tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35361910109281035172024-02-19T04:46:58.940-08:00Bruce Anderson 911 Porsche BlogAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-16947384655730164182015-05-06T22:27:00.000-07:002015-05-12T14:17:42.909-07:00The Bruce Anderson CollectionAs you may know, Bruce collected an amazing amount of Porsche
literature, memorabilia, technical information. Bruce also had a large
library of books.... some of which are out of print. I am slowly
building lists of those items which are for sale. I will post the lists
as I complete them. If you are interested in purchasing any of this
material, you can contact me at: <a href="mailto:stephani@mac.com">stephani@mac.com</a>. You can either pay
via PayPal and cover all of their fees or, you can send me a check and
once cleared I will ship the material to you. All prices include
shipping.<br />
<br />
<br />
Please view the list of items on the <a href="http://911handbook.blogspot.com/p/remembering-bruce.html">Bruce Anderson Collection</a> page. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-46268667223254422192013-02-11T20:00:00.000-08:002013-03-23T17:14:15.864-07:00Bruce Anderson, 1938 - 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrXasdWMX8JJzctYcscxj2b413pSFjxToMcD5LCUs-bE-vVxCCx4oybOw7lq5DmVv1CXg7OAM6pdNq-4MzOY-hC5pI1uMeoLDLQrhjdjSyRNBIZbDaWIfoFQ-zouEDuFcpNiWvG-ssakU/s1600/bruce-anderson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrXasdWMX8JJzctYcscxj2b413pSFjxToMcD5LCUs-bE-vVxCCx4oybOw7lq5DmVv1CXg7OAM6pdNq-4MzOY-hC5pI1uMeoLDLQrhjdjSyRNBIZbDaWIfoFQ-zouEDuFcpNiWvG-ssakU/s320/bruce-anderson.jpg" width="259" /></a></div>
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Bruce Anderson passed away this Saturday. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Stephanie, his family, and his friends. Bruce, for all that you gave us, we thank you. Your expertise, enthusiasm, humor, love and friendship will be sorely missed.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-33893698877254333652001-09-01T20:54:00.000-07:002012-08-07T15:14:01.165-07:002001 Porsche Rennsport Reunion<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Because the 1998 fifty year anniversary events held at
Laguna Seca and Watkins Glen were such emotional, artistic and financial
successes Porsche wanted to do more, so along with Brian Redman they scheduled
what they called the Porsche Rennsport Reunion. The Reunion was this past
weekend and Porsche Cars North America and Brian Redman put on a spectacular
event at Lime Rock. While not as grand in total number of cars the Lime Rock
Porsche Rennsport Reunion was a wonderful event with lots and lots of wonderful
Porsches. Because it was not held in conjunction with something like Steven
Earl‘s historic weekend it was a much more intimate event. It was more like
Brian’s 50/50 held at the Glen in 1998. There were many 956s and many 962s…
maybe more than at Laguna Seca in 1998, I don’t know. But at least they got
more of them on the track than they did at Laguna Seca. They claimed that they
had 23 of these cars at Lime Rock and that this is the largest gathering ever. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir1NjUJ_lnKxKsZE5jssv8_8tv4tZ4Bx3Qtjh5fai-u_0eXxb9zOui7pZlk775vXvd5PlkiieCUD2S_1_lOxZND4sTJsgdD4sdhjDG0daV1tOvQm-SImyX1S-P7Sgmi3PspdSQYo8MsQo/s1600/Porsche+Rennsport+Reunion+JPEG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFR0OzFoPBNlhKAJkKYFcq4MuH-RLSOdpdoBgOzCESazSYr50Kc7PJqf9gDmkqaBhEEfQk2E-HUiMVQBbzR9ssWiqM6Lkb4OEhkzYt5M_Kv8uKf4wv5yHi_jdeMe-2Y6L2QzUb_cdgY20/s1600/Rennsport+Reunion+Concours+JPEG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFR0OzFoPBNlhKAJkKYFcq4MuH-RLSOdpdoBgOzCESazSYr50Kc7PJqf9gDmkqaBhEEfQk2E-HUiMVQBbzR9ssWiqM6Lkb4OEhkzYt5M_Kv8uKf4wv5yHi_jdeMe-2Y6L2QzUb_cdgY20/s1600/Rennsport+Reunion+Concours+JPEG.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The event actually ran from Wednesday July 25 through Sunday
July 29, 2001. Wed started with registration and media rides and interviews and
practice by race group. Thursday was more of the same, but with a technical
seminar in the evening featuring Alwin Springer (Porsche Motorsport North
America), Norbert Singer (Father of most of Porsches race cars after the 917)
and Klaus Bischoff (the Porsche Museum Curator and former race mechanic). We
didn’t get in until Wednesday evening so we missed all of that early fun and
started with Friday‘s activities. Both PCA club racers practiced as well as the
historic cars. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtyWyo1YLzU719V0Ug1Rfe614ROxKTanjLPx_t5fB1OIF9CDkS7zJd-qxqLIQKwjwYVJdji5VBC9OMA9T86AgVTcghwt6A7LV_kUXbVikaVDvbUZu-i6dbpOd3oxk5hnUUHhvKPQ8zLJE/s1600/Brian+Redman+%2526+Jacky+Ickx+JPEG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtyWyo1YLzU719V0Ug1Rfe614ROxKTanjLPx_t5fB1OIF9CDkS7zJd-qxqLIQKwjwYVJdji5VBC9OMA9T86AgVTcghwt6A7LV_kUXbVikaVDvbUZu-i6dbpOd3oxk5hnUUHhvKPQ8zLJE/s400/Brian+Redman+%2526+Jacky+Ickx+JPEG.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Brian Redman and Jacky Ickx</span> </td></tr>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">One of my highlights of the weekend, that is aside from just
being there, happened Friday after noon when I got to take tow hot laps with
Hurley Haywood in the Brumos 917/10. All that I can say is WOW, what a unique
driving (riding experience). On that little tight course it felt more like
riding on a roller coaster than in a car. After that I also got to ride with
Brian Redman in a 996 and at that much reduced pace I could actually get a feel
for where the course went. I asked Brian what he thought of the course and he
said it was rough and not at all well suited for the 962s and 956s as poor Fred
Schwab would later find out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Roger Penske drove both of the 917/30s that were there, the
factory museum car and the car that Dave Morse had and recently sold to the guy
in Virginia. He said that the car that was Dave’s was a much better car than
the factory car. He was great! He put several laps on both cars and ran right
until we ran out of time at 6:00 PM. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Roger Penske</span> </td></tr>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">After the days activities Friday there was a Friday night
dinner for all the entrants and honored guests. This was Brian’s dinner and
most everyone was there. Large group that was a lot of fun. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">There were historic cars from all over. The factory brought
about ten cars from their Museum, Brumos had a bunch of cars there. There were
several other collectors with marvelous collections of cars, and lots of people
with two or more cars. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Dale Miller was there with two of his 909/03s that he has
been putting together for the past couple of years. Dale drove the one that he
built for Rudy Junko and that Rudy raced at Laguna Seca last year. Rudy has
lost interest and sold the car back to Dale. The other car was the one finished
last fall that is in Martini colors and owned by Phil Daigrepont from New
Orleans. Right now there are four of these cars that Dale has Jerry Woods and
Big Ron Gruener building, two done and two still in the works. Both Jerry and
Ron were there for the race, to have fun and support the cars. The cars both
ran great and Phil qualified first for his race group. Both cars looked great
out there, but Dale was a lot more cautious than Phil and not a contender. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX-0zFrGiqLntTHGqPUy6Aiv_qt6W4tkhbnJxiYvYcU6fS3EieNlv4IDtiKopcGjRJ1IM5dVw8q6kRamwpBL4uHqEyY7oxHbfDU90rXwND46WuBd_hCxu-2LW8YcjUDRQ-e1Qzv4qcxUU/s1600/Phil+Daigrepont+908_03+JPEG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX-0zFrGiqLntTHGqPUy6Aiv_qt6W4tkhbnJxiYvYcU6fS3EieNlv4IDtiKopcGjRJ1IM5dVw8q6kRamwpBL4uHqEyY7oxHbfDU90rXwND46WuBd_hCxu-2LW8YcjUDRQ-e1Qzv4qcxUU/s1600/Phil+Daigrepont+908_03+JPEG.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Phil Daigrepont</span></td></tr>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Bruce Canepa and his guys were there with Bruce’s 917/10 and
his 935. Bruce ran in the same race with his 935 as Phil with his 908/03. Even
though Phil out qualified Bruce, Bruce had the last laugh. Bruce turned up the
boost and blew by Phil’s 908 right at the start finish line on the last lap and
took the victory. Phil was second and another friend, Henry Payne, placed third
with his 907 long tail coupe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Another friend, Jim Newton, was also there with a bunch of
cars both for club racing and for Roy Walzer for the historic stuff. Roy had a
911R, a 911ST, a 914/6 GT and something else. Newton also had his own car a 2.8
RSR that he drove in the Club racing part of the event. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">All of the races were held on Saturday because one of the
initial requirements for the track when it was built is that they not race on
Saturday because of a near-by church. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Saturday night Porsche Cars North America had a small
intimate dinner for all of the Porsche celebrities, guests and the press…
that’s how I got in. There were about eighty people at this dinner and you
almost had to be someone to be there, or at least be with someone to get in.
This was a really nice even and even I was introduced as a celebrity… wow. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">There were lots of celebrities including; Paul Newman who
drove a couple of the Brumos cars, Milt Minter, Vic Elford, George Follmer,
Elliott Forbes-Robbinson, Jim Busby, Joe Buzzetta, Rob Dyson, Tony Adamowicz,
Bob Akin, Derek Bell, Bob Garretson, Bruce Levin, David Murry, Brian Redman,
Roger Penske and my favorite Jacky Ickx. Fred Schwab, president of PCNA, and
Leon Mandel, publisher of AutoWeek, were the Co-Grand marshals of the event. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGSAGZlB4fpV4iVU6Q64tvwJU2EMcVYC-cG7UcH4sxLaSwlBrDYnmjHIFZt4ykiRGSGTSCrw_r8dzB4qmO-oYuQVkl9IjlLpRgqnwXI1dDpnPG7ZdefR23g803vdQvKOBaKvOUNZ-JkfM/s1600/Jacky+Ickx+%2526+Norbert+Singe+JPEG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGSAGZlB4fpV4iVU6Q64tvwJU2EMcVYC-cG7UcH4sxLaSwlBrDYnmjHIFZt4ykiRGSGTSCrw_r8dzB4qmO-oYuQVkl9IjlLpRgqnwXI1dDpnPG7ZdefR23g803vdQvKOBaKvOUNZ-JkfM/s1600/Jacky+Ickx+%2526+Norbert+Singe+JPEG.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Jacky Ickx and Norbert Singer</span></td></tr>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Rob Dyson told an interesting story about his car the first
air cooled 962 for IMSA racing. They had put it away in 1986 when they quit
racing it. They had to take a wall out and lift it out with a fork lift. They
cleaned it up and tuned it up for the weekend. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Brumos received the most carnage for the weekend: Fred
Schwab whacked their 962, Paul Newman was in an accident, not of his own fault,
in their 914/6 GT and sustained serious collision damage. Something else blew
up all on Saturday. Bob Snodgrass, President and CEO of Brumos, apologized for
being late to diner Saturday night, but he said he had tried to hang himself in
the trailer, but the rope had broken. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Fred Schwab wasn’t the only PCNA executive in trouble, Rich
Ford, Executive VP of Marketing had the factories road going GT1 off course big
time. He thought that he had gotten away with his indiscretion, but he had
picked up a load of dirt while of course and dumped it right at start finish
for everyone to see. He thought that he had gotten away with it until I told
him I saw that he had had a problem with the GT1. He said that he was glad that
he hadn’t done it where everyone could see. That was when I told him about the
dirt cloud display at start finish. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Sunday was the final event a Concours for the race cars that
had participated in the weekend’s race or exhibition events. I was fortunate
enough to be invited to judge the 935s and my Co-Judges were Norbert Singer and
Judy Boles. We had a great time, and Picked Bruce Canepa’s 935 as our winner,
our second place car was a Joest 935 and our third a Kremer K3. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">While I was with Norbert Singer I asked him how long he had
until retirement. He said a little over three years. So I asked if there were
any fun projects coming up and he smiled, got the magic twinkle in his eye and
said yes. He would tell me no more. But I traded that knowledge into what I can
only guess is what Porsches racing future might be. The stillborn car from a
couple of years ago was code named Black Beauty. McNish drove it in September
1999 and said it was good. The rules will change for the WSC class for 2004 and
maybe then we will see some car based on Black Beauty or at least the V10
engine from that car in a car racing again... lets hope! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Another Special moment for me was after the Concours judging
when I went to the Porsche Hospitality Chalet. We had about a half hour between
the judging and Sunday’s lunch and awards banquet. When we walked in Brian
Redman and Jack Ickx were sitting at a table reminiscing, as more and more
people showed up this became the Brain and Jacky show… great entertainment. Had
Brian not been such a great race driver I am sure that he could have made a
living as a stand up comedian, he is great. At first he told Jacky Ickx stories
and they were all funny. He said that when he first started driving with Jacky
that Jacky was twenty and he called him the Brussels Sprout. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">They told about racing at Le Mans with Ferrari. Jacky had
qualified the car they shared on the pole. Brian said that Jacky came to him
before the race and asked Brain to start. Brian asked why and Jacky said that
he would race and he know that Brian had preached that a 24 hour race is not a
race it is an event. Brian said that there were 10 prototypes and at the end of
his first stint they were tenth. At 22 hours they were leading the race, but
unfortunately the car broke in the 23rd hour. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Brian told another story about the two of them again with
Ferrari, this time at Nürburgring. The team orders were that if one of the
Ferraris was leading at half way the other team members were not to pass.
Towards the end of the race the same aggressive Italian, who Ickx was afraid he
would race with earlier at Le Mans was attempting to catch and pass Ickx and
Redman. On the others cars last pit stop the three largest crew members pried
his fingers from the steering wheel and pulled him out of the car so that his
co-driver who would follow the team rules could finish the race. Our Duo won
the race and Jacky said that he had never heard the story about their
competitor being forced from the car. The entertainment progressed from racing
stories to Brain reading us from the Stanley Holloway Monoloques. The first he
actually had memorized. All and all a wonderful weekend. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-68641501430022602632001-08-02T14:40:00.000-07:002012-08-06T15:07:18.257-07:00Canepa's 962 Powered Porsche Speedster<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Flat 6 Magazine</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In the last issue we had the ANDIAL Carrera 4 with the water
cooled 962 engine and now we have another contender for the ultimate street
hot-rod, a 1989 Porsche Speedster with an IMSA version of the 962 engine
installed. We actually have a number of good Porsche tuners in the United
States and one of these tuners is an old friend of mine Bruce Canepa, of Canepa
Design in Santa Cruz, California. Canepa has just finished a 1989 Porsche
Speedster that may just be the ultimate street hot rod Porsche. </span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Bruce Canepa has been involved with Porsches as a business,
in racing and as an enthusiast for years, but recently Canepa and his company,
Canepa Design, have been known for their aerodynamic truck conversions and
specially outfitted racing trailers. Canepa says that they have built about
seventy percent of the large semi trailers that are used in racing here in the
United States. They have built them for most of the Indy car teams, IMSA teams,
vintage racing, stock car racing and drag racing teams in the country. Canepa'
s trailer company, Concept Trailers, custom outfits the trailers that haul
racing cars. The equipment that they install in these trailers ranges from the
elevators used to load the cars, the tents that mount on the side where the
teams' mechanics work on the cars at the races to completely outfitting the
interior like a motor home. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In addition to building trailers for racing teams they
custom outfit trucks and trailers for a variety of other applications A few
years ago the built the truck and trailer rigs used by Porsche Cars North
America, Inc. for their Driving Experience program. The Driving Experience was
a program where they would take prospective customers for the new cars out to a
site where they could drive the whole model range. The trailers were outfitted
like a dealers sales room where they showed videos showing all of the features
of the various models to the prospective buyers and tried to close sales. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">One of the things that Canepa Design is doing now is making
portable motion based theaters comparable to the motion based theaters at
Disney Land and Disney World where they are able to give rides that simulate
space ships, a F 16, a race car or blood traveling through arteries, etc. The
portable version has been made possible by the development of movable self
contained two passenger seats. These seats can do a lot more, faster than the
big moving floors in the regular motion based theaters can do. It can tilt
forward steeper, tilt backwards steeper and move left or right faster and steeper
than the movable floor in the Disney theaters can do. All of the responses are
controlled by a computer signal which is related to the visual action displayed
on the screen and the pair of seats can do more faster and more accurately.
Concepts Trailers designed and built the theater enclosures to put these seats
into. Two semi trailers lock together and become one theater with a sixteen
foot movie screen. They slide the seats in and lock them down to the floor and
then hook them up the computer feed and they are ready for action. If you have
not been in one of these motion based theaters yet you should try one. They are
so realistic that you feel like you are in the cockpit of an F16, or a space
ship or a race car or whatever the simulation is, "because your really
are". </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Canepa Design did a lot of Porsche slope nose conversions
when they were all the rage here in the United States in the nineteen eighties.
Canepa said that they developed their own slope nose conversion in 1983. He
said that he felt that they could do as well and maybe even better than the
factory conversions. All of the brackets and mounting hardware for the Canepa
Design slope nose conversions were made of stainless steel to prevent
corrosion. They used the factory fenders that they did the slope nose
conversion on and then re-zink coated the fenders for rust prevention. They
ended up doing a lot of the slope nose conversions while they were still the
fad. They even did one car for a customer in Australia. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In the mid-eighties Canepa Design decided that if their
conversions were good enough for Porsches they would surely be good enough for
trucks too and there are a lot more trucks than there are Porsches so they
started designing custom aerodynamic body kits for Kenworth and Peterbuilt
trucks. And while they couldn't do slope nose conversions to the trucks they
could clean up their aerodynamics using side skirts, wheel covers, flush
mounted head lamps and smooth bumpers with their conversions which greatly
improve the trucks appearance and fuel economy. These kits have been so
successful that the truck manufactures themselves have used Canepa to redesign
their trucks. Canepa says that he and his employees are all really car guys and
that they just treat the trucks like big cars, they just take up a little more
room. He says that they have added a level of quality and finish to them that
the truckers are not used of seeing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Canepa Design has always done restorations on Porsches and
in the late eighties they were fortunate enough to have a customer that wanted
a 935 and a 936 restored, which Canepa said, really allowed them to hone their
restoration skills. One of the latest restorations that Canepa Design did was
an extensive restoration of a 906 that was little more than a valid set of serial
numbers when they started and took nearly 4,000 hours to complete. This car
turned out really well and won the Santa Barbara concours and has been featured
in several magazines articles since it was completed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Canepa has always been a Porsche guy and has had his own
Porsches since he was a teenager starting with a 1968 911L that his dad, a car
dealer, took in on trade. Canepa bought his first new Porsche in 1970 and
wrecked it in the rain finding out ho fast he could go around corners. He drove
a 911R to college that he bought from Dick Smothers of the Smothers Brothers.
Canepa now has an RSR, a 934, a 935 and a 959S. He raced the 934 and 935 back
when they were contemporary race cars placing third with Rick Mears in 1979 at
the Daytona 24 hour race. Bruce Canepa also had one of the Holbert built 962s
which he restored, raced and then sold. The 962 was really one of the things
that led to the building of this hot rod Speedster. The 962 had a spare engine
that was worn out and a good candidate for detuning for use in a street hot
rod. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The hot rod Speedster that Canepa Design just finished
belongs to Gary Primm a casino owner in Las Vegas, Nevada. Primm is a car guy
with a large collection of cars, but he was not a Porsche enthusiast and when
he bought the Speedster he was disappointed with the performance and quickly
became bored with it(the car had less than 100 miles on it when he turned it
over to Canepa for its transformation). Primm was introduced to Bruce Canepa by
AMG and they talked about what could be done to the Speedster to both improve
its looks and make it a really exciting fun car to drive. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Primm and Canepa sat down about a year and a half ago and
talked about what the car could and should be like when Canepa was done
converting the car. Cane pa said that he felt that since all of our US 911
Speedsters had the turbo look bodywork and suspension that they should have
been turbocharged. He said that he thought that the performance should be like
a modern update of the old Carrera four cam Speedster, a car that was great fun
to drive in its day. Canepa's idea was to scale that sort of performance and
fun up to contemporary levels of performance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Canepa had the spare 962 engine that he knew could be made
over into a wonderful street car motor. He told Primm that they could change
the whole car over into something that was exciting and would be an incredibly
fun street car. It would have a lot of power, it would handle, it would stop,
it would ride well and have a stiff chassis, but not be too stiff in terms of
the ride. Primm said go. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Originally Canepa said that he wanted the car to look stock
except for a large DP (Design Plastic) rear spoiler, but then he decided that
he would need larger wheels and tires for the cars potential performance envelope
than would fit under the stock turbo look bodywork so his concept for the car
changed. He said that he felt that the appearance of the car would probably be
unbalanced with the oversized DP rear spoiler. Canepa likes the looks of the
934, and adapted some of the design characteristics of the 934 to the
Speedster. Canepa says that he likes the design because it maintains the
Porsche tradition, but I suspect that it was as much because he has a 934
himself and he just likes the car's looks. Canepa says that he feels that the
934 looks very competitive yet subtle, and pretty classy, but at the same time
is very serious looking. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In any case they decided to use the 934 fender flares and
the 934 front spoiler. A DP rear wing was used because something larger than
the original Porsche 934 wing was needed because they would have to fit the
huge intercooler of the 962 engine under the wing and they also wanted to keep
the air conditioner which required space for the AC condenser in the wing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Goals for the car were that it be very, very fast and still
had to retain all of the comfort features of a street Porsche. One goal was to
have at least 500 horsepower and another was to have a top speed in excess of
200 mph. Because of the speed potential they installed a low profile roll bar
for safety. The roll bar is tied into to a side bar structure that is tied in
from the back of the car all the way to the front tower assembly for chassis
rigidity. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">They felt it was necessary to stiffen up the chassis because
the stock Speedster is a fairly flexible car and as result the car doesn't ride
as well as it should or could with a stiffer chassis. The chassis should be
rigid like Porsche coupes so that the suspension can work properly. In addition
to the roll bar and side stiffening bars they also reinforced the chassis by
boxing in the rocker box area and developing an extra monocoque substructure,
raising the floor level from the seats back to get some additional strength in
that area. The result is that they created a very stiff "tub". For a
open car it is very impressive, and they couldn't have asked for more without
putting a roof on the car. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">They used 935 center lock hubs and nuts so that they can use
center lock wheels. They used the new BBS GTP wheels 9 1/2" in the front
and 12 3/4" in the rear. BBS designed a new wheel because they needed more
strength for the slide loads of the GTP cars. The new wheel is a cleaner design
with bigger spokes than the older style BBS wheels. The tires are the new
Goodyear GSC tires 275/40 ZR17" in the front and 315/35 ZR17" in the
rear. Canepa said that they are going to trim and fit a set of BBS racing wheel
fans before they deliver the car to Primm. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Originally they had planned to use coil over suspension.
Canepa says that although the coil over suspension works fine for race cars
that it is not the right compromise for a street car. In the middle of the
Speedster project Canepa Design had the opportunity to do a Porsche Club race
track car for someone who was going to both use it for street and track use. He
said that when they chose a coil over spring rate that would work well for the
handling it was too stiff for a good quality ride. They did a lot of testing of
spring rates and found that they could make a car handle well and ride well on
very smooth roads, but the fact is there aren't many smooth roads left anymore
and the car just plain rode horrible. When they softened up the spring rates
enough so that the ride qualities were acceptable the handling went away.
Canepa feels that this is because of changing where the load is transmitted
into the car's chassis from where the loads were absorbed from the torsion
bars. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As a result of their testing they decided that for the
Speedster, they would not to use the coil over springs, but instead they chose
to use torsion bars because they work well on all pavement conditions providing
a good ride and handling that will allow you to take a corner as fast as your
fear level will take you. The whole chassis and suspension plans for the
Speedster were based on their experience with other cars that they had built.
They used riffle drilled torsion bars made by Stevens Machining, 33 mm diameter
in the rear and 23 mm diameter in the front. The front and rear sway bars are
22 mm "Charlie Bars" made by Wrightwood Racing. The shock absorbers
are custom valved Bilsteins. Canepa says that the Speedster handles better than
any street Porsche that he has ever driven. He says it actually handles as well
as his RSR, but for the fact that it does not have racing slicks on it. He said
that it is the only street Porsche that he has driven that handles as well as
the 959. He says that he feels that the car really rides well, as smooth as the
brand new Carrera or Carrera Turbo on all of the different type of roads that they
have tested it on. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The oil system is designed like a racing Porsche with the
oil tank in the front trunk. The system holds 28 quarts of oil. The engine
breather "breaths" into an accumulator tank back in the rear fender
well. The accumulator separates the oil from the oil fumes and pumps the oil
back to the tank and lets the fumes breath into the oil tank under the front
hood like the Porsche racing cars. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The brakes are the big Brembo calipers like the ones used on
the 959 or 928 GTS with 935 rotors mounted to the 935 hubs. They didn't want to
give up the power brakes so they designed and fabricated a vacuum storage tank
using the 962 engine for the vacuum source. They were able to retain the
comfort of power brakes with the stopping power of a race car. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Almost everything in the car had to be moved around or
changed somehow to make all of this work. For example they chose to use rear
ducts similar to those use on the 959 because they were attractive and
functional. These rear fender ducts are used for the inlet air to the turbos. A
hose goes from the intake duct back over the wheel wells to the rear of the
fender up by the taillight where there is a K&N filter in a canister on
each side. From the air filter canister the air is ducted directly into the turbo
charger by a tube that rolls right down into the turbocharger inlet. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">They used the G-50 five speed from the 1989 911 Turbo, but
they shortened it by and inch so that it would fit into the Speedster chassis.
