It's not everyday that you see a supercar burning on the side of the road, but when you do, we're used to it being either a Ferrari->ke252 or a Lamborghini.->ke44 Not this time though, as the footage above depicts a flaming Porsche->ke1 for a change, filmed while it combusted in a Costco parking lot not far from the Hot Rod Magazine offices.
Bystander Robert Radke, who owns the coincidentally named mefiburn.com and also drives a Porsche, was on hand to capture the burning 911->ke282 Turbo S with his smartphone. "The car started smoking a few rows downwind of where I parked, I moved my car upwind of it and saw the flame action." Radke told Hot Rod Magazine. It seems that the owner of the smoking and then flaming Porsche came out of the store just a few minutes later, but the fire department couldn't do much more than dowsing the flames and pry open some body parts to check for more hot spots.
The 560-horsepower sports car was obviously totaled. So far, the cause of the fire is a mystery, since the 2014 Turbo S involved has a different engine than the 911 GT3 models that were recalled for engine fire risk in 2014.
Continue reading to learn more about Porsche fires.
Why it matters
It seems that no carmaker is 100 percent fireproof these days, including Porsche. In 2014, after two 911 GT3 models combusted without an outside fire source, the Stuttgart carmaker stopped sales of the model and asked all owners to stop driving their cars until it solved the problem. Despite the small number of vehicles involved, Porsche recalled all 785 911 GT3s (991) built and replaced their engines.
Since the naturally aspirated, 3,799 cc engine in the 911 GT3 doesn't have too many parts in common with the twin-turbocharged, 3,800 cc engine in the 911 Turbo S, perhaps it wasn't the engine that started the fire. Hopefully there will not be a Porsche 911 Turbo fire epidemic in the upcoming months.