Arrived in Monterey last night for Rennsport Reunion 2011. First job was to catch up with the Grays and finally meet Mr East Coast Porsche himself, Tommy Johnson.
Rennsport Reunion IV 2011 Monterey
Hyatt Monterey is again the home of the R Gruppe massive. The car park was somewhat bereft when I arrived, as all were at the Baja Cantina – a great little Mexican joint/steak house on the Carmel Valley Road. We didn’t get there until after 8, so a lot of 911s had left by then, but we bumped into the Dutch contingent and were invited to gatecrash their table (sorry guys!).
Lotta fun there then more chat in the car park before calling it a night. I’m staying up in Pacific Grove so got to the hotel here at 11. Pacific Grove is a divine spot, well away from the hubbub. This peaceful location on the Pacific coast sets the scene for a weekend of work and track time: really looking forward to it.
Gonna do some writing here this morning and head to sign on about midday. Will upload some pics from the track as soon as I can get an Internet connection.
Porsche Cars North America has a Porsche film contest running on its mydailymagic website at the minute. The competition is an offshoot of the ‘Porsche Everyday’ campaign, where we drivers (and erstwhile prospective purchasers) are encouraged to consider how Porsche fits the everyday routine, while also staying romantically stitched into our subconscious.
I’ve only just heard about this film competition, so I’m sad to say that entries are already closed. Sorry if that’s a blow to your pent-up creativity. The final ten films are on the site for you to watch and vote for. The winner gets some very nice exposure for their work andA 911 FOR A YEAR! Pretty cool by any film contest standard.
My inner critic started by watching Kristina Woo’s “The Ride”, then set to watching the rest of the films: all made by boys (I think). Disappointed with the predictability of most other offerings, I was almost certain that Kristina would whack the Classic Porsche Blog gong until – *HALLELUJAH* – I watched Michael Koerbel’s film.
Michael plainly gets the Porsche thing, with big fat knobs on, and a cherry on the top. So he gets my vote! Kristina is my runner up: I don’t feel as much flow, but it’s marginal and I get where she is coming from. I have two of those myself…
We all get a kick out of different things. Our votes only count for part of the results: the rest of the marks are for Porsche’s list of “overall appeal, originality and creativity, understanding and demonstration of “Porsche Daily Magic” and adherence to the creative assignment.” edit: 16/5/2015: sadly the original entries are gone now but Michael’s is still on his Vimeo, hence it is above.
The winning film premieres at a red carpet event at the Downtown Independent Theatre in LA on October 4th, and will show at Landmark Theatres across the USA later that week. Kudos to Porsche and all the contestants – top effort.
Fresh from last month’s WEVO cover in 911 & Porsche World magazine, Team Glypman have the front page of this month’s Total 911 magazine with Mike Gagen’s Matt Black Porsche 911 RSR replica.
Designed by Neil Freestone, the cover features our buddy Mike Gagen’s 911 RSR, shot on the move in San Diego. Based on a ’69 T, the car is an R Gruppe stalwart on its fourth iteration.
Reading the piece a month after I wrote it, I’d really like to change the whole thing around. That’s pretty much the same for everything I write! The article is still fun to read, though the Jamie quote I included (my title here) was changed to “this car is sick”. If you’re wondering why I would write that, now you know I didn’t. As Lipman says, “this car is sicker than Gary Glitter” and no mistake.
No column this month, as the mag has knocked them on the head! You’ll have to buy Porsche World if you want a double dose of my prose in print this September. Here’s the start of the feature:
The Art of Stealth
Built in sunny San Diego, this skunkworks 911 RSR has the look of an SR-71 Blackbird and makes just about as much noise. What’s not to like?!
Built along a natural harbour, San Diego is a seafarers’ paradise. Entering the city on the legendary San Diego Freeway, we pass signs for Navy bases, and the submarine station at Point Loma. Warships of the US Pacific Fleet at anchor in the bay are waterborne Star Wars technology: nowadays, low radar signature is everything.
San Diego is all about stealth. This is the home of Stiletto: an advanced hull design that “passively dampens the visible and acoustic signature”. Trapped air bubbles suppress stern wake energy, also reducing noise from movement and machinery. The Navy’s soon-to-be-scrapped Sea Shadow stealth project also lives in San Diego; moored in a once-classified submarine salvage barge at Mole Pier.
