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Porsche News
Porsche takes win and energy efficiency award at 2009 Le Mans
The success story of the Porsche RS Spyder continues: At the Le Mans 24 Hour race, the Essex team (Denmark) celebrated a clear victory in the LMP2 class. The 440 hp sports prototype from Weissach also won the energy efficiency classification ?Michelin Green X Challenge? as the car with the best overall efficiency, calculated by the ratio between lap times and fuel consumption. The RS Spyder of the Danish customer team beat its rivals in the LMP2 class by 15 laps. One hour before the end of the race, the RS Spyder of NAVI Team GOH spun off the track while running an easy second under braking for the first chicane on the Hunaudières straight on an oil spill of a competitor, hit the barriers and retired. The Japanese driver Seiji Ara was uninjured.
?We?re proud that in customer hands the RS Spyder not only confirmed its high speed and reliability again but also won the environmental classification. It?s such a great pity that the second RS Spyder retired. NAVI Team GOH put in an immaculate performance and really would have deserved to secure second,? said Porsche Head of Motorsport, Hartmut Kristen. In 2008, the RS Spyder won the energy efficiency challenge at all races and championships ? in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the American Le Mans Series and the European Le Mans Series. With this, the RS Spyder impressively underlined its status as the world?s most efficient sports prototype.
?After claiming second last year we are absolutely over the moon with our victory today,? said Essex driver Casper Elgaard (Denmark). ?This is a huge success for our Danish team, which only began competing in long distance racing last year.? Porsche works driver Emmanuel Collard (France) added: ?The key to success was the RS Spyder. We didn?t have the slightest technical problem and turned fast and steady laps.? Only once in the night was there an unscheduled stop. Before the first Hunaudières chicane, the two close-running RS Spyder hit a patch of oil and began to slide. Keisuki Kunimoto (NAVI Team GOH) nudged the Essex car, resulting in both vehicles having body parts replaced. ?Our crew did a super job,? said the third Essex driver, Kristian Poulsen (Denmark), who celebrated his Le Mans debut with victory. ?I would like to thank the team and mostly Casper and Emmanuel. They did most of the work.?
After a break of four years, NAVI Team GOH, Le Mans winner of 2004 with Seiji Ara, looked like they would bring home a safe second place right up until an hour before the flag ? with a ten lap advantage over third position. Oil from a competitor became Ara?s eventual fate. ?I had no chance. Two wheels hit the oil that I couldn?t see while braking,? said Seiji Ara. ?It?s a bitter end of a great race. I?m pleased that the RS Spyder is not only fast, but also safe.? His compatriot Keisuke Kunimoto contested the long distance classic for the first time. Porsche works driver Sascha Maassen was full of praise: ?I salute our team?s performance. Perfect preparation, perfect team work in every respect. I?m so sorry that we couldn?t bring home the success they deserved.? For the perfect work in the pit stops, the team received a special prize from the organisers.
Porsche works drivers Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France), lent to Audi for the Le Mans 24 hour race, lost all chances to win with a technical defect in their #3 Audi R15 TDI which resulted in repairs over several hours on Saturday night. With their chase through the field from the back to finish 18th, the two shone with their excellent lap times. ?It hurts to be out of contention for overall victory so early on,? summarised Bernhard. ?Still, it was great fun. The Audi crew made us feel very welcome from the first moment on,? added Dumas.
In the production-based GT2 class, the double pole for the 911 GT3 RSR from qualifying could not be turned into a race success. After just two hours, the race came to an end for the three Porsche works drivers Marc Lieb (Germany), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Wolf Henzler (Germany). A problem with the fuel system caused the engine of the 911 to die and not start again ? 100 metres from the entrance to the pit lane. As the regulations do not allow a car to be towed in such a case, the leading trio of the German Felbermayr-Proton team had no chance to repair the otherwise technically perfect 911 and retired. ?Of course I?m very disappointed,? said Marc Lieb. ?But we are looking ahead and already looking forward to the next race in the Le Mans Series, where we want to extend our championship lead with another victory.?
For the American Flying Lizard team, the 2009 Le Mans race ended in the early morning hours when Darren Law (USA) collided heavily with the barriers. Prior to this, pole-setter Jörg Bergmeister (Germany) and team owner/gentleman driver Seth Neiman (USA) were steadily moving in the direction of a podium result with their GT3 RSR. The French IMSA Performance Matmut team with Porsche works drivers Patrick Pilet (France) and Patrick Long (USA) as well as Raymond Narac (France) maintained third place for more than two-thirds of the race distance. On Sunday morning a problem with the power transmission put an end to their promising charge.
