by John Glynn | Jul 17, 2010 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods
Classic Le Mans was HOT. Too hot! As we were so busy with shooting a Total 911 piece and sorting bits for Jamie’s uber-cool Renault 8S, I didn’t get much time to wander around the car park to see anything resembling a Porsche hot rod either.
Thankfully, I can count on some stalwart Porsche pals to help me out with keeping an eye on the public parking. My buddy Chris Tarling took a couple of shots of an interesting early 911 (since discovered to be an SC backdate).
The colour on this hybrid Porsche hot rod looks like Irish Green. I love the front flares and curved rear quarters. Black-rimmed rear lenses do the business. Contrasting bumpers and engine grille are groovy, and loud pipes save lives!
Banded steels and sticky tyres are a look – no idea what it must drive like with all that dish.
The front end is love or hate, with grilled-out markers and indicators and the black-rimmed lights. The flip up centre filer is sweet, and I love the wiper-off look. Like being back in California. I think the whole thing is old-school cool.
I’ve been giving serious thought to selling my Carrera 3.0 and building something irreverent on that early T shell I have. I’m sort of on the fence over whether to sell the T as a potential rally car project or just do something with it and buy another Varmint-type SC from the US. I’m not dead set on owning an all-original early 911, but this car gives me the hots for the early 911 outlaw look. Tough to decide which way to go sometimes.
If this car rings a bell with anyone, get in touch!
by John Glynn | Jul 11, 2010 | Classic Porsche Blog
As I write, the 2010 Le Mans Classic is in full swing. The weather here is incredibly hot: Porsche restaurant tent temperatures hit a reported 45 degrees yesterday and Arnage lunch was taken in similar heat. Not all that comfortable, unless you went to McDonalds for the air conditioning and free wifi, like Mr James Lipman and I.
As per usual, base for our little ImpactBumpers.com crew is the peaceful Moulin du Prieure in Dissay sous Courcillon, 37 miles south of the track, on the edge of Sarthe province. It’s far enough away to feel like real France: Le Mans town becomes a tourist meltdown and traffic nightmare for this event.
That said, I got my first taste of Le Mans camping on this trip, by visiting the Dutch contingent at Karting Nord for the R Gruppe BBQ, and last night’s Leftovers Special. Their set up of tents around bivouac, with inflatable sofas and permanently active grill is perfect: food for thought in 2012.
I also had my first taste of ACO this weekend, as I arrived with media accreditation instead of my usual Porsche ‘Club Ticket Package’. Have to say I am not super impressed with the media dispensations and would probably have been as well off to travel as a paying enthusiast. It’s funny how some of these media junkets play out.
Porsche tent access is a worthy addition to the event and, despite positive confirmation of entry beforehand, it was not available to common-or-garden journos like me on the day. Talk about disappointed! I did get a very nice enamel badge to carry around and keep as a souvenir though, and the media girls are exceptionally pretty, so thumbs up for that.
Now I am freelancing full time, CLM is a good opportunity to bump into other writers and photographers and catch up with the news. Researching features in 45-degree heat really shows who walks the walk! It was good to see two UK classic magazine editors on site: Phil Bell from Classic Cars and my old friend Gary Stretton from Classics Monthly. Both were loving it, and I got an update on their own old machines: an E-Type and a very rare Peerless.
This is the Classic Porsche Blog though, so we’ll post Porsche pics and updates once we’re back at home on Tuesday. In the meantime, check out a few iPhone shots taken in mind-bending high 40s heat. Gotta love Porsche reliability!
by John Glynn | Jul 7, 2010 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods, Road Trips
Today was the last day in Monaco for the 2010 R Gruppe Grand Tour. With no group plan for the day, I was up at 7.30 and out in the Orange 911 Carrera 3.0, to repeat yesterday’s drive up the Col De Turini, and the amazing road from Turini to Sospel.
Col de Turini is the heart of the Monte Carlo Rally. As Monte has been a dream event for me for many years, driving the core stage of this monumental test of man and machine was a must.
