Porsche 911 GT2 RS Reclaims The Nurburgring Lap Record

There is a caveat, though.

Porsche and Lamborghini are constantly battling for the Nurburgring lap record crown. Back in July, the Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce Jota became the king of the Ring after setting a time of six minutes and 44.97 seconds. That was enough to beat the Porsche 911 GT2 RS by more than two seconds, which held the previous record since last September. Porsche was never going to let Lamborghini steal the spotlight for long, however.

The Porsche 911 GT2 RS has already reclaimed the crown and is once again the fastest road-legal car to ever lap the Nurburgring with a time of six minutes and 40.3 seconds.

There is a caveat, though – the 911 GT2 RS wasn’t stock. The GT2 RS was modified and "set up for the 'Nordschleife' by Porsche engineers and Manthey-Racing experts" using experience gained from the development of the 911 RSR and 911 GT3 R race cars. Manthey-Racing also pits a pair of 911 RSRs World Endurance Championship and develops aftermarket parts for the Porsche that are road-legal.

The GT2 RS that took the Nurburgring crown came with a performance kit from Manthey-Racing that enabled the car to lap the Nurburgring nearly seven seconds faster than the standard car. Porsche says "the targeted modifications included the areas of chassis and aerodynamics” but didn’t provide any further details. “The technicians focused on suitability for on-road driving at all times,” the automaker added.

All the modifications made to the GT2 RS are road-legal in Europe and available to buy through Manthey-Racing. The only modification made to the record-breaking sports car that isn’t available to the public was a racing bucket seat for safety reasons, but this didn’t affect the car’s weight.

Behind the wheel of the modified GT2 RS was Lars Kern, the same Porsche test driver and development engineer that set a record lap in the standard GT2 RS last year. “The drive was great fun,” he said. “The balance of the car is also very good with the new package. I did not have to take any great risks to be fast. But I only had one attempt because it was already getting dark. It worked out first time though.” Manthey-Racing CEO Nicolas Raeder added: “We are very proud. It was a great challenge to make the already tremendously fast Porsche 911 GT2 RS even faster.”

Porsche probably shouldn't get complacent though, as the Aston Martin Valkyrie and Mercedes-AMG One hypercars will soon be gunning for new Nurburgring lap records.

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1,200-HP Audi Drives In REVERSE For World Record

The Porsche GT2 RS Doesn't stand a chance (even going forward)

There are plenty of cars that can top 130 miles per hour – moving forward. Going backwards, now that's another story altogether. But that's just what this Audi prototype did.

As you might have guessed, this is no ordinary Audi A3. Not an RS3, either, or even the LMS racer. What we have here is Schaeffler Technologies' 4ePerformance concept, a one-off electric prototype with four motors that together generate 1,180 horsepower's worth of battery power. It'll run to 124 mph in under seven seconds, which is quicker than most cars will accelerate to half that speed.

The sponsor of several of Audi's racing programs handed its technological showpiece over to Daniel Abt, son of the famous Audi tuner and pilot of the factory team's Formula E racer (in which he won two races last season). But instead of driving it forward, Abt was tasked with driving it backwards, as fast as he could.

And fast he went, setting a new world record of 130 mph in reverse. The footage was shot in German, but you won't even need the subtitles to see the speed Abt reached, carefully handling the 4ePerformance at speed in reverse.

That was not only enough to beat the previous record (which stood at 101 mph), but trounce a new Porsche 911 GT2 RS in the process. And the Porsche was driving forward, deploying its 690 horsepower to reach 62 mph in 2.8 seconds and top out at 211 mph – moving forward. Going backwards, it's limited (like most cars) by gearing. It may have seven speeds for going forward, after all, but it still has just one for backing up. And an electric vehicle like this one, with its motors driving the wheels directly, suffers no such limitations.

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Porsche Unveils Five Models For China In Shanghai Following Record Sales

Thanks to strong sales, China is now more important to the German automaker than the American market.

