by John Glynn | May 2, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
Today was a good day, spent hanging out at Tuthills watching the finishing touches going on a brand new Safari car.
This 911 is destined for Kenya in November, but the Swedish owner will run the car at in the 2013 Morocco Historic from May 13-18 as an African ice breaker.
Tuthills have three cars in this year’s Moroccan event: all three will go on to race the Safari. They have all just been prepped for North Africa at the Wardington workshops, and this is the first to depart. Driver Phil trailered this one to Calais today, where the owner will take over moving it to Morocco.
We often think of 911s as soft little flowers: those slender side pillars and sculpted door handles imbuing a sense of finesse. Tuthill Safari cars retain those classic 911 motifs, but are the hardest Porsches I know.
Eight hundred hours or more goes into every Safari shell to ensure it’s stiff and strong. The suspension is bespoke – none of your revalved Bilsteins here. Engines are built from powerful, reliable components, most run MFI and are tuned to over 300 horsepower. Transmissions are custom built, with specially calculated ratios to suit the modified gearing and tall wheel/tyre combinations.
Inside is a workspace. Nothing surplus: all is function. Under the front is the oil cooler pipework, a custom fuel tank and a pair of full-size spare wheels, each ready to be changed in under a minute if you know what you’re doing.
Now costing £160,000 plus VAT a piece to build, Safari cars are easily my favourite 911s. I never get tired of looking at, listening to or riding in them. The ultimate do-anything Porsche!
by John Glynn | Apr 16, 2013 | Porsche News, Market & Prices
Porsche achieved record sales in March 2013. More than 14,000 cars were sold in one month: a record number of deliveries in the company’s history.
In the first quarter of 2013, deliveries totalled 37,000 cars: 21% up on last year. China had increased interest in mid- and rear-engined models, where Porsche says 33% more Boxster, Cayman and 911 vehicles were delivered in the first quarter of 2013. Porsche sold 8,844 cars in China during Q1: up 25% on last year.
Porsche seems pretty bullish regarding 911 sales, which were up almost 19% on Q1 2012, with 7,230 911s sold. Stuttgart says Cayenne is also up on last year, with 20,000 vehicles sold versus an undisclosed number. No data was released on Panamera: a shame following our last post regarding Panamera sales slumps, but few of you will be that bothered and it’s just about to be replaced, in any case.
Look again at the data chart above. While Asia is up over 3,000 cars, with America close behind, Europe is showing a mere 400-car increase. Germany on its own is up more than twice that. Take Germany out, and Euro sales are down.
March is an important month for UK new car registrations, with the new-year registration plate on March 1, and end of the tax year for most companies. March 2013 registration data shows a healthy UK car market, with registrations up almost 6% for the month to just under 400,000 and Q1 up 7.5% year-on-year at just over 600,000 units.
In a rising market, Porsche registered fewer cars in March this year versus last, and Q1 sales are also down, at 1,660 units. The drop is only 4% (roughly 70 cars), but Mercedes was up 13%, Land Rover was up 19% and Jaguar saw sales increase by almost 25% in the first three months of 2013.
Fingers will point at new Porsches coming, but the rest of the world awaits the same new models, and sales are through the roof. Small wonder that New Porsche is putting so much effort into grabbing that business.
The UK, and Europe beyond Germany is now a minor territory, and increasingly less relevant to whatever this is moving towards. Product planners usually pay little attention to 4% of worldwide sales, however important that market might have been, once upon a time.
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by John Glynn | Apr 15, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices, Modified Porsche Hot Rods
Note: this car has now sold via the Ferdinand Magazine Blog and lives in New Zealand.
Fellow European R Gruppe member, Christian, has just sent details of his 911 RS recreation, which he has put up for sale. I followed this car in build for a couple of years and am surprised he is letting it go.
It made slightly more sense when Christian told me how a top secret barn find with a 360 chassis number was behind the decision, although part of me thinks I’d prefer to own this one.
This car is just so right. “This is the only Carrera 2.7L RS replica which was invited to the official 40th anniversary Porsche Carrera RS World Meeting in Stuttgart in September 2012”, says Christian. “It appears in the official participant book as number 36. The car is in overall perfect shape, always very well maintained and handles perfectly. It has a nice driving position as the driver’s seat, the special seat railings and the hub extension were built for a person around 175-190cm (5’7″-6’2″).”
Based on a late 1972 911T (’73 MY), this 911 is what Christian calls a “contemporary 2,7L RS M471 lightweight build”.
The colour is Grand Prix White over Viper Green. Four layers of paint protect a detailed restoration by Hans Patutschnick in 2010, with full photo documentation. Except for DP Motorsport bumpers & ducktail, the body is all steel and was fully wax protected.
Suspension is classic 911 19/26mm torsion bars with Bilstein Nurburgring suspension and raised front spindles. Adjustable 18mm bars front and rear, 7 and 8×15 wheels in proper anodised-with-bright-rim finish and Avon CR6ZZ tyres.
Inside is a DP Lollipop seat, with RS co-drivers seat: love the houndstooth. VDO gauges restored by North Hollywood, original 1973 Momo Prototipo, 85l plastic tank, magnesium transmission with correct gearset and a Quaife LSD. Full transmission cooling and Webasto cabin heating.
