Powering the Boxster Spyder is the same 3.4L from the current Cayman S which pumps out 315 bhp and generates a max torque of 273 lb-ft.

The great feat in this car is the efforts Porsche put in to save weight on the car. Typically, lopping the top off requires the car to put on weight due to the structural reinforcements needed to stiffen up the car.

This reduced the car’s weight by 80kg compared to the Boxster S and even rivals an entry-level 911 with its 246 bhp per tonne power-to-weight ratio. How’s that for a Spyder?

If only Porsche does something with their outdated styling.

Source: Autocar

The reason? Codpiece Cowell.

Clarkson even reposted this on his Facebook page announcing:

For this series only, we’re moving to 9pm on November 15. We had no choice really: X Factor on at the same time with the Results Show, Cowell on storming form, the whole nation glued – we know when to bravely bugger off and wait until the storm passes.

So that means British petrolhead kids would have to do a bit more negotiation with their folks regarding their bed time. And that’s just too bad for them.

Oh well. At least Jay Kay’s still top of the board.

And how about the Fiat 500 Abarth? Now that’s a small car I’d want to own.

So it’s not really a bad thing design and engineering-wise that it took over Chrysler. Now, word has it that the Fiat will be developing the new Dodge Viper so we could just hope that Fiat makes the iconic American sports car be a better well-rounded car.

The Viper is fast but it wasn’t a car that people from other places like Europe would call a proper sports car. Maybe some Italian fiddling will make a proper car out of it and even even make the car more stylish.

The Viper was close to getting the axe with initial reports saying that Fiat might drop the car from the Chrysler line up but that’s not meant to be. Chrysler is also set to release 11 new vehicles in the next five years in an effort to bring back the company to profitability again.

Toyota has been considering to quit Formula 1 for quite some time now due to several seasons of dismal finishes. The auto sales crash and the company’s questioned profitability aggravated this stance even more.

Now, Toyota’s top brass has pulled the plug on the project citing the team’s failure to secure a win ever since it joined the championship in 2002.

Toyota had a great start in this recently-concluded season but ended it in a dismal one especially with the injury of Jarno Trulli.

Company president Akio Toyoda even apologized to fans about the decision. Toyota’s withdrawal means that there will be no Japanese team left in the championship. Honda exited last season.

Looks like someone has to pick up wonderboy Kamui Kobayashi for him to have a future in the sport.

Bridgestone has dominated the sport ever since it had joined the competition in 1997. Eventually, it became the tire of choice for many teams and became the lone supplier since 2007 when Michelin opted out.

The company claims that it will be redirecting its resources to developing other “innovative technologies.” Perhaps the reintroduction of slicks last season limited Bridgestone’s opportunity to use F1 dry-weather tire technology for road use.

Bridgestone will not be quitting motorsport entirely as it will still continue to supply MotoGP and GP2.

The Brazilian won a couple of races this season and helped Brawn clinched the constructor’s title, racking up points to even give team mate and eventual champion, Jenson Button, a fight for the championship.

With Williams, he will be playing mentor to rookie Nico Hulkenberg (makes you think of that Stallone movie) but I’m sure he’ll just be glad that he can claim moral ascendancy to his co-driver. No reason for him to bitch about preferential treatments.

This will be a complete changing of the guards for Williams. Kazuki Nakajima’s plight remains uncertain while word has it that Nico Rosberg will go to Brawn.

Vettel drove a brilliant race to pip last year’s season and pole sitter Lewis Hamilton after Hamilton’s McLaren car suffered brake problemns in his 20th lap.

Vettel’s Red Bull team mate Mark Webber eased in at second while this season’s champion, Jenson Button settled for third. The last ten laps featured a duel between Webber and Button but Webber held his ground. Brilliant showing from the champion though.

Brawn GP’s other driver, Rubens Barichello, settled for fourth. His finish dropped him to 3rd in the driver’s standings behind Vettel in a season which almost saw him as the champion.

Still, Brawn GP holds on to their constructor’s cup in their maiden season. It’ll be an exciting one next year with drivers switching seats and young ones like Hamilton, Vettel, and even upstart Kamui Kobayashi offer so much potential.

With all the greening efforts going around, Ferrari has also jumped into creating hybrid systems for their front-engined GTs and they figure that a 4×4 system is best mated to the hybrid powerplant.

But here’s the part why I like Ferrari – they claim that using the electric motors for the front wheels will not really help improve fuel economy but they are more interested in using the electric motors’ torque for acceleration and cornering.

So basically, turning their thoroughbred cars in hybrids won’t make them soft green cars after all.

Word has it that their 612 replacement will be among the first to get a hybrid treatment. So that would probably mean dropping the V12 for a V8 and slapping on some electric motors.

The Roadster, driven by Australian Simon Hackett and co-driver Emilis Prelgauskas, was able to travel 313 miles before the charged crapped out.

Hackett and Prelagauskas claim that as glider flyers, they used energy conservation techniques to be able to extract the most from the Roadster’s batteries.

And so the F what? In all practical purposes, a car running on gasoline isn’t really concerned about covering miles. Sure the number of miles per gallon do matter somehow but fossil-fueled cars don’t need hours to get running again.

So you know something’s just not right when he wants to drive for only one team or he wants out. Raikkonen wants to drive for McLaren or he will not race F1 anymore.

Raikkonen opted out of his Ferrari contract thus he’s a free agent at the season’s end. Two teams have shown interested in picking up the former world champion – McLaren and Toyota but it now seems that McLaren’s the only option for him.

McLaren is currently scouting for another driver to race alongside Lewis Hamilton as they will be letting go of Heikki Kovalainen. Rumors have it that recently-crowned champion Jenson Button will create an all-Brit McLaren driver lineup.