Two years ago Porsche and Nissan were at it when Porsche questioned the veracity of the 2009 Nissan GT-R’s lap time of 7’29.03″ around the 12.9-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, a time the 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 could not match! This time around it’s the Dodge Viper ACR taking on the Lexus LFA Nürburgring Package. The Dodge Viper ACR had previously held the production car lap record with a lap time of 7’22″ but unlike Porsche, Dodge decided to let the Viper do the talking by reclaiming the record with a time of 7’12.13″!
Nürburgring Wars, Part 2?
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What’s the world coming to? First we meet 
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Lexus has recently set the fastest lap time around the famous Nürburgring for a production car in a limited edition of the Lexus LFA, stopping the clock at 7’14.64″, beating the 7’18.00″ set by the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, the 7’19.63″ set by the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, and the 7’24.22″ set by the Nissan GT-R.
So you’ve just boosted the horsepower under your hood and got your beast to pump out 1,000 bhp! Having a problem putting that power down? Even if it’s not up there at 500 bhp, you still got a responsibility to other road users to drive responsibly. Or at least, that’s how I feel.
Porsche have been the most successful car manufacturer at the 24 hours of Le Mans, notching up sixteen overall victories since the 1970s! However, the last of those victories were more than a decade ago with 1998 being the last year Porsche tasted the spoils of victory when Laurent Aïello, Allan McNish and Stéphane Ortelli won in a Porsche 911 GT1. After 1999 Porsche, along with most of the other manufacturers withdrew from sports car racing due to rising costs. This allowed Audi, as practically the last manufacturer to field a team to notched up ten wins from 2000 until this year’s race, making it the second most successful manufacturer.
Looks like things are hotting up at the World Rally Championship (WRC)! We’ve seen 
Twenty years ago Mazda became the first and, as yet, only Japanese car manufacturer to win the 24 hours of Le Mans when Volker Weidler, Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot took victory in a 2.6-liter, 4-rotor, wankel powered Mazda 787B. The Mazda 787B was by no means a race favorite yet both Mazda 787B race cars, as well as the older Mazda 787 entry, managed to finish in the top 10! That after having qualified 12th, 17th and 24th, and having to start seven grid places lower when the new 3.5-liter cars were given the top grid positions. However, the reliability and fuel economy of the Mazda 787B cars meant they could treat the race as a sprint race and by night fall the #55 Mazda 787B was placed third but soon moved up into second place when the Mercedes-Benz C11 of Michael Schumacher, Fritz Kreutzpointner and Karl Wendlinger had to pit having suffered transmission problems. Then with two hours to go the #55 car took the lead after the Mercedes-Benz C11 of Jean-Louis Schlesser, Jochen Mass and Alain Ferté suffered mechanical problems and was forced to retire! The second Mazda 787B driven by Dave Kennedy, Stefan Johansson and Maurizio Sandro Sala finished 6th while the Mazda 787 driven by Pierre Dieudonné, Takashi Yorino and Yojiro Terada finished 8th. Unfortunately, the Mazda 787B would not participate at another 24 hours of Le Mans as the rotary engine was banned the following season in favor of the 3.5-Liter engine.
Hyundai’s new Veloster barely made its debut at the recent Detroit Auto Show a month ago but a race ready version is to make its debut tomorrow at the Chicago Auto Show! The rally car has been developed by Rhys Millen Racing (RMR) and will compete in the 2011 U.S. Rallycross Championship at the hands of Rhys Millen with Red Bull providing the sponsorship.