1990 Porsche 911 on 2040-cars

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Felicity Ace sinks with thousands of VWs, Porsches, Lamborghinis

The stricken ship Felicity Ace sank overnight after a week of salvage efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful. The ship, which was carrying up to 4,000 VW Group cars, went to the bottom unexpectedly while a salvage team was attempting to tow it to shore, Bloomberg reports.  "Initial reports from the local salvage team state that the vessel had sunk at around 9AM local time having suffered a list to starboard," Mitsui O.S.K. Lines transportation company (MOL), which owns the Felicity Ace, said in a statement released early Tuesday.    "The last vessel position was around 220nm off the Azores," MOL said. "The salvage crafts will remain around the area to monitor the situation. Further information will be provided as it becomes available." The ship sank after being battered by waves and listing 45 degrees to starboard, the ship’s operator said. “The weather was pretty rough out there,” Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for MOL Ship Management (Singapore), a unit of Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., said by phone. “And then she sank, which was a surprise.” VW, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini-branded models were aboard the ship, which was headed to Rhode Island from GermanyÂ’s Emden port when the fire broke out on Feb. 16.  Rough seas and ongoing fires fueled by the lithium-ion batteries of EVs onboard delayed the ship's salvage and recovery operations for the better part of a week. While the likelihood of salvaging the smoke and potentially fire- and water-damaged vehicles from Felicity Ace's hold was slim to none, some had held out hope that their special-ordered vehicles might survive the mishap.  The Panama-flagged Felicity Ace was safely evacuated of its 22 crew members by the Portuguese navy after a fire started in its hold more than a week ago. The ship can carry up to 4,000 cars. European carmakers declined to discuss how many vehicles and what models were on board, but it appears to have been transporting approximately 2,500 cars, including roughly 1,100 Porsches and an undetermined number of Volkswagens.  The cars aboard were on order. Porsche customers in the United States were being contacted by their dealers, the company said. “We are already working to replace every car affected by this incident and the first new cars will be built soon,” Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, Inc., told The Associated Press in an email. The ship sank in water nearly 10,000 feet deep, the Portuguese Navy said.

Magnus Walker drives 911 Turbos old and new

It's been forty years now since Porsche released the original 911 Turbo. And as many things that have remained a constant, a lot has changed, too: the engine has gone from air-cooled to liquid, moved up to nearly a midships layout, and drives almost exactly double the original's output to all four wheels instead of just the back set through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission instead of a five-speed manual. It'll also reach highway speeds about twice as fast as the original. That's progress for you, and who better to compare Porsche Turbos old and new than Magnus Walker. The outlaw of the 911 scene may not look the part, but to those in the know, he's got the last word when it comes to Porsches. After searching for some time, Walker recently got his hands on a cherry of an original 930 Turbo from 1975 – the first year it was made – and had it shipped from Australia to California to add to his collection. eGarage caught up with Walker and brought along a new 991 Turbo for juxtaposition. Fortunately it also brought along a video camera or two to document the experience, so check it out in the latest video above.

Another cool projection vid, this time with a Porsche 911

Porsche has become the latest automaker to take advantage of clever projection technology. The automaker worked up a quick presentation for the 2013 911 Carrera 4S to show off a bit of "motionless driving." The display tracks the sports car from production to back-road caning and city-center cruising, displaying a variety of exterior color choices and wheel options without resorting to a two-dimensional video.
This isn't the first time we've seen an automaker use its new product as a projection screen. Subaru, Hyundai, Lamborghini and others have all done the same, and the trick never fails to be visually interesting.
As you may recall, we got to play with the 2013 911 Carrera 4S back in November and found the machine to be a better daily driver than its rear-wheel drive counterpart. You can check out the projection video below.