I can’t recall a busier two weeks, ever. Porsche stuff everywhere is totally brilliant, but a bugger if you’re trying to find time to blog!
I’m in the middle of writing three Porsche features, two of which are nicely linked by the video clip at the bottom. One is the story of my recent trip to the Nürburgring 24-Hour with the Falken Tyres GT3 R, and the other is the WEVO GT3 Cup-engined 912 we call PVX.
The Carrera GT in the video was taken on a lap of the Nürburgring by games developers looking to gather data. They put the footage on a video involving some of the worst narration ever. Like “the brakes are incredible: the harder you push, the better they work”. FFS!
The link from this to WEVO is Hayden Burvill (Lord WEVO, below) engineering the closed-course speed record Porsche Carrera GT at Talladega Raceway in 2005, with driver David Donohue (DD & Jay Leno, above. Proper pic mix up, this one) and a Porsche team led by Norbert Singer. Hayden didn’t volunteer the information, I had to drag it out of him. But it’s a good story: worthy of a feature one day.
The PVX story is in next month’s 911 & Porsche World magazine. The Falken words and pictures piece will run in Total 911. Both are brilliant, but I would say that!
I was out at the Nurburgring 24-Hour race last weekend (best racing livery below), so had a chance to catch up with some friends at Porsche and ask about upcoming event plans. First on the list is this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
This year’s Goodwood theme is Racing Revolutions: Quantum Leaps that Shaped Motorsport. No manufacturer has more to say on the subject than Stuttgart, so the Porsche Museum is sending some epic cars to take part in various parts of the Festival.
First is Semper Vivus: the replica of Ferdinand Porsche’s ground breaking 1900 hybrid petrol/electric creation.
Next is the 718 F2 car (above), mentioned a number of times on the Classic Porsche Blog and driven to victory in the 1960 championship by Graham Hill, Jo Bonnier and Sir Stirling Moss. There’s talk that Sir Stirling may once again take the wheel – we’ll see how that pans out.
Then there’s the 1973 917/30 Spyder. This was Porsche’s first turbocharged car, and it changed the face of racing. The 917/30’s 5.3-litre flat-12 makes 1200 horsepower but weighs less than a modern Boxster Spyder. Average lap speed around Talladega: 220 mph+. In 1973!
Finally there’s the ill-fated 961 (above). Developed from the 959, the car finished seventh at Le Mans but was involved in a fire some time later. It has since been restored and will sit well at Goodwood with the other cigarette-sponsored has-beens. I say has-beens in a highly complimentary way!
Given that Semper Vivus and the 961 will be on site, it’s a shame the 4wd 911 R Hybrid won’t be there, as it’s the best current Porsche for this year’s theme, and is absolutely beautiful. Watching it lap the Nürburgring last weekend was literally electric. They’ve got two of them – surely one must be free?!
The BBC 5-day weather forecast for Goodwood looks nice at the minute: 18 degrees for both Friday and Saturday is a comfortable temperature to walk around in. I’m currently trying to get a ticket. If I manage it, I’ll see you at the Porsche tent.
If you’ve not got tickets, then Porsche have a competition for you. Follow Porsche Origin on Twitter and tweet the hashtag #porschegoodwood by midday on Wednesday June 29th for your chance to win a pair of VIP tickets for Saturday, and a ride up the hill in a GT3 RS 4.0.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
The July issue of 911 & Porsche World magazine just landed on the mat. It’s an interesting edition, with a 924 group test, Cayman R UK drive and the story of Manon Borrius Broek: a Dutch heiress who has accumulated a beautiful collection of Porsche machinery.
I’ve had a flick, but not read any feaures yet. In all honesty, there’s a good chance I won’t. Like most journos, reading magazines is looking back in time. We finish a piece, send it, and look forward to the next one. I usually speed read my own articles, to see what the mag has done with layout and check for any typos, but otherwise I point myself ahead.
That is not to say I ignore the magazines – I definitely do not. My first port of call in any magazine or newspaper is always the letters page. Here we get a golden opportunity to gauge ambient temperature amongst the readership: what they think is hot and not.
