Weekly Porsche Wrap

Andy Lally and John Potter drove #41 TRG Porsche 911 to VICTORY! – This actually took place about a week ago, but I thought I’d throw it in for the budding race fans out there. Lally and Potter beat out all-time KONI victory leader Bill Auberlen in what was called a wild KONI Sports Car Challenge Series race at Watkins Glen. Sounds like the end of the race was a wet one with several cars spinning off the track in the final laps. Lally said of the end of the race, “On the last restart, it was some of the craziest moves I’ve ever seen. We were four wide, door to door. We passed each other three or four times.” [Via PaddockTalk.com]

“I passed a Porsche” – I don’t know why I found this funny. There’s an Expat living in Germany who calls herself WiseWoman. Here’s an experience she had with a Porsche on the Autobahn recently:

Tooling down the two-lane secondary highway this afternoon there was a ton of traffic. And I was behind a Porsche doing 99 in a 100 zone. I waited a bit, nothing happened, but there was space for me to hop over and pass. I did, had to speed up to 110 to get past him, but it worked!

Strangely, the Porsche didn’t pass anyone, even on the autobahn. Must have been a new owner…. [Via wiwowo.blogspot.com]

Open-source hydrogen car…Porsche style – For the last 3 years, Sebastian Piech and other members of the Porsche family have been the financial backing of the development of a hydrogen car. The Riversimple Urban Car weighs 772 pounds with the ability to go 50 mph and a range of over 200 miles. Each wheel has an electric motor that also function as the brakes and electricity generators. 10 prototypes are expected to be released in the UK. Here’s the really cool part. Since the car is “open source” the plans will be posted by the engineering team on their wiki and anyone can lease it for free, modify it, and manufacture their own vehicle. [Via ScientificAmerican.com]

Can’t afford a Porsche? Buy a Hyundai – This is one of the better opening paragraphs to a blog post about a run-of-the-mill Japanese car. Check it out:

So you’ve been window-shopping on Porsche’s Web site, eyeing a new 911. The Carrera S starts at $87,000 and you want it with the seven-speed double-clutch transmission, an additional $4,000. And how could you buy your dream car without the full interior leather package for $2,100?

Then you notice that unopened 401(k) statement on your desk and are reminded that, despite Porsche tastes, you’re on a Hyundai budget. That’s the sound of brakes screeching.

As much as I think Hyundai has overcome many of the inferior product quality problems of their early days and that they provide one of the BEST warranties in the business. I still can’t get over the fact that it’s a Hyundai, and the thought of spending upwards of $30k on a HYUNDAI is just too much. But this blog isn’t about Hyundai (thank goodness). [Via Bloomberg.com]

Angry wife takes the law into her own hands – In Yonkers (should be called bonkers for this story in my opinion), a 64 year old woman who was angry about her husband seeing another woman drove her 2004 Porsche into his 2009 Lexus. The Lexus was parked in his girlfriend’s driveway at the time. After a bit of a tussle, the girlfriend punched the wife in the face. Guess we’ll be seeing some bargains up on eBay on a 2004 Porsche and a 2009 Lexus that are “gently used, but never abused”. Or perhaps another hick video is in the makings right now. [Via LoHud.com]

Volkswagen supports Qatar stake in either VW or Porsche – This is interesting. A VW spokesman said recently, “In principle we view this positively since it would accelerate the process to form an integrated group with 10 brands.” If that’s the case, then why in the world is there so much hassle between the two families in sorting out their own deal?! Doesn’t make sense to me. [Via Reuters.com]

Porsche #2 world’s best luxury cars in Japanese minds – You’d think this would be a Japanese car. Especially since it seems like a majority of Japanese people drive cars like Toyota, Acura and Honda. Turns out the wealthy in Japan see Mercedes-Benz and Porsche respectively filling the first 2 spots. The Luxury Institute conducted a survey of Japanese households with annual income more than $525,000 about their attitudes toward 20 car brands. [Via USAToday.com]

Comments

  1. mitchell says

    i cant picture japanese people in porsches. i honestly dont think ive ever seen that…

  2. I understand the woman’s rage towards her husbands affair, but my goodness, don’t take your anger out on the innocent cars. Poor poor Porsche.

