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"          TechArt 997 Turbo  By Sam Mitani / Photos by Barry Hathaway       2007 TechArt 997 Turbo             List price, base Porsche 911 Trubo     est $122,900             Price as tested     est $185,888             Curb weight     est 3510 lb             Engine     3.6-liter twin-turbo f-6             Transmission     6-sp manual             Horsepower     600 bhp @ 6400 rpm             0-60 mph     3.4 sec             0-100 mph     7.4 sec             0-1320 (1/4 mile)     11.5 @ 126.2 mph             Top speed     est 210 mph             Braking, 60-0 mph     113 ft             Braking, 80-0 mph     202 ft             Lateral accel (200-ft skidpad)     0.94g             Speed thru 700-ft slalom     69.0 mph             Our Mileage, EPA city/highway     na       The new TechArt 911 Turbo is a car that&amp;#039;ll baffle the mentally healthy. Why take something so fast and agile like the new Porsche 911 Turbo, with as much performance as anything on the road today, and then add another 100 or so horsepower and redo the suspension? Is 480 bhp not enough? To the rich and insane, no. And to many Porsche purists, tweaking the 911 Turbo is like adding glitter paint to a Da Vinci masterpiece.   TechArt has been tuning Porsches since 1987, since company owner Thomas Behringer left a rival company to form his own Porsche tuning and racing company. Based near Stuttgart, TechArt is now recognized as one of a handful of premier Porsche tuners, and, like Ruf and Gemballa, it&amp;#039;s classified in Germany as a manufacturer, not an aftermarket company. The first of the two latest TechArt creations represented here is the 997 Turbo.   While the stock Porsche 911 Turbo is unquestionably handsome and racy, it lacks the exotic flavor of a car costing $122,900. With TechArt&amp;#039;s body kit, the car not only looks like it belongs in the same stable as a Ferrari F430 and an Aston Martin DB9, the visual changes have been executed with taste, giving the car added flair without the in-your-face bling you might associate with rap stars and guys who wear their collars up. Among the custom pieces fitted to the 911 Turbo are a front spoiler, carbon-fiber grille, headlight covers, side skirts and rear spoiler. Black 20-in. forged alloy wheels shod with specially-made Michelin Pilot tires \u2014 245/30R-20s up front and 325/25R-20s at the rear \u2014 give the TechArt a slightly menacing ambience, in stark contrast to the snow-white exterior. The body kit alone will run you about $11,000.   As elegant as the car appears, the main story is in the engine compartment. TechArt engineers ripped out the 3.6-liter flat-6 engine and fortified it, installing bigger turbo-chargers, a stainless-steel exhaust system with special manifolds and a recalibrated chip. Although the company calls this conversion its &amp;quot;100-bhp&amp;quot; upgrade ($29,500), the engine dynamometer reveals a bit more power and torque: Output is rated at 600 bhp at 6400 rpm and 609 lb.-ft. of torque at 3700.   As soon as you turn the ignition key, you realize that the revitalized engine is different from stock. The roar that resonates from behind the seats is noticeably louder; even at idle, the sound conveys to the driver that the engine is capable of tearing up the tarmac if unleashed.   And indeed, the TechArt 997 Turbo accelerates with unbridled fury. As you&amp;#039;re slammed into the seats, the forces spike with each gear change, and before you know it, you&amp;#039;re traveling at well over 100 mph \u2014 without even trying hard. The biggest thrill comes when the turbochargers kick in at about 3000 rpm. My passenger said it best when he yelled after the 1\u20132 shift, &amp;quot;Holy x%#!&amp;quot; During our tests, the TechArt 997 flew to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds and to the quarter mile in 11.5 at 126.2 mph. Regular readers of R&amp;amp;amp;T may recall that the stock 6-speed 911 Turbo recorded a 0\u201360 time of 3.4 sec. On that day, the testing conditions were near perfect, from the temperature of the air to the grip of the pavement. A more telling comparison of the TechArt Turbo&amp;#039;s prowess is to compare it with Porsche&amp;#039;s own 0\u201360 claim of 3.7 sec. The TechArt 997 Turbo&amp;#039;s top speed of 210 mph was achieved at the Nardo high-speed test course in Italy.   TechArt has also fine-tuned the 911 Turbo&amp;#039;s handling. It lowered the car by about 20 millimeters, and installed stiffer springs. Together with the fatter tires, the TechArt 997 Turbo feels all but glued to the pavement during turns. It posted 0.94g on the skidpad and squirted through the slalom at 69.0 mph.   On the open road, the TechArt 997 Turbo isn&amp;#039;t as civil as a stock 911 Turbo; ride quality is a bit choppy and the cabin reverberates with engine noise. That said, the car won&amp;#039;t beat you up, retaining its qualities as a grand tourer. A two-hour drive on the crowded freeways of Los Angeles was a breeze, and I could easily (and willingly) drive this machine cross-country.   Needless to say, the price of high performance and exclusivity doesn&amp;#039;t come cheap. The TechArt 997 Turbo, available in the States through CEC (Claus Ettensberger Corporation, www.cecwheels.com), is priced at $185,888. So it&amp;#039;s up to you to decide if it&amp;#039;s worth $62,988 over the 911 Turbo&amp;#039;s base price of $122,900. Most people would say you&amp;#039;d be mad, and they&amp;#039;d be right...but after a stint in the TechArt 997 Turbo, there&amp;#039;s something to be said about being rich and crazy. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a20747/techart-997-turbo/>