11 Porsche Panamera Turbo Black On Black Loaded 29k Miles Asanti Wheels on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Singer Porsche, Koenigsegg, NSX: Leno's life doesn't suck

Jay Leno had quite a productive trip this year during Monterey Car Week. Not only did he get to pal around with Ian Callum and check out the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, but the denim-clad comedian also headed to The Quail to talk to some prominent figures in the modern sports car scene. Capping off the fun, he got to take a drive in a Mercedes-AMG GT S, too Perhaps the highlight of this show is a nearly 10-minute interview with Christian von Koenigsegg. The founder of the Swedish hypercar company digs deep into the Agera One:1's engineering details, relating interesting facts about the aerodynamics and transmission. In addition, Leno chats with Rob Dickenson of Singer about its newly reimagined Porsche 911 Targa, and he gets the latest scoop on the Acura NSX's progress from newly promoted Acura Vice President and General Manager Jon Ikeda. If you like hearing about the nuts and bolts of sports car development, then this video can't be missed. Of course, we were there at Monterey, too, and we pointed our own cameras at some of the amazing machinery, both vintage and modern, at all the various car-focused events of the week. Take a look back at some of our own cool footage in the videos below. Related Video:

Are you the next Porsche 911 GT3 RS or GT2?

Porsche typically keeps to a suitably fast schedule when it comes to rolling out increasingly hard-core performance versions of the 911. After the 997 Carrera debuted in 2004, the GT3 version followed in 2006, and by the end of the 2007, Porsche had rolled out both the GT3 RS and GT2 versions. Then the facelifted 997.5 came out in 2008 and it was back to the start: the GT3 came in 2009, the GT3 RS and GT2 RS in 2010, and the GT3 RS 4.0 in 2011. But things have slowed down some with the latest 991 generation.
The new Carrera came in 2011 and the GT3 followed in 2012. By recent history's example, we should have at least two more hardcore models by now, but we don't. Maybe the engineers in Zuffenhausen have had their hands full fixing the spontaneous-combustion issues with the existing GT3, or maybe their attentions have been focused elsewhere altogether. But if these spy shots are anything to go by, it seems like they're back on the job.
Now we don't know if this prototype foreshadows a new GT3 RS or a GT2, but it sure looks more hard-core than the existing GT3 that many purists have derided as too soft, what with its automatic transmission and four-wheel steering.

Ferrari Speciale and Porsche GT3 make the trip to Le Mans

Call it a pilgrimage. Call it a right of passage. The bottom line is that every racing fan should make the trip to Le Mans at some point. All the better if you can do it in style, as Evo has for this latest video. Instead of taking any old car through the Chunnel and along the French countryside to the famous Circuit de la Sarthe, Evo made the trip in the Ferrari 458 Speciale and Porsche 911 GT3. Both are more extreme versions of the already capable sports cars. They're still naturally aspirated, drive the rear wheels through seven-speed dual-clutch transmissions, and both won top honors in Evo's car of the year awards upon their release. And we could hardly imagine better vehicles for the journey. Along the way, the convoy-of-two stopped by the side of the old Rouen-Les-Essarts circuit. Back in the 1950s and 60s it was regarded as one of Europe's finest street circuits, hosting the French Grand Prix five times. It was closed down and paved over in the decades that followed, and is today part of a public thoroughfare – but you can still drive around it and see some of the relics of its former self peering through. Related Video: News Source: Evo via YouTube Ferrari Porsche Supercars Videos viral video porsche 911 gt3 evo circuit de la sarthe