The axles and CV joints are made by Super Boots, the company that makes the
Indy Car racing axles. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The spare motor from Canepa's 962 was used because he felt
it would make a good starting point for their Speedster hot rod. Unlike the
World Endurance Championship 956 and 962 engines which had water cooled heads
and then towards the end were completely water cooled the IMSA version of the
engine was an air cooled evolution of the 935 engine. Canepa wanted to use the
IMSA 962 engine with the flat fan to bring the better cooling of the racing
flat fan to an air cooled engine in a street car that would be producing well
over 500 horsepower. Canepa said that he also wanted to use the flat fan for
esthetics and because, he says he thinks that they sound so neat at idle. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">They got together with Jerry Woods who Canepa feels is the
best Porsche motor guy around. They talked about building a motor that was a
street motor with a lot of torque, a lot of bottom end power and as little lag
as possible so that it would be driveable all the time. It would have to be
something that you could drive all around town and then go out on the freeway
and go as fast as a race car. That is exactly what they ended up with, a 600 hp
(actually 581.5 hp. at 1.1 bar boost) motor that you only have to turn up to
6,500 rpm. It can light the tires in first, second and third gears. Canepa says
that it can literally fry the tires in the first three gears if you aren't
careful and that is with 13" wide sticky Goodyear tires. On the freeway at
2,000 rpm he says that it accelerates like a 450 cubic inch V8 powered car
does. Well it should with the torque curve that this engine produces. At 2,000
rpm the engine produces over 300 lb. ft. torque, and from 2,500 rpm to 7,500
rpm the engine produces in excess of 400 lb. ft. torque with a peak torque of
550 lb. ft. at 4,000 rpm (see: Speedster 962 engine for torque and horsepower
curves for the 962 engine with 1.1 bar boost.). The engine performance was
measured with all accessories in place including the muffler. The engine was
also tested at higher boost levels where it produced in excess of 600 hp, but
the 1.1 bar boost level was chosen as a practical boost level for a street
driven engine. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The turbo lag is well below 1,500 rpm. Canepa said that he
cruised all around town for a couple of hours one day just to see what it was
like and to see how it would perform. It is smooth, it is everything that you
could ask for. Jerry Woods converted the 962 engine to 3.3 liters by using 100
mm pistons and cylinders the 70.4 mm stroke crankshaft. He chose to use the HKS
electronic waste gate control with two preset positions and a variable position
instead of the manual valve traditionally used on modified turbocharged
Porsches. Woods used a programmable twin ignition system that he has developed
himself and a prototype of a new Haltech fuel injection management system. The
Haltech injection management system takes advantage of the existing 962 intake
manifolds which used twin staged injectors. The engine runs on one set of
injectors while the engine is running normally aspirated and the second set of
injectors is phased in when the engine comes up onto the boost. This system
with staged injectors provides better control over the fuel mixture under all
operation conditions so that the car runs better as a street car. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Canepa Design had to design and build their own exhaust
system to do what they wanted it to do and fit everything into the car where
they wanted it with the twin turbos and all. They were originally going to try
to use one of the stainless steel systems that are on the market, but it just
wouldn't work for their application. The made their own stainless steel exhaust
system and that gave them the opportunity to put the turbos behind the rear
tires alongside the motor, which let them keep the primary header pipes short
for better performance. Their turbo placement also gave them a straight shot up
through the car to connect to the large intercooler that they used. By keeping
all of the plumbing short they were able to cut the turbo lag considerably. The
turbos that they used were the original K26 turbos that came on Canepa's 959S.
The turbochargers are sized for low end or overall performance and driveability
rather than peak power as you would with an engine used for racing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Most of the engine accessories had to be relocated because
the 962 was a mid-engined car and the engine faced the opposite direction in
the 962 from what it does in the 1989 Speedster. Fred Garretson supplied the
large intercooler core for the engine conversion. Canepa Design built their own
intake plenums and intercooler plumbing so that they would all fit under the DP
rear wing and engine lid. Everything was designed to be functional and look
good when you opened the engine lid. They wanted to be able to use all of the
standard engine lid mounting and latching hardware. They built the rear motor
mount plate so that they could mount the air conditioner compressor on the back
side of the motor plate where there was still some room. They specified a
reverse direction compressor so that it would work facing backwards in the car.
They built their own stainless steel muffler with two large rear outlets to
look like the tailpipes on the twin turbo 935 engines. The muffler kills most
of the noise, but the car still sounds great. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">They had to develop their own heater system because there
wasn't room for heater boxes on the headers. They used the gas heater that
Porsche uses in their rally cars. The heater works well and will allow the
owner to warm the Speedster up on a cold day in the desert area of Las Vegas. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">They also had to design their own emergency brake system
because with the 935 brakes they didn't have an emergency brake. They designed
a system that uses an Accumulock to apply pressure to all four calipers when it
is in use. To apply the emergency brake you pump the brake pedal and hold up
the lever on the Accumulock and it sets all four brakes. When the brake is set
it will safely hold the car on a hill, park the car on a hill and it isn't
going to go anywhere. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Canepa Design put in a good set of TRW four point
competition belts. They put a slot in the headrest so that the shoulder belts
can come through the seat from the right height for safety very much like the
new sports seats for the Carrera Cup cars from Porsche do. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I asked Canepa how fast the car was and he said he wasn't
really sure because he hadn't had it flat out, but that he had it up to 6,800
rpm in fifth gear and that Jerry Woods calculated that to be 202 mph with the
gear ratios and tire sizes that they were using. The car uses a 959
speedometer, but the with the different wheel and tire sizes the 959 has
different final drive ratio so the speedometer is not accurate and it read only
190 mph at 6,800 rpm. He said that at 200 mph the car feels pretty comfortable.
It is noisier than anything that he has driven before because it is an open
car, but otherwise it feels fine. The car is geared to go over 210 mph and
should have plenty of power to pull the gearing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-40857214195248448962001-08-01T14:45:00.000-07:002012-08-06T15:14:25.551-07:00Allen Henderson<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Flat 6 Magazine</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">My friend, Allen Henderson, is the founder and president of
Westcor, which is a division of Vicor Corporation. Allen tried to get his
previous employer involved with Vicor and as a result of those meetings Vicor
asked Allen if he was interested in starting up a west coast division for them,
which is what he did thirteen years ago. Westcor business utilizes the DC to DC
converter made by parent company Vicor and designs and makes total solution
power supplies or complete power supplies for a variety of products and
markets. They sell their power supplies to Hewlett-Packard, Schlumberger,
Boeing, and GE among others. Westcor is roughly a thirty million dollar a year
business with about 100 employees. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUQPwjCG4plS8HX5f31GSWi1UFBfi_AiPYuiWu3YxzWfYpDguKRYCM-VVaw_FwF2pNqdAjwMOIPin_SWdkzfJ0uUZFkeXYr41GreUeaZetu2lDWP1mJ1MucUf-qEVDvKKAdQTR2Dhdrdg/s1600/Henderson+cars+%2540+winery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUQPwjCG4plS8HX5f31GSWi1UFBfi_AiPYuiWu3YxzWfYpDguKRYCM-VVaw_FwF2pNqdAjwMOIPin_SWdkzfJ0uUZFkeXYr41GreUeaZetu2lDWP1mJ1MucUf-qEVDvKKAdQTR2Dhdrdg/s400/Henderson+cars+%2540+winery.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Allen Henderson got his first Porsche right after he
graduated from Brown University where he received an electrical engineering
degree in 1970 and went into the United States Navy. While he was in college,
he was in the Naval officer training program, one of his fellow college
students had a Porsche. Although Allen didn’t know anything about Porsches he
liked the way they looked and decided that he had to have one. His first car
was an Irish green 1964 356 C coupe that he paid $2,275 for. He said that he
should have bought a better car than the one that he bought. He said a the same
time he could have gotten a 356 SC Cabriolet for just $300 more than he paid
for his car and the Cabriolet was perfect, but at the time the $300 dollars
difference seemed like a lot of money. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Allen said that while he was driving his new to him Porsche
back to the Navy base he heard a funny noise that turned out to be a failing
connecting rod bearing. The result was that he had to rebuild the engine as
soon as he bought the car. Fortunately for him the fellow who ran the Navy
Hobby Shop on the Naval base where he was stationed had worked with his father
in a Porsche and Volkswagen repair shop so he helped Allen rebuild his engine.
They removed the one rod and went in with crocus cloth and polished the
crankshaft and installed a new rod bearing. I cringed when he told me this
story, but the engine lasted for several years until he had to rebuild it
because of other wear and tear. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">He took the 356 coupe to Spain with him while he was in the
Navy for three years and then brought it back to Pensacola, Florida where he
was stationed next. Allen was a Navigator of DC Super Constellations in the
Navy flying reconnaissance missions. He was in Spain for three years and in
Florida for one more year before getting out of the service. After the Navy he
returned to college at Duke University to get a Masters in Business. By then he
had both the 356 and a 1970 911T Targa, which he bought when he moved back to
Pensacola while he was still in the Navy. While he was in graduate school he
sold the 911T and replaced it with a 1970 914/6. When he moved to California in
1978 he sold the 914/6, but kept the 356 and moved it to California with him.
While he had the 356 he did a restoration went clear though it and repainted
the car and completely restored the car, he also did his first complete engine
rebuild. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Soon after he moved to California he sold that first 356C
and bought a Grand Prix White 1974 911. He put quite a few miles on this 911
and ended up nursing it along to 115 thousand miles. But, by then the 911
leaked everywhere and used about a quart of oil for each tank of gasoline. In
about 1982 he installed a rebuilt 911S engine in his 911, with and auxiliary
oil cooler, which made a really nice car out of his 1974 911. He sold his 1974
in 1983 and replaced it later with a 1979 911 Turbo that was a beautiful
cinnamon red special order paint. Not too long after he bought the Turbo his
wife told him he couldn’t afford it so he sold it so that they could remodel
their house. In 1986 he bought a European 356SC sunroof coupe and completely
restored during the two years he owned it. He rebuilt the engine and repainted
the car its original ruby red and then sold it in 1988 to someone who exported
it to Germany. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In 1991 I found a really nice original 1972 911S at a local
swap meet that I almost bought myself. I wanted the car as the basis for a
project car and felt that this particular example was probably too nice a car
to start with for what I had in mind. I told Allen that I thought it would be a
great car for him and he bought it. As with many of his other cars Allen went
completely though this car completely disassembling the car and having it
repainted. Everything was painted, polished or replaced. Allen took one of our
engine overhaul classes and then rebuilt the engine in his 1972 911S. When he
bought the car it was an original, silver, non-sunroof coupe with the original
paint. The paint was tired and it really needed repainting, but you could tell
the cars whole story just by looking at it . The only drawback at all to this
car was that it was a four-speed. In addition to all of Allen’s other renovations
was the addition of a freshly rebuilt 915 five-speed transmission. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Next in 1994 Allen found a really nice 1959 356 coupe that
Allen has also gone through completely cosmetically and rebuilt the engine and
front suspension. He completely disassembled the body and had some friends
repaint the metallic silver paint. He then had upholstery completely done by
one of the local upholsterers noted for their Porsche work. The car turned out
really nice. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The latest addition to the Henderson stable is a brand new
1999 996 model, that he special ordered as soon as he could place an order for
one of the new 911s. His car is a special order paint form the late eighties
called: Diamond Blue Metallic, which is actually a misnomer, the car is of a
violet than a blue. To complement the Diamond Blue Metallic paint he ordered
the space gray interior. Allen’s car has the new three spoke air bag steering
wheel, which is much more attractive than the standard four spoke version. He
ordered the Tiptronic because it works better with a bad knee that he got from
playing Tennis. He ordered the wheel with the standard seventeen inch wheels,
and then replaced them with a set of the 18" "Technology wheels"
from the narrow body 993. The advantage of these wheels to Allen is that at the
time he ordered his 996 they were unsure that they could deliver the eighteens
and the fronts are 1/2 inches wider than the similar wheels that are being
offered for the 996. This was the first Porsche that Allen had ordered new and
he knew exactly how he wanted his car when he sat down to spec it out and he
made sure that he got exactly the car he ordered. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Though Allen would love to have one of the Gmünd built cars
and he is up to the restoration, he will probably stick with his forty year old
1959 356 and his 1999 996 model cars forty years apart. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Allen is married to a Swedish woman and he and his wife,
Lena, and daughter, Sara, go back to Sweden to visit every year. Through the
Swedish club here in the United States Allen and Lena have gotten to know Lasse
Jönsson who has the Porsche-Center in Kalstad Sweden. Part of their visit to
Sweden each year includes a visit to the Lasse Jönsson Porsche-Center. Through
this association with Lasse Allen has had the opportunity to drive a 959, a
Ferrari F40, a 1973 RS and a ride in Lasse’s 956. He was supposed to get to
drive both the 956 and Lasse’s SuperCup car last summer at a local race track,
but it rained and spoiled their fun. Lasse Jönsson has a website that is
<a href="http://www.porschecenter.com/">www.Porschecenter.com</a>. </span><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-11422586740293795582001-07-03T15:28:00.000-07:002012-08-07T15:15:52.276-07:00936 Race Car<div style="font-family: inherit;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Excellence, Flat 6, 911 & Porsche World</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The 936, one of Porsche's most successful racing cars, was
developed because Porsche felt that they were forced to build a car that they
had not intended to build. In 1976 there was a new form of rules that governed
Sports and GT racing. Initially there were only supposed to be classes for
production based cars in Groups 1 through 5. The World Manufactures
Championship would be determined by the "Silhouette" formula for
Group 5 cars and Group 5 is where Porsche intended to race with their 911-based
935. Porsche had done all of their development work in 1974 with the with the
Carrera RSR turbo in preparation of running Group 5 cars in the new World Manufacturers
Championship. These new rules were supposed to take effect in 1975, but they
were delayed a year until 1976. In 1975, almost as an after thought, the FIA
decided to add an additional World Sports Car Championship class to the series
as the Group 6 type sports cars, so instead of one World Championship there now
there would be two World Championships. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuabrx90CfL7UlcBbfJB42er0gwPb4UzTnyTHNbPwy6XK-ZFtPnMzg4rXNyZy25U8prDTW31P9INEHPa09isUKSR69HmDGO7tzTshw6cW6T_fbhadrwLxSp5hZW8YA5AuR7zrzSgDZcMU/s1600/936001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuabrx90CfL7UlcBbfJB42er0gwPb4UzTnyTHNbPwy6XK-ZFtPnMzg4rXNyZy25U8prDTW31P9INEHPa09isUKSR69HmDGO7tzTshw6cW6T_fbhadrwLxSp5hZW8YA5AuR7zrzSgDZcMU/s400/936001.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Automobile Club de L'Ouest, who puts on the Le Mans 24
hour race each year also preferred the open prototype cars from the earlier
prototype racing formula and opened their Le Mans race to both group 5 and
group 6 cars. Porsche feared that FIA would also run races that would allow
both Group 5 Silhouette cars and Group 6 sports prototypes to race against each
other in the same race. They knew that if this happened that the sports
prototypes would dominate the overall standings and obscure whatever success
the silhouette cars had. Porsche was not willing to compete in the Group 5
World Manufactures Championship, a championship that they felt confident about
winning only to be beaten for the overall victory in the races by the Group 6
sports prototypes, so to be sure that this would not happen Porsche decided to
build their own Group 6 sport prototype the 936. Fortunately FIA never race d
the two championship classes together so the only place that Porsche's group 5
935 had to compete against the faster group 6 sports cars was at Le Mans. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZza-Ldh71FuysQVVONskpB8S-1ubxeOpZYrwClKc8bp9atxLeKr3zos082y8L30SGwbTwi9kb1t9je6bwU6gSanmqxmAdBoW4NWrExV_yP7O30iP3QuThpspa17CsM9djRq-Ujtecis/s1600/936004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZza-Ldh71FuysQVVONskpB8S-1ubxeOpZYrwClKc8bp9atxLeKr3zos082y8L30SGwbTwi9kb1t9je6bwU6gSanmqxmAdBoW4NWrExV_yP7O30iP3QuThpspa17CsM9djRq-Ujtecis/s400/936004.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Under the new FIA rules the classes which pertained to
Porsche were Groups 3, 4, 5 and 6. Group 3 was for GT cars with a minimum
production of 1000 cars per year. Group 4 was for GT cars with a minimum of 400
cars in two years, and group 5 was a very liberal "silhouette formula
based on cars which were homologated in Groups 1 through 4. These Group 5 cars
competed for the World Championship of Makes. The Group 6 class and the Sports
Car World Championship was created ostensibly to give cars from the previous
3.0-liter sports prototype class a place to compete. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">When the FIA created this new championship for the Group 6
cars it appeared that the Alpine-Renault and Alfa-Romeo teams would be the only
competitors in this class and that the Alpine-Renault would probably run at Le
Mans uncontested, Porsche rose to the occasion, producing yet another new car,
the 936 to compete in this Group 6 class. The 936 would prove to be a very
successful effort, winning the Group 6 World Sports Car Championship, Le Mans
and giving Porsche a double World Championship for 1976. The 936 prototype was
a blend of the 908/3 and the 917 sports cars which used the engine from the
1974 Carrera RSR Turbo. The engine from the Carrera RSR Turbo was used because,
like the 3.0-liter prototype class where the 1974 Carrera RSR Turbo had raced,
the Group 6 cars had an engine size limitation of three liters, and for the
turbocharged engines, there was also a 1.4 multiplier which limited the engine
size to 2142 cc in displacement. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The decision to build a group 6 car was a last minute
decision made by Ernst Fuhrmann, Porsche's managing director in September 1975.
It has been said that only a dozen people, the people actually building the
cars, knew of the 936 project. One reason why Ernst Fuhrmann had decide to go
ahead with the 936 is that because it used so many components from other sports
racing cars that Porsche had already built it could be developed quickly and it
would be relatively in expensive to develop and produce. The 936 engine was
borrowed from the 1974 Carrera RSR Turbo, most of the running gear parts could
be borrowed from the 917/10 or 917/30. The transmission was a Type 920 five-speed
from the 1970/71 917 endurance racers. All that remained to be done was to
design and build an aluminum tube frame chassis, suspension components and to
design and build a body of fiberglass which would conform with the new Group 6
regulations. The go ahead for the project was given late in September of 1975
and the first car was built and testing at the Paul Richard circuit in February
1976. The test car was painted black in the hopes that nobody would notice it
and taken along to test a test session for the group 5 935 at the Paul Richard
in France. 936 001 was used in the wind tunnel at Volkswagen to develop the
body shape to influence the lift and drag characteristics. 936 001 was also
used for most of the development work for the 936s, a second car 936 002 ran
most of the races in the Sports car World Championship series except the first
race of the year Nürburgring and Dijon where 936 001 was used. From the second
race, at Monza, the cars were painted white with red and blue Martini racing trim
instead of flat black with the red and blue trim. Only one 936 was raced in all
of the Sports Car Championship races in 1976 and the only place where Porsche
raced both cars was the non championship Le Mans 24 hour race. At the seasons
first race at Nürburgring the 936 001 suffered a jamming throttle cable which
would be its only serious malfunction of the season. Fortunately Reinhold Joest
won the race with a turbocharged 908/03 saving the day for Porsche as Stommelen
placed fifth in the new 936. In the remaining six races in the Sports car
championship the 936 reliability was exceptional and the 936s proved to be
unbeatable and won all of the remaining races. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In 1976 both 936.001 and 936.002 ran the Le Mans 24 hour
race. The 936 002 was revised for Le Mans with a high rear deck and a large air
scoop above the rear deck. The pear-shaped opening in the air scoop provided
cooling air for the engine and the intercoolers. Jacky Ickx and Gijs van Lennep
qualified on the pole and led from start to finish in 936.002. The car had a
mostly trouble free race with the exception of a cracked exhaust pipe which
made the turbocharger inoperative and required a half an hour pit stop to
replace it near the end of the race. Even with this half hour stop this car was
never in danger of loosing its lead position. However, their extended stop to
replace the exhaust delayed them long enough that they did not beat the race
record set by Matra in 1973. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Jurgen Barth and Reinhold Joest were running second with the
936.001 car until it stopped out on the track after 15 hours with both a
sheared drive shaft and a seized rocker arm which also damaged a piston. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">After winning all of the races in the 1976 Sports Car
Championship and the championship itself in 1976 Porsche did not compete with
the 936 racers for the championship again and they were only used for selected
races, primarily Le Mans each year. For 1977 both 936 001 and 936 002 received
twin turbochargers and revised more aerodynamic bodywork. The twin turbos
greatly improved the throttle response and raised the power from 520 to 540
horsepower. The modifications to the body included decreasing the front and
rear track width so they could make the body work narrower to reduce the
frontal area. They used a short nose piece and a long tail extension for reduce
drag on the long straights at Le Mans. Both cars now had the high rear deck and
air scoop and they looked the same again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The 1977 Le Mans 24 hour race was a real test for the
Porsche team. 936 001 entered for Jürgen Barth and Hurley Haywood had problems
with the injection pu mp little more than an hour into the race when the
mechanical injection pump had a failure that necessitated a 28 minute stop to
replace it and dropped 936 001 to 41 place. There was an even worse fate in
store for 936 002 which was driven by Jacky Ickx and Henry Pescarolo for it had
a connecting rod failure after only 2 hours and 50 minutes of racing and was
out of the race. Porsche moved Ickx into 936 001 with Barth and Haywood and the
three of them brought the car back into first place after eighteen hours of
driving. But at 3:14 with just 36 minutes left to race 936 001 had a head
gasket fail and Hurley, Haywood came in with the car only running on 5
cylinders. Fortunately all of the real challengers were out of the race by then
or so far back that they could not catch 936 001 even if it sat in the pits for
the rest of the race. So that was what it did with the exception of the last
two laps so that it would qualify as a finisher .The team disabled the fuel and
ignition to the one bad cylinder and at the end of the race Jürgen Barth took
936 001 out for two slow laps and Porsche's fourth victory at Le Mans. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">For the 1978 season the 936 had a newly developed version of
the 901/911 engine which was similar to the Moby Dick 935 engine with four
valves and water-cooled cylinder heads for increased power and reliability.
Each bank of heads had its own water pump and the coolant was circulated from
the bottom of the heads to the top, from the exhaust to the intake side,
ensuring more even cooling. Each individual cylinder head was electron beam
welded to its individual cylinder. This was done to eliminate the cylinder head
gasket failures which had become the weakness of these engines when running in
long races. These engines were significant in that they were the basis for all
further development of 911 racing engines right up through and including the
third pace at the 1992 Daytona 24 hour race. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In addition to the two old cars Porsche built one additional
all new 936 for 1978, 936 003, They also modified 936 001 to the same
configuration as new 936 003. The body work on both 936 001 and 936 003 was
modified to include two large NACA inlets to duct cooing air to the radiators
required by the water cooled heads. The vertical fins were replaced by what
they called a rear Dornier airfoil with vertical extensions on either side. The
air box was made a little smaller and the ducting was changed because the
cooling requirements for the engine were different with the water cooled heads.
The front nose section was again also made longer in an effort to improve the
aerodynamics. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">All three cars were entered in the 1978 Le Mans 936 003 for
Jacky Ickx Jochen Mass and Henry Pescarolo, 936 001 updated to 1978
specifications was entered for Jurgen Barth, and Bob Wollek, and 936 002 which
was still to 1977 specifications was entered for Hurley Haywood, Peter Gregg
and Reinhold Joest. The strategy was to run the cars with a tall final drive
gear and a conservative turbo boost, but unfortunately they underestimated the
capabiliti es of the Alpine-Renaults. It was obvious right away in the race
that the four Alpine-Renaults were faster as the lead Renault had built up a
lead of eleven seconds over Ickx on the first lap of the race. And then it got
worse for Ickx stopped on the second lap with a throttle pedal that was slow to
return and then after 77 laps, the fifth gear pinion broke. Ickx was moved into
936 001 with Wollek and Barth. At the pace that the three drivers drove this car
it might have won the race, but it too had a fifth gear pinion failure that
took 37 minutes to repair. This car surely would have been the winner had in
not been for the transmission failure and after the problem was repaired
soldered on to finish second some 80 km behind the winners Jean Pierre Jaussand
and Didier Piroini in their Renault-Alpine. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Henry Pescarolo and Jochen Mass drove 936 003 up to tenth
place before its retirement in the 19th hour of the race because of a collision
with Mass driving. Haywood, Greg and Joest drove 936 002 to a third place
overall even though they were delayed by some minor trouble including a
turbocharger failure. The mechanics replaced the turbo in a exceptionally short
13 minutes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The two 1978 specification 936s were entered in the 1979 Le
Mans race when Essex oil company owner David Thieme offered to sponsor the team
for that one race only. The cars were Painted the Essex colors white, blue and
red. 936 001 was entered for Bob Wollek and Hurley Haywood and 936 003 was entered
for Jacky Ickx and Brian Redman. Unfortunately both cars failed to finish. 936
001 driven by Bob Wollek and Hurley Haywood retired in the nineteenth hour
after being in fifth place the proceeding hour. 936 003 driven by Jacky Ickx
and Brian Redman in the 1979 Le Mans race. It was disqualified in the
seventeenth hour after being in sixteenth place in the preceding hour. It was
disqualified because Ickx received outside assistance in the form of a crew
member who dropped a pump belt where Ickx could find it out at the edge of the
track side where he was trying to repair the car. 1979 was the year that
private teams won Le Mans with 935s. Kremer Brother's German team were first
with Klaus Ludwig and Bill and Don Whittington as drivers and Dick Barbour's California
team was second with himself, Paul Newman and Rolf Stommelen driving. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The fourth 936 was built for Joest Racing for the 1980 Le
Mans race where it was driven to a second place finish by Reinhold Joest and
Jacky Ickx. The Joest 936 was a copy of the 1977 version of the 936; but it was
not originally called a 936, but instead it was called a 908/80. The car was
entered by Joest and sponsored by Martini Racing for Joest and Jacky Ickx to
run in the 1980 Le Mans race. There reason given for the car being called a
908/80 was that the car was built as a replacement for the 908/3 and the new c
ar for Joest was originally built as an updated 908/3 using a 936 chassis,
chassis parts, transmission, engine, fuel and oil tanks, pedals etc. Therefore
a new 936 was built and the only difference was that for tactical reasons it
was called a 908/80 because Porsche did not want to be in the business of
selling 936s to customers and did not want to be pressured by their other
racing customers. Later they allowed Joest to call their car 936 004 and
provided the Joest and Kremer teams with all of the drawings and data necessary
to duplicate the 936s and the Kremers built 936 005 and the Joest team built
their 936 C coupe. to run in group C races. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">For the 1980 Le Mans race the Joest team underestimated
their competition the Rondeau's. Nobody expected much reliability from the
Ford-Cosworth Formula 1 engines powering the Rondeaus. As a result Joest and
Ickx ran a pace that was not fast enough. Many feel that the team lost the race
in the early stages by running too conservative of a pace when they should have
been running a faster pace to build up a safety margin. When team lost fifth
gear in the nineteenth hour they had not built up a large enough lead to allow
them to regain the lead and the Rondeau of Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre
Jaussand beat them to the finish by only four minutes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">For 1980 Porsche AG was planning to go Indy racing with the
US. Interscope racing team. The engine for this car was a 2650-cc development
of the four valve water-cooled-head engines used in the 936 and Moby Dick in
1978. Porsche, as it turned out, attempted to enter championship cars racing at
the wrong time in history, right in the middle of the USAC and CART feud, and
the rules for Indy racing changed right out from under them. Porsche had been
told that with their six-cylinder engines that they would be allowed to run
with a turbo boost of 54 inches of mercury. At the last minute the turbo boost
requirements were changed to 48 inches, the same as for the V8 engined cars.
