I BETTHEREaren't many Porsche enthusiasts who haven't heard of the name 'Ruf'. In fact, I'd wager that most car enthusiasts full stop are familiar in some way with the little outfit from Pfaffenhausen that's had an inordinately big impact on the history of the performance car over recent decades.
And no RUF model has done more to seal that profile than the original CTR. Perhaps you were aware of that famous 1987 feature in Road & Track where the CTR, christened 'Yellowbird' by the attending American journalists, reached 211mph -easily making it the fastest production car in the world.
Of course, there have been many other spine-tingling models in Ruf's portfolio since then, the CTR2 and mid-engined CTR3, the RCT and the RT12 among them, but none have been quite so iconic as the 'Group C Turbo Ruf'. So, it is with great pleasure that we feature said machine this month, and even more so because it's an article with a difference. This is a story with twin perspectives.
Why? Because when author Jesse Crosse travelled to southern Germany in 1989, along with famed photographer Tim Andrew, his task involved driving the CTR on public roads in a manner only a journalist driving a brand-new car specifically provided for press evaluation duties would do. He drove it flat out, as far and as fast as he could, but never did write about it for a UK publication. Today, even if you could convince someone to lend you their CTR, which may perhaps be
PorscheClub
ADAMTOWLER EDITOR
valued around £4m, you can bet it would be no more than a gentle drive near to where the car was kept with a very attentive owner or minder present. That's understandable, given the provenance and value of the car in question, but it necessitates a healthy dose of extrapolation in any post-drive written assessment of the car. Not so with Jesse's thoughts, ably complemented here by a set of transparencies that have lain unused and unseen in an attic for the past 36 years. I sincerely hope we've been able to do justice to a truly sensational car with this unique story.
Elsewhere in this issue, Dr Aysar Ghassan turns his educated eye to the original Boxster, we learn about a GT car's unique servicing requirements and there are more updates from our regular Running Reports crew.
Finally, I cannot end this welcome without mentioning the passing of a trio of Porsche motorsport lumiaries. For me, Jochen Mass was a proper racing driver, full of grit, determination, speed and passion for cars and driving. Similarly, I'll never forget watching John Greasley race his 935K3 at a draughty Silverstone, while Bob Garretson was a former world endurance champion and so much more. Our sincerest condolences to their families and many friends.
Until next time, enjoy the magazine and your Porsche. @ X @adamtowler
What's going on
within Porsche ClubGreatBritain and the wider world of Porsche
992.2GT3MANUALSETSNEWNURBURGRINGLAPRECORD
WEALLKNOWjust how seriously Porsche takes its official records on the Niirburgring Nordschleife but, in the face of everdecreasing lap times and what is arguably a certain amount of apathy in some quarters of the enthusiast world, it's found a new niche to sprinkle some added interest over its latest record attempt.
Using a new 992.2 GT3, it has broken the official lap record for road cars with a manual gearbox at the 'Ring. The Weissach Package-equipped car, running = on Michelin Cup 2R tyres and driven by 2\:; Porsche ex-racer, brand ambassador and :z: test driver Jorg Bergmeister, lapped in
6:56.29 seconds - some 3.6 seconds faster than a 992.1 GT3 if fitted with a PDK 'box.
"More and more 911 GT3 customers are opting for the six-speed manual transmission. And more and more often, we are asked by these customers how fast a 911 GT3 with manual transmission would be on the Nordschleife," said GT boss Andreas Preuninger.
Although a PDK-equipped version of the new GT3 would be faster still, the record time was also some 9.5 seconds quicker than the existing record time for a car with 'three pedals and a stick'. That previous timealluded to but not directly referenced by
Porsche - was set back in 2017 by a Dodge Viper ACR Extreme. The 8.4-litre American sports car was part of a privately funded effort driven by German Lance Arnold and clocked 7:01.3 (which Porsche has adjusted to 7:05.8 because the time was set on a slightly shorter version of the circuit).
Bergmeister remarked that the additional stability of the second-generation car, via lessons learned with the RS model, and the lower final drive ratio helped set a new benchmark time. He also remarked on social media that he'd used the autoblip downshift function to help stabilise brake pressure when down-changing through the gears.
REVISED992GT3RMAKESITSDEBUT
PORSCHE'SREVISEDGT3-CLASS 911 racer has appeared for the first time in a race debut that marked part of its ongoing test and development programme.
The new 992 GT3 R, referred to by some as the GT3 R Evo, made its debut in the 12 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps event, part of the Crevenetic 24H Series of races, which took place on 19-20 April.
Details on the new car are currently scarce, with Porsche only saying that it features revised aerodynamic parts to improve pitch sensitivity, leading to an
improvement in behaviour at the front end during both acceleration and braking. There are also software updates and a revised steering setup.
The current GT3 R made its debut in the 2023 season and competes in the hugely successful GT3 class of sports car racing, where marques battle under closely monitored rules governed by a 'balance of performance'. GT3 racing now comprises everything from national GT championships to the GT class of the World Endurance Championship and the top class in blue
riband events such as the Spa and Niirburgring 24 Hours races, so the GT3 R is a very important product for Porsche Motorsport.
The Herberth Motorsport team were given the honour of debuting the new car and its drivers -Laurin Heinrich, Ralf Bohn and Alfred Renauer -brought it home in second overall after a five-hour race on the Saturday and a seven-hour race on the Sunday.
Porsche says that a full public reveal of the car will take place this summer, with the model available to customers for the start of the 2026 season.
