Porsche Blog, Performance, Tuning, Motorsport, and Modification News

Some eye opening numbers for the Porsche 960 being reported by Automobile. Quad-turbo 3.9 liter flat-8? 650 horsepower? 3000 pounds curb weight? Certainly amazing figures but it is highly doubtful they are accurate. Regardless, that is exactly what Automobile claims. This motor would be in a mid-engine configuration sending power to all four wheels and mated to a 7-speed dual clutch automatic. Aluminum, magnesium, and carbon fiber would all help contribute to the low weight. ...

Good battle here between two fairly closely matched cars. The Porsche 997.1 Turbo is rated at 473 horsepower stock and the C6 Corvette Z06 is rated at 505 horsepower. The 911 Turbo sends power to all four wheels and is heavier carrying about 300 more pounds. The Z06 is lighter and sends the power to the rear wheels. On paper this matchup favors the Z06 from a roll. The result in practice as the video shows is that the Z06 is the faster car stock for stock. ...

Here is a race between two turbocharged six-cylinder vehicles with all wheel drive and dual clutch transmissions. The Porsche 911 Turbo S and the Nissan GT-R. The Porsche 997.2 Turbo is said to have bolt ons and race gas with output in the 530 wheel horsepower range. The Nissan GT-R is also stated to have bolt ons but 585 wheel horsepower with E85 fuel. So more power in the GT-R but the 911 Turbo is lighter. Who wins? ...

The Porsche Panamera has been on the market since 2009 as a 2010 model. A facelift is coming dubbed the 971 (current model is 970) and major changes are coming as an article posted last week pointed out. This video below though features the Panamera Turbo and it will be interesting to see what Porsche does do respond to the recently facelifted Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG, the E63 AMG, and the brand new Audi RS7 which was just revealed. ...

LS V8 swaps into FD RX7's are very popular for several reasons. The first of which the FD RX7 is relatively light. The second of which they tend to be more reliable than the turbo rotary the cars originally came with and do not suffer from any seal issues. The displacement and torque down low is a bonus. The 997 Turbo is no slouch and the Porsche is said to have upgraded turbos but no specs are given out for either car and this seems to be just an old fashioned street race grudge match. ...

MotorTrend got their hands on the new 981 Porsche Boxster S PDK and ran it through their tests. The car weighed in at a relatively lightweight these days 3133 pounds. Weight distribution at 45 percent front and 55 percent rear. The 315 horsepower 3.4 liter flat-6 (shared with the 991 Carrera but in a lower state of tune) propelled the new Boxster to an impressive 12.7@109.7 through the 1/4 mile with 0-60 coming in just 4.2 seconds. ...

Here are the latest spyphotos of the Porsche Macan and it sure just looks like a baby new Cayenne. The Macan was said to be receiving significant styling changes due to pressure from the Land Rover Evoque but from these latest photos compared to earlier spyphotos it does not look like much has changed although the styling does look much cleaner. The size of the front lights and the position of the LED in the bumper appears to have undergone a revision. The rear lights look a little sharper but the general proportions are just about the same. ...

Porsche is flat out on a tear. How well are they doing? How about 141,075 cars sold worldwide. That is a different of plus 18.7% versus their 2011 sales figures which were 118,868. Sales in the United States alone for 2012 were up 20.7% with 35,043 units versus 29,023 for 2011. And how about that December sales figure in the United States? Up a whopping 61% with 2,952 units sold versus 1,834 for the same period in 2011. Wow. ...

Ok, so here's a super high power 997 Turbo from EVOMS who is a tuner located in Arizona. They are known for high power Porsches so even though PorscheBoost does not have a dyno from this car to support the 1500 horsepower claim they have enough credibility that the figure is believable although it would still be nice to see it proven. Regardless, the car is taken on the airstrip and it basically just lights up its tires the whole time. ...

