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Audi outlasts rivals to win 13th Le Mans title

As is so often the case, the 2014 Le Mans was a war of attrition, and Audi managed to prevail once again after all 24 hours had been recorded in the history books, with its Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro claiming first and second places, followed by Toyota in third. Drivers Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer inherited the lead in their No. 2 Audi after the No. 7 Toyota, driven by pole-sitter Kazuki Nakajima, was forced to retire with electrical problems in the 15th hour.
The No. 2 Audi led the race until it was forced to the pits to replace a turbocharger in the 17th hour, allowing the No. 1 Audi, driven by Lucas di Grassi, Marc Gene (who was a last-minute replacement for Loic Duval, who crashed hard during practice) and defending champion Tom Kristensen, led the race until the 21st hour, when it too had to pit with turbocharger issues. This gave the No. 20 Porsche of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley, and Mark Webber the lead until it was forced off the track with gearbox problems, eventually finishing in 38th position.
In LMP2, the Jota Sport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan driven by Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell and Oliver Turvey claimed victory, the first five LMP2 finishers all powered by Nissan. Down a level in GTE-Pro, No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 driven by Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella finished one lap ahead of the leading Corvette Racing C7.R. And finally, the No. 95 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE driven by Kristian Poulsen, David HeinemeierHansson and Nicki Thiim won the GTE-Am race two laps ahead of a Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

This Porsche 356 family keeps it outlaw

Rod Emory was the founder of Emory Motorsports in Burbank, CA, and the scion to a family tradition of building "outlaw" Porsches that are almost as cool as the cars themselves. The lovingly modified Porsche 356s are lovely artifacts, and their story, along with the story of their builders, is pitch-perfect for the Petrolicious oeuvre of beloved classics.
Tune in for the history lesson, and then stick around for the car candy.

Porsche resurrects V8-powered 911 prototype from the Eighties

These days, we take it for granted that the Porsche 911 uses a flat-six engine. That's because every version of the iconic rear-engined sports car has had one. Right? Well, for the most part. There was the 912 that joined the original in the late Sixties with a flat-four. And in the mid-Eighties, Porsche toyed around with the idea of a V8-powered 911.
After the first-generation 911 had been in production for over two decades, Porsche began development of its successor, the 964, in the 1980s. And one of its ideas was to use a V8 engine. So it took a 964, borrowed a V8 from Audi, gave it the rear bodywork from a 959 and dubbed it the 965.
The idea was to create a more affordable successor to the 959 that included its advanced all-wheel drive system and active suspension. The Audi V8 would have been replaced with one of Porsche's own design - possibly based on the it had built for Indy racing - but Dr. Ulrich Bez (who was then head of Porsche R&D long before taking the reins at Aston Martin) ultimately killed the project.