1975 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa 2-door on 2040-cars

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Porsche 911: Big in Taiwan

Porsche is continuing celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of its iconic 911. In its latest video, it's gone to Taiwan, to interview some of the folks that have grown passionate about the rear-engined sportscar over the years.
By and large, the views expressed in this video could have come from anywhere in the world. The 911 is a great car and that doesn't change from country to country. These enthusiasts have the same passion that fans in England, the United States or Germany have for the Carrera. Take a look below at the full video, to see what the 911 enthusiasts of Taiwan love about their 911s.

McLaren boss' exclusive Porsche 935 Street is worth three 911 Turbos

McLarens may be exclusive, but there are still hundreds - if not thousands - of people out there who can say they own one. Mansour Ojjeh is one of them, but he doesn't just own a McLaren - he owns McLaren. As in, the company that makes the racing and exotic supercars. Or 25 percent of it, anyway. As the head of Techniques d'Avant Garde, Ojjeh is one of the British outfit's largest shareholders, previously having owned Heuer watches (before selling it to luxury giant LVMH) and engineered Porsche's most successful foray into Formula One - winning the world drivers' championship three times in a row and the constructors' title twice with Alain Prost and Niki Lauda behind the wheel of McLarens with Porsche engines developed and branded by TAG.
In short, he probably could get any McLaren he wanted at the drop of a hat, but also had strong ties to Porsche in the 80s, and this is the car he wanted. It's called the Porsche 935 Street, and it's the only one ever made. Inspired by the 935 racer that won Le Mans and over 120 other races, Ojjeh contracted Porsche Exclusive when it was still in its infancy to make him one for the road. So they took a 930 bodyshell, slotted in the 3.3-liter turbo flat-six from the 934 but cranked output up to 375 horsepower, and gave it the brakes, suspension, BBS wheels and wide-body aero from the 935 racer. They painted it a deep metallic red and trimmed the interior with cream leather and wood veneer.
When all was said and done, a total of 550 modifications were performed, detailed on a seventeen-page invoice and costing as much as three new 911 Turbos at the time. Ojjeh only put 12,000 miles on the odometer, running up and down the French Riviera, and has now put it up for sale at the upcoming Bonhams auction at Spa where it's tipped to fetch upwards of 300,000 euros - equivalent to $410k at today's rates, or, once again, the price of about three new 911 Turbos.

Ford GT dominates Le Mans qualifying, gets slapped with performance adjustment

Fifty years after Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon drove the Ford GT40 to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ford is poised for a historic return to the Circuit de la Sarthe. The new Ford GT took the top two qualifying positions in the LMGTE Pro class, and four of the top five. Ferrari's 488 filled in the rest of the spots in the top seven, the first two from AF Corse. In other words, we're primed for a reboot of the classic Ford-Ferrari feud at this year's race. Or not, as the ACO, which organizes the 24 Hours of Le Mans, announced sweeping pre-race Balance of Performance (BOP) adjustments this morning that make this year's GT class anybody's race. In LMP1, last year's overall winner Porsche locked up the top two spots with the 919 Hybrid and will lead the entire field at race start. Toyota's two-car factory effort followed with qualifying times 1.004 and 2.170 seconds behind the pole lap. Audi rounds out the manufacturer-backed LMP1 class in fifth and sixth. Full qualifying results can be found here. The storyline for the GT cars is perfect - some say too perfect. Ford's class-leading times came after BOP adjustment to the Corvette Racing C7.R before qualifying. BOP is intended to level the playing field in the class by adjusting power, ballast, and fuel capacity. (Check out this explainer video for more, or even just if you love French accents.) But the process is riddled with unknowns and ripe for accusations of sandbagging. That is, if the Ford cars were intentionally slow in practice they could hope for BOP adjustment to improve their race chances. On the Corvette side, last year's GTE Pro winner went from the top of the field to the bottom, barely improving from practice to qualifying. If you think Le Mans is as rigged at the NBA Playoffs, well, it's not that simple. Because if Ford and Ferrari held back until qualifying - the eighth-place Porsche 911 RSR is three-and-a-half seconds off the class pole time - it was a pretty dumb strategy. This morning, the ACO tried to put things back in order by limiting the boost in the Ford GT's twin-turbo V6 and adding 11 pounds of ballast. Ferrari was also given extra weight but allowed more fuel capacity. The Corvette and Aston Martin teams were both given breaks on their air restrictors, which will allow their engines to make more power. Both Ford and Porsche also received extra fuel capacity.