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Race Recap: 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans defines 'endurance'

Commenting on the rush of events that rocked beginning and end of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Paul Truswell of Radio Le Mans said "the race is about the ability to endure, not just the ability of drivers to do what they do for a long time." The entire race machine, all the way down to the pit boards and radios, has to survive the stress and abuse of the entire day. This was the race to prove those words.
There were two Toyotas, two Porsches and three Audis, five of the seven led the race at some point, six of the seven ran in the top three. Toyota will be hugely disappointed that it didn't win when its car and drivers were so, so strong, but they gave Audi the kind of scare we haven't seen since the best of Peugeot's days, and Toyota did a better job of it even in the loss. Porsche blew away everyone's expectations, falling 3.5 hours short of a fairy tale ending that would have made Disney cry.
But Le Mans doesn't really do fairy tales. Well, not that fairy tale. Audi's Twitter handle during the event was #welcomechallenges. As usual, Le Mans answered for the entire field.

Luftgekuhlt is an incredible car show for air-cooled Porsches

Air-cooled Porsches: Three lousy words and four lousy syllables. String them together and you get an expensive, emotive cocktail. If you've always wanted to own one, you know that truth, as prices of vintage 356s, 911s, and even 914s have risen steadily and then recently, skyrocketed. That change in the economics of cars once considered workhorses has altered the zeitgeist around what Porsche means to different generations of fans. Back in the day, Porsche didn't strive to be as expensive or as untouchable as Ferrari's metal. As a result, you typically find Porsche owners able — and willing — to twist wrenches on their machines. For one thing, air-cooled cars from Zuffenhausen were relatively easy to maintain and drive in all four seasons. They weren't show ponies. But when cars become collectibles, the scene around them changes, and Porsche FIA World Endurance Championship racer Patrick Long and his longtime pal, designer Howie Idelson, were, as Long put it, sick of meets "at golf courses where you have to worry if your shoes match your pants." Long mixes fine in that world. He's the only American on Porsche's factory team and he's won in everything from ALMS to GT to Baja. That tends to put your loafers at plenty of tony cocktail parties. But Long and Idelson, both SoCal natives who met as kids racing karts, wanted to make something of the air-cooled Porsche car culture, not of the collecting culture. Hence the birth, less than three years ago, of Luftgeku hlt. "It's literally 'air-cooled' in German but has that nerdish, Instagram picture-trading offshoot of a kind of Porsche cult," Long says, noting he's less interested in defining the brand that now sells t-shirts and posters and more interested in keeping things loose. View 63 Photos "We had cars with original paint from guys who work their hands 'til they're bloody and we had 200 of the most collectible cars." As such, he was still floored by the recently convened Luftgekuhlt 3, the third party he and Idelson have put on and by far the largest. It was held in the shadow of the L.A. skyline at the headquarters of Modernica furniture. More than 400 air-cooled Porsches and their owners convened. The location was no afterthought. "We wanted people to come for the cars and then be blown away by the venue: It has to be interesting. It has to attract different kinds of people." To spur that, Long doesn't adhere to the strict fealty of precision that's a default at most collector rallies.

Porsche sells a $6,570 office chair

If you're in the market for a new seat and a Porsche fan, then the German company might have the chair of your dreams. Be ready to spend some serious cash, though. The Porsche Office Chair RS looks identical to what is in the company's vehicles, and Porsche promises the chair uses the same leather and Alcantara as in the sports cars. The brand's crest comes embossed on the headrest, too. Buyers also get the usual features you would expect from an office chair like adjustments to the seat height and armrests. There's also a jacket hook at the back. However, the coolest part is the electrically adjustable backrest with a rechargeable battery for power. If the Office Chair RS has one downside, it's the price. Porsche's website shows a list price of $6,570. If you shop around, that's a similar to what a Porsche 944 will set you back, and you can actually drive the 944. If you're looking for something slightly less expensive, Porsche also has a regular office chair that looks very similar to the RS but retails for $5,690, which still isn't much of a bargain, but is pretty cool nonetheless. Related Video: News Source: Porsche [1], [2] via YouTube Auto News Design/Style Weird Car News Porsche Performance Videos