After Autocar voted the road-going 911 GT3 RS as Britain’s Best Drivers’ Car earlier this week, it comes as no surprise that it’s racing brother, the GT3 RSR clinched the title of the world’s most successful GT Racer.
From its debut in 2004 (996), the RSR has found winning ways, taking no less than six class victories in that season. Since then the precision machine has undergone numerous improvements on its way to 19 class and overall victories between 2007 and 2010.
“It’s impressive how the 911 GT3 RSR has developed from year to year. The lap times alone are astounding, because despite the restrictions imposed on us again and again by the regulations, the car just got faster every year,” says Porsche works driver Joerg Bergmeister, who celebrated the majority of his successes at the wheel of the RSR. For this reason, the five-time winner of the American Le Mans Series is not at all anxious about tackling the 2011 season: “When you finish a season you always think: now we’ve reached our limit, now the car’s gone as far as it can go. And then Porsche comes up with something new again. And I reckon it won’t be any different in 2011.”
Back in the 60’s, the Ford GT enjoyed unprecedented success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, winning the overall title four times between 1966-1969. Oddly enough, after dominating Le Mans for four successive years, the Ford GT fell off the racing grid, inconspicuously absent from the famous endurance race for 41 years.
That is, of course, until now. Matech went to this year’s Le Mans race fielding two Ford GTs, the first time since 1969 that a Ford GT participated in the endurance race. Despite both cars failing to see the checkered flag, their return to Le Mans still proved to be relatively successful after the two GTs, neophytes that they are, fared better and far more impressively than most of the competition
And the best part of the whole experience is that Matech was there for the entire weekend to document the return of the Ford GT to Le Mans for a movie that’s being called “Reborn”. Check out the trailer of the video and tell us that you’re not getting all pumped up to see the feature-length.
Aston Martin has had some relative success in the Le Mans series, having won two titles in 2007 and 2008 for the GT category. But in terms of the big one – the 24 Hours of Le Mans – Aston Martin’s title drought has lasted for over 40 years since its last win at Le Mans back in 1959.
Well, Aston Martin is thinking that the wait has been long enough and now they’re beginning the process of building the ultimate LMP1 racer to bring the Le Mans title back to the Land of Big Ben. In this teaser sketch, Aston has begun the groundwork of designing their new racer, dressing this sketch up with Gulf Oil livery, with the real work to build the car already in its infancy stages.
According to David Richards, Aston Martin’s big boss, winning GT titles isn’t enough to satiate the appetite of Aston Martin to reclaim the Le Mans title it won back in 1959. "Having won the GT category twice at Le Mans in 2007 and 2008 and the Le Mans Series outright in 2009, we still want to achieve our ultimate goal of winning the 24 Hour race overall to bring the title back to Britain,” he said.
From what we’ve heard, the racing prototype is currently being worked on, including the introduction of a new powertrain and chassis, at the company’s racing headquarters in Banbury, UK. The first models of these cars are expected to start testing early next year in preparation for the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Porsche announced today that the 911 GT3 R Hybrid will be at the ‘Petit Le Mans’ at Road Atlanta on October 2. The car will have to travel a distance of 1,000 miles or a maximum of ten hours to complete the race. The Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid will not be eligible for points, as hybrid technology is not yet included in the GT regulations.
"After the 911 GT3 R Hybrid’s fantastic performance at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, we are now eager to gain more experience with the hybrid technology on a variety of race tracks," says Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport. "At the same time, we would like to show fans and customers in our most important markets how our ‘race lab’ performs under racing conditions," adds Kristen.
Porsche also plans to race the 911 GT3 R Hybrid on November 7th at the season final of the new Le Mans International Cup, the six hour race in Zhuhai, China.
The GT3 R is powered by a hybrid drive that combines a 480 HP 4.0 Liter flat six engine with two electric motors developing 60 kW each as well as an electrical flywheel power generator fitted in the cockpit next to the driver. This unit is used to deliver energy to the electric motors and is charged whenever the driver applies the brakes, with the two electric motors reversing their function on the front axle and acting themselves as generators when not providing four wheel drive traction.
Porsche Design has unveiled the new P´6612 Dashboard Le Mans 1970 Limited Edition chronograph that has been launched to pay tribute to Porsche’s LeMans victory 40 years ago. This was the day when a red-white-red Porsche 917 K bearing start number 23 driven by Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood won the Le Mans race. The watch will be limited to only 917 pieces and will be available starting this September at Porsche retail outlet stores.
The P´6612 Dashboard Le Mans 1970 Limited Edition wears the same clean lines as the Porsche 917 and its strap is designed after the 917’s steering wheel. It features black calf leather with dual perforations like those of the 917’s steering wheel spokes, red stitching, and a titanium pin buckle. The P’6612’s dial is fashioned after the 917’s dashboard and features a black background with black hour and minute hands that feature white luminous material that allows them to stand out.
The P´6612 Dashboard Le Mans 1970 Limited Edition chronograph has self-winding ETA 2894-A2 movement that offers a power reserve of 42 hours. The case is made from brushed and polished titanium and has the number of the edition as well as inscriptions stating "Winner Le Mans 1970" together with "917-023" – the chassis number of the winning car.
Pricing for this timepiece has yet to be announced.
