I’ve got Karsten’s first DVD, where Walter runs the Koln-Ahrweiler Rally of 2004 in a Porsche 911 ST. That’s a good one, despite some very high viewing angles making it difficult to see that far ahead of Walter’s car. Unlike some rally films, the action is well conveyed via digital video on a decent-sized TV.
I mentioned my minor irritation on the first DVD to Karsten, and asked him how the new one compared? “The quality is much better, I think,” he replied. “A few more camera positions, more outside shots and the interview on the second DVD with the commentary of Walter himself.”
Here’s a clip of Walter from the DVD. Lightweight Porsche body parts specialist, EB Motorsport, also competed at the Nurburgring on the same weekend and came away with a decent result, despite sliding off in their 911 ST. I’ll dig out some video of that.
Anyone reading road test reviews of the new Porsche 911 will have noted claims that the longer-wheelbase, wider-track 911 is now more grand tourer than sports car. If the new Cayman will now be Porsche’s truest sports car, why don’t Porsche take it to the max?
Motor Trend Editor Angus MacKenzie recently put this directly to Porsche CEO Matthias Muller. I’m sure he’d considered his response at length: what to do about Cayman must be a hot topic in Stuttgart. The model is the most undermarketed Porsche I’ve ever seen, and yet remains one of the best sports cars the company has built.
Will there never be a Cayman that will outperform a 911? “If I look at pure performance numbers,” says Muller thoughtfully, “then maybe.” But then he quickly adds he believes Porsche’s two sports cars are aimed at two entirely different customers — substitution between the two cars is less than five percent in the United States. And with Turbo and Turbo S versions of the new 911 still to come — as well as GT3 and GT2 variants — you can bet there will always be at least one 911 variant that will be faster than even the hottest Cayman in the future.”
Watching the privateer Caymans circulating at Nurburgring 24, it’s clear that the chassis has plenty of headroom. The cars looked much lighter on their feet compared to heavier GT3 cars in switchback direction changes, making Cayman the perfect base for a good power-to-weight race platform that could be up there on efficency, speed and reliability. Translate that to a road car that wasn’t too stiff and you get something like the Cayman R, but with added marketing mojo.
Boxster Spyder ticked the box for everyone who took it out wanting to drive. James May’s Spyder review (video below) will go down as one of the great Top Gear Porsche product tests. The only downside – certainly for the UK – was that convoluted canvas top. So why not a Cayman R Carrera: same ethos as Boxster Spyder, but with a solid roof? We would finally have a daily drivable Porsche sports car, raceable for not much money, marketed as a drivers piece and sold at a sensible price (we hope).
New Boxster is into UK £60k when specced to the hilt and Cayman is likely to be similar. I guess we’ll see how the Cayman plan works out, but it would be nice to see more on the road, taking it to the Porsche-is-911 brigade and speaking to prospective buyers who view PDK 911 as expensive pipe and slippers.
There’s some great video on Youtube that’s perfect for office lunchbreaks. I know many work servers block the Youtube domain in a browser address bar, so hopefully you’ll be able to watch it as embedded on here, or maybe watch it on your iPhone. My blogs all have an iPhone-friendly mobile theme that should works well on every mobile device.
The 2012 Le Mans 24-Hour race is less than a month away (16-17 June). There will of course be Porsches racing, but let’s look back 31 years, to the 1981 Le Mans as seen in this entertaining, if slightly over-narrated video.
For 1981, four-time Le Mans winner, Jacky Ickx, came out of retirement to drive the 936 with Derek Bell (follow DB on Twitter here). Fitted with the new 2650cc endurance engine derived from Porsche’s Indianapolis design, chassis number 003 used the same air- and water-cooled 930-derived motor as its predecessors, with two turbos. The slippery 936 could hit 225 miles per hour, giving it proper speed.
In the race, number 11 took the lead from the start and won with a 14-lap advantage. Considering its pole lap was just under three and a half minutes long, that’s almost an hour ahead of the rest (okay, that’s man maths but let’s round the numbers up). The race ran for just short of 5,000 kilometres.
Also in the field was the 924 Carrera of the Almeras brothers, and Jurgen Barth/Walter Röhrl in the 944 LM. Some fascinating Porsches racing that year!
Don’t forget to follow Ferdinand Magazine to keep up with old and new Porsche news. I am now splitting stories between both sites, so not all Ferdinand stuff will be shared here and some of it will certainly be of interest to Classic Porsche Blog fans.
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The number 11 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Manthey Racing took top spot in last night’s qualifying 1 session at the 2012 Nurburgring 24-Hour. Three 911s finished in the top ten.
Drivers Lieb, Luhr, Dumas and Lietz managed an 8:27 in night qualifying, over two seconds faster than the Mamerow Racing Audi.
The top ten in Q1 is a real mix: Porsche, Audi, Audi, BMW Z4, Aston, Audi, Aston, then the second Manthey GT3, a McLaren and Sabine Schmitz in another 997. Less than six seconds seperates the top ten cars, so it’s super-tight. The number 8 Haribo Porsche (above) finished just outside the top ten in P11.
Weather here looks cloudy but dry. That said, I am an hour away from the track in Bonn, so it could be flogging rain out there!
Qualifying 2 is just about to start, and then Top 40 Quali later this evening. More news later.
“The good thing is that, in a very competitive group of cars, we are right up at the front with a tyre that has come on a long way in the course of a year. But you can’t just chug around 10 seconds off the pace. You have to push and that means you have to take these cars quickly.
“In a split second you have to make a decision about whether to overtake or where to overtake and not to lose time in doing it. And you are making that decision 30 times in one lap, because you will pass at least 30 cars a lap.”
Falken have a growing endurance racing profile. In the USA, Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers race a superb Porsche GT3 RSR (above), and have been fighting their way up the field. More teams are choosing to race on Falken tyres – the popular Haribo Porsche team at this year’s Nurburgring 24-Hour are the latest additions, and I’ve recently put another Porsche racing team in touch with Falken Europe’s head office.
What are the chances of a Falken victory at this year’s event? Well, they’ve got a car which has won in 2012 VLN, and four very capable drivers. Manthey had a run of luck with good reliability and competitor retirements last year, so maybe 2012 will be Falken’s turn. I certainly wouldn’t mind missing my return ferry to attend a victory party.
Follow Ferdinand Magazine on Twitter to keep up with the race as it happens. I’ll be doing my best to tweet the lot: should be plenty to talk about!
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