At just 1607 metres high, Turini is a relatively low mountain pass, but that does not take away from the sense of occasion one enjoys upon reaching the summit. Once at the top, there was no doubt in my mind: a life goal had been reached.
After driving up the Col, I spent the early part of the morning seeking out locations for a photo shoot planned for later that day. I came up with some places and plans, which ultimately did not work out anything like I’d intended but, regardless of the operational challenges, it was great to spend time with the five faithful Gruppers who returned to the mountains to help me with the work. Many thanks to Leonard, Jan, Guenter, Gerd and Martin.
Tomorrow we drive to Le Mans, for a weekend at the biannual Le Mans Classic. It’s my first time there with press accreditation, so I’m looking forward to the challenge of working at Classic Le Mans, rather than just being there as a Porsche fan and car guy in search of entertainment.
Not that there won’t be entertainment to hand! My fellow Bergmeisters are all coming to Le Mans, where we’ll be joined by the ImpactBumpers.com crowd, and the Dutch R Gruppe posse. The Amsterdam massive includes good buddy Arjen Bosman, who has rented a (British) caravan to camp at the event: bound to be unmerciful fun.
The exception to the attendees will be little brother Sam, who flies back to Dublin from here tomorrow. He has been to every CLM with me so far, so it’s going to be strange not having him with us this time around.
We leave Monte Carlo at 7am. After today’s drive down from the mountains through Castillo and the other lovely villages overlooking the bay, I’m missing it already.
by John Glynn | Jul 2, 2010 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars, Road Trips
Crazy day today, moving cars around and dragging my Carrera 3.0 out of storage, to give it a quick service before tomorrow’s departure on the RGruppe Bergmeister Tour, followed by Classic Le Mans.
Today was the first time I had done valve clearances on a 911. I was using a standard feeler gauge and I can tell you it’s not so much fun. Eventually got through it – hopefully the Orange will sound good when the fresh oil goes in tomorrow. I put the rocker covers back on with 100% silicone gaskets.
I also changed the plugs from yuk Bosch (just don’t like Bosch plugs) to platinum NGK B8-EVKs. I ran these spark plugs in my SC Cab and they made a nice difference, so let’s see how they do in Orange. I installed some ultrasonically cleaned injectors too, though I doubt they’ll have a huge effect. I saw the buildup of gunk through the open ports of my metering head a while back, and think that needs to come apart next: no time to do it just at the mo.
Bye Bye Bosch Plugs
Got lots of bits to finish off tomorrow: grab a Knecht filter and a pair of drain plug washers at Tuthills, get some oil and a couple of new fan belts from my spares place in Banbury and go get a cigarette lighter to throw in the glovebox, to power the sat nav. It needs a tyre change and perhaps a bit of a wash. Then I need to throw my luggage in and the other stuff I’m bringing for people: t-shirts, badges, number plates and the like! I just spent tonight sorting out my camera bag.
We’ve had the TomTom-friendly RGruppe Bergmeister routes through from RallyAtlas and they all look pretty good. I’ve already modified my Day One file to pick me up at Rotterdam and take me to way point 5 on the list, close to the Belgian border. Don’t want to get sent to Amsterdam first. I also booked my return trip with SeaFrance which I am really looking forward to. The Tunnel is fast but it has no romance: I’d like to round this trip off with a little bit of style.
Split Fan Belt: got to find a pair of these tomorrow
I’m looking forward to getting away and getting down to work. I’ll be diarising/photographing the Bergmeister Tour for a feature and then covering the IB boys’ fun at Classic Le Mans for a separate piece, so should be some great stories in there. We might also find a feature car or two at Le Mans: I’m hooking up with Jamie down there so the pics for those are gonna be good.
Hope to bump into some Classic Porsche Blog readers at Classic Le Mans. Definitely say hi if you spot me. If I go a bit quiet on here, it’s just a lack of wi-fi. I’ll post when I can!
by John Glynn | Jun 30, 2010 | Classic Porsche Blog, Road Trips
Things are absolutely flat out here, as I try to get two US features and a pair of magazine columns done, before readying my Orange 911 Carrera 3.0 for the 2010 RGruppe Bergmeister Tour, and our subsequent trip to Classic Le Mans; back to our beautiful gîte in Dissay-sous-Courcillon.
