by John Glynn | May 3, 2015 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
Had a great day at Donington yesterday with Mark and James Bates of EB Motorsport, who were racing their 3.0-litre Porsche 911 RS in the Donington 1000kms event. It was not the best day ever for Porsche motorsport on the whole (Spa 6 Hours thoughts to come), but we did enjoy an exciting, well-organised race at a great venue.
Historic racing is an expensive business. Forget about buying and building the cars for a moment: just to take part in a decent event costs upwards of £1000. This covers the entry fee for a car and one driver, but does not always include a second driver, garage space or catering. It does not cover tyres and fuel, it does not cover insurance and it definitely does not include wear and tear or breakages, which on older cars can be highly significant.
The Donington 1000kms was part of the 2015 Donington Historic Festival. Organised by the Swiss-based Historic Motor Racing, the race is one of a series of endurance events run by the company all over Europe. As the EB brothers are putting in a shorter race season this year due to work commitments, more Porsche projects and a new baby for James, the 1000kms schedule of ‘qualify in the morning, race in the afternoon’ was perfect: they could rock up early, get the car ready, qualify and chill out for a bit, then have two and a half hours of racing before heading home.
First job of the day was to scrutineer the car. Slight issue there, as someone forgot the Porsche 911’s FIA Historic Technical Passport. We had a word with the people in charge and, as the car still had its barcodes from the last event, the engine was FIA sealed and the 911 was running in an invitational class and would not score points, we were allowed to take part.
Porsche 911 3.0 RS vs Prototype Racers
Qualifying went well. On a grid packed with prototypes, the single exception – EB’s 911 – went 14th quickest on new post-historic tyres that have only been tried on the team’s yellow 911 RSR for a couple of races so far. While the compound might be a bit slower than previous rubber, the tyres are huge, so the increased width gave excellent grip. We were still almost ten seconds off the pace of the leading Lola T70.
Racing is a very social affair, so there was plenty of craic in the paddock between quali and the race. Our garage was shared with a Chevron B8, Elva Mk8 and a Lola T70 Mk3B. A Lola T70 for sale must be £750k now, Chevron B8 for sale would probably be £200k and similar money for an Elva. Despite there being well over a million quid parked in our garage, the atmosphere was just the same as if all were in cheap track day specials. People dropping in and chatting, bit of banter from previous track outings and one or two compliments for Mark, following his performance in EB’s SWB car at the 73rd Goodwood members meet. He will henceforth be known as “The Sultan of Slide”.
The race was slightly delayed, which gave time for the weather to change and the rain to move in. The boys split the race into two equal parts: James took the start on a slippery circuit and had brought the car up to seventh by the time of his pitstop. With 100 litres of fuel in the tank at the start and the lack of grip keeping speeds and fuel consumption lower than expected, Mark decided to gamble on that being enough to finish the race, avoiding the mandatory 3-minute minimum time for a fuel stop.
As Mark started his stint, the rain stopped and a dry line began to appear. The pace hotted up: 911 lap times falling from the high 1:30s in the wet to an excellent 1:17.9 at one point: quicker than qualifying. Ambient temperatures were very cold, so the rest of the track stayed damp and slippy, leaving a treacherous no-mans-land for anyone who had to go off line to make progress. After two and a bit hours of racing, Mark had no choice: he pitted for fuel and the three-minute stop to go with it. This cost us the best part of two laps and we were out of the top ten.
As the race entered its final lap, we had news that, while fighting for the lead, our garagemate – the beautiful Lola T70 (above) – had passed a backmarker on the damp part of the track through the fast downhill Craner Curves, lost traction and hit the wall at high speed. When the car was brought back, it was not the best sight, but owner/driver Leo was safe and well. At times like this, no one worries where they’ve finished: it’s just good to get home in one piece and live to fight another day.
by John Glynn | May 1, 2015 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Porsche 919s dominated LMP qualifying at Spa Francorchamps this evening, eventually claiming the first three grid positions for the 2015 Spa 6 Hours. Bernhard/Hartley took pole position in the number 17 car with a stunning 1:54.767 pole time, three seconds quicker than the previous fastest lap for an LMP car at Spa.
Tandy/Hülkenberg set the second quickest time in 919 number 19, 1:55.025. Marc Lieb/Neel Jani brought up the rear, just two tenths behind on a 1:55.024. The next closest car was Lotterer/Fassler, eight tenths behind the lead Porsche. It was a masterful show of performance from the 2015 Porsche 919 Hybrid.
