Porsche has just announced a third 919 entry for Le Mans 2015. Anyone who has been following the Jenson Button Porsche rumours will be completely unsurprised and hopefully excited by the news of a third LMP1 entry, as it clears the way for a certain could-be ex-F1 driver to join the Porsche Le Mans 2015 team for the 24-Hours and maybe more.
The additional chassis also allows a few of the GT drivers to step up to the big one for the Le Mans 24-Hour, and means Stuttgart will be mob-handed at La Sarthe next year. The pitlane will be a hive of Porsche activity with three Porsche 919 Hybrids and perhaps another eight Porsche 911 RSRs buzzing around the place if 2014 is anything to go by.
Porsche Le Mans 2015
Le Mans 2015 dates are 13-14 June for the main event, with the testing taking place two weeks prior, on Sunday May 31. Scrutineering will be on Sunday/Monday 7-8 June. The schedule allows the teams to set up camp inside the Le Mans circuit, and leave their arenas assembled until the 24-Hour race has finished.
Whoever ends up driving them, three 919 Hybrids racing in France is quite a draw for the fans. No doubt a few convoys will be leaving the UK headed for Le Mans. Could we see new dad Mr Tandy in an LMP1?
Superb result on the school run this morning, as a Volkswagen XL1 hybrid swooped in at Orla’s school: moving on a public road right in front of my eyes. Dads love the ultimate school run challenge – what car to take to freak their kids’ friends out – so I’ve seen and employed some cool school run cars in my time, but this was the winner by miles.
330 miles in fact, as that’s what the XL1 can eke from one imperial gallon of diesel. The 795-kilogram carbon-fibre body is beautifully shaped and exceptionally aerodynamic: a drag coefficient of 0.186 is half that of the Porsche 918 Hybrid. The XL1’s low drag means that 62 mph can be maintained on a level road using only 8 horsepower.
Volkswagen XL1 Encounter
I’ve loved the Volkswagen L and XL concept cars since the first one was shown in 2009. They are absolute fantasy cars, so what full-on madness to see one on the road and in the carbon fibre. A tiny machine at less than 4 metres long, it still has more than enough space to do 90% of your motoring.
The styling is pure sports car, with the roof just over three feet off the ground. I could not resisting parking up for a chat with the driver, who turned out to be Volkswagen UK ‘s ‘hybridisation’ programme manager. He told me how only 32 examples are coming to the UK from the total production run of 200 vehicles: two will stay on the press and demo fleet while the rest are up for grabs. With names like Peter Gabriel on the customer enquiry list, I have no doubt that the XL1 will sell out pretty sharpish.
The hinged doors are light and easy to operate. Fit and finish across the body is sublime: Volkswagen actually developed and patented a new system for the manufacture of the Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer parts on the car called the Resin Transfer Moulding process. A bare chassis weighs just 230 kilograms, the complete interior weighs only 80 kilograms.
Less than one-quarter of the car’s weight is iron or steel: just 184 kilograms. The car saves weight by using magnesium wheels, ceramic brakes and aluminum brake calipers, steering components and suspension.
Sitting in the XL1 is familiar Volkswagen territory, albeit the dash is reduced down to the (very smartly presented) barest essentials. Less familiar are the door mirrors: rear-facing cameras with iPhone 3G-sized screens embedded into the door panels. The seats are comfortable if a little flat and hard – light weight could mean sore arse in the long run – and anyone with bad knees won’t be buying this car: it is super low when getting in and out.
The XL1 has an 800cc two-cylinder common rail TDI diesel engine developing 48 PS, linked to an electric motor producing 27 PS. Total output of 75 PS is well enough in such a light car. XL1 has a seven-speed DSG gearbox. The electric motor can either work independently of the TDI engine or in tandem when accelerating.
Electric range is 50 kms, 0-60 is 11.9 seconds but the effect of seeing it on the road is where the real WOW happens. If I had the £98k required to put this car in my garage, I would be all over it immediately.
Double World Sportscar Masters champion and rare Porsche parts reproduction specialist, EB Motorsport, rounded off its 2014 historic racing race season with a top twenty finish and two class wins at the legendary Spa 6 Hours.
Fielding all three EB Motorsport racing 911s over the course of the weekend, brothers James and Mark Bates claimed class wins in both the Pre-‘66 GT and FIA World Sportscar Masters races, before starting the headline event.