1. Elgaard/Collard/Poulsen (DK/F/DK), Porsche RS Spyder, 357 laps
2. Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou (GB/CH/F), Lola Judd, 353
3. Nicolet/Hein/Yvon (F/MC/F), Pescarolo Mazda, 325
4. Barazi/Bennett/Moseley (DK/GB/GB), Zytek 07S, 306
Porsche Panamera designer focused on rear-seat passengers
A picture of Porsche Panamera
There's no mistaking it for anything but a Porsche, but with four doors and four full seats, the Panamera is like no previous Porsche.
Styled by a team of in-house designers under the direction of Michael Mauer, the Panamera is 195.7 inches long, 76.0 inches wide and 55.8 inches tall--making it slightly shorter but wider and lower than the Maserati Quattroporte, with which it shares a coupelike profile.
As with all such silhouettes, "the real challenge is giving the rear-seat passengers enough headroom," says Mauer. "The way that was done was to give a visual message that it's a coupe--look at the chrome around the window--but make the roofline higher."
Unlike the Pininfarina-designed Maserati, however, the new Porsche has a large liftback, for easy access to the trunk. And the rear seats are individual, with tall backrests that can be electronically reclined. Nominal trunk capacity is put at 15.7 cubic feet, but folding the rear seats increases capacity to 44.7 cubic feet.
Giving the Panamera ample luggage space was key, says Mauer, as was making the car a genuine four-seater and not just another 2+2. Even the tallest folks will find plenty of headroom, legroom, shoulder room and hip room in back. But all will be grateful for the omission of a center seat. "It's a true four-seater, not a five-seater with a compromised middle seat," says Mauer. "By putting only two seats in back, we were able to move the rear seats closer together and get the body to taper back."
According to Mauer, tapering the body is what keeps the Panamera looking like a Porsche, along with other design decisions all over the body.
The Panamera will be available with the choice of two 4.8-liter V8 direct-injection engines, both now in use in the Cayenne. The S and the 4S models get a naturally aspirated engine rated at 394 hp at 6,500 rpm and 369 lb-ft of torque at 3,500 rpm. In turbocharged form, the four-valve-per-cylinder engine delivers 493 hp at 6,000 rpm and 516 lb-ft of torque at just 2,250 rpm.
Gearboxes are a standard six-speed manual on the S and, for the four-wheel-drive 4S and Turbo, Porsche's newly introduced seven-speed dual-clutch PDK unit. Both are mated to an automatic stop/start system, a first for Porsche, which reduces fuel consumption by shutting off the engine when the car comes to a stop.
Porsche claims the Panamera is good for 0-to-62-mph times of 5.6 seconds, 5.0 seconds and 4.2 seconds, respectively, for the S, the 4S and the Turbo. The Turbo also is capable of hitting 100 mph in 9.0 seconds and reaching a top speed of 188 mph.
North American sales will start in October, with prices of $89,800 for the base rear-wheel-drive Panamera S and $93,800 for the four-wheel-drive Panamera 4S. Topping the lineup will be the extensively equipped four-wheel-drive Panamera Turbo, with a $132,600 price on par with the Quattroporte GTS and the upcoming Aston Martin Rapide.
First Drive: 2010 Porsche Panamera (Motor Trend)
Let's cut to the chase: The 2010 Porsche Panamera is big, fast, and comfortable; a genuine four passenger Gran Turismo capable of loafing across continents in giant 130 mph bounds, leaving you relaxed and refreshed at the end of the day at the wheel. Press a few buttons, stiffening the suspension, quickening the seven speed PDK transmission's responses, allowing the deep-throated dual exhaust to breathe easier, and the Panamera is ready to tackle a snaking mountain pass with the panache of...well, a Porsche.
Is it, as some purists grumble, another Porsche too far; another unnecessary detour from the company's core values, like the Cayenne SUV? Well, the front engine, V-8 powered Panamera is certainly not a four door 911. The Panamera has a personality all its own. Yet Porsche DNA seeps from every pore.
