Three Tuthill Porsche 911 rally cars are taking part in the Baltic Classic Rally at the end of this month. All three are special 911s but, as I had this one to hand last week for a few pics and it was the cleanest it’s been for several years, I thought it would be cool to share a few details.
It used to be that when a 911 got too tired or scruffy for road use, it was broken for parts or sold to a motorsport firm and converted into some sort of race or rally car. These days, the story is different. Few people turn up to rallies in air-cooled Porsche 911s nowadays, as the cars are just so expensive. When someone does decide to compete in a Porsche 911, the cars have generally been built pretty carefully.
Tuthill Safari cars are a good example of this. Built to a tried-and-tested recipe, the first step with a bare metal shell is to fix any rust and add all of the strengthening carefully detailed in Tuthill’s in-house manual. This used to be a closely guarded secret, and some details are still kept under wraps, but the team is often happy to share information and help with other engineering, as it did with Jeff Gamroth’s Rothsport Racing 964s which recently took part in the Baja 1000 event.
Rally Car Shell Preparation
The bodyshell preparation is perhaps the most important part of the process. Having seen many cars built elsewhere eventually turning up at Tuthills to be sorted, the big problem is usually rust. So many 911 competition cars are not stripped properly or rustproofed to a very high level after restoration, so they have started (or continued) to rust before they are even finished being built. By the time they turn up for fettling, the rot has really taken hold and the major expense of rust repair is inevitable. This renders all other work done on top of the rusty shell as useless. So sorting the rust is the most important thing to start with.
The car seen here has been around Tuthills since I started going there in 2003. As with most Tuthill rally builds, it was originally imported from the west coast of America, so there was little or no rust to worry about. I’ve driven it a few times over the years and it has clocked up thousands of miles of rallying since being built, including wins on the Costa Brava and Isle of Man historic events. It has also taken part in both Morocco Historic and Safari Classic rallies, as well as a few runs on Below Zero Ice Driving.
Porsche legend, Björn Waldegård, drove this car on the first Colin McRae Memorial Rally and I think Colin’s dad (and former British rally champion), Jimmy, used it on the same event the following year. Now the car has passed to new owner and experienced competitor, David Danglard, a fresh book begins in its history. The first chapter of that is the Baltic Classic Rally, which starts on May 28th and runs all around Northern Europe, loosely following the Baltic Sea coastline.
FIA HTP Homologation Requirements
FIA rally homologations set out most of the specs for a competition rally car carrying an Historic Technical Passport (HTP): essential to rally on international events. If it wasn’t on the original homologation back in the day, then you can’t use it now. Some exceptions include fuel tanks and modern damper systems, which are often exempt from regulations or waivered on the grounds of reliability. But it all starts with the original FIA paperwork.
This car was built for FIA and later upgraded to run on Safari, but the process of creation is basically the same. With the shell mods and a full roll cage in place, the chassis was fitted with a mix of homologated parts and other equipment developed for rally use. Dampers are key to performance, and historic compliant EXE-TC dampers without remote reservoirs are used on most Tuthill Porsche 911s. For a proper Safari effort, the team brings damper technicians to the event to strip and rebuild dampers in accordance with service plans, but these high-end dampers can take a number of historic endurance events like the Baltic before needing rebuild.
Brake calipers may be free on some events, but FIA cars use standard Porsche brakes, which are good enough for historic endurance when running proper pads and discs. Tuthill’s dash-controlled twin-master cylinder pedal box is fitted to all 911 rally builds. Some events do not permit adjustable brake bias, so the system is disabled for those. Small details include a spare throttle cable run from engine to pedal, so if a throttle cable breaks on event, you simply clip in the new one front and rear.
Oil lines are usually run in the car for obvious reasons, wrapped in tight-fitting heat wrap. A central oil tank is fitted to the rear firewall, with a level check tube easily viewed and keeping things simple. The oil system on a proper 911 rally car is a joy to behold, as is the fuel setup with twin Messerschmitt fuel pumps up front on proper Safari cars: again double-headed for reliability. Some rally cars use twin tanks in case of poor fuel, but the Tuthill spec is usually one large – 100l or more – foam-filled fuel tank, sited high up between the front towers and a reworked floor in the front compartment, which then allows two spare wheels to be carried (de-rigeur on historic endurance).