LMP lap times are worked out on aggregate. Two drivers set their quickest laps, with the average of both lap times counting. Porsche 919 number 17 scored a 1:54.779 from Hartley and a 1:54.755 from Bernhard to go first overall on .767. Number 19 had a 1:55.1 from Hulk with a 1:54.9 from Tandy, giving 1:55.0. Finally, a 55.2 vs 55.3 from Jani and Lieb meant the three 919s were split by just six-tenths of a second. Good going, especially given this is some drivers’ first LMP weekend.
As ever, the times don’t tell it all. “Of course the team is very happy with the qualifying result,” said Marc Lieb. “I lost four-tenths in the first corner of my fast lap because of a slight mistake. That’s why I’m a little bit upset. But the number 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid was unbeatable today.”
Porsche 911 RSRs qualify slowest of the GTE-Pro runners
Down the field, the 911 RSRs suffered as they always do when Spa is dry. Fernando Rees in the GTE-Pro Aston Martin did a magnificent job, taking pole with young team-mate, Richie Stanaway. Behind them, it was Ferrari-Aston-Ferrari-Aston-Porsche-Porsche.
Sven Müller and Kévin Estre outqualified regular works drivers Lietz and Fred Makowiecki by one-tenth of a second on aggregate. The 911 laptimes don’t make for great reading – 2:18.0 for the lead 911 versus 2:16.8 as a pole time – but the RSRs will likely race better than they qualified.
“The result [for the 911s] corresponds to what we expected,” said Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, Head of Porsche Motorsport. “It was clear that we wouldn’t be up the front on this track. We used these laps predominantly to prepare more effectively for the race.”
In GTE-Am, Patrick Long set a 2:19.9 versus team-mate Patrick Dempsey’s 2:26.0, to qualify P14 overall in GT. I was surprised to learn that this is Dempsey’s first outing at Spa: one might have expected some pre-event testing here in race test days or similar. This means I have currently done more laps than Dr. Dreamy in Belgium.
Spa is a huge track with lots of time out there to lose, so eight seconds off GTE-Pro pole seems OK for a new boy. A number of drivers had fastest quali laps cancelled for running outside of track limits, but Dempsey did better than that.
All is not lost in GTE-Am, as the number 88 911 of Christian Ried, Khaled Al Qubaisi and Klaus Bachler managed third overall in the category, following a sizeable shunt through Pouhon in free practice three. The car looked good out on track: very impressed that they managed to fix it so quickly, as that corner has claimed many Porsche badges that were not resurrected.
The race is TOMORROW, starting at 14:30 CET. I’m at Donington Historics with EB Motorsport – Mark and James racing the 3.0 RS in the 2.5-hour 1000kms tomorrow evening – so will be watching Spa on the FIA WEC app from a trackside position.
by John Glynn | Apr 28, 2015 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
German F1 driver Nico Hülkenberg debuts for Porsche Racing at Spa this weekend: part of a three-car Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrid line up that is sure to generate serious presence on track and contribute to a very interesting race.
Driver lineups for the 919s numbered 17, 18 and 19 are arranged as follows:
- Porsche 919 Hybrid #17: Bernhard/Hartley/Webber
- Porsche 919 Hybrid #18: Dumas/Jani/Lieb
- Porsche 919 Hybrid #19: Bamber/Hülkenberg/Tandy
Adding a third 919 to the squad creates a huge logistical task for the Porsche WEC team, which has really been racing in its current form for just over a year. Add the massive power boost that comes with the move to an 8-megajoule powertrain and the additional stresses and strains this puts on the race car and there is a lot for the young team to deal with, running three prototypes and a pair of 911 RSRs in a six-hour race at the world’s greatest racetrack.
The power now developed by the 8MJ 919 Hybrid exceeds most other racing cars, including Formula 1 cars and all other prototype racers, but I have it on quite good authority that the primary challenge for the drivers is not just the huge amount of power available, but also how the 919 delivers that power. Four hundred horsepower arriving at the front wheels in one press of the throttle is tough on drivers and on tyres: we’ll have to see how the cars have developed since Silverstone when they get to Spa Francorchamps.
“The speed of the second generation of the 919 Hybrid was convincing at the season’s opening race at Silverstone,” said Fritz Enzinger, Vice President of Porsche’s LMP1 group. “The third 919 Hybrid for Spa is an entirely newly built car for Earl, Nick and Nico. Handling three such complex cars and nine drivers will be challenging. All three 919s will compete in the same aero configuration as raced at Silverstone. Regarding the demands of the hybrid management in the 8-megajoule class, we are constantly learning. Generally speaking, Spa’s track layout should favour our car.”
