by John Glynn | Apr 6, 2014 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
Now that the Cayenne is home with its gearbox problems sorted, I took a few hours off yesterday morning to get the DAB digital radio install finished. I use the car on a twenty-mile countryside school run every morning and only the 6 Music breakfast show will do for that task.
I’ve tried a few glass mount antennas for DAB since buying my Kenwood 4210 head unit. I’m in a patchy DAB area at the best of times but glass mount was totally useless. No signal anywhere! I had a look at the DAB on Wheels recommendations and bought the Kinetic DRA-6001 amplified roof mount aerial with a 5m extension lead.
I will probably use a roof platform on my car now and then, so no way was this going in the middle. The fitting instructions say mount at least 25 cms from the roof edge for best performance. I was not putting it above the front, so had to be in the rear. I decided to drop the headlining to get a better view of the rear roof section.
Dropping the Cayenne’s roof lining is right fun and games, as it looks like it’s the first part to go in. I’d stripped some of this before so knew the form. Took a while but I got it down enough to see what was what. The roof has a huge amount of stiffening, especially at the rear where the massive tailgate is hung. I could go in front of that and still look sensible: a bit ‘bee sting’ but whatever, long as the DAB works. I marked a centre point 20 cm in from the rear edge and drilled a pilot hole: no changing my mind now.
The Kinetic needs a 14mm mounting hole, which I drilled with a cone cutter. I primed the roof and test fitted the antenna. The supplied base gasket is an O-ring which kept the aerial base a good 7mm or so off the roof and meant I could not get the bottom nut on. After a bit of experimentation, I modifed the gasket arrangement to drop the aerial closer to the roof. Not easy but it worked and would keep the water out.
Now the nut would just go on. Refitting the base over a lot of grease as specified, I tightened it to where I was happy but the leading edge was still slightly proud of the roof. It needed a little more tightening. I gave it one tiny squeeze and the brass nut slipped on the cast threads. The base was not going to sit flush on the roof. Fitting the aerial mast, that would not tighten in the base either. The whole thing was a let down.
I was pretty cross so took a break and came back to it later. It looked a bit rough outside but I managed to get it tight, so why not give it a try. I rigged up a 12v supply and took the antenna lead to the head unit: instant success. The DAB reception was perfect.
I’ve put it all back together, but am 99% sure I will swap this for the Hirschmann Auta DAB antenna in a few weeks time, when I take the roof out again to sort the reverse camera. If you’ve bought and are fitting this one, my advice is to bin the base gasket and just use Sikaflex to seal it up and get it tight to the roof. If you’ve not bought it yet, save your money and buy the budget Hirschmann.
by John Glynn | Apr 6, 2014 | Art and Books, Classic Porsche Blog
I spent a good morning with our friends from Ricoh Production & Print on Friday, trimming the first bound copies of our Cult of Porsche book down to size. The work was done at Morgana print finishers in Milton Keynes. If you thought producing books was all about printing then think again: Morgana’s range of print finishing equipment is huge, and it was interesting to learn what the machines all do.
Our work was on the Morgana Digibook 150 Perfect Binding Machine and the EBA 5560 Guillotine. As this first book also showcases Ricoh’s digital print output on a series of boutique papers, care was essential in getting the book through the systems.
Morgana is led by a bona fide Porsche enthusiast (just bought a 911-50), with a few more Porsche owners on the shop floor, so I needn’t have worried. The pre-production prototypes came out perfectly and the beautiful design has been proven. We now have a great example of this project to take to this week’s London Book Fair and share with the industry.
How and Where to Buy
I appreciate the questions on how & where to buy the book! Short answer is I don’t know yet. If we end up with a publisher, standard channels will apply. If we publish ourselves, then you’ll buy it from here. Our finish for this version is high end, so the production costs are steep, but a publisher may do something simpler. Should that occur, any high end finish will be sold via Ferdinand. Jamie & I will autograph & authenticate each copy sold via this website.
My plan is for this first “The Cult of Porsche” series as a trilogy. Readers have the option of eventually collecting all three and housing them in a bespoke box. I’m working on that idea with Ricoh and we’ll see how it develops. It is a very exciting project: not your standard Porsche book and we have plans to add a few tricks in the future. I’m keeping the Book 1 look a bit secret for now.
I followed this little brown impact-bumper Porsche 911 for a short while as as I left Morgana. Good omen!
by John Glynn | Apr 4, 2014 | Art and Books, Classic Porsche Blog
Less than 5 days to go to London Book Fair 2014. Version 1 of our Cult of Porsche book has been printed and bound, and I’m off out the door to Ricoh’s print finishers in Milton Keynes to watch them trimming the book down to size.
Bonus is I am driving my Cayenne there – picked it up yesterday following its gearbox rebuild. Running perfectly, but the bill is higher than expected and I have a different tyre on one front wheel. That is bad karma for someone.
