Issue Twenty-Three

In This Issue

Porsche Carrera GT – The V10 engine is a masterpiece, as soon as you hear it you’ll be hooked.
Audi RS6 – The V10 engine is a masterpiece, as soon as you hear it you’ll be hooked.
Renault Sport Megane R26.R – The V10 engine is a masterpiece, as soon as you hear it you’ll be hooked.
Honda NSX R : The Unicorn – Mike and Minutia Detailing in Croydon gets his hands all over the only NSX R in the UK during an Enhancement Detail.
New Direction : BMW M4 vs BMW M3 E92 – Adrian Muscat Azzopardi replaces his much loved BMW M3 E92 with a new M4 and compares the two from an owners perspective.

Note from the Editor

This month we feature the what I believe are two of the most accomplished cars from Porsche and Renault in the last decade. They stand out from the rest of their respective stables.

Starting with the Porsche, the Carrera GT is an analogue V10 supercar equipped with an engine note that will send tingles up and down your spine. The V10 mounted midship deserves a book written about it, born in secret for a F1 project in 1992 that never happened, it was shelved twice before being put into the Carrera GT concept car – it’s like it just refused to be forgotten. Porsche put a huge amount of thought into the Carrera GT to ensure the racing theme continued into the car. The ignition is to the left of the steering wheel, a nod to the early days of Le Mans racing when drivers were required to make a running start, hop into their cars, start them and begin the race. The placement of the ignition enabled the driver to start the car with his left hand and put it in gear with his right. Likewise the balsa wood gearknob is a reference to the Porsche 917 racer which also featured a gearknob made from the lightwieght wood. These kind of details help ensure the Carrera GT will always be a desirable car among collectors. Our owner, Andrew, is adamant that he will not part with it regardless of values and who can blame him?

Renault took a leaf out of Porsche’s book when designing the R26.R. It is essentially a front wheel drive 911 GT3 RS. The formula was actually relatively simple, less is more. Renault boldy stripped out as much of the creature comforts that we tend to take for granted and added components and materials that wouldn’t be out of place on a Le Man race car. One piece carbon bucket seats, check. Carbon fibre bonnet, check. Six point harnesses and roll cage, check. Titanium exhaust system, check. The changes they made mechanically also transformed the R26.R into a road and track legend, it handles unlike any other front wheel drive car, drifting through corners like a GT3 RS. The R26.R is a highly sought after car, values are now around four times that of a full fat R26, less is definitely more.

Raj Hunjan