by John Glynn | Jul 11, 2016 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
The flag has just dropped on the 2016 Le Mans Classic. Figures released by the organisers show that the event was the most successful to date, with more than 120,000 attending the weekend to celebrate the history of the legendary endurance race.
My first Classic Le Mans was in 2006, when little brother and I took my old 911 SC Cabriolet down to Le Mans, in convoy with other 911s including a 3.2 Carrera and 964RS. With no more than 60,000 people attending the 2006 event, it was a really terrific weekend, apart from when we were bumped out of our hotel to a less salubrious location to keep the Aston Martin Owners’ Club happy. After that, I decided to rent a house and share it with friends in future. We did that in 2008 and for my most recent Le Mans Classic in 2010, and it proved to be the perfect solution.
2010 was a boiling hot year on track: the soles of my shoes were melting in the paddock. With 96,000 people and their cars attending that weekend, traffic was a nightmare all around the city. My Orange Carrera 3.0 arrived with no fresh air blower, having burned it out in the Alps a few days earlier, and Jamie’s Renault 8 also suffered from fuel boiling all weekend. It was still great to see so many friends, but a far cry from the relaxed atmosphere of 2016.
When the weather is not too hot, the atmosphere throughout a Le Mans Classic weekend is terrific – especially if you go down with a big group of friends – but the racing can be quite hard to follow, as the long lap spreads the field out and gives little impression of the battles taking place on track. The racing is closer at some of Europe’s many other historic festivals, including the Spa 6 Hours and Zandvoort Historic Grand Prix.
All things considered, I can understand why so many people return to the Le Mans Classic every two years. It is a great start to a touring holiday in France, and family men can just about get away with it if they rent a house nearby with a pool for the wife and kids to hang out in.
For me, three years watching the racing satisfied my desire to experience spectating at Le Mans for the racing eras I am most interested in. There are lots of other historic racing weekends across Europe with plenty of Porsche content and equally open access to the paddocks, where traffic jams and overheating engines are not the order of the day, so I have been to quite a few of those in the years since my last Le Mans Classic.
Did you go to Le Mans for LMC 2016? How was the weekend? Email your thoughts to mail@ferdinandmagazine.com.
by John Glynn | Jun 19, 2016 | Race and Rally
It still seems unbelieveable and looked so unlikely for such a long time, but Porsche has won the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. Driving the number 2 Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrid, Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb were first to cross the line after a full day of racing to claim Porsche’s 18th Le Mans win.
I had just tweeted “with five minutes left, it looks like Porsche will have to wait until next year for win number 18” and was about to switch to Sky F1 for the start of the Baku Grand Prix, when a wounded number 5 Toyota – the leader – came onto the screen, slowing as it crossed the start/finish line for the penultimate lap. Crawling to a halt, the car looked like it would not be moving again, until it eventually restarted at a snail’s pace. Rumour has it that the car suffered turbo failure, but we don’t know for sure yet.
Porsche wins Le Mans
All the time this was unravelling, the Porsche 919 was getting closer and closer, having pulled a last minute stop for tyres and fuel. Jaw dropped, I deleted the tweet and sat spellbound in a combination of shock, joy and horror as the 919 started its very last lap. Soon enough, the car crossed the line and the Porsche garage went totally mental. We didn’t see what was going on in the Toyota pits but then the tweets started flying and it was obvious how upset the team was.
Worst of all, the Toyota was not classified as it had taken too long to complete its last lap. The Audi guys looked seriously uncomfortable on the third step of the podium, but that’s racing. We’ve lost enough races in the dying moments and a win is a win: the shoe could just as easily be on the other foot.
Winning Le Mans more important than winning a Championship
Winning at Le Mans – an overall win – is arguably more important and commercially beneficial than taking a championship. Toyota certainly seems to think so, as the story goes that this car was built specifically to win at Le Mans. If that is a fact, then the 919s win is even more impressive. Well done to all at Porsche Motorsport.
by John Glynn | Jun 19, 2016 | Race and Rally
Twelve hours into the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, Porsche is still in LMP1 contention, with the number 88 911 of the Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing team also fighting for the overall lead in GTE-Am. Both factory RSRs have retired with mechanical failures.
The race has not been plain sailing for Weissach. Minutes before Brad Pitt was due to wave the starting flag, the heavens opened, soaking the track and causing the race to be started under the safety car for the first time in its history. The 919s went alright in the rain, but when the green flag waved after 52 minutes, the RSRs came into their own.
