by John Glynn | Sep 29, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
2014’s hottest Supercup hot shot has picked up a Porsche works drive for the 2014 Petit Le Mans. New Zealand’s super talented Earl Bamber is set to join Patrick Long and Michael Christensen in a factory 911 RSR.
Petit Le Mans is run at Road Atlanta in Georgia. A ten-hour race run to ACO regulations, class winners receive automatic entry to the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Petit Le Mans is the final race of the 2014 Tudor United Sportscar Championship. The highest-placed Porsche driver in GT Le Mans is Michael Christensen (excellent) who is 30 points down on the leader, Jonathan Bomarito. Porsche boys Leh Keen and Cooper MacNeil head to Georgia with a shout of taking the GT Daytona title, just four points behind leader Dane Cameron.
Porsche Works Drive for Earl Bamber
The drive is great news for Bamber, but as Sportscar365 reports, it has sadly forced the retirement of NGT Motorsport from Petit Le Mans for the second year running. Last year, the team pulled out following the tragic death of Sean Edwards while instructing on a track day in Australia.
The withdrawal of the Momo-sponsored NGT car takes away a fantastic opportunity to watch Bamber racing in the same team as his closest Supercup rival, Kuba Giermaziak, but gives Porsche a chance to see how Bamber handles the North American mayhem. Stuttgart is slightly under pressure for Petit, withdrawing one of its three-car entry as Richard Lietz is out with injury and altermative works pilots are committed elsewhere: Marco Holzer with the Falken Petit car and Fred Makowiecki in Thailand’s Super GT series.
Bamber has been absolute mustard this year, thrilling spectators with total commitment in Supercup. Despite stiff competition from established names like Giermaziak and experienced Porsche Junior, Klaus Bachler, it is Bamber on a Cup Scholarship drive who tops the points: five ahead of Giermaziak with two races remaining, both to be held in America. Earl has already stitched up the rookie championship, but is well placed to win the overall title. Brave money bets against him doing the job.
So far in 2014, Bamber has claimed two wins to Giermaziak’s three, but two fastest laps to Giermaziak’s one. Interestingly, the 991 Supercup has set no new fastest times in 2014: all the current fastest laps for tracks used prior to 2014 were set by earlier 911s. Who else would like to put Earl in a 997 RSR and see how much faster he could go around Spa, where he took pole and fastest lap this year? Awesome performance in a rookie season.
The current Porsche works driver line up is the biggest it has ever been. LMP1 squad has six members: Bernhard, Dumas, Hartley, Jani, Lieb and Webber. The GT squad has eight drivers: Bergmeister, Christensen, Henzler, Holzer, Lietz, Long, Pilet and Tandy. There are four Porsche Juniors: Bachler, de Philippi, Müller and Riberas.
Bamber is like a Kiwi barbecue, turning up the heat on illustrious names. Bamber/Tandy/Holzer in a factory RSR for 2015 – or maybe Bamber/Tandy/Lietz. Would be cool to see Christensen in LMP1 next year. Fantasy Porsche Works Team racing app anyone?
by John Glynn | Sep 26, 2014 | Porsche People, Race and Rally
A mate sent me a great video of Colin McRae the other day, on the seventh anniversary of the former WRC champion’s death. I had never seen it before so I forwarded it to a few people, Richard Tuthill included. The Tuthill and McRae families are good friends so I know Richard would enjoy it, but I got more of a response than I was expecting.
“I’ve watched that more times over the last five years than any other in-car. It’s unbelievable – proper proper driving, he was incredibly good and I was so lucky to sit in an Impreza with him in Australia. Colin drove our blue car at Sweetlamb: within 600 metres, he was driving it quicker than I have ever seen a 911 being driven. He was a legend.”
No doubt all World Rally Champions display legendary talent, but many more drivers who never took a championship fully deserve the title of legend. Amongst the most legendary drivers still rallying is François Delecour (above): four-time winner in the WRC, and a man who has claimed many more wins in the hearts and minds of spectators.
Delecour is a legend: a tempestuous French maverick whose aura fluoresces with talent and passion. While Francois has picked up a reputation for crashing, the truth is that in thirteen years of WRC rallying from 1990 to 2002 (and six years of ERC before that), only twelve retirements were due to accidents. His pace is always scorching and his devotion to the Porsche 911 is unassailable: a prospect sure to arouse anyone with a hint of Porsche petrol in their veins.
