All Of The Porsches From Lone Star Le Mans

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If you are a Porsche fan and you weren't either in Austin at Circuit of the Americas this weekend or glued to the TV whenever coverage finally appeared, I have to question what you're doing with your life.

Between the World Endurance Championship, the Tudor United SportsCar race, Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, and (my personal favorite) GT3 Cup, Porsches not only dominated the car count, but they ran near the top in almost every series there.

I'll admit—my Porsche fangirlism started because 911s are cute—but the fact that they're incredible cars to drive and adorable lil' 911s beat up on far more dedicated-looking track machinery has made those fangirl tendencies much, much worse.

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Let's be honest, who doesn't love cute cars that shoot blue flames when downshifting at night?

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GT3 Cup is the best support series in existence, no contest, *drops mic*.

The racing is close. The driving is great. The token stragglers in the series typically don't fall behind the pack. More and more drivers are using GT3 Cup as a springboard into higher-level series a la Madison Snow, so it's not just a bunch of rich dudes with money doing very expensive parade laps. They're out there to win.

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It doesn't hurt that it's all 997 and 991 racecar versions of my favorite car ever, either.

This is the first time I've ever seen GT3 Cup run at night. It seems a little odd to see Porsche 911 racecars without yellow lights, but the experience is still otherworldly.

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The lights. The blur. The continuous drone of flat-sixes that fly past you. The occasional pop and burble of a line of rapid-fire downshifts.

GT3 Cup should run in the evening more often.

Oh, and be on TV.

Just to show how many Porsches were in attendance, here are some more cars that ran in this series:

'Murica.

Thursday morning was filled with constant activity in the GT3 Cup paddock.

All manner of little tweaks and adjustments to the cars were being made to get them ready for the upcoming practice sessions.

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Large awnings hid sweaty work from the sun.

Several cars had additional lifts attached to the bottom of the hydraulic jacks to raise the car higher.

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My Porsche spends way too much time on jackstands. I NEED THESE.

The weekend alternated between wet and dry, so it was no surprise to catch cars on wet tires.

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Local shop Moorespeed brought a couple cars.

Fellow Texans Topp Racing were also in attendance.

Somehow this shop keeps sending me LeMons teammates. I'm fine with this. (Hi, Paul!)

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Whenever you thought you might be at the end of the GT3 Cup paddock, nope.

MORE PORSCHES!

Few GT3 Cup cars this year kept the naked factory-white look, but there was one on display just in case you were wondering what to buy me for Christmas.

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I'd promise to dress it up like Fluffy Bunny, give it lots of hugs and read it bedtime stories every night.

This is the 991 I want. Right here.

(Squee!)

Kelly-Moss's paddock in particular was so bright that it looked like a pack of Skittles.

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Delicious Skittles.

One of the few white GT3 Cups this year was in Martini livery.

I'm okay with this.

Some GT3 Cups even had chrome paint.

Neon was common, too.

Stripes of all widths, styles and colors look great on these curvy 911 bodies.

Too bad Hertz doesn't rent out Cup cars. Then I might not whine the next time I ended up in a rental, and I'd have no excuse not to go to the track!

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Multiple locations in the Americas were represented on liveries in GT3 Cup, too.

Here's the full grid after one of the Thursday practice sessions:

I need one of these cars. I really, really do.

CTSCC has no shortage of Porsches, either, with about an equal number of Caymans and 911s in the mix.

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Caymans have multiplied like rabbits in ST.

Adorable.

Rabbits.

A single Boxster even made an appearance.

911s have run in GS for a while.

There were no 991s in this series yet, but the 997s are still going strong.

Heat shielding, anyone?

Even Porsche-related t-shirts were a thing. (I wore two over the course of the weekend myself, not gonna lie.) If I took photos of all the Porsches on t-shirts this weekend, I'd have a never-ending article for that, too.

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MY PEOPLE WERE HERE.

So, here's one on CTSCC driver Michael Johnson, who may look familiar from taking Fluffy Bunny around the Roar Before the 24.

