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R Gruppe Porsche 911 for sale (now SOLD)

R Gruppe Porsche 911 for sale (now SOLD)

It was good to hear from many R Gruppe friends after my recent post on the late Cris Huergas. One name that popped up in my inbox was Hayden Burvill at WEVO, who is about to put his 1972 Porsche 911 up for sale.

The car in question is Kenny: a 1972 911T built in May of that year and finished in rare Gulf Orange. The ‘oil klapper’ side oil-flap 911 now runs a 2.4S engine, rebuilt by Jerry Woods, but the matching numbers engine comes with the car.

Kenny has been owned by a handful Porsche enthusiasts in San Francisco’s Bay Area since it was new in 1972. It’s the car that inspired the Aussie engineer and product designer to begin modifying 911s – initially for autocross competitions – and develop a range of chassis and drivetrain products to sharpen the air-cooled 911 driving experience.

Products developed on Kenny include the famous WEVO shifters, engine and transmission mounts, anti-roll bars and suspension parts. Kenny is also fitted with several prototype parts that never went into production, such as the WEVO brakes that I vaguely attempted to buy several times but could never convince him to sell.

The WEVO brakes remained in prototype due to projected retail price against the value of air-cooled cars at the time. The numbers would probably make more sense nowadays, but life has moved on and there are other products out there. Hayden instead developed his 5-speed conversion for Porsche 356 models and that has been going well since launch.

Kenny has been part of my world since 2008, when I took my first trip out to San Carlos to meet Hayden and Tracey at WEVO. They could not have been more welcoming and our friendship continued when Twinspark Racing became WEVO’s official European distributors. I was a partner in Twinspark at the time, along with my friends Leonard Stolk and Lex Proper, so we did a fair amount of business together.

Hayden’s exploits in historic rallying on events like the Peking to Paris alongside Steven Harris and more recent rallies with Alastair Caldwell have kept us in touch. Our last time together in person was when Ciara and I joined H and the EB Motorsport guys for dinner on the beach at Zandvoort after the Masters Historic Grand Prix in 2018. Great times.

The world has turned on its head in two years and the pandemic has shifted life goals for both of us. Hayden’s responding by selling some cars and doubling down on a sustainable lifestyle. His 993 daily driver has already departed and Kenny is next on the block. The cool blue 912 is also likely to go.

Long-time followers will remember our feature on Kenny, which ran in one of the Porsche magazines back in the day. Jamie and I took the car to Pacific Grove near Monterey before sunrise and shot it on the coast as the sun came up. It was an unforgettable experience.

I’ve driven a lot of miles in this car, incuding down through the redwoods from San Francisco to Laguna Seca (above), where the car has seen many great days on track. As Hayden was an early R Gruppe member, Kenny was one of the earliest R Gruppe cars, attending all sorts of group events over the years. There is an air of authenticity about this one that later R Gruppe creations can’t hope to match. The aim is to place it with someone who will appreciate the history and keep piling the miles on, enjoying the car while we are still allowed to drive them.

Hayden wrote up a great spec on the 911 and you can download a pdf of that here. I’ll put the main points below. This is a special 911 with room for cosmetic detailing if you want to go that way. I would probably just run it as-is (with one of Jonny’s electric air conditioning kits, of course).

1972 Porsche 911 for sale – Specification

Engine

That original engine was replaced by the current engine, a 2.4-litre MFI engine from a 911S that was dressed using the original yellow “T” fan shroud and a combination of 2.4S intake system, recalibrated MFI pump and the highly regarded Elgin “Mod-S” camshaft grind. The engine made ~195hp at 6750rpm on the Jerry woods dyno with airbox, filter and Abarth muffler installed.

The engine was detailed when it was installed in 2004 and the installation is otherwise stock. There is no external oil cooler, it has the stock MFI fuel pump mounted in stock location, stock fuel filter and fuel cut-off valve all mounted and functioning.

WEVO SS engine mounts are fitted. The current exhaust is stock MFI heat exchangers (cabin heat connected) and a stock MFI muffler with the period correct ribbed outlet. The accessory package that comes with this car includes a rare Abarth 4-outlet muffler, an equally rare and unique 6-outlet muffler (for when 4 is not enough!) and a rare, unused 2 x 2 muffler with a pair of chrome outlets exiting wide; one on each corner of the rear bumper.

The engine has a WEVO 915 Streetlite Clutch kit using a spring-centre friction disc. The low inertia and added performance of this clutch kit is especially noticeable at full throttle in second and third gears.