  3. Great story on the lady passing a Porsche on the Autobon. What a treat that would be to open a Porsche up out there. What was the owner thinking for taking it easy and not passing.. what a chump

  4. Andy Lally is one of the best American Porsche drivers driving today. He also won the 24 Hours of Daytona this year driving a Porsche GT3 RSR for TRG. Look for more from vhim, including this weekend, when he’ll get behind the wheel of a cup car and race in a NASCAR road race.

  5. The “wisewoman” blog post : She suggested the Porsche owner was new….At almost 100 mph, That was just probably a leisurely cruise for him that day, Taking in the scenery 🙂

  6. Ryan,I know this is your blog…But Please do not even type the word Hyundai here again…. or me and a few others here are walking lol

  7. I think it is pretty impressive that the wealthy Japanese recognize Mercedes and Porsche as the top two luxury brands. Shows they truly know quality when they see it.

  8. At least lexus placed 3rd…could’ve been worse.

    Wonder what the entire list looked like…what other brands would a person with 525m + income pick.

  9. While I don’t like the coupe, if I were in the market to buy a nice sedan for the family I think, for the price, the Hyundai Genesis can’t be beat. No, it’s not a Panamera, but it would be at the top of my must-drive list for practicality-sake.

  10. yonkers:don’t understand destroying your own property to make a point.very strange.

  11. Ouch. That poor porsche. The woman should serve 50 years hard labor

  12. good to see hydrogen story.porshe is known for innovation.

  13. the woman replaced the porsche with a hyundai

  14. Thanks for the info ruthless… I will be watching the NASCAR race this weeked as I always do and will watch for Lally.

  15. japanese know and appreciate quality,no matter what the source.they have helped improve the automobile industry the world over by raising the bar.

  16. Jeff, I may have gotten the date wrong on the nascar thing – when they do road courses, they bring in specialists…and TRG has been testing Lally in a cup car, but it might not be this weekend…it’s the weekend when the cup cars go left AND right

  17. That angry wife, Thats a rough day, Your husband cheating,you wipe out your Porsche and you get punched in the face for it on top of it. Why she would ruin her car over her husband escapes me…The other crap can be dealt with…after all is said and done, you are sitting there with a cracked up Porsche! The story should end with a sledgehammerd Lexus and the husband with the black eye! 🙂

  18. ruthless, yes the road course race is this weekend at Sonoma, Ca. It is on TNT at 4:30 ET. I went to this race two years ago and it was a great race in the warm sunshine and next to Napa Valley. Fun two have two road course races in NASCAR, but that is enough. The many different ovals provide plenty of variety and challenges.

  19. Jeff, I guess we’ll know after qualifying if Lally made it in, or if they even decided to run him in a car

  20. may i suggest anger management for yonkers?just a suggestion.

  21. Looks like Lally didn’t make it in a car this week. There were a several other road course racers in there but he wasn’t one of them. One driver is Ron Fellows who I actually met at a track a couple years ago. He drives for the Corvette road team. Pretty cool guy.

  22. passing a porsche story is funny.goes to show just because you drive a fast car,you understand when people pass you.

  23. i really hate when you go to pass someone and then they speed up.don’t take it personally.

  24. Jeff – Ron Fellows is one of the coolest guys ever. Nice to see him and Boris Said on these NASCAR road courses. Kinda cracks me up though, NASCAR calls these guys “Road Course Specialists”, but I call them “Drivers who can turn left AND right”.

  25. The story about the 64 year old money is bonkers. People still cheat on their spouses when they are 64? I always felt that I’d be happy just to be alive at 64 let alone trying to manage a girlfriend on the side. Sad result to a couple really nice cars, let alone a marriage.