Driving the number 92 car, Fred Makowiecki launched a charge and took the GTE-Pro lead, thanks in no small part to the 911’s superior traction. Patrick Pilet joined him at the front of the pack, and the pair swapped the overall lead until the track dried enough for their advantage to be nullified. Inevitably, the Ford GTs came into their sweet spot and swept to the front.
Behind the Pro RSRs, Wolf Henzler held a convincing lead in GTE-Am in the KCMG RSR, dicing with fellow works driver Patrick Long in the Abu Dhabi Proton 911. Even as the track dried out, the pair battled for the lead until the KCMG car hit problems.
Both works RSRs also had problems. The 91 car holed a rad and had to dive in the pits for a radiator change. Number 92 broke a steering support and lost a bundle of time in the garage. Both cars ended up back on track, but 91’s card had been marked. Soon after Kevin Estre jumped in for his night stint, there was a huge plume of smoke that could only have come from an engine failure. The course went full yellow, then safety cars came out as the marshalls worked hard to clear up the oil.
The circuit had not been green for very long, when the number 92 car came in to pit lane, clearly struggling to plough a straight furrow. Commentators ascribed it to a possible puncture, but it looked rather more serious to me. Eventually, Porsche tweeted retirement for car 92 due to a snapped front wishbone pickup and that was it: both works 911s were out. The number 77 RSR of Dempsey Racing is still running in GTE-Pro: 7th in class and a lap off the lead, but its last lap matched the leading Ferrari’s pace almost identically.
In LMP1, the number 1 Hybrid suffered high engine temps and was pulled into the garage for a water pump change. Soon after it got back to racing, it hit more trouble and limped back to the garage under half power. A few hours later, it rejoined the race and is again running well, albeit down the field. With only the Toyotas and the number 2 919 Hybrid running reliably up front at the halfway point, who knows what could go wrong in the second twelve hours.
by John Glynn | Jun 17, 2016 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
There were highly emotional scenes in the Porsche Le Mans press conference this afternoon, as frustration with ACO’s Balance of Performance rules boiled over for Doctor Frank Walliser, Head of Porsche Motorsport.
The conference began in the usual Porsche way, noting that no other manufacturer has been as successful at Le Mans, where Porsche has claimed seventeen victories. Porsche historical archive boss, Dieter Landenberger, and multiple Le Mans winner, Hans-Joachim Stuck then took to the stage, to discuss Porsche’s early Le Mans racing and how research and development carried out on the racetrack has informed production vehicle technology.
Dr Frank Walliser on Porsche Le Mans BoP
As Dieter and Stuck left the stage, the compere welcomed motorsport bosses, Fritz Enzinger and Frank Walliser, to discuss the state of play with the current Porsche motorsport team. “What are your expectations for the race?” Dr Walliser was asked. “Balance of Performance was the key word in the last two days?”
“Balance of Performance,” he began. “Looking at the expectations, especially in the qualifying result, we had really a perfect car. Feedback from the drivers was tremendously good: the best car they ever received for Le Mans. Balance, tyres, aerodynamics: everything good. And then, if you find yourself in eighth position, 3.8 seconds behind the car with the F, it makes it really difficult.
“For sure you have to come then to a point where are you say it’s definitely not our team, the performance, there is something on BoP. We all know we need BoP: it’s important, it is relevant for the sport, it enables GT racing. But we do not need this kind of BoP; this is definitely not what is expected.
“We trust as we do always that the officials will take the right measures within the next hours to rebalance again, and that we can… there is a chance to have the best GT race ever – as we have five brands and fourteen cars – for the sake of the sport and for the fans.”
At this point, Frank became quite emotional and broke down a little: something not often seen in motorsport press conferences. It was a clear insight into how deep these emotions are felt, and the pressure Frank and his team are under to keep the RSR up to speed against the Ford GTs and Ferraris which many commentators have accused of sandbagging here in Le Mans and also at the recent 6 Hours of Spa.
Racing is not just Machinery
Having spent much of last night in tears, watching news broadcasts and so many tributes to the young mum and Yorkshire MP who was murdered outside her Yorkshire constituency office, I feel Frank’s emotion. These events may have very different significance, but both are all about people and how deeply we feel our strongest convinctions.
World Championship motorsport is not just about the machinery. This is an intensely human contest, in which the extreme highs and lows are amplified by the global stage on which they are fought. I know I’m not alone in having shed many tears over motorsport events – not least the modern-day losses of Joey Dunlop, Allan Simonsen and Jules Bianchi – and that is just as a spectator. Quite how much frustration the boss of a huge motorsport team must feel when the sport’s governing body is blatantly biased against one’s equipe is hard to imagine.