You see, the Panamera has the same ready-for-anything combination of performance and practicality that made the Porsche 928 S4 one of the world's most underrated GTs. The Panamera Turbo is four second fast to 60 mph and will hit 188 mph. Yet the rear seats fold to boost the luggage capacity from 15.7 cu ft to 44.6 cu ft, just under what you can fit behind the third row of a Chevy Suburban, and Porsche offers a roof rack and a trailer hitch (as it did for the 928) as factory options. For the record, the Panamera is rated to tow a 4850 lb braked trailer or a 1654 lb unbraked trailer. Try that with your Ferrari...This car is designed to be a daily driver, not a valet parking showpony.
Three Panamera models will be available in the U.S. when the car launches on October 17. Entry level car is the two wheel drive, $89,800 Panamera S. It shares its 400hp naturally aspirated, direct injection 4.8-liter V-8 with the all-wheel drive, $93,800 Panamera 4S. Top of the range Panamera is the $132,600 Turbo, which boasts 500hp courtesy of a pair of turbochargers, and standard all-wheel drive. Although the Panamera S is available in Europe with a conventional six speed manual, all U.S.-spec Panameras will come standard with Porsche's new seven-speed PDK dual clutch manual transmission
2011 Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid - Second Drive (Car and Driver)
Stuttgart's first hybrid goes its own way.
Two years ago, Porsche unveiled a concept of its first hybrid, a Cayenne V-6. It came with a single electric motor slotted between the engine and the automatic transmission. That went against the prevailing ?power-split? hybrid wisdom practiced by Toyota and Ford, whereby a gasoline engine interacts with a pair of electric motors to form a continuously variable transmission. Porsche says two advantages of its system are that it enables the Cayenne to retain its towing capacity and conventional all-wheel-drive system.
We spent a day driving the production Cayenne that?s powered by the 333-hp, 3.0-liter supercharged V-6 in Audi?s S4 rather than the Volkswagen 3.6-liter V-6 in the concept. Mated to a 52-hp electric motor, it gives a maximum output of 374 horsepower, enough grunt for a claimed 0-to-60-mph time that?s just 0.4 second slower than the V-8?powered Cayenne S?s 6.0 seconds. An eight-speed automatic transmission takes the place of the six-speed unit in the concept. This powertrain will later find its way into the upcoming Panamera.
Like many hybrids, the Cayenne can be driven solely on electric power up to a speed of 30 mph for the most feather-footed drivers. To enable efficient regenerative braking to charge the 288-volt nickel-metal hydride battery, the torque converter locks up very early, but Porsche had to painstakingly tune the shifts to avoid jerkiness in this mode.
One of the key features of the Cayenne hybrid is its ability to coast at speed to eke out better gas mileage on the highway. At speeds up to 86 mph, the engine will shut down, only to be restarted when the driver asks for torque by stepping on the gas pedal. In order to do this smoothly, a clutch between the engine and the electric motor reengages as the engine fires, a process that Porsche says takes 0.3 second.
The company claims the vehicle averages 26 mpg in the latest European combined cycle?a 27-percent improvement over the nonhybrid Cayenne V-6?which is very impressive for a 5700-pound SUV. (That?s about 350 pounds heavier than the V-8 Cayenne S.)
We found that the hybrid system works very well. There?s just a slight whine to indicate that the Cayenne is operating in electric mode, and it moves seamlessly between gasoline and electric power. Under hard throttle, the vehicle gets along smartly, the torque from the electric motor impressively augmenting the smooth and sonorous V-6.
The electrohydraulic power steering is a touch light, but this is still a very sporty SUV. On the highway, it?s eerie when the engine goes quiet while coasting, but reengagement of the gasoline engine is amazingly smooth. Our only reservation was the occasional clunky downshift while braking from low speed, no doubt caused by the locked torque converter as energy is redirected into the battery. Porsche claims this is a prototype glitch.
The hybrid Cayenne S will cost significantly more than the standard $60,215 Cayenne S. We estimate a base price of about $70,000.
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The battery is housed where the spare used to live.
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2010 Porsche 911 GT3 - Second Drive (Car and Driver)
The most sporting 911 gets more power, more handling, and more braking.
All Porsche 911s are serious sports cars, but some are more serious than others. The GT3 has a race-bred engine with seven oil pumps, a gearbox with its own cooling system, and grippy Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires. With 70 percent of GT3s seeing track use, it is the top jock in the 911 family, and the 2010 model is more serious than ever.
Porsche enlarged the bore of the GT3?s engine by 2.7 millimeters, bumping displacement from 3600 to 3797cc. It also gave it hotter cams and variable exhaust-cam timing. Horsepower increases from 415 to 435 and torque from 300 to 317 pound-feet.