Electrics are kept to a minimum, though many competitors ask for additional spurs to power cameras, GPS systems and so on. The entire wiring system is replaced with a modern competition loom, designed to run fire extinguisher systems, bonnet lamps, Halda rally timers and the like. Bull bars front and rear are there to help recovery and allow towing as much as prevent damage from wildlife or other contact and they are very handy things! They do not add a great deal of weight to the chassis and also allow the bumpers to be lightweight GRP.
Substantial body guards are fitted under the car, to help the 911 survive high-speed running on rough terrain and also survive impacts from hard landings. These are aluminium, but still weigh a fair bit. The good thing about the guards is that all the weight is carried low down. Even with Safari-spec ground clearance, the cars handle beautifully on road (with road tyres).
My last solo drive of a Tuthill Safari car was a return loop from HQ in Wardington to Derry in Northern Ireland using Gilberto Sandretto’s Safari 911 (above). The car was supremely comfortable to drive and that 3-litre engine did not miss a beat. I am sure the new owners of this storied 911 rally car will enjoy their debut event with it and hope to share some road trip photos upon their return.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
Mrs G and I recently attended the social event of the historic Porsche motorsport off-season in Yorkshire, where a good weekend was had by all. While up north, we called in to catch up with Mark and James at EB Motorsport in Barnsley, as I heard there was lots going on.
While James has recently been helping with another little addition to the family, Mark’s been holding the fort at EB Engineering by day and spending the evenings knee-deep in Porsche projects. Both have also been working closely with a bunch of new staff including a full-time painter, new fabricator/welder and a machine operator for the three Haas CNC machines now working flat out in Barnsley. But I digress – back to Porsche.
Current EB classic Porsche projects include the 911R build (which I got some good pics of), repairing the ’65 SWB car ahead of this year’s race season (Brands Masters and 6 Hours of Spa are definite), working on the 2.1 RSR Turbo build and fitting the latest EB Motorsport parts to the Light Yellow RSR race car: these superb pressed steel rear arch flares.
Porsche 911 Steel Arch Flares
Well made steel arch flares that fit properly and look right are almost impossible to find, but the new EB flares are a superb piece of work. Requiring no hand finishing around the arch lip or torsion bar hole, they merge to meet the contours of the classic race car in a seamless curve of delight. The tyre-to-arch gap in EB’s fitting is nothing short of perfect; these steel arch flares really are magnificent creations by all concerned.
I love my 911s as narrow-body models, but steel panels of this quality make my wallet itch. The only issue is that, to do them proper justice, you need 300bhp under the decklid and 11-inch rear Fuchs to match. Such champagne tastes are not yet matched by an available budget to go wild in metal. Maybe one day.
Email EB Motorsport to discuss any of their peerless performance parts for Porsche. The brothers are excellent guys: two of my favourite people.
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Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
April in Europe means it’s time for Techno Classica Essen. I’ve missed the last couple of years for one reason or another but am back at the 2017 show with Jonny Hart from Classic Retrofit. We’re also meeting Mark and James from EB Motorsport, Marcel from Restoration Design and Jonny will also be catching up with his new friend, Alois Ruf! Love it.
Mention Essen to most UK classic car people and they usually respond by saying they’ve been meaning to go there for years. I was the same until actually going and now it hurts me not to attend. So much goes on here that it is difficult to consider oneself well informed about the European market when you skip a year: you have to witness the prices inside the halls and the numbers on cars offered by traders and private sellers in the external exhibition spaces.
An incredible 1,250 exhibitors from 30 countries show their wares at Essen, with many more sharing stands alongside trading partners. The 2016 Techno Classica was attended by 200,000 people. More than 2,700 cars were on display, with an estimated total value of €350 million.
Manufacturers pull out all the stops and bring a wonderful selection of museum pieces to take us back forty years or more. There is so much Porsche stock on most other stands that it likely would not matter if there was no official Porsche presence: it would still be one of the most popular brands at the show and it is the surprise exhibits that create the biggest buzz.
