Gear Sports

Porsche has evolved the Targa concept over the years, but with the new 2007 Porsche 911 Targa 4 it has left the roof principally the same and made the biggest tweaks elsewhere.

A Carrera 4 with a twist
You may have noticed the extra character tacked onto the model designation for the newest 911 Targa. With the Targa 4 and Targa 4S, 2007 marks the first time there is more than one Targa variant. Those characters also indicate their biggest departure from Targas of yore — the hair-tousling Targas now sport the all-wheel-drive hardware of the current 911 Carrera 4 and 4S models.

The similarities don’t end there. Targa 4 models wear the Carrera 4’s wider rear track, more voluptuous rear fenders and larger tires. Same goes for the 325-horsepower 3.6-liter flat-six power plant and all-wheel-drive system. Ditto for the monster brakes and transmission choices. In fact, if you wanted to describe the 2007 Targa 4 as a Carrera 4 with a fancy roof grafted on, we’d let it slide.

Targa 4S models receive the Carrera 4S’s 3.8-liter 355-horsepower mill, 19-inch wheels and bigger brakes. Porsche’s active dampers, PASM, are standard on the Targa 4S and optional on the Targa 4.

Revisiting a theme
Named to recall past successes at Italy’s Targa Florio endurance race, Porsche’s 911 Targa originally sported a chassis-shoring basket handle which connected removable backlight and roof panels. Uptake of the half-breed Targa was brisker than expected, so Porsche allowed the model to live on alongside coupes and full drop-top 911s.

When the 993-based Targa bowed, it introduced a twist on the Targa theme in the form of a huge retractable roof panel. Sshhh. It’s not a sunroof.

For 2007, the Targa theme established by the 993 Targa and enhanced with a folding rear window in the 996 continues in the 997. Above the beltline, the new 2007 911 Targa 4 offers no real surprises — the transparent roof pane still retracts, the rear glass still opens up.

New, but familiar
Relentless engineering focus on the 997 Targa’s roof assembly resulted in a module which shares no parts with that of the outgoing 996. The glass panel itself is actually two layers of partially pre-stressed laminated safety glass separated by a tough, thin plastic film. Thanks to more rugged glass, Porsche engineers were able to thin out the sandwich slightly, dropping 4.2 pounds out of the car way up high, where it has the biggest effect on the center of gravity.

Still, the roof module, together with additional chassis reinforcements necessary to compensate for the stiffness lost in the beheading process, taxes the Targa’s curb weight by 132 pounds compared to an otherwise similar Carrera 4.

911s are good. There’s a rare harmony and breadth of proficiency among the 997’s steering, shifter, brakes and throttle which transcends its hard numbers and specifications. The Targa is no exception to this, and the measured doses of atmosphere and light afforded by the transforming lid just make the experience that much more enjoyable.

Ford says the 2007 Shelby Cobra GT500 Mustang will be the most powerful factory-built Mustang in history, more powerful than the 1969 Mach 1 428 Super Cobra Jet or even the legendary 1969 Boss 429. Think about that for a second. Let it sink in. Take a knee if you have to, but the reality is this: When this car hits the streets during the summer of 2006, it’ll have 450-plus horsepower, making it the most powerful Mustang ever.

Supercharged 5.4-Liter
The Shelby’s supercharged 5.4-liter, 32-valve V8 is similar to the engine in the GT. Ford started with the cast-iron 5.4-liter Triton V8 truck engine and added aluminum heads from the GT, specially calibrated camshafts, a Roots-type supercharger making 8.5 pounds of boost, and a water-to-air intercooler.

Under that blower is an all-new low-profile intake manifold, which allows the engine to fit under the GT500’s special air-extraction hood. Fuel comes from a dual-bore electronic throttle body borrowed from Ford’s 6.8-liter truck engine program, however, the larger radiator, increased-capacity cooling system and the exhaust manifolds are unique to this application.

The engine is also dressed with special “Powered by SVT” finned cam covers which are reminiscent of the “Cobra Powered By Ford” covers used by Shelby five decades ago, and it’s backed by the same T-56 six-speed that appeared in the supercharged 2003 SVT Mustang Cobra.

