Porsche’s coverage of Walter Rohrl Rally Porsche on Targa Tasmania has started with two videos: a quick report from the start line, and a stage-by-stage account of how the contenders are playing themselves in.
Targa regulars Rex Broadbent and Jim Richards, both multiple winners in Porsche cars, finished the first day 7th and 8th in their respective categories. Former World Champion, Walter Röhrl and co-driver Christian Geistdorfer finished joint 4th in their 911 SC. The videos show two old friends on a proper road trip in a wicked 911 – just too cool.
Walter Rohrl Rally Porsche on Targa Tasmania
It’s great to see Walter rekindling his relationship with this classic 911 on a rally event, and not on some half-arsed marketing exercise to the end of the road in Austria. Targa Taz is worthy of such a huge effort from everyone at Porsche and the guys at the Porsche Museum. I hope it stays this positive for the best part of the next week.
Just surfing Youtube for some rally videos and tripped over some nice footage of the GT1 at Le Mans in 1996. Forums are starting to buzz about this year’s Le Mans trips, so I thought we could add to the excitement.
Porsche 911 GT1 at Le Mans 1996
Le Mans 1996 was the debut race for the beautiful 911 GT1 (seen above at the Porsche Museum in both road and race uniforms) and it was expected to do well.
At the start, the GT1 of Dalmas took the lead for an hour’s racing, before being passed by the Joest prototypes. In the second GT1, Stuck and co watched, and waited. After 24 dramatic hours, the GT1s finished second and third. The Joest was first to the flag, followed by the experienced Stuck/Boutsen/Wollek combination. Had both GT1 cars not been in the gravel and required repairs as a result, they could have stitched it up.
Irony of ironies, the Joest was a car Porsche had changed their minds on. Built by Tom Walkinshaw, it ran Porsche power (a 3.0 version of the 935 engine) but not the manufacturer’s name.
The Joest beat the second place GT1 by a single lap. In 1997, it repeated the feat, and Porsche decided to bring the project back in house. Thanks to a raft of quick cars from the competition, it never won again. In 1998, the GT1 finally won Le Mans, and Porsche retired their bespoke racing efforts for almost seven years.
Some great Porsche Targa Tasmania video has just gone live, featuring Walter Röhrl and Christian Geistdörfer talking about the SC rally car from the Porsche Museum they are using on the Targa Tasmania. It’s not on Youtube yet, so you’re getting a sneak preview.
Here we learn that the boys are apparently using their actual original SC from the 1981 San Remo Rally; pretty cool. Can’t wait to get more information on the chassis and that engine. I want to know why the Almeras stickers on a works 911 – I reckon it was maybe rented from France for Walter but we’ll find out: 1981 was a funny old year for Herr Röhrl. I’ll likely be queued up to see the SC when it gets back from Australia, where it’s helping to celebrate 60 years of Porsche down under.
Also on Origin are some nice pics from the Carrera Cup meet at Brands Hatch last weekend. While I was dropping back the C4S this morning, a friend at Porsche GB told me that the pics had come out well and she wasn’t kidding.
Meanwhile back on Youtube, this privateer vid has also gone up, featuring some of the museum cars as they take to the track at the Longford Revival Motorsport show. Porsche have certainly shipped some talent out to Taz – no wonder I only bumped in to one Porsche Museum acquaintance at Essen!
The Porsche Youtube Channel’s Targa Tasmania reporting starts tomorrow.
I wrote a few days ago about the upcoming Porsche Youtube coverage of Röhrl/Geistdörfer at Targa Tasmania. Some questions over the classic 911 rally car they’re using: is it an SC RS? Engine shots do look similar, but the chassis is quite different to the SC RS that was being restored on my last Stuttgart visit. I’ll find out when it comes home again (edit: see the SC rally video Porsche have just posted).
Here is an SC RS though, in the closest finish I can remember in Irish rallying. The Donegal International Rally is a tough three-day event that takes no prisoners. Running through the rugged terrain on Ireland’s north west Atlantic coast, it is all mixed weather and dry stone walls. There are no second chances here. One slip and you are in deep trouble – as the video shows.
1985 was a landmark year. Legend Austin McHale in his Manta 400 was chasing a win after two years of playing bridesmaid. The rest of the field was Manta 400s and hot rod Escorts: the last gasp of old-school RWD rallying before the AWD philosophy really took hold.
Tony Pond was present in the first real outing for the Group B Metro 6R4. By SS6, the car had a 1 minute 45 second advantage over P2: over two seconds a mile faster, and Pondie was not flat out. If you’ve ever seen a 6R4 apart, you know that is utterly terrifying as they are made of fresh air. Thankfully the car retired before anyone could impact the scenery.
When the event gets going, Billy Coleman (the King of Irish Rallying), is on mesmerising form in the Rothmans 911 SC RS. 911s always went well at Donegal: Cathal Curley won here three times in a row in a 911 in the early 1970s. Coleman too has tasted success on the event: winning in a Lancia Stratos in 1977, and then in a Manta 400 in 1984. He’s the natural choice for David Richards to take on Donegal in 1985.
At the end of day two and a fairly major hold up, the man from Milltown has climbed back from being over a minute and a half behind McHale, to what he thinks is 9 seconds behind. Turns out he is 39 seconds behind, with 40 miles to make it up the following day. In fact, it is less: the final stage is cancelled due to spectator problems.
Can Coleman do it? You’ll have to watch and see. Coleman came back in a 6R4 the following year and won the event.
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