Latest news with #LeMans-winning
NZ Autocar
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- NZ Autocar
Porsche 963 RSP is a one-off racer for the road
This road-legal racer was inspired by a similar version of the Le Mans-winning Porsche 917 built 50 years ago. Porsche has created a road-legal version of its 963 hypercar. That's the machine vying to win this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. Only one Porsche 963 RSP has been produced. It is inspired by a similar one-off, road-legal version of the two-time Le Mans-winning Porsche 917 race car. The German company made that one 50 years ago. Porsche ensured the historic car was road legal by adding a set of exhaust silencers, extra mirrors, side indicators and a horn. However, the modifications are slightly more significant for the 963. The lightweight CF bodywork was painted in the same Martini Silver hue as the Porsche 917 race car. On the nose is an enamel Porsche badge, rather than a sticker. New vents adorn the front wings and a unique 3D printed badge they applied to the rear light bar. Forged OZ racing wheels are wrapped in 18-inch Michelin tyres with a seventies-era logo added. Inside is a bespoke, hand-made interior featuring tan leather and Alcantara upholstery. Carbon seats are air-conditioned, like the 963 race car's. Under the hood? The Porsche 963 RSP features a race-tuned 500kW hybrid powertrain. At its heart is a 4.6-litre V8 engine from the Porsche 918 Spyder supercar, boosted by two turbochargers. It can spin to over 8000rpm. The motor was remapped to make power delivery smoother and to permit the use of regular petrol. The solitary 963 RSP was commissioned by Roger Penske, whose initials 'RSP' give the car its name. The Porsche Penske Motorsport team won both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and World Endurance Championship with the 963 last year. It is bringing three cars along to compete in Le Mans. The Porsche 963 RSP will make its public debut at the Circuit de la Sarthe during the 24 Hours of Le Mans, before returning to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. In July, the car will participate in the Goodwood Festival of Speed, along with the 917.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Enter to Win a $250K Superformance GT40 MKI in Iconic Gulf Racing Livery
Read the full story on Modern Car Collector Automotive enthusiasts have a rare chance to bring home a legend. A meticulously crafted , valued at $250,000, is up for grabs in an exclusive sweepstakes sponsored by Downforce Motorsports—giving one lucky winner the keys to an iconic piece of motorsport history. Win here. Built as an authentic continuation model of the 1969 Le Mans-winning No. 6 GT40, this modern recreation mirrors the specifications of the original in both spirit and engineering. The GT40 famously conquered Porsche's dominance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, piloted by racing greats Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver. Chassis 1075, carrying the backing of Gulf Oil, went on to become one of the most revered race cars in the world. This Superformance example features the legendary Gulf Oil livery—a brilliant blue and orange color scheme accented by orange wheels, Gulf roundels, and vintage racing decals. Not just for show, the vehicle is powered by a 427 cubic-inch Windsor-based stroker V8 with Weber carburetors and silver powder-coated headers, offering a visceral driving experience that honors its race-bred lineage. Inside, the GT40 is outfitted with period-correct details including a Moto-Lita steering wheel, Smith gauges, and Alcantara racing seats with silver rivets. A Gurney bubble, originally developed to accommodate taller drivers like Dan Gurney, adds to the authenticity. Modern engineering elements such as Bilstein coil-over shocks, independent suspension, and vented Wilwood disc brakes make this GT40 both track-capable and street-legal, while amenities like air conditioning and a heater add comfort to its performance pedigree. Adding to its historical significance, the car also honors Pittsburgh's role in GT40 history, as Gulf Oil—formerly headquartered in the city—was instrumental in funding the original race program through its partnership with JW Automotive. For collectors and fans of motorsport's golden era, this giveaway offers more than just a car—it's a chance to own a rolling tribute to one of racing's most iconic moments. Enter here. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Indianapolis Star
24-04-2025
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
IMS Museum acquires 14 cars from Chip Ganassi Racing, including 5 Indy 500-winners
This is the museum's largest acquisition since 2011. With the addition of these five Indy 500-winning cars from Ganassi, the museum now owns 39 500 winners and has in its possession 49, far and away the largest collection in the world. The collection of 500 winners provides a needed update to the museum, which gives it five Indy 500-winning cars more recent than the previously most current winner it owned (1995). INDIANAPOLIS — In the process of the IMS Museum's $60.5 million facelift, museum president Joe Hale and the museum's board made a decision that stands to alter its future for generations. With all the cars rolled out of the museum's confines, they could take stock in the entire collection, and they started to see differentiating factor in the dozens of cars they owned: They either had something to do with their mission, telling the 100-plus-year history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, or they didn't. Lucky