PANAMERAREGISTERTOTACKLETHREEPEAKSCHALLENGE
THEPANAMERAREGISTER is taking on the Three Peaks Challenge, which will see members climbing the UK mainland's highest mountains -Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales -in less than 24 hours. The challenge will be a test for the
Panamera's blend of performance, comfort and usability across an intense 450+ mile journey between peaks. It is being undertaken to raise funds for The Lullaby Trust, a charity dedicated to supporting bereaved families, promoting safer sleep for babies and funding research into
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
The Panamera Register is also seeking corporate sponsors. Companies interested in partnering with them are encouraged to get in touch with the Register directly at panamera@porscheclubgb.com and help to make a real difference.
JOCHENMASS
JOCHENMASS,THEpopular former Fl star and Porsche sports car stalwart, has passed away at the age of 78 following complications from a stroke he suffered back in February of this year.
In many ways, Mass was the antithesis of the modern generation of grand prix drivers, moulded from an early age and with immense financial backing. Instead, Massborn in the Bavarian town of Dorfen just after the Second World War -joined the merchant navy as a young man and sailed around the world for three years. His goal was to be a ship's captain, not a world champion, until he discovered the thrill of motorsport and changed his course away from the sea and into an Alfa Romeo garage.
There, he began an apprenticeship as a mechanic, not least because the company owned a competition-prepared Giulia, and he made his debut in 1968 when the firm's regular driver fell ill. He impressed immediately and, the year after, drove the car for a full season, more often in sprints and hillclimbs as well as on the track. The little Alfa was outclassed by the new Ford Escort Twin Cams, but his dashing attempts at keeping them in sight caught the eye of Ford's management and, for 1970, he got their support.
The relationship with Ford was a fruitful one, supporting him in F2 and F3 and also giving him a seat at the sharp end of touring car racing, in which he excelled. In 1972, at the wheel of the glorious Ford Capri RS2600, he clinched the European Touring Car Championship and was victorious at the 24 Hours of Spa, the latter being the most gruelling of races held on the old, long Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
His Fl debut came at the 1973 British Grand Prix for Surtees-Ford and he stayed >- with the team into the 1974 season without much in the way of success. When Mike = Hailwood was injured in the third-string = McLaren, Mass joined the British team for
the final race of the season and took up a place alongside world champion Emerson Fittipaldi for 1975. In this year, he scored his one and only Fl victory, triumphing at the shortened Spanish Grand Prix after an accident claimed the lives of four spectators. He stayed at McLaren for three seasons, leading the 1976 German Grand Prix on the Niirburgring Nordschleife until the race was stopped by Niki Lauda's accident and eventually finishing third. It was to be the peak of his Fl career; a promise that was perhaps not fulfilled. Further stints at ATS and Arrows offered little and, following a bad accident that saw him sidelined during 1981, he returned for the next season with
the well-funded March team. However, the car was a disappointment and worse was to come. At Zolder for the Belgium Grand Prix, he attempted to keep out of the way of Ferrari hero Gilles Villeneuve who was on a quick qualifying lap, but the FrenchCanadian misjudged Mass' intentions and clipped the rear of the March. Villeneuve was killed in the resulting crash. Then, at the French Grand Prix, Mass' car catapulted into a crowd enclosure and it was a miracle that no one was killed, not least Mass himself. Unsurprisingly, Mass decided to retire from Fl, but he had been driving for the Porsche works team in sports cars since 1976 and would stay until 1987. During that time, he drove the 935, 936, 956 and 962, forming an incredible partnership with Jacky Ickx, but he eventually departed to join rivals Sauber-Mercedes, with whom he finished his full-time competitive career. The switch provided him with his biggest triumph: victory in the 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans. It also saw him take on a fatherly role in 1990 as he led the Mercedes Junior Team, featuring Michael Schumacher, Karl Wendingler and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
All told, Mass scored 25 wins in the World Sports Car Championship between 1975 and 1990 and was second in the driver's championship in both 1984 and 1989. In more recent years, he was an ambassador for Mercedes-Benz and demonstrated its priceless museum racing cars all over the world, he worked as a TV commentator in Fl and he was a key and much-loved figure at Goodwood events. He's survived by his wife Bettina and four children.
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Please note that Driven DT40 does not meet any API or ACEA standards. This oil is designed for the engine and not for modern oil standards, as they can somewhat restrict the performance and protection of the engine. The DT40 engine oil has lower levels of detergents but higher levels of anti-wear additives than modern APl-rated oils for maximum protection.
BOBGARRETSON
ITWASWITHgreat sadness that we received the news that our friend Bob Garretson passed away on 13 April.
As well as being a Korean War veteran, he won the World Endurance Championship of Drivers in 1981 (the only privateer to ever do this), raced five times at Le Mans, won the 12 Hours of Sebring with Brian Redman and Charles Mendez in 1978, won the 24 Hours of Daytona with Brian Redman and Bobby Rahal in 1981 and was in the FIA Hall of Fame.
JOHNGREASLEY
JOHNGREASLEY, ONE of the most successful drivers in the British GT Championship and its first British overall champion, passed away aged 83 on 14 April.
In a career strongly associated with the Porsche marque, John will probably be most remembered for running the Porsche GTl and GT2 cars adorned in their distinctive Blue Coral livery.
While working for his father in the USA in the late '70s, John become enamoured with sports car racing. After returning to the UK, he initially began his racing career in rallycross and found success in both Europe and the UK with a 911. He also set up Dage Sport, which soon evolved into G-Force -a busy Porsche specialist. G-Force also developed a race team, headed up by John himself, and they achieved notable successes from the mid-'80s to the late '90s.