Custom Porsche 911s & Porsche World Magazine
This month’s Porsche World carries a great letter (Rise of the Replicas) from John Hammond Jr in the US. John gives the thumbs up to Porsche World’s ‘hot rod’ group test last month, but cautions against the rise of what he calls ‘cookie cutter’ hot rods: the margarine creations of a backdated 3.2 with a center filler cap, recipe repro seats and vacuous roll hoops. “If we’re not careful,”says John, “it will be like the kit car world, where every man and his hound wants to build a Cobra kit car, to the extent that owners of genuine Cobras become tired of being asked what kit they used.”
Not surprisingly, I agree with John. Nothing irks more than a lack of imagination. We’re living in a time where unlimited online inspiration, vinyl wraps and energetic new paints make creating something different a little bit easier, so where are those cars? The scene is certainly starving for them.
Jamie and I have just shot some very unique, proper hot rods in the US, and I’m tracking some European builds that look right on the money, so they are out there to be found. Help is on the way for John Hammond Jr, and all those looking for down-home hot rod spirit from their Porsche periodicals.
God bless the boys and girls who want to stray from the herd: they’re the ones keeping things interesting!
Back in primary school, our teacher (Mrs Bell) would go around the class at 9 AM, asking us to share interesting things that had happened to us since last time. This round-the-class summary was called ‘Our News”.
After everyone who had a story had told it, Mrs Bell would pick her favourite three items, they’d get a line each and we’d write ‘Our News’ for the day in the bottom half of a copybook. You could then draw a picture at the top, to illustrate your favorite story of the ones that had made it into print.
Not much has changed. I still go around my peers and colleagues in the mornings, get updates from the various classmates, pick the stories I like the most and put them on the blog, with pictures of my choosing, or making.
It’s fun to know that ‘Our News’ would still give me immeasurable pleasure almost forty years later, but there you go; life can be crazy like that. So:
Our News: 15th May 2011
Today is Sunday. It is a sunny day.
The weather last night turned cold and rainy, so John, Hayden, Harvey and Alastair went to the Sports Bar at the Monterey Hyatt, and had a few beers while watching the Brumos Porsche win at Virginia Raceway, after a thrilling wet race and some very close racing.
Yesterday, Jamie and John shot three Porsche 911: two hot rods and a beautiful standard 911S. One was shot at Lover’s Point in Pacific Grove, and the other two were on The Preserve, a privately owned 20,000-acre ranch outside of Carmel.
John and Jamie have been doing their usual sun cream forgetting trick, so John is now pinker than a Barbie car.
(I’m sure that last one was also in ‘Our News’ forty years ago, too.)
I’m in sunny California at the minute and loving every minute of it. Today is being spent with those wonderful people at WEVO in San Carlos, plotting our group assault on this weekend’s R Gruppe Treffen, down in Monterey.
Lined up for Team WEVOs weekend works outing is a great bunch of classic Porsche enthusiasts from all over the US and Europe. R Gruppe started as a California club but its influence now stretches much further afield.
Hayden’s got some great cars here at the minute. In one corner is the GT3-engined 912 we are shooting tomorrow: the car that’s kicked the hot rod goalposts into the stadium car park. In another is the black 911 being built for Burvill Senior. Black with orange leather: properly cool.
Outside are the 993 used as shop delivery bus and the ’67 Aga Blue 912: a 36,000-mile all original car with patina that can’t be beat, including the obligatory baked paint.
Also on site is Hayden’s BMW 2002 Touring, owned since 1990. It’s just had a new twin-choke carb installed under outwardly standard California-legal air filter housing and emissions system. Loads of 2002s around here, including the ‘Golf’ car I got a wave from this morning while I was driving Kenny.
Kenny is a ’72 running a 2.4S engine, Recaro sports seats, one-off WEVO brakes, development suspension, Tall Boy WEVO shifter prototype and enough additional trickness to make a grown Porsche fan weep. I’ve just found a spare hour in the schedule so we are shooting it tomorrow.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