for them, several of those non-mission cars had significant value, including the second-most valuable car sold at auction, the 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 R Streamliner, an ex-Formula 1 car driven by Juan Manuel Fangio and Sir Stirling Moss which sold for $53,917,370 earlier this year. Together with RM Sotheby's, the museum sold off 11 cars in its collection, among them a (Le Mans-winning) 1964 Ferrari 250 LM ($36,344,960), a 1966 Ford GT40 MK II ($13,205,000), a 1908 Mercedes 17.3-liter 150 HP Brookland Semmering Rennwagen ($8,255,000) and a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette SS Project XP-64 ($7,705,000). In total, the 11 cars combined to fetch just short of $125 million, and with that endowment, the museum has made its largest vehicle acquisition since 2011, purchasing 14 cars, including five Indianapolis 500-winning ones, from Chip Ganassi Racing, adding the museum's first modern-day Indy cars to its collection. The museum would not revealed what it paid for the cars. 'Three or four months ago, we started having conversations with Chip, and what a great partner to have. He's basically said, 'I have these cars, and they belong in your museum where people can see them and enjoy them,'' Hale told IndyStar. 'My whole point (in this acquisition) was that if a guy or girl who's 30 or 40 comes into our museum, they really don't see a car that is in their era that they can relate to, and with this collection from Chip, we're acquiring cars from the last 30-plus years, and it's really going to resonate with a younger crowd that comes in here.' The five 500-winning cars acquired by the museum from CGR amount to all the team's victorious cars in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, including: Juan Pablo Montoya's 2000 Indianapolis 500 Winner, Target G-force GF05 Scott Dixon's 2008 Indianapolis 500 Winner, Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara IR6 Dario Franchitti's 2010 Indianapolis 500 Winner, Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara IR6 Dario Franchitti's 2012 Indianapolis 500 Winner, Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara IR12 Marcus Ericsson's 2022 Indianapolis 500 Winner, Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara IR18 Ahead of Thursday's news, the museum owned 34 500-winning cars, 28 of which are currently on display – 27 split between its pair of 500 winners' galleries as well as A.J. Foyt's victorious car from 1977 in the Four-Time Winners Gallery. Additionally, the museum currently has on loan the winning cars from 1996 and 2011 and eight more split between the Penske Gallery and the Four-Time Winners Gallery. With the five purchased from Ganassi, it makes 49 Indy 500-winning cars in the museum's possession, far and away the most in the world. Prior to Thursday, the museum's most recent 500-winning car acquisition came in 2021, Bobby Rahal's 1986 winner, and until the addition of the five Ganassi cars, the museum's most current 500-winning car it owned was the victorious machine of Jacques Villeneuve from 1995. Among the rest of the purchases from Ganassi include the museum's first Brickyard 400-winning car, the 2010 winner of Jamie McMurray, the Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet Impala SS, which was already on display in the museum as part of its temporary Brickyard 400-winning cars gallery. Other highlights from the museum's latest acquisition include: Scott Dixon's 2022 Indianapolis 500 Pole Winner, PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara DW12, in which he passed Al Unser as the all-time leader in most laps led in the 500 Michael Andretti's 1994 Target/Scotch Video Reynard 94I, Chip Ganassi Racing's first team win Greg Moore's rookie year car, the 1996 Player's/Indeck Reynard 96I Alex Zanardi's 1998 CART Championship-winning car, h 1998 Reynard 98I Scott Dixon's 2015 IndyCar Championship winning car, Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Dallara DW12 Delta Wing, one of three chassis proposals for the 2012 IndyCar season, which was unveiled at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show Juan Pablo Montoya's Target Lola B2K/00, which won the 2000 Michigan 500 Tomas Scheckter's Target Chip Ganassi Racing G-Force GF09, in which he placed fourth at the 2003 500 — the South African driver's best finish at Indianapolis 5 thoughts on the IMS Museum's glow up: From 'indoor parking lot' to immersed wonder Hale said since the news of the museum's $125 million endowment, outsiders haven't been shy about showing their interest in striking a deal. 'We've been approached by a lot of people who want to sell us stuff, but we really want to be strategic in what we add to the collection,' Hale told IndyStar. 'This (acquisition) was so important because it really does fill a void in winning 500 cars from the last 30-plus years, but I think we're going to be very strategic with any future acquisitions.' Though he declined to offer specifics on the deal with Ganassi, Hale said that moving forward with the amount the museum has left from the nearly $125 million it earned from its deaccession of those 11 cars, the museum will plan to only work off of the interest revenue the endowment earns, with which it can make future purchases of cars or memorabilia to add to its collection. 'We've made a nice acquisition from Chip, but now we want to take a very steady approach annually to determine where the gaps in our collection are,' Hale said. 'It won't always be cars. It could be different items we think belong in our collection, whether it's a helmet or a race suit or a trophy.'
