1999 Porsche Boxster Convertible on 2040-cars

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Chris Harris brings together the 918 Spyder, LaFerrari, and P1

The Porsche 918 Spyder, Ferrari LaFerrari, and McLaren P1 show that a hybrid powertrain can make for blistering performance despite its electric assist. This trio doesn't arrive on track together very often, but Chris Harris assembled these three stars at the Portimao circuit for a nearly hour-long demonstration of their amazing capabilities. So, which one is quickest around the track? Harris provides an answer with in-car video of all three contenders. His team also goes out of its way to even the playing field by sourcing tires independently from Pirelli for the P1 and LaFerrari. With the technical part out of the way, Harris can start having fun by doing his usual slides during the driving comparison. Tiff Needell and Marino Franchitti also eventually show up to provide the perfect recipe for a track battle in these hypercars. If you don't have the time, skip about 14:25 into the clip just to see the lap times. However, those numbers only tell a tiny part of the story. The whole video is definitely worth a watch.

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup ANDIAL Edition First Drive

There is only one Porsche 911 GT3 Cup ANDIAL Edition on the planet, and its owner is standing patiently in the hot pits at Oklahoma's Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, watching attentively as his prized possession circles the challenging road course at speed. I'm the lucky soul strapped firmly in the cockpit of the white-and-blue racecar. The tight carbon-fiber seat is cutting into my hips, the racket from the gearbox is making me deaf and a river of sweat is flowing off the tip my nose – blame the high ambient temperatures combined with the stress of driving someone else's expensive machine on an utterly unfamiliar circuit. But don't expect me to complain, gripe or come into the pits early, as I'm having the time of my life – I've eagerly waited nearly half-a-year for this moment, and short of me blacking out, there's no way I'm cutting it short. It's been said that ANDIAL-prepared cars and engines have claimed victories on every major racetrack in this country. Belting into the driver's seat of an ANDIAL-prepared Porsche fulfills a personal dream that started decades earlier when I thumbtacked a picture of a white Porsche 935 on my dorm room wall, its colorful bodywork stenciled with "ANDIAL" along the bottom of the driver's door. In the 1980s, the name of the privately held racing company was synonymous with Porsche and victory – it's been said that ANDIAL-prepared cars and engines have claimed victories on every major racetrack in this country. As its founders retired and the company focused on smaller specialty projects, ANDIAL's business model changed, but its relationship with Porsche remained strong. In early 2013, it was announced that the Porsche Motorsports North America, Inc. (PMNA) had purchased the brand – yet there was still no word as to how the famed ANDIAL name, an anagram made from the names of the founding members – the late Arnold Wagner (AN), Dieter Inzenhofer (DI) and former PMNA president and current consultant Alwin Springer (AL) would be used. Some answers emerged in February of this year when I received a phone call from Porsche. The company offered to have me to visit ANDIAL's shop in Southern California, which is now operating entirely under the direction of PMNA. Entering one of the shop's bays, I found myself face-to-face with a lightly used 997 GT3 Cup racecar. The vehicle was in the early stages of a complete teardown and rebuild – in preparation for its rollout in traditional red, white and blue ANDIAL livery.

Mercedes may be working on a new electric car dubbed 'Ecoluxe'

Automobile has a lengthy piece this month on how the four German mass-market luxury manufacturers each plan to go after Tesla with their own electric vehicles. It was written by Georg Kacher, the magazine's European bureau chief, and the English version came a month after he wrote the German-language original for Autobild. Tesla isn't exactly a threat to the Germans, but, according to the report, the Model S is planting the right kinds of seeds in niches that are important to the luxury players. The thinking is that - in addition to needed electric vehicles anyway for stricter US regulations - it's better to start designing the machinery now. The article posited Porsche's attack would rest on the coming Panamera platform, but a big hurdle would be battery placement. Unable to find one large space for a lithium-ion pack, engineers would instead put batteries everywhere they could, for a supposed tally of some "108 battery pouches" throughout the body. A few days after the Automobile piece, however, Porsche publicly said it had no intention of challenging the Model S, because the enthusiastic driving the brand is known for doesn't jive with useful range. In Kacher's retelling, Mercedes' plans are even more ambitious, supposedly taking aim at the Model S and the coming Model X. It would do this with an investment in excess of $2 billion in a program called "Ecoluxe" – Mercedes has no brand division akin to BMW's i and Audi's e-tron. The new brand would create a four-strong family of bespoke electric vehicles: a smaller platform with a wheelbase around 106 inches and a larger one with a wheelbase around 118 inches. In addition, the range would have "provisions for rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and rear-wheel steering." The numbers are impressive: seating for seven in the larger vehicles, both longer than 16 feet, front and rear storage areas, ratings of up to 610 horsepower and production capacity of 80,000 units per year. When would we see such creatures? Perhaps as soon as 2019. We do know that if Tesla can knock the Model X over the outfield fence, automakers are going to have to do something. We don't know what the chances are that Ecoluxe is Mercedes' first move - but such a plan could help explain the weird Mercedes concept spied in October.