The latest Tuthill Porsche 1965 911 2-litre racer had a successful debut at the recent Donington Historic Festival, coming home second in class in the GT & Sports Car Cup race.
Classic Porsche reliability was a factor in the race result. Unable to match the ultimate pace of lighter class competitor machinery including more powerful TVR Granturas weighing 720 kilos versus the 1000-kilo 911s, drivers Ross McEwen and Colin Paton clocked up consistently quick lap times and stayed the course, while their more fragile rivals fell out of contention.
“We were clocking up 1.31s while the TVR that won our class was doing 1:25s – not even Lewis Hamilton could bridge that gap,” said Colin, who also races in the GT Cup season, sharing an ex-Dino Zamparelli 991 GT3 Cup car with McEwen. This is Paton’s second full season of racing: his rookie year in a 997 GT3 Cup resulted in a fourth place in the GTB Championship. Donington was a good finish for Paton’s first race in a classic 911.
“Pitting these pretty early 911s against powerful fibreglass-bodied cars – which are permitted to run a lower minimum weight – is always going to be a challenge,” said Richard Tuthill. “Racing to the classic Porsche strengths of speed, traction and reliability offers good drivers a fighting chance. Well done to Ross and Colin for seizing the opportunity and making the most of it.”
Tuthill-built 911s have raced and won on track for decades, in events including Tour Auto, Tour Britannia, FIA Masters Historic and Silverstone Classic. Silverstone is the next outing for the Tuthill 911s, with another new 2-litre joining the team at the International Trophy weekend on May 21-22 and more 2-litre builds on the way.
“We’re not just rally boys and this is not overnight success,” says Richard Tuthill of the 2-litre trend. Richard recently updated his ARDS en route to an FIA International Race Licence and is threatening a track assault later this year. “We’ve been building winning Porsche race cars for years and our team personnel includes touring car mechanics and GT engineers. Development of so many very quick 911s, including fast road, tarmac and marathon rally cars, has led to substantial expertise in quick air-cooled 911s. If your ambitions involve a 911 going quickly, we can contribute.”
My Tuthill Safari book, created as a memento of the team’s 2015 Safari Rally win for team members and clients has just gone to press. It came out very well – I wonder if we’ll ever do a 2-litre version. Also been talking to Francis about writing a book together: he’s a man with many stories to tell.
Despite being outperformed by the rest of the GT field in a genuinely thrilling 2016 6 Hours of Spa last weekend, the 911 RSR found itself en route to a GTE-Am podium finish. The 911 was denied its well deserved result when an LMP2 car crashed into Patrick Long, minutes from the chequered flag.
The race had gone well for Pat, team leader Khaled Al Qubaisi and David Heinemeier Hansson. The team had worked its way up to second in the Abu Dhabi Proton GTE-AM RSR, with Long looking good for a podium finish. Thirteen minutes from the end of the six-hour race, an LMP2 prototype put a move on the Porsche, which ended in tears for the Proton Racing challenge.
Long holds back the best Irish swear words
“That was a rough end to an otherwise great week at Spa,” said Long, showing impressive f-word restraint. “In the final stint, I was able to overtake the AF Ferrari for P2 and we were set on just bringing it home, on a day when we didn’t have much for the winning Aston Martin. With three laps to go, an LMP2 car had a failure of brakes – or brain – and cleaned me out, snapping the right front suspension. It’s tough to accept after the weekend that my teammates David and Khaled had – they were nothing short of spectacular the entire race. But, onto the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
“This is unfortunate really as the whole team had worked very hard for this result the entire weekend,” said Al Qubaisi. “However, we are taking away many positives from the Spa campaign and we will continue to push for the rest of the season.”
The team now looks forward to the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 18-19. Al Qubaisi finished second in class in 2014 and Patrick Long finished second in last year’s edition. As is often the case when Belgium stays dry, the RSR’s pace was nothing special at Spa, so we’ll have to see how it goes at La Sarthe. The factory drivers are keeping a positive mindset.
