1985 Porsche 928s Euro Row on 2040-cars

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Patrick Dempsey to take break from racing after career season

The popular American actor has decided to take a step back from racing to focus on his "family and acting career." Outside of motorsports, Dempsey's tenure on the hit TV show Grey's Anatomy as Derek Shepherd ended last year, as did his 16-year marriage to makeup artist Jillian Fink. They have since reconciled. Reaching the top step of the podium During that same year, Dempsey finally reached the top step of the podium in his professional sports car racing career, winning the Fuji round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship. Earlier in the season, he placed second in class in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance classic. His Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche squad ended 2015 sixth in the GTE-Am standings. Along with four starts at Le Mans between 2009 and 2015, Dempsey competed in a total of 68 races between Grand-Am, ALMS and the recently formed hybrid of the two -- The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar championship. He scored nine podiums, which includes high profile races such as the Rolex 24, Sebring 12 Hours and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Patrick Dempsey to focus on "family and acting" in 2016 But he will not add on to his growing racing resume this year. Dempsey has released a statement, announcing that he will not compete in any events this season, although his team will continue to do so. My motorsports journey has been a rewarding one and allowed me to meet so many interesting people. While the focus so often is the performance of the car, in reality it is all the various personalities, from team mates to competitors to officials to fans that I remember the most. I have loved being part of part of different teams and sharing the experience with so many great friends. I want to thank everyone who made this possible and helped me along the way. I also wanted to especially thank the fans for their support and friendship. None of this would happen without you buying the tickets and attending the races, so I am grateful for that investment in my passion. It makes me especially happy to see how many people have become race fans during my racing career. At this point in my life, after an amazing season thanks to my friends at Porsche and TAG Huer, I need to take a step back and focus on both my family and my acting career. Dempsey-Proton Racing will continue on racing a Porsche 911 RSR in the World Endurance Championship season. I hope my schedule permits me to enjoy some race weekends at least as a team owner.

Autoblog editors choose their favorite racecars of all time

If you like cars, there is a good chance that you like racecars. There's something about the science and the art of going faster, of competition, of achievement, that accelerates the hearts of enthusiasts. It doesn't matter the series, the team or the manufacturer – there's something about racing that stirs emotions and lifts spirits. It's that way with many of you, and it's that way with our editors. With that in mind, we offer a list of our favorite racecars of all time. Of course, we'd like to hear some of yours in the comment section below. 1970 Porsche 917 Compared to some of the obscure choices by my colleagues, I feel like the Porsche 917 is almost so obvious a pick as to not be worth mentioning. Still, when coming up with my answer, my mind invariably went back to this classic racer – specifically in its blue-and-orange Gulf livery – while watching Le Mans on DVD and later Blu Ray with my dad. Long, low and curvaceous, few vehicles have ever looked sexier lapping a track than the 917. More than just a pretty face, this beauty had speed, too, thanks to several tunes of flat-12 engines over the course of its racing life. In the early '70s, Porsche was a dominant force throughout sports-car competition, and the 917 (shown above at the 1970 24 Hours of Daytona) was the tip of that spear, including back-to-back victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Largely without dialogue or really much of a traditional plot, Le Mans is like a tone poem of racing goodness. While the 917's importance to motorsports history is undoubtedly fascinating, it's still this cinematic depiction of the Porsche racer that draws me in most, especially with the volume cranked. – Chris Bruce Associate Editor 1964 Mini Cooper S How could everyone not be selecting the 1964 Mini Cooper S piloted by Paddy Hopkirk and Henry Liddon? That car, 33 EJB, took the first of British Motor Corporation's four Monte Carlo Rally wins (it should have been five, but French judges got the British Minis [and Fords] disqualified on a technicality regarding headlights... which its own car, the winning DS, was also in violation of). The tiny red car and its white roof beat out Ford Falcons, Mercedes-Benz 300SEs and scores of Volvos, Volkswagens and Saabs. This, along with the several years of dominance that followed, cemented the idea that not only could the tiny, two-tone Mini be a real performance vehicle, but that family-friendly city cars in general could be fun.

2016 Porsche Boxster Spyder First Drive [w/video]

The recipe for the 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder cooked up a meal that everyone loved. Yes, even with the three-piece, Erector Set canvas top that took one journalist 30 minutes to lower the first time. Boiled down, the 2011 model was a Boxster S with 10 extra horsepower and 176 fewer pounds, graced with accelerated reflexes. For the second coming of the Boxster Spyder, Porsche fortified the ingredients it used in the first. It starts with the Boxster GTS and adds the 3.8-liter flat-six from the 911 Carrera S, tuned to 375 horsepower and 301 pound-feet of torque. The Spyder subtracts around 72 pounds compared to the Boxster GTS, weighing in at 2,899 pounds. This, then, is both the most powerful and the lightest Boxster you can get. For you fact-checkers out there, the entry-level Boxster is listed at 2,888 pounds on the Porsche USA site, but a spokesman points out that, "the metric for determining weight has changed, which increased the amount of fluids necessary to perform weight testing." In other words, the base Boxster is unchanged, but the real-world curb weight is actually higher. It's ridiculous to quibble over 11 pounds – or whatever the difference is – because the Boxster Spyder has 110 more horsepower and 96 more pound-feet than the base model. With a successful technique already established, we thought the latest Boxster Spyder would even more of a raucous and rowdy good time than its predecessor. But it's not. The standard Boxster Spyder doesn't come with manual A/C or a stereo, but both can be added for no additional cost. The exterior, at least, exhibits the right kind of maturity. Front and rear fascias swiped from the Cayman GT4 add 10 millimeters in length compared to other Boxsters. Those pieces make the car lighter, along with items like the aluminum doors and decklid. The bulges behind the roll hoops, called streamliners, are the can't-miss-it references to Porsche's historic and legendary Spyders. In case admirers still don't get it, Spyder badges sit atop each rear quarter panel. Inside, the leather, body-colored trim, and copious amount of Alcantara is like a track-day package arranged by Prada. The steering wheel is shared with the Cayman GT4. The lightweight sport seats that hug like a carbon fiber cradle in our test car aren't available in our market. Different sport seats are standard in the US, racier buckets are a $4,750 option.