Transmission

As one would expect given WEVO’s unique expertise, the transmission has been through a variety of revisions, at times running a WEVO super lightweight spool instead of an open differential. It currently has a Porsche factory ZF limited slip differential. It has a very deliberate build suited for easy street driving, or aggressive track driving. 80% build configuration giving the maximum friction surfaces, then carefully shimmed to have a very light pre-load of only 10 ft/lbs.

This configuration gives a high locking action during aggressive driving and easy rolling and steering at low speeds. The transmission has a suite of WEVO products, including XT 100 Side Cover, WEVO 915 GateShift kit and XT 032 bearing retainer plate. The gearbox is in great operating condition and needs no repairs.

Interior

Hayden’s interior spec goes into quite a lot of detail but, in short:

  • Fitted factory sports seats
  • Abarth 360mm sports steering wheel
  • WEVO 915 shifter with +40mm lever (my 911 also has this: perfect mod)
  • WEVO PSJ shift coupler and XT 147 clamp
  • Accessories package includes bespoke carbon fibre seats with custom rear cage

Bodywork

Again H has added a lot of detail to the bodywork section. In summary:

  • Sunroof 911 finished in original Gulf Orange
  • Rust-free car that has lived in California for almost fifty years
  • Distinctive WEVO-logo graphics
  • Presented as RS with SC/Carrera rear arches
  • Fibreglass bumpers and ducktail
  • Bespoke front brake cooling ducts
  • H1 headlights with Euro rear lenses
  • Accessories package includes original steel rear bumper and deck lid, and an early S steel front bumper

Suspension

See the full pdf for details of this. One could hardly ask for a better suspension setup on a sports-purpose early car:

  • 21/26 torsion bars
  • RSR raised-spindle front struts with Bilstein inserts
  • WEVO Camberking top mounts with Teflon monoballs and carbon fibre cross tube/strut brace
  • Weltmeister 19mm front ARB
  • WEVO Spring Plate system rear end (now unobtanium)
  • ’76 trailing arms with SRP monoballs and WEVO E-Z pins
  • Weltmeister adjustable rear ARB
  • Koni adjustable rear dampers
  • SC CV joints in stock driveshafts

Brakes

Highlights include:

  • Aforementioned WEVO prototype billet aluminium calipers
  • Designed to fit inside 6×15 wheels with a nod to 930 brake performance
  • 315 x 28mm front brake disc
  • standard 930 rear disc with handbrake bell
  • 930 pads for ease of replacement
  • Accessory package includes set of new discs and all brake servicing literature

Wheels and Tyres

Kenny runs on nicely restored 7 & 8×15″ Fuchs, with Avon CR6ZZ Classic 185/70 front and 215/60 rear tyres. The spare is a 6 x 15″ Fuchs with a 185/70 tyre.

Enquiries and Price

It can be difficult to price cars like this and would be all too easy to get that wrong. Setting the mods aside, we have a low-owner ’72 oil flap 911T with sunroof in a relatively rare colour with a matching numbers engine and the original panels ready to be refitted. The only major change is the SC arches.

Adding in the mods we have a Jerry Woods 2.4S MFI engine making circa 200 horsepower, custom WEVO transmission with pretty much everything you could pick from the catalogue, custom suspension, custom brakes, simple but desirable period trim that one could improve and so on. It also comes with a ton of additional parts, including the original engine.

The key to this car for me is that it is not fake. It is not a poser. It was forged at the centre of air-cooled 911 culture and has been driven and developed over twenty years of ownership. What was created specifically for this car may now be found on thousands of 911s all over the world. But there is only one original. Does that story add any value? Well, the buyers will decide. What price romance nowadays?!

So to the price. Hayden is open to offers circa $150,000, which is £114,000 or €126,000. To find a similar rust-free 1972 911 and fit it with an S engine with the WEVO bits one can still buy would easily exceed this. And that car would not be built by WEVO. Add in the unobtanium, the spares bits and who knows what else the boss will include and you have a unique piece of air-cooled history.

The car is located in San Francisco, but can of course be shipped anywhere in the world. I am helping out with this one should it make its way across the pond to the UK or Europe, so you can contact Hayden via WEVO.com or drop me a line – john@johndglynn.com – or give me a call on +44 7565 348453.

