I recently made the acquaintance of Nick Diggens in Victoria, Australia and his sweet 911 SC in Copper Bronze Metallic. The introduction came courtesy of fellow SC owner, Jonny Hart at Classic Retrofit. We’re all members of the period SC appreciation society, so Nick’s SC was worth sharing.
The first pic I saw was the one above, showing the newly-restored 911 on cookie cutter wheels, wrapped in 195/65 15 and 205/60 15 tyres front and rear respectively, which I thought sounded much bigger than standard. The day before, I had been swapping emails with another mate who has just bought a 911 SC Coupe at auction. He wanted to know what wheels to buy to replace the boat anchor 964 Cup replica wheels it came on, so Nick’s pic came at quite an opportune time.
The big question with wheel sizes nowadays is: what tyres can you get to fit the wheels? I have 7″ x 16″ front and 9″ x 16″ rear Fuchs on my car and finding tyres to fit can sometimes be a drag – I use Conti SportContacts – but the pain of 15″ rubber is even worse again. The ideal choice for 15s (7s and 8s) might be something like a 195/55 front and 215/55 rear, but try finding a matched set of those for sensible money.
You can get Toyo rubber, but the thin Toyo sidewall does the 911 no favours. I like the chunky side profile of the Pilot Sport Cup, but the holographic tread and short lifespan is not for everyone. Pirelli P7 Corsas are available in 15″, but they are not cheap. No one wants to put cheap-brand tyres on their old 911, but these are pretty much all the options for wider 15″ wheels.
This car shows an interesting choice of rubber for the SC. I expected the standard size rear tyre to be a 55 section at most, but going by original sales receipts, the 8″ rears had 215/60s as standard and they look pretty cool to me. Standard fronts were a 185/70 15, so quite a different look. If one was currently using a 205/55 on the rear, a 215/60 R15 tyre would be a just under one inch taller and less than 3mph faster at 70mph. So while it may seem that the rear tyres are substantially taller than a standard size, online tyre size comparators say otherwise.
I will share some more about this car later on. It is currently having Nick’s second Classic Retrofit air con kit fitted and has the full range of CR products already in place, including the fuse panels and CDI+ ignition unit. Nick’s mate, Rohan Little, runs an operation called Skunkwerks and looks after Nick’s cars: sound like they have quite a bit of fun with them. Victoria is currently enjoying ambient temperatures circa 35 degrees C, but the Electrocooler A/C is producing a steady 8 degrees at the vents. That is pretty impressive.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
EB Motorsport has unveiled its latest Porsche project: a beautifully detailed recreation of the legendary Porsche 911R, built to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the R’s record-breaking 20,000-kilometre endurance speed run at Monza in Italy in 1967.
In October 1967, Porsche sent its 906 race car to Monza, to break endurance speed records. When the 906 proved unable to withstand the rigours of Monza over extended distances, a prototype 911R was called for. Driven on its own wheels directly from Stuttgart and fitted with a test engine which had already logged 100 hours of flat-out running, the lightweight R claimed five world records, including covering 20,000 kilometres at an average speed of 209 km/h. It was a memorable moment in 911 history.
“Porsche motorsport history underpins all that we do,” says James Bates at EB. “Having successfully campaigned our 3.0 RS and RSR race cars for many years before adding the SWB 2.0 race car, which then finished as first 911 home in the Spa 6 Hours, we were keen to explore the edges of lightweight Porsche racing, so the R was a natural progression.
“Our new 911R showcases everything that EB Motorsport can accomplish and is fascinated by. Built on a 1967-manufactured SWB 911 chassis, which was fully restored in-house and now tops the scales at 804 kilograms in Monza trim, our 911R is loaded with meticulous hand-finished details, from bespoke brake parts and 906-style inlet manifolds, to our lightweight doors and in-house exhaust system with megaphone soundtrack.
“We’re excited to unveil the R on such a special anniversary. Our plan is to film some souvenir footage with it before offering it for sale later this year. Many of its unique components will be also added to our historic Porsche parts product range, so people can build their own interpretations of this legendary 911.”
Having seen the EB Porsche 911R up close and personal, there is no doubting its quality. Many of the closest R recreations I have seen up to now have been a bit wavy and a little bit delicate – much like the genuine R prototype my car once shared a pit lane with at Silverstone. This one is a more substantial piece of engineering that looks every inch an all-steel 911, but shows a stunningly low number on the scales.
The 911R’s passed its MOT but has yet to be registered. As soon as the Letter of Origin arrives from Porsche, the boys will get some paperwork, tax it and then we can take it up over Snake Pass. I’m looking forward to having a spin.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
On our road trip to Germany with Classic Retrofit last month, I had the chance to try my first water-cooled Ruf Porsche, with a test drive of a Ruf RT-12 currently for sale on behalf of a customer. It was an interesting experience.
My most recent run in a tuned 911 Turbo was in a Manthey M600 997 GT2. Fitted with a series of engine upgrades including Manthey’s high quality intercoolers and a reworked exhaust, this was a ballistic machine, with no shortage of torque to stick through the 2wd transmission. The car has been sold several times in recent years and a passenger ride never fails to impress, or to mildly terrify.