“Ever since driving a round of the 2011 British Historic Rally Championship in one of our classic 911 rally cars, François has been part of the Tuthill Porsche family,” says Richard “He has a deep affection for the Porsche 911, and his exhilarating driving style will excite every rally fan watching the stages. All of our team is delighted to welcome him back in a Porsche.”
Tuthill Porsche 997 RGT earns a Million Views and Shares
France will be the second WRC event for the Tuthill Porsche 997 RGT, which captivated rally fans on its German debut. WRC website data reveals that features on the Tuthill Porsche RGT car have since enjoyed more than a million views and shares across the web and on social media.
“We knew that rally fans would embrace our RGT Porsche and the return of GT cars to the world rally stage,” says Richard. “With the fans so enthralled by our car, its time to put a world-class driver and co-driver into the Tuthill Porsche 911 RGT and take that excitement to the next level. We’re confident that François is the best man to do this, and we know the fans are just going to love it!”
WRC Rallye de France runs from 3-5 October. Get more details at www.rallyedefrance.com or via the WRC website at www.wrc.com.
Back to the start: here’s the McRae video I was talking about. He was the ultimate. These photos are by Andre Lavadinho, who is also rather special.
by John Glynn | Sep 24, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
Essex legend and friend of Ferdinand, Dave Dennett, recently debuted his 935 K3 replica at the Porsche Club national event. The 935 was on track at Brands Hatch amongst a plethora of Porsche Rennsport machinery, where Gary Hand Motorsport Photography got some excellent photos.
The 935 came to Dave’s DSD Motorwerks a while back, in a part exchange deal against a 964 race car. Then painted black, the shell had started life as a left-hand drive 1986 3.2 Carrera with 45k miles on the clock, imported to the UK from Japan in 2011.
With a single turbo flat six making 650 bhp and a dog box G50 with 80% LSD, it’s an obviously complex machine. The body uses mostly DP Motorsport parts but, under that skin, the rust free shell has been comprehensively modified.
935 running gear needs a lot of space, so the rear panel was cut and replaced with an engine brace and rear frame, allowing room for the giant turbo. The front end lost all of its roadgoing parts, to be replaced by a single-piece 935 K3 clamshell. A custom rollcage makes it stiffer: much needed when you stick 650 horsepower through a production 911 bodyshell almost thirty years old.
The engine spec is interesting. 930 crankcases were gas flowed and shuffle pinned. The 930 std/std crankshaft was fitted with Carrillo rods with 22mm little ends for Omega 935 CTR pistons. Capricorn barrels mate to 930 heads, ported and twin plugged. Schrick cams run Motorsport rockers, as Dave tells Jürgen Barth here:
The inlet is modified 3.2 Carrera with ‘big’ injectors. Turbo is a Garrett ball race GT45, with a Turbosmart wastegate and bespoke intercooler. An Omex 710 ECU controls the motor, which breathes out through a custom exhaust. “You can’t buy these pipes from Kwikfit, Derek,” says David.
Originally built by Ninemeister, the engine was subsequently rebuilt by CTR and tested at 600bhp on the Judd engine dyno. Dave has since made a few more modifications and the latest dyno run produced 650bhp. I’m hoping to attend some test sessions with the car in the near future: should be a lot of fun, as there is never a dull moment with Dave in the house!
by John Glynn | Aug 15, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
So much for more time for Ferdinand after last weekend: this week has been even madder than last. Much activity has centred on the WRC debut of the Tuthill Porsche 997 RGT car.
Originally intended to debut on the Ulster Rally, the schedule did not allow for transport to the first test to Germany on the following Monday: Germany is too far away at 53 mph in the race truck. So it is straight off to Germany today, to arrive on Sunday. There follows a week of full on activity with testing, recce, shakedown and then the rally proper.
I had a look through the WRC event paperwork with Richard this morning and it’s amazing what they give the teams to get their heads around, even before the co-driver paperwork. Speaking of which, Stèphane Prévot is co-driving with Richard next weekend, and that is another delight.
Stephane started with Bruno Thiry in European rallying before moving to WRC in 1993. He then partnered Francois Duval, Stèphane Sarrazin and now runs with Subaru/Hyundai WRC pilot, Chris Atkinson. The pair are not racing again until Australia, so Prévot can partner with Tuthill. Stèphane is well known to the team, as he often sits alongside Glenn Jannssens, Tuthill’s Belgian Historic championship winner.
An unbelievable amount of work has gone into the 997 development and launch, so opportunities to really enjoy that achievement have been few and far between. Richard took the car out to bed in new brakes last night and said that the nicest surprise was the smile that appeared on his face half way around our local test route. “The 997 GT3 might look big, but it doesn’t feel big once you get moving,” said Richard. “Our aim in Germany is just to enjoy being back in a WRC paddock, with what we think is the coolest car.
“We’ll be looking for reliability as it’s not an easy car to service and we still need to understand the best approach to that side of things. It is so exciting and there is a huge amount of interest in what we’re doing. I’ve got to shut that excitement out, find some space and just focus on the road.” The enormity of a Porsche 911 in full-on FIA WRC rallying makes me nervous just standing next to the machine, so I am super excited for the team.
by John Glynn | Aug 8, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Been a very busy boy lately with a bunch of new website builds and a lot of new products and projects to look after. It’s left little time for Ferdinand, but I should start catching up after this weekend.
Undoubtedly the biggest Porsche story of the past two weeks has been the launch of Tuthill Porsche’s 911 WRC car. Built to comply with complex FIA R-GT/RGT regulations, the project was led by Graham Moore, who also managed the original Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT project. Graham is super interesting to talk to, and following Team Tuthill’s work in getting the car through the various levels of FIA approval has been highly illuminating.
Graham Moore – Chief Engineer Tuthill Porsche 911 Rally Car
Like many of the engineers and technicians who work with Tuthill Porsche, Graham started with Prodrive in the early 1990s and gained experience across all of the projects of the time, including BMW and Alfa Romeo touring cars. He then switched to Subaru’s Group A and WRC teams, where his work as head of powertrain helped Colin McRae secure Subaru’s first World Rally Championship.
Moving to the race track, Graham worked on the Drayson Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT2 program in Le Mans, American Le Mans and the 24 Hours. The team then built the first bio-fueled, Judd-powered Lola LMP1 to race in Le Mans Series. The car snatched pole in Japan ahead of a full season of Le Mans Series, ALMS and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2010.
Since then, Graham has been focused on developing high power electric drivetrains for electric racing championships like FIA Formula E, and served as Chief Engineer on converting the LMP1 Lola chassis to race with pure electric power. Graham’s lead role in the Tuthill Porsche RGT project has been a real dream come true for all at Tuthill Porsche in Wardington.
Porsche 911 FIA WRC Rally Car: Restrictions
It will come as no surprise to learn that the FIA’s RGT category is power restricted. The 911 has to run an inlet air restrictor, which limits outright performance on FIA events. This creates an interesting challenge to get the best performance, but Richard and Peter Lythell enjoyed their first outing at Harry Flatters, where the Tuthill 997 RGT car ran as course closing car with an official dispensation from the MSA.
“We had an amazing first day in the car,” said Richard Tuthill, who drove the car on the event. “The main aim of the day was to get miles under our belts. We tried a variety of setups and tyre combinations. Our target for the 911 WRC car was create a Porsche that is easy and fun to drive, and which will appeal to all levels of drivers.
“We’re delighted to report that the car lands beautifully from jumps, is incredibly nimble through the narrow tight twisty stuff and hugely competent in the fast sections. It was born to rally: there is also no doubt that it will be extremely competitive in the overall standings.”
Porsche 911 FIA RGT car at Ulster Rally and WRC Germany
Next outing for the Tuthill Porsche 911 WRC car is next weekend’s Ulster Rally. From Ulster it goes straight to Germany for testing for WRC Germany, and then possibly on to Scandinavia. We are waiting to hear! There may even be a video crew following the Tuthill Porsche in Deutschland, so we look forward to great content after that event.
The plan is to race this car to iron out any bugs and then open the order book for customer versions. Anyone interested in the Porsche 997 GT3 FIA WRC car should email Richard Tuthill and get talking, as build slots will fill up quickly. It takes very little work to switch the car from track day use to rally spec, so it is a true all-rounder.
Rally Pics by JMS Photographic