Photos ©James Lipman – All Rights Reserved


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Cris Huergas and the R Gruppe Book

Cris Huergas and the R Gruppe Book

The cool thing would perhaps be to quote Groucho Marx (“I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member”) but, when the late Cris Huergas sent me an email in 2007 to ask if I wanted to join the R Gruppe, it caught my attention.

Founding R Gruppe member, Gib Bosworth, owned several air-cooled 911s including a very original Carrera 3.0 (super rare in America as never sold new there) and found my 1976 Carrera 3.0 through impactbumpers.com. He liked the community spirit I was building on the impact bumpers forum, with a focus on driving the cars, learning more about them and doing one’s own maintenance.

Gib’s view of what worked carried weight, and impactbumpers presented by Gib resonated with Cris. The fact that I was writing for pretty much all of the British Porsche magazines at the time didn’t hurt my case either, as Cris was into his car magazines. He overlooked the minor technicality that, although I did own a ’71 project bought from the Gruppe’s ‘Dutch chapter’, my ’76 was not a longhood – a membership must at the time. In any case, I got the email, paid my dues and was member number 466.

I remained with the Gruppe for more than ten years and spent lots of time with Cris on our California visits. He was a working guy who’d been through a few ups and downs, so 911 ownership was behind him by the time we hooked up but, as the Gruppemeister he always had shotgun, and many friends would happily lend him cars on events.

Cris Huergas (right) by Frank Kayser

He also loved to come out on shoots: the energy around these things was ridiculously infectious and Cris loved being in the thick of it. He usually knew much of the story behind the cars we were shooting, so period voice recordings invariably feature a high-pitched Huergas prompting the owner on something they forgot.

Our first meeting was at the Fogcatcher Inn on the Pacific Coast Highway in Cambria, California in 2008. Jamie (James Lipman) and I made our first trip from the UK to CA to see what went on at an R Gruppe Treffen and I decided we should shoot Bob Tilton and Chris Nielsen’s SWB 911s.

It is difficult to explain to recent arrivals to air-cooled Porsches just how unloved short-wheelbase cars were at the time. Super cheap and often scrapped, here were two guys who had invested heavily in two SWB 911s, spending well over market value to realise their individual visions in very different, but equally convincing ways.

Tilton and Nielsen were more than just 911 guys; they were tastemakers. Tilt was fastidious about every tiny detail and Nielsen matched his microscopic focus to the miligram. What I found within each of them was that they looked back for inspiration, but were not driven to mimic. They interpreted their influences rather than imitating them. This is what made their cars special and the two we had to shoot on that first trip to America.

In the years that followed, 911 prices took off into the stratosphere and R Gruppe became quite the sensation. Cris loved grass roots enthusiasts and would make an effort to talk to new faces. Someone with a cool 911 who came to a few meets and showed they were not a complete pain in the arse was generally given a number, but Cris would also occasionally slip numbers to people who maybe didn’t have the grass roots background, but turned up in a serious car. Maybe they didn’t build it, but they had a vision of quality that worked for him, and they had a clue about cars. Cris also brought in the occasional trophy member – which was not a bad thing.

Huergas was a serious petrolhead and, while he liked old 911s with patchwork-quilt provenance, he also knew a proper car. He and his brothers were all into cars, and the crew around Cris was similarly knowledgeable. It’s no accident that Cris started R Gruppe (so called in a play on words around “Our Group” and the underdog history of the 911R) with Freeman Thomas, one of the most respected car designers of the 20th century. Cris could hold his own in that sort of company and his inner circle were serious geeks when it came to details on more than just Porsches.

Still, it was always the garagistes that did it for me: home builders who had a vision and didn’t really care whether it fitted what has since become a fairly prescriptive early 911 recipe book. My favourite Cris quote is “everything you do is right” – meaning that, if you liked it, then who cared what anyone else thought?

Whether it was Bob Aines’ orange E that was driven from Texas to California every Treffen, Rolly Resos’ famous red and white car, Harvey Weidman’s Martini 911 or Gib’s beautiful Tour de France recreation, the early R Gruppe cars were incredibly elegant. The cars were my air-cooled royalty and their drivers were true elder statesmen, in every sense of the word. We never wrote features on any of the cars I mention above and I do not regret that: a magazine splash would have spoiled their allure. Better to shun such vulgarity.

That’s not to say that the Gruppe 911s we did shoot were anything less than superb. With so many great cars to choose from, and only four weeks a year to gather the material, we shot what we could get to and saved a few others for later. Not all of our cars came through the R Gruppe, but it was the main portal for some wonderful times and I remember them fondly. In the centre was Cris: always on the hunt for 911 fans to add to the cocktail shaker he called R Gruppe membership.

