I enjoy writing for 911 & Porsche World magazine. Editor Steve Bennett is a lot of fun and comes up with some great pieces of his own. Steve recently gave me a regular words and pictures slot in the magazine under the You and Yours banner and, while the first few were perhaps a little underwhelming to look at, I think the section is coming together.
The slot came up following a pair of Porsche 968 words and pics shoots that came out OK (above and below). The idea behind You and Yours is to get in touch with 911 & Porsche World readers. So far, all have been Porsche owners who have something interesting to say about their car, where it fits in their world, and in the wider world of Porsche.
I started the series with Ian Highfield, a friend with a modified 964 who has been through a few 911s to get to this one. The car has since sold, but it was a nice example and fun to shoot.
After that we had Will Inch, owner of a black SC with a 3.6 engine transplant. The SC was Will’s second Porsche, following a Speed Yellow 993 widebody. Will now runs a 1974 2.7 Carrera and will hopefully be joining us on the TwinSpark Racing Spa track day in October.
After Will came NurburgSingh: Lali Atwal and his 924 Carrera GT recreation with full 968 running gear. Lali is a Nürburgring nutter who races a classic VW Beetle in Swinging Sixties Sports Championship: excellent fun to work with.
Following Lali we had Peter Heaton, owner of a very smart 993 RS-style 911 in Silver. The 3.8-litre Cup motor makes a beautiful noise through a Cargraphic exhaust.
My most recent patient was Paul Starkey. Paul is a good friend who owns a smart 3.2 Carrera that looks stock, but has been tweaked by Tuthill Porsche and a few others to provide good fun on track. Paul is also coming to Spa in October.
The one thing all these guys have in common is a love of the Porsche community. It doesn’t really matter that their cars are hot rods, modified, rare or otherwise: it can literally be anything with a Porsche badge. The biggest part of what I’m after for the You and Yours slot is someone who genuinely enjoys being part of Porsche culture. Owning the right polo shirt is just not enough!
I’m always up for discussing an idea with an owner who fancies having a go, so if this rings a bell with you, email me at mail@ferdinandmagazine.com and let’s explore the possibilities. You get to have a bit of fun with a Porsche anorak and also get some free photos of your car!
The new issue of Total 911 magazine has just landed on the doormat. It’s pretty good.
Far and away the best thing in it (if I do say so myself :D) is on page 64: a Glynn/Lipman road trip piece on fellow Irishman Karl O’Donoghue and his Beige Grey Targa.
New designer, Neil Freestone, has hit the ground running at Total 911 and sorted a sweet layout for this perfect story. The ‘Rolling Stone’ title might have helped Herr Freestone – talk about synchronicity with that name – but, whatever did it, it is exactly how I imagined the piece. Jamie’s pictures are sublime.
It’s a joy when magazines put the effort into making your work jump off the page like this. I’ve done some non-Porsche stuff that really did not inspire, but this one is a different story. Literally. Awesome how this 2-minute blog post is full of serendipity.
If you’ve missed the magazine, the feature text is below.
Like a Rolling Stone
Exploring North America takes intrepid spirit, and a decent horse. One man mad for road has chosen a rare-groove Targa as his steed. Ferdinand Magazine’s John Glynn tells us more.
Born in Killarney, Ireland, Karl O’ Donoghue (Dunno-hew, not Don-oh-hew) is every inch a rolling stone. While in France, completing his Masters in History of Political Ideology, Karl’s aunt thought it would nice for him to work in America afterwards. The first Karl knew of his visa lottery entry was when a green card came in the post.
Karl bought a one-way ticket to New York, and set off for the American Embassy in Dublin, to sort the final red tape. “It was noon on Friday and the office closed at 12.30. I was flying the next day. Handing in my travel documents, a female official advised that my clean French police record would need translating, and my picture redoing, to see my full ear.
“I ran from the Embassy and grabbed a cab. The driver refused to take me, pointing out a translating agency a few blocks down. I rushed in, set them to work and flew back a few streets to a photo shop. I ran back into the Embassy at 12.30, just as the girl was about to leave. “O’ Donoghue, are you on roller blades or what?” she laughed. I laughed too – I was on my way.”
Karl arrived in America in March 1994, during number 15 of 18 blizzards that year. “I was staying with family, and couldn’t get out the door to find a job. I settled in by watching basketball for three weeks, before moving to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to work with an aunt and uncle in their restaurant while one of the staff was back in Ireland. Afterwards, I moved to the city, finding work with Air France as a business analyst.”