Porsche felt that with this last minute change, they did not have time to
comply and they probably could not be competitive with the eight cylinder,
turbocharged engines and withdrew. Porsche was beaten before they started, not
on the track but at the conference room table. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Porsche didn't let the engine they had designed for the Indy
car go to waste though. For 1981, on Peter Schutz, Porsche's managing
director's, orders, they dragged the 936s out of the museum once more and
updated them to comply with the liberalized Group 6 rules by installing the
Indy version of the engine in them. The Indy engine was converted to gasoline
and used twin turbochargers for a power output of 620 horsepower. This
combination won Le Mans for Porsche for the sixth time in 1981. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The 1981 running of Le Mans would be the last Le Mans race
that the 936 would be eligible for, because from 1982 the race would be for
Group C cars. Both 936 001 and 936 003 were again updated for the 1981 running
of Le Mans using the more powerful "Indy" engines. Because the
five-speed transmission had proven to be problematic they utilized the stronger
four-speed version that had originally been developed for the turbocharged 917
Can-Am cars. The two 936s roadsters qualified on the front row, first and
second. The 936s were painted in the colors of their new sponsors
"Jules". 936 001 was driven by Jochen Mass, Vern Schuppan and Hurley
Haywood and 936 003 was driven by Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell. The Mass, Schuppan,
Haywood car had a number of problems including a bad spark plug, a faulty
injection pump and a clutch failure that required an hour and ten minutes to
replace, but they did finally complete the race, but back in twelfth place.
This car, 936 001, is now part of Dave Morse’s collection. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Ickx-Bell car achieved its target and dominated the race
from the start and finished fourteen laps ahead of their closest rival, a
Rondeau. This victory gave Porsche six wins at the Prestigious Le Mans 24 hour
race and three of those races were won by the 936s. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The 908/80 (936 004) was also entered in the 1981 Le Mans
race with Technocar sponsorship by Reinhold Joest racing for Reinhold Joest and
Dale Whittington. It was withdrawn in the fifth hour after being twenty fifth
in the proceeding hour because of an accident at the Tertre Rouge S-bend with
Dale Whittington driving. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Inn 1982 the 908/80 was rechristined 936 004. Porsche
allowed the 908/80 to be renumbered as 936 004 to be consistent with the other
936s numbering. This car won the 1980 Kylami race and the 1982 German
Championship with Bob Wollek driving. 936 004 also helped Bob Wollek to win the
1982 Porsche Cup. This car, 936 004, is now part of the David Morse collection
in Campbell California. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Also during the winter of 1981/1982 Porsche Kremer Racing
built 936 005 using the 1981 factory style bodywork. Porsche provided the
Kremer's with the 936 drawings and parts necessary to build their 936 005. Rolf
Stommelen raced 936 005 in the German Championship in 1982 where they did well
and won Wunstorf outright June 6, 1982. Stefan Bellof drove 936 005 for his
first turbo drive in the 1982 Hockenheim race. The Kremers still have this car
in their collection race ready and beautiful. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Kremer brothers also built a couple of Group C cars that
they called the CK5 that were largely based upon the 936 components that they
raced in the Gro up C races and the German championship. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Joest also used the drawings and parts from Porsche to build
their 936 C which they built in their own workshop. The 936 C ran its first
race at Monza in 1982 with Bob Wollek and the Martin brothers with Belga
cigarettes as sponsors. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Joest 936 C raced at the 1982 Le Mans 24 hour with Belga
sponsorship and Bob Wollek and the Martin brothers and made it until the 24th
hour when they retired after being fourth the previous hour. The Joest Racing
team also entered the 936 C in the 1983 Le Mans for the Martin Brothers and
Duez, but an insolvable fuel injection problem forced an early retirement only
two hour into the race. The Joest 936 C was raced extensively until 1986 when
its current owner, Ernst Schuster, retired The Joest 936 C to his collection. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">936 002 is still in its 1977 Martini Racing configuration
and 936 003 in its 1981 Jules configuration and both are part of the Porsche
Museum collection and are usually either on display in the factory's museum or
on display in some other collection. 936 003 is currently on display at the
Porsche racing car collection in the French Musée National De l' Automobile. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-44040134603258029422001-07-02T15:23:00.000-07:002012-08-07T15:15:39.344-07:00Dave Morse's 934<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>911 and Porsche World</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In 1976 FIA changed the international rules for Group 4 cars
requiring that instead of production of 500 cars being required in one year
that only 400 were required to be built over a period of two years. The rules
change also reduced the modifications that were allowed and applied a weight
scale that was relative to the engine size instead of homologated weight as it
had been before. This new weight rule had two purposes: one was to reduce the manufactures
cheating on the homologation weight and the other was to allow more luxurious
cars that would naturally be heavier to be competitive in the restructured
class. With this new rule change there was no longer a need for special
lightweight models of a production model such as the Carrera RS 2.7 and RS 3.0
because the weight would be based on the engines size and not the homologation
weight. So as a result of these new rules any car could be lightened to the
limit determined by the engine size. There was also a scale limiting the tire
width proportional to the engine capacity for the Group 4 category as well. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbiaxi5GWm6GZNeCLn-7IkOgr2-MDz81SsQBuV-akMD_qL8WEaN5kcF7gbrh7otxhWyUcXm17KcdebT8Z-aJR8FFOlZY5e6-B6TaX3QJ1wiAS2z8w6CQ4KYTEavg6DQVBcMX-U1umrlCw/s1600/934+Restoration+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbiaxi5GWm6GZNeCLn-7IkOgr2-MDz81SsQBuV-akMD_qL8WEaN5kcF7gbrh7otxhWyUcXm17KcdebT8Z-aJR8FFOlZY5e6-B6TaX3QJ1wiAS2z8w6CQ4KYTEavg6DQVBcMX-U1umrlCw/s400/934+Restoration+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Porsche introduced the 930 Turbo Carrera in 1975 as their
basis for a Group 4 race car. Their intent was to build 400 of the 930 Turbo
Carrera over the required two year period. The rule changes finally came in
1976 and Porsche produced two new 911 race cars for the new classes that were
based on the production 930 Turbo Carrera, the 934 and 935. The 934 was
homologated as a Group 4 car and sold to racing customers for GT racing. The
935 was a Group 5 car and as such was required to be based on a production car
that homologated in groups 1 to 4. For 1976 the Porsche factory built and raced
two 935s and raced the cars exclusively themselves and won the 1976 World
Championship of Makes in the Group 5 category. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The basis for the homologation of both the 934 and the 935
was the series production 930 Turbo Carrera and the requirement was for 400 to
be produced in two model years. Because the 934 was supercharged with a
turbocharger the displacement of the engine had its actual displacement
multiplied by 1.4 and considered to be a 4.2 liter engine. Because of the 1.4
multiplier for turbocharged cars the 934 Turbo RSR could not be considered a
light weight model like its predecessor the 3.0 RSR had been. The multiplier
placed the 934 in the 4001 to 4.500 cc class requiring the cars weight to be
1,120 kg (2469 lbs). The 934s had power Windows and still required 88 lbs of
lead in the front trunk to bring them up to weight. A new Porsche 934 sold for
DM97,000 ($28.000 US) in 1976 delivered ready to race. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTb04ZrvHVxY7_cZAlTBGH2U-dkq3wq4ReW_oAz53rAxavJkLyn7G3YEl8vpquCqekkTOs7NcgPPYqUbbk3RXKSMR2ZD3_XDbvLrXwIJBRmTljZdndfXi2W3F0W3pJqCzEM-VR_yNLgBs/s1600/934+Restoration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTb04ZrvHVxY7_cZAlTBGH2U-dkq3wq4ReW_oAz53rAxavJkLyn7G3YEl8vpquCqekkTOs7NcgPPYqUbbk3RXKSMR2ZD3_XDbvLrXwIJBRmTljZdndfXi2W3F0W3pJqCzEM-VR_yNLgBs/s400/934+Restoration.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Because of the Group 4 rules the 934 was very closely
related to the production 930 Turbo Carrera. The most obvious visual changes
were the added on fiberglass fender flares and the front fiberglass air dam
with openings for the oil cooler, brake ducting and the water radiators for the
engines intercooling. The rules allowed extending the front fenders by 50 mm
and the rear fenders by 100 mm which was approximately 2 and 4 inches respectively
so these fender flares extended all around the standard openings by 50 mm in
the front and 100 mm in the rear. The 934s had an aluminum roll cage and some
aluminum cross bracing to structurally increase the torsional strength of the
body. A large 120 liter (31.7 gallon) safety fuel cell and a front mounted 22
liter (5.8 gallon) dry sump oil tank filled up most of the front trunk area. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The interior was simplified, but retained most of the
interior features of the production series 930 Turbo Carrera including a
standard headliner, the power windows and Leatherette upholstery on the door
panels. The rear seat was left out and the dash was simplified, and a Porsche
racing seat and six point seat belts were added in place of the standard driver
and passenger seats. The standard gauges were used for tachometer, oil pressure
and temperature and additional gauges were added for fuel pressure and fuel
injection system pressure. The windows remained glass because the rules
required that the original material be retained. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN0lJZ9T4FAG9Bn5mtP-L8WBDG1H6r5K_mZgQDy5BJdufVAjHIrh-Nzacj8w3sanYjDEKyNAT8J0TIftpcB0ukyMxhMY5dodyp-QEnFVEWk4Krv9M9iMAgAz1eReFWF6aEO1P_6rnxD9g/s1600/934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN0lJZ9T4FAG9Bn5mtP-L8WBDG1H6r5K_mZgQDy5BJdufVAjHIrh-Nzacj8w3sanYjDEKyNAT8J0TIftpcB0ukyMxhMY5dodyp-QEnFVEWk4Krv9M9iMAgAz1eReFWF6aEO1P_6rnxD9g/s400/934.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The suspension was based on the standard 930 Turbo Carrera
torsion bar suspension, but suplemented with Bilstein shock absorbers fitted
with coil over springs. The suspension was stiffened by the addition of Delrin
bushing on the front A arms in place of the rubber used on the series
production car and in the rear they used a spherical joint on the inner end of
the cast aluminum trailing arm and a ball bearing race around the outer end of
the rear spring plate. The larger disc brakes from the 917 and Carrera RSR 3.0
were used with large radially vented and cross drilled brake rotors and the
heavily finned aluminum calipers. The brake bias was controlled by a dual
master cylinder pedal assembly with a bias bar adjustment. They also used the
same center lock hubs that had been used on the Carrera RSR 3.0 They went to a
sixteen inch wheel and tire combination to provide a larger foot print and
adequate room for the large brakes. Because no Porsche cast magnesium wheels
were available in the sixteen inch size they had BBS make modular wheels with a
cast center for the 934s. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The engine and transmission were also based on the
production 930 Turbo Carrera, units. The crankcase, crankshaft, rods and were
essentially the standard 3.0 liter Turbo parts. The engine had a flat fan in
place of the standard vertical fan for improved cooling. The flat fan was
driven by a horizontal shaft up through a set of bevel drive gears to drive the
fan. An adaptation of the Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection was used on the initial
934. While the original 930 Turbo Carrera did not use an intercooler the 934
used a pair of water to air heat exchangers one above each intake manifold
which reduced the charge air temperature from 150°C (302°F) to just 50°C
(122°F). The water was circulated by a water pump mounted on the right bank of
cylinders, and driven from the end of the camshaft, to a pair of front mounted
water radiators. Porsche used a KKK turbocharger and wastgate that similar to
what they had used on the 917 Can-Am cars and the Turbo RSR. They used a couple
of different racing camshafts for turbocharged racing engines as they developed
the engine and initially with 1.3 bar boost the engine produced around 485
horsepower, later versions of the engine with mechanical fuel injection
produced as much as 600 horsepower. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The transmission was essentially the standard 930 four-speed
transmission that had been developed for the production Turbo. They added and
gear driven oil pump and mounted an oil cooler for the transmission up in the
rear wing where the A/C condenser mounted in the production 930. The rules only
allowed three different ratios for each gear set so Porsche offered three
different rations for each of the four gear sets plus three different final
drive ring and pinion sets. The differential was a ZF limited slip with a 80%
locking factor. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Thirty one of these group 4 934s were produced for Porsche's
racing customers. Most of these cars remained in Europe and competed in the
Group 4 category, where the 934 was an immediate success and Toine Hezemans won
the European GT Championship for 1976. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Several of the 934s were used in Group 5 category and
Porsche supplied a kit that consisted of wider fender flare extensions to cover
the wider tires permitted by the group 5 rules as well as a larger rear wing
like those used on the later customer version of the 935s. These cars were
considered by the entrants to be Group 4 1/2 cars running in support of the
factory entered. 935s. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The car in our story, chassis number 93060700155, which now
belongs to California Porsche collector Dave Morse, was originally purchased by
Egon Evertz and driven by himself and Leo Kinnunen in the 1976 world
championship events as wells Group 5 races in Germany. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Evertz and Kinnunen had a successful debut in the orange 934
at Mugello, Italy, March 21, 1976, winning the group 4 category and placing
third overall behind the factory 935 and Kremers Group 5 Turbo Porsche. This
was the first 934 to win in Group 4 competition in the first race of this new
formula. They were not so lucky at the second race at Valleunga, also in Italy
, where about half way through the race the dropped out with and engine
problem. The third race of 1976 was Silverstone where the car was entered with
its Group 5 conversion kit. Evertz and Kinnunen actually lead overall several
times before falling back with a misfiring engine. In the fourth race of the
season at Nurbürgring they went out after two hours with transmission problems. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">At round five at the Osterreichring Kinnunen qualified the
car second to the factory 935 driven by Jacky Ickx and Manfred Schurti. The
factory 935 was delayed when the throttle cable broke and Porsche put their
driver, Manfred Schurti, in the Group 4 1/2 934 in place of car owner Egon
Evertz in an effort to make up time after and early pit stop by Kinnunen when
he had a puncture. This was not a legal substitution since Schurti had not
qualified in the car and the car was disqualified and retired. After
Osterreichring Porsche was ahead in the World Championship of Makes, but just
barely, leading BMW by 82 to 78 points. So, for the sixth round in the
championship at Watkins Glen in addition to the normal entry of Ickx and Mass
Porsche added a second 935 driven by Stommelen and Schurti and supported the
entry of Kinnuen/Evertz/Hexemans in Evertz’s converted 934. The factories
effort paid off with their Stomelen and Schurti 935 winning, and Evertz’s
converted 934 placing second driven by a Finn, a Dutchman and a German just
ahead of Mass and Ickx in the other factory 935. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Porsche left the US leading the World Championship of Makes
over BMW 102 to 88 with only one championship race remaining at Dijon, France.
Evertz and Kinnunen placed fourth at Dijon behind three other Porsche 935s. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The 934 as sold to Kannacher at Krefeld, but returned to
Evertz and raced very little during the 1977 season. The next owner was Kenneth
Leim who bought the car without the Group 5 conversion parts to contest the
Group 4 category. Leim rebuilt the car to Group 4 specifications in Sweden and
painted it white. Leim ran the car with Kurt Simonsen at Nurburgring in 1977
where they finished 9th. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Kenneth Leim still owned the 934 in 1978 and he and Simonsen
ran the car again at the third race of the season the Dijon, France 6 hour race
where they placed 9th overall and second in the Group 4 class. For the fourth
race of the 1978 season at Silverstone Leim partnered with Italian lady driver,
Lella Lombardi placed 15th overall. Kenneth Leim and Kurt Simonsen appeared in
other rounds in 1978 with disappointing results. 1979 was not much better for
the Leims team, but with an 8th at Silverstone and 16th at Brands Hatch showing
that the car was still competitive. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In late 1979 the 934 was purchased by Richard Cleare. The
Autofarm crew stripped the car to a bare chassis and did a comprehensive
rebuild of the chassis, suspension, transmission and engine. By the time they
got the car it was showing signs of the wear and tear and four seasons of
racing. They had the car ready by the March 1980 race at Brands Hatch looking
resplendent in its new red paint. Driven by owner Richard Cleare and Tony Dron
the car was leading the Group 4 class when it had to be withdrawn with a
suspension failure with Dron at the wheel. The team was more successful at
their second race, Silverstone in May 1980 where Cleare and Dron placed 8th
overall and won the Group 4 class. Their next race was Vallelunga where Cleare
and Dron again won the Group 4 class and placed 10th overall. Their final race
for the 1980 season was Dijon where they again won the Group for class and
placed 11th overall. In its fifth year of international competition the 934 had
shown itself to be competitive and reliable winning the Group 4 class in 3 of
the 4 races that they entered. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Richard Cleare ran the 934 again in 1981 partnered at
Silverstone by Andy Rouse. At the first race of the season at Silverstone
Cleare and Rouse were running second to one of the then new 924 GTR Turbos when
an oil line came lose and a resulting engine fire put them out at five hours.
Partnered by David Kennedy Cleare‘s next race with the 934 was Nurburgring. An
accident early in the race resulted in an off course excursion and the hot
engine refused to restart and the team lost 30 minutes before it refired and
Kennedy was able to get back to the pits where Cleare took over the driving
chores. The car was finally placed 49th after the raced was stopped because of
a fiery accident that cost the life of Porsche 908/3 pilot Herbert Muller. The
next race in 1981 was Brands Hatch where Richard Cleare and David Kennedy were
second in class after a stuck fuel catch bottle dropped them to second place a
lap behind the Group 4 class winning Canon 924 GTR. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In preparation for the 1982 Season Cleare returned the 934
engine to the factory where the cylinder heads were modified and mechanical
fuel injection was fitted in place of the original CIS system. The result was a
power increase from 500 hp to 600 hp. Tony Dron returned to the team for the
1982 season and in their first race at Monza they placed 9th overall and won
the Group 4 class. While they were at Monza the team learned that after three
years of trying that they had finally been accepted for the 1982 Le Mans
24-hour classic. This was the seventh season of racing for the 934 and the car
would finally see its first 24 hour race. After some difficulties with the
transmission Cleare and Dron placed second in the Group 4 category and 19th
overall at the May Silverstone race. They also had some handling problems which
were traced to changes that they had made in the cars ride height to extend the
life of the rear axles. The CV joints were showing excessive wear because of
the engines extra power and the axles were having to be replaced after each
race. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">For the 1982 Le Mans, probably the most significant race of
the 934‘s illustrious career, Tony Dron turned a time of 4.04.08, which was the
fastest time ever turned at Le Mans by a Porsche 934. The team had a few
problems during the race and had to replace both rear axles, but even so the
934 driven by Richard Cleare, Tony Dron and Richard Jones completed 2466.97
miles for and average of 102.79 mph winning the Group 4 class and placing 13th
overall in the 1982 Le Mans race. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">At Spa in September 1982 Cleare and Dron places second in
the group four class and 16th overall. The next race was at Mugello and Porsche
persuaded Richard Clear to take his 934 because of its reliability. Porsche
promised to supply new axles, but none were available and after five hours the
934 dropped out when the right axle failed. The 1982 Brands Hatch race was the
final outing for the 934 in a World Championship race where the car again won
the Group 4 class and placed 14th overall. Thus ending the racing career of
seven seasons of the most successful 934 to race in international competition. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Dave Morse bought this 934 in the summer of 1985 and has run
it in an number of club events beginning and extensive restoration a few years
ago. The car was restored to its original condition in the original orange
color and completed in time for the 1998 Monterey Historics where his son Mark
Morse drove it in the fifty year event at Monterey. </span><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-89614529273146838422001-07-01T14:49:00.000-07:002012-08-07T15:16:14.279-07:002001 911 Turbo<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Porsche Market Letter | Excellence
Magazine</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I just had what could be considered the perfect three days
for anyone who really loves cars and driving them. Sunday I drove up to Reno to
meet the new 911 Turbo. For the drive up I chose Ebbetts Pass. I have not been
through the Ebbetts Pass since 1962 when I bought my first Porsche 356. That
year I made a project of driving back and fourth through most of the Sierra
passes. These are really great roads for people who love cars and love driving.
The roads are marvelous and if you are reasonably judicious about selecting
your time of driving through them the traffic is not too bad. It is also nice
to have a driving instrument like the new Boxster S. I drove up Sunday
afternoon and met with the Porsche gang at the Reno Hilton. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNkUJ3Y-2yZLWMbxzSTt2EqkipcJWEwKRKBsOK1JDUmF5a1k19K6sy8yOFvgubHMlJYs85MoEgXw4o6XIQkPm9X-QaYooiw6qRFf87K1JTrROulCFoj3_jZ4obiUBW_3-o5AQxtt_RYtc/s1600/Bruce+Turbo+2001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNkUJ3Y-2yZLWMbxzSTt2EqkipcJWEwKRKBsOK1JDUmF5a1k19K6sy8yOFvgubHMlJYs85MoEgXw4o6XIQkPm9X-QaYooiw6qRFf87K1JTrROulCFoj3_jZ4obiUBW_3-o5AQxtt_RYtc/s400/Bruce+Turbo+2001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Sunday evening the Porsche folks took us to the National
Automobile Museum in Reno. This is a great collection, which was started with a
seed gift of 100 cars from the Holiday Inn, who purchased the Harrahs casinos
and got his collection of over 2000 cars thrown in for good measure. The museum
was originally supposed to have gotten 250 cars from the Holiday Inn, but after
the Holiday Inn started auctioning the cars of they found out that old cars
were worth money, lots of money. And once they found out just how much old cars
were worth they got less generous with the cars. Holiday Inn sold a 1931
Bugatti Royal out of the collection for $6.5 million the most any car had sold
for up until that time. They never did give the Museum all of the cars that
they promised them, but the museum has augmented that first 100 cars with cars
donated and loaned to the museum by other car enthusiast that wish to see the
museum succeed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpGufsiJKXkit3beP6j7k9CiGyLOZGWlSDvN9TbfRV4MTAB-dH4dwZ0A5qxIsfKTYbcBvBBVDs_VFnnbSbEjcqs0lduH0gGPhV95fq4INwI7bAvdnVAWlEKZUDgi2mzHiYxNBCn8Ct_s/s1600/Bruce+on+dry+lake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpGufsiJKXkit3beP6j7k9CiGyLOZGWlSDvN9TbfRV4MTAB-dH4dwZ0A5qxIsfKTYbcBvBBVDs_VFnnbSbEjcqs0lduH0gGPhV95fq4INwI7bAvdnVAWlEKZUDgi2mzHiYxNBCn8Ct_s/s400/Bruce+on+dry+lake.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I ran into our old friend Walter Minato at the Museum. He is
one of the Museum’s volunteers and he acted as the technical authority for our
tour through the collection. We had a very nice meal catered for the group right
in the museum. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Monday morning at about 7:45 we went to the Reno PCNA
Service Training Center for breakfast and a technical presentation on the new
Turbo. They didn’t answer all of my questions, but at least I knew more than
before. Fortunately I hung around the hospitality suite Monday evening while
the factory engineers were still there and they were willing to answer all of
my questions. It all started when I asked the project leader what I should tell
people who asked me why the brakes squeaked on some of the new cars and not
others, the answer was that they don’t squeak. That sounds like the German way
to me. The good news was that they were willing to answer the other questions
that I couldn’t get anyone else to answer. My big question for them was how the
VarioCam Plus worked, the printed information that I have seen so far was not
that helpful and the subject was not covered in depth in the introduction
presentation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Basically the way the VarioCam Plus works is that there are
two different sized camshaft lobes on the intake camshafts and a magic
hydraulic intake cam followers. The small cam lobe has a lift of 3 mm and a
very mild profile. The second, larger cam lobe has 10 mm of lift with a more
aggressive profile. At lower rpms and lower performance levels the engine
operates on the three mm lift cam. This optimizes both emissions and performance
at low load and low rpms. Then as you pick up the pace the helical drive
mechanism on the front of the camshaft advances the cam by 15 degrees extending
the duration and improving the engine’s performance. When you really stick your
foot into the throttle the cam followers switch over to the 10 mm cam profiles
for peak torque and power. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH4G25ttq2lhmV5jZ6qvZegV4xSrr8ShMgOkrrlcfvbcQ1mS-fr87k1szKeRAAtPrwOJSDuaFOQwc7L-Sj2Aa1XE8AbD2wtFoCSjORGHXqlSnr8WePTcJe1H8OdKN2cI5jKteoA87wW54/s1600/Dry+Lake+Porsche+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH4G25ttq2lhmV5jZ6qvZegV4xSrr8ShMgOkrrlcfvbcQ1mS-fr87k1szKeRAAtPrwOJSDuaFOQwc7L-Sj2Aa1XE8AbD2wtFoCSjORGHXqlSnr8WePTcJe1H8OdKN2cI5jKteoA87wW54/s400/Dry+Lake+Porsche+.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The DME engine management system determines when these
changes happen depending on a variety of inputs including the drivers torque
and power requirements, the throttle position, temperatures, loads gear
selection and what not. All of these inputs are compared with the control maps
and then the system determines which operating configuration is best for the
given operating conditions. It is possible to run as fast as 100 m.p.h. on the
smaller 3 mm cam under light load conditions. But when you stick your foot into
it the engine switches to the larger more aggressive 10 mm cams and you GO! You
can actually feel the transition from the 3 mm to the 10 mm cams if you drive along
at light throttle in the 3000 rpm range and gently tip your foot into the
throttle. You will feel a slight bump when this transition happens. It is very
subtle, but I noticed the bump and felt that I must have something to do with
the VarioCam Plus operation. I asked the engineer about this and he said, yes
that was when the system made the transition for the 3 mm cam to the 10 mm cam.