In the same way that Tilton and Nielsen expressed their 911 visions as a unified blend of countless influences, Huergas delivered his vision of the car park dinner party everyone wanted to be at in the shape of the R Gruppe. Now that Cris has left us, things are likely to change.

It is fortunate, therefore, that German photographer, Frank Kayser, captured the last months of R Gruppe under Huergas for The R Book. A look through some of Frank’s photos shows many familiar faces, all of whom were devoted to Cris for bringing them into the fold.

“I had complete creative freedom for this book,” says Frank, “so I got to document the things that inspire me: beautiful landscapes, cool dudes and loads of awesome cars. The old air-cooled Porsche is the connecting link of it all. The book is not just another coffee table book about cars, but my statement for analogue values such as freedom, friendship and the fun of experiencing the real world together.”

The R Book website describes this as a “10 x 13” coffee-table book of 580 pages that’s filled with 840 brilliant images of awesome cars, candid visits of member’s private garages, and beautiful Californian landscapes. Well written essays about the history and the attitude towards life of America‘s cult Porsche car club”, but to those who experienced the Gruppe under Cris, it will be more than that.

One of my favourite books bought this year is “The World’s Fastest Place”, by another German photographer, Alexandra Lier. Alexandra’s work (above) is exceptional, but I can only imagine how much more meaningful the book must be if you are part of the Bonneville Speed Week community, around whom this book is based.

Beautifully presented, the R Gruppe book is not cheap at €180, and it’s no substitute for being part of Huergas’ R Gruppe before the world went crazy for air-cooled but, for 911 fans looking for something to evoke memories of good times with friends and old Porsches, it is worth a look.

I leave the last word to my R Gruppe compadre, Guenter Kehr, who I climbed many Alpine passes with on the epic Twinspark Racing 2010 Bergmeister Tour: “More a piece of art than just a book, but great stuff for any Porsche guy and a great memory to the late Cris Huergas.”


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Porsche hot rods and Normalisation

Porsche hot rods and Normalisation

I spent part of yesterday writing a blog for the Classic Retrofit website covering Patrick Motorsport’s latest project car: a 1986 Porsche hot rod 911 Carrera 3.2 backdated to ’73 RSR style.

Originally supplied as a factory black 911, Patrick retained the original colour and went with blue as an accent shade inside and out. The blue interior is all about impact and takes zero prisoners. The result is a head-turning build that took the Sponsor’s Choice award at the recent Werks Reunion in the Corral de Tierra Country Club, Monterey.

Jonny’s electric air conditioning for air-cooled Porsche 911s was part of the spec for the award-winning build, hence the blog on his website. Patrick Motorsports did a video of the A/C in action, showing a reduction of 30°C at the dash vents versus the ambient temperature. No doubt that was impressive, but the additional spec of the car looks equally impressive.

The builder went through a rough spec on a video shot at the Werks Reunion prize giving. It apparently runs a turbocharged engine, later transmission (I presume this means G50), big brake conversion and more but if the story of what sounds like an interesting build is available online, I couldn’t find it. I think I understand why this might be.

We can all allow what is everyday in our world to feel normal and unworthy of mention. As we do more cool stuff on top of cool stuff, the cool stuff becomes normalised and starts to feel old hat and uninteresting to others. If you were a chef and knew how to poach the perfect egg, poached eggs would feel boring to you. Egg plus boiling water: what else is there to say? But there is lots more to say: poaching the perfect egg was a challenge that took me boxes of eggs to master. Cooking is simple when you know where to start, but that does not mean that a Michelin chef explaining how to poach the perfect egg is something no one wants to know more about.

I have now been writing about Porsches for over fifteen years and have spent most of my working days with at least one 911. They feel very normal to me, so I am probably guilty of skipping across stories that others who don’t spend as much time around these cars would find quite interesting. Clients who have been in this game much longer than I have can be quite blasé about their work on road car restorations or engine rebuilds, but these things are always of interest to owners and they are always worth mentioning.

The weight of life’s other projects – raising kids, maintaining investments, running a business and keeping clients happy – sometimes makes it inevitable that we will take things for granted. Mindfulness and other practices of increasing awareness can help us fight this and focus on what is important, but there are not enough hours in the day to do everything, including enjoying the fruits of our labour.