All of this was achieved after an accident as a young man left John without sight in his right eye. He nevertheless fought his case with the RAC, arguing that he was more than capable of full circuit racing. They eventually agreed, and he joined forces with Autofarm and the inimitable Josh Sadler. Autofarm sponsored John in the late '80s as he campaigned in a 911 Turbo Sport.
I met Bob in 1982 at the 356 International as a 10-year-old and he is partly responsible for my passion for old Porsches. I will miss our European and American road trips together, the stories, the laughter and the adventures, fixing things in the workshop, going to the racetrack and drinking beer. He could keep up with me drinking beer! It is very difficult to express with words what a gentleman he was. When most people pass away, you always get 'what a great guy he was' and so on, but anybody who met Bob
or knew him will tell you he was the best. He would literally drop everything to help you and he wanted to help. If you needed to drop an engine out or go to Germany on a road trip, Bob would want in!
I will quote the great man as he would always sign things for me: "Thank you for the friendship!".
Our thoughts are with Ruth and the family at this time. Rest in peace, Bob.
Paul Smith, Mike Smith and Team PRS-356
G-Force subsequently acquired a 935 K3 and, in 1990, John won his class in the Autofarm Modified Challenge. He enjoyed growing success throughout the decade, first in the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) National Sports GT Challenge, where he won his class in 1993. The following year, he ran a 993 Turbo, both developing it and running it in the early years of the British GT Championship.
As well as competing in the British GT Championship, he entered the BPR Global GT Endurance four-hour races at Donington Park and Silverstone, where he was joined by John Morrison. In 1997, with a third John in the form of John Kegg, they won multiple rounds of the Privilege Insurance British GT Championship, earning them the GTl title and second overall in the final results. He also competed more widely in races at Sebring and Laguna Seca, and he achieved overall victory with Magnus Wallinder and Geoff Lister in Zhuhai in China.
In 1998, John and Magnus had further successes in the British GT Championship, winning rounds at Donington Park and Silverstone. He also shared a 911 GT2 Evo with Maxwell Beaverbrook and Geoff
Lister in BPR GT races across Europe, including ones at Spa-Francorchamps and the Niirburgring.
As well as competing in Porsches, John also raced in Ferraris toward the end of his racing career. He eventually retired from racing after spending the 2007 season in a Ferrari F430 in the FIA GT3 Series.
The BRDC wrote on its website that John was "popular with his peers, renowned for his kindness and generosity off-track, but very competitive in action while never losing sight of the fact that motor racing is a sport". This is a fine tribute, and Porsche Club Great Britain offers its sincere condolences to John's wife Susanne and all his family.
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motor sport
A round-up
Porsche Club Motorsport Championship with pirelli
Round 1 – Silverstone National Circuit
Silverstone’s National Circuit hosted the opening rounds of the Porsche Club Motorsport Championship with Pirelli on 19 April.
Jake McAleer started from pole in race one, but dropped to ninth after a poor start.
Simon Clark led in the early
stages, but Jake and his father Mark McAleer eventually passed him with Jake leading the trio home. Simon Clark made the best start in race two, with Jake this time dropping to third behind his father. However, Jake launched a comeback and eclipsed Clark at the finish, who stayed ahead of McAleer senior this time. Pete Morris took
fourth after a close battle with Chris Dyer and Jim Bryan.
In the AM Championship, Darren Labbett led early on in race one with Richard Forber and Stuart Marston in pursuit. After a spin from Labbett on lap 12, Forber took the lead and then the win on his debut. In race two, Shiraz Khan led early on under intense
pressure from Forber and Oliver Chatham. Forber briefly led, only to slow after a tangle with a back marker that allowed Khan to retake the lead. Chatham also retired and Khan drove on to claim his first win. Labbett finished second, Tom Andrew took third and Jason Brown was a close fourth in a thrilling race.
Porsche Club Motorsport Boxster Cup
Matt Gough started from pole in the opening Porsche Club Motorsport Boxster Cup race, but a spin on lap two handed the lead to 17-year-old Bertie Bream on his Boxster Cup debut. Bream adapted well to the changing track conditions and steadily pulled away for an
impressive win. “It was all about keeping it smooth,” Bream said.
“Once I got the gap, I could manage it.” Perry Darling finished a solid second, with Barrington Darcy in third.
It was a dry track for race two, with Matt Gough making another strong start but Bertie
Bream led by the end of lap one. Mike Thompson closed in on Bream, setting new fastest laps, but his tyres faded from lap 15 and this allowed Bream to secure a dominant second win of the day. Thompson finished second ahead of Scott
Evans, with Darling in fourth and Max Watt in fifth in a race filled with action.
