by John Glynn | Apr 8, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Just watched a terrific Storyville on BBC4. Entitled “From the Sea to the Land: Beyond Britain’s Coast on Film”, the programme gathered up 100 years of archive footage, to tell the story of 20th Century Britain’s relationship with the sea that surrounds it. With a thought-provoking soundtrack playing in accompaniment, it was spellbinding television.
The most impressive part for me was a shipyard section filmed in the 1960s, with amazing cinematography showing the scale of some of the vessels being built, when the UK still made the world’s greatest machinery. Deeply impressive on a multitude of levels.
The age of great British fabrication was briefly revisited on Saturday, when I finally managed to strap best mate Rob Campbell at Racing Restorations to his lathe for long enough to make a bush for my 924 Turbo’s steering rack. The 924 car failed its UK MOT on steering play, ascribed to a track rod but wound up being the bush in the end of the steering rack: those bumpy Italian back roads roads taking their toll.
I was happy to go and track down the part, but Robert insisted he could easily make it. Sorting this is the penultimate job before registration: all I need now is a set of tyres fitted, a retest on the MOT and official confirmation of date of construction, and it’s off to the DVLA with some paperwork.
In true OTT John & Rob style, the plastic bush I pulled out out of the Volkswagen steering rack – worth about 50p on a good day – was replaced with something that took rather more expense to manufacture. Robert turned it out of solid brass, giving me an hour’s entertainment and something good to blog about.
If you’ve ever seen brass being machined, you know it goes everywhere in splinters. But all metal is amazing to watch in transformation. Careful measuring throughout Operation Overkill meant the rack all went back together with no big dramas. I’ll get it back in the car sometime next week.
by John Glynn | Mar 28, 2013 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Porsche has finally unveiled the 991 RSR, which will contest this year’s World Endurance Championship (WEC) and Le Mans 24 Hours, run by the all-new Porsche AG Team Manthey.
The new 991 GT3 RSR is 100mm longer than its predeccessor, the 997 GT3 RSR. Chassis balance is improved, with the centre of gravity said to be considerably lower than the outgoing RSR. The new car runs more carbon fibre in its construction, with most of the bodywork and much of the interior made from carbon. Windows are polycarbonate and the battery is lightweight lithium-ion.
The lightweight transmission is new, with six speeds selected by steering wheel paddles. Cooling has been rethought and the radiator is now located in the centre up front. Such survival tweaks combined with many more quick release body panels, should make this new 911 easier to run in competitive endurance events and reduce the duck tape budget.
WEC starts at Silverstone in two weeks, before moving on to Spa in May and Le Mans in June. We have previously reported the drivers and hope to attend a few WEC events this year – I’ve got to get cracking on accreditation.
by John Glynn | Mar 25, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche News
The Porsche Museum has a new exhibition open until May 26, 2013. For the first time since the museum opened in 2009, the building will stage an exhibition of itself: detailing the design and architectural challenges that were overcome to bring this amazing structure into being.
The structural geek facts around the museum are impressive. There is more steel in this building than in the Eiffel Tower. The 35,000-ton structure rests on three v-shaped columns, and rises 45 metres above the outside ground level.
Visitors will get a chance to understand various techniques through material samples, and by perusing plans and models submitted as part of the original competition to win the design commission.
The “Built in Zuffenhausen” exhibition supplements the one-hour architectural tour. At 1500 hrs on Wednesdays and Sundays, visitors can take advantage of an extended themed tour, covering both the museum itself and the special exhibition at a price of €4 per person, on top of the normal cost.
The Porsche Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays to Sundays. Admission is €8 for adults, €4 for children and concessions. Children up to the age of 14 are entitled to free admission when accompanied by an adult. It’s a great place that I cannot recommend enough.
by John Glynn | Mar 24, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
The intrepid WEVO Porsche team has reached the tip of South America in the 2013 Great South America Challenge.
The month-long rally drew to a close in Ushuaia, with landing-craft transport across the Straits of Magellan, from Patagonia to the southernmost tip of this epic continent. High winds and dirt roads kept the teams honest in Argentina, but WEVO’s Hayden Burvill reports the rally as much tamer than previous marathon events including Peking to Paris, and London to Cape Town.
“Not much to report, no challenge for Lola, me or Steven. Great scenery and a lovely introduction to Argentina, that will lead to future visits, hopefully on better rallies! The event is now officially finished: we finished 1st in class, 2nd overall. Good fun being with my two drivers thsi time out and great to be 54deg South.”
Not sure what marathon is coming up next. Porsche friend Alastair Caldwell is just back from a month-long thrash through India in his Pagoda Mercedes and his in-house mechanic has finished refurbing a classic Rolls Royce after its last rally event.
Tuthill Porsche is working on cars for the next Peking-Paris and the forthcoming London-Sydney, which should both be interesting. I’m looking forward to more desert miles to blog about.
by John Glynn | Mar 20, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
I’ve been storing an original 3.2 Carrera Speedster hard top for a Dutch R Gruppe mate for a couple of years and he’s finally coming to collect it.
The email announcing his imminent arrival was accompanied by these pics of his latest build: Project 913.
913 is the codename for a 911 ST/930 hybrid with a bit of backdating, a lot of fabrication and many retro cool tricks in between. American Racing mags, slick red early-style interior, an air force blue colour scheme that could well become his trademark and something that should be a heap of fun to drive.
Sadly he’s not coming here in it any time soon. Could be time for another trip to Amsterdam: roll on summer!