The Ruf RT12 is a different experience. At first glance, this 911 seems almost demure. The smooth Guards Red/Indian Red paint and those five-spoke Ruf wheels sit sweetly together, and the red-stitched interior is a nice place to be. But look a bit closer – where are the Turbo’s side intakes? They’re gone: one part of a Ruf aero package that lifts intakes to above and behind the rear arches, where they work rather better than factory items.
Other bits changed include the suspension, which goes from PASM to Ohlins. The airbox is also changed to a carbon airbox of Ruf design. Spec on this car is fairly simple, with extended leather, Bose, carbon centre console and Ruf’s green-numbered gauges a subtle little tweak. This car has the old dash (pre-PCM3), but it’s not that offensive and you won’t be looking down much in any case.
Built on a 4wd 997 Turbo rather than a 2wd GT2, the RT12 perfectly embodies this company’s user-friendly philosophy. The engine is taken to 3.8-litres and mapped to be docile at shopping speeds. But open the throttle and the beast is unleashed: 650 PS equals 641 bhp at your instant disposal. That shoots this car from 0-60 in 2.8 seconds. Other versions make even more power, and gearing changes can take the top speed from 219mph/350km/h on this car to almost 230mph. But of course, we don’t chase from 0-60 all the time, nor do we drive flat-out all day: what we generally do for an entertaining drive is to travel cross-country at speed. So how does the car deal with that?
Ruf RT12 Test Drive
Ruf’s Pfaffenhausen base is centred in farmland, with the smooth local roads set slightly above the fields and giving a great all-round view, way into the distance. For unsuspecting potential buyers to try this car on b-roads, this location is perfect, as visibility is great and the surfaces are generally excellent. I was very excited to have a drive.
Pulling away, the clutch action is solid and shift is well defined – already a step up from standard. Steering feel is excellent and the damping is beautiful: just enough front end bounce to feel like a Porsche, but not too stiff like so many tuned 997s. No tramlining to speak of either: the car just felt ready to go.
No doubt the 997 Turbo is a quick car out of the box, but Ruf’s RT12 is entirely different. My first few overtakes were fairly clumsy as I got my head around the new boost and shift points, but as we clocked up a few more kilometres, things began to gel and the joy of effortless boost was as addictive as ever. This would certainly cost me a licence if it came to live here in speed camera-land.
The chances of this happening with me are fairly remote. Price for this 55,700-kilometre beauty is ten grand shy of €200k: a big saving on the original cost of over €300k, but some way beyond my humble means. Rufs remain exclusive because sharing this incredible passion for Porsche through ownership requires considerable investment. But, if you have that to spend, you could do far worse.
Took a ride out to Snetterton last week for the regular impactbumpers.com August memorial track day, held to remember a petrolhead who was with us there one time, many moons ago.
I don’t give myself much time off at the minute and any downtime is spent away from Porsches, so it was nice to be back around 911 guys for a few hours and to remember what it used to be like when many more people (including me) took air-cooled cars out on track. Some of those who no longer track their 911s have moved on to other cars, so there was a good mix of stuff to jump in for passenger rides, including Steve’s beautiful E46 M3 and Paul’s similarly desirable RS Clio 200 Cup.
What the modified 911 group lacked in quantity, it made up for in quality. In the mix was Ben’s 3.6-litre SC, freshly remapped by Wayne Schofield. Recent mods included a custom 2-out exhaust made by Walton Motorsport, which took power to 299.6 bhp on the Schofield dyno and measured 104db at Snetterton, which means it should just scrape into 105db days.
Ben’s SC was not the only 3.6-litre present, as Henry had come along for his first day on track. Snetterton is a great place for this, as there is plenty of runoff, the days are cheap and not always packed and the layout is easy to get your head around. Henry had fitted db killers for noise limit niceness, but the car still sounded excellent. This ’79 has had the usual rust repairs to sills and kidney bowls, all carried out by the owner, who learned his welding skills on previous cars including a Triumph GT6 and a BMW 2002 Tii. Looks great now and is clearly a source of much pride.
No IB track day would be complete without Longman and his secret sauce 3.2 Carrera, which makes numbers well above standard on dynos everywhere for no obvious reason. I think it’s a 3.4 conversion carried out back in the day but IB rules ban anorak oneupmanship, so if he doesn’t care what the reason is, then no-one else is allowed to bug him about it. Except me, that is. All Longman wants to do is drive it hard and that attitude is highly commended.
There were plenty of other cool cars on track and everyone had a great time. The main thing was a great day of social and we got to drink a glass of bubbly to JJ’s health. Cheers JJ and well done to those who turned up!
The first production run of Classic Retrofit classic Porsche air conditioning systems is well under way, but the continuous work to improve and develop this system will never be over. My OCD-powered Porsche friend, Jonny Hart, continues to test, measure and develop his electric air con system for air-cooled 911s.