As I said it was very subtle and probably most people wouldn’t notice it unless
they looked for it. I stumbled onto the bump and went back and looked for it
and found that it was repeatable. Both the cam timing and the cam lift are
controlled by the engine oil pressure. Remember this is a dual overhead cam
engine with one intake and one exhaust cam for each bank of cylinders. The
intake cam timing altered with respect to the exhaust cam by directing the oil
pressure to one side or the other of the helical camshaft adjuster. When the
pressure is on the outside the cam is retarded and when the pressure is
diverted to the inside the cam is advanced relative to the exhaust cam
increasing the valve timing overlap. The cam timing is actually advanced by 15
degrees or 30 crankshaft degrees by this mechanism. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Each intake cam has three lobes for each valve, the little 3
mm bump straddled by two 10 mm bumps. The intake cam follower is actually two
cam followers in one. The operation of the cam follower is also hydraulically
controlled by the engine‘s oil pressure. The two portions of the cam follower
are interlocked hydraulically by means of a pin which is actuated by an
electrohydraulic solenoid valve. The cam follower has an extension that goes up
and rides on the little bump, as conditions change first the intake cam is
advanced 15 degrees relative to the exhaust cam, which increases the duration
and enhances performance. Next the cam follower is changed so that the center
extension drops down and the outer edges of the follower rides on the two 10 mm
cam lobes. This transition is in addition to the advance that was already cranked
in by the helical cam advance mechanism so now you have both the additional
advance and the 7 mm higher lift of the 10 mm cam profiles. This is very
fascinating technology resulting in incredible performance over the whole rpm
range. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We started the ride and drive portion of the introduction at
9:30 Monday morning heading out of Reno towards the south and Carson City.
There were four new Turbos for the ride and drive portion of the intro and
eight journalists, so we paired up and my partner was Allan Caldwell, Tech
Editor for the Porsche Club‘s Panorama magazine. Allan and I are old pals so
this was a fun association for us both. Allan and I drew the new Tiptronic
version of the new 996 Turbo for the first half of the ride and drive. I drove
first and we drove for three or four miles on the town streets before I had a
chance to stick my boot in it. When we finally turned onto the 395 highway on
ramp heading south I went for it and we saw 100 M.P.H. plus for the first time
of the day. And that was before we were at the end of the on ramp. We still had
plenty of time to slow and merge with traffic when we hit the freeway… brakes
are good too. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We turned off of 395 onto 431, the Mt. Rose Highway to Lake
Tahoe, the idea being to show the journalist from other parts of the country
some great roads and a good look at some of the beautiful sights around Reno.
Bob Carlson, a native Californian, who is very familiar with the Reno area
having been assigned there for several years with PCNA before moving to Atlanta
a couple of years ago laid out the route. The route returned to 395 via Highway
50 and we continued south. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Our next detour, right after returning to 395, was off onto
Jacks Valley Road to Genoa which was about six miles to the West. Genoa is the
"Oldest settlement in Nevada--Established 1851." We had a rest stop
in the "Genoa Saloon", which is the oldest bar in Nevada. After our
rest and a drink we switched drivers and drove south along the foot hills and
over to Woodfords and Markleeville on the California side of the boarder to set
us up for highway 89 through the Monitor Pass, which took us back to 395 again.
This was a pass I had never been through before. The pass is very lightly
traveled and great fun to drive. All of this was over on the California side. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Even though this was a Monday and these roads are fairly
lightly traveled they are mostly all two-lane roads so we had many
opportunities to pass. The new Turbo is a wonderful car for passing, I have
never driven a car with so much passing power. With the 415 hp and the
virtually flat torque curve of 413 lb of torque from about 2500 rpm to almost
5000 rpm, with it peak torque of 415 lb ft. at 6000 rpm it is very willing to
pass at almost any speed. We found that we could pass in very short spaces,
spaces that would probably not consider a passing opportunity in lesser cars,
we also found that these passing maneuvers usually resulted in a terminal speed
of 100 m.p.h. or greater. One time on the second day of driving while we were passing
one of those three trailer trucks that are so common over in Nevada we actually
saw 142 M.P.H. before slowing back to our normal brisk cruising speed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">After Monitor pass we headed south again. Through Topaz,
Coleville and Walker on our way to Bridgeport for our lunch stop. After lunch
we traded some of the other journalist for one of the a six-speed cars and
headed back across to Highway 182 and 388 which are also some wonderful driving
roads on the Nevada side. This took us up to Wellington where we turned onto
208 and headed back for 395 where we turned north for Carson City. At Carson
City we switched drivers and Allan drove over through Virginia City. We saw all
of the skid marks were they hold the Virginia City hill climb. We cruised the
main in Virginia City and then headed back for the hotel in Reno so we could
rush to get ready for dinner. A wonderful driving experience for us both and in
all about 280 mile of mostly great Porsche roads. If you really enjoy driving
you owe it to yourself to get over to the Sierras and drive some of these
roads. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We liked both the Tiptronic S and the Six-Speed and didn’t
feel put upon having been "stuck" with the Tiptronic. The new
Tiptronic for the Turbo has 250 shift maps, so it adapts quickly to your
driving style and for the given conditions. This new Tiptronic is amazing in
addition to all of the maps this magic transmission actually has two reverse
gears one has a ratio oaf 3.16 and the other 1.93. The transmission hardware
actually comes from Daimler-Chrysler. Porsche adopted the twin reverse function
from them to improve steep driveway climbing performance when the engine is
cold. They do not want the drivers to get into the turbo boost phase by
depressing the gas pedal too far with a long gear ratio when the engine is cold
so they select the lower gear for this condition. The driver actually has no
influence over which reverse gear ration is chosen it is selected by the
computer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The one thing that I don’t like about the Tiptronic is the
silly little buttons on the steering wheel. When you are really driving fast
they are damn near impossible to find. If they were going to do something like
that they should go with the paddles like Ferrari has. I will have an
opportunity to spend more time with the Tiptronic in July when I have the Tip
car for most of a week. I will take the time to learn more about the
capabilities of this transmission, it is hard to learn very much about cars
that are as complex as these new Turbos are in one of these short ride and drive
sessions. The cars are getting to be so complex that they should probably mail
an owners manual to the journalist a week or so before one of these intros so
we can bone up on the features of the cars. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We really did like the new Turbos and the only things that
we found to complain about was the warts on the front bumper and the digital
dash display. I found that I could not read the dash display with my Polaroid
sunglasses on and since we needed the odometer reading to run the route this
was a problem. The Turbo dash uses a dot matrix display instead of the segment
display used in the 996 and Boxster .The route was laid out like a rally with
the instructions based on the mileage traveled. After the lunch stop the sun
was somewhat in our eyes so I had decided to wear my sunglasses. I actually had
to take them off to read the odometer, after a few miles of this I gave up and
went back to my regular glasses and squinted. One other minor point is that
they have moved the digital speedometer over into the analog speedometer. I
have grown accustomed to it being centered on the steering wheel in the
tachometer from the Boxsters and other 996s that I have been driving and found
it more awkward to look over to the left at the speedometer. If you would have
asked me before the first time that I drove a Boxster or 996 if I would like
and use the digital speedometer I would have told you no, because I usually
hate digital instrumentation of any kind, particularly wrist watches and
clocks, but I have grown fond and dependant on them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Aside form the warts that they have put on the front bumpers
to comply with the bumper laws I really like the modern aggressive look of this
Turbo. I have never liked the bulbous look of the earlier Turbos. This car was
designed to have huge wheels and tires (8x18" with 225/40 tires up front
and 11/18" with 295/30 tires in the rear) that fit within the standard
body work so it does not have that awkward look of a car with added on huge
fender flares. The car is 2.6 inches wider in the rear than the standard 996
model, but it isn’t objectionable. It has the aggressive, stylish looks
designed in and doesn’t take on the overly fat look of its predecessors. Also
the ride of this car is really pretty good even with the extremely low profile
tires. In contrast recently rode in a 993 Turbo Look with sport suspension and
18 inch wheels and the ride was unbearable. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">It is distinctive looking with its huge front radiator
openings, the three radiators themselves have 50% more surface areas than the
standard 996. The leading edge of the rear fenders have the very functional air
inlets for the Turbo intercoolers. Again the appearance is an integral design
and doesn’t have that added on look of the old Turbo flares had. The air from
the intercoolers exits below the rear bumper through 959ish louvers. The new
trick xenon headlights look cool but we never got to drive the cars in the dark
so I don’t have a clue how effective they are. Another thing that the have
changed on this version of the Turbo is he rear wing. Apparently the Europeans
object to the looks of rear wings so Porsche has made every effort to minimize
the presence of the wing. They have also done this with all of their normally
aspirated cars having them fold completely out of sight when the cars are at
rest. Though not completely out of site the Turbo wing is much smaller than
previous versions on the Turbo, partially because they have moved the
intercoolers into the rear fenders so that they didn’t have to make room for
the intercooler under the rear engine lid and wing. The Turbo rear wing is also
able to be more subtle because it also extends at speed like the normally
aspirated 996 and Boxster do. All of this fits into the more subtle design of
the new Porsches. The new Turbo is by no means subtle, it is still a very
aggressive looking car, but it is not overstated like the earlier Turbos were. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Monday night’s dinner was out at the Bowers Mansion which
was built in 1864 by Alison and Sandy Bowers who had earned their fortune from
silver in the Comstock Lode. Their claim produced riches they could not have
imagined. They built their mansion half way between Reno and Carson City in
Washoe Valley. They built a great stone mansion and furnished it with
furnishings that they purchased on a ten month trip to Europe. Their mansion
was completed in 1884 for about $200,000 including their European furnishings.
Besides another great meal the highlight of the evening was that Samuel Clemens
joined us for dinner. It was uncanny, this guy really looked and sounded like
Mark Twain. Apparently he makes a living by impersonating Mark Twain, he was a
fascinating guy. He set at our table of five during dinner and was a
fascinating fellow. He popped in and out of character and really knew his
history when it came to Twain. The significance of him being there is Mark
Twain really got his start writing for the newspaper of Virginia City where the
Comstock Silver mother load was mined. It was an evening of good food, good
company and good entertainment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The second day of the event, Tuesday, was out on the Black
Rock Dry Lake which has been the site of the Burning Man hoo ha for the past
ten years and the World Land Speed Record that broke the sound barrier at
763.035 mph in 1997. At 8:00 Am we left the Reno Hilton for a trip of a little
more than 110 miles out to Gerlach and the Black Rock Dry Lake. This dry lake
bed is huge, so we could see why it had been chosen as the sight for attempts
at the land speed record. I am not sure what the appeal is for the Burning Man
whackos, but there were 28,000 of them there last year. Driving out to the lake
and back was another fun high speed tour, but Bob Carlson warned us that the
week before someone had been stopped for speeding on one of the Indian
reservations out there for 3 miles over the speed limit and fined $500 cash. I
guess that gambling casinos aren’t viable options for them in Nevada so they
have to be more creative to make a living out there. Bob went on to say that
one of his guys had been stopped twice on his way out there that very morning
and talked himself out of a ticket both time. I asked him what the good news
was, he replied that the road was very straight and you could see for miles. As
it turned out even with us religiously abiding by the very restrictive speed limits
on the reservations we still made it out to the lakebed at an average speed of
75 - 80 M.P.H. from the hotel. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Their idea was to have us each establish our own personal
high speed driving record. I am sure that conceptually they expected us all to
be able to blast through this event at speeds approaching 200 m.p.h. They
brought two of the early production cars over for the speed runs, one was
chassis number 0011 and the other was 0020, so they were very early cars. They
said that the modifications were limited to safety modifications. Both cars had
a pair of racing seats, a roll cage and five-point seat belts. They were both
Euro spec cars so they were 20 mm lower than the US version, but they told us
that otherwise they were stock. They actually looked very much like the four
cars that we had been driving around for two days except for the Euro lighting
differences. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Unfortunately the dry lake bed surface was not very good for
this sort of activity this year and the cars became very unstable at speeds
much above 180 m.p.h. The Porsche troops had gone out to check the sight out on
Sunday before the event started and became very concerned about the safety
aspect of their planed event. Bob Carlson and one of the factory engineers got
the cars greatly out of shape at speed above an indicated 190 M.P.H., so they
became concerned and decided to control the event. Hurley Haywood showed up
late Sunday evening so they waited until he got a chance to check out the site
before making their decision of what to do. While we were out on our ride and
drive on Monday Hurley was out at the Black Rock Lake bed deciding what would
be safe for all when each of the four waves made the full speed runs at the dry
lake surface. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Hurley said that to him it felt like driving in the rain
when you got up to the higher speeds. As a result they regrouped and created a
speed run on the dry lake that allowed them to control the top speed so that
they could save us from ourselves. Since Hurley rode with all of us they were
trying to save him as well. I think that it was really that they didn’t want to
have to call our wives, girlfriends and what not and tell them that they had
killed us off. The original plan was to have a course that was four miles long
and just leave the speed up to each driver's discretion. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As it ended up the speed run was still a lot of fun, but not
as much fun as it would have been if we had been turned loose. What they did
was shorten the course that we were to run on to three miles total. We were
told to run the first mile at about 100-125 M.P.H. and then accelerate through
the second mile and maintain that speed through the third mile and see how fast
we went. Our speeds were measured through the third mile and given an average
speed through the mile as well as a speed trap at the end of the measured mile.
So as you can see it was a controlled top speed run, it really depended on how
early on in the run you really got into it for serious. This was pretty obvious
to some and they were the ones who went the fastest. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">They had a course laid out that was about fifty feet wide
that was marked by a string of orange pylons on each side. We each got one
practice run to the side of the real course at a speed limited to a speed of
about 150 mph. Because there had been so much traffic up and back on that side
of the course there were a lot of ruts on that side. I don’t know about the
other side I never went over there. As a result of the ruts on what we used as
a practice course it was actually pretty scary. We all dutifully did what we
were told on the practice course for fear that they would not let us take our
official run on the real course if we misbehaved. Because of this you really
didn’t know what to expect on your real run. Between this really unstable
surface for the practice run and all of their concern based on their running
before we got our turns they created a high level lot of anxiety in all of us. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">It turned out that the real course was smoother than our
practice course had been and it was a lot more comfortable to run and a lot of
fun. About half way through the first mile on the real course Hurley told me to
get on it, and it dawned on me that there was actually a way to control our top
speed through the run. The guy who ran after me was clever enough to figure this
out by himself and took off right from the beginning on a tear. Sure enough, he
beat me by a mile or two per hour. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">USAC (United States Auto Club) actually did the timing and
gave us a great-framed Certificate of Performance for our run. My run was 177.165
mph or 285.120 km/h through the speed trap at the end. As I said I was not
fastest, one of the other guys went a mile or two per hour faster. Since after
our group ran the word was out on how to go faster and since it is really a
rather subjective thing I am sure that by the time the other three waves made
their runs that others were also faster. My average speed through the measured
mile was 173. 871 so it is obvious that I could have been faster if I was
allowed or clever enough to get into the throttle earlier in the run. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I would have liked a second timed run because after my first
run I was comfortable with the whole process and no longer nervous. One of the
other journalists did get a second timed run because they had missed his time
on his real run. At the time he did not seem to share my enthusiasm for the
second run idea, he turned a rather ashen color when they told him he would
have to run again. However, after his second run he thought it was a great
thing and also felt more comfortable with the whole thing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">There were only four of the new Turbos in the press fleet so
there were only four for the ride and drive portion of the event. The number of
cars was what limited the press numbers to eight for each wave and there were
to be four waves so by the time they are done 32 members of the press will have
had a crack at the rather arbitrary high speed run. I was hoping to break my
own personal existing speed record which was 300 Km in one of Ruf’s cars on the
autobahn a few years ago, which translates to 186 mph, but it was not to be. I
had a great time, but no new personal speed record. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I left Reno at about 4:00 PM Tuesday afternoon and came home
through Kit Carson Pass. I got lost once and stopped at our family ranch in
Linden, CA for awhile and arrived home at about 9:00 in the evening. The trip
up and the trip back plus getting lost a couple of times put almost exactly 650
miles on the Boxster S. I still love all versions of the Boxster and
particularly the Boxster S that I drove up to Reno in. However, after driving
around for two days in the Turbo I really missed the extra performance of the
Turbo. You had to think more about what you were doing when you thought about
passing, because the difference in passing distance is very noticeable. I think
that my biggest impression of the new Turbo is the stunning acceleration at any
speed. The car is wonderful, if it were in the budget I would order one today.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-596220134304439152001-06-06T15:31:00.000-07:002012-08-02T21:37:01.165-07:00Silicone Brake Fluid<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>911 and Porsche World</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Porsche recommends that the brake fluid be replaced every
two years. Porsche also goes on to recommend that we use only polyglycol, DOT 3
or DOT 4 fluids and not DOT 5 silicone fluid. Furthermore they say that we
should not add or mix DOT 5 silicone type brake fluid with the brake fluid in
your car as severe component corrosion may result. Such corrosion could lead to
brake system failure. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">For the model year 1993 and forward the brake systems in all
Porsche models were filled with an improved type of brake fluid, ATE type 200.
ATE Type 200 fluid was a new improved DOT 4 fluid with a higher dry boiling
point, a higher wet boiling point which extended the life of the fluid and
resulted in longer change intervals (every 3 years). This same brake fluid is
sold on the aftermarket as ATE Blue and is a superior normal DOT 4 brake
fluids. </span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Brake fluid comes in DOT 3, DOT 4 or DOT 5 ratings. The DOT
standards for brake fluids were established in 1972. When the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, Department of Transportation (NHTSA) set up the
requirements for brake fluids they determined that there was a need for two
grades of fluid until an all-weather fluid was developed with viscosity and
boiling point characteristics suitable for all braking systems. In order to
provide added protection against vapor locking and fade in severe braking service,
DOT 4 fluid is recommended. But in such applications it is important to note
that the same higher viscosity that helps eliminated vapor locking and fade may
result in poorer system performance in very cold weather Also, it should be
noted that the high boiling points are sacrificed in the DOT 3 fluid for low
viscosities for use at low temperatures. These differences between the
viscosities of the DOT 3 and DOT 4 fluids are necessary to cover the specified
operating temperature ranges and as such make it necessary to maintain both DOT
3 and DOT 4 brake fluids. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">DOT 5 fluid is supposed to be the all-weather fluid that is
mentioned in the preceding paragraph and it can be used as a replacement for
both DOT 3 and DOT 4 brake fluids. They test all three fluids for a great
number of different characteristics, however, the most interesting
characteristics to us are the equilibrium reflux boiling point (dry boiling
point), the wet equilibrium reflux boiling point (wet boiling point) and the
kinematic viscosities (viscosity at cold temperatures). Dry boiling point:
These are the minimum boiling temperatures allowed for the various grades of
fluid (this test simulates the boiling point when the fluid is new). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">DOT 3 401° F<br />
DOT 4 446° F<br />
DOT 5 500° F </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Wet boiling point: These are the minimum boiling
temperatures allowed for the various grades of fluid when wet (this test is a
simulation of the boiling point after the absorption of moisture from air) </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">DOT 3 284° F<br />
DOT 4 311° F<br />
DOT 5 356° F </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">NOTE: These are the minimum requirements and there are brake
fluids available that will exceed these minimum requirements. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Kinematic viscosities: All brake fluids (DOT 3, DOT 4 and
DOT 5) must meet a minimum viscosity test of not less than 1.5 centestokes at
100° C (212° F) and must not be more than the following to meet their various
classifications (the larger numbers indicate higher kinematic viscosities just
like with motor oils). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">DOT 3 1500 Centestokes at minus 40° F<br />
DOT 4 1800 Centestokes at minus 40° F<br />
DOT 5 900 Centestokes at minus 40° F. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">There are some advantages to silicon brake fluid over
conventional polyglycol brake fluids. It is permanent, it does not absorb
moisture, it does not boil, it helps prevent corrosion rather than causing it,
it will not damage paint if it is spilled on the paint and it helps lubricate
seals and other components in the brake system. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The disadvantages, though minor, can still be very annoying.
Silicon brake fluids are slightly compressible, or at least they appear to be
because of their affinity for air, which results in a different pedal feel from
that of a system which uses a conventional non-compressible polyglycol fluid.