Karl spent ten years in New York, living in the West Village. “It’s a small neighbourhood, where everybody knows your name. When you live downtown, you never need to leave it; local wisdom says we get a nosebleed if we go above 14th Street.”
Today he is well above 14th Street. We’re in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire: 400 miles north of New York. This is the R Gruppe East Coast Treffen, also known as the RED Rally. Karl’s been with the group since 2005, when he bought this 1973 2.4 E Targa from San Francisco Grupper, Harold Williams.
“A few years after I met my wife Nikki in 1998, we decided to buy a classic car, for fun weekend drives and exploring upstate. Any self-respecting Irishman knows Ford is the brand of choice, so we bought a ’66 Mustang Hardtop, which we owned for a few years. It was a nice car in great condition but heavy to drive, like a boat.
“I liked 911s, but always thought they were priced beyond my pocket. After joining the forums and doing some research, I was amazed to find I could afford one. Nikki and I started looking for a Coupe, then spotted this Targa pretty early on. I didn’t want a Targa, but we kept coming back to the pictures. It was such a great colour – we were smitten.
“Eventually, Nikki pointed out that my hunt for a Coupe was ridiculous, as I was probably never going to drive this in the rain. She was right: the Targa was on. We contacted Harold, and the car went for a PPI at Rich Bontempi’s High Performance House in Redwood City. When it passed with flying colours, I wired the money one direction and the car was shipped the other.”
Harold had bought the car in 1986, from the second owner. The colour is Beige Grey: number 622. “It was the only colour offered on the ’73 RS that no one ever ordered,” smiles Karl, who’s uncovered just three other cars in this shade.
Harold was a track fan, and the Targa had done some laps. The 2.4 been replaced with a 3.2. Engine cooling was uprated with twin oil coolers under the wings, hence the turn signal opened up for ventilation. Shaved battery boxes let the coolers in: a Carrera one on the passenger side and a Mocal on the driver’s.
The suspension is Bilstein Sports all around, with 22mm/30mm torsion bars, and 22mm adjustable anti roll bars front and rear. The rear anti-roll bar consoles are from Jerry Woods. Aluminium trailing arms are fitted.
The body has steel RS flares. The S front spoiler and gauges were on there from new. The transmission is stock, with a WEVO precision shift joint coupler replacing the Porsche item. People often claim that the stock Porsche part is as good as it gets, but I think the difference is obvious.
Early Targas are an engaging drive and this is the same, plus some. Driving quickly over gravel, the chassis is taut, with no scuttle shake. The rear is perhaps a little stiffer than I would have it, but that stiffness is neither intrusive nor uncomfortable. The well-controlled chassis is echoed in the engine: this 2.4’s a blast. Karl gives me the lowdown.
“After advertising it for a while with no interest, Harold suspected the 3.2 might be putting buyers off, so he reinstalled the 2.4, and then we came along. Harold believed the 2.4 engine he’d bought it with was not the original, as the previous owner said it was changed when it went from MFI to carburettors.
“That didn’t matter to him, as he was building a car for track fun. It didn’t bother me either, but when I sent the chassis and engine number information to Porsche, the Certificate of Authenticity confirmed that it was the right engine for the car – it was matching numbers. ”
Matching numbers is a nice touch, but this engine can’t be standard. The SSIs and homemade exhaust give a zingy engine note, reflecting the Targa’s eager character. It must have cams or something.
“I don’t know about cams,” says Mr O’D. “I’ve got bills for a top end rebuild some time ago, so I suppose it’s possible.” Cams or not, the replacement Weber 40 IDAs suit the engine well, providing solid bottom end with plenty of pace as the revs pick up. There’s no fluttering and no flat spots: it just finds the traction and gets a shift on.
“It’s a great car to drive,” agrees the owner. “Harold’s basic recipe was perfect. Since I’ve had it, I’ve fitted Scheel 300 seats, bought and shipped from Germany, and a Mark Donohue Racemark steering wheel (Don-oh-hew: the American way). I thought I’d keep things in the family.”
Karl has also added ‘enough candlepower to melt paint’, according to Bob Tilton’s caption under a shot of the car on werkcrew.com. “It came with sealed-beam sugar scoops,” remembers Karl, “so I junked those and fitted H1s instead. Then I fitted through-the-grille lamps, and a pair of Cibie hood lamps. I think it’s bright enough now.
“The only other big change is the rear wheels: Minilites. I always loved the ST look, with 7 inch Fuchs up front and Minilite rears. As this is a rally car, they seemed to make sense. I bought them straight from the factory, in pre-paint primer. I figure I can use them for a while and decide whether they need colour in a few years’ time.”
