by John Glynn | Jul 28, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche News
The sun has set on another great Silverstone Classic: an event that is maturing into a laid back petrolfest of epic proportions.
Silverstone is local to me: only fifteen minutes from home. I’ve never previously considered local events as being world class, and I am not alone. Talking to some Le Mans locals at a previous Le Mans Classic, they viewed Goodwood Festival of Speed as a better event. Away from cars, when we visited Venice, the locals said Florence was more impressive. As Joseph Addison put it: “when a man becomes familiar with his goddess, she quickly sinks into a woman.”
My issue with Goodwood is it’s all a big car show. Fine if you like looking at cars, not so great if you want competitive action. Le Mans Classic has plenty of racing, but there’s a feeling of exclusion in the field. If you haven’t got something ACO approves of, stay home. That long course is great for the drivers who can be bothered to lean on the loud pedal, but spectators hardly see the older cars, each lap is so long.
Silverstone Classic Porsche
Silverstone is a different affair. A huge mix of cars go racing on the 3.6-mile GP circuit: everything from early F1 to ’90s GT cars. There is not too much properly old stuff – and what old stuff there is runs a reasonable lap time and is absolutely terrifying to watch, let alone drive. I watched an early GP car in practice on Friday and, every time it braked into Luffield, the rear wheels bounced up and down at least a foot off the ground for three or four seconds, driver sawing away at the wheel but getting straight back on the throttle as soon as it turned in. Hardcore!
Yes, much the same faces win every year, the later F1 cars will always go quickest and nothing can touch a Lola T70. But, behind the front runners, everyone else is racing hard too. The EB Motorsport 911s fought a range of other machinery this weekend: Ferrari Daytona, Corvette and Chevron. A classic McLaren raced that gorgeous Ferrari 512M, and GT40s had a proper grudge match in the thirty-degree heat. With track temps past forty degrees, the old cars worked like ovens all weekend.
Still the drivers thrashed on: a quick walk around the paddock showed some serious racers. Big motorhomes and race transporters parked up next to single-trailer set-ups with tents and barbeques everywhere. Hoorah Henrys seemed less prolific than in previous years, although I did see a punch-up between drivers in the paddock.
A bit silly maybe, but no doubt these guys take the racing seriously, as they should. It’s the most serious racing this side of Oldtimer GP and the Spa 6 Hours. There is no doubt the FIA Masters Historic Sportscars race could have run longer: most drivers I spoke to wanted to race on for at least another hour (the race was sixty minutes). It will be interesting to see how the programme develops over the next few years.
Good fun to have a concert at the venue too. Coming into the circuit at 4pm one evening, loads of old cars were leaving but lots more people were coming in to share the music and atmosphere. As I left the track at 10pm on Saturday, the place was packed, and rocking to the sounds of Bonnie Tyler. Not my kind of music, but it was still a great weekend. Congratulations to Silverstone on another sterling effort, and many thanks to whoever is organising this weather!
Edit: RIP Denis Welch. Just heard via Octane’s David Lillywhite that the respected Healey specialist has died in hospital from injuries sustained in a crash this weekend. Sad to hear the news: at least he went out doing what he loved.
by John Glynn | Jul 23, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Road Trips
Fellow Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 owner Gavin emails from Australia, where he’s just launched a new Porsche for hire business in Sydney, helping Porsche fans to explore the landscape beyond this great city from a 911 driver’s seat.
Gavin and I have been friends online since 2006, when he was amongst the first to join our impactbumpers.com Porsche forum. His Talbot Yellow C3 Targa is one of my favourites.
“The C3 was my first Porsche.” says Gavin. “I originally went looking for a fun convertible, following a bunch of modern performance sedans that were fast, but not as much fun as I thought they’d be, particularly in normal driving conditions. Interestingly, I started looking at older Alfa Romeos, but stumbled across a 1975 911 Targa (which was a tub) and happily found that I had to move the seat forward and that my head didn’t stick out above the windscreen.
“Following this, I found a local SC, took it for a drive & fell in love with the sound, smell & overall experience. That was the end of the Italian turn and from there it was just a case of finding the right 911. The Carrera 3.0 ticked all the boxes for me at the time. Aside from SSI heat exchangers and 9″ x 16” Fuchs on the rear, it’s in original spec and has been a thrilling & reliable drive over the years.
“I must be a bit strange because I preferred the classic Porsche 911 Targa to both the Coupe and Cabriolet, particularly in the black and Talbot Yellow combination. Once I got married in the car (cunning move that one) and later discovered how much kids love it, I thought that it would probably be a forever car for me. I’ve had it for 11 years and, while tempted to swap it at times for others, nothing seemed to match the raw feel that the Carrera 3.0 offers. If we had to wrap everything up tomorrow and keep only one car out of our fleet, the C3 would be it.”
Gavin’s ‘Rent a Porsche in Australia‘ fleet is a nice selection – more of that in Part 2.
by John Glynn | Jul 22, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Another pair of low mileage collector Porsche 911 models has come up for sale. The prices have already started online tongues wagging, but that is no bad thing when the cars concerned are rare and ooze quality.