Stealth plays heavy on my mind as I follow Mike’s Gagen’s monster black Porsche down through San Diego’s Granite Hills, towards our city limits shoot location. The car screams “look at me” louder than a fat man in a wetsuit, but the driver is so possessed with stealth, he’s driving to the shoot with the engine off.
Behind the wheel of our Nissan rental car, I’m struggling to keep up. Gagen’s a veteran track addict and Porsche Club of America instructor, with the stickers to prove it. Despite my screaming the auto gears in this Marlon-Blando Eurobox, the switched-off RSR is getting away.
Maybe it’s sticky tyres and a stealth paint job stymieing my senses, but Mike’s machine seems to make better use of gravity. Hammering down Mount Helix at a decent rate of knots, the big black 911 seems more magnetically attracted to the bottom than my slabby silver hatchback. Yes, black is more magnetic: that’s what this is.
No doubt you’ve all seen plenty of cut-and-paste Porsche press releases on various websites about the 991. The new 911 is currently being driven by journalists and is bound to be well received. Pic tweeted by Chas Hallett from the Porsche museum media launch:
My main interest is the seven-speed manual transmission. Being a child of the four speed era, I struggle with six speeds, so seven should be suitably hilarious. Another Chas pic: no, he’s not a photographer, he’s the big boss editor of What Car.
New Porsche 911 991 Launched
Manufacturers fit multi-speed transmissions to lower emissions. The better matched each gear is to road speed, the less fuel you burn. Combine that with the stop-start technology fitted to the 991, and you get the lowest emissions yet seen on a Porsche sports car: 194 g/km. Panamera Hybrid makes 159 g/km, so the Porsche 911 emissions still have a way to go, but it’s reasonable progress.
194 g/km is the same as the Lexus IS 250 and the Saab 93 2.0T. From a 3.4-litre 911. That’s lower than a BMW 335 and is easily lower than my ancient 911 or any of my other cars: factory numbers for both the ’02 Subaru Legacy Outback and my ’96 E36 M3 are both knocking on the door of 230 g/km. Legacy a little lower as I run it on LPG. Landcruiser is diesel, so a different kettle of fish, but God only knows what an early ’90s 4.2-litre turbo diesel manual throws out.
Fuel economy is unlikely to be a focal point in new 911 road tests, but it fascinates me. I managed almost 38 mpg from the Carrera 4S I took to Essen in May of this year, so if the new Carrera can top 40 mpg in sensible use, that’ll be quite a thing. Perhaps I could have seen 40 in a C2 to Essen: I’m sure colleagues have reported mid-40s on C2 economy drives in the past. Who knows – maybe I could wring the new one out to 50.
Fantasy land and not the point of the car I agree, but efficiency brings benefits across the platform. Lighter weight with lower emissions mean you can carry less fuel to go the same distance. Less energy is wasted controlling more mass through tyres and suspension, which makes the car more dynamic. No future 911 will ever leap back to the 1100-kilogram air-cooled benchmark, but the 45 kilos saved by the aluminium body versus the old one will make a difference to how it performs, and how much energy it needs to make you feel alive.
Here’s some nice 911 video in German. I like German videos: no understandable marketing speak.
A great orange RSR hillclimbing video has been doing the rounds of the ad-packed ‘German Car Scene’ blogs lately. It shows the Porsche 911 of Swiss hillclimb driver, Willi Jenni, competing on a number of national championship rounds. This is it:
My orange 911 Carrera 3.0 came from Switzerland, and was maintained out there by former Swiss hillclimb champion, Alain Pfefferle, who won the title in a Porsche 935. Here’s Alain driving Bergrennen Oberhallau 2010 in the car: note this is a real one!
Also note just how tidy these boys are on track: there’s very little opposite lock. Sideways might look fun, but tyres hooked up and pushing the car forwards is the fastest way to go.
Oberhallau 2011 will be held at the end of this month: 27/28 August. You can follow live web timings on the Bergrennen Oberhallau website here. I’m going to have to get myself to one of these events one day: they look absolutely superb.
No matter how many horror stories you hear about the Swiss speed camera obsession, Switzerland is a great place to go mountain climbing in a 911. The drive that little brother Sammy and I enjoyed at the start of the 2010 Bergmeister Tour was absolutely unforgettable. The fact that it was totally illegal might have had something to do with it, but who can tell with hindsight?!
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