The first two years with this spritely early Targa were spent enjoying the East Coast, on trips to Boston, Vermont and New Hampshire. When Rennsport Reunion III was held at Daytona in 2007, an R Gruppe drive to the East Coast event was inevitable.
“I drove to Daytona with a bunch of Porsche guys,” Karl recalls. “It was 2,200 miles there and back, and every inch was epic. I caught the road trip bug, and have been hankering for big drives ever since. Daytona proved the classic 911’s distance ability. I started planning something longer: something cross-country. 2008 brought the perfect excuse.
“Early 911S Registry and R Gruppe guys in Texas were planning the ‘Tour de la Ditch’ Grand Canyon rally, before a run to the 2008 Treffen in California. The plan was to drive to Texas, do ‘La Ditch’, get to California and leave the Targa there over winter. There was no point driving home, as the car would just be sitting around for months while the snow was on the ground. After winter, we’d fly back out, do the ‘09 Treffen at Cambria and bring it home, crossing eastwards further up the country.
“In October 2008, little brother Aidan flew in from Ireland, we threw the bags in the car and headed for Texas. The drive was incredible. Starting at home, now in upstate NY, we went 600 miles to Ohio, where we hooked up with a few more 911s. From there we drove to St Louis, down into Oklahoma and on towards Texas. Roswell and Area 51 were followed by the Grand Canyon, Arizona and Willow Springs Raceway. We ended up in San Luis Obispo on the Pacific Coast. The total distance was over 2,500 miles.
“I stored the car with Porsche amigo Curtis Autenrieth in LA over the winter, then flew back for Treffen 2009, in Cambria. A second bite of the California Porsche cherry in less than twelve months tasted good. The next stage was for Nikki to fly in and join me in San Francisco, where we’d head up the coast, before charging inland on our marathon drive back east.
“I arrived in San Francisco with two hours to spare, so I rang Harold Williams and asked if I could come and say hello. Meeting Harold for the first time was fun: he enjoyed seeing the car being used. All too soon, I had to hit for the airport. With Nikki on board, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and headed up to Sea Ranch, on the Sonoma coast.
“Two days later, it was time to go home. We said goodbye to California and drove the hairpin-laden Skaggs Spring Road before reaching Highway 50: officially the loneliest highway in America. Highway 50 took us into the desert, and we floored the throttle. Three-figure speeds dropped to thirty miles per hour for our first overnight stop, at a former brothel in Ely, Nevada. The radar-equipped State Trooper at the city limit was left empty-handed.
“We had a good night in Ely, then headed into Utah, and Salt Lake City. Wyoming was next: the Badlands, site of that legendary serial killer movie, starring Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen. The landscape there is almost Martian: very other-worldly.
“After the Badlands, we broke for Mount Rushmore, which was spectacular. A best-kept secret down the road is the incredible Crazy Horse Memorial: bigger than Rushmore and even more inspiring. The original sculptor was a Polish boy, Korczak Ziolkowski.
“Korczak was orphaned at the age of 1, and raised by foster parents in Boston. When, in 1948, the Native Americans invited him to design and sculpt the monument, he moved out west, eventually marrying a local girl with whom he had ten kids. Since his death, seven of his children have continued his work, blasting and chiselling the granite rock into a new wonder of the world.”
In the spirit of great Irish folk stories of adventure and exploration, O’ Donoghue has spent his Porsche ownership forging trails across America, making friends and seeing sights that are infinitely more powerful in person. His travels have reinforced the desire that this fellow immigrant also feels strongly: to keep clocking up the miles, gathering great experiences.
Jamie told me that his pictures of Karl’s Targa evoke a line from Gerry Rafferty’s classic song, Baker Street. “But you know he’ll always keep movin’, you know he’s never gonna stop movin’, ‘cos he’s rollin’, he’s the rolling stone.”
I reckon James is on to something here. It’s true that Glynn, O’ Donoghue and our R Gruppe compadres seem to be coded the same. Maybe R could stand for rolling: the rolling stones of Porsche. Long may it continue!
I just finished a piece on the Falken Tyre Porsche 911 GT3 R, and the team’s experience at the recent Nürburgring 24-Hour race. Suffice to say this awesome event tested the team to extremes.
