It’s been a sad February, as my good friend Hayden Burvill passed away. Hayden was not only the brains behind WEVO, but also a passionate man living a full and inspiring life. His name appears all over the blog and my experience of being partly (unknowingly) mentored by him is woven throughout the last 18 years of my life. I will miss him. Let’s have a look back on some of his and our history. There is a memory board for Hayden Burvill here.
Hayden and me c.2009(?) with some massive Porsche-fitment Campagnolos from the WEVO stash
Hayden grew up karting, and started autocrossing in Australia in 1981. Graduating with a BA in Industrial Design from Curtin University in Western Australia in 1985, Hayden Burvill began a career in race car engineering. In 1992, he started at the back end of the Formula 1 grid, running Roberto Moreno. He always laughed about this as the Andrea Moda team was running on less than a shoestring. There followed spells with Allard, Reynard and G Force, where Hayden had a hand in designing some rather successful Indy cars.
In 1995, he came to IMSA racing, on Spice Chevrolet and Courage V8s. The next ten years brought Indy, Rolex 24 and ALMS engineering engagements, and the start of WEVO. In 2005, he engineered the Ferrari 360 for JMB Racing. Later that year, Hayden went to Brumos, to engineer the famous number 59 DP Porsche for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. He continued race engineering well into the 2010s at Le Mans and in the US. He also engineered a production Carrera GT to the US closed-course speed record. He kept that one quiet – I found out by accident.
In the period from 1996 to 1999, everything changed as WEVO was born. The young Australian race engineer and design graduate, who had abandoned the glamour circus of F1 and arrived in America to work in GT racing, spotted an ad for a 1972 911 in search of a new home.
“I’d owned a 911 in the USA since 1996: a ’77 S. We’d been using it to develop the XT-915 ‘dog box’ transmission, our Gateshift kit, shift coupler and suspension parts. When we (we being H and wife Tracey) decided to expand our WEVO Porsche parts idea, I felt we had to go for an early car that would represent the business and our catalogue more effectively.
“Identifying 1972 as my ideal year, I targeted just those cars. Back then, I was working for Dick Simon’s Indy Car team and flying all over the USA. I carried $15,000 with me everywhere and scanned the classifieds wherever we stopped.
“I saw cars all across America: North Carolina, Texas and Oregon spring to mind. Eventually, I spotted an ad in our local San Francisco paper. It was a ‘72T in Gulf Orange, for sale across the bay in Oakland. The odometer had just clicked over and it sounded like a decent car, so I went to see it.
“The owner was a car guy but no Porsche expert: I knew more than him. The car had sports seats, a vintage Prototipo and beautiful patina. We agreed a deal and I bought it on the spot.
“High level motorsport looks glamorous, but the reality is all hard slog. Unwinding is important. I started autocrossing in Australia in 1981, so that’s my switch-off. We found the Porsche Club had a vibrant autocross scene here, so we began to bring the orange car along.”
WEVO the brand came from Windrush Evolution; Windrush being the racing boats designed and made by H and brother Brett in Australia. Hayden was not obsessed by branding – he would happily have used any short name he could buy the dot com for. But WEVO it was and what a brand it became within our small niche of the Porsche world. H’s MO was always to either significantly improve on what Porsche had designed – work that he always held in high esteem – or to leave it alone. I am proud to run WEVO parts on my own 911.
Where do I start with my love for this man. I first heard of Hayden (we always called him H) after Jamie (Lipman) had been to California with Steven H and ran out of gas in a 911 RS. Hayden came to rescue him. I seem to remember Jamie describing H as a sort of Aussie surf dude mechanic rock guitar guy in shorts with a wild sense of humour and telling me I had to meet him. That opportunity came a few months later when J and I took our first trip to CA. It was a travel disaster that saw us arrive at R Gruppe Treffen at bed time and exhausted from transit through Chicago on a Friday night. We had enough time to drop into WEVO on the way home and an enduring friendship was formed.
Hayden was careful with his time and attention, but when he gave it it was always given generously. His appetite for curry was legendary and we spent some great nights in the curry house around the corner from my place, which he enjoyed. I introduced him to Tuthills and Twinspark Racing and EB Motorsport and he had some adventures with all of them.
His run on the Peking to Paris Rally with Steven in Lola the Porsche 356 led to meeting former McLaren team boss Alastair Caldwell and their forming the most excellent friendship. H built a 912 for the two to rally from London to Cape Town, they also tried another event which took an early bath. They had a superb chemistry and it was fun to be around both of them, together or separately. I am blessed by my time with these two very enjoyable men and all the people I encountered with and through H. His intense curiosity meant he knew a lot of folks!
