I spotted Mark Webber in the rugby crowd yesterday, while working with the TV on. Now a former Formula driver, Webber put Porsche on the F1 podium in his final two appearances. Name-checking his future employer in front of the viewing millions, Webber reminded F1 fans that racing is not all about Bernie’s 22-seat circus.
Webber will race Porsche’s LMP prototype in next year’s World Endurance Championship, and escape to a better life-work balance. Mark’s final race in Brazil last weekend was the perfect send-off for the paddock’s favourite fighter.
“It was a very good finish to my career,” Mark told reporters afterwards. “A good fight with all the guys I’ve enjoyed fighting with for most of my career: Seb, Fernando, Lewis, Nico – all the guys who’ve been in the window for the last five or six years.”
F1’s media entourage (and us fans) will miss Webber’s forthright camera face next year. I don’t know who else will step up to the “tell it like it is” role. Jenson Button, maybe – could be his last year, too. Mark’s final F1 weekend was loaded with self-effacing Aussie style.
“Maybe I didn’t have absolute natural talent, but I knew that if I grafted and worked hard, I’d get the results,” said Webber, before his final race. “I smashed a lot of guys who had more talent than me, because they didn’t work as hard as me. I learned that about myself: how important it was to graft and just get my head down. I’ve been doing that for most of my career.” I totally get what he’s saying, and how good it feels to work hard for results.
WEC with Stuttgart won’t be a walk in the park, but there’ll be more space to breathe, time to walk the dogs, and opportunities to help and encourage younger sportsmen and women. I’m sure Mark will be top man at keeping his positive influence going. As we all know, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, and hard-grafting Webber has energy to spare.
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A quick look on eBay last night at recent Cayenne listings threw up these oddball things: a pair of headrest DVD screens and a crazy leather-trimmed player, with a Buy It Now of £50. The seller was unsure whether they were factory, but that stitching looked 100% Cayenne to me, so I had a Google and found the answer on Rennlist (of course).
The system definitely is factory, and doesn’t sound like it was all that special. The DVD player sits on the centre rear seat when in use. “That design was a last-minute absolute POS. I’m not sure how many sold, probably less than were scrapped.” says one Rennlister. “The newer ones (self-contained in rear seat) are a bit better, but rear seat video was not part of the original MOST design spec for the system.”
I’ve found a few pics of it now, and it really does look like a last-minute afterthought. As if the Cayenne externals weren’t challenging enough, they went and screwed this to the back of the seats! Sometimes I just can’t get my head around Porsche thinking. That said, when Cayenne becomes a classic, it’s the weirdo dealer options that will really draw the crowds in.
There’s a roof-mounted Sony DVD screen in my Cayenne, but then no sunroof or conservatory windows to worry about. I guess Porsche had a gap for dealer fit DVD screens that did not need a roof to screw into, and this is the best the product crew could do.
Gawky afterthought it may be, but it’s already got some bids on eBay, even without headphones or remote controls. The Buy It Now must have been switched to get things going and now it’s all kicked off, so I missed a chance to nab them. All in a day’s work, but count me not too bothered.
My Cayenne is off for its LPG conversion this weekend – that is pretty cool. The converter is Avon Autogas in Bristol.
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It was the US Grand Prix this weekend from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The time difference meant practice/quali sessions and the race started late in the day for UKers, giving a few hours to escape the computer and get my hands dirty.
I spent the daylight on Saturday rebuilding a door lock and window regulator on the stopgap Skoda TDI, bought to use while setting the wife’s recent insurance write-off (Skoda is actually an excellent drive), but today was all about Porsche Cayenne winter tyres.
I’ve had the winters on standby for a while. In keeping with my budget rock ‘n’ roll Porsche lifestyle, they were a proper screaming bargain. Part-worn 255 55 18 Pirelli M&S Scorpions, over 18″ Cayenne Turbo wheels. I bought the wheels on eBay for £100 during the summer, tyres were a ludicrous £30 (eBay) plus maybe £30 travel to get them. So a full set of winters in perfect condition for £160, plus a few quid to fit: call it £200.
The mild October and early November has allowed me to eke the last few miles out of the 19″ P-Zeros the Big Pig wore at purchase. The tyres weren’t new when I had it, but I’ve had about 5k miles of spirited driving on what was left: it’s about what I was expecting and I’m happy at that. The 265 50 19 Pirellis are not quite down to the wear bars, but they’ve likely done enough, as they’ve become increasingly squirrely towards the end of their life. We’ll seek out new ones for next year.
For now, I’ll run these ice driving bargains towards the stops and report back on grip. I’ve just bought another set of 18″ Cayenne rims and am planning to fit some new but cheapish SUV winters from a name not commonly seen on Porsche. I’m all about maxing the value for money on this Big Pig, and Youtube videos of the tyres in question on crazy Polish snowchargers look good.
Two things of note can be seen in these pics. One is the best tool in the standard tool kit: the locating pin for tyre changes. Everyone should get one of these, no matter what the car! Makes changing ten-ton Cayenne wheels a lot easier. The other just visible on top of the house is the dormer of the loft conversion: the reason I’ve been slaving and not blogging all year! Almost done now and it’s really wicked. You can also see the rusty roof of the lean-to garage that’s coming down next year: I plan to tie it to the Cayenne and shove the car in drive.