For a full race report and details of the forthcoming rounds, please visit porscheclubgb.com/ motorsport
Jake McAleer (144) fought hard with Simon Clark (23) to win both Club Championship races. Shiraz Khan (white Boxster behind them and below left, 15) took his first AM Championship win, with Richard Forber (far left, 78) taking the other. In the Boxster Cup, young Bertie Bream took a sensational double victory on his debut. By Gary Hawkins and Claudia Jedrisko
PhotosbyAngeRoseandClaudiaJedrisko
PORSCHECLUBSPEEDCHAMPIONSHIP WITHNINEMEISTER
ROUND
I - CADWELLPARK, David Dyson was a Pl winner 29MARCH again in his GT 4 RS, while series
Seventeen Porsches made their newcomer Nigel Watkins took way to the Cadwell Park race the win in P2 in fine style with circuit for the first round of the his 996. A close fight in P3 saw Speed Championship. It was Jon Baldock win in his Boxster cold and breezy, but the chilly and P4 was won by Stephen Jory air did nothing to lessen the in his 944. enthusiasm as the Championship ROUND3-MALLORYPARK drivers took to the asphalt for their first run of the 2025
season. The fast and flowing
SPRINT,26APRIL
On a sunny Saturday, 20 drivers Cadwell track brought out some headed to Mallory Park circuit great performances from both near Hinckley in central established and new drivers. England for some competitive
The fastest time of the day driving against the clock. went to David Dyson in his The track layout included superb GT4 RS, winning the a cone chicane after the first top power class and bagging corner to slow the cars as they maximum points. The other approached a fast straight. class winners were Karl Lupton The Pl class was won by in his supercharged 944, Jon David Dyson in his GT4 RS, Baldock in a Boxster and current although David was less than champion Stephen Jory in his two-tenths of a second quicker super-quick 944 S2. than runner-up Tim Barber in
ROUND2-CURBOROUGH,
his 996 GT3. Nigel Watkins was the victor in P2 with a great l9APRIL time in the 996 again. In P3, Jon The tight Curborough Sprint Baldock was fast all day and circuit near Lichfield was home ended with a time that would to the second round. The have sat well in any of the higher weather conditions changed classes. In P4, the battle between several times during the day, the 944 of Stephen Jory and making the course tricky and Martin Leach's 911 E continued. sometimes unpredictable. Stephen is something of a fast
The 15 Speed Championship circuit specialist and he took the drivers showed great class win with a very good time. commitment even after rain came later in the day, and the Formoredetails,including deceptively technical track fullresults,timesand certainly tested the drivers and upcomingrounds,please their cars while they searched visitporscheclubgb.com/ for those elusive winning tenths. motorsport/hill-and-speed
CELEBRATETHESTARTOFSUMMERWITHUS
Is there anything better than a sunset drive in your Porsche? How about one leading to Boxengasse to celebrate the start of the summer with our brand-new event?
Savour every moment of the longest day of the year on Saturday 21 June as we take over the stunning grounds of Boxengasse in Oxfordshire for an unforgettable evening of Porsche passion, gourmet street food and summer vibes. With the sun hanging low in the sky, relax with friends old and new as a live DJ set provides the perfect soundtrack. Whether you're admiring the incredible lineup of cars,
indulging in top-tier food and drink or simply soaking up the electric atmosphere, this is set to be an event like no other. There's less than a month to go, so don't miss your chance to be part of this laid-back celebration of all things Porsche. Book your tickets now and join us for an evening to remember!
Tickets
Tickets are priced at £20 per person for Club members, with free entry for children aged 16 and under. If you haven't already, get yours now from porscheclubgb.com/ summersolstice or via the QR code.
ANALOGUEALCHEMY-BJUNE
Join us on Sunday 8 June for an exclusive new event at the stunning Bowcliffe Hall in Yorkshire for a Porsche-style garden party celebrating the timeless allure of classic Porsches. Now open to all Porsche owners, you can look forward to displays of 356s and air-cooled 911 s as well as a special anniversary celebration for transaxle models.
Tickets are £35 per person which includes entry, a "traditional Yorkshire buffet", soft drinks and entertainment. We'll also be co-ordinating a series of scenic drives to and from the venue and a three-night road trip tailored for classic Porsches. Follow the link or QR code on P20 to find out more and book your place.
'PORSCHECLUBATBROOKLANDS-29 JUNE
Get ready for a remarkable return to Brooklands Museum on 29 June! Last year's rendition was one of our largest events of the year and this year's event is shaping up to be even bigger. This iconic venue will once again serve as the perfect backdrop for a celebration of Porsche excellence that the whole family can enjoy.
Among the hundreds of Porsches on display, we'll have two very special transaxle displays to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 924 and 30 years since the end of 968 production.
Club members can enjoy discounted entry of £19.99 per person, which includes full access to the museum and exhibits.
YORKSHIREPORSCHEFESTIVAL - IDAUGUST
We are thrilled to announce that the Yorkshire Porsche Festival will be returning to Lotherton Hall by popular demand on Sunday 1 0 August. Leeds-based specialists and stalwart supporters of the Club Strasse are also returning as event sponsors and will be celebrating their 30th anniversary.
The event will be jam-packed with display parking, traders, food vendors, live music and a 'Pride of Ownership'-style concours. Registrations for the concours close on 31 July, with the rules and regulations available from the event page.
Entry is just £10 per Porsche, which includes access to the hall and estate.
MEGAPHONICS'25-3AUGUST
Megaphonics, the annual Porsche reunion at Boxengasse in Oxfordshire, returns on Sunday 3 August this year with Porsche Club Great Britain as an official sponsor for the first time.
Discover the world's rarest road and racing Porsches at Europe's largest Porsche event where everyone is welcome. Immerse yourself in their curated trade paddock, where your favourite automotive and lifestyle brands come together in one vibrant space. Indulge in a diverse selection of gourmet street food while enjoying live DJ sets, delivering the perfect soundtrack to the laid-back, welcoming atmosphere that defines this reunion of friends, both new and old.
New for 2025, the dealer village brings you the latest offerings from independent dealers and restomod specialists.
PORSCHEEAST-17AUGUST
Porsche owners from across the UK are invited to join R12, our Norfolk and Suffolk Region, for the largest Porsche event in the East of England! Now in its third year, Porsche East has grown from strength to strength and 500 Porsches are expected at Rickinghall on Sunday 17 August.
Porsche Centre Norwich are proudly supporting the event and will be placed front and centre at the show alongside trade stands from local Porsche specialists. There will be a wide choice of food and drinks vendors, with more coffee stands to keep the queue times low and your energy levels high. Tickets are priced at just £7.50 per Porsche for Club members and are selling fast!
