Porsche Carrera GT – The Story of an Iconic Supercar
Posted by in Porsche on July 18, 2011
Porsche has since its inception by Ferdinand Porsche been a maker of high performance sports cars. Most notably the iconic 911 model which has continually evolved throughout the years to become a benchmark against which many other sports cars are measured. The 911 in all its iterations has been Porsche’s bread and butter, along with the Boxster and Cayman in more recent years. Every decade or so however, Porsche brings something special out of it’s factories. A supercar!
Porsche’s first two supercars were produced to satisfy FIA homologation standards. This required that 200 road legal cars had to be made and sold to the public in order for the car to qualify for racing in FIA sanctioned races. The first car was the 959 which was introduced in 1986. Looking like a heavily modified 964, the 959 however was so much more. It sported a 2.8L twin-sequential-turbocharged flat-six engine that put out 444 HP. This was put to the ground with an innovative 4-wheel drive system. A first for Porsche, which worked so well, a similar system was later adapted for use on the 993 turbo, and has been a staple of Porsche’s 911 turbo models ever since. In its day, the 959 was actually the fastest production car in the world, with a top speed of 200 mph and a 0-62 time of 3.7 sec. Impressive even today. The 959 continued in production through 1989.
The second Porsche supercar was the 911 GT1, which was based on a heavily modified 993 platform. Like the 959, it was produced and made available to the public for homologation purposes so that it could be raced by Porsche at Le Mans. The 911 GT1 was produced from 1996-1999. It has a water cooled twin-turbo flat-six engine that produced 700 bhp. With a 2400lb curb weight, the 911 GT1 was extremely fast. It had a 0-62 time of 3.3 seconds and a top speed of 235 mph. Read the rest of this entry »
The Rolls Royce and India, a Long Association
Posted by in Rolls-Royce on July 18, 2011
Rolls Royce is a name to reckon with in the field of luxury cars. But in India it has a special place among the elite who simply love this car. No doubt there are other luxury cars like the Maybach and Porsche, but the Rolls Royce commands a unique place among the Indian rich, in particular the Maharajahs of India, who took to this car like nothing else matters.
This luxury car has been part of the Indian Maharajahs psyche much before India achieved independence. At that time owning a Rolls was a status symbol among the Rulers and Maharajahs of India. French Author Lapierre in his book ‘Freedom at Midnight’ brings out the fact that on an average an Indian Maharajah owned 3.5 Rolls Royce cars. The Maharajah of Patiala owned nearly 27 of these luxury cars.
These cars followed him in a procession as well as transported his 10 wives. In fact when the Rolls Company once refused to give him a car as per his requirements, the Maharajah Bhupinder Singh started using the cars to carry garbage. This news reached the Viceroy and he intervened and requested the manufacturers to accede to the maharajas wish. Once the car as per the Maharajas specification were delivered, the carrying of garbage by these luxury cars of Bhupinder Sigh was also stopped.
Most of the Indian elite owned these cars. In the museum at Calcutta,the car belonging to Rabindranath Tagore is also kept, that brings to the knowledge of all and sundry, that philosopher poet who was a Nobel laureate also owned this model. The Maharajah of Kashmir also owned a gold plated car that moved about Srinagar when he was the ruler. The first car off the manufacturing line after the Second World War was bought by the Maharajah of Baroda. Read the rest of this entry »