I was out at the Nurburgring 24-Hour race last weekend (best racing livery below), so had a chance to catch up with some friends at Porsche and ask about upcoming event plans. First on the list is this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
This year’s Goodwood theme is Racing Revolutions: Quantum Leaps that Shaped Motorsport. No manufacturer has more to say on the subject than Stuttgart, so the Porsche Museum is sending some epic cars to take part in various parts of the Festival.
First is Semper Vivus: the replica of Ferdinand Porsche’s ground breaking 1900 hybrid petrol/electric creation.
Next is the 718 F2 car (above), mentioned a number of times on the Classic Porsche Blog and driven to victory in the 1960 championship by Graham Hill, Jo Bonnier and Sir Stirling Moss. There’s talk that Sir Stirling may once again take the wheel – we’ll see how that pans out.
Then there’s the 1973 917/30 Spyder. This was Porsche’s first turbocharged car, and it changed the face of racing. The 917/30’s 5.3-litre flat-12 makes 1200 horsepower but weighs less than a modern Boxster Spyder. Average lap speed around Talladega: 220 mph+. In 1973!
Finally there’s the ill-fated 961 (above). Developed from the 959, the car finished seventh at Le Mans but was involved in a fire some time later. It has since been restored and will sit well at Goodwood with the other cigarette-sponsored has-beens. I say has-beens in a highly complimentary way!
Given that Semper Vivus and the 961 will be on site, it’s a shame the 4wd 911 R Hybrid won’t be there, as it’s the best current Porsche for this year’s theme, and is absolutely beautiful. Watching it lap the Nürburgring last weekend was literally electric. They’ve got two of them – surely one must be free?!
The BBC 5-day weather forecast for Goodwood looks nice at the minute: 18 degrees for both Friday and Saturday is a comfortable temperature to walk around in. I’m currently trying to get a ticket. If I manage it, I’ll see you at the Porsche tent.
If you’ve not got tickets, then Porsche have a competition for you. Follow Porsche Origin on Twitter and tweet the hashtag #porschegoodwood by midday on Wednesday June 29th for your chance to win a pair of VIP tickets for Saturday, and a ride up the hill in a GT3 RS 4.0.
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Just surfing Youtube for some rally videos and tripped over some nice footage of the GT1 at Le Mans in 1996. Forums are starting to buzz about this year’s Le Mans trips, so I thought we could add to the excitement.
Porsche 911 GT1 at Le Mans 1996
Le Mans 1996 was the debut race for the beautiful 911 GT1 (seen above at the Porsche Museum in both road and race uniforms) and it was expected to do well.
At the start, the GT1 of Dalmas took the lead for an hour’s racing, before being passed by the Joest prototypes. In the second GT1, Stuck and co watched, and waited. After 24 dramatic hours, the GT1s finished second and third. The Joest was first to the flag, followed by the experienced Stuck/Boutsen/Wollek combination. Had both GT1 cars not been in the gravel and required repairs as a result, they could have stitched it up.
Irony of ironies, the Joest was a car Porsche had changed their minds on. Built by Tom Walkinshaw, it ran Porsche power (a 3.0 version of the 935 engine) but not the manufacturer’s name.
The Joest beat the second place GT1 by a single lap. In 1997, it repeated the feat, and Porsche decided to bring the project back in house. Thanks to a raft of quick cars from the competition, it never won again. In 1998, the GT1 finally won Le Mans, and Porsche retired their bespoke racing efforts for almost seven years.
November 2010 is 911 & Porsche World magazine’s 200th edition, so Editor Bennett has pulled out as many stops as possible to make it entertaining. The centrepiece is a conglomerative effort from all editorial contributors, in a feature called ‘Ultimate Porsche’. The idea was we had to pick our ultimate factory Porsche, and bring it to Bruntingthorpe to run them all back to back.
My ultimate Porsche is a 917: nothing touches that car for drama and all-round Porsche cleverness. Entered via loophole and raced hard by our favourite heros, the 917 demanded king-size balls to drive quickly. Just looking at it makes me feel a bit funny, so what it must feel like to drive one at 250 mph down the Mulsanne Straight, with the lightweight body flexing and pinning your foot to the throttle pedal, I have no idea.
I tried everywhere I could think of to get a 917, but to no avail. Once I was used to the idea of not being able to bring my Ultimate Porsche, the next best thing was probably an easier solution than most people would believe.
My take was that the Ultimate Porsche beyond the 917 should be something you can get into right now and take to the Bergmeister Monte Carlo route: surely the most incredible driving ever done in a car. So it had to be something within easy reach.
Looking in my garage, I had two 911s to choose from: my Carrera 3.0 and the 964RS I was advertising for sale on behalf of a friend. Both are quick, in nice condition, both sound and smell like a proper Porsche and both are wonderful to drive. So which one to take?
964RS v 3.2 Club Sport v 2.7 RS
Picking your own car for one of these things is dodgy ground. Much as I love my C3, there is barely an as-factory part on it. I also make no secret of the fact that it could one day go to a new home, so by definition it is not the last word in Porsche for me. If I had the asking price for a decent 964RS sitting in my bank account I would buy one, no question and with absolutely no hesitation. So, red one it is then.