Much of my focus in the short (2,000 word) article for Total 911 magazine was relatively new-to-Porsche racer Peter Dumbreck, and a quick overview of his weekend. Dumbreck is obviously a gifted driver, but I was righteously impressed with how hard he could push the GT3 R: Peter’s lap times in the 911 were on a par with all of his very respected Porsche expert team mates, including factory driver Wolf Henzler and factory man in training, Martin Ragginger.
“So what?” you ask. “So this,” I reply. The video below is Henzler around the Nürburgring. You see 16 minutes – the car does 24 hours. When it keeps going.
Peter and the Wolf are my newest heroes, and this is my favourite video of the year so far. The full feature text is below.
When 24 Hours Go Sour
Flat out for a day around the Nürburgring adds an entirely new dimension to 24-hour racing. John Glynn gets inside a gripping event.
The freeze-dried face behind Flybe’s Birmingham Airport customer service desk is ignoring my question. I flew Flybe to Amsterdam a few weeks ago, and carried my camera bag on board, so why is it suddenly a few centimetres too big?
Her robotic response is unwavering. “It doesn’t fit in our frame, sir. You have to check it in, or you can’t fly.” Knowing how hold baggage gets treated, and envisioning the cattle class that awaits beyond security, I abandon the Flybe awfulness. I’m going home, to get my Porsche.
Back at Glynn Towers, I buy a ferry ticket, fire the bags in the car and hit it. The 150 miles to Dover takes me two hours: I’m on schedule for the 12 o’clock boat. When we dock in Dunkirk, I’m fed and rested. Thank you Flybe: you did me a favour.
Nothing can stop me reaching the Nürburgring. I’m off to watch Falken Team Europe run their 911 GT3 R in this year’s 24-Hour race. The Falken drivers are Porsche works pilot Wolf Henzler, Martin Ragginger, Sebastian Asch and Peter Dumbreck.
Henzler has been a works driver since 2008. Last year, Henzler and Ragginger (Raggi to his friends) won the Spa 24 Hours in GT2. Having driven 911s to GT2 wins in ALMS overall and the Sebring 12 Hours, Henzler is a Porsche driver par excellence.
Raggi won last year’s FIA “Talent of the Year” and is a factory driver in training. Sebastian’s father, Roland, remains the winningest driver in Porsche Cup racing, and Asch junior is a chip off the old block. This year, Sebastian is running ADAC GT Masters in a GT3 R. These three are serious players, but Dumbreck is the one I’m most interested in.
If Jackie Stewart had never existed, Peter Dumbreck might embody the canny racing Scotsman. Karting from the age of 11, Dumbreck rose through the ranks of Jim Russell’s Donington race school, before joining Stewart’s Formula Vauxhall team and winning the 1996 championship.
Staying with Stewart for 1997, Peter moved to Formula 3, taking a win in his rookie season. The following year, he raced for the works Toyota team in Japanese F3, and won the series in record style, also winning the renowned Macau Grand Prix.
Mercedes Motorsport spotted Dumbreck’s obvious ability. In 1999, Peter raced for Mercedes at Le Mans, while still competing in Formula Nippon: the Japanese equivalent of Formula 3000. The Le Mans Mercedes drive made history for all the wrong reasons. While chasing the leading Toyota, Dumbreck’s CLR-GT1 lifted off, pirouetting end over end in mid-air before ploughing backwards into the trees. Amazingly, Peter escaped unharmed.
After Le Mans, Dumbreck raced for Mercedes and Opel in DTM, before returning to Japan in 2005 for the domestic GT championship, as well as Le Mans 24-Hour drives with Spyker. Japanese Super GT saw the start of Dumbreck’s association with Falken. Peter has raced with the Japanese tyre manufacturer since 2007, dovetailing various 24-hour drives with a GT1 World Championship campaign. Despite a flat-out racing career, on and off the track, Peter’s not done much in 911s.
“We had a 911 when we had money, before the kids arrived,” says Claire Dumbreck, director of Falken’s UK PR firm and wife of the globetrotting racer. “It was a 996 Turbo: an incredibly quick car. Peter likes Porsches.” Porsche like Peter too. With some of their favourite 911 drivers in Falken’s squad, Stuttgart has vetted and approved Dumbreck’s participation.
Sitting in the Falken tent in the Nürburgring paddock on Saturday morning, I’m convinced I can hear the tension ratcheting up. The noise is rain. While the heavens open as 99 Porsche racers prepare for the historic hour-long Carrera World Cup race, Peter and I take our seats in front of the TV screen showing footage from around the track.
