by John Glynn | Jan 21, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
I had a good chat with Mads Jensen in Denmark last week: driver and team manager for the Scandinavian team, State of Art racing.
You’ll know State of Art from the videos I post every year, following the Copenhagen Historic Grand Prix: always exciting and usually featuring Björn or Stig winning in a Porsche. This year, Mads is putting a Porsche-only race together at the Jyllandsringen GP on August 24-25th: I’m delighted to help publicise the event. Mads says:
“When Jyllandsringen is organising its annual Grand Prix Denmark 24th-25th August 2013, one of the main attractions will be a 40-minute race exclusively for historic Porsche 911 race cars. We expect 40 registered cars from across Scandinavia and possibly the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, which will compete in 3 categories divided by age groups: Up to 1965, 1966-1971 and 1972-1976.
This event started with one single idea: To create a race with only classic 911’s. I race a 911 myself and know almost all 911 drivers/race car owners here. I contacted the organisers of Grand Prix Denmark and suggested to gather all 911’s. There are about 30 of these cars here in Denmark and 21 of them have signed up so far.
There is a max of 45 cars on the track, so we decided to invite people we are connected to from abroad. In addition to the race, we are organising a Porsche gathering to celebrate the 50 years anniversary. I am an active member of the Porsche Clubs and online communities and they are all onboard for this, as is the Danish importer.
We are expecting 300 club members to exhibit their cars in the dedicated 911 paddock. Everyone gets a few laps on the track in the lunchbreak and we host a party in the hospitality area. Finally, if we can get funding, we are planning to invite former Porsche works drivers.”
Sounds cool. So is the poster for the event, created by 911 fan and online friend Paul Wilson in Copenhagen. Rather optimistically seems to show an ST in front of a RSR, like Twinspark Racing’s Viper Green Hulk 911 Porsche RSR. If that’s Waldegard with Stolk coming up behind him, I am seriously impressed!
I’m planning to be there, and fingers crossed a few of you will attend also. The website is Danish only at the minute, but it’s in the process of being translated. Check it out at www.porscheclassiccup.dk.
by John Glynn | Dec 8, 2012 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Porsche has just given a brand new 991 Carrera S to the man it calles ‘the best private Porsche driver in the world’. And he’s from Great Britain.
Following his first full season in international GT racing, twenty eight year-old Nick Tandy can celebrate winning the Porsche Cup as the best private driver in the world. On the occasion of the Night of Champions on 8 December in the R&D Centre at Weissach, Nick Tandy received the Porsche Cup from Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Porsche AG.
The Porsche Cup carries a total value of €253,000. Drivers earn points in eighteen Grand Touring and prototype race series worldwide, as well as selected long distance races. Entering the season as reigning Carrera Cup Deutschland champion – no mean feat in itself – Nick raced International GT Open with Marco Holzer in the Manthey GT3 RSR, in a 911 GT3 R in ADAC GT Masters, in ALMS for Flying Lizard and TRG, and in a GT3 R in the British GT Championship.
Part of the prize was a new Porsche 911 Carrera S, after the Briton scored the grand total of 7,510 points across his season. Second-place Raymond Narac received €30,000, while third man Paolo Ruberti went home with €25,000.
Tandy’s story is an emotional one – more of that later – so a big well done on this marvellous achievement. When the flag drops, the bullshit stops: a few racing critics out there might do well to remember that.
by John Glynn | Dec 7, 2012 | Porsche News, New Models, Race and Rally
Porsche Motorsport has just sent over this teaser pic of a new 991 race car with its nose sticking out of a garage. It’s a very small view of next year’s big deal, but still creates some excitement.
This new 991 racecar is showing GT3 R-style/Cup Car bodywork: quite a bit narrower than the Porsche 991 RSR spy shots we revealed a few days ago. The rear shot attracted the most likes ever on the burgeoning Ferdinand Porsche Mag Facebook page, with almost 600 thumbs to its credit so far. Here’s some video of the new 991 in action:
Stuttgart is starving us of technical details for the 2013 Cup car and RSR programmes, but we’ll share what we learn as it comes along.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
![Works Porsche 991 RSR at Le Mans & World Endurance]()
by John Glynn | Nov 30, 2012 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Porsche has just announced it will race its 991 GT3 RSR (sexy spy shots) at Le Mans and in the 2013 World Endurance Championship.
For the 2013 racing season, Porsche AG will field two new GT racecars based on the newest generation of the Porsche 911 at the Le Mans 24 hour race and in the World Endurance Championship (WEC).