Because of silicon brake fluid's affinity for air and their surface tension
characteristics they tend to cling to any air bubbles which get into the
braking system making the system very difficult to bleed properly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The brake fluids required for our Porsches by Porsche AG are
either DOT 3 or DOT 4 in new and unused condition (that means that the can
should be sealed so that there is no moisture in the fluid). Porsche recommends
that we changed the brake fluid every two years (three years with the new ATE
type 200 brake fluid) because the conventional polyglycol fluids are
hygroscopic and will absorb moisture. When the fluid absorbs moisture, two
things happen: the boiling temperature goes down and the absorbed moisture is
corrosive to the brake components. Minimum wet boiling point is specified for
DOT 3 is 284° F and for DOT 4 is 311° F and because these fluids are
hygroscopic they commonly will approach these minimum limits. In contrast DOT 5
silicon fluids have a wet boiling temperature of 356° F and because they are
not hygroscopic they will never approach the wet boiling limit. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The silicon brake fluids are DOT 5 and as such are required
to be compatible with all conventional DOT 3 and DOT 4 fluids in order to
comply with the federal regulations for DOT 5. There are also other DOT 5 brake
fluids that while they are synthetic are not silicone based and as a result are
more similar to the conventional DOT 3 and DOT 4 brake fluids that we are
familiar with. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Silicon brake fluid is inert and is supposed to be the only
universally compatible brake fluid. However silicon is not miscible and will
not mix with other types of brake fluids. Although the silicon fluids can be
used with conventional polyglycol fluids, they will not mix and the
conventional fluid still in the brake system can continue to absorb any
moisture in the system components. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">To gain maximum benefits for the silicon brake fluids the
complete brake system should be completely disassembled and cleaned before
adding the silicon brake fluid. Then because of the silicon brake fluid's
affinity for air, it is recommended that a pressure bleeder be used for
bleeding the system. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I have had personal experience with silicon brake fluid in
both street and racing cars. And indeed have experienced difficulties getting
the systems properly bled. Even when we were sure we had properly bled the
brake system, the brake pedal always had a strange, soft feel to it. We
attempted to use silicon brake fluid in a Porsche 935 race car at Daytona in
1981 for the twenty four hour race because of the problems we have in Florida
with the high humidity lowering the boiling point of the brake fluid. It
probably would have achieved our objective; however, the drivers didn't like
the pedal feel and requested that we change it back to conventional fluid. The
spongy pedal thing gets worse with heat and in our experience with it at Daytona
the driver, Bobby Rahal, told us if we didn't take it out we would have to
drive the car ourselves; it was scaring him to death. At that time there was no
chicane on the back strait away and they would come into the braking area for
Turn one at about 200 mph before braking. At that point they were committed to
turn one, which was a little like threading a needle and the soft brake pedal
was very unsettling to say the least. Rahal said that the pedal would get worse
each lap as the brakes got warmer. We returned to conventional brake fluid and
won that years 24-hour race. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In street cars the silicon fluid has advantages which may
outweigh its disadvantages, particularly for older cars that do not get driven
very much. Moisture absorbed by conventional polyglycol brake fluid cause
serious corrosion of metal parts and deterioration of rubber seals and hoses in
the brake system. However, in order to take advantage of that attribute the
brake system must be completely free of any polyglycol brake fluid. If any
polyglycol brake fluid remains in the system any moisture in the system will be
attracted to those small pockets of polyglycol brake fluid causing corrosion</span><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-82773570505095481062001-06-05T15:28:00.000-07:002012-08-02T21:37:34.229-07:00Unleaded Fuels<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>911 and Porsche World</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">When we started to convert to unleaded fuels here in the
United States in the late seventies everyone was concerned about what was going
to happen to our cars with out lead to lubricate the valve guides and cushion
the valves on the valve seats. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">One of the first things that I did was check with Porsche
and they said that all of the cars from the SC forward had sintered iron seats
made of a material that they call Pluko. They said that all of these cars would
be fine and that they weren't sure about the earlier cars, but that if there
was a problem the could provide Pluko seats for the earlier cars as well. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Next I checked with a friend, Tim Wusz, who was the Senior
Engineering Associate Fuels Technology, Unocal Science & Technology
Division then, and who is one of the authorities here in the US on what the
effect would be when they took the lead out of the gas over here in the late
seventies and early eighties. Tim Wusz said that the only cars that would have
problems with the removal of lead were some early American cars that used the
cast iron of the blocks or the heads as the material for the valve seats and had
very soft seats. Wusz assured me that our cars would run fine on the unleaded
fuels that would be available and suggested that I have our valve seats tested
for their hardness. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Unleaded fuel is really no problem at all - lead was the
work of the Devil. Lead did do a few things for us, but it may have actually
done more harm than good. Lead in gasoline contaminated our oil, it fouled our
plugs and it loaded up our oil control rings. Modern cars that run on unleaded
fuels last longer, run better, and go further between services. We often see
the modern Porsches of the unleaded era run for well over two hundred thousand
miles without requiring major mechanical work. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">However, besides acting as an octane booster tetraethyl lead
acts as a shock absorber between the exhaust valves and valve seats. The
concern we enthusiasts have is for the potential of excessive valve seat
recession or pound-in because of being run without leaded fuels. The reason
that lead is so important to these older cars with "soft" seats is
that the lead acts as a lubricant between the valves and the valve seats,
cushioning the valve each time it seats to prevent exhaust valves and/or seats
from recessing or pounding-in. In older Porsches, with their softer seats and
valves there is some cause for concern. The newer cars, from 1977/78 on were
designed so they could run on unleaded gasoline. In 1978, when Porsche started
to use catalytic converters to meet the emissions standards requiring the use
of unleaded gasoline, they changed the valve seat material to an sintered iron
material that they call Pluko. Just how hard are "soft" seats and how
hard do they have to be to prevent recession or pound-in. Really soft seats are
cast iron seats with a hardness of from Rockwell 12 to 25. Seats with a
Rockwell hardness of 45 to 50 are probably hard enough in most cases to provide
for satisfactory protection. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I have hardness tested the exhaust seats used in a number of
our different Porsche cylinder heads. I checked the following heads with the
following results: </span></div>
<ol start="1" style="font-family: inherit;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">1966
911 head RA 65 </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">1969
911 head RA 54 </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">1976
911 head RA 64 </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">1.8
914 head RA 59 </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">1.7
914 head RA 44 </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">1962
356 head RA 64 </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">356C/912
head RA 58 </span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">None of these seats can be
considered "soft" seats and as such they should not cause any
problems with unleaded gasolines. Additionally all of the Porsche engines built
since 1964 have some form of valve rotators. Their favorite is to use the ATE
style keepers which do not hold the valve tightly, so that the valve is free to
rotate. This has served them well and only the 924 engines had a separate valve
rotator. So we should be able to use unleaded gasoline without any additional
changes. However, the best way to keep track of what is happening until we are
sure, will be with more frequent checks of the valve clearances. Obviously, if
the valve clearance changes over a short period of time, some changes will have
to be made to the exhaust valves and/or seats. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">It is also interesting to note that when lead was introduced
to gasoline in 1923 there was very similar concern about the effect on the
engine's valves and valve seats because of the addition of lead to gasoline as
there is today with the removal of lead from the gasoline. At the time the
engine designers felt that the lead caused a serious service problem with the
spark plugs and exhaust valve damage caused by the corrosive effect of lead
oxide. The designers forged ahead and used lead as an additive because of leads
superiority over all other antiknock additives of that era. With higher octane
gasoline the engine designers could use higher compression ratios to achieve
major gains in both power and fuel economy. During this period of automotive
history the designs and materials used in high-compression engines made
tremendous improvements over a very short period of time. These included
special alloy exhaust valves, and seats and sodium cooled valves all to combat
valve and valve seat erosion, caused not by the removal of lead, but the
addition of lead to the gasoline. With the introduction of lead to gasoline the
octane number was increased from about 50 to todays 90+ for high octane
unleaded gasolines making possible a boost in compression ratios from 4 to 1 up
to the 9+ to 1 used by all of our modern Porsche engines. Because of advanced
catalytic cracking methods and other octane boosting additives the gasoline
companies find it easier to make high octane unleaded gasolines today than they
did sixty years ago so the removal of lead from our gasoline hasn't caused much
problems. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Engines that are run on unleaded gasoline burn cleaner and
will run much longer between tune-ups than cars that are run on leaded
gasolines. All modern normally aspirated Porsches (4, 6 and 8 cylinders) have a
recommended service interval of 15,000 miles including the oil change intervals
and the turbocharged cars have a recommended oil change interval of 7,500
miles. Bosch has 30,000 and 50,000 mile spark plugs and the unleaded fuels are
largely responsible for these extended service intervals. It also looks like
engines that have been run on unleaded fuels will last longer than those run on
leaded fuels, it is not uncommon for 911 SC engines to run for 175,000 to
200,000 miles without requiring any major maintenance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I have offered to write an article for 911 & Porsche
World, which would include most of the above information, but Chris didn't seem
too interested, perhaps I should ask the Post. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Porsche never really wanted to say much beyond what I
mentioned about the seat material. PCNA has never really said anything about
the potential effect of unleaded fuels. Here in California the leaded fuels
have been gone for most of this decade and we have really seen no negative
effects are a result of the absence of lead. </span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">To your point about the amount of power used, my expert said
that the only to examples that he could think of where people might have
problems were Power boats where you run at full power for extended periods of
time and possibly with one of the old VW busses heavily loaded pulling a very
long very steep grade. Everyone will worry about the potential problem until
sometime in the future when it dawns on everyone that everything has gone on as
normal and that the cars have had no problems. Everyone will pretty much have
to experience that for themselves as they have over here. Young people over
here don't know any better and think unleaded fuels are just fine.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-18658075663176130372001-06-03T15:18:00.000-07:002012-08-06T15:50:01.462-07:00Daytona with Joel<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>911 and Porsche World</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This year I went to the Daytona 24-hour race with a good
friend, Joel Reiser, who just started racing this past year. I have known Joel
Reiser for ten years or so, we met because we are both Porsche enthusiast and
share the interest in modifying Porsches for more performance. He contacted me
because he had read my suggestions for modifying the 911SC engines in my
Porsche 911 Performance Handbook and had some questions. He contacted me to
find out how to modify a 911 SC that he owned at the time and he and I became
great friends. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_lIAUXvjwIdxdS8ypKbUxVIrhtSkh_vRP_yoDJHFQQyJJ1r8yicQk6CBse0yMa5q3957ip8dUvUVvmnZ083AqUQYKHZ40fyTKTyJh2ECU7RnDjEEkO5byHj6zSVodKprwwxZjCEUaDYI/s1600/Friend+Joels+GT3R+at+DIS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_lIAUXvjwIdxdS8ypKbUxVIrhtSkh_vRP_yoDJHFQQyJJ1r8yicQk6CBse0yMa5q3957ip8dUvUVvmnZ083AqUQYKHZ40fyTKTyJh2ECU7RnDjEEkO5byHj6zSVodKprwwxZjCEUaDYI/s400/Friend+Joels+GT3R+at+DIS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Over the years Joel got involved in
the Porsche Club of America Drivers Education events held at the different
tracks in the north eastern United States and in Canada. He has run PCA drivers
education events for the past eight year and instructed for the past five. Joel
kept buying newer and better cars to participate in the club events, but he
also continued to modify all of his cars. I tried to talk Joel into running in
some of the club races, but because of the modifications that he made to his
cars they were always unfavorably classed so he never ran any of the club
races. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Then last fall he ordered a factory
993 RSR which was delivered in late December 1997 as a 1998 model. His first
event with this car was a test session in June, which was the first time he had
ever driven on slicks. A couple weeks later he entered his first PCA club race
in the RSR at Mosport July 27, 1998 where he placed second in GT2R. Joel told
me he had a fantastic time an that the thrill of passing the other guy was a
lot more fun that he thought it would be. He said that passing cars added a
whole new dimension to cars for him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In early July Joel also bought Jochen Rohr’s GT1 car which
he immediately started racing. He raced it in the 50/50 at Watkins Glen and
four top ten finishes in the Canada Challenge Cup races at Mosport. Joel’s
racing carrier was limited to these races before entering the Daytona 24-hour
race in January. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcqnlekNwc0opq04IyLzjZqeTHStHi0KKyoXC-2QLELA0__7Eba-qvbWoNee03to-dRiPJVONNkcwEXmR5aXHpSYLCNEX_AVI97DKto8_IWrec8nc3x8i88c2OY3uxUcIJ9f9j8oaFrw/s1600/Bruce+and+friend+Joel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcqnlekNwc0opq04IyLzjZqeTHStHi0KKyoXC-2QLELA0__7Eba-qvbWoNee03to-dRiPJVONNkcwEXmR5aXHpSYLCNEX_AVI97DKto8_IWrec8nc3x8i88c2OY3uxUcIJ9f9j8oaFrw/s320/Bruce+and+friend+Joel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">After Joel got the GT1 car he met Tony Callas who had a
great deal of experience with GT1 Porsches, a lot of that experience with the
car that Joel bought from Jochen Rohr, both with Rohr and the previous owner
the Roock Brothers. Tony has been involved in racing since he was a kid
starting with his father, racing their 910 and RSRs. Tony moved to California
in 1985 working for several prestigious Porsche shops before starting his own
Callas Rennsport in 1992. The past few years Callas has worked for several name
teams including the New Zealand New Hardware team in 1996. I first met Tony
Callas at Daytona 1996 when he was with the New Hardware team. He has also
worked for Rohr Motorsport, Roock Racing and Champion racing. Tony was a member
of the Rohr GT1 team that won their class at Daytona in both 1997 and 1998 and
won the GT1 class at the Petit Le Mans with the Champion team. He was alto the
lead engineer for the Rohr Motorsport team when they won the GT1 championship
in 1997 with the Porsche GT1 car. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Joel and Tony Callas hit it off personally and decided to do
more together than just the GT1 racing. Joel shipped his car from his home in
NY to Tony Callas’s shop in California with the idea that they would run the
car in some of the west coast PCA club races. Instead they decided to race the
car in the January 24-hour race and started making plans toward that end in
November. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">They started rounding up drivers for the race and planned a
test session at Willow Springs December 21, 1998. By then three drivers had
been selected, Joel, Grady Wilingham and Johnny Mowlem. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Joel is 39 years old the Chief Technical Officer of Matamor
Software Solutions which is headquartered in Rochester, NY. Metamor is one of
the teams sponsors. Grady Willingham is 35, from Birmingham Alabama and
entering his seventh season of racing. Grady has class wins at Sebring, Road
Atlanta and Road America. Grady has raced at Daytona the past three years
scoring victories in all three races. He has also claimed a victory in his
class in the HSR/Rolex Enduro at Road Atlanta in 1995. Johnny Mowlem was
referred to Tony Callas by his friend Allan McNish. Mowlem is 29 years old from
Great Britain in his ninth season as a professional racer. Most of his
experience has been in formula cars, with a change to the Pirelli Porsche Cup
series in 1996. In 1996 he recorded a class victory and a second overall, he
was back Cup racing again in 1998 where he wan first overall. The Daytona
24-hour race was his first endurance race. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">After the test session they were lucky to add David Murry to
the driver line up for the race. Murry who is 41 and lives in Atlanta, GA and
is the most experienced of the driving team. Murry has been racing since 1981
and has recorded three championships, the most recent SCCA’s World Challenge
drivers championship. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This was Johnny Mowlem’s first endurance race so I was
interested in his impressions of the race. He said that in the test at Daytona
early in January he was impressed with being there. He said that the green
grass in front of the pits is like a putting green and then behind that you see
a wall with Daytona on it and all of the grandstands behind that, it really makes
a big impression. He said that at most road courses like Le Mans and there is
no real land mark that you can look at and say well, that’s Le Man, whereas
Daytona is so obviously Daytona. Was really excited to be there. When they
asked him to qualify the car during one of the qualifying sessions he said he
was really honored that they would ask him with David Murry on the same team
with so much more experience at Daytona. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">He said that it was nice to work with David Murry, because
David was so helpful. It gave him a lot of confidence to be able to run the
same sort of time as David. Johnny and David were able to work together on the
setup of the cars and then to be able to go out and qualify the car was simply
fantastic. Johnny told me that he never ever thought that they would finish the
race, not that he didn’t’ think that they would finish, but he said he just
never thought about them finishing. He said he just assumed that they wouldn’t
finish, until he got back from resting read to drive again at about eleven in
the morning, twenty two hours into the race and the car was second in class and
eighth overall in the race. He said he remember thinking then maybe we are
going to finish and do well. He didn’t realize that the car had stalled already
and David had gotten it back to the pits and saved their position. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Johnny got in and drove for the last hour an a half in very
slippery rainy conditions. The team wanted to leave David Murry in the car
because he was used to driving the car in the rain there as he was in the car
when the rain started. However, to leave Murry in until the end would exceed
the four hours continuous driving allowed by the rules so the team had to
change drivers. Johnny was anxious about getting in while it was raining with
the car in a good position for fear he might have a problem learning the wet
track. He felt that it was going to take two or three laps to get to know the
track without throwing it into the wall. The O7 closing down on their second
place car and he was concerned that he might loose second position while he
learned the track in the wet. There was a lot of pressure on him to do well and
maintain their second position. During that last hour one of the Ferraris in
the CanAm class went by him that had problems earlier but was again running
well and passed them for eighth overall dropping them to ninth overall. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Johnny said that at the end of the day Joel has the
enthusiasm and commitment to do the job properly, Tony Callas is unbelievably
good as a crew chief, particularly when it came to dealing with the car. He
said he enjoyed it so much even though he was so tired at the end of the race
and had sores on his hands. It was so much to take in, but he felt so happy for
Joel and Tony that he didn’t really feel any happiness for himself until he got
home and had time to think about it. Afterwards he said he thought about it and
thought wow that it really good for his career as a race drive. He said that
when he got home people were ringing him up and telling him you have done yourself
so much good. He said that at the end of the race he was just happy for the
guys and happy that the race was over, because there is nothing worse than
being the one that is sitting in the car when it stops. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">He said it was a wonderful experience for him, it worked out
absolutely perfect. It was such an adventure to start out they rang him up
about the twelfth of December and two weeks later he was in California testing
at Willow Springs and a month later they were finishing second in the race at Daytona.
That is like the sort of stories you have in a comic books. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">He said that David Murry was very helpful. When he knew he
was going to be driving with David Murry he told Allan McNish, and Allan told
him that he was a perfect guy for him and that he would help him and not try to
hurt him. And he will be a really good guy to learn about 24-hour races from.
Johnny said that everything McNish said was true, he was a great guy and he
gave him a lot of advice and helped him the whole way through. He said he told
him that when he got out of the car not to hang around the pits, even if it is
day time, but to go back to the motor home and lay down even if he couldn’t
sleep. Lay down, relax, drink, eat bananas and don’t start getting caught up in
the race because it will catch up with you. He said he was glad that he took
Murry’s advice, because if he had stayed in the pits until nine or ten at night
and then had to do night driving he would have been finished. He said that
advice like that was very helpful for him because David Murry really knows what
he is doing. He said that this was his first ever 24-hour race and that he was
happy to have started with this team and David Murry. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">David Murry said that the teams plan was to qualify the
primary number 02 car for the race. But that between the early January test at
Daytona and the race Joel Reiser had purchased a second RSR that the team
planned to qualify and then start in the race, but not run the entire race.
With the two cars they would have more time for all four drivers to become
familiar with the track and the 993 RSRs. They didn’t have enough time to race
prepare the second car nor the crew to run the two car in the race. The new
number 92 RSR is red and was fitted with basically the same spring rates and set
up as theyhad on the primary car. Joel Reiser and Grady Willingham spent most
of their time driving the red number 92 car to get more track experience while
Johnny Mowlem and David Murry worked on setup in the number 02 car getting it
ready to run in the race. Thursday was practice and qualifying so they didn’t
have much time to get everything done before it was time to qualify, which is
why having the two cars was a real benefit for the team. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">During qualifying on Thursday David Murry took the white
number 02 car out on a light fuel load to qualify it. I took Murry awhile to
get a couple of clear laps and qualify and by then he had run out of fuel, but
by the checkered flag he had qualified fifth. The plan had been to have Johnny
Mowlem qualify the red number 92 car, but they were experiencing ABS problems
and the car did not get out during the Thursday session. Thursday David Murry
said that the had a chance to change the set up on the white number 02 again
and it was better. It was a two hour session and everyone got some time in the
primary number 02 car during the night practice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Friday the plan was for Johnny Mowlem to qualify the number
02 car and David Murry to qualify the red number 92 car to make sure that it
was in the race just in case something happened to the primary car at the start
of the race. The red number 92 car was again troubled with some brake problems
and team manager Tony Callas most of the final qualifying session to solve the
problem. They just got the car out at the end of the session in time for one
lap of qualifying. The one lap was good enough to qualify the car for the race
so both cars were qualified for the race. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">David Murry said that it is really hard to understand what
it takes to do well in a long race until you have done one - or more. Joel and
Johnny had never done an endurance race before and he was surprised at how
quickly that they they figured it out. Murry started the race 6th in GT3 and by
the end of his first driving sting he was in 4th place. Johnny Mowlem started
the red car and ran it for about 20 minutes before retiring it. Then Johnny
took over the primary car from Murry and when he turned it over to Grady
Willingham he was 3rd in GT3. David Murry said that they were looking pretty
good after the first round of driving, but it was very early. Grady drove his
stint and turned the controls over to Joel Reiser. They did that same rotation
again through all four drivers and were still 4th. It was going to be a tough
battle. The Alex Job Porsche had led from the pole and was very strong. There
car was more extensively developed than the Reiser/Callas car so they weren’t
able to run quite as fast a pace as the lead car, but even so they soon found
themselves 2nd in the GT3 class with the G&W #07 very close behind. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Murry said that in the morning, around 9 AM with four hours
of the race to go it began to rain. The rain came down very fast and hard, hard
enough for USRRC to go full coarse yellow. David Murry knew the track
conditions and drove most of the rest of the race. He couldn’t finish the race
because that would put him over the 4-hour straight driving limit that USRRC
has set. The plan was to put Johnny Mowlem in for the last hour plus to finish
the race. The team was confident that Johnny could finish the race. He was
"very" quick and would adapt to the conditions instantly. Johnny an
incredible job to finish 2nd in GT3 and 9th overall. The #07 car had an axle
break just before the finish but fixed it to finish 3rd in GT3. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I spent most of my time at Daytona either out photographing
the cars on the track or hanging out in the pits taking photos of the various
GT3 teams doing their pit work. The Reiser/Callas Rennsport team was a well
organized team with good team members and most of their stops went well. Tony
Callas’ dad Mike was on the crew and about dawn I was talking with him and he
said that he remembered why he had quit racing before. All of the leading GT3
teams did well, but they all had minor problems in the last few hours of the
race that because the each had their own problems had little effect on the
outcome of th e race. The lead Alex Job car, number 23, had and axle fail that
they had to replace. The third place G&W Motorsports, number 07, car had a
similar problem. While the second place Reiser/Callas Rennsport, number 02 car,
had an oxygen sensor fail and the car died out on the course. Fortunately David
Murry was able to get the car running again and return to the pits where Tony
Callas could diagnose and repair the car and get it under way again.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-2012754807305783882001-06-02T15:13:00.000-07:002012-08-06T15:45:28.329-07:00Guest Speaker<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>911 and Porsche World</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I am a third generation Californian, I was born and raised
in the Santa Clara Valley in California, which you may recognize as our
renowned Silicon Valley where we have had our high tech revolution. My first
career was in the electronics industry where I was a technical writer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgREjvnrZ7ilAeweVjzaSiYqrl4J3USkbd8Ejf0DuYJ8DcqEP-unMYfRpse4slqjHqqHPVdV7inPLQtqqpVxLwdP3dQp5qSWS1lPU9hd2I1wVsjs0vhzbvWE9VY62PHtHiWGwNBZ4_Kpfc/s1600/Ruf+Car+at+Hockenheim+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgREjvnrZ7ilAeweVjzaSiYqrl4J3USkbd8Ejf0DuYJ8DcqEP-unMYfRpse4slqjHqqHPVdV7inPLQtqqpVxLwdP3dQp5qSWS1lPU9hd2I1wVsjs0vhzbvWE9VY62PHtHiWGwNBZ4_Kpfc/s320/Ruf+Car+at+Hockenheim+.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I was a regular at the sports car races in the early '50s
when there were local tracks at the Fair Grounds, Moffett Field Navel Air
Station, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and of course the famed Pebble
Beach. My interest on sports cars became focused on Porsches after a ride down
Dry Creek Road, which was the only winding road within several miles of my home
in 1955 in a friends 1953 Porsche normal coupe. For any of you who have had the
opportunity to recently drive a pre-A 356 you may wonder why I was impressed,
but that was a long time ago and that was the way it was. Up until then the
only sports cars that I had ridden in were MGs and Austin Healys. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">From that first ride in 1955 I have had a love affair with
Porsches every since and had an abiding interest in the advancements in Porsche
technology. I can remember going to a car show in a local shopping center in
1956 and marveling at a new 356A model with its 15 inch wheels, improved
suspension, and curved windshield, this was a truly advanced wonder for its
time quite a technical improvement. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I purchased my first Porsche in 1961, a shiny new ruby red
Super Karmann Hardtop, from our local dealer Norm Anderson VW-Porsche in San
Jose. Since then I have owned eleven more Porsches and currently own a 356
Speedster and a 944. Among the colossal errors of my life are some of the cars
that I have sold including a 1959 GT Speedster and a 1964 SC GT Coupe. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I joined the Porsche Club of America (PCA) in 1964 and have
been active in the club for many year on both a local and National level. I
have attended twenty of the annual Porsche Parades.which are a national
gatherings of the faithful for fun and competition. I received the top score on
the Technical Quiz that is sponsored by Bosch at three of the parades and won
my class championship in autocross at the 1973 Porsche Parade in my 914-6. I
retired from autocrossing in 1976, after 12 years of competition and several
class championships in both PCA and Northern California Sports Car Council
events. I like the technical aspects of Porsches and have served the club as
the national Technical Chairman for PCA since 1981. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Seriously competing in concours is a generally accepted way
of proving oneself to be slightly bonkers, in case there's room for doubt. I
set out to dispel any doubts by showing my 1964 SC GT from 1969 through 1971
winning a lot of shows. My favorite victories were Best of show at a Porsche
Club West Coast Weekend Meet and wins at the Pebble Beach Concours and
Hillsborough Concours. Since 1971 I have confined my interest in concours to
just judging at local shows and the national Porsche Parades. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In the 1960s a friend and I started a Porsche performance
business at his home in his garage. We started by modifying and tweeking our
own cars and our friends cars for autocrossing and club competition. This
business grew into a full time business in the early 1970s as Garretson
Enterprises. We had a great deal of fun with our Porsche business preparing
cars for others and racing around the world. I was part owner and General
manager of for about ten year before we sold the business and all went our
separate ways. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Our first racing program was for our friends the local
Porsche Dealers and the distributor, Porsche Cars Pacific. We ran a 914 for
them in the 1972 and 1973 seasons. Next we prepared cars for off road racing
and Pikes Peak, where we won in 1976 with Rick Mears driving and Gary Lee
Kanawyer in 1981. Over the years we established a winning record with the cars
we prepared winning the IMSA GTU, GTX and GTO championship and the Porsche Cup,
the FIA World Endurance Drivers Championship and the Porsche Team Cup. The past
couple of years we have helped some friends in Show Room Stock racing with
their 944s, winning the 1986 Pro-SSGT Escort series. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I first became acquainted with 911s during the winter of
1966/67 when some friends and I bought a half a dozen engines that were badly
damaged, but not lost, in a shipwreck in the Azores. These engines had started
out in cars, but when the ship that they were being transported in was rammed
by another ship the 911s broke loose in the flooded hold. Please note that I
said engines, my first 911 experience was just with the engines. I didn't
actually work on one of the cars until about a year later when we installed one
of our refurbished engines into a 912 making it into a 911. By the time we had
resurrected all of our engines we had all learned quite a bit about the 911
engines and cars. My Porsche education continued with my rebuilding and hot
rodding 911 engines, and working on the race team. My education continues today
as I help others learn about these great cars with my technical articles and
books; by offering instruction in training courses on the Porsches and by
giving technical presentations lectures on the 911 engines. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Because of my love affair with Porsche and because I am
racing enthusiast I am really disappointed that Porsche has strayed from their
focus on the sports car racing. I feel that it was because they focused on this
one form of racing that they did so well. It took Porsche more than three
decades to build the reputation that they are allowing to be eroded away by
their lack of focus over the past five years. First they strayed away into CART
Indy car racing in the United States and more recently they have gone back into
Formula 1 racing with Footwork. Both of these efforts were misguided and
failures and have certainly done more to tarnish the Porsche image than build
it. I am sure that if the same effort had been expended on a more modern sports
car that Porsche and their racing customers would still be world contenders in
sports car racing rather than the grid fodder that they have become.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-2584482914953017482001-06-01T15:02:00.000-07:002012-08-06T15:37:47.501-07:00Garretson's 935<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>911 and
Porsche World</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This is a
special story about a very special Porsche 935 that was raced for more than
70,000 miles. The story actually starts a little earlier, but is mostly about
this remarkable 935 that not only raced as a 935, but also masqueraded as a 934
and as a 930S, whatever was necessary to make this remarkable car eligible for
the various racing classes in IMSA. Our story actually begins before this car
was built and includes a little of the history of Porsches turbocharged 911s
and some of the various different racing cars derived from those turbocharged
911s. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvtpRhrR0b0xyolEkf4Q9jqrHlNUMOL_X0EphIpmkKsq32aO7A_IGG89H9IjYRMqp1N8gceuWvPd-Ua_sI3Gil5APgQBRwVS1QB23c2ElyGoBRrqiRy04wucy_pDJX5p3m1VSKgQZcLm4/s1600/applecar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvtpRhrR0b0xyolEkf4Q9jqrHlNUMOL_X0EphIpmkKsq32aO7A_IGG89H9IjYRMqp1N8gceuWvPd-Ua_sI3Gil5APgQBRwVS1QB23c2ElyGoBRrqiRy04wucy_pDJX5p3m1VSKgQZcLm4/s1600/applecar.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">A prototype
911 Turbo was first shown at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September 1973 to test
the market potential of such a car. The production version of this car was
introduced at the 1974 Paris Auto Show and then put into production as the type
930 Turbo Carrera in 1975. The original purpose of the Turbo Carrera was to
gain homologation for the Group 4 and Group 5 cars that Porsche originally
intended to race in the Manufactures Championship from 1975 on. To qualify as a
Group 4 Grand Touring car a quantity of at least 400 units had to be produced
over a period of 24 consecutive months. The original plan was to build the
necessary 400 required for homologation and then cease production, but the car
became such a success that it remained in production for fifteen years and in
those fifteen model years between 1975 and 1989 over 20,640 the original 911
Turbos were built.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
The change to Groups 4 and 5 classes was delayed by FIA (Fédération
International de l'Automobile) from 1975 for one year until 1976. In 1976 when
the rules for the World Championship of Makes were finally changed by the
F.I.A. Porsche produced two new 911 based racing cars for the resulting Group 4
and Group 5 classes, the 934 and 935. The 934 was homologated as a Group 4 car
and sold to Porsche's racing customers for GT (Grand Touring) racing, while the
935 was a Group 5 car and only the factory planned to race them. Although the
Group 4 rules were really quite strict and restricted the 934s to very nearly
to the same production configuration as the 930s the Group 5 rules were a much
more liberal. The Group 5 class was based upon silhouette formula where the
cars were offered a great deal of latitude as long as they resembled the basic
silhouette of the car from which they were homologated. The rules stated that
the aerodynamic devices not homologated for series production must fit with the
cars frontal projection. What they mean by this is that when you view the car
from the front the rear spoiler cannot stick out into view from the silhouette
of the car, and this is in essence what they meant by the silhouette formula.<br />
<br />
Thirty one of the group 4 934s were produced for Porsche's racing customers in
1976 and 1977. Most of these cars remained in Europe and competed in the Group
4 category. Toine Hezemans won the 1976 European GT with a 934. Only two of the
935s were built by Porsche for use by the Martini sponsored Porsche factory
race team. The Martini team won the 1976 World Championship of Makes with these
two 935s.<br />
<br />
In the U.S. I.M.S.A. (International Motor Sports Association) had said no to
the Porsche Turbos preferring to try to encourage Porsche to continue to build
and support the normally aspirated RSRs in their series. Porsche, being a small
company could not support more than one racing series at a time with customer
racing cars and they had already chosen the Group 4 934 so there would be no
more RSRs. SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) welcomed the Group 4 934s with
open arms. Vasek Polakbought five and Al Holbert one to race in the popular
SCCA Trans-Am series. Several different drivers drove the Polak cars over the
year, but George Follmer drove for Vasek most of the season and was rewarded
for his efforts with the 1976 SCCA Trans-Am championship. Al Holbert spent most
of his time with his Chevrolet Monza winning the I.M.S.A. championship and had
little time to race his 934 in the Trans-Am series.<br />
<br />
For 1977 I.M.S.A. not only relented and let Porsche's customers race
turbocharged Porsches, they also relaxed the rules letting an even more potent
cross between 934 and 935 called the 934/5 or 934 1/2 compete in their series.
