Bonkers is a relative term, when you think about it. Case in point: the 9ff GT9. With 973 horsepower and a 409 km/h top speed – that’s 254 mph, friends – this was already one bonkers supercar. And then 9ff comes along with the GT9-R, an even faster version with – wait for it – 1120 horsepower and a claimed 414 km/h (257 mph) top speed. That’s enough to outgun the 412 km/h (256 mph) record set by the SSC Ultimate Aero TT to claim the top-speed crown. That’s right: pending outside verification at least, this is the world’s fastest car. On the way, it’ll hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.9 seconds, 200 km/h (124 mph) in 7.4 and 300 (186 mph) in 14.9. Right, bonkers.

Although – like 9ff’s tuner cars – the GT9-R is loosely based on a Porsche 911, it only bears what could barely be described as a passing resemblance. Just about the entire thing is built from scratch, with a 4.0-liter boxer six all but completely rebuilt.

Only twenty examples of the range-topping GT9-R will be offered, although the *ahem* lesser versions with 750 or 987 horsepower are also available, each built to order to the customer’s specifications. We’re just afraid to ask how much many euros that entails, especially when the existing GT9 went for half a million. Details in the press release after the jump and photos in the gallery below.

A little more than a year ago, the Porsche tuning specialist at Ruf unveiled their first electric car, the 911-based eRuf. That first iteration was definitely not ready for production, but the crew at Ruf are not known for taking half measures. A few months after the eRuf was shown to the world, the second iteration with more power and lighter batteries appeared as the Greenster at the Geneva Motor Show. Ruf has said it plans to build that car in limited numbers.

The 911 is pretty small, and as a result, packaging enough batteries to get a useful range is not a trivial matter. The latest eRuf variant is the Stormster, a plug-in electric Cayenne, so finding room for the cells doesn’t figure to be as problematic. The Stormster is uses the same 270 kW Siemens motor that was in the Greenster along with Li-Tec lithium ion batteries. We don’t yet know how many examples they hope to build, where they hope to sell it, or how much it will cost. Critically, we also don’t know how far it will go on a charge. The note we got from Ruf does say it will be available in the standard Cayenne body or the special wide-body that Ruf produces, the “Stormster grün.” Either way, you can check it out in our high-res gallery below and analyze the press release after the jump.

Source Story

Porsche’s new CEO Michael Macht may have just taken over the helm at Porsche, but already he’s talking about some big changes in store for Porsche. One near-term goal: to double sales within in the mid to long-term.
Read the rest of this entry »