Porsche Conducts Problematic But Productive Testing at Paul Ricard

With the new era of hybrid race cars, getting a new challenger ready in time for the big day is becoming a challenge. So it's not a surprise that Porsche faced some technical problems during their first long distance tests conducted at the French Paul Ricard circuit with both 919 Hybrid racers on the track.

All six LMP1 works drivers took part on this test and a total distance of 4,756 kilometres was covered. Both driver line-ups, Romain Dumas/Neel Jani/Marc Lieb (car number 14) and Timo Bernhard/Brendon Hartley/Mark Webber (car number 20) completed a comprehensive test programme including day and night driving and a lot of pit stop practices.

Porsche describes the tests as very productive even if not trouble free. The first round of the World Championship is the 6 Hours of Silverstone that will take place on April 20. Stay tuned for more updated and you can find more details in the press release after the jump.

11:02 AM Read More +

Pictures of the Record Setting Pagani Zonda R by Sevan Calians

Photo Credits: Sevan Calians
The Pagani Zonda R is one of the most advansed track cars today with amazing aerodynamic capabilities and one of the most refined interiors that you will ever find on a race car. In fact, it's a moving laboratory that helps Horacio Pagani and his team to push the laws of physics to the limit and achieve amazing results.


Even if the Zonda R looks quite similar to previous Zonda variants, it only shares 10% of its components with them.














These two pictures are quite significant since the Ferrari 599XX is also a non road legal track car that has achieved a respectable 6 minutes and 58 seconds around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. However the Zonda R beat that time by a significant gap...



In fact, the car from Modena managed to beat the 599XX by a full 11 seconds. That's 6 minutes and 47 seconds around the Green Hell. And according to Pagani, that time has been achieved quite easily.




























The Pagani Zonda Stands next to its proud creator, the living legend, Horacio Pagani.



With its 750 Hp engine and a weight of 1,070 KG, the Zonda R is capable of delivering mind blowing performances. And the AMG V12 engine makes an amazing sound.















[Pictures: Sevan Calians (Flickr)]

2:05 PM Read More +

The two Marussia's looking for action at Paul Ricard

Photo credits:Sevan Calians
The first Russian sports car manufacter Marussia took his two stunning models, the Zondaesque looking B1 and the amazing B2, to the the Paul Ricard circuit (officially named PAUL RICARD HTTT) to allow some of its clients to test the car abilities round the track. And for the occasion, they also released these fantastic shots taken by photographer Sevan Calians.


The Marussia's are equipped with the same 3.5L naturally aspirated V6 that produces 300 Hp. That's not a huge amount of power but the 1100 Kg (2425 pounds) weight should help the cars do the 0 to 100 Km/h (62 mph) sprint in 5 seconds and have a top speed that exceeds 250 Km/h (155 mph).















[source: Autogespot]

12:15 AM Read More +