Porsche 911 GT2 RS Claims Another Production Car Lap Record

And it probably won't be beaten for a long time.

The Porsche 911 GT2 RS will always be remembered for the astonishing lap time it set at the Nurburgring, which broke the production car record. Recently, however, the GT2 RS claimed another production car lap record, this time at Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia, the world’s second-longest permanent racing circuit behind the Green Hell with a length of 4.78 miles and 35 corners.

To be fair, though, it didn’t have a lot of competition because the GT2 RS was the first car to set a production car record at the newly-opened Australian race track. Not that we're downplaying Porsche's achievement, because the record will probably stand for a long time given the car’s potent performance.

With experienced racing driver and Motor Magazine performance-car test driver Warren Luff at the wheel, the GT2 RS whipped around the challenging circuit in just 3 minutes and 24.079 seconds.

Located in the small town of Tailem Bend in South Australia, the Bend Motorsport Park is the result of a massive investment of more than 100 million Australian dollars, which is around 74 million US dollars. “The GT2 RS just feels so much more powerful [than the GT3],” Luff said. “I think I got to 161 mph (260 kph) on the straight before I stopped looking down. It’s a mega, mega thing.”

If you need a recap, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS is powered by a 3.8-liter twin-turbo flat-six engine that produces 690 horsepower, enabling the car to sprint to 60 mph in just 2.7 seconds. This setup also enabled the car to smash the Nurburgring production car lap record with a time of 6 minutes and 47.3 seconds.

Porsche’s record could be under threat by the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, however, as recent teaser videos suggest the Italian automaker could reclaim the crown as the king of the ‘Ring after the GT2 RS beat the Huracan Performante’s record.

View the original article here

Aston Martin Valkyrie Claims World’s Most Powerful Engine Title

At least for engines not aided by one of those newfangled turbochargers

While turbocharging has boosted power and torque outputs to new levels, naturally aspirated engines can still be found at the core of some of the very best supercars on the roads today. Their instantaneous power delivery and ability to deliver a knock-out blow at very high revs makes them the purists choice.

If all goes to plan, the Aston Martin Valkyrie will arrive later this year and when it does it will have the most powerful naturally aspirated engine ever fitted to a road car. Cosworth announced on Tuesday that its 6.5-liter V12 will make a massive 1,130hp, around 10% more than the 1,000hp that was hinted at during development. The amount of power assistance provided by the hybrid battery system has not been revealed just yet though.

Cars like the Lamborghini Huracan Performante, Porsche 911 GT3 and Ferrari GTC4 Lusso all have high-revving atmospheric engines that deliver massive performance without the aid of forced induction. In recent years, the title of most powerful production atmospheric engine has been ping-ponging between Ferrari and Lamborghini with the 789-hp 6.5-liter V12 in the 812 Superfast currently claiming the crown.

A fairer comparison though would be with hypercars like the 950-hp LaFerrari and 887-hp Porsche 918 Spyder, which both make use of hybrid assistance to boost their outputs but even these cars will be put into the shade when the Valkyrie arrives.

This Aston’s output also eclipses all but the most powerful turbocharged super and hypercars. Aside from very limited production vehicles such as the hybrid Koenigsegg Regera, the 1,479-hp Chiron and its predecessor, the 1,184hp Veyron Super Sports, are the only rivals that produce more power.

And they need four turbos and an 8.0-liter 16-cylinder engine to do it. Perhaps the days of the naturally aspirated engine are not as numbered as everyone thought, especially when combined with some even more newfangled hybrid assistance. Of the 175 examples slated for production (which includes the track-focused AMR variants) exactly 0 are still available to buy, so this tech makes it into a few more modern hypercars.

View the original article here