The Porsche Panamera is getting a facelift for 2014. It will consist of the typical minor cosmetic changes including the front and rear lights as well as the front and rear bumpers. The interior will get some minor tweaks as well. The real piece of news though is a rumor that the Panamera S will drop its current 4.8 liter 400 horsepower direct injected naturally aspirated V8 for a twin turbo V6 powerplant with similar power but more torque. ...

After tons of speculation, teasers, and hype, General Motors finally revealed the 2014 C7 Corvette today. The design is very futuristic and modern definitely more so than the new Viper. It's angular, it's edgy, but it still looks like a Corvette. What about the notorious weak point with recent generations, the interior? It's an improvement, definitely, but still not up to European standards. It still appears to have those cheap looking plastic switches and vents as well that same center console design but the rest of the quality of the materials appears majorly improved. ...

Supersprint released their exhaust for the 991 Carrera S and it sounds excellent. The exhaust consists of a catback system featuring 4x90mm chrome slash cut tips with rear X-pipe and bypass pipes. Side mufflers are included for a more quiet mode. The video starts with the valves closed and the sound is a bit muffled. Once warmed up and the bypass is activated the car really opens up and even shoots some flames out the tips. ...

Here is a new power kit courtesy of TPC Racing for the new Porsche 981 Boxster S called the Blitzkrieg Atmo 355 Powerpak. 355 referring to the estimated crank horsepower rating (up from 315 stock) after adding this kit. It consists of an ECU flash, performance intake plenum, silicon induction kit, and 83mm throttle body. This parts combined are enough to raise the output of the Boxster S from a baseline of 285.8 wheel horsepower to 309.6 wheel horsepower SAE. ...

Here is a nice and fairly long (7 minute) video form Vivid Racing showcasing a 997 Turbo equipped with the Vivid Racing VR825 package. This is a $15,995 tuning package for the 911 Turbo which is capable of adding 330 horsepower at the wheels to a 997 turbo. With no meth and on an all wheel drive Mustang dyno, a VR825 car hit 765 at the wheels up from the 435 wheel horsepower baseline. Certainly impressive gains. ...

The 911 Turbo and Nissan GTR battles tend to go back and forth depending on level of modification. The cars are compared frequently due to the similarity of all wheel drive and twin turbo six-cylinder powerplants which make for great tuning platforms. In this instance a Protomotive tuned built motor 996TT with a 3.8 liter flat-6 and a pair of GT3582 turbos on C16 simply pulls away from a tuned Nissan GTR estimated to be making somewhere in the mid 700 wheel horsepower range. ...

Ok, in the Viper's defense it is not exactly a brand new car. This is a first generation Dodge Viper RT/10 which was fast for the early 90's but these days does not exactly set the world on fire. Still, for back in the day it the numbers were not bad at all showing a capability of high 12's in the 1/4 mile with a trap speed in the 113 mile per hour range. The power rating of the 8 liter V10 was "only" 400 horsepower at the time. ...

The sprint to 60 is not quite as important as it once was due to just how powerful cars have become. It is usually a traction limited stat but there are still cars where traction is not the limiting factor and these are all wheel drive cars. We are going to see more and more vehicles switch to all wheel drive and it is hard to deny the performance result. How about 2.7 seconds to 60 miles per hour for the 2012 Porsche 911 Turbo S? ...

Congratulations to M3ntal on putting down a very impressive 1/4 mile run with his stock motor 996TT. You may remember this car dyno'd 717 wheel horsepower on the stock motor with E85 at 22 psi. For this run the car was running 22psi and E85 along with FP30R turbos with the tune coming from Roshan Patel. The end result is a very stout 10.3@136 1/4 mile run. The car also appears to be converted to rear wheel drive. ...

Users who read this site are performance enthusiasts who definitely like to press the gas pedal down from time to time. We are all guilty of it but sometimes it's how you do it. A guy in a 996 GT2 on the highway runs into an F13 M6 and wants to play, understandable. New BMW with a twin turbo V8 and the Porsche owner wants to see how he stacks up. The only issue is the amount of traffic on the highway and how both guys start weaving in and out. ...