Porsche 911 RSR too slow in Spa
“The balance of our 911 RSR was better than in practice, but the warm weather didn’t play into our hands,” said reigning FIA WEC GT champion, Richard Lietz. “We did everything we could, but we still weren’t fast enough. Only as the temperature cooled towards the finish did our performance improve.” Michael Christensen echoed his sentiments, taking comfort in the quick pit stops from the works team at Spa. “In the run to Le Mans, every race kilometre and every pit stop is important. That’s the positive outcome of a race in which unfortunately we weren’t able to yield what we had planned.”
Earl Bamber, Nick Tandy and Nico Hulkenberg took a determined victory at Le Mans last year, preparing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by racing the number 19 919 LMP1 Hybrid at the 2015 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps. It was the first time that a third 919 had been run in a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Last year’s Le Mans winners will not drive the Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrid this year. Following the Volkswagen dieselgate scandal and the subsequent pressure to slash unnecessary costs within the VW Group, Porsche reduced its WEC LMP1 squad to two cars only for the season.
Earl Bamber impressed at Spa Supercup 2014
Bamber arrived in the Ardennes as a works team rookie, but had strong form in Belgium. The previous year, the talented New Zealander had taken the first pole of his first real season in global Porsche racing at Spa, nicking the Porsche Supercup pole by three-tenths of a second ahead of seasoned Supercup veteran and current Aston works driver, Nicki Thiim. Bamber dominated the race and took a memorable win for the Fach Auto Tech team, part sponsored by Porsche as the winner of the Porsche International Cup Scholarship. No doubt his performance at the circuit in changeable conditions was a sizeable ingredient in earning a works driver contract for 2015.
“I love this circuit, as it is a spectacular place,” said Bamber from the 919 garage in 2015. “I am so looking forward to taking the 919 through Eau Rouge and can’t wait to race that car. When the Silverstone race was on I was glued to the screen: it was one of the best races I have ever seen. It was like a six-hour Supercup race. I enjoyed working with Nico and Nick in testing and now I’m really looking forward to racing with our car crew for the first time.”
Spa WEC with the Porsche 919 LMP1
The race was a turbulent affair. A stunning qualifying performance from Tandy put the car second on the grid for his 919 debut, but, on lap seven, the 919 was involved in a collision with one of the 911 RSRs and was forced to stop for repairs. Hulkenberg then double-stinted form ninth overall, and handed the car to Bamber at the 80-lap mark. Tandy brought the car home sixth overall after fitting tyres to the left side of the car only in his final stop.
The overall weekend evidenced a phenomenal chemistry between the rookie trio, who delivered a gritty performance to forge formidable bonds, which eventually led to a great result for the team at Le Mans. It’s a real shame that they will not get the chance to defend their title this year (albeit Nico can’t do it anyway due a clash with F1).
Onboard Spa Francorchamps with Earl Bamber in a Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrid
This in-car footage shows just how tight Spa is when racing an LMP1 car on track with the wide-arched GT cars. It is surprising just how much much of the lap is flat out: Eau Rouge, Radillon, most of the downhill run from Rivage onwards and even Blanchimont are taken with foot pinned to the throttle stop. This lap is run nowhere near the 919’s ultimate pace but it’s still impressive. This year’s 6 hours of Spa Francorchamps is on May 7.
Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet took the first win of the 2016 IMSA Racing season for the Porsche 911 RSR on Sunday, but only after a move by team mate, Fred Makowiecki, pushed the leading Corvette off the victory trail. This left Corvette driver, Tommy Milner, and a truckload of ‘Vette fans on social media not very happy at all.
‘Vette driver vents
“I just got wrecked basically,” said Milner. “Two Porsches running nose to tail… it is pretty clear what happened there. It is pretty disappointing that this is the kind of racing we have here, where we are better than that for sure.
“[Being taken out] is disappointing but certainly could have been a lot worse. I don’t mind finishing second if it is clean and it happens the right way, but that wasn’t the right way. It hurts a little bit to be second in this case the way it happened, but again, end of the day second place is great points for us. We can hold our heads high that we raced as hard as we could today, the right way.”
The Corvette fan comments on the above Youtube video are not too surprising:
“Seems to be a common occurrence with the Porsche’s “missing” their braking points when the ‘Vettes are around.”
“The Porsche team needs to be disqualified. No words can explain how disgusted I am from seeing this type of dirty racing.”