-7SEPTEMBER
The 24th Region 8 Porsche Pageant will be held in the grounds of the spectacular Elvaston Castle in the heart of Derbyshire on Sunday 7 September.
With parking for 500 cars, concours display, trade stands and a craft fair on site, as well as restaurants and walks around the lakes, the castle will be the perfect backdrop for a magnificent display of all things Porsche. Full details and entry into the concours are available at porscheclubgb.com/ porschepageant
General entry is just £10 per Porsche, payable in cash on the day. This includes a raffle ticket, with all proceeds to be donated to the air ambulance.
911Targa4(992)
Guards Red • Graphite Blue Leather Sports Seats • PDKGearbox • 19/20" Carrera S Wheels• Switchable Sports Exhaust• Adaptive Cruise Control • Front & Rear Parking Sensors• 10,521 miles• 2021 (71)
£89,995
911Carrera4Targa(964)
Guards Red • Silk Grey Sports Seats • 16" Design 90 Alloy Wheels Air Conditioning• Extended Leather Pack • Previously Sold & Serviced by Paragon• 77,739 miles • 1990 (G)
£74,995
911Carrera4GTS(997.2)
Guards Red • Black Half-Leather Sports Seats• PDK Gearbox• 19" Centre Lock GTSWheels • Switchable Sports Exhaust • Sport Chrono Previously Sold & Serviced by Paragon• 51,929 miles• 2011 (61)
911Turbo(991)
Sport Chrono • Previously Sold & Serviced by Paragon• 18,345 miles 2015 (15)
£80,995 911Carrera4(993)
Black Metallic• Black Leather HardBacked Sports Seats• 17" Cup Alloy Wheels • Extended Leather Pack Air Conditioning• Previously Sold & Serviced by Paragon• 73,115 miles 1995(N)
£69,995
discounts
KÖNINGS DETAILING
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TOPAZ DETAILING
Topaz is proud to be the global leader in supercar and luxury car detailing and they are trusted by discerning clients worldwide. With a deep connection to Porsche enthusiasts, they specialise in providing meticulous detailing services that keep your Porsche in showroom condition. Their passion for precision extends to their exclusive Topaz Shop car care products, which are carefully curated to help you maintain your Porsche’s pristine look between visits.
Over the years, Topaz has had the privilege of working on every Porsche imaginable, ensuring that your prized vehicle is always in expert hands. Their state-of-the-art facilities and highly skilled team of detailers are dedicated to delivering
exceptional quality and care. Every service is underpinned by a commitment to preserving the beauty and value of your car.
To further enhance the experience for Club members, Topaz is delighted to offer an exclusive 25 per cent discount on detailing services and all Topaz Shop car care products using code PCGB25 at checkout. Find out more at topazdetailing.com
MORE AVAILABLE ONLINE
ACORN CLASSIC AUTOMOTIVE
We are a family-run, secure and discreet storage facility located on the Oxon/Bucks border with capacity for more than 100 cars, state-of-the-art security systems including 4k CCTV monitoring and high-grade monitored alarms, fully comprehensive insurance and a five-bay on-site workshop.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution and we offer a variety of storage levels and additions, tailored to you and your Porsche(s). Building rapport with clients is at the forefront of everything we do and we pride ourselves on keeping an open line of communication, ensuring that we work to meet every individual’s needs with an honest and informative approach.
As a Club member, we are pleased to extend our offer of 10 per cent off your first six-month storage account. To access this offer, please head to acornvehiclestorage.com/porscheclub and enter the code ‘PorscheclubGB’ at the bottom of our application form.
Promotion ends 31/12/2025. For all terms and conditions, please head to our website.
The Club has negotiated a whole range of exclusive discounts and incentives for our members from more than 50 companies and organisations. These cover a wide range of products and services to help you make the most of your Club membership and your Porsche.
Simply scan the QR code here and you’ll be directed to the full list of discounts on our website. Once logged in to your account, you can access the necessary discount codes or exclusive links to help save you money. If you know of a business that would be open to offering Club members a discount, please ask them to contact the Clubhouse team to see what can be arranged.
MONEY, NO OBJECTS?
How will the globaleconomicupheaval aroundtariffs affect Porsche7
WORDS:RICHARDGOTCH
0n April 2, President
Donald Trump began a renewed assault on the centuries of global trade that brought down the cost of pretty much everything. 'Liberation Day', he claimed, would free the USA from exploitation by 'cheaters' and 'scavengers' who have 'plundered' the American economy for decades.
Like a dark shadow in a horror film, tariffs have been on the horizon since the beginning of this new chapter in American history. European and Asian vehicle manufacturers have been hiring ships, ramping up production and diverting supplies from other countries to fill US showrooms before they bite. Porsche, the Wall Street Journal reported, sold 37 per cent more new cars to its US dealers than in the same quarter last year.
Why? Because the starting point for the new tariffs is 25 per cent on all vehicles and vehicle components imported into the USA. The only exception is those vehicles that meet the requirements of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), for which there is a conventional Rules of Origin-type sliding scale where the charge is determined by the level of local content.
To put some numbers on this, prices for the US market's favourite Porsche, the Cayenne, run from $85,000 to $161,000 plus options. Every one sold in the USA is imported, so tariffs could add at least $20,000 for a typical sale (not forgetting that they are charged on value at the docks, not the sticker price at the retailer). The USA accounts for around a third of Porsche's global sales, so you can see why there will be many sleepless nights in Stuttgart.
RISKYBUSINESS
Although often described as a blunt instrument, tariffs are in
reality a complex topic that the auto industry is skilled at navigating. At their heart is one of the most misunderstood of the major influences on automotive footprint planning: Rules of Origin.