The engine is a true work of art, built by Oliver Bienert of Boxer-Motoren, Manching, Germany in 2011. It’s a 2.8-litre MFI, making 281 hp at around 7,200k RPM. The 7R case was modified with shuffle pins, oil bypass and boat tailing, before the bottom end was built around a knife edged 70.4mm crankshaft, with 964 oil pump, Carrillo rods and 92mm Mahle barrels and pistons.
The engine list really is too much, including custom Bosch throttles, MFI pump and twin plug distributor. An RSR flywheel and lightweight clutch finish it off.
Fuelled up with 30 litres and ready to go, the RS rebuild weighs 980 kilograms. It’s done 5,000 miles with no track use since completion. Everything is detailed in the German registration papers, it carries a H (historic) registration plate and is fully TUV approved.
Having just seen what traders were asking at Techno Classica for ordinary early cars, this seems well priced at €94,000. Though he is based near Frankfurt, I hear Christian has had contact from France and the US on this car, so get your skates on if you want to discuss it.
by John Glynn | Apr 14, 2013 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Fourth place in GTE Pro was the best Porsche could manage in today’s 991 RSR debut at the Six Hours of Silverstone. Despite a subdued reaction to the RSR’s debut, the prototype racing was excellent, with McNish setting lap records towards the end, in pursuit of a win he eventually claimed.
Round 1 of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship was run in generally dry conditions. A short burst of rain at the halfway point handed Stuttgart some help, but when the circuit dried, the competition had no problem staying in front.
First GTE Pro home was the number 97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE of Turner, Mucke and Senna. Fourth Aston pedaller and friend of Ferdinand, Peter Dumbreck, skipped Silverstone to race the JRM Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 in the opening round of Blancpain Endurance at Monza.
Nice as it must be to race alongside ex-Porsche driver and 2011 FIA GT1 champ, Lucas Luhr, on the epic Monza circuit, Peter would have savoured a trophy in the local Prodrive-built Aston, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi’s Ferrari 458 Corse, and the #99 Aston of Rob Bell, Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Frederic Makowiecki. No doubt Darren enjoyed his day, as did Kobayashi, who soared to second place in the final hour, when a pitstop taken earlier than the others paid off.
After the race, Porsche’s Patrick Pilet tweeted: “Just a little issue on the car, the mechanics make a good job but we lost three laps. Car was great to drive. See u at Spa”. The Pilet/Bergmeister/Bernhard car seemed to hold up Marc Lieb’s encouraging charge in the early part, before Bergmeister boxed the #91 car, to check on loose front suspension. Olaf Manthey said no fault was found, and the car continued on its way. The sister #92 991 RSR and fourth place finisher of Lietz/Lieb/Dumas had what looked like a trouble-free run, just without sufficient dry pace to take it to the Astons.
Interviewed for Motors TV by the Radio Le Mans team after his stint, Romain Dumas noted that the rain shower had played to Porsche’s strengths, and allowed the RSR to close on the Ferrari he was trailing at the time, but also said each pitstop was costing the drivers ten or twelve seconds more than their rivals. “Whatever time we gain on track, we lose in the pits,” bemoaned Romain.
At the flag, the RSR finished a lap plus over a minute behind the winning Aston, but showed a fastest lap within reach of its rivals (see the data). Saving twelve seconds in each of five pitstops might have helped to keep Porsche in touch.
The next round at Spa on May 4th and 5th has some watery comfort. Last year’s big race was held in the wet, and Porsche streaked to glory as a result. But we don’t want to race a car hoping for rain. Here’s hoping Porsche AG Team Manthey can further develop the new boy by Spa, and race to take P1 on merit.
Text © MightyMotorMedia Ltd
by John Glynn | Apr 14, 2013 | Porsche People, Race and Rally
Just watched a great Chinese Grand Prix, and now watching the 6-Hour World Endurance Championship event at Silverstone.
The 991 RSR is going well: number 92 at the hands of Marc Lieb had a good second stint, claiming a few scalps thanks to a combination of raw pace and Ferrari chaos. A Lieb/Kobayashi dogfight ended prematurely, when Kamui’s 458 went off on a slippery track following a sizeable Strakka/Ferrari crash.
Number 91 has been in the garage, losing two laps when Bergmeister boxed with suspected loose front suspension. The RSR looked quick in clean air and is now back in the hunt. That said, it’s just had a dig in the right front corner from a passing prototype.
The 991 is just one story here at Silverstone. Another hot Porsche topic amongst Radio Le Mans commentators is a rumour that Red Bull F1 Racing driver, Mark Webber, has signed a five-year deal to drive for Porsche.
Currently unconfirmed, there’s been some buzz surrounding Webber and Porsche in the last few days, and this rumour makes some sense, given potential changes in Webber’s arrangements at the end of this season following the Multi21 episode in Malaysia.
Would the deal be Le Mans only, or might it cover a wider campaign by Webber and Stuttgart? The second option would seem to call for F1 retirement. Mark’s about more than F1 and is a mega Porsche fan, so we’ll regard any drive as good news for enthusiasts. Will keep you informed.