Porsche 996 GT3 RS Low Mileage for sale
If someone had told me this time last year that prices for 996 GT3 RS would touch £150,000 within twelve months, I’d have grown a second pair of eyebrows to raise in response. But this low mileage Porsche 996 GT3 RS now on sale is priced just off that.
It’s brave pricing but, with just 9,300 miles on the clock and apparently no track use in its past, this could be a last chance for serious collectors to grab a mint RHD 996 GT3 RS in their ascent towards air-cooled 911 Carrera RS price levels in thirty years.
Before you slam the keyboard, I’m not saying the two are comparable or that 996 GT3s will ever hit half-a-million quid a piece: I’m just throwing it out there. I’m already dazed by current 911 Carrera RS prices, so who knows what is possible for the water-cooled classics.
Porsche 993 Turbo S Low Mileage for sale
In the same used Porsche showroom as the low-mileage Porsche 996 GT3 RS is this rare Porsche 993 Turbo S for sale. Amongst the rarest of the rare air-cooled Turbos, the black-with-tan Turbo S has done just 17,100 miles from new and is offered at a price I am scared to say out loud.
I like 993 Turbos – really like them – but they are one of those super-capable Porsche 911s where, no matter what you do, the car will generally sort your mess out. It is hard to hoon around in a 993 Turbo and seriously scare yourself. In any case, this 450 bhp Turbo S cannot be hooned or used to frighten the driver. The value is in its rarity and low mileage, so no point spending all that cash on a car to go crazy in.
That said, there is more money in the world that I can comprehend, so these two could be gone by the weekend.
by John Glynn | Jul 21, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Some great pics and video have just arrived from Mark at EB Motorsport, who supplied many of the replica Porsche parts used on this Rennsport Porsche 907 recreation build by RMS Porsche in Theix, near Vannes, France.
As a big fan of Brittany, I’ve been to Vannes a few times: wish I’d known RMS were based there. A quick look at the RMS Porsche Facebook page shows some very interesting projects, including running Tom Dillmann at Le Mans in Porsche Carrera Cup France. Anyone into GP2 will know Dillmann: no slouch in a single seater.
Suffice to say that RMS know their stuff on Porsche racing, although this 907 build has me scratching my head a bit. Introduced in 1967, the 907 initially ran a Rennsport 2-litre flat six. Far from being underpowered, it could hit 190mph in a straight line. Porsche then added a 2.2-litre flat eight engine, which took the 907 to Porsche’s first-ever 24-hours win at Daytona in 1968.
Superceded by the 908 later that same year, the 907 was quite a rare build and is not too common in historic racing. One giveaway of the 907 body was the nose, which had a rectangular centre grill with oval slots either side. The 908 went to an oval centre intake with an oval to the left and a mousehole-shaped slot to the right.
This recreation has that mousehole slot in the nose, but obviously does not run a 908 3-litre flat eight engine. The naming may just be as simple as that: 907 can show with a flat six. The replica bodywork looks modelled on Porsche 908K – like Cameron Healy’s 1968 908K (below), which I enjoyed photographing at Rennsport Reunion in 2011.
The RMS guys have also made this video of the first start of their replica. Initially reluctant to fire, it soon gets going and sounds great through the megaphones. I am intrigued to see the car running: no doubt that flat six engine will be making great power and the chassis will weigh next to nothing. Nice job, RMS.
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by John Glynn | Jul 19, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Had a great email from Nicolas in Paris, France, with details of his 911 Carrera 3.2 Cabriolet. A 1987 example with the sought-after G50 transmission, it’s just passed 300,000 kilometres.
What I like about this picture is that Nicolas has done the maths and planned how best to celebrate his car’s anniversary. Zero the trip at 299,089 and run it on to 300k, when the trip will also show 911. He has not wimped out on the photo either, taking his chances on catching the reading at 91.1km/h on the open road. A small window of opportunity!
What an excellent job from the French contingent. Also excellent is Nicolas’ day job with GQ magazine, leading to the Carrera finding its way into magazine fashion shoots. This one for Ralph Lauren.
Nothing says style like an old 911. More than mere A-B transport, it has attitude and presence: it speaks of a philosophy. This well travelled dark blue Carrera Cabriolet on Teledial wheels is sublime. Rich in understated luxury, like a perfect Vanity Fair portrait*, age deepens its allure, reaching beyond beauty and into iconography.
I was biased towards soft-tops by my first 911. An SC Cabriolet in white, bought in the south of France, close to Montpelier. We flew in to Perpignan, stayed the night on a roof terrace in Cazedarnes and drove home through the mountains the following day, under the Millau Bridge (not yet built) and up through Paris, to Calais and home.
Nicolas’ 911 has covered many wonderful kilometres and no doubt has many more to cover. Much loved and enjoyed, it seems to have found the perfect owner. Salut, mon brave!
*One of my very favourite books is ‘Vanity Fair: The Portraits’. Discovered in the library at art college, I found more inspiration for my photography in that one book than any other. It’s not easy to find for a cheap price, but next time you are passing a library, seek it out and enjoy half an hour in its company. Some beautiful art is contained in those pages.