Watching the race with Dumbreck, I ask about the circuit. What does he like about it, how well does he know it? Were he racing in this weather, would he know where to watch for standing water? Concentrating on the screen, his answers are succinct. “I like getting to the straight at Döttinger Höhe, and having time to think at the end of a lap! The uphill stretch from Karussell is impressive in a quick car.”
Despite the rain, these 911s are super quick around the Nürburgring. “A 9 minute dry lap, ten minute wet is going some,” according to Dumbreck. “I like driving Porsches: very different to front-engined cars. You’ve got to focus on turn-in weight transfer if you want to clock the times.” Peter’s lap times have been on par with his team mates, so he’s clearly enjoying the chassis. Qualifying for the 24-Hour has not gone entirely their way, but all the drivers are optimistic for the race.
“Porsche have been treating this satellite team like a works extension,” says Claire. “They’re studying the data carefully. Something was spotted in the transmission log, so they asked: “which driver does this particular action? It may be an issue over 24 hours.” The team discussed the feedback before changing the transmission for an all-new unit, and running it in through qualifying. Fingers crossed we’ll make up some places early on, and then reliability and clean running should start to play their part. “
Two hours before the start, Claire and I head off to get a decent seat at Falken hospitality, high in the Mercedes Benz grandstand at the end of the start/finish straight. It’s worth the effort: the view is outstanding. As the warm up lap begins, the field rolls patiently right through turn 1, then snaps left into turn 2. Wolf is starting: Peter won’t be too upset about that. After a tense ten-minute wait, helicopters reveal the leaders’ approach. A blaze of lights crests the hill, and dust, spray, steam and exhaust roars like a mushroom cloud around the pack as it charges into turn 1. Incredibly, everybody makes it.
One lap later, Henzler is nowhere to be seen. After an awesome opening charge on intermediate tyres, the Porsche has had some contact, so Wolf has pitted for a safety check and fresh rubber. Immediately clocking a quick time on slicks, many teams follow his example, but don’t all go as fast. A container full of bespoke Falken rubber and the engineers to chose which compound to use is proving useful around the ‘Ring.
For three hours, our vantage point is perfect. The ADAC iPhone app and big TV screens give an excellent overview of proceedings, and Falken are doing well. With driver changes timed at 90-minute intervals, Dumbreck has done the second stint and the car is up from 85th to 14th place. I envisage a happy ending to this version of Peter and the Wolf, and we head back toward the pits.
Walking into the Falken tent, the fairytale ending disintegrates. We enter the driver area to see a screen full of Porsche number 44, parked on the grass at far away Schwalbenschwanz. “On my last lap, there was a vibration,” says Peter. “We thought it was just old tyres, but obviously it was more.”
Half an hour later, the car is back, surrounded by a sea of spectators. Having studied the data while the car was being recovered, Porsche engineers determine the new transmission has failed. The team decides to change the engine at the same time.
At 19:58hrs, the car goes up on its air jacks. An hour later, the new drivetrain goes in. At 22:00hrs, I’m standing on the balcony of the Porsche lounge on the pit straight, when the Falken 911 rejoins the race. It’s in 176th position.
While Falken have been fixing their “Hawk of the ‘Ring”, the rest of the field has had its ups and downs. The number 206 BMW has flown from the track, ramped off a kerb and gained enough air to go straight into the forest. When it eventually comes back to the paddock, it’s crumpled like a crisp packet. Suddenly, a transmission fail doesn’t seem too bad.
The Manthey-supported Porsche 911 R Hybrid has also suffered some indignity. Power reduced by the organisers, the handicapped Hybrid eventually takes the lead, before differential flange failure sends it back to the pits for an hour. As the Falken flies by beneath us, and the Hybrid enters the pits for another unscheduled stop, Porsche archivist Dieter Landenberger and I discuss the cutting edge racecar.
“Absolute power is reduced,” says Dieter, “but torque is still strong. In damp conditions like earlier, having extra drive to the front wheels is a real advantage, and electrical energy is available instantly.” He’s not wrong. Watching the hybrid in the early laps from the Mercedes grandstand was an education: its cannonball speed out of slow corners like Turn 2 was unmistakable.
The petrol-electric Porsche fits perfectly into the Nürburgring 24-Hour. This atmosphere is electric, and not just due to thunderstorms. An estimated 250,000 fans have gathered in the Grand Prix circuit and the woods surrounding the 25 kilometre-long track to witness this year’s race. With some 200 cars and 700 drivers, the 24-Hour is allegedly the largest motor sport event in the world. I’m amazed at how much I’m enjoying it.