“First time I saw it I thought maybe I’d have another look and Freddy probably just got excited thought he’d go for the win. But then I watched it again. Looks damn deliberate and looks like Tandy knew it was coming too or he would have been in it.”
“Porsche playing dirty as usual. I expect that from a company that makes cars with IMS design flaws.” (lol)
“It was completely deliberate. When you see it from the overhead view it’s obviously a dick move to get Porsche team the win.”
Fred takes blame: tidy Tandy takes win
“After two third places we finally had every opportunity to win today, but we didn’t use it,” said Fred. “The first blow was the penalty for being too fast in the pit lane. The collision in the penultimate lap was my fault: I was a touch too optimistic heading into the corner.”
“That was a fantastic race,” said Nick Tandy (below). “Despite the minor setbacks, we never gave up, we believed in ourselves, and we fought to the flag. Our victory was well earned. We’ve had so much bad luck this season, so now it was our turn to shine.”
Things happen in the heat of the moment in racing, when drivers are trying to pass the car in front while simultaneously fending off another car jammed up their tailpipes. In this case, the chasing car was a Le Mans winner and team mate in an identical 911, who was in no way inclined to hold station. The notion that Fred crashed into a Corvette to deny himself victory while giving Tandy yet another Porsche win makes no sense. The Porsche claim that Fred thought he saw a split-second gap and pointed his car towards it? More likely and the stewards clearly agreed or he’d have been out. Bad news for the Corvette, but 911s have been denied victory for less many times in the past.
There are plenty of quick Porsche juniors coming through the ranks getting ready to race, and it’s about time Porsche started testing young female drivers, so small wonder that works pilots are pushing hard to shove their cars into every gap possible. Of course we like Porsches to win, but put Tandy, Pilet (above) or Bamber in Corvettes and I’d be happy to see any of them finishing first. They are just racers, plain and simple. Winning by being there, ready to make the most of every opportunity is what matters to these guys.
I know a lot of Porsche fans have Corvettes in the garage (looking at you for one, Mr Gagen) – be interested to get your viewpoint.
The Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrid was gifted a win at the opening round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season after the actual race winning Audi R18 was excluded in post-race scrutineering due to an excessively worn skidblock.
The skidblock under the front of Audi’s latest WEC challenger was found to be less than 20mm thick, contravening the FIA technical regulations, thereby ruling the car out of the final results. The second-placed Porsche 919 LMP1 of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb.
Porsche WEC Crash Video
Jani had set the fastest race lap, with a time of 1:40.303: just six-tenths of a second slower than the 919’s fastest time around Silverstone over the course of last weekend, which was set by Brendon Hartley in Free Practice 2. Hartley came a cropper in the race, however, when contact with the Gulf Racing Porsche 911 of Mike Wainwright on lap 71 led to a huge accident for car number 1, which had built up a comfortable lead in the hands of Mark Webber. Both drivers escaped unharmed, but the damage to the 919 won’t be buffing out. Here’s some video:
Hartley’s post-race statement took no prisoners. “I wanted to get past a GT car on the outside, which is quite normal through there, but the driver didn’t see me and used all of the road. I don’t want to blame anyone, it was a shocking moment and a true shame.” The stewards saw the cause of the crash rather differently, laying the blame with Brendon while noting: “you are reminded that LMP1 drivers are liable for the way they overtake slower cars such as LMP2 and especially LM GTE cars.”
Sixth position in GTE-Pro was the best the 911 RSR could manage after problems with a pit stop. The Ferraris of Rigon/Bird and Bruni/Calado came home first and second, followed by Turner/Sörenson/Thiim in the Aston, with a brace of Ford GTs making up the top five. In six hours of racing, the 911 RSR of reigning GT champions, Michael Christensen and Richard Lietz, clocked up 154 laps versus the wining Ferrari’s 167 laps overall: a sizeable gap to the front. We’ll have to see how the season pans out: Porsche is holding station with customer teams only for the old 991 while the new 911 racecar is in development.
The next race on the 2016 WEC Calendar is the 6 hours of Spa Francorchamps on May 7. The 911 should do well if it rains in Belgium.
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