1967 Porsche 912 ~black Plate California Car Since Day One!~ on 2040-cars

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Popular Science magazine's Best Of What's New 2012 all ate up with cars

Popular Science has named the winners in its Best of What's New awards, the victors coming in the categories of aerospace, automotive, engineering, entertainment, gadgets, green, hardware, health, home, recreation, security and software. The automotive category did not go wanting for lauded advancements:
Tesla Model S: the Grand Award winner for being "the standard by which all future electric vehicles will be measured."
BMW 328i: it's 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gets called out for being more powerful and frugal than the six-cylinder it replaces.

The 2017 Porsche 911 RSR goes mid-engine, purists be damned

Porsche unveiled its World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech Championship competitor with the 2017 911 RSR. And this 911 is different from the rest, as the 4.0-liter flat-six engine powering this beast is in front of the rear axle, not behind it. That's right, this 24 Hours of Le Mans competitor ditches the iconic rear-engine layout. Porsche isn't talking specifics on how exactly things are arranged back there. The engine is new, now based on the 991 911's block instead of the previous Mezger motor that's been used for years. The transmission design is new as well – it would have to be to accommodate the new location relative to the engine. The racecar has been engineered to meet the LM-GTE class, where it will go up against other mid-engine cars like the Ford GT and Ferrari 488 GTE. Moving the engine to the middle has given Porsche the ability to fit the 911 RSR with massive bits of aero, like the humongous rear diffuser that looks like it would be more at home on a machine of war. The only thing that can compete with the diffuser for size is the top-mounted rear wing, which shares a similar design to the one found on the 919 Hybrid. Going back to the engine, the direct-injected boxer motor, depending on the size of the restrictor, generates as much as 510 horsepower and sends all of its fury to the rear wheels. The engine is paired to a six-speed sequential gearbox, which drivers can employ through paddles on the steering wheel. The new engine doesn't have a lot of weight to push around as the 911 RSR, as required by regulations, weighs 2,740 pounds. Speaking of weight, the engine layout isn't the only change for the 911 RSR. For 2017, the car ditches its steel body for one that's made out of carbon fiber. The body attaches to the chassis via quick-release fasteners, making the vehicle easier to service as exterior elements can be removed with minimal effort. The racecar also gets a radar-based collision system – aptly named the "Collision Avoid System" – which is meant to limit the 911 RSR's encounters with faster LMP prototypes. Only time will tell if the new layout and aerodynamic components help the 911 RSR beat its competition. But there will be plenty of opportunities to see the racecar in action as Porsche plans to run the 911 RSR in 19 races during the 2017 season, the first of which will take place at the IMSA opener on January 28th at Daytona, where the racecar will make its track day debut.

Are you the 2017 Porsche 911 GTS Targa?

Our spy shooters have caught a strange, mash-up beast wearing a Porsche badge. Superficially, this is a facelift for the 911 Targa that features new bumpers, door handles and a redesigned engine cover, along with new light graphics for the front and rear lights. But have a look around back, and you'll find two inboard exhaust pipes; they aren't right up against each other as on the 911 GT3, but are spaced about five inches apart. The shooters said the first time they saw that arrangement was last winter, on a convertible during testing. We saw it again more recently in spy shots of what was thought to be the 911 GTS coupe prototype at the track. But when the production GTS arrived, it wore the traditional quad-pipe at the corners. The theory put forward by the spy photog: the current GTS has a naturally aspirated engine, but facelifted prototypes they've been seeing all have turbo engines, so this could be the facelifted Targa coming in 2017, after the 991-model 911 gets a refresh. In that case, the GTS coupe prototype at the track would have also been a post-refresh, turbo-engined GTS. It's only a hypothesis, but more than one outlet has reported that Porsche is going all-turbo for the updated 2015 models – the new exhaust position and those 911-Turbo-like vents could be their identifiers. We expect to find out when the lineup is unveiled at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, possibly codenamed 992 instead of 991.2.