Externally, a new front end provides more efficient ducting for the center radiator. The front splitter is now lower and deeper. In the rear, a wider wing extends beyond its vertical supports and is tilted down at an angle of 7.8 degrees. These changes increase downforce from 66 pounds to 220 pounds at 186 mph.
An updated suspension gets stiffer springs and a smaller anti-roll bar in front, while the rear bar is slightly enlarged. The adjustable shock absorbers, which make for a much more friendly ride, have been recalibrated, and new hubs bring revised suspension-pickup points.
These hubs use fancy, and lighter, centerlock wheels, shaving a total of 6.6 pounds. The new GT3 also gets enormous, 15.0-inch front brake rotors with separate aluminum carriers to reduce their weight slightly. The optional carbon-ceramic brakes also get lighter carriers, and they shave 44 pounds from the braking system. And for the first time, the GT3 gets stability control, but the driver can rid himself of this nanny by fully disabling the system.
Dynamic drivetrain mounts are an innovative new option, as is a lifting feature, which raises the front end of the car by 1.2 inches at the press of a button to avoid shredding that new front splitter on steep driveways.
Slip behind the new GT3?s Alcantara-covered steering wheel, and you?ll find an excellent driving position and highly bolstered sport seats that fit slim posteriors perfectly. The bigger engine clearly has more midrange than before, but the magic comes when you keep the revs above 6000 rpm, where the response is immediate, the sounds strident, and the acceleration fierce.
The GT3 lunges through the gears until fifth, at 145 mph, at which point the thrust moderates. Traffic precluded exceeding 175 mph on the autobahn, but the GT3 feels planted and stable at this pace, even on a hilly and curving roadway.
On twisty country lanes, the GT3 is simply superb. Its steering is as good as it gets, with perfect weighting, a natural buildup of forces during cornering, and great accuracy. Trying to slide a car with such high limits (the last GT3 we tested scored 1.05 g) on public roads is foolhardy unless your name is Walter Röhrl, but the car is immensely satisfying to fling into corners at thrilling speeds, knowing that you can rocket out even faster.
This latest GT3 will come to America in the fall, priced at $113,150. Figure a grand more for the electronic motor mounts, three or four grand for the nose-lifting system, and about nine grand for the ceramic brakes. Those who can afford it won?t be disappointed.
First Drive: 2009 Porsche Cayman S PDK (Motor Trend)
As the formal press introduction for the revamped Porsche Cayman S broke up and the international mix of scribes (including some Russians for the first time in my experience) clicked off their interpreter headsets, it was time to mingle around and ask some questions. First stop: the cut-away display of the new doppelkupplung transmission. Or for those of us stumped by words that appear to have come out of the operating manual of a U-Boat, the Porsche double-clutch gearbox, or just PDK for short.
I mean, this whole, glistening beehive of meshing teeth and concentric clutches was Porsche's baby in the first place. It's just...er, spent a rather long time in the oven. Back in 1981, a PDK-same basic idea-furtively appeared in a 956 race car, and then was quietly salted away until it was deemed that Moore's law of ever-doubling computer power had finally caught up with the necessary software.
After driving a couple of Cayman S's fitted with the thing, I'd say the computing power has caught up rather nicely. It's tempting the wrath of some of you, but I now think the concept of traditional manual shifting ought to be officially boxed up and quietly placed into the technological attic alongside crank-starting and diddling with ignition-advance levers on the steering column. While Porsche's PDK is actually replacing its automatic-based Tiptronic transmissions, inevitably it's going to slowly marginalize the traditional heel-and-toe manual right into oblivion. Trust me, the day will come when the last of its octogenarian practitioners finally has a hip replacement and just can't crook that arthritic old right leg sideways anymore. And that will be that. (Until then, last year's five-speed manual gains an extra cog for those of you hopelessly fixated on slow, inexact shifting).
If you overlay the PDK's details atop today's typical double-clutch fare, what stands out most is its exquisitely subtle software and seven-speed range of ratios (the first six being relatively short while the top cog is dialed fairly tall for cruising efficiency). Although Porsche claims its shifts are 60 percent quicker than a fast-stirred manual, in a sense they take no time at all as the clutches' handoff is so refined there's no appreciable moment of zero torque. Slap it into Drive and its autonomous shifts are as fluid and logical as any slushbox automatic's.