Solid Rear Axle
The GT500 chassis development started during the 2005 Mustang program. “We spent a lot of time at the track developing the new Mustang and ensuring it was capable of handling future performance derivatives,” says Hau Thai-Tang, director of Ford Advanced Product Creation and SVT.

The result, according to Ford, will be SVT’s signature chassis tuning with a balanced, performance-tuned ride that still maintains the compliance required for everyday driving. And Ford says it will accomplish these goals, with the GT500’s MacPherson-strut front suspension and three-link rear suspension, which locates a solid rear axle.

Although conventional wisdom says the antiquated rear-end design is in conflict with building a state-of-the-art performance car, Thai-Tang says it isn’t a problem. “In terms of performance, the Mustang’s solid-rear-axle setup in the GT500 has been proven in race competition this year with a Mustang FR500C taking the checkered flag at the season-opening Grand-Am Cup race at Daytona,” he points out.

The GT500’s suspension is lower than a Mustang GT’s, and uses recalibrated front and rear shocks, upgraded front and rear stabilizer bars and revised spring rates. The key to the GT500’s three-link architecture, according to Ford, is the Panhard rod that provides precise control over the rear axle. It’s centrally located and fastened to the upper front end of the differential, while trailing arms are located near each end of the axle.

Nissan built the first Skyline GT-R way back in 1969, but it didn’t ascend to its throne until the eighth-generation Skyline (”R32″) debuted in 1989 and the GT-R was endowed with a spectacular straight-six engine and world-beating chassis.

The new 2.6-liter double-overhead-cam 24-valve six engorged by twin turbochargers was rated throughout the car’s life at 280 horsepower. But that figure was only there to satisfy Japanese government engine-output regulations — it more likely made somewhere near 330 hp. And it didn’t take much to boost that to 400 hp or beyond. Well beyond.

The new chassis carried an all-independent suspension, all-wheel drive and Nissan’s Super HICAS electronic four-wheel steering system. Taking the power from a rather conventional five-speed manual transmission, the “ATTESA E-TS Electronic Torque Split 4WD System” varied the distribution of torque from 100 percent to the rear all the way to 50/50 front and rear. Complex? Absolutely.

By 1993, the slightly larger and more luxurious R33 was in production. The R33 was clearly an evolution, and carried the best stuff of the R32’s engine and drivetrain. But GT-R fans felt the R33 was too big, so Nissan retightened the car’s dimensions and sharpened its styling to create the “R34″ Skyline GT-R for 1998. Again clearly evolutionary, the R34 retained most of the drivetrain with the addition of a Getrag six-speed transmission. The R34 left production in 2003.

Demand and respect for the R34 is still so high in Japan that Nissan’s performance arm NISMO recently bought back 20 slightly used R34 GT-R V-Specs to completely rebuild into the ultimate GT-R: the Z-Tune. For about $170,000 the Z-Tune offers 500 hp, fortified suspension and drivetrain, carbon-fiber bodywork, and disc brakes the diameter of a sumo wrestling ring. Designed as the ultimate street-going vehicle, NISMO claims a Z-Tune will crush through a quarter-mile in just 10.6 seconds on street tires. That would make it the hardest accelerating “production” car ever.

Buy Nissan Skyline GT-R:
Most Skylines in America ultimately come from Motorex in Torrance, California. Nissan never exported any Skylines to the United States, so a few had to be sacrificed to prove their crashworthiness to the Department of Transportation (DOT), and it’s Motorex that did that testing. It’s been applying what it’s learned to producing DOT-approved Skyline GT-Rs ever since and has put somewhere between 170 and 180 on America’s roads, says General Manager Quincy Yamada.

The conversion process is straightforward, explains Sean Morris, who used to work for Motorex before opening his own shop, RB Motoring specializing in Skylines. “The biggest thing was proving to the DOT that they were crashworthy,” he says. Getting the car’s emissions in line takes some work, but it’s doable. Then there are dozens of details like making sure all the labels and identification numbers on the car conform to standards that go into making a car strictly legal.

A few less-than-strictly-legal Skylines have snuck into the U.S. and registered. But if law enforcement catches up with one, it’s likely to be confiscated and exported — or worse. If you want to import a GT-R yourself, be prepared to learn all the intricacies of certification that a company like Motorex already knows. And Motorex isn’t sharing its knowledge.