Chatting with other journos and Porsche enthusiasts around the paddock, everyone feels the same. “I have no idea who’s in front, and I’m not sure the organisers do either,” says one leading light of motorsport reporting, “but it’s brilliant racing. Similar cars pushing absolutely at the limit, on a track that forgives nothing.”
The unforgiving Nordschleife is the ultimate attraction for spectators, and the ultimate challenge for competitors. Manthey’s decision to retire one of their cars after two hours, to concentrate on a single entry, didn’t make much sense in Porsche’s first interim press release, but it’s paid off in practice. Manthey’s number 18 RSR takes the lead at 23:30hrs, headlights blazing along the pit straight as it charges past us into P1, en route to a win.
With just two hours’ sleep on the night before my drive and four more hours last night, the eyelids get heavy at 2am. Ice cream, Red Bull and copious amounts of coffee are having less and less effect, and photographers returning from the woods speak of two-hour tailbacks, so I retreat to the hotel to get my head down. Ten miles and two hours later, I eventually crawl under the duvet.
Sunday dawns dry and bright. A quick check on the ADAC app shows we are still running and the times look good. I check out and head back to the track.
The mood in the Falken tent is positive. Night running has been reliable, and current driver Sebastian is flying: his times are in the top five of the entire weekend.
I grab an early lunch and watch the race on screen. As I eat, the three resting drivers arrive and do the same. There’s a spoon of resignation with a sprinkle of frustration, but a determination to see it through and get the best result. The boys manage smiles all ‘round for a junior autograph hunter.
“The most painful thing is we’re driving a top ten car. It’s got a podium in it on the right day,” says Dumbreck. “Everyone connected with it is of the highest calibre, and the lap times now are seriously quick. The race didn’t quite work out for us, but at least we can show our potential.”
An hour before the finish, hitchhiker Claire and I break for Dunkirk, to avoid the end-of-race tailbacks. A blissful blast back to Banbury awaits. His weekend finished, Peter is off to Spain with FIA GT partner, Richard Westbrook, to test their GT World Championship car. All of us agree it’s been an incredible event.
Monday’s press releases allude to the weekend’s drama, but nothing sums it up quite like one quote from Team Falken. “The breakdown at the beginning made us drivers so mad, we literally beat the car through hell after that,” says Sebastian. “I have never pushed a car this much. It was absolutely crazy.”
Porsche. The Green Hell. Excitement. Exhilaration. Desperation. The Nürburgring 24-Hour is a truly magnificent event. Put it on your calendar!
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
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!
Not been out in a Porsche since I got back from the USA, so thought I’d better fix that. I grabbed some keys and got out in the fresh air.
Finally got the Tangerine 1972 Porsche 911 T I have for sale booked into Tuthills for a service and a suspension set up: ride heights and alignment. On new suspension bushes and new Dunlop tyres, this car is a delight to drive, but a little lower than is right, so worth sending it to Tuthills to be sorted.
While it’s there, they are going to check a few other bits and change the oil and filter, just to freshen it up. Should be absolutely brilliant when it comes back next week. Then it’s out for a photo shoot and we are thinking of entering it for the Goodwood auction in July. Will keep you posted. Email me if you want to know anything about this remarkable low mileage car. I would love to see it go to a good home.
The T is no slouch on its wicked TwinSpark Weber carbs, but the Carrera 3.0 is even perkier. Once back from Tuthills, I pulled the C3 out and took it for a run.
That car is – literally – a tonne of fun. The tax is up in July, so it’ll head off to Racing Restorations in Pershore for a little bit of body and paint, mainly repairing damage inflicted by moi, breaking into it in Monaco last year. Rob Campbell is also going to strip and clean the wheel arches, repaint and waxoyl the lot.
We’ll change all the window rubbers, install the carpet I’ve had sitting here for a few months, and maybe bolt in the mint 1975 Recaro sports seats. Either that or get the centres of my Recaro A8s retrimmed in some orange corduroy or similar. They are light weight, comfy seats: sweeter than the pukka early ones. But then the early ones are more ‘correct’…
While Robert is fettling the bodywork, wiring the heated screen, changing the fuel pump for an uprated modern unit etc, I’m going to send the engine off for a top end rebuild. No idea who is going to do it yet but am working on that.
Once the refreshed motor is returned, we’ll fit my SSIs and a custom exhaust that RaceResto will manufacture and then see what it goes like. I’m also thinking of redoing suspension bushes: need to get in touch with the polybush people and see who has the best deals on.
Driving it today was as much fun as it was when I first got it. This car never ever gets old.
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