Hayden and Alastair – good times in California
Over the years we collaborated on so many projects together, including WEVO Europe with Twinspark, which I was a partner in at the time, I blogged all of his endurance rally exploits on both the WEVO website and on my own blogs, built the Porsche 356 5-speed website with meticulous oversight from himself, covered thousands of miles in WEVO cars including Steven’s beautiful fleet that H built, enjoyed his and Alistair’s combined craziness, wrote god knows how many Porsche stories, did some Tuthill stuff including sequential gearbox work, had a bunch of EB Motorsport fun, compared notes on life events and WEVO deals and just enjoyed our man-to-man dialogue. I also spent our time together trying to buy his prototype brakes for my car, but he wouldn’t have it at any price!
H was also great with youngsters; my kids loved him and still remember his energy. I remember Arjen B’s son Derek doing time with H and having a ball. Below is a pic of a dinner on the beach at Zandvoort with Mark, James and Jayne from EB and the six of us had a good night. I had a few nights on the whiskey with H in San Ramon and that was a laugh – he loved craft whiskey and dreamed of making his own. Tracey and H were huge F1 fans and we always had good fun with that.
It was so sad when I heard that H had a health issue, right when it seemed that life had awarded him an exciting new chapter. I reached out a few times but did not hear back – I figured he was taking some time to absorb it. I was mid-divorce and running a challenging domestic environment with kids keen to push the boundaries, and my own parents died around the same time, but I would occasionally see an instagram like or similar from him. And then my divorce was done and I was planning a CA trip and Fishcop (John F) emailed to say he was gone. I’m told that he was very brave all the way through his treatment and at the end went on his own terms with dignity.
For me, he remains an ever-present part of my daily experience. H had an immense work ethic, intelligence, high standards, joi de vivre (let’s say 95% of the time) and a warm willingness to give his attention to people he selected quite carefully. He was disarmingly honest – I had more than one critical review from H which I didn’t ask for, but always appreciated! Here’s an example (on Steven’s Aga Blue ’67 911S, which I wrote as a tour of the Bullitt car chase route in San Francisco:
“Great piece of work, beautiful combination of words and images that are obviously close to my heart for many, many reasons. I love how the vintage vibe of the subjects, both car and your film recollections manage to veneer over the modern cityscape and make it all revert to 1970, its a combination of however Jamie processed those images and the continual return to the past in the dialogue. Absolutely excellent! Constructive criticism, because I know not everyone would bother to give you some. The evidence that the piece is well researched could be more transparent. There are times when it jumps directly from one collected fact to the next – from a different source – and your writing style does not fully disguise that. As a result it goes from being a John Glynn piece to a piece of John Glynn’s homework and back again. I know you are proud of this and rightly so, so take my CC as a boost, not a slap.“
I cannot express how much joy I absorbed from our friendship over the years. A quote he once shared, which to me encapsulates his attitude perfectly: “Absolutely nothing less gratifying than praise from an incompetent, and ordinary work being overrated by those with low standards”. That still makes me laugh; he hated shit work and fake people.
So long H, you beauty. On the one hand, I will and do miss you. On the other, you are not far away mate. Forever at the table when the lime pickle arrives, or by the fire when the whiskey is poured.
Porter Press has just released a new book detailing the full career history of the most successful Porsche 962 – chassis 011.
While the 962 and 962C won twice at Le Mans and over 50 times in IMSA races in America, also winning races and titles in Germany and Japan, chassis 962 011 – the car featured in this book – was the most successful of the 19 works Porsche 962s built.
Porsche sports car specialist, Serge Vanbockryck, has created an authoritative book telling 011’s entire story, embracing 46 races and 9 victories during a five-year career that saw it compete at the sharp end in Europe, America and Japan.
About Porsche 962-011
As well as winning the 1989 ADAC Supercup in the hands of Bob Wollek, 962 011 scored the Porsche 956/962 series’ 39th and final world championship race victory, beating the dominant Sauber-Mercedes at Dijon. It then spent four more seasons criss-crossing the Atlantic between 1990–93, to race in the IMSA Championship in America and the Interserie in Europe.
All of 962 011’s racing exploits are explained in detail and its drivers receive in-depth profiles, including Bob Wollek, Henri Pescarolo, Hurley Haywood, Jean-Louis Ricci, Danny Sullivan, Gianpiero Moretti, Manuel Reuter, Bernd Schneider, John Paul Jr and Chip Robinson. The full history of 011 is outlined in exhaustive technical detail, recording every test and every race with all available data, from fuel consumption figures to pitstop times.
