by John Glynn | Jun 3, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods, Road Trips
Good times for Ferdinand yesterday with long-time creative partner, Jamie Lipman. It was an early start for us, and for Chris from Bedfordshire, who brought his newly-purchased R Gruppe Porsche 911 to London for a photoshoot around the capital.
Glynn/Lipman photo sessions are always big fun. This one started with a 6am meet at The Dorchester, then a stop in St. James’, alongside some fascinating blue plaques. The shoot rolled on through Westminster and into the City of London, ending at the Tower before noon.
Owner Chris had a great backstory that I was previously unaware of, and the icing on the cake was an impromptu encounter with Wally Fields, eponymous Big-Band leader and Gershwin aficionado. When a Zionist Jew and lapsed Irish Catholic discuss the irrelevancy of time as a concept on a Mayfair pavement at 8am on a Sunday, you know it’s going to be a good day.
If you’re in the UK, have you booked for our Race Of Kings yet? Four hours of fun with Porsche guys on Saturday June 15th, from 4PM to 8PM. Cost is a tenner including great food and good racing on the KW RaceRoom simulators. We’ve only got 30 places available so get in and book.
by John Glynn | Nov 5, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Road Trips
I picked up a major tick on my bucket list yesterday (Sunday), as I did a Porsche track day at Laguna Seca Raceway in an early 911. It was everything I dreamed it would be, and more! Very exciting track to drive in a classic 911, especially one which had never done a track day before.
Laguna’s been a JG magnet since I saw it in an Elvis movie or somesuch as a kid growing up in Ireland. Built on a dried-up lake bed (Laguna – Lake/Seca – dry), everything that draws me to California is here: great light, incredible sunshine, beautiful landscape of the Monterey hills, close to the ocean at Pacific Grove. And of course, always very cool cars.
This visit was as good as ever. Leaving the San Francisco suburbs at the crack of dawn (above), my buddy Gray and I arrived at Laguna just in time for the briefing. Our beginners’ first session was at 10am, so I passengered my mate for his first laps of the track. That was interesting, to say the least. I will spare his blushes here!
Second session was my turn. I did a warm-up lap, came back in the pits, tightened my belts to the max and rejoined the circuit. Our car is a 911T: 2.2 with E cams and S pistons, SC undercarriage and brakes, albeit with no servo. Tyres are street Michelins and brake pads are road Mintex. It was probably the smallest engine in our group, but we didn’t hold too many people up and even passed a slowish Ferrari 360.
I’m working on a separate post about the lap experience and will get it up later. As with any track day, the social side was good fun and it was great to hang out with Lars and Leif from Denmark (above): Porsche owners who were doing their day in a Chevy hire car. A station wagon! Gotta love Laguna Seca.
by John Glynn | Apr 21, 2012 | Race and Rally, Road Trips
As per my Porsche Supercup in Bahrain post, I attended last year’s Nürburgring 24-hour with Falken Tyres and their Porsche 911 GT3 R. It was a great event from start to finish, so I’m delighted that Falken Tyres Europe is supporting new Ferdinand magazine by taking us out there again.
Last year was fun, resulting in a decent Total 911 article and much blog coverage. This year we’re hoping to go more in depth, and blog some unique live coverage while on site.
The 2012 Falken drivers are as last year: Porsche works driver Wolf Henzler, Le Mans hero Peter Dumbreck and Porsche Junior, Martin Ragginger. All are quick and all want to win. The car has also been developed since last year and is even more competitive. It led the field at the opening VLN round before breaking a driveshaft: that part has been uprated as the team chase after reliability.
As for how we’re getting there, Flybe properly messed me around last year so I ended up taking the orange 911 Carrera (below, on site). I’m hoping to have that in with Racing Restorations for its strip down and refresh by the N24, so it’s time to service the Subaru and get it stickered up with the new Ferdinand artwork.