As torrential rain soaked the Francorchamps circuit during the classic Spa 6 Hours endurance race, the pair used their considerable experience to bring EB’s 1965 911 race car home inside the top twenty. Only one other 911 from the extensive start group claimed a top twenty finish: the short wheelbase car of Le Mans winner, Raymond Narac.
Spa 6 Hours for EB Motorsport Porsche
“We set a much-reduced race calendar for 2014, and Spa was our target event,” said Mark Bates, who finished the race under red flag conditions in P19 overall. “I made my 6 Hours debut last year sharing a short wheelbase 911, so was excited to race with James in our own car this year. Achieving a top twenty finish in atrocious conditions within reach of a winning Le Mans Porsche driver is a very special feeling.”
“It’s been a landmark year for me,” smiled James at the end. “A hectic workload and the impending arrival of my first born shrunk our race schedule, but the EB Motorsport cars are very competitive. Mark put some amazing laps together in horrific conditions and showed established Spa regulars a clean set of heels. It’s a cracking finish to the 1965 911 race car’s debut season.”
EB Motorsport sponsored by Millers Oils
EB Motorsport’s Porsche 911s are sponsored by Millers Oils, after dyno tests proved that Millers lubrication freed more horsepower from EB’s 3.0 RSR race car. The trio will be joined by a fourth in 2015: a 911R recreation, currently in build at EB’s Yorkshire HQ. “This one features the full range of EB’s 911R parts, including our featherweight doors at just 4.5 kilos a side: with the hinges,” says Mark. “Target weight is 860 kilos: we’ll see how close we can get.”
Alongside the 911R build, an exciting recreation of the 1974 Porsche 911 2.1 RSR Turbo casts an intimidating shadow, but that’s a story for another day!
See the full range of EB Motorsport rare and lightweight reproduction Porsche parts at www.eb-motorsport.com.
“I don’t want this to read like some PR whitewash over an error on our part,” Richard Tuthill insists. “We had a fully engineered, production-based solution to take the Porsche 911 RGT into WRC on the FIA’s table in May. We’ve tested the car over 120 kilometres on gravel, absolutely flat out. This car is fantastic on gravel and should be racing in Wales. But it won’t be, and we all know why.”
I understand Richard’s frustration. Less than a week before Tuthill’s R-GT Porsche was due to take the start of Wales Rally GB, the FIA decided to reject the car’s gravel specification for the Oxfordshire team’s home event, despite all of the planned modifications being fully described in plans submitted to Switzerland almost six months ago. Having sucked up a truckload of R-GT red tape already this year, this was one step too far.
Earlier this week, the R-GT was taken to Walters Arena in Wales, home of many gravel test sessions and identical terrain to the Rally GB gravel stages. In-car footage from testing shows the R-GT Porsche’s incredible speed: the 911 pulls two gears higher than Tuthill historic cars on the same stages and easily hits the limiter in sixth on the longest stretches of gravel.
‘The car was born to be driven on gravel,” says Richard. “It is well balanced, amazingly easy to drive and with the wonderful 3.8-litre engine and sequential six-speed gearbox, it is very, very fast. We experimented with the setup up throughout the day and will continue to develop certain areas, but I could not have imagined it could be so good from the very first KM. It’s more than ready to hit the stages, be they gravel or snow.
“Combined with the car’s performance on asphalt, this confirms that it is an all-rounder and can be used across the world in all regional championships, where the regulations follow FIA guidance.”
Tuthill Porsche FIA Rally GB
Lengthy discussions at FIA headquarters in Geneva could not move its technical department to approve the car for use on this weekend’s Rally GB. It’s a blow to Team Tuthill, the rally organisers who have headlined so much promotion with the R-GT Porsche but mainly to the fans; hundreds of whom were looking forward to witnessing the return of a Porsche 911 to WRC gravel stages.
Richard explains the impasse. “Within existing R-GT regulations, there is scope to allow modification to the suspension uprights that are fitted to the chosen base model. However, this only allows the fitment of gravel brakes. In the case of the 997 RGT, the upright is too big to fit within a 15 inch gravel wheel, regardless of the size of caliper and disc fitted. Understandably the FIA needs to review how this issue can be resolved and, not surprisingly, it is unwilling to allow complete freedom for modification on safety grounds.
“We found a solution from Porsche factory parts, which we tested to great effect. That solution, developed by our chief engineer who is one of the most experienced motorsport engineers in the world with thirty years of Le Mans, WRC and Dakar behind him, was still not enough to convince the FIA. While we fully accept that any new category will raise technical challenges that need open discussion and thinking to get around, I cannot hide my frustration at the way this decision has been made, given we started this enquiry in May.”
FIA Leadership through F1 Motorsport Crisis
Lately it seems that the FIA has given up on the ‘sport’ side of motorsport in the vested financial interests of its commercial manufacturer partners. With F1 in crisis and the governing body standing by motionless, will the FIA ever draw back those curtains of red tape and start listening to fans who only care about racing? Or does the inactivity reflect a lack of leadership as the FIA president works his connections to land a plum job at the UN: a theory I read on one of the leading F1 blogs last week? So much for a bright future.
“It’s not a revolutionary idea; taking an old car and adding some new stuff polishing it up a bit and… ‘tah-dah’. It’s not revolutionary: lots of people have done it, especially in this country with Mustangs and ‘resto mods’ as they’re called over here. I don’t think any company has been crazy enough to do what we’ve attempted to do in such a cross-the-board, spectacularly over-the-top way.”
Whatever about polishing Porsche parts, the likeable Rob Dickinson has certainly polished the rhetoric regarding his Singer 911s since our first meeting, when Jamie Lipman and I were the first guys Rob invited to see his creation, and shoot Singer number 1 on the road in California. Back then, the Singer idea was still forming: what base car, what market, what price?
Rob Dickinson Singer Porsche
Unveiled in 2003, Rob’s Bahama Yellow RGruppe ’69 E hot rod was an inspiration for me, and for many others who followed their hearts to the air-cooled 911. This latest video on Singer eschews the same old Singer shots and lets the organ grinder talk on how his dream has developed. In fairness, the approach could have led to Rob digging a rather large hole for himself, but I think he makes heartfelt sense of his concept and product. Kudos, mon ami.
“Freeman Thomas started this club (RGruppe, with co-founder Cris Huergas) for hot rodded sports purpose early 911s in 2001, so I immediately joined the club when I built my car in 2003, and my car became quite well known in the RGruppe. As I enjoyed being part of this ‘clique’ if you like – this team of guys who had similar tastes – I started to see these expensively executed hot rods.
“My little car was done on the cheap, but a lot of people started to show up to the yearly meetings of the RGruppe in very expensively restored early 911s which had big engines shoehorned into them, and spectacular brakes, and some of these cars were better than others. I happened to drive a particularly well executed version of this car, and was just blown away at how refined and sophisticated an early 911 could actually be.
Steve McQueen references are so important
“That was part of the germination of this idea that these cars don’t have to be rough-and-ready hot rods with limited appeal. The 911 is so evocative – Steve McQueen references are so important for the vibe of this car (and everything that surrounds this car is important) – if someone was to restore a 911 so that it had a wider attractiveness for a wider audience, you could probably appeal to that audience and make a business out of it.
“I started to see that, and the combination of how my car was reacted to in the taste-making world of Los Angeles with the aesthetics, and then I’d got in this car where the engineering had been well sweated, and I thought: put these two together and there’s some fun to be had and maybe some business to be done.
“We generally try and improve every aspect of the car, while honouring everything that is Porsche. We hate custom cars here at this shop. Maybe ‘hate’ is a strong word, but the idea that our car might be seen as a custom car makes me feel nauseous. Our car needs to be seen as a Porsche through and through. We only put Singer badges on our car for the sake of clarity: this is a Porsche 911 that’s been touched by us.
“Hopefully, it’s a line in the sand as to how good an air-cooled 911 can be that isn’t a race car. It’s very easy to build a thinly-disguised race car for the road, but that’s not something we’re too interested in doing. We want to do a properly rounded car which is properly usable, that can be driven to the office on a Monday and driven to the track at the weekend: it has that wonderful duality but just fine-tunes the focus a little bit.”
I have a feeling that the high-end hot rod Rob tips as inspiration is SHTang: the 3.6-litre early 911 built by WEVO for Steven Harris, but I might be wrong. I’ve done many miles in SHTang, but not driven a Singer yet, so can’t tell you how the two compare. That is the obvious next step.
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