Sorry America, but even though your sports car spending money has been and will likely always be of immense value to Porsche, it’s the Chinese market that’s currently the most important for the German automaker. Once again, Asia’s largest nation has taken a larger chunk of sales as well as a higher rate of growth to become the center of focus for what is now, thanks to crossovers like the Macan, an automaker hitting its growth spurt. To better cater to its customers in China and spur more growth, Porsche has unveiled five models at this year’s Auto Shanghai.

Being unpackaged in the mainland at the auto show was the Panamera Sport Turismo, which we first saw In Geneva, as well as the truly insidious 680 horsepower Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, which is coming to China exclusively in long-wheelbase Executive guise. Buyers not wanting that sort of corruptible power (because at the end of the day who really needs 680 horsepower in a car that only their chauffeur will drive?) can opt for the third reveal, the 330 horsepower Panamera Executive that spoils its buyers with extra legroom and gorgeous interior amenities but is best left home on track days. Those needing a second car for track work can feast their eyes on the 911 GTS and 911 CT3 Cup racing car.

These two constitute the fourth and fifth models that are being shown off in China for the first time. The split focus between performance and luxury cars highlights how diverse the Chinese market is. As we know well, legroom is a major selling point in China, but so is electrification as the government attempts to clean its smoggy cities by reducing vehicle emissions one plug-in hybrid at a time. On the other hand, China’s class of young elites have a taste for the sort of speed and style supplied by the 911 and the 718 Boxster and Cayman. The SUV boom, which has in no way avoided crossing over the Great Wall, will further bolster sales with the attractive Macan and Cayenne to fill in the gaps.

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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.

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Porsche Sold A Record Number Of Cars In The US Last Year

Guess which model was its best-seller.

To say that Porsche is popular in the US is sort of an understatement. Considering it's a luxury and high-performance brand whose cheapest model is a bit over $50,000, Porsche North America probably can’t be much happier with 2017’s total sales results. For this past year, a record number of Porsches were sold in the US and Canada for a grand total of 55,420 vehicles, a 2.1 percent increase over 2016 (54,280).

"Demand for four-door and two-door Porsche sports cars allowed PCNA to achieve another annual record in 2017, making it the eighth consecutive year of increased sales," said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of PCNA. The Macan and Panamera model lines posted double-digit growth, and we can expect an additional boost with the arrival of our all-new Cayenne in the second half of the year." Porsche 911 sales were also impressive, with just under 9,000 deliveries. This was also the eighth consecutive year of growth for Porsche NA. And it wasn’t just new Porsches that had a great year; Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicle sales were up by 12.5 percent in 2017 for a grand total of 19,104 deliveries.

So, which Porsche vehicle sold the most? That would be the Macan, for the second year in a row. A total of 21,429 Macans were sold, followed by 13,203 Cayennes, 6,731 Panameras, 5,087 718 Boxster and Caymans, and 8,970 911s. Not bad at all for a company that, for decades, sold only premium sports cars.

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Porsche Sold A Record Number Of Cars In The US Last Year

Guess which model was its best-seller.

To say that Porsche is popular in the US is sort of an understatement. Considering it's a luxury and high-performance brand whose cheapest model is a bit over $50,000, Porsche North America probably can’t be much happier with 2017’s total sales results. For this past year, a record number of Porsches were sold in the US and Canada for a grand total of 55,420 vehicles, a 2.1 percent increase over 2016 (54,280).

"Demand for four-door and two-door Porsche sports cars allowed PCNA to achieve another annual record in 2017, making it the eighth consecutive year of increased sales," said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of PCNA. The Macan and Panamera model lines posted double-digit growth, and we can expect an additional boost with the arrival of our all-new Cayenne in the second half of the year." Porsche 911 sales were also impressive, with just under 9,000 deliveries. This was also the eighth consecutive year of growth for Porsche NA. And it wasn’t just new Porsches that had a great year; Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicle sales were up by 12.5 percent in 2017 for a grand total of 19,104 deliveries.

So, which Porsche vehicle sold the most? That would be the Macan, for the second year in a row. A total of 21,429 Macans were sold, followed by 13,203 Cayennes, 6,731 Panameras, 5,087 718 Boxster and Caymans, and 8,970 911s. Not bad at all for a company that, for decades, sold only premium sports cars.

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