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Mercedes C220 C-Class

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The car that launched a website

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Lambo & Mini USB test

Useful stuff: Lambo & Mini USB test - we check out these miniatures for your laptop and fingers

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YW electric kiddy car race

Electric BMW & Mini - We hold our first electric kids car race - follow the race and tantrums!

Porsche release details of 911 Aerokit Cup package

On May 10, 2010, In Accessories, bodywork, Cars, Coupés, News, Sportscars, Supercars, by yellowwheels

Porsche 911 with Aerokit Cup package fitted

Look hunky with Porsche’s Official Aerokit Cup bodykit

You know when you were young and got your first car? Your immediate hankering was for something faster and hornier than your insurance bill would permit. So instead you fitted your puny-mobile with wide arches, hunky tyres and spoilers. This turned your bland-mobile into a shed, that you’d look back at with nostalgia but acute embarrassment later in life. Now, you’re a mature 30 or 40 something adult, you own a tasty sportscar but remember the fun of modding your motor. Now is the time to take your Porsche 911 back to the dealer to have Porsche’s new Aerokit Cup package retrofitted so that you’ll look the part turning up in the race paddock.

Porsche have released a body kit to make your 911 look like the racers that compete in the Mobil 1 Supercup. This translates to new front chin spoiler and rear fixed wing. You also have the option of fitting paddle shifts a-la-911-Turbo. But to take you back to the 60′s – 70′s …. you can also get a five-spoke retro alloy. All this is ludicrously expensive of course, but hey, you knew that already when the words Official Porsche were uttered. You could “save” money by ordering your 911 with these mods factory fitted too.

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Tagged with: 911 • Aerokit • Cup • five-spoke • Porsche • retrofit • spoiler • wing

Porsche 918 Hybrid Spyder concept roof rendering

On March 15, 2010, In Art and Artists, Cars, Hybrid, Rendering, Roadsters, Sportscars, Supercars, by yellowwheels

Porsche 918 Hybrid Spyder render with roof and new seats and rims

Porsche 918 Hybrid Spyder at the 2010 Geneva Show

Porsche 918 Hybrid Spyder Concept at 2010 Geneva Show

Ever since seeing the gorgeous Porsche 918 concept at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show

we couldn’t help wondering how the roof would fit and what it would look like. The Carrera GT it will replace has a detachable lid that stores in the front luggage compartment and we presume the 918 will too. Artist Jack Davies sent us a rendering of just this, a 918 with the roof panel in place, but also with some horny rims to replace the show wheels. Many people commented that the semi see through wheel plates were ugly so those have gone too. We asked Jack why he did this rendering

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Tagged with: 918 • hardtop • Hybrid • Porsche • render • roof • Spyder

Geneva Motor Show Porsche 911 GT3R Hybrid Racer

On March 8, 2010, In Auto Shows, Cars, Events, Hybrid, Motor Shows, Racing Cars, by yellowwheels

Geneva Motor Show Porsche 911 GT3R Hybrid Racer and kinetic drive

Not content to launch a new Cayenne in hybrid form and a stonking 918 hybrid concept at Geneva, Porsche showed a hybrid version of its new GT3R racing car. Set to race for real at the Nürburgring, this is no concept but a fully fledged 911 endurance racer. What sets it apart from the competition, particularly in the hybrid sense, is that it runs a flywheel type energy recovery, storage and power plant to supplement the 4 litre flat-six petrol engine engine in the tail rather than a battery pack.

Geneva Motor Show - Porsche 911 GT3R Hybrid racer

Electrically spun, the flywheel stores kinetic energy and transfers it back to twin front electric drive motors, effectively giving 4 wheel drive on demand. Braking electrically respins the flywheel for a 6-8 second burst of extra power and traction. No word from Porsche as to whether there are any negative gyroscopic effects in the corners (or at all), but it should be more stable at high speed if the flywheel mass is sufficient. The system appears to rely on its high rotation speed rather than pure spinning weight. And anyway most cars have four spinning gyroscopes covered in rubber; one at each corner

So how would you feel about sitting next to what looks like a personal nuclear fusion reactor ? Should be fine really as it’s just a disc spinning at, err, 40,000rpm….but at least it has been developed by Williams Hybrid Power Ltd and Torotrak so does have some F1 technology built in.

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Tagged with: 2010 • Geneva Motor Show • GT3R • Hybrid • Porsche • racer

Geneva Motor Show 2010 Porsche 918 Hybrid Spyder

On March 2, 2010, In Auto Shows, Cars, Concepts, Events, Hybrid, News, Roadsters, Sportscars, Supercars, by yellowwheels

Porsche 918 Hybrid prototype

Porsche 918 stars at the Geneva Motor Show

Very much making a statement about Porsche’s hybrid intentions, the GT3R Hybrid and Cayenne hybrid turned out to be sideshows with the 918 Hybrid Spyder thrusting through between the other two cars on the main display area. Cast aside any doubts about compromising performance with these dual power cars; the 918′s cooled lithium-ion battery pack is there to supplement the mid-mounted 500bhp V8, provide power boost on demand, and pure electric drive to pull into your drive quietly at night! Porsche claim a 7:30 laptime around the Nordschleiffe, beating even their Carrera GT times…

Let’s hope this Concept, referred to also as Prototype, makes into production speedily, as this has to be the most exciting new shape to come out of Stuttgart for sometime. Let’s also remind Porsche that the fantastic detailing of the Boxster concept got watered down somewhat in the production version. The 918 needs to keep a lot of those artful, but no doubt purposeful touches. What it doesn’t need is the lash-up tent that the recent Boxster Spyder got as a roof.

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Tagged with: 2010 • 918 • Concept • Geneva Motor Show • Hybrid • Porsche

Geneva Motor Show 2010 – Porsche 918 hybrid spyder concept

On March 1, 2010, In Auto Shows, Cars, Concepts, Electric, Events, Hybrid, Motor Shows, News, by yellowwheels

Porsche 918 Hybrid Spyder Concept

Porsche spring a hybrid concept that isn’t a GT3 but a 918

The Porsche concept car is their interpretation of a hybrid sportscar.

Porsche 918 hybrid Concept with Walter Röhrl and Michael Mac

Nominally retro and recalling the famous racing car of the same number, it’s purpose in life is to give us Porsche performance with outstanding CO2 output and fuel efficiency. Claiming 70 grams CO2 per kilometre and fuel consumption to 3.0 litres/100 kilometres (94 mpg imp, this mid-engined two-seater combines the performance of a super-sports car with the CO2 emissions of a small compact. Porsche also claim that by combining both power sources they can eqaul the output of a V8! More tomorrow….

Tagged with: 918 • Concept car • Hybrid • Porsche

Porsche will launch new top Turbo S 911 at Geneva show

On February 8, 2010, In Cars, Convertibles, Coupés, Events, Motor Shows, News, Roadsters, Sportscars, Supercars, by yellowwheels

New Porsche 911 Turbo S

New Porsche 911 Turbo S cabriolet

Porsche will launch a new more powerful 911 Turbo at the Geneva Show next month. It’s an “S” model to distinguish itself from previous iterations, and packs an extra 30 BHP into it’s rear haunches to give it the power boost, which we all want! But do we? Is this just an excuse to have a new model to present at the forthcoming show? Porsche as usual, are playing the power upgrade route to keep them at the top of the pecking order. However that’s not good enough in itself: Porsche claim they achieve this extra output without increasing fuel consumption and add a 7 speed PDK gearbox and extra gizmos to counter the torque effects of all that power behind the driveline. That’s only 6 months between the launch of the seventh gen 911 Turbo at last year’s Frankfurt Show and this Turbo S.