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Porsche trio seals endurance drivers' title

Fifth place. That's all it took for the Porsche team to seal the drivers' title in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship. And that's just what they did this weekend in the 6 Hours of Bahrain. The leading lineup of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley, and Mark Webber drove the #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid to the drivers' title to cap a dominant season for the Weissach team. Porsche already won the pinnacle race at Le Mans this past summer, and drove home the manufacturers' title at the penultimate round in Shanghai. The championship-winning trio of Bernhard, Hartley, and Webber won four out of the total eight rounds this season – including the races at the Nurburgring, Circuit of the Americas, Fuji, and Shanghai. That gave them 166 points in the final standings, besting the 161 achieved by the Audi team of Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler, and Benoit Treluyer, who won at Silverstone and Spa. In beating Audi to the top honors in the championship and at Le Mans, Porsche has completely locked its corporate cousins (and chief rivals) out of the winner's circle for the first time in years. Last season saw Toyota win both titles in the WEC, but Audi still won at Le Mans. Audi won both titles in the first two seasons of the championship, and the French endurance race all but three times in the past 16 years. The last time Audi was completely shut out was in 2009, when Peugeot won at Le Mans and Aston Martin took both titles in the associated Le Mans Series with its Lola-based LMP1 prototype. This latest achievement only adds to Porsche's unsurpassed sports car racing trophy cabinet. The German outfit won 12 manufacturers' and teams' titles (and another six drivers' titles) in the 1970s and 80s under the previous World Sportscar Championship. It has won at Le Mans a record 17 times, and another 18 each at Sebring and Daytona. Porsche also took the checkered flag at the Targa Florio 11 times, won the Monte Carlo rally four times, the Dakar twice, and with TAG and McLaren, won three drivers' titles, two constructors' titles, and 25 grands prix in Formula One. Related Video: Porsche works drivers win the FIA World Endurance Championship drivers' title The new champions: Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber Stuttgart.

Porsche's new twin-turbo V8 will power Audis

Porsche unveiled a new twin-turbo V8 engine at the 37th International Vienna Motor Symposium yesterday. According to a report from Car and Driver, the engine will see use in future V8 applications across the VW Group and could find its way into various Audis, Bentleys, and even the Lamborghini Urus. We expect to see it first in the 2017 Porsche Panamera. The engine makes 549 horsepower and 567 pound-feet of torque, or 21 hp less than the 4.8-liter twin-turbo V8 in the Panamera Turbo S. Welcome to the brave new world in which Porsche is a more-integrated part of the VW group. While the new engine puts out impressive numbers, it likely means that the Porsche-exclusive 4.8-liter is headed for the history books. Component sharing is nothing new - Porsche already uses other VW Group engines in its lineup - but it means the flat-four and flat-six engines in the 718 Boxster/Cayman and 911 will be the only unique powerplants remaining in the Stuttgart automaker's offerings. According to C/D, the new engine features cylinder deactivation and is optimized for future hybrid applications. It also consumes 30 percent less fuel than its predecessor, and will mate to both an 8-speed automatic and ZF's dual-clutch 8-speed. Along with the next Panamera, Porsche is also likely to use this engine in the Cayenne. A representative of Porsche North America was unable to provide any official information to Autoblog. If you're hungry for more details, click through to C/D's website. Related Video: News Source: Car and Driver, 37th International Vienna Motor Symposium Porsche Luxury Performance

1950s car ads are timeless

Usually around the Super Bowl a few great car commercials show up, but for the most part auto ads today pale in comparison to the '1950s and '60s. In an era with a truly viable magazine industry, automakers would take out gorgeous full-page spreads to get the word out about their wares. It was also a time when imports were just hitting the US, and there was a boom in sports cars. Car and Driver has gone for a dig into its advertising archives from when the book was known as Sports Cars Illustrated for a truly great viewing experience. You can imagine a young Don Draper mulling over the copy for these ads, but some of it is laughably quaint today. For example, there's a great image of a driver whipping an Austin-Healey 100 around a track. The italicized red text proudly proclaims, "From 0 to 60 MPH in 10.5 seconds." One of the beautiful parts about these advertisements is that you seldom see photos of the cars. Instead, there are often detailed drawings that slightly distort the vehicles' lines. With this approach, the Porsche 356 ends up looking far more curvaceous than in real life. Plus, the front end of the Chrysler 300 looks large enough to land a helicopter on. The whole thing is worth scrolling through. There are some fascinating glimpses into auto history like an ad for Abarth exhausts before the brand was just known for tuning Fiats. Related Video: News Source: Car and DriverImage Credit: GM Heritage Center Marketing/Advertising Read This Chrysler Fiat Porsche Performance Classics porsche 356 abarth