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Speaking of MY PEOPLE, vehicles parked around the racetrack weren't too shabby, either.

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Tracy Krohn's immaculate 356 in the paddock was a particular treat.

Additionally, the area Porsche Club of America chapters hosted a Porscheplatz that included access to the best looking parking lot in the world.

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Somehow, people in the Porscheplatz lot seem to bring things that are exactly relevant to my interests.

Also, I need an aircooled red 911 coupe.

There were also several show cars to the main spectator plaza. I thought of licking the 918 to claim it as mine, but alas, it was highly guarded from Stef-spittle.

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The two racecars had been at a PCA dealership event the night before, though, and my bum fit perfectly in this 911 RSR. This works like Cinderella's shoe, right? If the seat fits, it must be mine?

The 919 in the fan zone, however, was just a rolling shell.

Porsche decided to sponsor a three-car factory effort (#910, #911 and #912) in TUSC this year, which added even more Porsches to the total Porsche-fest that is the Tudor series.

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Complete with matching support carts:

And of course, all of the usual suspects in American endurance racing were here.

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Circuit of the Americas is so new and so smooth that many teams were able to run with very little suspension travel needed.

Of course, here's Dempsey Racing in a nutshell:

Lo and behold, even IMSA's support vehicles were Porsches.

Seeing the response Cayenne fly down the track was no help at all when it comes to my nagging need for a tow vehicle. Not only could I tow my Porsche with a Porsche, but I could take the sucker on a few hilarious hot laps if I darn well pleased.

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All things considered, I shouldn't be surprised to see a Cayenne serving in this capacity. This is the company that took a lowly Volkswagen/Porsche 914 to Le Mans (and won their class), rallied the 924 and quietly, but semi-officially arranged for teams to race the 928. The Cayenne, too, is in the legion of oddball Porsche racecars.

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If it's a Porsche, someone, somewhere will try to race it—often with factory support. And that's perfect.

I will not accept a Macan as an actual Porsche until proof of a racecar version is supplied, good sirs. Get to work on that. Take it to Dakar or the Baja. It must yump.

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The pace car was a model with a long and storied racing pedigree and a penchant (at least in the older models) for biting those who lift.

The sloped center console is less severe in person than it looks in photos, but when it comes to trims of the 991, I'd still rather have that lovely GT3 Cup car with zero console whatsoever left in.

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I could tell it was set up for shorter periods of use, though. Drilled rotors are my biggest nemesis when it comes to endurance racing.

I'd still hoon it 'til I cracked a rotor anyway.

Clearly, the most convincing argument to buy a Porsche for Porsche racing fans is "because racecar." Thus, a couple other Porsches were in the paddock for hot lap rides given to various VIPs and certain members of the media.

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The Panamera had a bit too much fun.

Let's not forget the main reason for this weekend's existence: WEC.

The 991 RSR made up most of the cars entered in the GT categories.

I'll admit this as a Porsche fan: the 919 LMP1 program isn't quite there yet. It's clearly a development year. Yes, that reeks vaguely of the excuses I used to make about Baylor football, but I won't need them very much longer.

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For Porsche to take the lead in several races this year with a brand new car for a significant chunk of time shows that the potential for LMP1 domination is there.

The only class in WEC where there isn't a Porsche running is LMP2. So, regardless of this year's LMP1 results, if you love Porsches, endurance weekends are the place to be.

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Between four different race series, the paddock and pitlane were constant sources of activity all weekend.

Having the 919s fire up right in front of me was definitely a highlight of the weekend.

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Shooting racecars at the golden hour on Friday wasn't bad, either.

There is no better testament to Porsche's ability to race what they make than an endurance racing weekend.

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The fact that these six-plus hour races have become like a giant sprint race is one of modern racing technology's greatest achievements.

The cars are expected to last. There's nearly always a battle to the very end. Chances are, there's a Porsche in it. If that alone doesn't make you just a little bit of a Porsche fan, I can't help you.