Porsche produced a special series of ten special I.M.S.A. legal 934s which took
full advantage of the more liberal I.M.S.A. rules and used many of the
mechanicals from the 935. The I.M.S.A. cars were able to run with a lighter
weight, wider fifteen inch wheels, tires and fenders, larger group 5 rear
aerodynamic wing and the Bosch plunger- type mechanical injection instead of
the CIS system. This change was to make the cars faster, more pleasant to
drive, more reliable and able to produce nearer the 600 horsepower of the 935
instead of the 500 horsepower of the Group 4 version.<br />
<br />
In Europe, over the 1976 season, a number of Porsche's racing customers had
been converting their Group 4 934 racers to Group 5 specifications, so for 1977
Porsche also produced a small series of thirteen cars (Type 935/77) for their
customers to race in Group 5 with. The new cars were a customer version which
were in effect replicas of the two original 1976 factory single turbo 935s
(Type 935/76).<br />
<br />
For the 1977 season the factory team had a new 1977 version of the 935 for
their own use. The factory 935/77 was quite different from the customers
version and had new body work which had running boards, a new front end that
had fared in mirrors at the edge of the fender which also served as fences to
keep the air from spilling off the front end improving the downforce on the
front end. They also had a raised false roof section to clean up the airflow
over the back of the car making the rear wing more effective. The running
boards were used to improve the air management and were the beginning of
efforts to provide some ground effects for the 935. The rules said that the car
had to retain its original rear window in its original location, but it did not
say that there couldn't be a second rear window over the original so that's
what they did. This new false roof faired into a new rear wing, and they used
the edges of this false rear roof section as air inlets for the engine. This
car again won the world championship of Makes for Porsche with the help of
several of the customer teams racing the customer version of the Porsche 935.<br />
<br />
I.M.S.A. decided to let people update their 934s to 935 specifications and also
to let the 935s race in their series in 1978. Our story starts with the very
last 935/77 built. Californian, Dick Barbour added the car to his team at the
beginning of the 1978 season where it was a solo entry by the team at the first
race of the season, the Daytona 24 hour race in Florida, in early February
1978. It was a good start for the team, Barbour, Manfred Schurti and Johnny
Rutherford drove the teams 935/77 to second place to the German GELO team's
935/78 that was entered by Brumos Porsche and Driven by Rolf Stommelen, Tony
Hezemans and for a one hour stint by Peter Greg. The next race for Barbour's
935/77 was Sebring where the car qualified second but did not finish. However,
another Barbour team 935 driven by Brian Redman, Charles Mendez and Bob
Garretson won Sebring so the Barbour team was improving on their good start.
Barbour drove again with Johnny Rutherford at Talladega Alabama where they
placed third. Barbour drove his 935/77 solo to a sixth place finish at the May
Laguna Seca race in Northern California, which was the fourth time, and turned
out to be the last time, he was to drive this 935/77. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
From 1978 on Porsche left the defense of the World Championship of Makes, which
was based on these Group 5 cars to their customers. For the both the 1978 and
1979 seasons the Porsche customers did bring home the World Manufactures'
Championship for the Porsche factory. To encourage the private teams to compete
in the manufactures championship Porsche created what they called the
"Porsche Team Cup" to be awarded to the private Porsche customer team
accumulating the most points in races counting towards the World Manufactures
Championship.<br />
<br />
The Martini sponsored factory team only raced one 935 in 1978 "Moby
Dick".The "Moby Dick"car was built with an aluminum roll cage/tube
frame, the center section of the car was lowered and the floor section was
raised up to regain the ground clearance. All new body work was developed to
take advantage of the car's lower profile for improved aerodynamics. "Moby
Dick" was created with the intention of doing well in just one race, Le
Mans. At Le Mans the emphasis is more on straight away speeds rather than
cornering speeds so the cars aerodynamics were compromised towards high speed
rather than downforce. "Moby Dick" only raced four times and only won
at Silverstone, but the concepts it established had a great influence on the
future of Group 5 racing and Group 5 racing cars. Some of the features of this
car were larger brakes, improved aerodynamics and its upside down transmission.
The upside down transmission was utilized to reduce the severe angle of the
rear drive axles created by lowering the car as much as they had with the
larger diameter 19 inch wheels and tires.<br />
<br />
For 1978 Porsche built a series of fifteen customer 935s (Type 935/78) and let
their customers defend the World Championship of Makes. The cars looked very
similar to the first series of customer cars, but they had some refinements and
they did have a twin turbo version of the 935 engine similar to those that had
been used by the factory's Martini sponsored cars in 1977. These twin turbo
engines offered a big improvement in drivability and as a result reduceed lap
times every where that they ran. The bodywork of these 1978 customer cars was a
little different from the 1977 customer version in that the rear fenders were
removable for the first time on the 935s. This made the cars much easier to
work on and of course easier to repair. The rear wing was changed to a two
stage wing to provide improved rear down force.<br />
<br />
Barbour bought one of these new cars for his team in June 1978 for the Le Mans
race. Barbour ran a two car team at Le Mans with Bob Garretson, Steve Earl and
Bob Akin driving Barbour's old 935/77 while Barbour, Brian Redman and John Paul
drove the new 935/78 in the race. Barbour's car did well and finished fifth
overall and first in the I.M.S.A. class. The 935/77 did quite well for the
first half of the race, running as high as 18th place. At 4:55 am, less than an
hour past the half way mark, Garretson had a terrifying crash at the kink on
the Mulsane straight where the cars are at their fastest, which for the 935s
was 190 to over 200 mph. Garretson said that he thought he had caused the
accident by getting a little off line while passing a much slower car. When the
car crashed it rolled end to end and side to side until the wreckage was strewn
over a quarter of a mile and left some of the body parts stuck in the nearby
trees. The car was destroyed, but Garretson was only battered and bruised. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
Like the Phoenix the wrecked 935 rose again from its ashes. The team shipped
the wrecked car back home to the United States for a salvage operation. The car
was completely stripped of any parts that might be usable and the rest of the
car was discarded. In May of 1979 a complete new chassis was purchased from the
Porsche customer racing at Werke I. The made in "Mt. View, California by
Garretson Enterprises" 935 was constructed from this new 935/79 chassis,
the salvaged parts, and some new parts. Mountain View was the home of Garretson
Enterprises so the team felt that this slogan was appropriate.<br />
<br />
Again for the 1979 season Porsche produced an updated version of the 935 for
their customers to defend the World Championship of Makes title, a series of 13
of these cars were built when you include those built from "tubs", or
spare chassis. The 935/79 incorporated some of the innovations from their
935/78 "Moby Dick" and was the basis with which private teams were
able to continue to develop their own more competitive versions of the 935.<br />
<br />
The tub or chassis for the resurrected race car was one of these updated 935/79
replacement chassis, chassis number 0090030. The new car, which was built to
the 935/79 specifications was completed in time for the June 1979 running of Le
Mans, where Rolf Stommelen, Paul Newman and Dick Barbour drove it to second
overall and first in the I.M.S.A. class. This car was but one of four cars
entered by the Barbour team for the 1979 running the Le Mans race, one of the
team cars failed to finish while the other two team cars placed eight and
ninth. Stommelen, Newman and Barbour were teamed again In July for the Watkins
Glen in upstate New York six hour race where they also placed second. The car
was raced only once again by Barbour in 1979 at Elkhart Lake Wisconsin where it
was a DNF with a broken rear trailing arm.<br />
<br />
The car that had beaten Barbour's 935/79 at Le Mans was one of the Kremer
Brothers 935 K3s. The Kremers had developed their K3 935 for their own use
during the 1979 season. In 1979, the Kremers won 11 of the 12 races in the
German National Championship in addition to their win at Le Mans. In 1980 the
Kremers built replicas of their winning K3s and sold them as customer cars to
anyone who wanted to win. In addition to the Kremer K3s they also sold several conversion
kits so that 935 owners could convert their own 935s to K3 specifications. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
For the 1980 season Barbour bought one of the new K3s from the Kremer brothers
for himself and co-driver John Fitzpatrick to drive. With Sachs sponsorship for
the 1980 season Fitzpatrick was able to win both the 1980 Porsche Cup and the
IMSA championship with this K3 935. The Made In Mt. View 935 remained in the
Barbour Racing team, but the Bob Garretson team was the cars new owner. The old
war horse's first race in the 1980 season was the 24 hour race at Daytona where
Garretson finished ninth with Anny-Charlott Verney and Skeeter McKitterick as
co-drivers. Before the cars next race at Sebring Florida the 935 was converted
to Kremer K3 specifications using one of the Kremer's conversion kits. At
Sebring, with Apple Computer sponsorship, Garretson, Bobby Rahal and Kees
Nierop raced to a seventh place. The cars next race was at Riverside Raceway in
Southern California where Rahal and Garretson placed second to Barbour and John
Fitzpatrick in the other team car, the teams real Kremer K3 935.<br />
<br />
That was the last time that the car did well for awhile as the car was a DNF at
both Le Mans and Watkins Glen. In the July sprint race at Sears Point Raceway
in Northern California Rahal again placed second to teammate Fitzpatrick. The
car again DNF'd at Mosport when Garretson had an accident, and then a week
later Rahal qualified on the pole at Elkhart Lake and he and Garretson drove to
a third in the race. <br />
For the 1981 season the Garretson team separated from Barbour and went off on
their own. The Made in Mt. Veiw car was again modified to improve its
performance, the suspension was revised front and rear and the body work was
altered to provide better aerodynamics and improved intercooling for the
engine. The Garretson teams engine builder, Jerry Woods, also redesigned the
air-to-air intercooler system to further improve the intercooling for both more
power and improved reliability. Garretson raced the car most of the 1981 season
with various different co-drivers to win the 1981 World Endurance Drivers
Championship and the Porsche Team Cup for the Garretson Team.<br />
<br />
The 1981 season started at Daytona where Garretson, Rahal, and Brian Redman won
the 24 hour race. With the same drivers at the Sebring twelve hour race great
things were expected of this car, but unfortunately they ended up fifth in
class and 17th overall. Garretson got off into the sand and flipped the car.
Afterwards a great deal of time was lost because it proved difficult to make a
windshield stay in the misshapen roof section.<br />
<br />
At Riverside in Southern California Rahal and Redman finished third. The
following weekend Rahal picked up a fourth at Laguna Seca in Northern
California. The car's next race was Le Mans where Garretson, Anny-Charlott
Verney and Ralph Cooke were sixth overall, second in the I.M.S.A. class. Rahal
took the car to the July 4 race at Daytona, where an oil leak in a new engine
relegated him to 18th place. Garretson co-drove with Johnny Rutherford and Rick
Mears to a third place finish at Watkins Glen in upstate New York.<br />
<br />
The car had problems at Sears Point California in 1981, breaking a crankshaft
and costing Rahal another DNF. The following weekend at Portland Oregon Rahal
placed third. The next race for the car was Road America at Elkhart Lake
Wisconsin where Tom Gloy and Garretson drove the car to fourth. Then the car
was taken to Brands Hatch for the final World Endurance Championship race where
Garretson and Rahal placed second, which gave Garretson the 1981 World
Endurance Drivers Championship and won the Porsche Team Cup for the Garretson
Team.<br />
<br />
Garretson and Rahal ran the car one more time in 1981 at the Daytona Finale.
The car was delayed with a turbocharger failure and only placed 17th.<br />
<br />
Because of limited finances the car was run in only a limited series of races
in 1982 as a "renta-racer". When there was money and drivers to run
the car it went to the races and when there was no money it stayed at home. At
the Daytona 24 hour race Garretson, Jeff Wood and Mauricio de Naverez were
third. At Sebring Ray Ratcliff, Grady Clay and Skeeter McKitterick placed
seventh. Ratcliff and Clay were were fifth at Riverside and fourth at the
Charlotte 500 Km. The car's finale race for 1982 was Le Mans where Garretson,
Verney and Ratcliff placed eleventh. This was the last Le Mans where the Group
five cars were still eligible and the first year of the Group C car, this was
the race where the Rothmans Porsche 962 placed first, second and third.<br />
<br />
At the end of the 1982 season, Southern Californian Wayne Baker bought the 935
from Garretson so that he could convert it to "934 specifications"
and race it in the I.M.S.A. GTO class. I.M.S.A.'s GTO class was very loosely
based on the F.I.A. Group 4 rules, the class where the original 934s were built
to race in 1976. The I.M.S.A. GTO rules were less restrictive than the F.I.A.
Group 4 rules and allowed many of the developments from the faster 935s.
I.M.S.A.'s rules did, however, require that the cars physically resemble the
930 street turbos from which they were derived. This meant that all of the
trick aerodynamic 935 body work had to go. The wheel size was also restricted
to 12 X 16 instead of the 15 X 19 inch wheels that the car had been able to use
as a 935. They also were required revert back to the single ignition and single
turbocharger concept of the street 930 Turbo to comply with the rules. Baker
felt that the rules had been made liberal enough by I.M.S.A. to give a well
prepared 935 back dated to "934" specs a chance at the GTO
championship.<br />
<br />
Baker kept on most of the crew from the Garretson Team who had originally built
the Made in Mt. View 935 in 1979 to convert the car to GTO specifications and
crew the car at the races. They spent a month converting the chassis to make it
more suitable as a GTO competitor. For 1983 the GTO rules required that the car
weigh more than it had as a 935, so it was decided to take advantage of the
additional weight to make the car stronger and to add some other features that
would make the car more reliable. Baker designed and had new fiberglass
bodywork made that would meet I.M.S.A. GTO requirements and still provide a
reasonable amount of aerodynamic assistance.<br />
<br />
The 3.2 liter 935 engine was modified to take advantage of as many performance opportunities
possible while complying with the restrictions imposed by the GTO rules. Jerry
Woods who was responsible for the engine took advantage of the fact that the
body work was being completely redesigned to incorporate several improvements
in the engine design. The bodywork change allowed him to design a new induction
system with a very larger rear mounted air-to-air intercooler. Woods felt that
the large twin inlet single turbo from the I.M.S.A. version of the 935/79 would
offer performance similar to the twin turbocharged 935 engine if properly
utilized. To facilitate the large twin inlet turbocharger Woods designed a pair
of new equal length three-into-one headers, each with its own wastegate. The
engine development program was very successful and the single turbo I.M.S.A.
"934" did have performance similar to when it was a twin-turbo 935.
Baker felt that it was critical to maintain engine performance at a level
similar to what it had been as a 935 because the other restrictions: smaller
wheels, higher weight and restricted aerodynamics were going to seriously
restrict the cars overall performance.<br />
<br />
The goals that Baker and Woods had set for the team and their converted 935/934
were to win GTO races, place well overall and win the I.M.S.A. GTO championship.
At the first race of the season the Daytona 24 Hour race the car was not fully
developed, but even so the car placed ninth overall and fourth in the GTO
class.<br />
<br />
The next race was the first race to be held at Miami Florida, which turned out
to be more of a regatta than a road race, boy did it ever rain. Baker got
tangled up with a spinning car in the rain and was a DNF. Sebring brought the
success that the team was looking for and Baker, Kees Nierop and Jim Mullen won
their class and first overall. This was the fourth Sebring 12 hour race that
Woods had won as an engine builder and marked the first time that a GTO car had
ever won that prestigious race. At Road Atlanta in Georgia, the car won its
class and finished eighth overall with Baker and Mullen driving. Riverside
California produced another class win for the team and a fifth overall. An
accident at Laguna Seca in Northern California resulted in a ninth overall and
a fifth in class finish. At Charlotte North Carolina, Baker and Mullen again won
the GTO class and were fifth overall. At Lime Rock Connecticut they were second
in GTO and fifth overall.<br />
<br />
At Mid-Ohio the team had an unusual problem when the starter ring gear exploded
in the last third of the race, destroying the transmission case, some of the
wiring and some of the linkage for the fuel injection system. The mechanics
made some quick repairs and drivers persevered to get the points and placed
eighth in GTO and 24th overall. At the July 4th race at Daytona Baker and
Mullen placed seventh in class.<br />
<br />
In an effort to gain an unfair advantage over their competition the team went
to Sears Point in Northern California a day early to tune-up both the car and
the drivers for this tricky circuit. During their practice session Mullen had
what should have been a simple off road excursion. The problem was that he came
to stop in tall dry grass and the grass caught fire. By the time the fire was
extinguished, most of the rear of the car had burned. The fire had been so hot
that the rear view mirror melted.<br />
<br />
The crew started working on the car Thursday night to assess the damage so that
they could get the parts needed to get the car ready for the Portland Oregon
race the following weekend. As they made a list of the parts needed, they
discovered that most of the parts that they needed were on hand. When they
discovered this they decided to attempt to get the car ready for the Sears
Point race, 48 hours away.<br />
<br />
It looked like a volunteer fire department with people showing up from
everywhere at the Garretson Team shop to try to help get the car ready for the
race in two days. Both drivers, the regular crew and all of their friends
helped put Humpty Dumpty back together again. The minute the car was completed
the crew loaded it in the truck and dashed off to Sears Point. They unloaded
the car just in time to make three laps in the last few minutes of qualifying.
Their efforts were not in vain; they qualified and the next day they placed
third in class and eighth overall.<br />
<br />
A week later in Portland Oregon Mullen and Baker were third in class and fifth
overall. The teams last effort in the GTO class was at Elkhart Lake Wisconsin
where Baker received enough points for their fifth place in class finish to win
the GTO championship. Jim Mullen raced at Pocono Pennsylvania with another team
and placed well enough to secure second place in the I.M.S.A. GTO standings.
The team had achieved their season's goals, placing well overall in several
races and winning the I.M.S.A. GTO championship.<br />
<br />
Baker converted the old war horse back to 935 specs and returned it to its
status of renta-racer for the finale at Daytona in November 1983. The
conversion required putting back the 935 body work, wider 19 inch diameter rear
wheels and adding the twin turbos and twin ignition to the engine. Baker,
Mullen and Tom Blackaller placed 30th in the finale. The same team raced again
at the Daytona 24 hour race in February 1984 when they placed fifth overall.
Blackaller and Baker placed second at the second running of Miami. Baker,
Mullen and Blackaller placed fifth at Sebring. Baker and Jack Newsum placed
sixteenth at Riverside California. Blackaller ran solo at Laguna Seca in
Northern California placing eleventh. Baker, Newsum and Chip Mead ran the old
war horse once more as a 935 at the 1985 24 hour Daytona race where they placed
ninth overall.<br />
<br />
Chet Vincentz had been running a similar car in selected I.M.S.A. GTO events
since 1982. Vincentz had actually showed the way for the 935 to 934 conversions
when he and Baker had won the GTO class at the 1982 Mosport Canada event. In
June 1985 Chet's 935/934 was badly damaged in a mid-week testing crash at
Riverside California where it caught fire and burned to the ground. Vincentz
bought the old war horse from Baker and again converted it back to 934 specifications
so that it would be eligible to run in the I.M.S.A. GTO events. Vincentz Team
used a 962 engine for their 935/934 conversion.<br />
<br />
Their debut showed that Vincentz's teams efforts were well spent when they
placed second in the GTO class at Road America at Elkhart Lake Wisconsin and
twelfth overall. Their next race was Pocono Pennsylvania where they had a fuel
injection problem and placed twenty sixth overall and ninth in the GTO class.
Vincentz was fourth in the GTO class and fourteenth overall at the Watkins Glen
Race in upstate New York. The final two races for the 1985 season were Mid-Ohio
where he placed fourth in the GTO class and the finale at Daytona where
Vincentz had an oil line fail and was a DNF.<br />
<br />
For the 1986 season Vincentz was able to modify the body work back to a slope
nose configuration similar to the cars original 935 body work. This had been
allowed by the I.M.S.A. rules because Porsche offered a model that they called
the 930S which had the front slope nose body work with pop-up head lights.<br />
<br />
Vincentz's 1986 season got off to a slow start at Miami Florida where the car
was a DNF with an electrical failure. Things got better at the next race at
Road Atlanta in Georgia, however, where he placed second in GTO to Scott Pruett
and beat Bill Elliott and Bruce Jenner on his way to second place. The next two
races at Charlotte North Carolina and Mid Ohio were not too good for the team
either with the car crashing out at the chicane at Charlotte and getting caught
in a sand trap at Mid Ohio.<br />
<br />
The next race was at West Palm Beach Florida where the car was geared wrong in
qualifying and was seventeenth on the grid. Vincentz had a great race, passing
cars right and left and working himself up into fourth before the checker. At
Watkins Glen New York Vincentz placed fourteenth overall and fourth in GTO. The
last race for the old war horse in the 1986 season was the street race in
Columbus Ohio where Vincentz placed ninth in the GTO race.<br />
<br />
Vincentz's 1987 season started off at Miami Florida where the old war horse was
again the victim of another drivers accident resulting in another Miami DNF.
The team placed a lowly sixteenth at Mid Ohio, but bounced back up to fifth at
West Palm Beach. At Road Atlanta they placed twelfth in GTO. The team placed ninth
in GTO at both Summit Point and Road America Wisconsin where they were also
thirty fourth overall. Vincentz got tangled with a sloppy driver at Lime Rock
Connecticut and crashed out of the race. At Watkins Glen the team started tenth
and finished seventh in GTO. And at the old war horses final race at the
Columbus Ohio street race Vincentz placed twelfth.<br />
<br />
Most of the GTO races for the 1987 season had been held separately from the GT
races. John Bauer a former SCCA Trans-Am champion co-drove with Vincentz for
the whole year, but finally the car was just out classed by the tube frame U.S.
domestic race cars running in the I.M.S.A. GTO class.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">After the
1987 season Vincentz retired the old war horse to show car status,. The old war
horse was run seventy two races, won two major international races, two
championships and probably has well over 70,000 racing miles. Our old friend
has given a great number of good people a great deal of pleasure and success
and is now be given a well deserved rest after being put on display at the
Vincentz business, Electrodyne Performance, Inc. in Alexandria Virginia. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-78438090038237037982001-05-02T21:19:00.000-07:002012-08-07T15:05:09.526-07:0050 Years of Porsche<div style="font-family: inherit;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;">911 and Porsche Magazine</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">There were three generations of Porsches that led up to the
Porsche cars as we know them today. While the original Professor Ferdinand
Porsche (pronounced PORSH-ah, and never PORSH) was an engineering genius and
established the Porsche name in the automotive business in the early nineteen
hundreds, it was his son, Professor Dr. Ferdinand "Ferry" Porsche,
who established them as automobile manufactures fifty years ago this past June
eighth. Then his son Ferdinand Alexander III (Butzi) who as the head of the Styling
Department from the beginning of the 1960’s until 1972 influenced the
appearance of the racing cars that they built in the 1960’s and was responsible
for designing the beautiful 904 and 911. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The original Professor Ferdinand Porsche was born on
September 3, 1875 in Maffersdorf Austria, near Reichenberg. At 18 he went to
Vienna and started working for Bela Eggar while attending the Technical
University part time. The Porsche name was already know to automobile history
from as early as 1900 when the front-wheel-drive electric powered
Lohner-Porsche, which was designed by Ferdinand Porsche with its front hub
mounted electric motors and built in Vienna, Austria. Porsche went on to work
for many prominent companies including Daimler of Austria, Daimler and
Daimler-Benz of Germany, Steyer, Auto Union and the design of the Volkswagen
Beetle. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2wg0w7RxL5hndnOCqTlRLm1wVZoj22QAzY07TfIorSlj-fWij7ajV9qBfdAnn3L1h5p-hohWa4jPPi8eziduZAtcdthQ3X1LCqeTCuBUY6PGc37hxci7fKKryX5wgm7Oaan4XwvEtwKU/s1600/Ferdinand+Alexander+butzi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2wg0w7RxL5hndnOCqTlRLm1wVZoj22QAzY07TfIorSlj-fWij7ajV9qBfdAnn3L1h5p-hohWa4jPPi8eziduZAtcdthQ3X1LCqeTCuBUY6PGc37hxci7fKKryX5wgm7Oaan4XwvEtwKU/s400/Ferdinand+Alexander+butzi.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Dr. Ferdinand Porsche</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Ferry Porsche was born on Sept. 19, 1909, in
Wiener-Neustadt, Austria. When Ferry was born his father was the technical
director for Austro-Daimler. Ferry was born on a Sunday and his father,
Ferdinand, was away driving in a hill climb near Vienna where he won his class
with an Austro-Daimler which he had designed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In 1923 the Porsche family moved to Stuttgart, where the
senior Porsche was appointed Technical Director of Daimler-Benz, the
manufacturer of the Mercedes cars. With financial backing from some friends
Porsche started his own design company in 1930, with some work being done in
Austria the summer of 1930, then moving to Stuttgart December 1930. Ferry
Porsche started working with his father when the senior started his independent
design office. In March of 1931 Porsche started their own design firm in
Stuttgart as "designers and consultants for land, sea and air
vehicles". Their first project was the Wanderer automobile. The success of
which later led the Auto Union Company which incorporated the Wanderer to
appoint Professor Porsche as the designer of their Grand Prix car. The Porsche
design company’s first design number was 007 because they wanted to give the
impression that it was not their first project. By1938 the company had expanded
to 176 employees and moved to Zuffenhausen a suburb of Stuttgart. The family
also took over full ownership in 1938 restructuring the company to a limited
partnership which in Germany was called Porsche Kommanditgesellschaft, or KG. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH0lsv7s8AKu-_3D_ed3pSVP3yomhkoqYPpt9tQa3yO4-Qk0zGzOidlcJzkCYxR6FMTPbgQqiASNOcPOHH0KkDpesB6mVFDHU4xeAmPuU9oE6miGbC_ivczTIYKrLkae8nfbecyauHkGU/s1600/Ferdinand+Porsche+JPEG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH0lsv7s8AKu-_3D_ed3pSVP3yomhkoqYPpt9tQa3yO4-Qk0zGzOidlcJzkCYxR6FMTPbgQqiASNOcPOHH0KkDpesB6mVFDHU4xeAmPuU9oE6miGbC_ivczTIYKrLkae8nfbecyauHkGU/s400/Ferdinand+Porsche+JPEG.jpg" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Ferdinand "Butzi" Porsche working on 911 design.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Design offices for Porsche moved from Stuttgart, Germany
to Gmünd Astria in 1944 because the Stuttgart area was under heavy attack
towards the end of WW II. The Porsche Design offices would remain in Gmünd
until 1950 when they moved back to Stuttgart in the spring of 1950. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Even before his father's death on January 30, 1951, Ferry
had taken control of Porsche operations. It was at his insistence that the
company started to build its own cars with the Porsche name in 1948, instead of
just designing vehicles for other manufacturers. The first automobile to carry
the Porsche name was the 356 roadster prototype, number 356-001, which was a
mid-engined design with a tubular spacer frame chassis and an aluminum roadster
body. Designed by Ferry Porsche himself and their Technical Director Karl Rabe
the 356 prototype was completed June 8, 1948. Chassis number 001 was a
mid-engined roadster which offered greater stability over the sport car designs
of the time. Testing of this first prototype were conducted in Austria in 1948
and the car proved to be a success. However, the market analysis that Porsche
did showed that there was only a limited market for an open two seat roadster
and as a result the mid-engined prototype was never put into production.
