by John Glynn | Dec 11, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
A number of projects have been enforcing wee-hours Internet trawls for material from the 2013 Safari Rally. This was the first year for a while that I didn’t follow the rally as it happened, so going back through Youtube videos and enthusiast coverage unveils a more human story.
What continues to stand out about the rally is the whitespace. Whitespace on a page is space for the content to spread, unfold, stand on its own and filter into your grey cells. The Ferdinand website runs a ton of whitespace, as that is how I like to read. Whitespace on Safari is fresh air, big landscapes and beautiful light.
Whitespace on a road trip allows room for the tendrils of the experience to wind through the windscreen, into the cracks and crevices of our psyche to massage our imaginations. The greatest journeys take us on a metaphorical learning curve of self: no one comes back from a road trip less resolved than how they departed.
Essentially a competitive road trip, rallying offers similar spirituality – don’t be scared off by the word – in a more challenging context. Testing their stamina, ambition and resourcefulness, the competitors scrape another layer off their ultimate capability. Putting the body and mind under extreme duress is part of the thrill of existence: and is there a better way to have existence fully envelope a consciousness, than fighting for victory on one of the great marathon rallies?
Porsches and philosophy on a misty Wednesday morning: you’re welcome. Anyone who wants to stay up late drinking whiskey and potentially talking this stuff in a remote Alpine ski lodge next June should find a way onto the Twinspark Racing Bergmeister Tour. In the morning, the philosophically less interested take off to drive legendary mountain passes and we hang back, mentally drifting off piste and doing our own thing. The best times await us when we just let them come.
Tuthill Porsche ran an amazing sixteen 911s on this year’s Safari Rally, which must make Richard Tuthill the most philosophical of all of us: he is certainly an inspiring person to work with. Though he will vehemently deny this, his reponsibility for so many epic past projects tells a different story. If you’re looking for the ultimate Porsche Road Trip, then Safari is your thing.
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by John Glynn | Nov 11, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Better known as Le Corbusier, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris was a pioneer of modern architecture. While Le Corbusier’s designs for urban living may no longer be attuned to 21st century inner city pressures, his ideas continue to influence designers and artists, almost fifty years after his death.
Le Corbusier had much to say on colour. “If the house is white all over, the shapes of things stand out without any possible ambiguity; the volume of things will appear clear cut; the colour of things is categorical. The white of whitewash is absolute. Everything stands out against it and is displayed absolutely: black against white, frank and truthful. Put in objects that are unsuitable or in bad taste, and you can’t miss them. You might call it the X-ray of beauty, a permanent court of judgement, the eye of truth.”
Le Corbusier’s eye of truth is currently being cast upon Thomas Flohr’s Safari car, awaiting fresh paint in the Tuthill Porsche bodyshop. Last seen on Safari 2011, the silver 911 had a rough start to the event, being abandoned at the mid-way point when the crew decided to call it a day. Tuthills carried the car along on the event – Francis’ experience suggesting this would be prudent – and it eventually donated the front section of its roll cage to the Waldegård car, allowing it to complete the rally after a fairly big off as the rally reached its final days.
Now fully repaired with a brand new and latest-version roll cage installed by the fabrication team at Wardington, Thomas’ superb 911 has been rubbed down by hand, ahead of a full respray in the same silver colour. The off-white shade may not tally with the master, but Le Corbusier’s musings on using a single monochromatic colour to highlight pure shapes and bad taste rings true.
The finished Safari cage in a simple, bare 911 shell is a structure of enduring fascination and beauty. Don’t you think? Maybe just me.
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by John Glynn | Aug 20, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
I spent the morning at Tuthill Porsche, doing more stuff on Safari packing operations to share via Tuthill social feeds on Twitter and Facebook. The Team Tido cars are back for last minute checks and all looking fine. Check out this one, built using terrific Almeras-kit Porsche panels from our friends at EB Motorsport: *drool*
Alongside the two container-loads of tyres, wheels, suspension parts, roll cages and more, each car being run on the 2013 Safari Rally by Tuthills has a crate of all-new parts that travels with it. Charlie B has been gathering those parts, and her guys are now building up the metal frames to go in wooden crates, boxing them up for shipping next week. Open the crate, put the frame in your Landcruiser and hey presto: ready to rock.
Race week is getting ever closer! There’s a ton of other stuff happening in Wardington,with Safari right at the heart of it. I’m always thrilled to be part of the Tuthill crowd, but I think this year is the most exciting ever.
Apparently, the 2013 Tuthill Safari team is the biggest single rally team ever assembled. I’m keeping mum on numbers, but easy to count how many parts crates are in that container, assuming everyone turns up. Every crate of parts used would be best-case scenario, or should that be worst?!
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by John Glynn | Jul 15, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Ferdinand’s Porsche 924 Turbo project is finally being painted. I spent all day yesterday stripping the body for the prep guy to start on it this week.
Rob Campbell and I dragged the car out of storage at Rob’s Racing Restorations in Pershore, pulling it into the workshop and 30-degree heat. Not the best day to do the job, but the only spare day either of us have in the next few weeks.
A flat battery was no surprise, so we ran jump leads from my M3 to the 924 Turbo and it fired straight up. I finally drove my first few metres behind the wheel of the silver 924. This runs well and ticks over nicely: I was suitably impressed.
There are quite a few bits on a 924 body but it all came off easily enough. I’ll have to fit some new side window and tailgate rubbers and still not decided on pulling the windscreen: I think we should but we’ll see what the prep guy says. The tailgate stays on until the really dusty stuff is done.
We’re estimating four days to bare metal the car and get it ready for paint next weekend in original L97A Diamond Silver Metallic. Looking forward to seeing it done and will be back over there during the week to take more pics. Only rust on the whole car is this bit by the aerial: I am redoing it as standard so leaving the roof aerial on. We will chemically remove that surface rust and prep thoroughly to prevent recurrence.
There’s a small chance I will sell this later in the year as I have no time to use my cars at the minute and storage is not my favourite! Get in touch if you’re interested. It’s a left hand-drive 1980 Series 2 Turbo, no sunroof, lower than average miles and there is no rust underneath.
The mechanicals seem in good shape, so could make a terrific rally car! Not looked at German 924 Turbo prices for a while, but I will price it in line with what’s happening in Europe.
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by John Glynn | Jun 29, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
Love this photo of current Belgian Historic Champion, Glenn Janssens, back in action this weekend in his Almeras-style Tuthill Porsche. Glenn returns to action following his super scary crash at over 100 mph in Haspengouw.
Car and driver are running in this weekend’s Ypres Historic, Belgium’s most storied event and an unmissable part of the European classic rally calendar. Anyone who has been to Ypres will know the town, the atmosphere and the territory around this unique part of Europe. It’s a proper setting to rally through, and we wish Glenn all the best for the weekend.
The car has had quite a bit done to it over the months it’s been at Tuthill Porsche in Wardington, Oxfordshire. The Tuthill boys have repaired the damage suffered in the mega-shunt and added a few chassis tweaks here and there. The transmission is all new – an evolution of the Tuthill Porsche dog ‘box – and the engine has been refreshed.
Belgian driver, Mats Myrsell, was recently asked for his best memory of the Ypres Historic by an interviewer. His reply was “that gorgeous waitress I met in a cafe off the square”. Hopefully this year, a few people will leave with the best memory of Glenn Janssens’ fire-breathing 911, en route to victory in 2013.
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