I recently caught up with Jonny at Tuthills for my first test drive in the A/C equipped Porsche 911 SC demo car. He was there firing up the first system installed in a customer’s 911 – the latest Tuthill Bespoke 911 build – so, as I live just down the road, what better place to get together for a spin?
The day was warm and humid and I was wearing my usual jeans and a t-shirt, while taking lots of photos at Tuthills before our little drive. No shorts or sandals and a bit of jumping around, so I was rather hot. Parked in the open with windows up, the SC was also pretty warm inside.
Classic Porsche Air Conditioning test drive
Jonny turned the key on his daily driver SC and the first thing I noticed were a pair of digital test gauges sitting in the ashtray slot. One read the ambient temperature (outside), while the other read the temperature coming out of the vents. Once the car was running, the air con compressor went through its self-test and startup and began monitoring the input parameters, including battery voltage, alternator output and aforementioned temps. All was good and we set off out the gate and towards the main road.
I’ve enjoyed countless SC rides and owned a couple of SCs myself, so I am intimately familiar with how they feel on the move. Jonny’s SC is a willing performer and a pleasure to ride in. It has that lovely interior aroma of old leather and carpet and of course felt a bit muggy as we rolled onto the A361, but almost as soon as the car got going, the interior atmosphere changed.
Within sixty seconds of engine start, the temperature coming from the vents was down to under ten degrees. Less than a minute later, the vent temp was sitting at a lowly three degrees. The windows were closed – almost unimaginable on any old Porsche in an ambient temperature of almost thirty degrees – but the cabin was cooling very quickly. By the time we had covered a couple of miles, the SC was as comfortable as my Cayenne would have been with its powerful climate control system.
Riding in the Electrocooler A/C SC was a revelation. Nowadays, we take A/C in cars completely for granted, but fitting a modern system into an older car really transforms the user experience. Fitting A/C to control temp and humidity inside an older 911 may seem like a very small step, but honestly it is a major improvement to using a 911 in average temps here in England.
Interestingly, it later transpired that Jonny’s SC had an issue where the pizza flap heater boxes were still leaking hot air into the cabin. Disconnecting the engine air flow at the heater flaps and measuring the temp at the evaporator, the system was producing zero degrees – literally “blowing ice cubes”. An excellent result from a really great system.
I’ve said it many times about products from clever Porsche friends – people like Hayden at WEVO and Mark & James at EB Motorsport – but it always impresses me how these guys can bring a complex project from initial idea to market-ready product in such a competent fashion. Everything about this system, from the lightweight philosophy to non-invasive installation and ease of use is just brilliant. It is truly a game-changer.
Even using the 911 SC’s inadequate vent system, Electrocooler easily outperforms standard Porsche air con and all without intruding to any noticeable extent on the car’s appearance. We’re testing the system on a two-up Euro road trip down to Stuttgart and on to another satisfied Classic Retrofit Porsche professional customer in mid-July: feedback from that test later.
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Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
The narrow body SC RS front bumper from our friends at EB Motorsport (as seen on the latest Tuthill project above) has proved very popular with hot rod/outlaw 911 builders on both sides of the pond. Now EB has launched a new front bumper in the centre oil cooler 3.0 RS style, to suit narrow body impact bumper Porsche 911s (SCs, Carreras etc). Here are a few pics:
EB Motorsport’s proper wide-body 3.0 RS kit is a long-time favourite with RSR builders. The brothers had received a few enquiries for a standard body version, but the high tooling costs for big parts are never easy to justify. Once sufficient interest had been confirmed to support the narrow front bumper production, it took EB a while to tool up for the new part. The first products are now out of the mould and already heading off to satisfy advance orders.
I mentioned that the EB Motorsport Porsche 911 SC RS bumpers have proved very popular amongst 911 builders and there are two smart 911s currently featured online using the EB part. First is Bring A Trailer’s 911 Targa seen below. A 2.7-litre ’77 Targa in Ice Green Metallic, the car’s short-hood front end and long-hood rear is creating some noise in the comments.
Knee-jerk remarks are easy to throw around but I think the car looks sharp enough. A few Pelicanites went for this SH/LH mix back in the good old days of cheap 911s and I always liked it. Bit too much tartan in the back for my tastes but easy to fold the seats down. That EB front bumper sits well in context, regardless.
The second SC RS-bumpered 911 is the Mexico Blue project now on Petrolicious (below). Strong colour outside, strong colour inside and seems nicely finished by Workshop 5001 (a place I have got to drop into when next in LA). Loving the slick sophistication of this one and the matching rear bumper is so smooth and simple.
These things save a huge chunk of weight and lose the corrosion-prone aluminium blades, which is another plus point for some people. Unsurprisingly for the bloke who started a website called impactbumpers.com, I like the originals, but I see why some people like the change.
No sign of the 3.0 RS bumper on the EB Motorsport shop yet, but I am reliably informed that it will be online tomorrow, along with the all-new aluminium RSR MFI pump base plate that the guys have just finished designing and machining. Work never stops up in Barnsley!
BringaTrailer and Petrolicious images are copyright of their respective owners. Shared for info.
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