Instead a rear-engined derivative was put into production in 1949 that they
called the 356/2 and Porsche built 52 of the Gmünd cars before moving back to
Germany in 1950. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
The 356 was put into production in Gmünd Austria in the spring of 1949 and
first shown in Geneva, Switzerland during the spring of 1949. Fifty two of the
original chassis were built some with coupe bodies and some with convertible
bodies. All of the bodies of these original cars were built of aluminum. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In the spring of 1950 Porsche moved back to Zuffenhausen,
Stuttgart into space that they rented from the Reutter Body Works. The Reutter
Body Works built the bodies for Porsche and Porsche assembled the cars in the
5,000 square feet of space that they leased form Reutter. The bodies for these
cars were built of steel and welded to the chassis. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In 1963 Reutter sold their body company to Porsche KG so in
1964 the bodies would be built by Karmann and Porsche. The Reutter family
continued to build the seats and called them selves Recaro which was a
combination of their name Reutter and Carzozzerie. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Porsche name has always been associated with racing and
Porsche won their first race with a car that carried their own name in a local
round-the-houses race in Innsbruck, Austria on July 11, 1948 with the 356
mid-engined prototype driven by Herbert Kaes, nephew of Professor Porsche and
cousin of Ferry. In 1951 they had a class win at Le Mans and since then their
name has been synonymous with success in motor sports. Porsche has won most of
the major competition events in the world: the World Endurance Championship in
sports car racing 14 times and the Le Mans 24-hour race a record 15 times.
Porsche 911s won the Monte Carlo rally four times, and the famous desert race,
Paris-Dakar in 1984 and 1986 with their all wheel drive sports cars based on
their 959 technology. Porsche and McLaren contested 68 formula one races
together, winning three world championships along the way. The Porsche McLaren
combination won 25 races together making the TAG turbo engine made by Porsche
the most successful German racing engine in Formula 1 racing since the World
Championship was established. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The old Professor Ferdinand Porsche had two children, Ferry
Porsche and his sister Louise Piëch who was five years Ferry’s senior and each
of them had four sons. When their father died, Ferry Porsche and his older
sister Louise Piëch each received half the shares of the Porsche company.
Louise agreed to let Ferry run Porsche, but she insisted that her own children
be given as much chance as Ferry's sons to take the helm when the time came for
him to step down. Two of their children appeared to have both the talent and
drive necessary to eventually take over the family business: Ferry's son
Ferdinand Alexander (Butzi) and Louise's son Ferdinand Piëch who worked
together at Porsche to create the 911. Butzi was responsible for the body
design while his cousin Ferdinand was responsible for the mechanicals including
the brilliant air-cooled six cylinder 911 engine. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">During the sixties several of the family members from both
branches of the family were involved in the direct management of Porsche and
although both sides of the family wanted their family owned company to succeed
the competitiveness between the family members of the Porsche and Piëch
families was causing decisions to be made that were not in the best interest of
their business. The family members presence was also effectively blocking the
rise of others within the company who may have been better qualified to
administer the companies future. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In 1971, because of the great competitiveness between the
Porsche and Piëch families, Ferry Porsche asked the family members to consider
stepping down from their positions within Porsche. The Porsche and Piëch family
members withdrew from active management in 1972 and retreated from their
positions on the management board to the supervisory board. As members of the
supervisory board they still had decisive influence over approving management
board positions and Dr. Ferdinand Porsche assumed the post Chairman of the
supervisory board. At this time they hired Ernst Fuhrmann to be their chairman
of the management board and the company was converted from a limited
partnership (KG) to a stock company, an Aktiengesellschaft or AG. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In 1972 Porsche opened their Weissach research and
development facility. Weissach is world famous for research and development for
both themselves for their Porsche automobiles and other auto makers. Weissach
has helped to support Porsche AG during some of their lean years and 30% of all
work there is done for other manufacturers, governments and NATO. On April 25,
1984 one third of the Dr. Ing. hcF Porsche AG stock was offered to the public
in the form of non-voting preferred stock. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Ferry Porsche was awarded and honorary doctorate by the
Technical University of Vienna in 1965 and was awarded the honorary title
‘Professor’ in 1984 on his 75th birthday. Unfortunately Professor Ferry Porsche
passed away this past Spring on March 27, 1988 at the age of 88 at the family’s
vacation home in Zell am See, Austria and did not live to see his namesake car
turn 50 on June 8, 1998.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The oldest sons, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche and Ferdinand
Piëch have both gone on to be very successful in their own right. Ferdinand
Porsche (Butzi) Created the Porsche Design company in Stuttgart to do
industrial design work. Designing any number of significant products including
his very popular watches and eye glasses. Ferdinand Piëch has progressed up
through the VW-Audi organization to become the CEO of Volkswagen turning around
the fortunes of this once failing company. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Fifty year Celebration <br />
My wife and I started helping Porsche with their Fifty Year Birthday
celebration by going to France and cheering the Porsche GT1 cars on at Le Mans
June 6th and 7th. Next we helped with the Palo Alto Lions Club Concours on June
28th.at the Stanford campus in Palo Alto. This Concours d’Elegance of 250 cars
featured Porsche as their marque and had 100 Porsches on display. The factory
provided five cars for this display, the 1951 Le Mans class-winning Gmünd 356
SL, RS 60 Spyder, the Le Mans-winning 1987 Rothman 962 coupe, a Targa Florio
908/03, and the 935/78 Moby Dick long-tail. Many of these car had never been in
the US before this visit. Dave Morse also had part of his collection at the
Palo Alto show including his 917/30, his 936/001, his 959 and his 911ST. Bruce
Canepa brought his beautiful 1979 935, and Joe Wong brought his beautiful all
original 934. There were a number of wonderful 356s ranging from the Factory’s
356SL, Chuck Forge’s 356SL, which had been modified in the early fifties and
Jim Barrington's lovely Gmünd coupe, just to mention some of the exquisite cars
there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Next on my list of fifty year celebrations was the 356
Holiday at Steamboat Springs Colorado. This event was held, July 17 – 19, the
weekend before the forty third Porsche Parade. The factory supported the 356
event by providing the 1951 356SL that raced to 20th place in the 1951 Le Mans
race. The next week, also in Steamboat springs, was the Porsche Parade where
Porsche joined in the celebration by providing the same cars that had been at
Palo Alto. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The state of Colorado was a wonderful site for these events,
this was my fourth Colorado Parade. We have had two in Colorado Springs, one in
Aspen and this Parade in Steamboat Springs since I have been in the Porsche
Club of America. The 43rd Parade was sold out with over 750 registrations and
well over 1400 Porsche fans attending. The Porsche family was represented at
the Parade by Hans Peter Porsche and Oliver Porsche. Peter is the son of Ferry
and Oliver, his nephew, the son of F.A. (Butzi) Porsche. Oliver is now the
president or Porsche Design studio replacing his father in that role a couple
of years ago. Fred Schwab president of PCNA and his wife Dotty were also with
us at Parade again this year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Monday was the Concours d Elegance and this was the largest
we have had in years with over 150 Porsches entered, 142 cars to be judged and
an additional 41 cars for display. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I had a wonderful trip home from Steamboat Springs, Colorado
in a new Boxster that I borrowed from Porsche for the trip home. Although I
would have preferred a new 996 for the trip the Boxster is wonderful! The trip
was uneventful and marvelous. From when I left until I got home I drove 1284
miles. I did a lot of looping around looking for fun places to take photos. We
just may have to buy one of these cars, too bad that I don’t have a real job to
make it easier. The car was arrest me red, and I almost got arrested in Nevada.
I got stopped for doing 80 in a 65 zone and we talked for awhile and he turned
me loose. He was in a SUV going the opposite direction. Up until he stopped me
I had mostly driving about 30 miles per hour over the speed limit. Fortunately
when he found me I was lost and somewhat off the pace. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">After being stopped in Nevada I dropped my speed a bunch,
but it had been fun while it lasted. I was really pretty careful in California,
only had it over 100 mph a couple of times. The Boxster I had was a five-speed
and I found that it will do 120 mph comfortably in fourth. And I ever did get
it up to top speed, 140 mph was my tops in Utah. They are really comfortable
high speed cruising cars, I would love one. The more you drive these new
Porsches, both the Boxster and the 996 the more you like them. The 996 is even
more fun, they are just wonderful cars... 50% more power than the Boxster – you
can’t help but love them. That is if you don’t get arrested. At the late press
introduction in Washington/Oregon, Keith Martin, who had just purchased a new
to him 1968 911, came up to me after our first full day of driving the 996s and
said that now he really appreciated his 1968 because he could scare himself at
75 mph and it took 140 mph to scare himself in the 996. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I judged in the Steamboat Springs Parade Concours d’Elegance
to practice up for the Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach a month later where
I would be Chief Judge for the Porsche 356 class they would be having. We had a
lot of fun with our friends, the cars and the people from Porsche. We even had
lunch one day with Peter Porsche. Peter is partners with his brother Butzi (Ferdinand
Alexander Porsche) in Porsche Design. Butzi’s son Oliver was also at Parade for
a few days, he seems to be a really great guy. He is now president of Porsche
Design. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I gave a presentation on Tuesday at the Porsche Parade that
was supposed to have been based on a slide show, but unfortunately I forgot my
slides. I told them that I had sat down the night before and realized that I
had left my slides home. so I was going to have to describe them to them. Then
I started out by making a clicking sound with my mouth like the slide changer
and described the first slide, which was the Finish Air plane with a large
Santa Klaus painted on the side. Then I went on and talked about the trip last
December to Finland and Stuttgart and the Boxsters and 996s that they were
building then. I also told them about my getting to drive the 996 a couple of
months ago and then comparing it to the older cars. I also told them about Le
Mans and the new Porsche GT1 cars that placed first and second over there. All
in all it went well, but I missed my slides. I had spent quite a bit of time
preparing the slides for the presentation, too bad that I forgot them. Must be
a sign of old age. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Our Monterey Historics began a week before the Monterey
Historic Automobile Races with the 356 Registry West Coast Holiday at Monterey.
This years 356 West Coast Holiday was a really special with 636 paid entrants
and additional 381 paid co-entrants for a total of 1017 entries. Friday August
7, 1998 Klaus Bischof, the Porsche Factory Museum Director, gave a great
presentation on the 356 origin and history. Bischof told the session that
Porsche number 1 had been damaged in shipment by the airline in Chicago and
would not be at the event for its birthday. The damage was so extensive that
number 1 had to be sent back to the factory for a restoration. He made the
point that if you were going to take the chance to play with these cars that
you have to take the risk that they could be damaged. His presentation was to a
huge crowd that included Dr. Wolfgang Porsche and his wife Susanne Porsche.
Susanne Porsche and Roman Kuhn have produced a beautiful video and booklet on
the 50 Years of Porsche 1948 – 1998 that was on sale at various events over the
weekend. The video gives a great history of the car from its beginnings through
the current production models and is a must for any Porsche enthusiast. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">After Klaus Bischof‘s presentation my brother, Clark and I
gave a Tech Session for the Registry on the Pan American races held in Mexico
and Hot Rod Porsche 356’s that was well received. We shared the Pan American
races and Clark went on alone with his Hot Rod 356 portion of the pesentation.
The Pan American races presentation was based on a couple of cars that we
prepared for a friend in Mexico, Sam Bardor, and then helped him run in the Pan
Americana races. Our presentation covered the preparation of Bardor’s two 356s
back in 1988 for the first year of the reinvention of the Carrera Pan American
races and the running of the event for several years. We showed a number of
slides of the various competitors and explained the preparation necessary to
compete in this event. Clark went on to show a presentation of building street
rods from 356s that was also well received. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Saturday and Sunday at Laguna Seca was what they call
"The Prehistorics", a practice event for the Monterey Historic
Automobile Races the following weekend. While The Prehistorics were underway on
Saturday the 356 Registry had what was the largest Literature Swap Meet that I
have ever attended. It was obvious that the people putting on the 356 Registry
Holiday had greatly underestimated the significance of Porsche Literature and
Memorabilia to Porsche enthusiast for the Regency Ballroom-Peninsula Terrace at
the at the Hyatt Regency Monterey was far too small to be up to the task of
housing the buyers and sellers at this event. My wife, Stephanie, and I got so
enthused that we even bought some memorabilia ourselves from a couple of
notable sellers, Marco Marinello of Elevenparts AG, and long time friend and
father of Olaf Lang, Paul Lang. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Prehistorics gives the competitors and would be
competitors the opportunity to sort out their cars for the following weekends
event. We went down to the Prehistorics because I wanted to see how some of my
friend‘s cars had worked out after they had completed their restorations. I had
been following the restorations of both Morspeed‘s cars and Bruce Canepa
Motorsport‘s cars. Morspeed had restored 917/30 004, driven by Porsche’s Olaf
Lang, 936-001 driven by Chris Morse, 936-004, driven by Dave Morse, a G roup 4
934 driven by Mark Morse and a Le Mans 924 GTR, driven by Kerry Morse (a
friend, not a relative of the other Morses). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Canepa had restored his own 1979 935, our old Sachs
sponsored 1980 Kremer K3 935, the GELO 917/10 and the Repsol 962 for the event.
All of the Morspeed cars checked out fine at the Prehistorics. Canepa had
completed two of his cars, but he had not yet completed the other two. Bruce
Canepa did not have the Repsol 962 or his GELO 917/10 as he was still working
on that at his shop in nearby Santa Cruz, but both his 935 and the Sachs 935
checked out fine. The Sachs Porsche Kremer K3 935 was the same car that we
prepared for the 1980 season for team owner Dick Barbour and drivers John
Fitzpatrick, Dick Barbour and Brian Redman. John Fitzpatrick won the IMSA
Championship 1980, the prestigious Porsche Cup 1980, Sebring 1980, Daytona 250
mile 1980, Mosport 1980, Norisring 1980, Sears Point 1980, Riverside 1980,
Portland 1980, Laguna Seca 1980 with this and its sister Porsche Kremer K3
935.. Dave Morse’s 936 001 was used in the wind tunnel at Volkswagen to develop
the body shape to influence the lift and drag characteristics for the 936s. 936
001 was also used for most of the development work for the 936s, a second car
936 002 ran most of the races in the Sports car World Championship series
except the first race of the year Nürburgring and Dijon where 936 001 was used.
From the second race, at Monza, the cars were painted white with red and blue
Martini racing trim instead of flat black with the red and blue trim. Only one
936 was raced in all of the Sports Car Championship races in 1976 and the only
place where Porsche raced both cars was the non championship Le Mans 24 hour
race. At the seasons first race at Nürburgring the 936 001 suffered a jamming
throttle cable which would be its only serious malfunction of the season.
Fortunately Reinhold Joest won the race with a turbocharged 908/03 saving the
day for Porsche as Stommelen placed fifth in the new 936. In the remaining six
races in the Sports car championship the 936 reliability was exceptional and
the 936s proved to be unbeatable and won all of the remaining races. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">For Le Mans 1977 Jünrgen Barth and Hurley Haywood were to
have driven 936 001 and early in the race it had an injection pump failure
which put it a half hour behind. Soon after that the other factory car, 936 002
went out with a failed connecting rod, so Porsche added Jacky Ickx to the
drivers lineup in 936 001. With Ickx, Barth and Haywood in 936 001 the three of
them brought the car back into first place after eighteen hours of driving. But
at 3:14 with just 36 minutes left to race 936 001 had a head gasket fail and
Hurley, Haywood came in with the car only running on 5 cylinders. Fortunately all
of the real challengers were out of the race by then or so far back that they
could not catch 936 001 even if it sat in the pits for the rest of the race. So
that was what it did with the exception of the last two laps so that it would
qualify as a finisher .The team disabled the fuel and ignition to the one bad
cylinder and at the end of the race Jürgen Barth took 936 001 out for two slow
laps and Porsche's fourth victory at Le Mans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">936 001 was updated in 1978 with an engine with water cooled
heads and different body work. 936 001 was run in 1978, 1979 and 1981 but never
won Le Mans again after 1977. This is one of two 936s that Dave Morse owns. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Morspeed 936 004 was the fourth 936, which was built for
Joest Racing for the 1980 Le Mans race where it was driven to a second place
finish by Reinhold Joest and Jacky Ickx. The Joest 936 was a copy of the 1977
version of the 936; but it was not originally called a 936, but instead it was
called a 908/80. The car was entered by Joest and sponsored by Martini Racing
for Joest and Jacky Ickx to run in the 1980 Le Mans race. Their reason given
for the car being called a 908/80 was that the car was built as a replacement
for the 908/3 and the new car for Joest was originally built as an updated
908/3 using a 936 chassis, chassis parts, transmission, engine, fuel and oil
tanks, pedals etc. Therefore a new 936 was built and the only difference was
that for tactical reasons it was called a 908/80 because Porsche did not want
to be in the business of selling 936s to customers and did not want to be
pressured by their other racing customers. Later they allowed Joest to call
their car 936 004 and provided the Joest and Kremer teams with all of the
drawings and data necessary to duplicate the 936s and the Kremers built 936 005
and the Joest team built their 936 C coupe. to run in group C races. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Morspeed 917/30 004 was to have been the new car for the
Penske team for the 1974 season, but when the Can-Am rules were changed
effectively eliminating the Turbo Porsches from the series it was never
delivered to the Penske team. The main difference between 917/30 004 and the
earlier cars is that it has a five-speed transmission and they had but a
four-speed gearbox. The car was originally sold to Allan Hamilton the Australian
Porsche importer. In the 1980s Australia put a very high import tax on imported
cars and Hamilton’s business failed and Porsche took the car as a partial
payment for the new Porsches that they had sold to him. A few years ago Dave
Morse was able to buy the car from Porsche and add it to his collection. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Bruce Canepa 917/10 was a car that belonged to Georg
Loos GELO PORSCHE RACING Team and run in the Interserie in 1973 by Georg Loos.
Bruce Canepa’s 1979 935 0090029 was the last 1979 935 delivered to the US.
Canepa ran this 935 in an number of IMSA races in the US. Canepa’s other 935
was a Kremer built 935 K3 0000023, one of the two Sachs sponsored 935 K3s that
were run by Dick Barbour Racing in 1980 for British driver John Fitzpatrick who
won both the IMSA Championship in 1980 as well as the much revered
"Porsche Cup". These were cars that I helped to prepare and was a
member of the crew for during the 1980 season. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Sunday August 9, 1989 was also the Concours d’Elegance Day
for the 356 Registry at Quail Lodge. This was an awesome event with 387 entries
parked on the lawn at the Quail Lodge for the Concours. I have never seen this
many 356s together in one place. In addition to the multitude of 356s of all
sizes and shapes, there were also Peter Dunkel’s beautifully restored Porsche
Tractor, a 550A Spyder, a 906 and a Abarth Carrera. There were over thirty four
cam Carreras at the show at Quail Lodge. The car awarded the Best of Show
trophy was Cheryl Dunkel’s Silver GS/GT Carrera Speedster, while Kenneth Ward‘s
Stone Gray 1959 Cabriolet won the Judges Choice award as well as the Peoples
Choice award. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Monday August 10, 1998 was the Track Day for the 356
Registry where the entrants were all allowed to tour the track at Laguna Seca.
Monday evening was the gala banquet at the Monterey Aquarium on Cannery Row.
This was a wonderful event where the participants were able to eat fish while
the live fish in the tanks looked on. This is a wonderful Aquarium and a great
place for a Porsche Banquet. Tuesday was the last day to the 356 Registry
Holiday with a large Swap Meet at the Monterey Peninsula College. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Wednesday afternoon/evening was the opening event for the
Porsche Club or America at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races. Registration
and nibbles were offered at MY Porsche, the local dealer, in nearby Seaside
California. This event allowed all of the Porsche enthusiast from all over the
country to meet up and get acquainted. There were a number of Porsches on
display ranging from three new 996s with the aero kits to John Clever’s
unrestored, very large, Porsche Junior Tractor. After this PCA warmup event my
wife and I went to a special car event referred to by some of the attendies as
"Cigars and Cars at the Airport". This event was actually Gordon McCall’s
MOTORWORKS "A Celebration of Style in Motion". Although there were
all sorts of cars and planes on display the main focus was the more than thirty
various different Porsches on display at the event including a 1958 RSK in bare
aluminum facing off with a P51 Mustang fighter also in bare Aluminum. There
were Carreras, Spyders, 904s, 906s and a 917 all on display. The main sponsors
for this event were Meguiar’s, Robb Report and Monterey Airplane Company. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Thursday night there was another dinner at the Aquarium for
some of the Porsche elite, but I don’t know anyone who was invited. Instead we
went out to dinner with Rafiel and Annie Vasquez and our friends from Puerto
Rico and Judy Boles the president of the Porsche Club of America and her
husband John Boles. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Porsche Club of America’s big banquet for the Monterey
Historics weekend was held at the Monterey Mission on Friday evening. This was
the biggest event of the week with over 1500 in attendance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Laguna Seca were
on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and they were really why most of us were in
Monterey for the weekend. We were not alone celebrating Porsche’s 50th
anniversary and the crowd for the races was estimated at more than 65,000
people over the weekend, which is a record for this event. Saturdays crowd was
huge and it was said that it was the second-largest single day draw in the
history of the Track. This was also the 25th anniversary of Steve Earl’s
Monterey Historic Automobile Races. Earl said that he would celebrate their
25th anniversary next year with a retrospective of the past 25 years with all
of the winners of the Monterey Cup. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Monterey Historics organizer Steve Earle let 124 Porsches in
for his historic races and while they didn’t win all of the races Porsches so
that almost every model was represented at Monterey. And while the Porsches
didn’t win every race where they were entered in, they did win their fair
share. There are seven races each Saturday and Sunday and the Porsches did win
seven of the nine races that they were entered in. The cars ranged from a 1949
356SL, and a 1951 prototype Sauter Roadster, to a 1955 Continental and five of
the very rare Carrera Abarths. There were actually six Abarths on the Monterey
peninsula for the weekend the sixth was for sale at one of the auctions. There
were more Spyders than were could count, probably more than twenty, mostly in
silver both on the track in Porsches display and just there to be there. There
were also 904s, 906s, 910s, 907s and probably ten 908s and another ten 917s in
various body configurations ranging from the long tail version to the
turbocharged 917/10s and 917/30s. There were some 914 racers, one that Hurley
Haywood put on a great display with just beating Jürgen Barth in their hotly
contested race. There were 934s, 935s and 936s, there of the four 936s that
Porsche built were there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Porsche brought cars over from their museum in Stuttgart and
created both a display and what appeared to be working pits for the 1922
Sascha, 1947 Cisitalia Grand Prix car, 1951 356 SL, 1954 550 Panamericana
Spyder, 1960 RS 60 Spyder, 1960 718 Formula 2 car, 1962 804 Grand Prix car in
which Dan Gurney won the 1962 French Grand Prix,1964 Porsche 904 coupe, 1970
908/3 Spyder, 1970 917 Le mans winner, 1971 917 Long Tail, 1972 917/10 Can Am
Spyder – RC Cola, 1974 911 Carrera RSR Turbo, 1977 936, 1978 Porsche 935 Moby
Dick, 1986 McLaren Tag Formula 1, 1986 Porsche 959 Paris Dakar Rally car. 1987
Porsche 962 C, 1988 959 Street car, 1989 March Porsche Indy Car, 1989 Porsche Panamericana
Concept car, 1994 Dauer 962, 1996 Porsche 911 GT1 and 1997 Porsche 911 GT Most
of these cars were in working order and driven around the Laguna Seca track for
all to see by some of the Porsche racing heroes past and present as wells as
Porsches own dignities and by some journalists. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Also held on Friday was Concours Italiano, a relative
newcomer at 12 years compared to The Monterey Historic Automobile Races at 25
years and the Pebble Beach Concours at 48 years. This year they paid tribute to
Alfa Romeo as their featured marque, with cars like a 1934 Alfa Romeo P3, the
winner of the 1934 Mille Miglia. They also had other Italian exotica such as a
Maserati 500 GT Prototype designed by Frau, a 1957 Maserati A6G Frau Spyder, a
Maserati Tipo 124 Prototype and a 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Super Sport. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In their twelve short years Concours Italiano has grown to
be a major car event. In addition to their wonderful Italian cars they have
also included a display of Porsches and this year there was an amazing display
of over 300 Porsches, organized by the Porsche Club of America, Zone 7. To
conform with proper Italian grammar in the future the name of this even will be
officially changed to Concorso Italiano in 1999. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Saturday night was Porches official 50th Anniversary
Celebration Dinner in the Porsche Experience Pavilion at Laguna Seca Raceway.
