Porsche 911 goes back to its roots for new Targa model

PORSCHE has gone back to the Sixties for inspiration for its latest twist on the 911.

Recent versions of the 911 Targa – an al fresco model for anyone who doesn’t quite want a full cabriolet – have used full length sunroofs, but this latest version harks back to the original 1965 model, with a lift out roof at the front and a wraparound glass panel at the rear.

The new model, which arrives in the UK in May, is available to order now, with prices for the entry-level Targa 4 version starting at £86,281.

New Porsche 911 Turbo ups the supercar ante

If you’ve won the lottery lately and fancy showing up your neighbours with a shiny new supercar, then the latest in a long line of turbocharged Porsche 911s might just fit the bill.

The new Porsche 911 Turbo, based on the current ‘991’ generation of the evergreen German sports car, packs both a rear-mounted 520bhp flat six engine and four wheel drive into its £118,349 price tag, while the Turbo S version ups the stakes, offering up 560bhp for a cool £140,852.

Porsche GB said of the new arrival: “In the forty years since the first prototype appeared, the place of the Porsche 911 Turbo at the technological summit and peak of dynamic performance has never been in doubt. “Now, with the unveiling of the new ‘Type 991’ generation 911 Turbo and Turbo S, the car’s reputation as a technology showcase combining the virtues of a circuit race car with those of an everyday road car reaches new heights.”

If you can afford it, the first right-hand-drive 911 Turbo and Turbo S models arrive in Britain in September.

Video: Porsche 911 Carrera 4S

 

IT’S two days before Christmas and with it being cold, wet and slippery out there the conditions aren’t exactly ideal for the sort of driving petrolheads enjoy. Or are they?

For decades keen drivers have known that a fast car is more likely to cope with wet, slippery conditions if the power’s going to all four wheels – so the power’s distributed more evenly, more of the time – and for more than 20 years one of the fastest  four wheel drivers on the market’s been the Carrera 4 version of Porsche’s evergreen 911.

If you’re the sort of person who likes their sports car to come with a little added reassurance when the going gets slippy then you’ll probably like this latest video from Porsche, which helps you get a grip – pun intended – on the history of the Carrera 4 system and how it’s evolved from the Paris Dakar Rally-winning 959 supercar to the latest 991 Carrera 4S.

Now all I need is to get the right Euromillions numbers. Fingers crossed...

 

How to spend £100 to stay alive

A GIRL I USED to go out with a long time ago had a very particular aversion to chocolate.

She was - for someone not even remotely interested in cars - a lovely lass, but presented with even the smallest, crumliest smidgen of Cadbury's Flake she'd always retort the same mantra, which I've heard countless women retort since. A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.

I reckon anyone into cars should adopt a similar chant when it comes to cornering; a moment on the bend, a lifetime on the mend. In other words, skimping on the right tyres can be the difference between being a master of the mountain roads and being the sorry soul who ends up in a field. As I've just discovered with probably the wisest £100 I've ever spent.

Until yesterday I had a set of Camacs - possibly the worst tyres ever made, despite being completly road legal, officer - performing the not-at-all daunting task of getting the power from my Mazda MX-5's rear wheels onto the road, and they were at best hilariously hopeless and at worst life-threateningly dangerous. For barely controllable oversteer at 15mph, just add water.

You might think tyres are just boring rings of rubber that you reluctantly slap on every 15,000 miles or so but the difference between my old ditch-finders and the brand new Toyos I've replaced them with is profound. It is, in non car speak, the difference between venturing up Snowdon in trainers and doing the job properly in a set of walking boots.

Despite being the same size, shape and material, the Toyos find grip where the Camacs wouldn’t, particularly in the greasy, wet, muddy conditions you’re likely to encounter in most corners at this time of the year. You can, courtesy of your right foot and a healthy dose of foolhardiness, still get the MX-5 seriously sideways if you want to, but no longer does it threaten to kill you every time you approach a damp roundabout.

Nor, by the way, are the benefits of pukka tyres restricted to the world of powerful rear-wheel-drivers; last year I swapped the ancient Dunlops on my old Mini for a set of sticky new Yokohamas, and in an instant it pulled away, handled and stopped better. I reckon if all blokes took tyres as seriously as a certain other type of rubber, there'd be far fewer instances of cars spinning off into lamposts and ploughing into ditches.

If there's one thing in motoring that's emphatically not worth skimping on, it's tyres. A moment on the bend, remember, is a lifetime on the mend.

H stands for...

… hot, hardcore, hip hop, hairy, and hi-energy in the case of this 911. Almost certainly a little bit horny. But you probably didn’t guess it also stands for Hybrid.

The Porsche 911 GT3 R, unveiled last week and coming to a racetrack near you later this year, is one of those effortlessly gorgeous GT racers you’re just glad to know exists, like the Aston Martin DBR9, Ford GT40 and D-Type Jaguar. I can’t wait to hear what it sounds like screaming down the main straight at Le Mans, but I hope it’s a racing noise and not a hybrid one.

Can this really have come from the same way of thinking that came up with the Toyota Prius, the Lexus LX450h and the Honda Insight? We’ve already had the electric sports car, the diesel Le Mans winner and the Porsche off-roader, but is a hybrid 911 a step too far?

Of course not, because if eco-friendly cars are really going to catch on they have to be things we want, with style and panache alongside green credentials. So far only Tesla’s really proven you can be environmentally-conscious in something that you’d proudly power down a country lane in, so the idea of a hybrid 911 is an utterly brilliant one.

The fact it looks stunning and has 480bhp at its disposal is a handy bonus.