6SpeedOnline - Porsche Forum and Luxury Car Resource - 9ff Porsche 911 is the world's fastest droptop

http://media.autobild.de/bild/E/e6c1...4407cd4e_1.jpg

Last month at Nardo, German car mag Auto Bild and tire manufacturer Continental sponsored a high-speed showdown, during which big-time tuners from all over -- Sportec, Brabus, 9ff, and TechArt just to name a few -- descended upon the circular track in Italy to see what they could wring out of their high-horsepower hardware. You already know that Brabus broke its own world record for sedans with the CLS-based Rocket. Another car we touched on was Hohenester's HS650 Nardo, a 650-horsepower Audi A4 that hit 216 mph on its go-around.

9ff ruled the day, however. Its 780-horsepower Porsche 997 Cabrio (with a removable hard top in place, shown at right) became the fastest car of its type when it clocked in at 380.5 km/h (236.43 mph). 9ff's owner and lead engineer, Jan Fatthauer, was the man behind the wheel for the feat. According to the release from 9ff, he simply got into the car, drove three laps, and parked it, and went for coffee with the new record in hand. Afterward, he had a great line, saying, "We wanted to do justice to our reputation as tuners who resist physics, an aim we have accomplished."

Indeed. If you want to catch up on the rest of the goings on at the Nardo event, you can read Auto Bild's coverage here. They've also got an extensive gallery of the cars that were on hand, including the actual record-breaking 9ff Porsche.

(Press release, photos after the jump)

[Sources: Auto Bild, 9ff]

PRESS RELEASE:
The fastest convertible of the world

A Porsche convertible always is a good choice: elegant, suitable for everyday use and at the same time sufficiently sporty.

But the 9ff convertible offers more than just that: it speeds up to 100 km/h in less than 4 seconds; 5 seconds later (less than 9s), it hits the 200 km/h mark

and 11 seconds later, you scorch the tarmac with a speed of more than 300 km/h. At such a speed, caps or toupees don't stand a chance.

Thanks to its incredible power output of more than 780HP and 830Nm of torque, the discreet super sports car was allowed to compete, beside 15 other potent bolides, for the title of the fastest tuned car. This event, held by Continental and AUTO BILD SPORTSCARS, took place on the high-speed track in the Italian city of Nardo. The HP-miracle by 9ff took part as the very last contestant and promptly set a world record.

The 9ff boss Jan Fatthauer has done without technology, tools and stress and instead practised something completely new: Motor Racing Zen. With Buddhist calmness, Fatthauer got into his hardtop convertible, accelerated, drove three rounds, parked his car at the edge of the track and went past his thunder-struck contestants to get a coffee. The new strategy worked out perfectly well: incredible 380.5 km/h - the new convertible world record!

Guru Fatthauer stays cool and says: "We wanted to do justice to our reputation as tuners who resist physics; an aim we have accomplished. But, that was clear from the start

Article from http://www.autoblog.com/2006/11/26/9...stest-droptop/