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Chris Harris pits Aston GT12 vs 911 GT3 RS vs McLaren 650S

The Geneva Motor Show is never lacking in exciting performance machinery. And this year was no exception. Our eyes, like those of Chris Harris, were drawn by two hardcore, track-focused versions of existing sports cars. Both wore the name GT3, and now Harris has brought them together for a supercar shootout. And he's thrown one more in for good measure. Those natural rivals are the Aston Martin Vantage GT12 and Porsche 911 GT3 RS, the latter manufacturer having pressed the former to drop the GT3 name to which it claims exclusive domain. There's a great deal that separates them, of course: one's got a V12 up front, the other a flat-six way in the back. But what binds them together is a common approach of taking an existing model, stripping it down, and tightening everything up to make it more of a weapon than a grand tourer. What that means in the Aston's case is a rather high price tag, much higher than that of the Porsche. But scarce demand and speculation on the open market have left British customers, at least, paying as much for the GT3 RS as for the limited-edition Aston. And that takes both into proper supercar territory. So to show what else that kind of money can get you, Monkey has brought along a McLaren. Not the similarly track-focused 675LT, but the standard 650S... Spider, no less, and with worn hard rubber. So which one performs best on the road? Which clocks the fastest lap time on the track? And which gets Harris' vote? You'll have to watch the video for yourself to find out, but it's well worth the 25 minutes of your lunch break. News Source: Chris Harris on Cars via YouTube Aston Martin McLaren Porsche Videos porsche 911 gt3 chris harris mclaren 650s

Porsche to replace chassis components in 918 Spyders

The entire production run of the Porsche 918 Spyder is completely sold out, but 205 of them need to make a trip to the dealer for a repair estimated to take about two days. According to Porsche, it found quality problems with unspecified "chassis components" on the hybrid supercar and has instituted a plan to fix them as a precautionary measure. There were no reported breakages of these parts or complaints from customers. The German automaker already contacted all of the affected owners directly to have the 918s repaired in 2015. When reached for comment, Porsche Director of Corporate Communications Achim Schneider told Autoblog via email that "due to the supplier relationship we did not announce further details regarding the components so far." He also said that 43 vehicles are affected in North America, which includes the US and Canada. The 918 Spyder was affected by a small recall in the US earlier this year when Porsche found that the rear-axle control arms could potentially break. The campaign covered only five cars, though. Porsche replaces chassis components in 205 vehicles worldwide Atlanta. As a precautionary measure, Porsche will replace chassis components in 205 vehicles of the 918 Spyder model worldwide. The reason for this is that for vehicles that were manufactured in a certain time period defective parts were used from a delivery batch, whose functionality cannot be permanently guaranteed. No complaints have been made known (such as a break of a component) from customers up till now. The problem was identified during in-house quality inspections and remedied immediately. The owners of the vehicles, which could be exactly traced, were contacted directly by their competent Porsche representatives. The workshop visit, which will take place by appointment at the onset of 2015, takes about two days to complete at no charge. Featured Gallery 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder: First Drive View 51 Photos News Source: PorscheImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Michael Harley / AOL, Porsche Green Recalls Porsche Hybrid Supercars porsche 918 spyder porsche 918

2014 Porsche 911 Targa

I've watched the electro-hydraulic roof panel open and close about 73 times in the past hour, but its fascinatingly complicated operation still has me mesmerized. I've concluded that only a German automaker - Porsche, to be more specific - would go through the trouble of engineering a roof system that essentially lifts the entire greenhouse off a vehicle, rearranges its components like a sliding-tile puzzle, and then reassembles all of them seamlessly (sans roof panel) to accurately recreate one of its most famed bodystyles.
The 2014 Porsche 911 Targa is a near-perfect modern interpretation of the automaker's 1965 911 Targa, a semi-convertible bodystyle that represents nearly 13 percent of all 911 models sold since production started 50 years ago. While the early car's roof was purely manual in operation - that's the period-correct way of saying that the driver did all of the muscle work - today's Targa is a completely automated transformation that requires only that the driver hold down a cabin-mounted switch for a mere 19 seconds to let the captivating show run its course.
After studying the Targa's elaborate roof operation at its launch at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year, I was sufficiently intrigued. To that end, I traveled one-third of the way around the planet to southern Italy, hoping that the Mediterranean climate would reveal a bit more about the reintroduction of the automaker's iconic sports car.