Porsche Considers Kicking Ferrari’s Ass in Formula 1

The brain trust at Porsche is starting to wonder if its motorsports budget might be better spent racing against Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes in Formula 1 rather than winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans against broken down Toyotas.

Porsche has always had a tumultuous relationship with the single seater series: Stuttgart first pulled out in the ’60s due to costs after just two years and one race win, the ’80s saw Porsche power McLaren to two constructors championships and twenty-five race victories, and lastly, an embarrassing 1991 return in which the company’s engines failed to qualify more than half the time.

But now, if reports from Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport are to be believed, Porsche is once again evaluating a return to the pinnacle of motorsport, with Porsche’s board poised to decide in the next few weeks if the sports car and SUV manufacturer will pull out of the World Endurance Championship in favor of Formula 1.

It’s believed Porsche was one of the manufacturers in attendance during F1’s engine constructor meeting that took place on July 4th. The meeting included current manufacturers Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, and Honda, along with Aston Martin, Ilmor Engineering, and Cosworth as the FIA works to hammer out engine regulations for 2021 and beyond.

Should Porsche decide to participate its engine concept would need to be finalized by 2019 before appearing on the grid in either 2020 or 2021, ruling out a potential rekindling of the McLaren-Porsche relationship for next season.

For Porsche, there’s not much left to accomplish in the WEC after dominating the series since returning in 2014, including three overall victories at Le Mans along with consecutive drivers and constructors championships in 2015 and 2016.

With Audi quitting prototype racing last year, the series has lost much of its luster with only two top shelf manufacturers competing for overall wins. Should Porsche decide to pull out of the WEC immediately, it’s thought the company could join sister brand Audi competing in Formula E as a stop gap.

Whatever happens, Zuffenhausen will officially announce its decision before the WEC’s Mexican round in early September.

This article first appeared on luxury4play.com

The post Porsche Considers Kicking Ferrari’s Ass in Formula 1 appeared first on VWVortex.

from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2varQP0
via IFTTT

Comments

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier. The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow. While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something . To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it. Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait. So with this in mind, we lined our G...

Volkswagen’s Gone to California with Grand California Camper

Volkswagen is bringing the California XXL concept to production. It will debut at the Dusseldorf Caravan Salon as the Grand California. It’s set to be based on the medium wheelbase Crafter van. That’s the company’s full-size commercial van, larger than the T6 Transporter based California. The high roof means room for adults to stand up, though it won’t get the concept’s extended length. The Grand California offers a full wet bathroom. It’s not exactly spacious, though, measuring in at around 31.5 x 33-inches. A toilet, shower, and sink are all crammed into that space, but at least there are motion sensor lights to stop you from reaching for a switch. Standard, the Grand California it comes with berths for two adults. Space for two children is optional, but they’ll be stuck in a berth amove the driver’s area. The kitchen offers a sink, stove, and two fridges. The front seats swivel to add seating space when the RV is parked. It’s also got solar panels, an integrated satellite dish,...

Volkswagen Group Records Best Ever First-Half-of-Year Sales

With 5.5 million vehicles in customer hands after the first six months of 2018, the Volkswagen Group is seeing the best performance of its history. Group deliveries increased significantly in all core regions,” said Fred Kappler, head of sales for the Group. “Our core brands recorded strong growth in the first half year.” For the year-to-date, all of Volkswagen’s brands had sales bumps. MAN, SEAT, and Skoda led the sales charge with performances 24%, 17% and 11% better than the previous year. The big sellers, too, had strong sales periods, with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Audi, and Volkswagen sales rising 3.5%, 4.5% and 6.3% respectively. That last figure is particularly good new for the board, since Volkswagen alone sold more than 3 million vehicles in the first half of 2018. As Kappler stated, the numbers are equally good when you break sales down by region. Brazil and Russia were the most improved markets (22% and 20%, respectively), while strong sales in Europe and China (u...

Vorderman Volkswagen

Search This Blog