Cayenne continues to be wicked (of course) and a welcoming seat at the end of a long day’s work. I know a few blog fans are thinking of trying one, and to all I say “do it!” It makes sense to retain access to something small and diesel for long-haul solo boring jobs, but the Cayenne makes bigger work easy, and I’m slowly working through the allegedly costly maintenance items. Plugs and coils done: battery, starter and brake discs next.
Roll on next Spring’s Essen TechnoClassica road trip – the Cayenne will be four up, at least.
Better known as Le Corbusier, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris was a pioneer of modern architecture. While Le Corbusier’s designs for urban living may no longer be attuned to 21st century inner city pressures, his ideas continue to influence designers and artists, almost fifty years after his death.
Le Corbusier had much to say on colour. “If the house is white all over, the shapes of things stand out without any possible ambiguity; the volume of things will appear clear cut; the colour of things is categorical. The white of whitewash is absolute. Everything stands out against it and is displayed absolutely: black against white, frank and truthful. Put in objects that are unsuitable or in bad taste, and you can’t miss them. You might call it the X-ray of beauty, a permanent court of judgement, the eye of truth.”
Le Corbusier’s eye of truth is currently being cast upon Thomas Flohr’s Safari car, awaiting fresh paint in the Tuthill Porsche bodyshop. Last seen on Safari 2011, the silver 911 had a rough start to the event, being abandoned at the mid-way point when the crew decided to call it a day. Tuthills carried the car along on the event – Francis’ experience suggesting this would be prudent – and it eventually donated the front section of its roll cage to the Waldegård car, allowing it to complete the rally after a fairly big off as the rally reached its final days.
Now fully repaired with a brand new and latest-version roll cage installed by the fabrication team at Wardington, Thomas’ superb 911 has been rubbed down by hand, ahead of a full respray in the same silver colour. The off-white shade may not tally with the master, but Le Corbusier’s musings on using a single monochromatic colour to highlight pure shapes and bad taste rings true.
The finished Safari cage in a simple, bare 911 shell is a structure of enduring fascination and beauty. Don’t you think? Maybe just me.
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After the week just finished, it was a relief to snatch a few hours off this morning and point our Porsche Cayenne’s nose towards Warwickshire, to collect another load of bricks for next year’s garage build. The way this thing hauls a trailer full of reclaim bricks is incredible, making century-old bricks my latest eBay obsession.
So far in November we’ve had a painful VAT return, slow going on the building front and a ton of catching up on copywriting, but Wednesday night took the biscuit, with a call from Mrs G to say someone had crashed into her sweet little CR-V. I drove to the scene to find a head-on smash between CR-V and builder’s van: CR-V destroyed and wife in some discomfort. The CR-V had done its job well, deploying ample airbags and absorbing a pretty big hit, but an ambulance ride and a long night in the emergency department followed.
She’s off work for a few days while aches and pains subside. We freelancers can’t stay home forever, so the next problem was what car to stick her in when she’s feeling up to it. The Cayenne has proved so good that I’ve sold my ‘spare’ cars: Subaru, MX5, M3 about to go and Landcruiser will be next. Obvious write-offs like this usually settle fast, so there seems little point in a courtesy car. Off to eBay I went, looking at alternatives.
Nothing good on eBay, so I decided to stick her in the M3 for a few days and buy another SUV when the insurance cheque arrives. That decision made, I spent Thursday evening in college a little burnt out, emerging back into the winter chill at 10pm to drive home. Sliding into the Cayenne, it started with a misfire. Not too unusual when damp, a slight misfire from cold usually clears. Ten miles later, the miss was just the same. I texted a Cayenne mate “Misfire. Coil packs?” Consensus this was likely culprit. I’d order a new one next day, as I couldn’t have another car go down.
Next morning was just as cold, and the miss was just as wrong. I ordered eight coil packs and a set of plugs. Dropped the kids at school and drove the fifty miles on seven cylinders. Still managed to top the ton, though. No limp-home mode on Cayenne. I stuck the Cayenne on a friend’s Porsche PIWIS, which showed cylinder number three was misfiring. Time to take some bits off.
Getting to Cayenne coil packs is not too tricky. Top engine plastics come off when the engine support is removed: it’s a bit of simple spannering. Number three coil pack had quite a long crack, and more than one other had the same. The plugs were not over tight and looked a bit worn, so new ones would give it a boost. I also ordered wiper blades – been meaning to for weeks.
The plugs and packs didn’t arrive until late afternoon, so it was dark by the time I was finished. My cross-country drive to avoid the Friday night motorway traffic was a revelation – transformed the Cayenne from an impressive 4×4 needing Tiptronic downflicks to press on, into a rev-loving mega beast, attacking all comers.
We ripped up more Tarmac than a truckload of road protesters and I’ve been looking for cane-it opportunities ever since. Pizza run last night, brick run today, failed brick run yesterday: all good fun. Tickover is now smoother than the aforementioned prom queen’s anatomy: everyone needs a Cayenne!
Apart from my wife that is, as I just bought her a bargain Skoda Fabia TDI estate to run around in while we’re waiting for the next thing. Turned out the seller also owned a 993 and was considering adding a Cayenne. It’s a small Porsche world, you know.
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Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
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