talks about what he loves about the car and he’s realistic about the parts that bother him. Harris has an unparalleled ability to convey what a car is like to drive with his words and it really shows here. He concludes with a very interesting comparison between the new Boxster and the current 911 that may surprise you.


Source: DRIVE on YouTube

RUF Yellowbird and CTR 3

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Car and Driver pay a visit to performance car builder RUF in Germany to tour their factory and to see what they’re up to. Apparently RUF will let people test drive the car that put them on the map: The CTR Yellowbird. The car in the video is the same one used by RUF for development and stars in a Nurburgring drift video. There’s no need to look up the drift video because they’ve included a few shots in case you haven’t seen it. The tour ends with taking a spin in RUF’a newest CTR 3 on the Autobahn. RUF is an interesting company in that they sort of piggyback engineering development with Porsche. They basically use the front half of Porsche’s cars for the crash test structures, suspension and interior and then develop their own back half of the chassis to put their tuned engines in. It’s actual a pretty clever business model for a small aftermarket tuning company.


Source: Car and Driver