ACO has since looked again at the Balance of Performance and added some weight to the Fords (+5kg) and Ferraris (+25kgs). It has also pulled boost pressure from the turbocharged Ford GTs. The Astons and Corvettes have been gifted slightly bigger air restrictors to increase engine power. As for the Porsche Le Mans 911 RSRs, they now have an extra 8 litres of fuel capacity. It is the worst kind of joke: no wonder Frank is not laughing.
by John Glynn | Jun 2, 2016 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Two weeks before this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, the FIA has granted weight breaks to the Ford and Aston Martin GTE-Pro challengers, taking 20 kilograms off the minimum required weight of each chassis while also adding 10 extra kilos to the Ferrari 488 GTE.
Sportscar 365 confirmed the changes earlier today, also detailing a reduction in restrictor openings for the Aston (0.4mm x 2) and a slightly smaller restrictor for the Corvette, down to 29.1mm (x2) versus the 29.5mm restrictors which the car runs in IMSA. GTE-Am Ferraris get a 10-kilo weight break, with AM-class Astons benefitting from a slightly bigger restrictor opening.
No changes have been made to the Porsche RSRs as far as I know, despite the cars being more than two seconds off the lead pace at Spa. Fastest GTE-Pro tour was Sam Bird’s Ferrari on Lap 3 with a 2:18.485. Compare that to reigning champ, Richard Lietz, on Lap 3 with a 2:21.0, or the overall fastest RSR tour on Lap 46, when fellow champ, Michael Christensen, managed a 2:20.461, and it’s hard not to wonder how things will pan out in France over 24 hours, with the 911s so far off the front-running pace.
A lot can happen in 24 hours, especially if the weather in France right now doesn’t calm down, but with general consensus that the Ford GTs were sandbagging in Spa, where will their ultimate lap times top out? And how close can the RSRs get to that in the dry? A serious kicking could be on the cards here.
Regardless of how it looks at the minute, they don’t give out trophies for lap times and the Ford GTs have been a bit fragile. Four GTs are entered for Le Mans, as the blue oval tries to rekindle its glory days for the fiftieth anniversary of the GT40’s first win at La Sarthe, which was also the first Le Mans win for an American manufacturer. I’m really looking forward to this year’s Le Mans and won’t mind too much if we lose, as long as there is good racing for the duration. That’s pretty much guaranteed.
by John Glynn | May 9, 2016 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
The latest Tuthill Porsche 1965 911 2-litre racer had a successful debut at the recent Donington Historic Festival, coming home second in class in the GT & Sports Car Cup race.
Classic Porsche reliability was a factor in the race result. Unable to match the ultimate pace of lighter class competitor machinery including more powerful TVR Granturas weighing 720 kilos versus the 1000-kilo 911s, drivers Ross McEwen and Colin Paton clocked up consistently quick lap times and stayed the course, while their more fragile rivals fell out of contention.
“We were clocking up 1.31s while the TVR that won our class was doing 1:25s – not even Lewis Hamilton could bridge that gap,” said Colin, who also races in the GT Cup season, sharing an ex-Dino Zamparelli 991 GT3 Cup car with McEwen. This is Paton’s second full season of racing: his rookie year in a 997 GT3 Cup resulted in a fourth place in the GTB Championship. Donington was a good finish for Paton’s first race in a classic 911.
“Pitting these pretty early 911s against powerful fibreglass-bodied cars – which are permitted to run a lower minimum weight – is always going to be a challenge,” said Richard Tuthill. “Racing to the classic Porsche strengths of speed, traction and reliability offers good drivers a fighting chance. Well done to Ross and Colin for seizing the opportunity and making the most of it.”
Tuthill-built 911s have raced and won on track for decades, in events including Tour Auto, Tour Britannia, FIA Masters Historic and Silverstone Classic. Silverstone is the next outing for the Tuthill 911s, with another new 2-litre joining the team at the International Trophy weekend on May 21-22 and more 2-litre builds on the way.
“We’re not just rally boys and this is not overnight success,” says Richard Tuthill of the 2-litre trend. Richard recently updated his ARDS en route to an FIA International Race Licence and is threatening a track assault later this year. “We’ve been building winning Porsche race cars for years and our team personnel includes touring car mechanics and GT engineers. Development of so many very quick 911s, including fast road, tarmac and marathon rally cars, has led to substantial expertise in quick air-cooled 911s. If your ambitions involve a 911 going quickly, we can contribute.”
My Tuthill Safari book, created as a memento of the team’s 2015 Safari Rally win for team members and clients has just gone to press. It came out very well – I wonder if we’ll ever do a 2-litre version. Also been talking to Francis about writing a book together: he’s a man with many stories to tell.
