by John Glynn | Apr 20, 2014 | Porsche People, Race and Rally
Just spotted Frédéric Makowiecki’s name listed as a works driver in one of the Silverstone releases. I had no idea Fred Makowiecki was a 2014 Porsche works driver – a quick search through the Porsche database shows no press release for the signing. He is listed on the Porsche works racing drivers’ homepage, though.
Fred Makowiecki now Porsche works driver
Always fast in a Porsche and a former French Carrera Cup champion, Makowiecki (above, left) was most recently attached to last year’s works Aston Martin squad, where he took wins at Circuit of the Americas 6 Hours and the 6 Hours of Fuji. Seems Aston let a few people go this year – their loss here for sure – and Fred was snapped up by Stuttgart.
Porsche Motorsport boss, Hartmut Kristen, called this one perfectly, as Fred took a win on his first time out for Team Manthey Porsche Racing. Edit: just found mention of the signing in a later Porsche press release (below).
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Frenchman Frédéric Makowiecki (33) will join the ranks of Porsche Motorsport’s GT squad this coming season and pilot a 911 RSR. Makowiecki, who prefers to be called Fred Mako, is a regular competitor behind the wheel of Porsche race cars. He has collected more than nine years of experience in the cockpit of the 911. One of his greatest achievements was clinching the title of the Porsche Carrera Cup France in 2010.
“Frédéric Makowiecki is one of the fastest and most experienced GT pilots,” says Porsche Head of Motorsport Hartmut Kristen. “He has a great deal of experience on virtually all international race tracks and he knows precisely how to drive a Porsche 911 fast. I’m very much looking forward to working with him.”
by John Glynn | Apr 20, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
In a choice between a weekend at the Silverstone 6 Hours or taking my first trip home to Ireland for two years, Ireland won. In a choice between watching the last hour of the Silverstone 6 Hours or watching a replay of the Chinese F1 Grand Prix, China won. In the first race between the all-new Toyota TS040 LMP1 Hybrid and the all-new Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrid, Japan won, and won well.
Arriving back from Ireland at 4pm today in the heaviest rain I have seen so far this year did not bode well for the Silverstone 6 Hours, which was running from 12 to 6. We live just a few miles from the Northamptonshire circuit, and I could well imagine the conditions Porsche’s endurance racers would be facing on track. The organisers eventually ended the race half an hour early.
A quick look on Eurosport when we got in the door showed Toyotas numbered 8 and 7 running 1-2, so I stuck with watching the Chinese Grand Prix, and Ricciardo sticking it to Vettel. My quick glimpse was how they finished at Silverstone. Autosport reckoned that switching to intermediate tyres in a light shower after an hour of racing gave the showstopping team of Buemi, Davidson and Nick Lapierre an upper hand that was never relinquished.
Porsche’s LMP1 debut was decided when Jani lost a wheel and the car then retired after repairs. The remaining 919 of Bernhard/Webber/Hartley battled on, finishing two laps behind the winning Toyota and a lap down on the second-placed car.
Looking at the data, the number 8 Toyota ran 167 laps in 6 hours, with 6 pitstops. The car did an average speed of 202 km/h and had a best lap of 1:44.606. Toyota number 7 had a best lap of 1:44.326 with the sole 919 to finish clocking a best lap time of 1:45.245 at an average speed of 201.5 km/h. It appears Porsche is almost a second off the pace, but we’ll see how the 919 goes at the next event.
Third place is still second loser, but there’s a long way to go in this season, and a long way to go at Le Mans. The 1000-horsepower Toyota may turn out to be untouchable, but Porsche can be happy with a podium first time out.
by John Glynn | Apr 11, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Media accreditation for the 2014 FIA 6 Hours of Silverstone dropped through the virtual letterbox this morning. The 6 Hours will be our first opportunity to see Porsche’s 919 Hybrid LMP1 technology put to the test in its maiden race on Sunday, April 20.
“It’s completely different, totally new,” says Romain Dumas (below). “We have to be focused, motivated, as it’s very difficult for a driver to adjust and understand all these things. For sure it is the most intelligent driver and team who will win the race.”