Let's look at an example. Porsche buys many of its EV batteries from German supplier Draxlmaier, but these are comprised of hundreds of costly battery cells supplied by Korean company LG Energy, which buys the cell materials from China. The 'total possible tariff' for goods from South Korea is 50 per cent, while the 'total possible tariff' for goods from China is 145 per cent (at the time of writing). To what extent are the batteries European, Korean or Chinese?
Within a Free Trade Agreement, which appears to be Trump's aim in negotiations, standard practice is to calculate tariffs based on the value added in a country, setting thresholds that allow some balancing by the vehicle manufacturers. Without an FTA, US Customs determines the location of the most 'Substantial Transformation'. In 2019, they decided that Volvo cars assembled in Sweden were Chinese and would be treated as such. Penalties for disagreeing with their decision have already been set at a level that suggests there must be no risk of a divergence of opinion.
Does this justify Porsche setting up a US assembly plant?
The Substantial Transformation bar is likely to remain significantly lower for domestic manufacturing, but it would still require localisation of significant chunks of the supply chain. Under the current rules, the need to source from the USA would also be driven by the new 25 per cent tariff on imported components. With around 75 per cent of the value of a typical European vehicle created by the suppliers
(according to industry association CLEPA) and every component having been through a rigorous test programme, re-sourcing introduces unwelcome costs, complexity and risksespecially during the life of an existing model.
As an example of what can go wrong, I once worked with a supplier that was suffering repeated and costly warranty claims for failed fuel injectors, but nothing seemed to have changed from the specification proven in durability testing. They looked deep into the supply chain and discovered that the third-tier supplier of the electromagnetic coils had changed its fourth-tier supplier of the resin in which the coils were embedded. It turned out that the slightly different compound was being softened by exposure to fuel.
FOLLOWTHEMONEY
The other challenge with local manufacture is cost. The body of these fuel injectors were cast, heat-treated and machined in Germany because they required capital-intensive equipment to deliver the necessary precision. Justifying that investment meant
feeding every component of that type through one plant. During Brexit, a government minister asked me why my client wouldn't establish a similar plant in the UK. It only needed the back of an envelope to show how far off reality that idea was.
How about low-capital/ high-labour processes like, say, the manufacture of vehicle wiring harnesses? The footprint for manufacturing this type of system is more mobile because much less investment in plant is required and it's relatively easy to train new line workers. That also makes it more suitable for localisation at modest volumes.
When I was last employed in this field, Eastern European countries were becoming more expensive. Responding to these changes, the company was finding cheaper locations for labour-intensive processes. Much of the harness work went to Morocco; a relatively
easy decision based on the low cost of labour and the astonishing level of government incentives. Imagine moving the manufacture of this surprisingly high-value system to a new American factory with an expensive, unionised workforce. You wouldn't even need the back of an envelope to see the impact on the price of the vehicle. Would it be more than the new 25 per cent tariff on imported vehicle components? That's a calculation that many suppliers will be working on through long nights.
THEBALANCEOFTRADE
There is also the uncertainty over reciprocation. China, for example, has a long-term industrial strategy that uses global soft power to control the supply of many high-value processed materials, especially those needed for the most cost-effective designs of
high-efficiency electric vehicle motors and traction batteries. Predictably, China has announced restrictions on exports of many of these vital materials to the USA. This introduces another challenge: unpredictability, and not only in Trump's tariffs themselves but in how other countries will respond. Any American manufacturing operation would have to export to create sufficient volume (BMW's Spartanburg plant exported 225,000 cars last year), but 'reciprocal tariffs' aren't a uniquely American weapon - the destination countries for American exports may impose their own.
It's also possible that, despite American threats of additional revenge tariffs, the governments of automanufacturing nations will step in to retain manufacturing in their countries. There are a
lot of possibilities, including economic development zones, infrastructure improvements (Morocco built an entirely new sea container port), tax breaks and help with investments. According to Inga Fechner, an economist at Dutch bank ING, German vehicle manufacturers are the most exposed to the new auto industry tariffs, but it is Slovakia - known as 'Europe's Detroit' because it produces more cars per head of population than any other country worldwide - that could be most creative. Slovakia is home to Cayenne manufacturing and its low production costs are one of the reasons that Porsche consistently achieves a higher return on sales than its German rivals. This is how trade wars escalate.
The fact that gold - a traditional store of wealth in difficult times - recently reached an all-time high tells us everything we need to know about the chaos that is being inflicted on the global economy and the security of nations. The Porsche-Piech family seems to agree; they have just announced that they could spend up to €2bn to buy a defence business.
FROMTHE
PCGBChairman
Nick Taylorlooks at the road ahead
It turns out that about one per cent of members participated in our AGM, either physically, online or by proxy. That's exceptionally low for any organisation and the apparent apathy stirred outrage in some members.
I'm not so sure. While I'm grateful to those who participated, I'm reminded that most folks join a golf club to play golf. So long as the greens are in good condition, tee-off slots are available and the '19th hole' is well stocked, they don't really care about 'club management'.
The analogy is clear, so I'll take it as a win. But, for the benefit of the 99 per cent who didn't attend, here are the main issues that were discussed.
The Club is in good shape, but we face challenges and need to address them. Costs are rising faster than revenues. There is a lot of competition for Porsche enthusiasts' attention and rather too many members are leaving.
These are all interconnected. If we didn't lose more than 20 per cent of our members every year, we wouldn't have the same revenue challenge. Also, many younger members leave because they find us worthy but rather old-fashioned. They can get their Porsche fix easily elsewhere, whether locally or online.
