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Category: Motorsports Monday

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Motorsports Monday: 1995 Porsche 911 Carrera Cup 3.8 RSR

Motorsports Monday: 1995 Porsche 911 Carrera Cup 3.8 RSR

Published February 1, 2016 by Carter

Over the weekend I took advantage of some frankly great streaming video from the IMSA Racing application to view some of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. And the action was thrilling, with several classes being decided not in the last hour, but in the last minutes. Of particular interest to me was the GTLM category, where Porsche had been going round after round with team Corvette over the past few years. And while they weren’t challenging for the overall victory, it gave me pause to consider Porsche’s contribution to racing. You see, Porsche has recorded 22 overall victories at Daytona, but what’s perhaps more impressive is the claimed 77 class victories they’ve claimed. It wasn’t to be this year, but one of the 991 RSRs did make it to the podium. Fitting, then, that we should look at one of the more impressive and expensive variants of the 911 RSR; the 993 Cup 3.8. Only 30 of these racing variants were produced; less even than the road-going 3.8 Carrera RS with which it shared its name. Lightened, widened and with something like 400 horsepower coming from the race-prepared motor, these are still seriously potent track weapons today some 20 years later:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Porsche 911 Carrera Cup 3.8 RSR on Race Cars Direct

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Motorsports Monday: 2016 BMW M6 Competition Edition

Motorsports Monday: 2016 BMW M6 Competition Edition

Published January 25, 2016 by Carter

Normally on Motorsports Monday I feature a race car or a track biased car, but today I’m going to do something a little different. If you follow FIA GT racing and the IMSA Tudor Championship, you might be eagerly awaiting next weekend’s Daytona 24 hours – the kickoff to the endurance racing calendar. And something special will be debuting at Daytona; what I believe is BMW’s first racing M6. Sure, the 6-series was previous used as a racer in the early 1980s Touring Cars before the launch of the M3 and Alpina ran an E6x later on, but primarily it’s been almost all small BMWs that have taken to the track since 1985. But eager to take on the likes of the Bentley Continental GT3 and Aston Martin race programs, the Munich company has moved from the Z4 platform to an all-new M6 racer. To celebrate this launch, BMW produced 100 special road going M6s for 2016 called the M6 Competition Edition. They were available in only two colors – Austin Yellow or Alpine White – and commanded a fully 50% premium over a standard M6. But it’s not just a flashy appearance package, as the F12 2-door coupe only Competition Edition has been reworked to produce more power to go along with the exclusivity:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2016 BMW M6 Competition Edition on eBay

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Motorsports Monday: 2001 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Motorsports Monday: 2001 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Published January 18, 2016 by Carter

The number of Porsche 911 variants can be baffling. Just the other day, Rob and I were joking back and forth that at one point a few years ago, Porsche offered no less than 20 variations of the 911 model to the public. Not to be outdone, the current lineup has added one more and created a nice drinking game of “How many current 911 models could you name?” Add in the racing variants, and things get even more convoluted. Porsche’s top of the heap racing model has always varied, but when it came to the 996 Porsche went full-bore with the 911 GT3 Cup program and created a potent race car for pros and well-to-do amateurs as well. Indeed, the GT3 Cup program was the model for many customer-based race programs that exist in Audi, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Ferrari and the like today. But the lineage of the GT3 gets confusing, too. Launched in 1998, it was effectively a replacement for the 993 Carrera Cup model. Called the GT3 Cup, it was a stripped out factory built race car with a turned up motor and some trick suspension and wheels, along with a little added aero tweaks that would be the basis for the later road going model named after it – the 911 GT3. Confused? Well, in 1999 Porsche dropped the “Cup” from the name and added “R” to make race models distinct from road going models. Now, that’s easier. Then, they brought the GT3 Cup model back in 2000 with some mild performance upgrades. But things really started to get messy in 2001, when the company launched the GT3 RS model – not to be confused with the GT3 RS road going model, which wasn’t launched until 2003. Still with me? Well, then in 2004 they needed to differentiate the road and race GT3 RS, so with some more upgrades was launched the GT3 RSR. On the way from Cup to RSR, Porsche added more downforce, wider flares and more vents, along with more power and even wider tires. The 2001 RS model struck a balance between the Cup and RSR, with wider rear track and flared front fenders, but without the massive venting and sequential gearbox of the later model:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2001 Porsche 911 GT3 RS on eBay

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Motorsports Monday: 1984 Volkswagen GTi

Motorsports Monday: 1984 Volkswagen GTi

Published January 11, 2016 by Carter

When I was young, my family traveled out to Michigan. The year was 1984, and on the trip we went to see some vintage car racing as my father is a pretty big Shelby nut. There were plenty of Cobras and GT350s ripping up the track with V8s bellowing away that day, but what stuck in my mind more was a demonstration that was put on by Volkswagen of America. There were 5 or 6 then-new GTis that were put through their paces, and the particular corner we were sitting at had the train of these hot hatches popping over curbs, dangling a wheel in the air as they slithered through the corners. Sounding more like a pack of angry hornets, they made more of an impression on me than the rumbling Ferrari-killers, and to this day I still smile and think of that day every time I see a GTi. More than once in my ownership of a 1984 example, I even tried to imagine the train of GTis racing around that course on my daily commute to school to the chagrin of all of the other drivers on the road. But the best way to contemplate that magical day in my memory is to check out a race-ready Rabbit:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1984 Volkswagen GTi on eBay

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Motorsports Monday: 1978 Porsche 928

Motorsports Monday: 1978 Porsche 928

Published December 28, 2015 by Carter

There’s a strange part of me that loves the idea of turning up to the track in something no one is expecting to see turn fast laps. It’s part of what drove me to continuously develop my Audi GT into a track car, and most of what I love about racers like the Audi V8 quattro and 850 Estate Super Touring. But certainly, when it comes to Porsches everyone expects them to appear on the circuit, right? Well, in the case of the 928, it’s somewhat rare to see them hit the track. Big, heavy and complicated grand tourers, they’re more at home hitting top speed on the Frankfurt-Darmstadt Autobahn then slithering through La Source. Yet some, including Porsche themselves, took the big GT racing – from Le Mans to Daytona, the 928 saw competitive action around the globe even if it never was quite as celebrated as its rear engine brethren. Today it’s just as rare to find a track prepared 928 for sale, but an early example has surfaced on eBay:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1978 Porsche 928 on eBay

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