Putting the threat from Toyota aside for a moment, the biggest issue for Porsche race pace at Silverstone was the corner speed shown by the Audis. If they take a bit of downforce off to try and stay close to the 919s along Spa’s Kemmel Straight, they will slow down in the bends. Audi has already confirmed it will run a variety of aero packages across the three R18 e-tron Quattro prototypes at round two of the World Endurance Championship, but its biggest weapon may take the shape of Rene Rast: awesome former Porsche racer and now number 9 Audi boy, driving with Filipe Albuquerque and Marco Bonanomi.
Rast has two 24 hour Spa wins to his name, and debuts in LMP1 at the same race as Hülkenberg, Bamber and Tandy. No doubt all three have a huge learning curve ahead of them, but they are supremely talented racing drivers: absolutely amongst the best in the world. This race will be properly mega, so do not miss it! Fox Sports 1 shows WEC live in most of its territories, with Motors TV your friend in the UK. Eurosport will also show part of the race towards the end, or you can watch it via the excellent WEC app.
by John Glynn | Apr 27, 2015 | Porsche News, New Models
Interesting story on Gizmag this morning about how Porsche has patented a new type of variable compression ration engine technology. Partnering Porsche in this venture is Hilite International, already a long-standing client at Porsche Consulting.
Variable Compression Ratio (VCR) is a prime candidate for the next big step in internal combustion engine efficiency. It is particularly suitable for turbocharged engines, and we know that all 911s will adopt turbocharged engines over the next few years, alongside the many turbocharged model variants in the Macan, Cayenne and Panamera ranges already produced by Porsche.
Compression ratio is critical to performance, and is of particular importance on turbocharged engines. Turbos work by compressing the intake charge of air and fuel before ramming it into the combustion chamber under pressure. Because a turbocharger is powered by exhaust gas, and therefore is not always running at peak boost, the amount of fuel/air mix entering the cylinder varies from low volume when the turbo is not spinning to maximum volume when the turbo is running at peak revs. Turbocharged engines must therefore run lower compression ratios, to allow that higher volume at peak boost. This costs them power.
Why use Variable Compression Ratio technology?
One way to increase the efficiency of a turbocharged engine would be to constantly adjust the compression ratio, giving higher compression off-boost, and reducing the compression as boost pressure rises, to prevent detonation. The Porsche system (top) is clever, planting the piston on an eccentric mount that is automatically adjusted by control rods, which swivel the piston up or down on the crankshaft connecting rod depending on oil pressure, thus controlling the compression ratio.
Compare this solution to the nicely engineered but complex solution developed by MCE over the last decade (above photo shared under ‘fair use’), and it is perhaps easy to imagine how this new patent might better suit volume manufacturing, delivering less risk to reliability. It is also highly licensable technology: something which Porsche has done very well from over its history. So, even if the technology never makes it into a Porsche, it could be shared commercially with a wide range of other end users.
Bravo Porsche engineering! We look forward to seeing a fully developed version of this system come to production, and to experiencing the benefits on the road.
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by John Glynn | Apr 27, 2015 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
EB Motorsport has just added a 100-litre steel fuel tank to its ever-expanding range of classic Porsche 911 parts.
Recreating the classic 911 sports purpose tank, which was available as a factory option on pre-1973 road and race 911s from the end of 1966, the all-steel fuel tank is internally baffled to keep the contents under control on track or in press-on motoring.
“We’d been looking for a top quality fuel tank for our 1965 SWB 911 race car for a while,” says EB’s Mark Bates, sideways hero of last month’s Goodwood Aldington Trophy. “As with so many Porsche parts nowadays, it’s hard to find something that will last as long as the original parts. After speaking to various people, we found a supplier who could manufacture to our specifications in high grade steel that would not start to rust soon after fitment.”
The 100-litre steel tanks for Porsche 911 were originally available as either side- or centre-fill. Side fill using the standard wing-mounted petrol filler flap was normally used on road cars, but was also seen on a number of ST rally models. Centre fill was more common on racing cars, including the 911R.
EB Motorsport offers both options. The standard tank comes fitted with the side filler neck and is finished in black, ready to fit in the car. The tank can also be supplied with a blank top, finished in grey primer, ready to be fitted with the optional centre filler neck or professional quick release race fittings.
The 100-litre fuel tank with or without side fill costs £2200. The optional centre filler neck and cap are priced at £285. An extended fuel sender, to allow accurate reading of the fuel level in the larger capacity tank, adds £295 to the total.
All prices plus VAT and postage. Contact EB Motorsport for more details via the website at www.eb-motorsport.com.