A revised Porsche Post and United by the Drive were key initial steps in addressing our image. You will see more initiatives to broaden our appeal and make the Club more modern and slightly less male, white and middle-aged. We will be the biggest and best Porsche community in Europe.
This month, we're launching a new series of YouTube films and podcasts. These are fundamentally a marketing channel to differentiate us and demonstrate the breadth and depth of our Club to all Porsche enthusiasts, the majority of whom are wholly unaware of us. We will cover all facets of Porsche ownership and enthusiasm, so please take a look and listen.
Over the summer, we will have some new events and tours -for more, please see P19. These acknowledge that Regions and Registers can't always satisfy demand, so there will be more next year.
All the above costs money and we need to look much more seriously at commercial revenue opportunities to pay for them. Whether this is advertising, sponsorship, merchandise or pricing, we believe there's very broad untapped potential. We've also strengthened our board to help address our objectives.
Sandra Pollock OBE has joined as Director -Diversity and Inclusion. Sandra is a renowned expert on this as well as an enthusiastic Guards Red 944 driver. She's been advising the board for 18 months and we have appreciated her counsel on many matters. She will help develop and oversee various initiatives to broaden our
"WEWILLBETHEBIGGESTANDBEST
appeal across age, race, gender and more. Franck Marie has joined as Commercial Advisor and it's our intention to co-opt him as Commercial Director as soon as possible. As well as being the long-standing 911 SC Register Director, Franck has had an outstanding motorsport commercial, marketing and sales career. This includes working with Ford, GM, ExxonMobil, IHG and many world-class teams. For the last 15 years, he has been running his classics parts business -PAF Classics.
Such is the importance of the commercial opportunity for the Club, we will build a small expert volunteer commercial team to address it coherently. I want to thank Andy Simpson who, after recently stepping down as Commercial Director, will remain part of this team effort. After many months of very significant effort, Andy proved beyond any doubt that the job is bigger than one person. By the end of this new board, which is April 2027, we will have spent some of our cash but hope to have a bigger, more high-profile and more profitable modern Club that truly appeals to all Porsche enthusiasts. PP
OVER 850 MEMBERS ALREADY BOOKED!
RETURN TO THE KING
RUF’s CTR ‘Yellowbird’ was a sensation when Jesse Crosse travelled to the company’s Pfaffenhausen home to drive it to the max.
Thirty-six years later, and with the aid of a new interview with Alois Ruf, he tells the tale with the help of the original images
Words: Jesse Crosse Photos: Tim Andrew
Even by today’s standards, 211mph is a big number.
Most Porsche enthusiasts will recognise it as the speed which earned Ruf Automobile’s CTR Yellowbird the title of ‘fastest production car in the world’ in April 1987 during Road & Track’s competition to find just that. Then, in a test with the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport at the Nardò Ring the following year, it went even faster and reached a staggering 213mph. That’s impressive, phenomenal even, but even those top speeds don’t convey the sensation of an all-out assault on the mind and body the CTR gives from the driving seat.
Company founder Alois Ruf had taken the family garage business over on his father’s death in 1974, began by tuning cars and built the first complete Ruf 911 – a 930 Turbo – in 1975. One successful project led to another and, in 1981, the company was awarded manufacturer status by the German Federal Transport Authority, the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA). When I caught up with Ruf recently for the first time since 1989, he explained how that remarkable change of status came about. “It was requested by Porsche that it should be this way and we are a completely separate entity,” he explained. “In that way, there would be no liability issues.”
Ruf Automobile gained the unique accolade of being the only company to
be supplied with body-in-white shells from the Porsche factory as a basis for its own new cars. But, when the 928 was launched in 1978, there were rumours that Porsche would be discontinuing the 911 and the company’s fortunes really began to change. Customers started asking Ruf if he would be able to build them 911s from parts after factory production had ceased, and so the die was cast.
THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT
Thirty-six years ago, I set off to the airport on a trip to Germany to drive a 911. That wasn’t so unusual for a motoring hack in the 1980s, except this 911 was not manufactured by Porsche, but by Ruf Automobile. I would be driving
one of 29 production examples of the CTR Yellowbird. It was identical to the recordbreaking prototype in every respect, except for the Naca ducts behind the rear wheel arches which had been replaced by the familiar smooth bodywork of a Carrera.
“We thought the openings would work in our favour, but they did not. We learned that later,” Ruf chuckled. “We were still the fastest car, though.” Would it have been faster without the Naca ducts? “I doubt it. We had reached the cut-off speed of the engine in fifth gear and overcome the ‘rubber wall’ of air resistance, but the car wouldn’t run faster. We would have needed a taller gear to find out if the ducts would increase the top speed.”
Ruf’s headquarters are in the small town of Pfaffenhausen, about an hour and a
half’s drive to the west of Munich. The neat premises looked much like any other well-presented town garage and a far cry from the huge industrial setting of most major manufacturers. Met by Ruf himself, we chatted about details for some time and walked around a sister car that was in the process of being built before strapping into the yellow beast and going for a drive.
SEIZE THE FIRE
Based as it was on a 3.2 Carrera rather than the 930 Turbo, it felt familiar but unfamiliar: a kind of mash-up of racing car and production road car, the trimmed interior contrasting with deep bucket seats, bright red Sabelt competition full-harness seat belts and a full roll cage. The threespoke steering wheel with a Ruf logo at its
centre was bespoke but, although it didn’t resonate at the time, the most unusual feature was the gear knob embossed not with the four-speed ‘H’-pattern gate of a 930 Turbo, nor the five-speed symbol of the 3.2 Carrera with first gear in top left, but first was bottom left on a dogleg and reverse was immediately above it. The flat six fired up with that familiar rumble and we eased away from the forecourt, but that’s where the similarity with other 911s I’d driven ended. The original CTRs weighed around 1,150kg depending on the spec (this one had air conditioning). They are rear-wheel-drive and there’s no ABS or interventional electronics of any kind, just the twin-turbo engine developing 469bhp and 408lb/ft torque (compared to 317lb/ft for a 930
“Top speeds don’t convey the sensation of an all-out assault on the mind and body the CTR gives from the driving seat”
Turbo), transmission, tyres and brakes. Launching the Yellowbird from standstill in pursuit of some acceleration times against the stopwatch is a brutal experience. It’s one of those ‘don’t forget to breathe’ moments because everything from then on happens so quickly, it’s hard to keep up.