This was a magical evening with the whose who of Porsche in attendance. Such
notables as Dr Wendelin Wiedeking, Dr Wolfang Porsche, Sterling Moss, Jack
McAfee, Sam Posey. Prestoen Henn, Davey Jones, Herbert Linge, Harm Lagaay,
Peter Falk, Fred Schwab, Jeff Zwart, Vick Elford, Ernst Schuster, Joe Buzzetta,
Jerry Seinfeld, Denise McCluggate, Jurgen Barth, Hans Herman, Gijs van Lennep,
Bob Wollek, John Fitzpatrick, and Hurley Haywood, just to name some of the
great in attendance. The entertainment for the evening included presentations
by Sterling Moss and Sam Posey covering the history of Porsche Racing with some
great video presentations and introductions of the drivers. And, yes, Stephanie
and I were there too. It was a Magical evening indeed and we are not likely
ever to see such a gathering of Porsche cars and Porsche people again. </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Sunday dawned early on the Pebble Beach Concours where they
too helped us celebrate Porsches fifty years of making cars. This was Pebble
Beache’s own 48th anniversary, they will celebrate their fiftieth in the year
two thousand. This event continues to grow in stature and it was claimed that
this year they had a record 15,000 people in attendance. Porsche cars used to
be regular participants at Pebble Beach in the bygone days, I even won my class
there in 1971 with my 1964 Porsche 356 SC GT coupe. Soon after that, in 1973,
Pebble Beach went upscale and excluded the post war Sports Car clases where the
Porches had competed. Since then we have only been invited back in 1982 when
Porsche was the featured Marque at the Monterey Historics and again this year
when Porsche was again the featured Marque. I have been fortunate to judge both
in 1982 and again in 1998 when I was Chief judge for the Porsches. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As Chief judge I picked five of my most critical friends and
we used the Porsche Club of America Concurs rules as our guide to selection of
what we felt was the best car in the 356 collection on display. It was a very
close battle between John and Donna Paterek with their beautiful 1952 Gläser
America Roadster, which ultimately placed second and Stephen and Dorthy
Heinrichs 1954 356 Speedster prototype who won the class. This car was the
third prototype Speedster and it had been made by Porsche like three other
prototypes by extensively reworking a 356 Cabriolet model. It was surprising
how much this car looked like the later production Speedsters considering how
it was produced. There were six 356s in the Porsche 356 class. There were also
an additional thirteen cars ranging from a 1922 Austro-Daimler Sascha Racer to
Jerry Seinfeld’s last air cooled 911 sold, which was a 1998 C4S. In between
there were a 1951 356SL which was the first Porsche raced at Le Mans, a 550
Spyder, a 550A Spyder a 904, a 906 a 917/10, a 962, a 959, the Panamericana
Cabriolet, a 911 GT1 and Jerry Seinfeld’s first 911. </span></div>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIh6vwuxS444b9W-PKGaujluX460BQy145tND0TU6WovwEsHBBpICfgeQRT2rQzIgFU3gy6TM3Te25zuN2hModlCkdqNjWpWmYVhT49cbdV6tyJ_Vn70p7CHUzsOOuo1sIG5_DodXQiRQ/s1600/Ilse+N%25C3%25A4dele%2526+Concours+Judges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIh6vwuxS444b9W-PKGaujluX460BQy145tND0TU6WovwEsHBBpICfgeQRT2rQzIgFU3gy6TM3Te25zuN2hModlCkdqNjWpWmYVhT49cbdV6tyJ_Vn70p7CHUzsOOuo1sIG5_DodXQiRQ/s400/Ilse+N%25C3%25A4dele%2526+Concours+Judges.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Ilse Nädele Porsche Club Coordinator and Pebble beach Concours de Elegance
judges left to right Dennis Frick, myself, Dale Miller, Mark Smedley, Weldon
Scrogham, and Kirby Hollis. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Seinfeld has the book ends of Porsche 911s with the first
911 and the last air cooled 911 sold to a customer. The first car was actually
not the first 911, but the first car called a 911 and was originally owned by
Professor Ferry Porsche when it was new. The 901 as it was called when
initially introduced at the September 1963 Frankfurt show. Porsche built 232
cars through the end of 1964. The reason that the 901 was renamed, or
renumbered from, 901 to 911 was that the French auto maker Peugeot had
registered the use of three digit numbers where the center digit was a zero in
France. Without making the change to 911 Porsche would not be able to sell
their cars in France. This car that Jerry Seinfeld has, chassis number 300049,
was built on November 10,1964 and was the first car called the 911. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Seinfeld bought this car from a private party in November of
1996 in what he described as a less than pleasant transaction. In April of 1997
he made a deal with Porsche to have them restore the first 911 for him as well
as arranging for him to buy the very last air cooled 911 which was built March
31, 1998. The last air cooled 911 is a Mexico blue Carrera 4S. Incidentally he
also has the last US specification 993 but it was not on display. When asked
about what the first 911 cost to restore they said that it was about what it
would cost to buy two new 911s, which seems quite reasonable for such a
beautiful piece of Porsche history. Their goal was to have their first and last
air cooled 911s at the Monterey Historic Weekend, a goal that they achieved in
spades. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Some Porsches sneak on the field at Pebble Beach almost
every year in the form of the Pebble Beach Cup and Road and Track awards for
the cars that are selected at the Historics at Laguna Seca and invited over to
Pebble beach for Sunday. This year Dennis Aker won the Pebble Beach Cup with his
1953 Pooper (Porsche/Cooper) and Bill Perrone won the Road and Track Award with
his 1955 Porsche Spyder. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Double Fifty at Watkins Glen: The Double Fifty at Watkins
Glen in New York was continuation of Watkins Glen’s anniversary of road racing
and Porsche’s fifty years of building cars. Brian Redman put this event on and
gave a wonderful birthday party for both Porsche and Watkins Glen at Watkins
Glen the weekend of August 27-30. The weekend was filled with Porsches that
have won races from their class win at Le Mans in 1951 to the present time as
well as a long list of world famous drivers who drove those cars. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Post war sports car racing in the united states started in
Watkins Glen on October 2, 1948. The original Watkins Glen Course was 6.6 miles
and ran through the Watkins Glen village of 3,000 people and on the outlying
roads through what is now a park. The Stone Bridge once a famous landmark on
the original course is still part of this road through the countryside. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Road racing had several starts in the US with the first road
race being held outside Chicago in 1895 on Thanksgiving day. Although road
racing had been very popular in Europe there was little tradition for road
racing in the US with the exception of the Vanderbuilt Cup races held early in the
century, from 1904 through 1916 and revived again for 1936 and 1937 at
Roosevelt Raceway in NY to attract European cars and drivers to America. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Both World Wars killed road racing in the US. Following the
first World War road racing had a brief comeback in the early thirties when the
Collier Brothers: Sam Collier and Barron Collier Jr., and some of their friends
helped to develop road racing in the United States in the 1930s. As teenagers
in 1929 the Collier brothers and friends started their own club the Overlook
Automobile Racing Club, built a road racing track around their dads summer home
in Upstate New York and raced their home built cars with motorcycle engines. In
1933 this interest in road racing evolved into the Automobile Racing Club of
America (ARCA) and they started racing real sports car on road courses. Their
first race was on a course designed by Miles on their father‘s land in Pocono
Hills. The ARCA lasted six years until the war and had 136 members. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">After the war the Collier brothers, Charles Morgan, George
Rand, Briggs, Cunningham and their friends helped organize the Sports Car Club
of America (SCCA) in February 1944. This group ran some road races over estate
and country roads in the eastern part of the US, but the real renaissance for
road racing began at Watkins Glen on October 2, 1948 when Cameron Argetsinger
talked the people of Watkins Glen into having a road race through Watkins Glen.
At that time Watkins Glen was a little resort village of about 3000 people on
Lake Seneca, 250 miles from New York City. He convinced the towns people that
they could extend their tourist season by having a race through town they week
after "Labor Day Weekend" a US holiday that was traditionally the end
of their season. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Road racing at the Watkins Glen was infectious and it spread
over the US. Races were held at Pebble Beach, Sebring, Golden Gate Park and the
American road racing renaissance was under way. Before permanent road courses
were built races were held at airports and fairgrounds all around the US. As
with all of these early "make do" type racing circuits using public
roads the original Watkins Glen course was too dangerous for both the drivers
and spectators and a permanent race track was ultimately built. The Watkins
Glen course moved from being an open road course first through the village of
Watkins Glen from 1948 to 1952 and then later from 1953 to 1955 near the town
of Dix, 5 miles south west of Watkins Glen to a permanent road course in 1956
where it is now. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Porsche factory and museum director Klaus Bischof
provided six cars from the museum at Stuttgart for the Double Fifty
celebration; the Gmünd 356 SL that was the first Porsche to race at Le Mans in
1951, a RS 60, a Gulf 908/3, a 917K, the fabulous "Moby Dick" 935/78
and 1987 Le Mans winning Rothmans 962. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">There were over 350 cars entered including the exhibition
cars. When I asked the James Redman how many entries they had he said that they
could be creative and say 600 "race" entries, but that really
translated to about 340 cars as most had entered both the sprint races and
endurance races. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Those cars entered ranged from the: 550, 55A, RSK, RS60,
RS61, 904, 906, RSR, 907, 910, 908 Long Tail, 908/2, 908/3, 917K, 917 PA,
917/10, 917 Interserie, 956, 962 and the ex Rohr GT1 car. The list of factory
drivers to go with these cars included: Richard Attwood, Jürgen Barth, Joe
Buzzetta, Vic Elford, George Follmer, Hurley Haywood and Porsches newest
recruit from the US, David Murray. Other drivers there were Milt Minter, Elliot
Forbes, Bob Akin, Walt Bohren, and Michael Keyser. Most of these drivers along
with Brian Redman were available at lunch time to sign autographs and the lines
spread around the paddock. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Fred Schwab, President and CEO of Porsche Cars North
America, Inc. was the Grand Marshall for the event and handed out all the
trophies. As an added duty Fred drove one of the Spyders around the track in
the exhibition runs. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">For me the weekend started Tursday afternoon when we arrived
at the circuit and I went to the photo opportunity in the Esses were the
organizers lined up most of the 350 cars and drivers so that we could
photograph them. Friday was a practice day for all of the groups of cars.
Friday evening after practice and qualifying there was a cocktail party for all
of the drivers and their family and crew in a large tent behind the pit
grandstand. The Friday evening party was sponsored by Porsche Cars North
America, Kelly-Moss Motorsports, Amalfi Racing, Klub Sport and Brumos Porsche. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Both Saturday and Sunday were filled with races for the
various classes of cars. Their were four PCA Sprint Races Saturday for the
various classes use in PCA Club Racing. There were also two vintage sprint
races Saturday. Sunday their were four one hour endurance races for both the
PCA and Vintage cars. All of the races were named after a person or event
related to Porsche. The first race was Arnage Trophy sprint race with 37
entrants. The Arnage Trophy, named after the famous corner at Le Mans was won
by Keith Komar with his 2.7 1974 911 in class G, second was Robert Scotto with
his 1988 3.2 liter Carrera in class F, and third was Henk Westerduin with his
1988 3.2 Carrera in class F. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The second race was the Bruce Jennings Trophy sprint race
with 37 entrants. The Bruce Jennings Trophy is named after a famous US racer
who won more races with a Porsche than any other driver in the world between
1959 and 1969. The Bruce Jennings Trophy was won by John Jacobs with his 1974
914 in class GT5R, second was Dick Howe in his 1980 924 in class GT5S, and
third was Wade Herren in his 1975 914 in class GT5S. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The third race was the Gmund Cup sprint race with 46
entrants. The Gmund Cup named after the home of the first Porsches was won by
Brian Redman in Miles Collier’s RS61 in class 3X, Bob Snodgrass was second in
his 914/6 in class G3, Weldon Scrogham was third in his 356 Speedster in class
G2 and Vic Skirmants was fourth in his 1959 356. in class G2. Brian withdrew
from the results moving the second through fourth place cars up one space. He
said that it would look bad if the organizer won, so he declared himself
ineligible. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The fourth race was the Jacky Ickx Cup sprint race with 65
entrants. The Jacky Ickx Cup was named after the only six time winner of Le
mans and perhaps the best long distance driver ever. The Ickx race was won by
Hurley Haywood a pretty spectacular long distance racer in his own right
driving his Brumos 962 in class GTP, second was Donald Stiles in his 962 in
class GTP, and third was Michael Schrom in his 1987 3.4 liter 911 in class
GT1R. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The fifth race was the Salzburg Cup sprint race with 46
entrants. The Salzburg Cup was named after the Salzburg team entered by Ferry
Porsche’s sister Louise Piëch in 1969, 1970 and 1971. The Salzburg Cup sprint
race was won by Joe His with his 924 in the GT4S class, second was Chris
Musante in his 2790 cc 1974 911 in the GT4S class, and third was Michael
Trombly in his 1984 911SCRS in class C. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The sixth race was the Eifel Trophy sprint race with 44
entrants. The Eifel Trophy race was named after the Eifel Mountains of Germany
where the Nürburgring track is. The Eifel Trophy was won by Henry Payne IV in
his 1969 908/2 in class E6, second was Henry Payne III in his 1967 907 Long
Tail coupe in class E5, and third was Art Pilla in his Kremer K5 935 in Class
E6. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Saturday night after the track activities Brian hosted a
dinner for all who wanted to attend. Apparently plenty wanted to attend and all
of the dinner tickets were sold out. The factory drivers all gave short, and very
funny talks about their most memorable moment in a Porsche at the dinner. There
was also an auction for a Porsche 917 lightweight crankshaft, the original art
for the Poster by Tim Berry, a leather bound special proof copy of the Double
Fifty program and a copy of a Battle of the Titans limited edition poster
signed by 25 drivers from the 1970 24 hours of Le Mans. All brought good prices
for The Vasek & Anna_Maria Polak Charitable Foundation for Cancer
Research.. Fred Schwab bought the leather bound proof copy of the program for
$4000 and then donated it to the Watkins Glen Motor Racing Research Library.
Fred Schwab also gave the Watkins Glen Motor Racing Research Library a check
for $10,000. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Sunday’s races were all run under a one hour endurance race
format with one mandatory five minute pit stop. Driving could be shared between
two drivers or one driver could drive the whole race, but the 5 minute pit stop
applied either way. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The first race Sunday was called the Weissach Cup endurance
race with 72 entrants. The Weissach Cup race was named after the R&D and
Test Center for Porsche. The Weissach Cup was run by Jack Gaggini and his
co-driver Elliot Forbes-Robinson with Gaggini’s 2.7 liter 1970 911 race car in
class GT4S, second was Lad Sanda and co-driver David Murray in Sanda’s 1993
964RS in C, and third was Vince Suddard with his 2.7 liter 1970 911 race car in
class GT4S. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The second race Sunday was called the John Wyer Cup
endurance race with 31 entrants. The John Wyer Cup was named after John Wyer
who ran the Porsche factory effort in 1970 and 1971 helping to earn two
consecutive manufactures championships with the fabulous 917s. The John Wyer
Cup was won by Richard Howe with his 1973 914 in class GT5S, second was Peter
Overing with his 1969 911S in class GT5S, and third was Wader Herren in his
1975 914 in class GT5S. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The third race Sunday was called the Daytona Cup with 58
entrants. The Daytona Cup was named after the famous Daytona International
Speedway in Florida. This was probably the most exciting race of the weekend
when Brian Redman built up a big lead of 20 seconds over Hurley Haywood both in
962s before Brian turned his car over to Richard Attwood. Attwood was not
familiar with the ground effects 962s which put him at a disadvantage and
allowed Haywood to catch up with him. About the time Haywood caught him Attwood
was getting the hang of the ground effects cars and they had a great race for
several laps before Haywood finally got ahead of Attwood for good, winning with
his 1987 962 in class GTP, Brian Redman and Richard Attwood were second with
Mike Amallfitano’s 1988 962 in class GTP and third was Michael Schron with his
3400 cc 1987 911 race car. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Haywood 1987 962 was the last of four customer cars
built by Al Holbert. The car was jointly owned by Brumos, AJ Foyt and
Copenhagen and was raced at Daytona, Sebring and Miami in 1987, 1988 and 1989.
This car was raced under the IMSA rules which required air cooling, a single
turbo and single ignition. The Redman/Attwood 1988 962 was which was re-tubed
in 1989 using one of the Team Schuppan carbon fiber tubs. This car was rebuilt
as a cooperative effort between the Porsche factory and Vern Schuppan. This car
was sanctioned by the factory and retains the original chassis number 138. The
result of the stiffer carbon fiber tub was a more responsive 962 chassis with
out the terminal low-speed understeer that all 962s had. The car features a
1.71 Motronic Porsche water-water engine. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The fourth race Sunday was the Targa Florio Cup with 65
entrants. The Targa Florio Cup was named after the fantastic race through the
mountains in Sicily where Porsche won eleven times. The Targa Florio Cup wsa
won by Steve Southard with his 1983 935 in class E6, Second was Art Pilla with
is 1980 Kremer K3 935 in class E6 and third was Bob Jordan in his 1969 905/2 in
class E6. Steve Southard‘s 935 was the car commissioned by Bob Akin and built
by Dave Klym of FABCAR and called "The Last 935". Bob Jordan’s 908/2
was significant in that this particular car was the 908 that it had belonged to
Steve McQueen and that he raced to a second place overall at Sebring in 1970.
Next the McQueen 908 was equiped with a camera and used for the filming of the
movie Le Mans and driven by Herbert Linge and Jonathan Williams. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The event was a great success and although they have no
official figures for spectators the track said that the Double fifty drew more
spectators than any other event at Watkins Glen this year. The event shirts
were sold out by 4:30 Friday! The Programs sold out on Saturday, dinner tickets
for Saturday night sold out and track touring on Sunday also sold out.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/102609899616127301021/50YearsOfPorsche" target="_blank">See all photos</a>.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536191010928103517.post-10620666773514487932001-05-01T15:35:00.000-07:002012-08-06T15:58:43.849-07:00356 SL<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>911 and Porsche Magazine</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The very first Porsches were built in Gmünd Austria, mostly as
coupes. Some of these original coupes that were made by the Porsche factory and
raced and sold to customers to race as 356 SL’s. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX0QqfgUlWGuSx10MJUiDqMmrtQAaqfMi9RKeveRyE8EY2JfFeoJkBoyv1IL-izLwSwo0uV70aCGxuBlE8jsxV_SDgKztB43gm3OJ05x3bc2Z4ycVnCMO1WBKUOZxeToZjY697oP-9ktg/s1600/356SL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX0QqfgUlWGuSx10MJUiDqMmrtQAaqfMi9RKeveRyE8EY2JfFeoJkBoyv1IL-izLwSwo0uV70aCGxuBlE8jsxV_SDgKztB43gm3OJ05x3bc2Z4ycVnCMO1WBKUOZxeToZjY697oP-9ktg/s400/356SL.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">One of these cars belongs to a friend of mine, Chuck Forge.
This particular car has had its top cut off and has been made into an open car.
I have know this car since 1957 when I first met Chuck Forge and watched him
run this car in an autocross at the Santa Clara County Fair Grounds in
California. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The history of these early 356s that Porsche built in Gmünd
Austria is sketchy at best. It is almost as if Porsche would rather forget that
part of their history. The Gmund cars were all hand built from aluminum and
there were both Coupe and Cabriolet versions of the Gmünd built cars. Porsche
built most of the coupe bodied cars although some were built by Tatra in
Czechoslovakia, and others by Kastenhofer in Vienna. Some Cabriolets or open
cars were built by both Beutler in Switzerland and Kastenhofer in Austria. Some
wonderful examples of these cars still exist Bill Jackson in Denver and Chuck
Stoddard own wonderful examples. The Chuck Stoddard car won the Porsche Club of
America Manhattan award for best of show with his chassis 356/2-011 in 1984 at
the Porsche Parade in Appleton Wisconsin. Stoddard's beautifully restored car was
also on display at the Cincinnati, Ohio Parade 1993. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In 1950 and 1951 Porsche recycled seven of these Gmünd cars
for racing purposes. They gave these cars new chassis numbers and called them
356SLs. Their reason for doing this was that the aluminum Gmünd built cars were
narrower and significantly lighter than the steel bodied cars that had been
built in Stuttgart after the moved there in 1950. The 356SL coupes were
specified at 1411 lbs while the steel bodied Stuttgart cars weighed 1763 lbs.
The first four 356SLs were built to run the Liége-Rome-Liége Rally and then
Monthléry, France for record setting and then sold off to private individuals.
In 1951 before Le Mans an additional three cars were built to run at Le Mans.
Actually only one car ran in the 1951 race because the other two were both
involved in accidents that prevented them from racing there. The one car the
did run at Le Mans won the 1100 cc class and was fifth in the Index of
Performance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In 1952 three of these 356SLs ran in the 1952 Le Mans race.
Also in 1952 Max Hoffman imported three of these cars to the United States.
Over the years most of the seven cars have been extensively modified. Two have
had the tops cut off, two have chopped tops, where they have cut the top off
and shortened it and welded it back on, and one has been converted to a
mid-engine configuration and the other two are more or less original. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Max Hoffman sold 356/2-063 to John Von Neumann, in 1952, who
also started selling Porsches through his Competition Motors in North
Hollywood, California in April of 1952. Von Neumann's first race in his new
356SL was at Palm Springs in March 1952. Then in April 1952 he raced at Pebble
Beach where the car was a DNF because of fading brakes. The car was still
silver for those first two races, but by the time it raced again at Golden Gate
Park a month later Von Neumann's car had been painted red. Before its next race
Von Neumann had the car radically modified by Emil Deidt, in Southern
California, who cut the top of the little Gmünd 356SL coupe and made it into a
very cute little roadster. Its next race was at Torrey Pines California in July
1952 where Von Neumann was at last successful with his 356SL wining the first
race in the US for the Porsche marque. Von Neumann had installed the later 1952
production brakes which were larger and ran the car without the front fender
skirts. The skirts were designed by the Porsche engineers to cheat the wind on
the long straights at Le Mans, but they obstructed the airflow to the front
brakes on the shorter California tracks. The cars are very light so they had a
favorable power to weight ration and this car as a roadster without the top and
ready to run weighs 1385 lbs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Von Neumann ran that roadster at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin and
at the Madera, California road races in 1952 and then sold it in late 1952 to
Bill Wittington. of Woodside, California Wittington painted the car a
bluish-gray when he owned it and ran the car at Salt Lake City, Utah and again
at the Golden Gate races in 1953. Rick Gale was the next owner of the car and
Ed Phelan drove it at Golden Gate Park in 1954 and Don Dickey ran it at
Riverside and the Stocton Airport Road races. Later in 1954 the car was sold to
Ernie Spritzer who raced the car at Santa Rosa, California. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">While Spitzer owned the car it was maintained by Gorden Vann
in his Berkeley body shop. During this period the cowl was reshaped and a new
dash board was built and the car was painted yellow. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In 1957 Chuck Forge graduated from Stanford with and
electrical engineering degree and went to work for Hewlett-Packard. Once
employed he was able to borrow money to buy the ex-Von Neumann roadster. Chuck
said that the motor was shot when he bought the car so he bought a new VW
engine and drove the car as a daily street cars as well as in autocrosses,
rally and the then famous Continental Sports Car Club "Tours". </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">For the first few years that Chuck Forge owned the Roadster
he worked on restoring it as he drove the roadster. He rebuilt the 1500cc Super
engine and repainted the car red. By then he had other interesting cars
including a racing Corvair, a 1957 Porsche Carrera Coupe and an extensively
modified racing Volkswagen all of which were regularly driven on the street as
well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I can remember going on one of the Continental Sports Car
Club "Tours" sometime in the early 1960s with a friend in his Porsche
Speedster. Chuck was leading the tour in his roadster, now painted red again
and again Porsche powered. At the end of the tour one of the participants came
up to Chuck and said that he thought that we were going for a nice summer
evening tour to look at the stars and the scenery, but instead he found himself
entered in a Grand Prix. Those were the good old days when you could drive on
the roads in the California hills like a mad man without really being a wild
man, there wasn't much traffic and there weren't very many police. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">By 1981 vintage racing had become a big sport in the US,
particularly at Laguna Seca where the annual Historics are held. and Chuck
Forge decide to do a really good restoration of the roadster bringing it back
to the condition that it was in 1952 when Von Neumann won the first race at
Torrey Pines in July 1952. Forge had Kent White, "The Tin Man" do the
second restoration and fix all of the damage that had been done by the previous
owners. They had to make one of the fender skirts which was missing. The other
skirts were original and even had German writing on the inside. Forge said that
none of the fender skirt actually fit the car before The Tin Man straightened
the car out because it had become so misshapen over its years of road
racing. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLehwAwp1fFTD_pucykZoieBmVES0av7CRW7VLDc7OpL6UF8BIXKOHhpyFF5puHWTgTxM5WDcTE8_FV193FvlrZf1wbf3XiWYKjXrRCbckvDI3uIYBd_kE-nBpUZkE1kq_dBk8LQ6dKqg/s1600/356+SL+Laguna+JPEG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLehwAwp1fFTD_pucykZoieBmVES0av7CRW7VLDc7OpL6UF8BIXKOHhpyFF5puHWTgTxM5WDcTE8_FV193FvlrZf1wbf3XiWYKjXrRCbckvDI3uIYBd_kE-nBpUZkE1kq_dBk8LQ6dKqg/s400/356+SL+Laguna+JPEG.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Chuck’s
real motivation for restoring the car was the 1982 Monterey Historics where
Porsche was the featured marque. Forge felt that it was only appropriate that
the first Porsche to win a race in the United States attend this historic race
where Porches were featured. Forge has run the car in all of the vintage races
since 1982 except for a couple of years when his entries were not accepted.
Steven Earl, the promoter, and Czar of the Monterey Historics decides what cars
and what drivers get to run his race. Each year the entrants send in their
entries and then either get a thumbs up or a thumbs down letter back without
ever knowing if it is their car or their driving that have displeased him.
That's the way it is and Earl has the only game in town and the entrants have
learned to live with his rules. Another example of the Czars rule is the fact
that he will not let any Porsche 911s run in the Historic races no matter how
old or how significant their past is because 911s are still current production
cars. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247450580197537044noreply@blogger.com0