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
WhistlinDiesel Buys F1 Car in Europe, Hits Autobahn at 195 MPH, Teases Bugatti Stunt
⚡️ Read the full article on Motorious Popular YouTube personality WhistlinDiesel has taken his automotive exploits to new heights — and speeds — with the purchase of a real Formula One race car and a 195 mph sprint down Germany's Autobahn. Known for wild vehicle stunts and destruction tests that blur the line between car culture and chaos, the content creator — whose real name is Cody Detwiler — recently traveled to Europe to expand his garage of extreme machines. His first stop: the Netherlands, where he took delivery of a Toro Rosso STR4 F1 car from GP Cars 4 Sale. The Red Bull-backed race car, which competed during the 2009 season, is more notable for its aesthetic and heritage than performance, having notched zero wins or podiums in its Formula One career. It currently lacks an engine — a problem Detwiler says he plans to solve with an unconventional swap aimed at making the car 'daily drivable.' The visit also gave the YouTuber a close-up look at motorsport history, including a Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR and Bentley's 2003 Le Mans-winning Speed 8. Next, Detwiler crossed into Germany and took to the famed Autobahn in a Ferrari 812 Superfast, managing to reach 195 mph. 'We were trying for 200,' he joked in a video, 'but traffic had other plans.' Not one to leave viewers without a teaser, Detwiler reminded fans of his long-standing pledge: once his YouTube channel hits 10 million subscribers — it currently sits at 9.39 million — he'll purchase a Bugatti Chiron and subject it to one of his infamous durability tests. The trip concluded with a stop at the Mercedes-Benz Museum, where Detwiler left behind a piece of a G63 G-Wagon he previously destroyed — a fitting signature for a man whose brand is built on breaking the rules, and sometimes the cars.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Audi Is Selling a Diesel R18 LMP1 Car You Can Actually Drive
In the 2000s and 2010s, Audi owned sports car racing. The brand won the 24 Hours of Le Mans 13 times in 15 years, enough to make the brand the second-winningest marque in the history of the race. The company's most advanced Le Mans winner was the R18 E-Tron Quattro, a diesel hybrid LMP1 car that sent power to the front wheels with the help of a flywheel energy storage system. Now, a decade later, Audi is actually selling a running example directly to one lucky customer. A 2012 R18 E-Tron Quattro, the first year for the hybrid variant of Audi's four-time Le Mans-winning coupe, will be sold by a new "Audi Sport Racing Legends" group. The same department is also launching a 2015 DTM silhouette racer in the shape of an Audi RS 5. Both cars are being offered as complete, running models meant to be used on track as if they were new. Race cars are complicated, and the 2010s LMP1 hybrid set were arguably the most complex racing machines ever built. An original R18 is unique even by those standards, complete with a flywheel hybrid system and diesel V-6 engine that made even the V-4 in the Porsche 919 Hybrid look normal. This is what makes buying a car directly from Audi such a distinct advantage: the automaker says the new Audi Sport racing legends program also includes "regular technical inspections, the offer of repairs, but also a spare parts service and expert advice from former developers." That access is not completely unique; Ferrari, notably, has offered similar services for retired F1 car buyers through its Corse Clienti program for decades. What makes the Audi program so interesting is that this level of comprehensive service is being provided to such a unique (and challenging) car, opening a whole new avenue for collectors looking to drive ultra-advanced LMP1 machinery the way the cars were intended to be driven. Oh, and a note to whomever the future owner is: can we drive it? You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
