![Spa: Porsche 919 LMP1 takes Pole for Spa 6 Hours]()
by John Glynn | May 3, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
The Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrid has taken pole position for the 2014 FIA WEC Spa 6 Hours. The race is being run today (Saturday) and will be shown on Motors TV from 1PM UK time.
Wet Qualifying for Porsche at Spa
Spa Francorchamps 6 Hours is the second race for the LMP1 Porsche prototype. Qualifying took place on a drying track: unprepared for in a wet practice 1 and dry practice 2. The number 14 919 of Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb will lead the field off the grid after Jani set a time of 2:00.334: 2.5 seconds faster than the number 20 sister car.
Behind the 919 are group of winning cars and drivers. Led by Davidson, Lapierre and Buemi in the Toyota, the third place Audi and fourth place Toyota will all be chasing hard, as will Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley.
“Brendon Hartley did improve his lap time as well but had no time left for a second lap,” said Andreas Seidl, Porsche’s LMP1 Team Principal. “What the team did today is just amazing. This result is a great reward for a very tough job.
“We made all the right calls in difficult conditions. It was clear that the track would improve and that is why we decided to get those drivers back in the cars who were running on intermediate slick tyres in the beginning. Their lap times had the biggest potential for improvement.”
“In qualifying I stayed out for a bit too long so there wasn’t enough time left for Brendon to do two flying laps, said Timo Bernhard. “Nevertheless it was a great qualifying. Congrats to the guys of car number 14 – we will keep working to improve our car for tomorrow’s race.”
TV Coverage of the Spa 6 Hours
Motors TV will cover the race with more than 7 hours of airtime scheduled. There is huge potential for proper motorsport drama so get yourself to a comfy chair and enjoy! We will live tweet highlights and updates from our feed at @cultofporsche: Ferdinand Magazine’s motorsport twitter feed.
![Spa: Porsche 919 LMP1 takes Pole for Spa 6 Hours]()
by John Glynn | May 1, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods, Project Cars, Race and Rally
Our fourth post from EB Motorsport this week features these brand new Porsche 911R rear quarter panels, tooled up and ready for delivery from the Doncaster-based historic Porsche superstars.
A direct replacement for original steel panels, the lightweight rear wings bond to your steel shell. It goes without saying just how much weight these lighter composite panels save over solid sheet steel, plus of course you can save the steel rear quarters you take off and refit if the fancy takes you in the future.
Anyone fitting these panels will be aiming at an authentic recreation of the super-lightweight SWB Porsche 911R race car, and already have a full multi-point FIA or similar level roll cage fitted.
Full Range of Porsche 911R Conversion Parts
The 911R rear quarter panels are part of a complete range of 911 R replica conversion parts now offered by EB Motorsport: everything from lightweight Porsche 911R front wings with built-in sidelights and indicators, to deep 6 and 7R Fuchs wheels and all parts in between.
The boys have just taken delivery of another ’68 911 shell and are going for the ultimate lightweight 911R build. I am totally into this plan! Will share build pics along the way.
![Spa: Porsche 919 LMP1 takes Pole for Spa 6 Hours]()
by John Glynn | Apr 29, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Tuthill Porsche customer and former Belgian Historic Champion, Glenn Janssens, has taken his first win in the Rallye de Wallonie, round three of the 2014 Yokohama Belgian Historic Rally Championship.
Three Days of Hard Charging
Chased hard from the start by Raphael Borman’s Escort, Janssens could not relax when the Ford hit trouble. Right behind Borman was long-time rival Dirk Devereux in another Escort, closely followed by Patrick Mylleville in a Tuthill-fettled Porsche.
When the chequered flag fell after three days of flat-out action, it was Janssens and experienced co-driver Stefan Prevot who crossed the finish line first, and on top of the championship leader board. The Tuthill Porsche team could not contain its excitement following another strong European win.
Tuthill Thrilled to Win
“The Belgian Historic championship is a true test of rally machinery,” said Richard Tuthill. “This country may look flat, but the courses demand tough cars and precision driving. Glenn excelled with this win and rightly takes the championship lead.
“Nothing excites Tuthill Porsche more than great competition. Glenn is a great competitor and a pleasure to work with. The championship runs to November, so we’ll be working flat out to keep the car on song, ensuring Glenn and Stefan get the support and equipment required to fight for victory. A second Belgian Championship title for a Tuthill 911 would be an amazing achievement.”
“This weekend, we used three different brands of tyres,” said Glenn. “I started on Dunlop but found more grip with the new Pirelli tyres we used on Saturday afternoon. On sunday I switched to Michelin rubber, which was most effective in this excellent weather. I’m really looking forward to the next round of the season.”
Round 4 of the 2014 Belgian Historic Rally Championship is the Sezoens Rally, starting on May 16th. Here’s some video of Glenn Janssens in action last weekend:
by John Glynn | Apr 28, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
Had a good catch up with the EB Motorsport classic Porsche parts brothers over coffee in Banbury last week, before taking a ride in their newly-finished 1965 Porsche 911 at Tuthill Porsche. The car will debut at FIA Masters at Donington this weekend.
Driving the 1965 Porsche 911
What a car! All steel, it weighs 915 kilos without fuel and an estimated 180 bhp from the FIA-certified 2-litre motor. Light weight is great but it is likely to need ballast to comply with FIA papers. Geared to a top speed in the 120s, it’s running at 4k-ish at 70 mph, but put your foot down at 70 and the acceleration will surprise the cars around you on the motorway.
Nicely finished inside and out, the ’65 is painted in Jo Siffert/Andre Wicky ST tribute livery, and runs Tuthill Porsche’s bolt-in roll cage: something I really want to fit to one of my own projects. The ivory air box has divided opinion: good feedback on Facebook but others are not such big fans! I quite like it.
The car has just been granted entry to the 2014 Classic Spa 6 Hours. Mark ran Steve Winters’ (Jaz Porsche) 1965 car last year and managed 3:09 race laps in a car he’d only just sat in. Looks like the 2-litre 911 lap record at Spa could be up for grabs this year: will have to figure out what that is.
Enjoyed the chat with EB last week: got a week of EB updates coming on the Ferdinand Magazine blog through the end of April. Next one tomorrow!
by John Glynn | Apr 25, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
Rounding off a week of posts from our visit to the Essen Techno Classica 2014 is a few shots of the Porsche Museum’s 917-30 Spyder, which was shown on the Porsche stand as part of its 40 Years of Turbo Porsche. I’ve nicked the first one off Magnus’ blog:
The most famous, most powerful turbo Porsche ever, the 917-30 was built to demolish fellow CanAm competitors. Capable of reaching 200 mph in a little over 13 seconds, the 850-kilo car could go on to almost 240 mph. This was in 1973!
I’m not sure what chassis number this machine is, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen the back off it. That seems surprising given the awesomeness that lies beneath. I have no idea why Porsche didn’t make a bigger song and dance about the technical side of the 917-30 at Essen, as that is what the heart of this show should be all about: i.e. TECHNO CLASSICA. They used to show much more 917 stuff.
Back in the Porsche museum lies a cutaway exhibit of the flat-12 917 engine: really incredible to see it. Also some great photo and film history of this car, which was run up the Goodwood hillclimb a few years ago by Brian Redman. Here’s some video:
