The fallout from this year’s electrifying Pikes Peak International Hill Climb continues to flood the web weeks after the dust settled on the mighty Colorado mountain.
We’ve already seen video of Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima’s record-breaking run in the Race to the Clouds, but what was lost in all the adulation surrounding the event’s first sub 10-minute time was another record-shattering run by Jeff Zwart. As the record-holder of the 2WD Time Attack class, Zwart took his stock Porsche 911 GT2 RS up the steep slopes of Pikes Peak to post a time of 11:07:869, smashing the record for a stock production car at Pikes Peak by more than 24 seconds.
Unfortunately, even this scintillating run wasn’t enough for Zwart to win the 2WD Time Attack class as that honor went to Pikes Peak legend Rod Millen, who eclipsed Zwart’s time by just three seconds. Having said that, Millen’s time came at the expense of a race-spec machine that produced well over 700 horsepower.
We normally don’t celebrate runner-up finishes, but we’re going to make an exception this time around. The fact that Zwart was able to accomplish what he did with a stock production 911 GT2 RS speaks volumes of what this man is capable.
Check out the video of Zwart’s run to the top of Pikes Peak in the video above!
The last time we heard from Mcchip dkr, they were working on a speedier version of the Volkswagen Golf R. Not a bad gig, but they’ve come a long way since then, baby.
Their latest tuning project was hooking up the most powerful Porsche 911 in the line-up: the Porsche 997 GT2. The upgrade package starts off with the addition of modified turbochargers and high-performance charge air coolers. These coolers include a silicone Tube Set, Cargraphic 200-cell sport catalysts, and manifolds. These extras build up the 3.6L engine to deliver 657 HP and 615 lb-ft of torque, up from the standard 523 HP and 502 lb-ft of torque.
Mcchip dkr could have pumped even more torque out of the GT2 - over 664 lb-ft, in fact -, but since the car already has an uncontrollable amount of power, they thought it best to keep it dialed down so the vehicle could still be controlled on the race track.
Anyone interested in putting a little more grunt into their Porsche 997 GT2 need to shell out 23,000 euro, or about $33,000 at the current exchange rates.
Just because the Porsche 911 GT2 RS is already a powerful car in its own right, it doesn’t mean that people will shy away from giving it higher levels of performance.
At the Geneva Motor Show, German tuning firm Sportec showed that even a car as powerful as the 911 GT2 RS can still be tweaked to become more beastly than it already is. Taking a second upgrade program - the SP 800R – for the 911 GT2 RS, Sportec gave the Porsche’s 3.6-liter V6 boxer engine a thorough modification program featuring new sports camshafts, bigger air coolers, a new engine software, hybrid turbochargers, and a titanium exhaust system with a customized manifold. All these changes translate to an increased output of 800 horsepower and 900 Nm of torque. Mighty impressive, dare we say.
The glorious performance modifications weren’t the only things Sportec worked on with the 911 GT2 RS. Addressing the need to give the car an aerodynamic boost, the German tuner also gave it new front and rear spoiler lips and a set of 20” seven-spoke black alloy wheels.
All told, Sportec’s SP 800R program slashes four-tenths of a second off of the car’s 0-60 mph time time – 3.5 seconds to 3.1 seconds – while also ratcheting up the speed to 231 mph, which, if you don’t know, is nearing the stratosphere occupied by the McLaren MP4-12C and its 240 mph top speed.
Sure we all want to take our turn driving around in the new 2011 Porsche GT2 RS. Unfortunately, with a limited run of 500 units and the fact that they have all been sold out already, chances of that happening are about slim to none. What makes the situation even more unfortunate for us is the fact that TechArt has already found a way to improve on Porsche’s most powerful street-legal model ever. Yeah, they are that good.
To make our faces a darker shade of envy green, the German tuner has added a new set of their newly introduced Formula Race lightweight forged centerlock wheels and a new Noselift system to allow the Porsche to get safely over those pesky speed bumps. No need to enter your dipped driveway at an angle anymore - owners of low ride height vehicles know exactly what we mean - TechArt has made it so the front end of the 911 GT2 RS gets an additional 60mm of ground clearance with a touch of a button. This system also features a trouble-free backfitting, a rapid height adjustment of approximately 10 mm/s with particularly silent operation as well as fully integrated operation via a button with a status indicator at the roof console.
Man, and we were banking on the fact that one of these owners would ding the front of their car and sell it to us for a cheaper price. There goes that idea! Nice work, TechArt. Another tuning job well done!
2010 has been quite a year for the auto industry’s sports car segment. With auto brands becoming more and more aggressive in their pursuit of power, speed, and consumer preference, sports cars have become about as popular in 2010 as Justin Bieber’s hairdo.
So with all these choices, one can just imagine the painstaking labor we went through in determining our choices for the 2010 Sports Car of the Year. Of all the categories, this one was, without question, the hardest to agree on, especially when the multitude of choices available are considered.
In the end, we did find a common ground in selecting the five best sports cars of the year, despite the fact that there were some arguments along the way. Of the five that we chose - one of them is a one-off sports car - four of them came from Europe whereas the only non-European sports car on the list calls the Land of the Rising Sun as its home.