This choice may seem tough to reconcile with my well-known love of the early and impact-bumper style cars, but it’s not that tricky really. The 964 Carrera RS looks like them, sounds like them, smells like them but goes faster than any of them in factory guise. The one in my garage was set up by Water Röhrl and rides beautifully. It’s built like the brick proverbial. Every time I get in it, I soon find myself driving like an eighteen year-old.
3.0 RSR v 997 Turbo v 964 RS v rest
It’s a time machine, plain and simple. If you want to make yourself twenty years younger buy a 964 RS. It comes from a time when Porsche built sports cars: the world’s best sports cars. And they all looked like classics, straight out of the box.
My Top Ten from the Ultimate Porsche line-up:
964RS. Uncompromising in every positive sense of the word. A Stuttgart V-sign to all Porsche-hating motoring journos, it says: “Don’t like me? F**k you, get me a proper driver.”
2.7 RS. Think of it like Scarlett Johansson lying on a bed, summoning you with her finger. There is no saying no.
997 Turbo. Faster than a shooting star strapped to a 4wd comet. There comes a point where outright ability matters: this car is past that point.
3.0 RSR. Won’t run under 4k rpm and is too noisy to take anywhere but I’d live in it.
911 2.4S. Every inch a classic.
356 Cabriolet. The original. The one that started it all.
Cayenne Turbo. A Porsche for every day. As Fraser says: if you could only have one Porsche for the rest of your life, then….
996 GT3. I’m never going to get past those headlamps. Sorry GT3 boys.
Carrera Club Sport. Gas-filled exhaust valves do not an RS make. If they’d gone further it’d be the Ultimate, but they sold us short.
James Redman recently whizzed me a mail about the Gathering of Legends Racers Symposium being organised by Brian Redman’s Targa Sixty Six, the team behind Rennsport Reunion.
Brian Redman, third from left with Ferry Porsche & team, 1968 Targa Florio
The idea is to gather a bunch of old racing drivers and race fans for five days in the sun with golf, surfing, sunbathing and whatever else you can do at the Hilton Cancun Golf and Spa Resport down in Mexico. It runs from February 2nd to 7th, 2011 and costs $3450 per couple, or $3200 for a single, with a $500 discount for anyone booked and deposit paid by September 10th. Not bad value if you are into historic racing and a bit of golf. The first 25 bookings get a room upgrade!
Drivers already confirmed are Richard Attwood, Derek Bell, Vic Elford, Hurley Haywood, David Hobbs, Brian Redman & Bobby Unser. That is a top lineup, each with their own mega stories to tell. Planned events include three theme banquets:
Racers’ Tales
917s and the making of Le Mans
The American Scene
Redman and Donhue chat over the Sunoco Porsche 917 in Mid-Ohio, 1974
Golfers will know what a ‘Best Ball Golf Tourney’ means and there is also the chance to take a trip to the Mayan Pyramids. The accommodation is bound to be good and I can’t image there’ll be any limits to the hospitality, so it should be a fun get-together.
Of more interest to me is the three-day track event being held at Palm Beach Raceway later that month. This looks like a gathering to consider flying out for: it is key to the purpose of Targa Sixty Six, and the race driver brotherhood that revolves around Brian’s Florida weekends. Last year’s Saturday night speaker was David Hobbs, a friend of my in-laws (all the kids grew up together). David brought Derek Bell and Vic Elford along with him for the evening: a nice little surprise for the attendees. At $1500 for the three days in 2009, it sounds like a good craic-to-cash ratio.
Brian Redman in the 908 during the 1970 Targa Florio
Brian started Targa Sixty Six in 1991. The idea was to open up racetracks to owners of high modern and classic cars who don’t necessarily want to race them, but who like to drive at speed under controlled conditions, in the company of like-minded others. A big boys’ toys track day club, quite ahead of its time when you think about it.
Targa Sixty-Six’s website gives the programme for each track event like this:
Three days of track use. Normal schedule is 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. (Members can expect to have 6-8 hours of track time each weekend-more if they feel up to it!)
Lunch on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the track. Saturday semi-formal (jacket and tie) evening dinner. Driving instruction, if desired, is available from Brian or one of the other “pro’s” in attendance.
There is often a guest speaker/instructor. Past masters include: Bob Akin, Mr Hobbs, Hurley Haywood, Juan Manuel Fangio II, David Piper, Bill Adam, David E.Davis and Sir Stirling Moss.
Cars on track (split over three categories by speed) have included Ferrari Daytonas and 275 GTCs, Porsche 962s and 917s, D-Type Jags, name a Chevron or a Lola and it’s been there, as well as Indy cars and every half decent classic and modern sportscar you can think of. Sounds like a party to me, right when the UK is at its winter gloomiest!
Brian Redman with Steve McQueen, sharing racing film visions
You can grab more details at gorace.com, or see the blog at www.gorace.blogspot.com/. The pics for this post come from Brian’s site – I have used them to remind you all that this is a HARDCORE Porsche racing fraternity! One day all the oil will be gone, all the tracks will be closed thanks to noise limits and NIMBY neighbours, so get out there and go have fun, while you still can!
Thanks to James for the heads up, and here’s to two great events for Porsche enthusiasts in February 2011. Cheers!
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