I am looking forward to being back in Germany. Jonny and I are staying in the centre of Dusseldorf, at the same hotel I use every year. Dusseldorf is a nicer city to stay in than Essen and the trains back and forth are easy to use. We’re around from Thursday AM to Saturday lunchtime, so anyone else in the area can drop me an email, social media message or just post a comment.
One of my favourite Porsche projects of the last few years has been working with my friend Jonny Hart on the brand development of his company, Classic Retrofit. Jonny and I became online friends soon after he joined our 1974-1989 Porsche 911 forum at impactbumpers.com and it has been fun to follow his electronics magic on parts for these classic 911s, including the all new Porsche 911 air con system.
The peak of achievement to date is Jonny’s electric air con kit for classic Porsche 911s. Branded ‘Electrocooler’, the full kit is about to be unleashed on the classic Porsche community in its first public showing at the LA Lit Show on March 4.
I shared some pics on Classic Retrofit’s social media pages last week and they went totally ballistic: a most rewarding return for all of Jonny’s hard work. I have just sent more details out and am sure that many of my Ferdinand friends will also be interested in knowing more, so I share them below.
Classic Porsche 911 Electric Air Con: A/C Technical Layout
The compressor module (front centre in the picture) goes in the smuggler’s box on a LHD 911. On a RHD car, the compressor is mounted adjacent to the battery and fits with no modifications to battery or spare wheel arrangements.
The condenser goes under the front wing/fender, in place of the oversized windscreen washer reservoir on an impact-bumper car. The blower unit (top right) contains a modern fan and evaporator. All original non A/C vents now blow A/C air.
The occupants can also enjoy A/C air out of any vent in the car, including warm A/C air for rapid windscreen defogging. Our blower assembly brings recirculation capability to the 911s ventilation system and assists heated air flow for hot air without the need for footwell blowers.
Maintaining the standards of classic Porsche design, the original cabin slider ventilation controls are retained, for maximum discretion. A single pushbutton with indication is the only visible clue that Electrocooler is fitted.
Electrocooler Weight Savings and Performance Benefits
As shown in our photo, the complete kit weighs a shade over 16 kilograms (35 lbs). Combining the fitment of a smaller washer bottle and accounting for removal of the original fresh air blower, installing Classic Retrofit’s Electrocooler kit to a 911 originally supplied without factory air conditioning adds less than 7 kilograms (15 lbs) to overall weight.
For a car originally equipped with factory air conditioning, converting to the Classic Retrofit Electrocooler system results in an overall weight saving of circa 18 kilograms (40 lbs).
There is the added handling benefit of weight loss at the rear of the car by removing the substantial original air-con compressor from its elevated position in the engine bay, not to mention the increased fuel efficiency and engine power, once the crankshaft load inflicted by the archaic belt-driven compressor is removed.
The Canary Islands are volcanic isles located off the north-west coast of Africa, just a half-hour flight from the Western Sahara Desert. I first visited the Canaries in 1993 and instantly fell in love with the islands and the people. I have since returned here many times, visiting each of the islands over the years, but Gran Canaria remains my favourite.
The locals say that Gran Canaria is like a mini-continent. Divided by a mountainous centre, the south gets most sunshine, so is where the resorts are. In the north is Las Palmas, Spain’s ninth biggest city and the islands’ governmental centre. 850,000 people live on this island, including many extranjeros (immigrants) from across Europe, Africa and Latin America. This Irish immigrant has spent the last seven days here and as always, it has been a pleasure.
Thanks to beautiful weather all year around, a huge working sea port and a very busy airport, Gran Canaria welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The mix of global influences has earned GC a reputation for tolerance and an openness to many cultures. This has certainly been my experience. I have made some good friends in Gran Canaria and am interested in possibly owning a house here, hence my frequent visits in recent months. We will see how that goes.