Here’s some video from the Falken Tyres Youtube Channel to show the action we’re expecting. This is top man Peter Dumbreck starting VLN from the lead: love the view of the rest of the field in the rear view GoPro.
At the heart of the N24 weekend is Porsche’s passion to race. Though it trails in the American Le Mans series, Porsche always goes well in the N24, so it’s a thrill to know we’ll be back there again.
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 | Feb 27, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices, Road Trips
The 2012 Essen Techno Classica is now just three weeks away. With seventeen halls packed to capacity by car manufacturers, classic car clubs, historic vehicle dealers, parts suppliers and more, Techno is the world’s biggest classic car fair: I never miss it.
It’s an incredible feast of Porscheness, as well as a great place to see cars from historic collections of the manufacturers including BMW and Mercedes. Every year brings something new, and the auctions and privately-owned cars offered for sale around the fair are also quite exciting.
Where to stay for Essen is always a dilemma. I’ve done Dusseldorf and trained it to the show, Essen and walked in, nearby Oberhausen and driven in and without a doubt walking is the best option. Driving is ridiculous and the train should be the alternative to walking. Parking near the show is IMPOSSIBLE so don’t even consider it: park down the road and catch a bus or cab if needs be. I’m staying at a hotel 7 mins from the show by tube!
I’ll be at the show as Mighty Motor Media: solo and with UK and European clients. I’m arriving Wednesday and leaving on Saturday morning (last show day is Friday). It would be great to meet like-minded Porsche fans and perhaps a potential new social media customer at the fair: drop me a line if you plan to be there and maybe we can hook up for a coffee?
You can email me at mail@ferdinandmagazine.com. Let me know your plans for Essen and whether we can get together.
I’m spending two days after the show in that part of Europe, looking for some Porsche features. If you’ve got something that would make a good story, give me a shout!
by John Glynn | Oct 23, 2011 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally, Road Trips
Back in the UK after ten days in California at Rennsport Reunion IV. Jet lag be damned – have got straight back to work on the new garage/studio out the back and processing some pictures from my ten-day working tour. Here’s a hole worth 40 tonnes of spoil: 140 tonnes removed from the back so far and I think we may hit 200.
Anyway, back to Porsche. The TwinSpark Racing blog carries the story of Waldegard’s 911T from the 1968 Monte which was at the event. I didn’t spend half enough time with it, but I’m sure I can get more info from Björn when next we meet. I was born the day after this car crossed the line in 10th place. Love that.
Björn is driving a Tuthill Porsche for Race4Change in next month’s Safari Rally: I am blogging for all the interested parties and have a Waldegård feature in this month’s Total 911 magazine. It’s a good piece and a good-looking piece: more details when the issue is on sale.
Friend of Jamie Lipman, J F Musial and his team did the official Porsche video post-Rennsport. Jamie describes it as ‘shrink-wrapped awesome’, and he is right. Have a look at this and put Rennsport 5 on your bucket list. Don’t let us down!
by John Glynn | Oct 14, 2011 | Classic Porsche Blog, Road Trips
Arrived in Monterey last night for Rennsport Reunion 2011. First job was to catch up with the Grays and finally meet Mr East Coast Porsche himself, Tommy Johnson.
Rennsport Reunion IV 2011 Monterey
Hyatt Monterey is again the home of the R Gruppe massive. The car park was somewhat bereft when I arrived, as all were at the Baja Cantina – a great little Mexican joint/steak house on the Carmel Valley Road. We didn’t get there until after 8, so a lot of 911s had left by then, but we bumped into the Dutch contingent and were invited to gatecrash their table (sorry guys!).
Lotta fun there then more chat in the car park before calling it a night. I’m staying up in Pacific Grove so got to the hotel here at 11. Pacific Grove is a divine spot, well away from the hubbub. This peaceful location on the Pacific coast sets the scene for a weekend of work and track time: really looking forward to it.
Gonna do some writing here this morning and head to sign on about midday. Will upload some pics from the track as soon as I can get an Internet connection.