If your 911, 944, Boxster or GT3 has begin to feel normal and perhaps even boring, stop and think about that. These cars are definitely not boring, so have you just normalised ownership? If you’ve managed to keep Porsche ownership fresh across decades of ownership, how have you done it? I would be interested to know your tips and techniques.


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SOLD: Modified RHD 1972 Porsche 911 RSR

SOLD: Modified RHD 1972 Porsche 911 RSR

Offered for sale (now sold) is this original RHD 1972 Porsche 911, bought new by a PCGB founder and former president and recently reworked by one of the most famous names in air-cooled 911s to create a superb modified Porsche 911. 

This turn-key 911 is offered ready to be driven and enjoyed. Registered as an historic vehicle, it is both tax and MOT exempt. Most recent work includes two new rear tyres and a new twin-plug rotor and distributor cap. A substantial sum has been spent in building and maintaining this 911. The sale includes the cherished registration that has been on the car since new. 

In stark contrast to run-of-the-mill RSR builds based on tired American imports, this original RHD 911 could not have better provenance. Bought new in March 1972 from John Aldington of AFN Porsche by then-President of Porsche Club Great Britain, Bill Goodman, the car enjoyed a long and successful hillclimb career with Bill until his passing in 2004. It was subsequently owned by a family friend, before landing at the famous Tuthill Porsche workshop in Oxfordshire, where it was transformed into a beautifully modified RSR-style 911 with a rebuilt 911/83 2.7 Carrera RS engine on high butterfly throttles with twin plug ignition. 

It would be impossible to list every upgrade and improvement brought to this desirable 1972 911 with sought-after side oil flap since its most recent change of owner. Wonderful history dates back to the purchase invoice and includes bills for more than £150,000 spent with Tuthill Porsche since October 2014. Note that this does not include the purchase price! This car was created by the owner as a money-no-object vision of his ultimate road-going RHD 911. The headline spec list looks like this:

Bodywork: Full body restoration including inner and outer sills, A and B-posts, kidney bowls, parcel shelf repairs, scuttle and windscreen aperture repairs, front slam panel replacement and more. Complete steel-arch conversion to RSR spec. Full repaint in original Tangerine.

Interior: All new trim including Recaro Pole Position seats trimmed in leather with black Alcantara centres, new headlining in black, RS carpets and rear seat pads, new sound deadening, custom dash with 10k tacho, bolt-in roll cage, new inertia reel seat belts and Tuthill harnesses.

Engine: A genuine 2.7 Carrera RS 911/83 twin plug engine with mechanical fuel injection, rebuilt by Tuthills with usual attention to porting and blueprinting. Kevlar engine shrouds, twin Classic Retrofit mappable ignition spark boxes, custom SSI exhaust (including cabin heat) with bespoke silencer and fitted rear bumper.

Transmission: Custom Tuthill gearbox with WEVO shifter, limited slip differential, 930 clutch fork and more.

Suspension: Full Tuthill Porsche EXE-TC adjustable suspension, all suspension components replaced or rebuilt.

Brakes: Full Tuthill Porsche braking system including adjustable twin master cylinder Tuthill pedal box and billet aluminium 6-pot front/4-pot rear calipers.

Wheels and Tyres: 9-inch and 11-inch BZ Classic rims in RSR finish, wrapped in Pirelli Corsa Classic 235/45 and 305/30 R15 tyres (rear tyres are new).

Option to purchase: Optional additions include a car set of super-rare genuine 9-inch and 11-inch Fuchs wheels, a set of Cibie Pallas light units in body colour and smaller round ‘Durant’ mirrors.

The current owner is a private individual, so has asked me to help market the car on his behalf. I will be attending to all viewings and facilitating any inspections. The final payment will be a bank transfer direct to the owner.

This is a straight sale: no part exchanges, thank you. I am happy to work with overseas buyers keen to take advantage of the current exchange rates.

The asking price of £134,995 is substantially less than the cost to build and an attractive price in this market given the history, provenance and high-end nature of all modifications. Any inspection is welcome.

Porsche 911 CD 6299 History

In March 1972, Porsche enthusiast Bill Goodman bought a brand new RHD Porsche 911T in Tangerine from the late, great John Aldington at AFN/Porsche Cars Great Britain Limited for the all-in sum of £4167. This event in itself was not greatly significant, save for the fact that, in March 1972, Bill Goodman was the President of Porsche Club Great Britain: a position he occupied from 1968 to 1974.