A Lesson in Spanish Philosophy
Canarian history goes back thousands of years and each island is truly unique in character, but today the Canaries are a part of modern Spain. Here we speak español (small e) and follow the rhythms of Spanish life and culture. There is little point in rushing anywhere, as you will only catch up to the bloke in front. Make time for life and life will make time for you is how things tend to go.
Catching up to slower moving people reminds me of the famous Spanish philosopher, José Ortega y Gasset, who believed that a person was the combination of both life and circumstance. “Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia” as he put it. To Ortega y Gasset, circunstancia meant those things forced upon us. He saw life as a constant tug-of-war between the freedom we were born with and our dictated fate.
In the fight between freedom and fate, Ortega y Gasset’s concept is the start of all art. We accept that fate will befall us but inside that acceptance, we select a destiny. Some become part of what the philosopher’s 1929 essays call “The Mass”, while some select a different path.
“The mass crushes beneath it everything that is different, everything that is excellent, individual, qualified and select. Anybody who is not like everybody, who does not think like everybody, runs the risk of being eliminated.”
To escape this fate, Ortega Y Gasset believed that a person must make an active decision to live a life of effort. “For me, then, nobility is synonymous with a life of effort, ever set on excelling oneself, in passing beyond what one is to what one sets up as a duty and an obligation. In this way, the noble life stands opposed to the common or inert life, which reclines statically upon itself, condemned to perpetual immobility, unless an external force compels it to come out of itself.”
The concepts of Ortega y Gasset and others were at the heart of a lively bilingual conversation I enjoyed with my friends Rafael and Jorge over coffee last night. Rafael – a Doctor of Philosophy – is a former consultant to the Swedish government and has just completed another PhD, pondering the practical applications of preventative psychology. His lifelong friend, Jorge, is a Porsche restorer. Both are living “a noble life” that Ortega y Gasset would be proud of.
Pons Vintage Cars
Based just outside Santa Brigida, here in Gran Canaria, Jorge Pons takes the idea of Porsche restoration to the nth degree. While most of the Porsche restorers I have met and worked with add their own touches, that is not the way of Jorge. Pons Vintage Cars believes that, if it is not in the manual, it is not on the car.
The Dalmatian Blue (Oxford Blue) 1973 Porsche 911 2.4T Targa seen here is a perfect example. And I mean it is a perfect example. Restored over ten months from start to finish, this superb 2.4 T Targa is immaculate inside and out. I had the pleasure of a short drive in this 911 around Jorge’s family estate and it was a delightful experience.
All of Jorge’s 911s are completed to an exacting standard. The ’73 Targa is the seventh car in as many years to come from his wonderfully pastoral workshop. Set amongst the mountains overlooking the wild blue Atlantic and surrounded by palm trees, a group of four much-loved donkeys (burros in Spain) follow progress in the glass-walled garage through wise and appreciative eyes. As a donkey- and a Porsche-lover, I think it is perfect.
Dalmatian Blue Porsche 911 T Targa
Dalmatian Blue is one of my favourite Porsche colours but it is not very common. I have only seen one other 911 in Dalmatian Blue and that was a hot rod built by my friend Gib Bosworth, eventually finished by another good friend. How many Dalmatian/Oxford Blue Targas were ever built in the final year of early 911 production (and how many matching-number examples remain) is anyone’s guess, but it can’t be that many. This could easily be the the best one available.
Anyone seeking a well restored example of classic Porsche engineering should contact Jorge Pons to discuss this car for sale. Gran Canaria is just a plane ride away and shipping is easy. Pons does not ask a fortune for his work – the projects are not about the money – but the prices are not negotiable. This one is up for €125,000, which seems reasonable, given that some dealers in Germany are asking more than €150k for similar cars that will not have taken ten painstaking months to restore. I m back in Essen in april and I have no doubt that cars this good will be into the €160k+ bracket.
Now finished the 911T Targa, Jorge has switched to a superb Irish Green 1970 Porsche 911 T Coupe. This car recently returned from the paint shop following an incredible bare-metal restoration, all recorded on camera. It is beautiful: the paintwork is a joy to behold. I leave Gran Canaria tomorrow, but am very excited to see what progress will have been made when I return to the island in May.
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