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Woman rushing to pub nearly causes head-on collision

A woman in a rush to pick up her husband from a local pub caused this close call on a street in England this weekend. The near miss happened on Sunday on the B1253 between Rudston and Bridlington, East Yorkshire, England. A Porsche Cayenne driver attempted to overtake a blue Citroen on a blind curve but didn't see the white Skoda in oncoming traffic. Thanks to the Skoda driver's quick maneuvering on to the grassy shoulder the Cayenne only caused minor damage to the other two cars. Damian Hodgson is the owner of the dashboard camera who was behind the blue Citroen. After the close call Hodgson first stopped to check on the Skoda driver. Driver and car were okay, but a 10-year-old girl in the front seat was in tears. Hodgson then made his way down the road where the Porsche driver was speaking to the Citroen driver. He said the Porsche's driver gave some pretty lame reasons for putting so many people's lives in danger. "She said she was picking her husband up from the pub and was wearing a pair of slippers - but it's no excuse to be overtaking on a blind bend," Hodgson told the Mirror. "She did tell me she always overtakes at that spot though." Hodgson picked up the dashcam after a crash while on vacation in Florida last month. He offered the footage to both the drivers of the Skoda and the Citroen, but both declined. Hodgson told the Mirror that he hopes some good comes from the incident. "If anything comes of this, it is hopefully that the lady Porsche driver has learned a lesson and she will not put others in danger again." Related Video: News Source: The Mirror Weird Car News Porsche Citroen Skoda Driving Safety dashboard camera near miss

Ford GT dominates Le Mans qualifying, gets slapped with performance adjustment

Fifty years after Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon drove the Ford GT40 to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ford is poised for a historic return to the Circuit de la Sarthe. The new Ford GT took the top two qualifying positions in the LMGTE Pro class, and four of the top five. Ferrari's 488 filled in the rest of the spots in the top seven, the first two from AF Corse. In other words, we're primed for a reboot of the classic Ford-Ferrari feud at this year's race. Or not, as the ACO, which organizes the 24 Hours of Le Mans, announced sweeping pre-race Balance of Performance (BOP) adjustments this morning that make this year's GT class anybody's race. In LMP1, last year's overall winner Porsche locked up the top two spots with the 919 Hybrid and will lead the entire field at race start. Toyota's two-car factory effort followed with qualifying times 1.004 and 2.170 seconds behind the pole lap. Audi rounds out the manufacturer-backed LMP1 class in fifth and sixth. Full qualifying results can be found here. The storyline for the GT cars is perfect - some say too perfect. Ford's class-leading times came after BOP adjustment to the Corvette Racing C7.R before qualifying. BOP is intended to level the playing field in the class by adjusting power, ballast, and fuel capacity. (Check out this explainer video for more, or even just if you love French accents.) But the process is riddled with unknowns and ripe for accusations of sandbagging. That is, if the Ford cars were intentionally slow in practice they could hope for BOP adjustment to improve their race chances. On the Corvette side, last year's GTE Pro winner went from the top of the field to the bottom, barely improving from practice to qualifying. If you think Le Mans is as rigged at the NBA Playoffs, well, it's not that simple. Because if Ford and Ferrari held back until qualifying - the eighth-place Porsche 911 RSR is three-and-a-half seconds off the class pole time - it was a pretty dumb strategy. This morning, the ACO tried to put things back in order by limiting the boost in the Ford GT's twin-turbo V6 and adding 11 pounds of ballast. Ferrari was also given extra weight but allowed more fuel capacity. The Corvette and Aston Martin teams were both given breaks on their air restrictors, which will allow their engines to make more power. Both Ford and Porsche also received extra fuel capacity.

Porsche kicks off Macan production at revamped Leipzig plant

After over two years of construction and roughly 500 million euros ($684 million at current rates) invested, Porsche finally opened its Leipzig, Germany, factory expansion on February 11. The improvements to the plant are dedicated to building the Macan and include a new body shop, paint shop and assembly line that are advancing Porsche's goal to sell 50,000 Macan's per year. The company believes that the new model is going to push it to over 200,000 annual sales 3 years ahead of schedule, and the enlarged branch can support even more Macan production, if there is demand.
"We are totally convinced in the qualities of this location and that the Macan will be a marketing success," said Porsche Chairman Matthias Müller during the opening celebration. The company opened its Leipzig factory in 2002 to build the Cayenne and added Panamera production in 2009.
The Macan models are due to launch in the US this summer with prices starting at $49,900. Scroll down to learn all of the details about the Macan's Leipzig assembly plant.