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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Affordable Supercar Series (ASS)


This is a Turbo emblem, but not just any. It is an emblem that belongs to none other than Porsche.

The second car in our Affordable Supercar Series, I introduce to you the Porsche Turbo that mattered most; the 911. No doubt, I didn't have to show you a picture of the car for you to have figured that out.

Too bad, finding one under $40k is not going to be easy though. After double checking on Ebay motors, there are two for sale that include a "buy it now" price ($42k and $47). Another listing of a RUF tiptronic model exceeds $55k.

No matter, it's a sweet deal. And unlike the Aston DB7 Vantage that Chin introduced last time, the numbers don't have to make excuses for itself.
- 420 horsepower, 413 lb/ft.
- 0-60 times hover at 4.0 +/- seconds
- top speed exceeds 190 with a bit of a tailwind.
- This is the first production water cooled 911 twin turbo.
- The engine is a de-tuned version of the 1998 Le Man 24 hour winning Porsche GT1.

Even when handling that sort of velocity, the 996 is not the tree wrapping widow maker the 911's of the past were famous for being. Its advanced all wheel drive coupled with the PSM stability control offers settings that are more understeer oriented at normal mode to a sport mode that allows 7 degrees of slip. However, if you are the Stig, or maybe if you're just the kind of person that is very fond of pushing buttons clearly labeled "DO NOT PUSH THIS BUTTON!!!", you can turn the stability control completely off.

I guess all this power can come (relatively) cheap. But nothing is without its price. Purists, and even some of those who aren't, can't get over the egg-splatter headlights. I guess they aren't that great to look at. Bah, get over it. If anything, creating eyelids for a 996 can be a neat DIY project that you can later boast on Porsche forums.

-Danny Choy-

Friday, February 5, 2010

Race Season hype

Testing has begun and the MotoGP season begins April 11th!

Predictions anyone?
Glancing at the Sepang Circuit testing, Ben Spies finishes the third test session at 5th fastest after the Va-sey-Lor-osa train.

We should be looking forward to some epic passes this year!



-Danny Choy-