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 15, 2016 | Porsche News
Interesting vibes on the grapevine today, as rumours emerged of an imminent consolidation of Volkswagen’s various parts businesses ahead of a potential asset sale to cover the dieselgate bills, with Ducati and Scania Trucks also mooted as possible sell-offs.
AutoNews.com reports that former Porsche CEO and now Volkswagen boss, Matthias Müller, outlined his plans for a strategic review of Volkswagen’s twelve vehicle brands and numerous side businesses with the VW Supervisory Board on Tuesday. The chief’s strategy is said to have met with approval and is being lined up for public release. No doubt the timing is crucial: this month’s delayed AGM is fast approaching and there has been little support for Volkswagen’s move to ratify the decisions of its management in the dieselgate crisis to date.
Shareholders don’t trust Volkswagen management
Three powerful investor groups in Germany, Brussels and London working on behalf of shareholders (apparently including the City of New York’s pension fund) are distinctly unimpressed with Volkswagen’s handling of dieselgate. The watchdogs are calling for the appointment of independent auditors to investigate the “entire complex surrounding the manipulated software for Volkswagen diesel cars”, in place of VW’s chosen agents. As the Porsche family owns 52% of VW shares and voting rights, this is unlikely to be voted through, in which case the groups are reserving the right to push for a court to appoint a special audit.
The company needs some shareholder-comforting evidence of how it is taking steps to increase business focus and reduce corporate bloating by June 22nd, and Müller is keen to provide it. Consolidation of the myriad VW-brand parts units into one company employing 70,000 people at more than twenty locations worldwide may emerge as the top priority to bring down costs and provide a cost-effective business with a guaranteed income which could be split off for sale, in much the same way as the GM and Ford component wings were split off in the Detroit crisis.
Suspects for Volkswagen Downsize
Volkswagen may then look at its empire for straightforward rationalisation: cutting off anything that doesn’t fit with its ambition targeting global leadership in connected electric cars. The main automotive group consists of twelve different marques from seven European countries: Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania and MAN.
Behind those brands lies a wider group portfolio, including manufacturing large-bore diesel engines for marine and stationary applications (turnkey power plants), turbochargers, turbomachinery (steam and gas turbines), compressors and chemical reactors. VAG also produces vehicle transmissions, wind turbine gear units, slide bearings and couplings, as well as testing systems for the mobility sector.
Volkswagen’s powerful financial services unit offers a wide range of products, including dealer and customer financing, leasing, banking and insurance, and fleet management. Any one or more of these portfolio organisations could well be sliced off by the ex-Stuttgart surgeon general and allowed to swim free in the great global goldfish bowl.
by John Glynn | Jun 14, 2016 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
After 158,000 miles of chips and scratches and a recent heavy impact with a hefty crow, today it was time for my Porsche Cayenne to enjoy a windscreen replacement. My insurers have an agreement with Autoglass, so I set up an appointment and waited for the fitter to arrive.
The crow incident had cracked the screen from top to bottom, so it needed replacing. Having used some of the big windscreen removal companies a few times, and seen how their rush job fitters can make a bit of a hash of things, in the past I have bought the glass and bonding adhesive to do my own cars. However, this was a big bit of glass so not an easy one-man job, and the top tint and auto wiper sensor made the screen pretty expensive. Better to let the professionals do it, with a little bit of help to lift the glass in.
The Autoglass guy came early and took a bit of time deciding where best to carry out the work. Rain was on the way and he needed to line his van up perpendicular to the Porsche, to be able to use the side-mounted awning if needed. There was no space on the street to do this, so he decided to park the car just inside the gates on my soon-to-be-driveway, with the nose sticking out of the gates. We took a bit of time to get the Cayenne level and it all worked out OK.
Ezi-Wire patented windscreen seal cutting tool
My last windscreen change was done by a local guy who cut the screen out of my Spec B Subaru Legacy estate using hand-held knife blades. He had to strip half the interior trim to do the job properly. The Cayenne’s windscreen replacement was made easier by the use of an ‘Ezi-Wire’ device mounted to the inside of the screen (above), which gently pulled a high tensile steel cable through the windscreen adhesive and made a very tidy job of it. Apparently the Ezi-Wire is an Autoglass/Carglass/Belron patented tool, so no wonder I hadn’t seen it before.
The Ezi-Wire uses a pair of winding spools, controlled by a hand ratchet. The twin spools cut from opposite directions and allow controlled “slip cutting”, which enables the cable to slice through the bonding seal rather than the seal having to be cut with a hard-to-control hand knife, so the work is much less risky. The Autoglass technician had a van full of tools, but reckoned the Ezi-Wire helped him do most jobs right first time, with no damage to the vehicle.
From start to finish, the whole thing took two hours including two cups of tea and plenty of chat. I am delighted with the finished product: you can’t beat a new windscreen to lift the driving experience. Also delighted that I had Dick’s thirty years of glass fitting experience here to do the work. I did find a small bit of surface rust in the top right corner of the Cayenne’s windscreen aperture, but I cleaned it up and ground the rust out before adding a bit of Kurust treatment. It was then finished with an anti-rust primer before the windscreen was fitted.