About the author
Serge Vanbockryck has been studying and documenting the racing and test data of the 200+ Porsche 956s and 962s, their derivatives and their immediate successors since the late 1980s, making him perhaps the world’s foremost historian on the subject. This lifelong passion has included dozens of interviews with Porsche decision-makers, engineers, managers and drivers, and countless hours researching every conceivable period document at Porsche’s corporate archives in Stuttgart.
Decades of deep diving has previously produced three other acclaimed publications from Porter Press International: Ultimate Works Porsche 956 – The Definitive History (2019, two volumes) and Ultimate Works Porsche 962 – The Definitive History (2022, three volumes). The 962 book earned Serge the Motorworld Buchpreis 2023 in Germany. A previous ‘Great Cars’ book, TWR-Porsche WSC95 – The Autobiography of WSC001 was awarded the Ehrenpreis of the Motorworld Buchpreis in 2024
Porsche Retail Group has agreed to buy two Official Porsche Centres (OPCs) – OPC East London and OPC South London – from the American car giant Lithia UK subject to regulatory approvals. This increases the group’s representation in the Greater London metropolitan area from five to seven Porsche Centres.
I have heard some up and down feedback for both OPCs over the years, so I wonder how new ownership will change things – there may be a different feeling working for Stuttgart or Porsche Cars GB versus its franchisees, especially when ownership has recently changed. It feels like good news for those working at both OPCs.
Lithia caused a stir in 2023 when it bought Jardine Motors Group for an estimated £3-400m ($383-510m). In January 2024, it also bought the Pendragon group – another huge dealer network – paying around £379m ($484m) for the business. In September, Lithia UK announced a profit drop of over 50% in the year to December 2023 against much higher turnover, up from £1.64bn in 2022 to £1.89bn in 2023.
A bid of c.29p a share to buy Pendragon in August 2022 was rejected by the major shareholder (Hedin Group) but a higher offer in the face of falling profits and minus Pendragon’s software business later got the deal across the line. The purchase was said to been the finale of a four-horse battle against a joint bid from Hedin Group and Penske Automotive, and an offer from America’s biggest dealer group, AutoNation.
Porsche Retail Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Porsche Cars Great Britain Limited, which is owned outright by Porsche. The company already has five sites around London and its extended hinterland, and adding these two gives it virtual command of London for new and used sales, servicing and genuine parts.
News from the grapevine says that Porsche is increasingly careful about who it supplies genuine parts to these days and continues to tighten its grip on its exceptional brand. Some of the things I have heard have raised eyebrows and it paints a picture of much closer approval from Stuttgart on external use and exploitation of the Porsche brand.
London’s Unique Appeal to Prestige Brands
London is often described (even on the BBC) as “a first rate city attached to a third world country.” Those of us who moved out of London tend to laugh this off, as it speaks to certain delusions of grandeur down south, but there is no doubt that London is different to the rest of the country. I spent a weekend in London last month – partly retracing my arrival there and finding my feet in the city – and noticed how much I had missed it. It is a true global city powered by aspiration and no surprise that Porsche wants more of it.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to grow our network and continue delivering exceptional service to our customers,” said Adam Flint, Managing Director of Porsche Retail Group. “We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues to the Porsche Retail Group family.”
Porsche says that it will apply a new structure so that “all Centres in the Porsche Retail Group will work together making use of new retail formats to elevate the Porsche customer experience, as well as provide a more personalised customer journey. The goal is to create world class retail destinations enhanced by an innovative ecosystem which seamlessly integrates physical and digital touchpoints, to ensure an overall experience for every customer synonymous with the Porsche brand.“
“London is an exciting global megacity, and we look forward to further developing the Porsche brand representation and customer experience in this important market. At the same time, we look forward to a continued strong partnership between Porsche and Lithia across the UK including the evaluation of a future growth opportunity in line with our strategic network representation plan,” said Krishan Bodhani, CEO of Porsche Cars Great Britain.
Other targets within orbit of London could include Porsche Cambridge and Porsche Colchester – both owned by Lithia.
News from my Impact Bumpers Porsche forum says that Lidl is offering Revell’s 1:24 scale models of the Martini Porsche 934 and 911 3.2 Carrera Coupe for just under £20 in-store – nice Christmas presents for kids of all ages.
The Carrera kit in particular looks quite detailed. Some of the IB kids are currently remaking their own cars in 1:24th scale.
