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Motor Trend holds World's Greatest Drag Race for the third time

As part of Motor Trend's Best Driver's Car competition, the buff book has held its third iteration of the World's Greatest Drag Race. With an airfield and a dozen of the world's finest performance cars at its disposal (oh, and a helicopter), the MT team did what any good group of enthusiasts would do, and tried to figure what car could cover a quarter mile the quickest. World's greatest drag race, indeed.
The contestants, as MT points out, cover a huge variety of engine types, drivelines, aspiration types and body styles, making for a genuinely varied and interesting field of competitors. Here's the full list of cars taking part.
Aston Martin Vanquish

Porsche's baby Panamera delayed until 2019 or later

If you're enticed by the idea of a Porsche sedan but find the Panamera to be too big, your hopes may have been raised by the development of the so-called Pajun. But don't get those hopes up too much, because the latest word coming in from the Old World has it that the Panamera Junior has been delayed.
The Pajun was (and theoretically still is, despite tardiness) a project to apply to the Panamera the same winning formula that Porsche used to transmute the Cayenne into the smaller Macan. Its size would be closer to the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class than the larger Panamera, and employ an array of six-cylinder engines.
The smaller five-door was set to be the cornerstone of Porsche Product Strategy 2018, a plan that included several new models to be launched within the next four years. However, reports now indicate that the Volkswagen Group is counting on Porsche to help bolster its profits and is not keen on investing in new products at this time, pushing the Pajun and other projects back until 2019 at the earliest. Although much of the strategy remains undisclosed, it is believed to include (or have included) a sub-Boxster sports car and a supercar to slot in between the 911 and the 918 Spyder. There was also talk of a shooting brake version of the Panamera based on the Sport Turismo concept pictured above. What will become of those projects, however, remains to be seen.

Porsche says turbo'd 911 engines will still be revvy

Porsche fans really, really don't like change. Remember when the 911 moved away from air-cooled engines? Now, as the company prepares to move the vast majority of the 911 line away from naturally aspirated powerplants, one of the brand's highest ranking officials is speaking out to prevent a similar outcry. Dr. Heinz-Jakob Neusser, the head of powertrain development for the Volkswagen Group and a board member of the VW brand, told Car that turbocharging won't take away from the rev-happy nature of Porsche's current engines. "Turbocharging is possible with higher revs – it's not true to say that turbocharged engines must stop at 6000rpm," Neusser told Car at the 2015 New York Auto Show. "That's not true... If you look at McLaren, they already have in production turbo engines with high revs." With turbocharged engines, Nuesser explains, there's no need to go for a super high redline, because engineers are trying to spread the torque over the entire rev range. "It makes no sense to go to 10,000 rpm with a turbocharged engine," Neusser told Car. The other big concern that comes with the switch to turbocharging focuses on the 911's iconic flat-six exhaust note. Maintaining the car's well-known acoustic character shouldn't be an issue, Neusser said. "Noise is not a problem," adding that the Volkswagen Group knows a thing or two about building sweet-sounding turbos. "Look at the 911 Turbo; it has an extremely expressive noise today – that is not a problem. At the other end of the scale, the Golf R has it too," Neusser told Car. "You won't miss character with turbos, I promise." According to Car, the new turbocharged engines will arrive later this year at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, as part of the current 911's facelift. Featured Gallery Porsche 911 Coupe: Spy Shots View 9 Photos News Source: CarImage Credit: CarPix Frankfurt Motor Show Porsche Performance turbocharging volkswagen group