The Dutch posse leaves Amsterdam at 07:30, heading for Belgium. The original idea was for the latecoming members of UK RGruppe (i.e. me and Hamish) to hook up with the German and Dutch cars (and the US IROC car which has been shipped in especially) somewhere south of Brussels at around 09:30, but that would mean getting an 05:30 train, so my leaving home before 3am.
Little brother gets in to Brum from Dublin at 8pm the previous night so, between getting the car done all day Friday and the Saturday night arrival in Geneva, I was staring down a double-barreled all-nighter. Not impossible with two drivers, but not much fun for either.
I considered missing the convoy and going straight to Geneva from Brittany Ferries’ Portsmouth to Caen route, which is actually quite a bit shorter, but a: it was booked solid and b: it kind of felt like cheating. I also considered an 11pm Chunnel crossing, driving to a hotel south of Brussels and getting 5 hours’ sleep before the Dutchies arrived, but that didn’t feel quite right: the tunnel is quick, but it’s a romance-free zone!
Then the thought occurred: what about sailing to the Netherlands overnight? Take a leisurely drive from Birmingham Airport to Harwich, slip onto Stena Line’s midnight boat to the Hook of Holland, which would get us into Rotterdam at around 08.30 CET as close to the tour start as possible, fully relaxed and rested. I ran the idea past Chaptermeister Stolk and he liked it too.
So that’s the plan. Pick up little bro, head to Harwich, put the Orange in the safe hands of Stena Line while we head upstairs, have a bit of dinner and chill out. We’ll then squeeze in some zeds in comfortable beds, before kicking off the 2010 Bergmeister Tour with enough energy to really get the most from the drive south to Thonon-les-Bains, on the shores of Lake Geneva.
Day two brings us to Briancon. Day three then takes us to Monaco, where Bergmeister Base Camp will be established at the Novotel in the old town. From there, our ten classic Porsches will spend three days running along some classic Monte Carlo routes and also the the famous Mediterranean Corniches: those unbearably photogenic roads, carved into the mountains where they meet the glistening sea. James Bond: eat your heart out! I’m looking forward to more France Porsche pictures like this:
Don’t miss the story of this sure-to-be magnificent event. Follow it here on The Classic Porsche Blog and on The Classic Porsche Blog Twitter feed.
by John Glynn | Jun 2, 2010 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
911 & Porsche World magazine have used our Steve McQueen 930 shoot at Laguna Seca on both their subscriber cover and UK news stand cover this month: we’ll wait to see if it makes the news stand cover in the US also. You can see the retail cover here, as well as reading our article (also in this month’s Porsche World) about the two almost-identical 911SC coupes, ten grand and 100,000 miles apart: a piece called “Project versus Perfect”.
It’s always a buzz to get a Porsche World cover, and a special buzz to get both retail and subscriber editions. Great photography as always by the marvellous Jamie Lipman, but a very special car too. The 930 was McQueen’s last 911 and now belongs to Mike Regalia, who bought and restored Steve’s famous Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, which sold at auction for a cool $2.31 million a few years back.
We shot the McQueen car during an SCCA meet at Laguna Seca. Organising the shoot is a long story – one for a book more than a blog – but it ended up with smiles all around. The moral is: if you ever go looking for Laguna Seca, you won’t find it unless you know the secret. Quite a shock how well hidden it is if you have been a lifelong fan of the place and just want to get in to have a look! There were some lovely people organising that event too: go SCCA!
I gotta give a special mention to my great buddy John Gray for keeping my positivity going on the last US trip. When three cars cancelled the week before we flew, we were all set to pull the plug until Gray gave me the news that the 930 had surfaced. Big thumbs up JG as, without your encouragement, we might have stayed home.
Sometimes I can’t believe we find such great cars to shoot – I dunno how it happens but that’s all part of the fun! Roll on the next trip.
