by Anthony on June 24, 2009
I’ve already talked a bit about Porsche and their work in the racing world. Well, a bit part of their racing success is because of the Porsche 500 class. The first of these cars were unveiled in 1953, and they were Porsche’s first cars really built for competition. They featured light aluminum bodies that allowed the cars to reach high speeds. 
The first two 550’s, likewise, were very lightweight and were actually unique—there are no other Porsche’s like them. These two cars dominated the Le Mans event and won first and second.
The later 550 Spyders, as the car was later named, used a four-cam Carrera four cylinder engine. They, like the prototypes, quickly became the dominant cars in their class and won a number of races. The Spyders were also sold to customers, and they were very popular. In 1956, Porsche modified the Spyder a bit. This new model, the 550A, debuted at the Targo Florio, a road race that was widely regarded as one of the most difficult. Porsche shocked the world when the Spyder 550A easily won the event over a number of other cars, including several Jaguars and Ferraris.
The Spyder has continued to be one of Porsche’s best selling and most popular models. The cars have won a number of races over the years as well. The car is really sexy looking, too. I’d love to be behind the wheel of one of these fast beauties—wouldn’t you?
by Anthony on June 22, 2009
Porsche’s history as a producer of racing cars is one that fascinates me. It seems this interest in racing has always translated over to Porsche’s line of general cars—they’re some of the fastest out there, and Porsche is known for making cars that can go from zero to 100 in only a few seconds. 
One of their first race cars was the Porsche 356 SL, or the Gmund Coupe.
This was the Porsche that was entered and won the 1951 Le Mans 24-hour endurance race. Porsche took home the cup in the 110cc category, and it was this win that began Porsche’s history with racing. Their 356 SL model used a Gmund Coupe aluminum body that was made during 1948 and 1949, but they made a number of modifications to these bodies. However, when the Porsche company made its move back to Stuttgart from Austria, these aluminum bodies became obsolete, and Porsche started using steel bodies for the 356s.
It was at this point that several Le Mans racing representatives came to Porsche and asked the company to participate in their endurance event. Porsche executives loved the idea, and the realized that those aluminum-bodied 356s based on the Gmund would be perfect for it since they were so much lighter than the steel-bodied cars. They where, indeed, perfect—after winning the Le Mans challenge, the 356 SLs went on to pick up a number of other records and wins. They were used up until 1954, when they were retired.
by Anthony on June 20, 2009
Every company seems to be working towards being more ecologically friendly these days, and Porsche is no exception. My favorite car company has been doing a lot to drop their CO2 emissions and make their vehicles greener. 
Here are a few things they’ve done in recent years to make Porsches affect the environment less.
Porsche has become very dedicated to protecting the environment, and they’ve even made it one of their corporate objectives. They make certain all of their environmental systems are independently examined, tested, and certified. Because of this, Porsche has learned how to make its vehicles produce very little CO2 emissions. The entire collection of vehicles in Europe account for about 12% of all CO2 emissions, but Porsche’s cars actually contribute less than 1 per mill of those emissions. They have some of the lowest emissions of all vehicles produced around the world.
But Porsche isn’t happy with that amount. Every year, they manage to reduce vehicle fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by another 1.7 percent or more. Their goal by 2012 is to drop their average fuel consumption by at least 20%. That’s a huge commitment, but I have no doubt that they’ll be able to do it. The new Cayenne, for example, has already dropped its fuel consumption by 15% over the previous model because of its new direct fuel injection method.
Porsche is one of the few car companies really dedicated to creating hybrids and lowering their CO2 emissions, and they keep coming up with bigger and better plans for doing so.