I drink mostly 0% alcohol these days other than a drop of Irish whiskey and the occasional bottle of wine with my daughters. As you’d expect, there isn’t much 0% in the Jägermeister catalogue, but I note that it now makes Jägermeister Cold Brew Coffee.
I tried Guinness Cold Brew Coffee last Christmas and my nervous system is still recovering – it is absolutely savage. Definitely drink cold brew responsibly. I might order the Orange 934. That looks like a no brainer, even stone cold sober.
Porsche has announced that four-time F1 champion, Sebastian Vettel, will test the Porsche 963 hypercar as part of a 36-hour test for Porsche Penske Motorsport ahead of the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.
The 36 year-old from Heppenheim, which is about 90 miles north-west of Stuttgart, has prepared for the test by meeting the team at its Mannheim base on March 14th and doing some miles on the sim the following day. Yesterday was his first real-life run in the physical car on track at Weissach – one of few times he has driven a race car with a roof.
Vettel excited ahead of the test
“I’m looking forward to testing the Porsche 963,” said Sebastian. “I’ve always followed other racing series and my curiosity for endurance events encouraged me to just give it a shot. I already got the chance to get a feel for the car during a rollout in Weissach, and I’m excited about the long run in Aragón.
“I’m looking forward to my time behind the wheel. It’ll definitely take an adjustment and some getting used to but everyone in the team is very open and helps me. This will be a new experience for me. We will then see what happens next in this respect – at the moment there are no further plans for the future.”
Alongside Sebastian for the test at the 3.3-mile Aragón circuit in north east Spain will be works drivers Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Fred Makowiecki, Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor. The endurance test serves as preparation for the highlight of the season in Le Mans on 15/16 June. As the record holder, Porsche aims to secure its 20th outright victory at the Circuit des 24 Heures.
Porsche has had good fortune putting successful F1 drivers including Mark Webber and Nico Hulkenberg in its cars, but no Germans of late (not that there are many to choose from – although German-born Lotterrer did have a run out with Caterham in 2014), so a tie up with Vettel is excellent news. It is exciting on many levels, not least of which is the return of a potentially competitive Sebastian against his somewhat subdued F1 exit following two years with the Aston Martin Grand Prix team, now newly reinvigorated with Fernando Alonso on board.
It’s funny that, at 35, Vettel was seen as an elder in F1 where he eventually gained a reputation for being particularly empathetic towards young drivers, encouraging the highly competitive driver field to embody their emotions more deeply. “You cannot always be the best. But you can do your best,” as Vettel puts it.
I like the idea of this new-Seb personality integrated with some Porsche brand communications; the concept has a potential softness and emotionally considerate tone that I often think carmakers lack. I hope they take advantage of his genuine and caring nature as well as reawakening our awareness of his speed – that could lead to some very exciting storytelling and hopefully some race-winning history too.
Vettel is famously an avid historian and loves racing history, with a car collection including Mansell’s 1992 Williams FW14B F1 car, which he runs on sustainable fuel. Thoughts of former Porsche F1 pilots including Hans Herrmann, Edgar Barth and other drivers of that calibre are not far away today. We live in exciting times.
Inimitable graphic artist and illustrator Guy Allen has just released another great series of classic car prints. Titled Kinetic, Part 1 is a four-car series featuring the 1973 911 Carrera RS, Jaguar E-Type, Lamborghini Miura and BMW CSL.
I have been captivated by Guy’s work for over 15 years, ever since seeing his first Felix Petrol cartoon. Our freelance paths have intersected many times over the years and he was the obvious choice of collaborator on two series of t-shirts and prints we produced for my Impact Bumpers Porsche forum in the late 2000s.
Guy has the knack of picking up on an idea and quickly understanding the basic dynamic concept, but then taking it further in exciting and engaging ways that one has not imagined. Some of his finest work involves the 911 and I have many of his prints in my small collection.
The latest print in my collection features the Carrera RS. This classic design blending so much Porsche iconography – including the Carerra side stripe, ducktail spoiler and Fuchs alloy wheel – must be one of the most illustrated 911s ever, but Guy again manages to bring something new to the legend. A hat tip also for resisting the urge to widen the wheels and tyres and lose the knife-edge nature of those early ’70s 911s, balletically balanced on the tiptoe of the tyres as they chase driving nirvana. It is no surprise that his artistry is often commissioned by Porsche itself.
Guy Allen development sketches for Kinetic
If you have not got some of Guy’s work, I encourage you to start with the Kinetic Carrera RS. The print is limited to 100 signed and numbered examples and his Porsche works tend to sell out pretty quickly. Printed on archive quality paper using pigment inks, the large A3 work ships unframed and worldwide shipping is free.
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