I’m also meeting some book publishers and a literary agent at the show. Am totally new to books, so anyone wants to give me a few pointers then drop me an email to mail@ferdinandmagazine.com. Here’s our press release with Ricoh UK:
London, 8 April, 2014 – A digitally printed coffee table book celebrating the ownership and enjoyment of classic Porsche cars, illustrated with lavish photography, will be launched by Ricoh and its publisher The Cult of Porsche at the London Book Fair (LBF) at stand R505 on April 8, 2014.
The book, titled The Cult of Porsche: In the Beginning, documents beautifully preserved classic Porsche cars and inspiring owner-modified machines that pay tribute to Porsche’s unique engineering vision. The book was written by long-time Porsche journalist and blogger, John Glynn, with pictures by internationally renowned automotive photographer, James Lipman, and designed by Silk Pearce. ‘Ferdinand: The Cult of Porsche’ is John’s curated Porsche news blog with a massive global readership of nearly 250,000 unique users.
“In the Beginning is part one of our first classic Porsche collection,” says John. “Spread over three volumes, the first Cult of Porsche book trilogy traces an emotional line entwining true Porsche enthusiasts. It showcases wonderfully original cars as well as beautifully modified classics, to honour the legacy of Ferdinand ‘Ferry’ Porsche.
“Doing justice to James’ incredible photography has always been a Cult of Porsche priority. When the opportunity arose to print a beautifully designed book on Ricoh’s digital print machinery, we jumped at the chance. Our work was the ultimate test for Ricoh’s technology and this exceptional end product will delight readers, while doing justice to the material.”
The Cult of Porsche: In the Beginning is digitally printed and delivers the impact and quality that until now has been associated only with offset printing. It provides a practical example of the benefits digital printing can bring to publishers: a cost effective route to market and; a fast and straight forward way to produce short-run books and those requiring frequent updates. It can also benefit authors who want to print their own work with an affordable printing method, and the opportunity to collaborate on bespoke solutions.”
Gareth Parker, strategic marketing manager – production print, Ricoh said: “Collaborating with John, James and Silk Pearce to create this beautiful book has been an enormous pleasure. The project has enabled us to demonstrate the first class results publishers can get by printing digitally to create unique, short-run books. As readers’ habits change, publishers must change their mindsets to embrace the capabilities of digital, and the sellable impact it can offer. By adopting new technologies today, publishers can start to transform their businesses for the future.”
by John Glynn | Apr 4, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Been doing a lot of Porsche inspections lately. I only look at impact bumper 911s and don’t advertise my services, so it shows just how much interest there is around these Porsches right now. I can’t share any inspection pics, but I can share this: a cabriolet hack job built on a 1965 Porsche 911 SWB, recently dragged out of the Tuthill Porsche barn.
The complete article is stunningly irreverent, reminding us that people didn’t always care about tired early SWB Porsche 911s, out of step with the supercar times. This homemade Porsche convertible was much more in keeping with whatever swamp of despair it crawled from: side strakes, front fog lamps, chopped door glass frames and bits of angle iron welded to the rear quarters to hold a soft top frame on. A b-grade Miami Vice stunt car, maybe.
Note the press studs screwed to the top of the windscreen frame and the filled horn grille apertures. Classy.
by John Glynn | Mar 31, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Sky F1 followed its coverage of yesterday’s Malaysian Grand Prix with archive footage from the 1971 F1 season. This was the first year that F1 ran at the just-built Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France.
The first French GP at Ricard came near the end of a season where Jackie Stewart’s dominance in a lesser Tyrrell-Cosworth brought endless complaints from his rivals. Car and engine were stripped by the authorities, but no cheats were found. Stewart was faster: simple as that.
Porsche has just completed almost 4,000 kms of testing at Ricard (a.k.a. Le Castellet) with the 919 Hybrid LMP1 and its 2014 RSRs. Slowest GT car was some twenty seconds off the quickest LMP1 lap: a 1:41.289 set by Brendon Hartley (below). Just like Jackie almost 43 years ago, Hartley is genetically rapid. It’s great to have young speed in the car.
Stuttgart also took the opportunity to homologate the car for the six megajoule class, allowing it to harvest maximum energy per lap into the biggest energy store permitted. Assuming the combined fuel and electricity capacity can power the car around more laps per stint than its rivals, the car will spend less time refuelling at Le Mans, giving a solid pace/range advantage over 24 hours.
Ricard is the perfect place for high speed testing. Built by the eponymous French drinks magnate in the late 1960s, the circuit was sold to Slavica Ecclestone’s Bambino trust in 1999. Bambino then developed the circuit into a high speed test track, using Slavica’s F1-running husband, Bernie, as a consultant.
Bernie’s involvement in the Ricard redevelopment is at the heart of his upcoming bribery case. His (ex-)wife is classed as UK non-domiciled by HMRC, but the taxman sees Bernie as living in London. Bernie argues that a bribe he paid a few years ago was not to lubricate an F1 shares sale, but was instead to prevent false information on Bambino being made available to UK tax authorities, which could have cost him millions – even billions – in back tax.
The case will be heard in Germany from next month. I know Bernie’s methods are not universally admired, but I like his wit and admire his work ethic, not to mention that razor sharp instinct for media. I hope I’m still going strong at 83.