Bill was one of the original group of Porsche owners who met at the Grand Hotel in Birmingham in 1961, to discuss the foundation of a British Porsche club. The club was duly established and Bill was made Chairman in 1964. He worked tirelessly in that role to set out the foundations of what is now one of the world’s most respected Porsche groups, becoming President in 1968. Holding the presidency for six years, Bill remains fondly remembered by all who knew him.

Registered as CD 6299, the car was Bill’s first 911, following six 356 models in succession over fourteen years. As Bill himself would later say: “I have never been one to keep the same car – even a Porsche – for very long, and it took a 911 to interrupt that habit.”

Painted in sought-after Tangerine (also known as Blood Orange), Bill’s 911 was a simple original specification. The car was chosen for its notable torque at low revs and low weight as standard: two qualities which bode well for competition.

Bill was a keen driver and motorsport competitor and his 911T was soon spotted on the hillclimb circuit. The first major modification came in the form of an engine swap, the flat six from his wife’s 2.4S Targa finding its way into the back of the T. His best times came down a bit, but it was not a long-term solution.

The big change came following a conversation with Josh Sadler of Autofarm fame, who suggested building a high performance 3.0 Turbo engine that would offer the same power to weight as some of the single-seater race cars of the time. A change to later 3.0 RSR style accompanied the new engine, with AP brakes and a long list of associated modifications.

When Bill passed away in 2004, the car was handed down to his son, who kept it until 2009. Thereafter, it lived in and around the UK midlands until 2014, when it popped up for sale Tuthill Porsche in Wardington, Oxfordshire.

Tuthills had a raft of customers interested in the rare RHD 1972 911: an original non-sunroof car in factory Tangerine with the distinctive side oil flap. Some wanted to restore it to original specification, but that was not in tune with its original owner. Run as a modified 911 since its earliest days, the ideal custodian would continue that trend and do justice to its legacy.

A candidate soon emerged, a price was agreed and a project was drawn up that would see a significant sum invested to create the car you see today. Featuring all of Tuthill’s expertise in building modified 911s for the ultimate driving experience, this 911 has covered just a few thousand miles since the build was completed. It is now for sale as the owner is streamlining his collection.

Luftgekühlt comes to Great Britain

Luftgekühlt comes to Great Britain

Amongst many Porsche announcements this week was news of the impending arrival of Luftgekühlt in the UK. The Californian classic Porsche expo’s UK debut at Bicester Heritage on July 29 has got those who like Porsche meets somewhat excited.

Luftgekühlt is the brainchild of Porsche works driver, Patrick Long, and creative director, Howie Idelson. Revolving around Porsche air-cooled cars from the first 356s to the last 993s, Luftgekühlt describes itself as “an experiential car culture event centred around a tightly curated list of historically significant or interesting cars, both race and street”.

Luftgekühlt translates as air-cooled, and air-cooled Porsches are the stars of this ticket-only show. Air-cooled Porsche cars attending LuftGB are invited to park in the main event space. In addition to the ticketed parking within the Luftgekühlt display, there is a designated Porsche-only parking zone. Ample general admission parking is included in the ticket price. Those aged 15 and under go free, with adult tickets priced at £12.50 each.

“We are thrilled to announce that Luftgekühlt will be crossing the Atlantic and landing at Bicester Heritage, Oxfordshire, UK on Sunday July 29, 2018,” says the press release. “LuftGB will be our first overseas event and, together with our motoring and racing friends from across the pond, we will be channeling the informal, fun spirit of the early versions of Luftgekühlt to tell a new Luft story.

“The venue is Bicester Heritage, a former WW2 RAF Bomber Training Station. As the only hub for historic motoring of its type and scale in the world, and with over 35 specialist motoring businesses onsite, Bicester has a lot of heart. Its aesthetic, grit and heritage will frame the Luftgekühlt story in a perfectly British way.

“Like past shows, our first overseas foray will feature a blend of curated, invite-only rarities and ticketed enthusiasts’ cars. There will be a limited number of slots to fill within the venue, and they will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.

Despite July being a busy month of Porsche meets, with Classic Le Mans this weekend and Goodwood Festival of Speed straight after, the Porsche crowd is likely to turn out in force for the first-ever UK Luftgekühlt gathering. I spoke to one of the organisers on Tuesday and was told that the meet was already one-third of the way to being sold out. Anyone who would like to attend had better get their skates on. You can buy tickets here.

photo from Luft 3 courtesy of Luftgekühlt