“For us as drivers in the cockpit, it’s quite busy,” adds Mark Webber. “Still we have to brake as late as possible and keep the rhythm up to a very high level: that’s our job. The good guys will still find a way to be very, very quick.”
Engine Sound Porsche 919
Running a combination of 2-litre V4 turbo petrol engine and two separate energy recovery systems, the 919 has a sound all of its own. I like this video capturing the 919 Hybrid on track at Paul Ricard alongside the 991 RSR for comparison. What do you think on LMP1 noise versus 911?
by John Glynn | Apr 7, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
EB Motorsport has opened its 2014 FIA Masters Historic challenge at the Espiritu de Montjuic Barcelona event. The RSR took a pair of wins in both Trofeo Javier del Arco races amongst a field of historic touring cars, and a class win in the Masters Historic Sports Car race.
Qualifying second on the grid behind a De Tomaso for the first Javier del Arco race on Saturday, EB’s Mark Bates in his Porsche 911 RSR quickly found a rhythm around the Circuit de Catalunya, snatched first place from the pole-sitting Pantera and claimed his first win of 2014 at the chequered flag, twelve seconds ahead of Manuel Hermida’s BMW M3 touring car.
Starting from pole in Sunday’s race two, Bates’ RSR swapped fastest sector times with the M3 to the flag, but while Hermida chalked up two out of three fastest sector times, the win went to Bates’ Light Yellow Porsche, just two seconds ahead of the M3 after twenty five minutes of racing. Close contest!
In Masters Historic, Mark came home first in class (Pescarolo), behind the sole GT40 running. The Formula 1 layout at Barcelona favours the historic sports cars’ higher gearing, top speeds and aerodynamic bodywork, but the 911 gave it a good run, with a fastest lap a little over a second slower than the sleek Le Mans-winning Ford.
Barcelona was EB’s bogey track last year, when a gearbox issue put paid to a defence of their back-to-back titles. Finishing three tough races in two days reliably and on the top step throughout will inspire some confidence. Roll on the next round at Donington Historic Festival from May 3-5!
Here’s some great video of Mark Bates racing the EB Motorsport Porsche 911 RSR in action versus the modern-day BMW E30 M3 Touring car of Manuel Hermida. Super close racing through the backmarkers!
by John Glynn | Mar 31, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Sky F1 followed its coverage of yesterday’s Malaysian Grand Prix with archive footage from the 1971 F1 season. This was the first year that F1 ran at the just-built Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France.
The first French GP at Ricard came near the end of a season where Jackie Stewart’s dominance in a lesser Tyrrell-Cosworth brought endless complaints from his rivals. Car and engine were stripped by the authorities, but no cheats were found. Stewart was faster: simple as that.
Porsche has just completed almost 4,000 kms of testing at Ricard (a.k.a. Le Castellet) with the 919 Hybrid LMP1 and its 2014 RSRs. Slowest GT car was some twenty seconds off the quickest LMP1 lap: a 1:41.289 set by Brendon Hartley (below). Just like Jackie almost 43 years ago, Hartley is genetically rapid. It’s great to have young speed in the car.
Stuttgart also took the opportunity to homologate the car for the six megajoule class, allowing it to harvest maximum energy per lap into the biggest energy store permitted. Assuming the combined fuel and electricity capacity can power the car around more laps per stint than its rivals, the car will spend less time refuelling at Le Mans, giving a solid pace/range advantage over 24 hours.
Ricard is the perfect place for high speed testing. Built by the eponymous French drinks magnate in the late 1960s, the circuit was sold to Slavica Ecclestone’s Bambino trust in 1999. Bambino then developed the circuit into a high speed test track, using Slavica’s F1-running husband, Bernie, as a consultant.
Bernie’s involvement in the Ricard redevelopment is at the heart of his upcoming bribery case. His (ex-)wife is classed as UK non-domiciled by HMRC, but the taxman sees Bernie as living in London. Bernie argues that a bribe he paid a few years ago was not to lubricate an F1 shares sale, but was instead to prevent false information on Bambino being made available to UK tax authorities, which could have cost him millions – even billions – in back tax.
The case will be heard in Germany from next month. I know Bernie’s methods are not universally admired, but I like his wit and admire his work ethic, not to mention that razor sharp instinct for media. I hope I’m still going strong at 83.
