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.
by John Glynn | Mar 31, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
Following its record-breaking 17-car entry on the 2013 East African Safari Classic Rally, renowned UK Porsche specialist, Tuthill Porsche, is amongst the first teams to commit to the inaugural Classic Rally of South Africa.
Tuthill Porsche South Africa
Held over five days from September 1, the 2014 Classic Rally of South Africa will cover more than 2,000 kms, including 800 kms of special stages through the incredible Mpumalanga Valley, close to the Kruger National Park, and South Africa’s borders with Mozambique and Swaziland.
The South African Classic is the brainchild of Surinder Thatthi, former head of the East African Safari Classic Rally and FIA World Council representative for Africa. Early rally entrants, John Lloyd and co-driver Adrian Cavenagh, have chosen a Tuthill Porsche ‘Safari’ 911 to attack this epic endurance event. Lloyd has previously tasted success with Tuthills, finishing fourth overall on the 2005 Safari Classic in a Porsche 911 prepared at the rally team’s base in Wardington, Oxfordshire.
“We’re excited to be heading for South Africa, racing to win in an all-new location,” says Richard Tuthill. “The team behind Classic South Africa is the same group that made Safari such a test of car and character. With a challenging route through a glorious landscape, no doubt this rally will be just as exciting.
“Thanks to discounted entry fees on this inaugural event, we’ve created some attractive arrive-and-drive packages with full car support. Enjoying a Tuthill Safari Porsche at speed through some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not to be missed. The opportunity to break new ground in rallying is rare, so we’re looking forward to a strong Team Tuthill presence in Nelspruit on September 1st.”
by John Glynn | Mar 3, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Race fans deserve epic paint schemes. Standing outside in all weathers, watching cars go around with no clue what’s happening half the time, the least teams can do is make the cars sexy with a great livery to inspire followers.
Porsche has finally dressed the 919 Hybrid for in its Le Mans livery. The car is pure sex, but the paint scheme’s got all the allure of a fax machine. Let’s hope there’s a stealth raid on Leipzig with some pig-coloured spray paint.
Bring on the Martini Williams! And where’s the Veltins on LMP1? Can’t be the final version.
by John Glynn | Jan 26, 2014 | Race and Rally, Porsche News
Porsche has claimed a richly deserved victory on the maiden event of the 2014 Tudor United Sportscar Championship. Running the 24 Hours of Daytona with a two car works RSR team, Stuttgart combined trademark reliability with masterful pace when it mattered, to bring the lead 911 home just seconds ahead of its closest competitor and take its 76th class win at the high-speed Florida circuit.
I don’t know who called the driver mix of Richard Lietz, Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy, but the chemistry could not have been better. Running anywhere from P1 to P4 over the course of a hard day’s racing, the trio were supreme against the SRT Viper race cars, which had looked unassailable in qualifying. Not to mention the mighty space-framed GTLM Corvette race car, which seemed to have ultimate speed for much of the race.
Many incredible stories reared their heads across twenty-four hours of racing, but the most exciting came in the final three minutes, when Joey Hand’s BMW Z4 got within touching distance of the number 911. My heart was in my mouth for the last two laps, as TV cameras focused instead on a titanic scrap in the GT Daytona class. When the cameras swung back to the Porsche, it was Pilet crossing the line for the win.
I am in meltdown: that was incredible. If this is a sign of things to come in 2014, we are in for a memorable season. Now we need more factory racing posters!
