by John Glynn | Apr 21, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
At the end of 2011, Brumos Porsche in Jacksonville, Florida announced a tie up with Porsche AG to produce a limited 911 edition of just five cars, commemorating Hurley Haywood’s record five overall wins in Porsches at Daytona in 1973, ’75, ’77, ’79 and 1991.
Modelled on Brumos Porsche’s famous Number 59, the base car chosen was the Carrera GTS: easily my favourite water-cooled 911 to date. The UK launch of the 997 GTS was our last trip out with Porsche and, as grand finales go, it was excellent. With over 400 horsepower on tap, 997 Carrera GTS is all the 911 you need.
The Brumos Porsche 911 B59 edition is Brumos’ factory-manufactured special. Featuring custom 59 paint and some cabin decor highlights, the chassis options say it all about sport purpose: LSD with sports suspension, heated front seats with adaptive sports backrests, sports shifter, Sport Chrono Plus and extended navigation.
The limited edition sold out quickly, and Brumos has just released a great short film, showcasing where they ended up. It’s a journey through some incredible car collections, and some indisputable Porsche fans. Take a look:
by John Glynn | Apr 21, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche People
Two years after starting on Instagram, Ferdinand Magazine remains a big fan of the platform and our Cult of Porsche Instagram feed makes new friends every day. One early Instagram friend was John Benton, a detail-obsessed Porsche mechanic based in Anaheim, CA.
Disappointed by his experiences as a Porsche-owning workshop customer, John’s background in high-end facilities engineering led to wondering why attention to detail was not a given in classic Porsche maintenance. Guessing he was not alone in feeling, Benton took a chance and opened a modest Porsche shop in Southern California.
Driven by solid demand for his services, Benton moved to bigger premises last year. Watching Benton’s day-to-day Instagram feed shows his focus on detail, and the comments show that customers love it. His reputation has blossomed into Benton Performance, which has taken back-to-back Porsche wins on Carrera Panamericana.
Underpinning all of Benton’s output is a reverence for classic Porsche style. “We’re so blessed and lucky to have these cars. There are no new 1966 Porsche 911s being built. Out of respect to them, I remain true to the form, but I like to build it a little better.” I hear that.
Customer and film director, Heath Mattioli, is a big fan of Benton’s and recently shot a small feature film with some satisfied Benton customers. It’s interesting, different and sheds light on a few Porsche truths. See how many you identify with.
by John Glynn | Apr 21, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Back from a week in Ireland, I’ve had a chance to reset and look through a few stories that got missed in the rush through Q1 2014.
I haven’t said much about Essen Techno Classica. This year’s fair was as fun as ever: some great finds dotted around and not all Porsche. Being up close to a works Lancia Delta Group A rally car was quite a treat, as was seeing some of the very high-end handcrafted machinery.
One Porsche stood out in the ‘for sale’ car parks: a 1983 Porsche 930/911 Turbo with Per Eklund as first owner. Very clean in Silver, I couldn’t find much to mark it down on: over-glossy wheel centres maybe if I’m OTT nitpicking. It had recently enjoyed some restorative attention, but everything was super pukka.
Just 57,000 kilometres and up for €67,000, it made my pick of best 911 buy on Day 1. We had currywurst for lunch, sitting on beer crates alongside the Turbo: definitely a high point of 2014 so far.
As all 930s start to climb in value, and early 3.0 Turbos and later blingy 5-speeds get tarted up and sold for silly money, the early ’80s models with low mileage and good provenance seem the ones to go for. Not much advance in an ’87 930: their purple period feels early ’80s to me, unless we’re talking Turbo SE…
by John Glynn | Apr 20, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Away from the Porsche LMP1 hybrid’s debut, the evergreen 911 soldiered on at Silverstone today. Porsche Team Manthey took a solid 1-2 ahead of Darren turner’s Aston Martin, with new boy Frédéric Makowiecki piloting the number 92 Porsche 991 RSR shared with Marco Holzer and Richard Lietz to a GTE Pro win.
“That is exactly how I imagined my first race as a Porsche works driver,” said Frédéric. “A great race, but really challenging. We started on a dry track, then it began to rain which made our tyre choice difficult. We changed the rubber quickly without losing too much time. Even switching back to slicks went smoothly thanks to our swift pit crew. A big compliment to our whole team: that was a great job.”
“It’s fantastic to kick off my first WEC season with a victory,” enthused Marco. “After two laps it began to drizzle, which made it very difficult to drive consistent lap times. My first priority was not to fly off the track. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to compete under such changeable conditions. You enter a corner that looks completely dry on slicks only to suddenly find your car going sideways and you’re looking ahead out of the side window. That was pretty hair-raising.”
The number 91 Tandy/Pilet/Bergmeister car started from the front row, but a stop/go penalty saw them in the pits eight times versus number 92’s six. Finishing P2 was a pretty good achievement, all things considered.
“We had a very good car, regardless of whether the track was dry or wet,” reflected a philosophical Mr Tandy. “In my first stint I enjoyed a great fight with a Ferrari. The rain gave us a few hairy moments, but I love it when unexpected things happen and you have to adjust your strategy. It proved really difficult not to make a mistake. I’m pleased that everything went so well, especially here at Silverstone. Driving on this circuit is always fun, particularly in such difficult conditions.”
The WEC now moves on to Spa on May 3rd. I’m at Donington with EB Motorsport at the FIA Masters Historics that weekend, but we’ll find a way to watch the boys do battle.
by John Glynn | Apr 20, 2014 | Porsche People, Race and Rally
Just spotted Frédéric Makowiecki’s name listed as a works driver in one of the Silverstone releases. I had no idea Fred Makowiecki was a 2014 Porsche works driver – a quick search through the Porsche database shows no press release for the signing. He is listed on the Porsche works racing drivers’ homepage, though.
Fred Makowiecki now Porsche works driver
Always fast in a Porsche and a former French Carrera Cup champion, Makowiecki (above, left) was most recently attached to last year’s works Aston Martin squad, where he took wins at Circuit of the Americas 6 Hours and the 6 Hours of Fuji. Seems Aston let a few people go this year – their loss here for sure – and Fred was snapped up by Stuttgart.
Porsche Motorsport boss, Hartmut Kristen, called this one perfectly, as Fred took a win on his first time out for Team Manthey Porsche Racing. Edit: just found mention of the signing in a later Porsche press release (below).
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Frenchman Frédéric Makowiecki (33) will join the ranks of Porsche Motorsport’s GT squad this coming season and pilot a 911 RSR. Makowiecki, who prefers to be called Fred Mako, is a regular competitor behind the wheel of Porsche race cars. He has collected more than nine years of experience in the cockpit of the 911. One of his greatest achievements was clinching the title of the Porsche Carrera Cup France in 2010.
“Frédéric Makowiecki is one of the fastest and most experienced GT pilots,” says Porsche Head of Motorsport Hartmut Kristen. “He has a great deal of experience on virtually all international race tracks and he knows precisely how to drive a Porsche 911 fast. I’m very much looking forward to working with him.”