The two new Porsche 911 RSR(s), which race in the GTE category, will be run by Porsche AG Team Manthey. The role of team manager goes to the experienced endurance specialist Olaf Manthey, who has celebrated five overall wins with Porsche at the Nürburgring 24 hour race, and recently fielded a 911 GT3 RSR in the International GT Open.
“The new 911 RSR is currently being developed by our engineers and tested by our works drivers,” says Porsche Head of Motorsport, Hartmut Kristen. “What better time could there be to introduce the new car than the Porsche 911’s 50th anniversary?”
This is a very exciting development for fans of Porsche Motorsport. World Endurance saw some great 911 wins in the wet last year, but we were usually caned by a faster Ferrari in the dry – Bahrain WEC was one exception. Bring it on now, Maranello!
A few dry wins won’t do sales of the standard 991, or upcoming 991 GT3 and Turbo road cars any harm, either. Good stuff!
by John Glynn | Nov 28, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche People, Race and Rally
Tuthill Porsche Safari contender, Franz Wunderlich, will follow in the tyre tracks of the original Paris-Dakar rally when he takes part in the Sonangol Africa Eco Race, which kicks off over Christmas.
Starting in Morocco on December 29th, the rally runs through North Africa en route to Senegal and a finish in the capital on January 9th, following the vision of Dakar founder, Thierry Sabine. Competitors in the classic category run along the same rugged desert tracks as modern competitors, but avoid the worst of the car-claiming dunes.
Racers benefit from identical logistic and medical support to those in the grand event. Sonangol Africa Race Classic competitors also enjoy the bivouac with regular participants, so there is some relief from cabin fever at the end of a day.
Sporting Director for this epic desert rally is René Metge (above): the famous Porsche wheelsman who claimed Dakar victory in the 959. Taking last year as a model, René has no plans to dish out easy rides.
“Just looking at the maps, we knew the 2012 edition would be difficult, and it was. What we did not anticipate was the weather, especially in Mauritania, where the sandstorm began to blow before we arrived and stayed ten days. The Mauritanian desert was then totally changed.
“Although I know the route by heart, I saw that some places became invisible and many dunes appeared where a few weeks ago, there was nothing. This bad weather forced us to cancel one leg. After several days of stress everyone was very tired including vehicles. The cancellation of the special stage between Akjoujt and Tenadi allowed them to start on the last Mauritanian leg with energy.
“The 2012 edition was difficult, but I think we took the right option. Dense race, “serious” navigation and intense crossing but not too long. We tried to have a minimum of rocky terrain all along the way but in Morocco, for example, it is quite impossible to avoid any rocky area.”
This event will be no cakewalk! We’ll be doing our best to follow Franz and his adventures, so keep it here for more updates.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
by John Glynn | Oct 26, 2012 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Following the departure of Flying Lizards motorsport, Porsche has announced the end of development on the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR race car , so engineers can concentrate on the 991 RSR, expected in 2014. The Porsche release runs thus:
With a new race car based on the new, seventh-generation Porsche 911 (type 991) street car on the horizon, Porsche Motorsport has announced it will wind down development for the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (type 997) – a very successful venture which began in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in 2005.
Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport: “Just like our recent Porsche RS Spyder program, we must appreciate the success of our race cars during their product cycle, but move on to new models when it is time to do so. The venerable Porsche 911 GT3 RSR has provided our Porsche customer teams with numerous wins and championships, and will remain competitive in 2013. Porsche will support the customer teams which continue to race that car, but the time has come and we now must focus our research and engineering development efforts on its successor, which makes its North American debut in 2014.”
In North America, the development partner helping to design, engineer and implement improvements in the current 911 RSR race car has been Flying Lizard Motorsports in the GT class of the ALMS. This partnership now is discontinued.
Jens Walther, president of Porsche Motorsport North America, was quick to point out that customer teams still wishing to run the current 911 race car will be able to continue to do so in the American Le Mans Series with full trackside engineering and parts support. PMNA shop service will also continue in 2013.
“We will be at the track with our usual support for 2013, and some of our current customer teams have already committed to run the 911 GT3 RSR (type 997) next year. Each of the current teams will be announcing their plans as we get closer to the ALMS Winter Test in February,” he said.
A few juicy discussion points there. The 991 RSR will debut in North America in 2014, so will it race in Europe next year? If Lizards are out on development, who will be in? Now there’s an LMP car coming, might we see a team like Penske running 918s and 911s across America through 2014? Might Porsche choose to do it themselves?
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
