Porsche Cayenne: The Gemballa Tornado 750 GTS

If the normal Porche Cayenne is too tame for you, then have a look at the Gemballa Tornado 750 GTS.

Using the Cayenne Turbo as a base, Gemballa starts by hacking off an incredible 550+ pounds thanks in part to carbon-fiber bodywork that provides increased downforce and vents air to the front brakes as well as away from the engine compartment.

The turbocharged V8 has been upgraded in typical Gemballa fashion - displacement has been increased to 5.0-liters, upgraded pistons and connecting rods have been added, and a racing turbocharger provides additional boost. The result is 750 horsepower and 775 lb-ft torque, 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in just 4.3 seconds, and a top speed of 186 mph. Perhaps even more interesting is that all of this mechanical mayhem can be routed exclusively to the rear wheels if the customer so requests it.

Astounding performance yes, but with looks only Darth Vader's mother could love and a €400,000 price tag (around $525k USD), we're guessing Gemballa may have a tough time filling orders for its planned production run of fifty cars.

Porsche 911 GT2: The TechArt Porsche GTstreet RS

Nice review here of the TechArt Porsche GTstreet RS which is based on the already great Porsche 911 GT2.

After flying around Baden-Wrttemberg this past spring in the GTstreet coupe and cabriolet, I vowed to return to TechArt just as soon as the 997 GTstreet RS was ready. Based on the GT2, horsepower escalates from 523 at 6500 rpm to 691 at 7000 revs, and 501 lb-ft of torque between 2200 and 4500 here becomes 634 lb-ft peaking at 4500, with almost all of it available from 3300 to 5400 rpm. Estimated acceleration time to 62 mph for the factory GT2 sits at 3.7 seconds while the GTstreet RS improves that to 3.4. Finally, the factory GT2 hits 125 mph in a claimed 11.2 seconds. My GTstreet RS does the same dash in 9.9 seconds. I win.

Just to get it all out in the open, TechArt hasn't altered the natural GT2 ride height one millimeter, nor has wheel camber been futzed with, and even the 9.0:1 compression ratio is spot on with factory spec despite the spike in max boost. Everything else has been touched or clobbered.

Before launching, let's get comfy in the two-top cabin. TechArt does the very best aftermarket Porsche interiors that exist, or basically the best Porsche interiors period. Having witnessed the saddlery at work a few times, no one approaches TechArt's level of leather and Alcantara perfection. In the most general of terms, if you took the very best and most interesting Audi interior and applied it to a 911 you'd be getting close, but it's even better than that. Notice the TechArt trademark of matching the color of the interior stitching, seat belts, and brake calipers.