While there is a toggleable shifter lever sprouting from the center console, it seems almost symbolic. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the steering wheel switches will be taking the gear-change orders, and Porsche's switchery consists of two small chunks of putty-shaped aluminum that slot through notches in the tops of the right and left spokes. Notably, each operates in exactly the same way. They're not "handed": Thumb-press either to upshift, trigger-pull either to downshift. The ergonomic logic here has its naysayers, but I rather like the left and right symmetry. No need to mentally track which spoke is which. Just find one and either push or pull the doohickey.
Compared with that life-or-death subject -- Should pulling a shift-paddle cause an upshift or a downshift? -- political and religious wrangles look like tea parties. Our editor-in-chief, for instance, is stone-certain Porsche's got it completely backwards: That's not how it's done in racing! Evidently, there's been some in-house angst at Porsche for the same reason, but the sentiment has been trumped by a reluctance to confuse current Tiptronic drivers. Untainted as I am with any racing habits, pulling back to downshift -- akin, in my mind, to tugging on a horse's reins to slow it -- makes perfect sense to me...er, what's that, Angus? Oh, right, it's backwards. Yes sir, definitely backwards.
Most important though, both the Cayman and Cayman S's are powered by brand new sixes based on the architecture of the fresh 911 units. Among the pair's advances are lighter weight, greater stiffness (now with closed-deck blocks), a simplified timing chain, two-piece crankcases replacing the previous four-part ones (plus their separate bearing cases), twin-chamber stainless-steel exhausts, and oil pumps that dynamically match their engine's needs. The base Cayman's displacement is now 0.2 liter closer to Cayman S's, jumping to 2.9 liters with its output climbing to 265 horsepower (up 20 horses). The 3.4-liter's output swells to a hearty 320 horsepower from 295, largely on the basis of the introduction of direct injection. Notice that this engine's oomph is within a 5-horse Briggs & Stratton of the 2008 911's 3.6-liter's-and buttoned into a car that's roughly 100 pounds lighter. Calculation? Yes, it actually has a slightly superior power-to-weight ratio. Simultaneously, when equipped with PDKs, both Caymans' fuel consumption (and CO2 emissions) is markedly reduced compared with their Tiptronic predecessors, the base car improving by 11 percent, the S by 16. This is called having your cake and smushing it into your competition's face too.
Stopping the car are bigger, 911-size brakes (ceramics are available-at $8150) necessitating a half-inch widening of the standard wheels; together, they're suspended by recalibrated springs and shocks. Available in the back is a mechanical, limited-slip differential ($950), though lighter-effort steering is at the ready to help you stave-off any directional confusion that still manages to escape the diff.
Meanwhile, new software aids include brake-based hill-holding and launch control (we saw a two-way zip-to-60 average of 4.5 seconds without even trying -- way faster than the 4.9 seconds Porsche is officially stating). Porsche claims a 171-mph top speed.
On the damp roads we encountered along Spain's southern coast (no doubt, it was raining on the plains), the Cayman drove as if there were an asphalt-dryer inches ahead of it. This thing is simply exquisite -- a thoroughbred racehorse in metal, a partner in road-gobbling that borders on the magical, more a 320-horsepower driving glove than a car. Stare as hard as you like, you'll never find the grooves that just gotta be there in the road to make an automobile handle like this. The risk Porsche engineers have taken all along with the Cayman is that, sooner or later, they'd dial its performance up so high its natural advantage in mid-engine balance and trimmer-scale would finally propel it into outshining the iconic 911 Carrera. Personally, I think that moment has arrived. Lithe on the road, fluidly seductive in appearance, and positively alive in your hands: It's now, in my humble opinion, very simply the best sports car in the world.
| 2009 PORSCHE CAYMAN S | |
| Base price | $61,150 |
| Price as tested | $71,250(est) |
| Vehicle layout | Mid-engine, RWD, 2-pass, 2-door hatchback |
| Engine | 3.4L/320-hp/273-lb-ft DOHC, 24-valve flat-6 |
| Transmission | 7-speed dual-clutch automatic |
| Curb weight | 3000 lb (mfr) |
| Wheelbase | 95.1 in |
| Length x width x height | 171.1 x 70.9 x 51.4 in |
| 0-60 mph | 4.5 sec |
| EPA city/hwy fuel econ | 21/28 mpg (est) |
| CO2 emissions | 0.82 lb/mile (est) |
| On sale in U.S. | March 2009 |