First gear, 7,000rpm and 50mph are over in a flash, so be prepared to shift firmly into second. The gearbox has that heavy synchromesh of the 930 or 915 transmissions and there’s no rushing things. Being careful not to touch reverse on the
way through the gate, second gear is when the CTR gets into its stride and the rate of acceleration is suddenly colossal, with 86mph coming up in around six-and-a-half seconds and 100mph about a second later. Breathe, but there’s no respite from the explosive and unrelenting pace which shows no sign of abating.
Then 125mph comes up a few seconds after that and, incomprehensibly, the CTR just keeps rushing towards the horizon, the speed increasing at a bewildering rate with that flat, intoxicating blare of the twin-turbo
flat six effectively overwhelming any other sound. The CTR feels a tad short-geared because it is slightly and, as Ruf says, the record-breaking top speed of the original was curtailed by the rev limit rather than aerodynamics. For that reason, the pace might easily catch the unwary, with objects appearing in the far distance suddenly looming large in the windscreen as the usual unconscious assessments of speed and distance become almost futile.
Launching the Yellowbird from rest needs a rethink too. Acceleration test runs in
factory 911s back then could be quite tricky in the dry. Traction was well matched to torque and, rather than some wheelspin acting like a clutch for a smooth getaway, the tyres would grip, bogging the car down. That isn’t what happens in the CTR. Despite plenty of grip from the 10-inchwide rear tyres, merely flooring the throttle in first is enough to spin the wheels uselessly and taking second soon after launch pays off. It’s best to be deliberate with the second gear change, resisting the temptation to snatch or rush the lever
through the gate and being certain the gear is fully engaged. Second to third demands the same treatment and, while you’re being slammed into the driving seat, there’s a strong sense of having a tiger by the tail.
MAKING LIGHT WORK
To give the performance some context, the current 911 Turbo S develops 641bhp and weighs 1,640kg. It’s also packed with electronic safety systems to protect the driver from getting into trouble. On a like-for-like basis in terms of what ‘kerb weight’ means,
the CTR weighs only 1,150kg so the difference is 490kg – almost half a tonne. Power-to-weight ratio is a good way to compare performance rather than relying on power figures alone. Thanks mainly to its simplicity and light weight, the CTR bettered most ‘traditional’ supercars of the day in this respect. The Yellowbird has a power-to-weight ratio of 407bhp per tonne, the Ferrari F40 has 375bhp per tonne and today’s 911 Turbo S has 390bhp per tonne. Ferrari’s Testarossa was bettered by almost 100bhp per tonne.
“after 36 years and many tests of performance cars later, it still stands out as something special”
In-car audio has changed a lot since 1989
Ruf is the only company allowed by Porsche to register their own VIN
You’ll be needing all of that speedometer
Then there’s the supporting technology. There isn’t any in the CTR – no PDK transmission, no launch control and no traction or stability control, just raw power matched to a well-considered chassis, tyre choice and slick aerodynamics. The brakes, which are based on those of the Group C 962, are phenomenal. With the tactile feedback through the pedal of a true racing brake and producing exceptional stopping power, they are a comfort and are easily capable of dealing with the car’s wild exuberance. Despite the stupendous performance, the CTR still feels like a 911 and corners like one, though perhaps with more progressive turn-in, no washout and tightening the line with judicious application of the mighty powerplant. Turbocharged engines of the 1980s were nothing like those of today, which suffer virtually no discernible lag. Variable geometry technology giving a crisp response from a turbo that may be spooling down or cruising didn’t exist and lag is something to be reckoned with by modern standards. Despite that, the engine in the Yellowbird still felt gutsy at 2,500rpm, would get going at 3,500rpm, and really started to sing at 4,000rpm.
Like the factory 930 Turbo, it’s a kind of ‘back-to-front’ turbo response, getting into its stride at relatively high revs where the emphasis these days is for boost to begin as low down the rev range as possible. A pleasing advantage of old-school turbocharging is the slingshot feel it gives as the boost pressure builds up, as if you are on the end of a giant bungee cord. With all that going on, the CTR, which was designed and built to achieve the highest speed possible, feels solid and stable at speeds well into three figures and there’s no waywardness of that light front end.
PORSCHE, PERFECTED
CTR stands for ‘Group C Turbo Ruf’, a nod to the legendary 962 Group C car, and its powerplant is designed to resemble that of the Le Mans racer. Surprisingly, the engine is not based on the 930 Turbo engine but that of the 3.2 Carrera, which itself had been elevated beyond the SC by adding the longer stroke (74.4mm) 930 crankshaft, raising the capacity from 3.0 litres to 3,164cc. Increasing the bore from 95mm to 98mm opens the capacity of the CTR to 3,366cc or, in round figures, 3.4 litres.
“The 3.2 was the base engine, but the intake turbocharger manifolds were our own and so were the exhaust headers,” Ruf explained. “The oil lubrication system was ours and so was the suction system for the turbochargers, which had to be drained of oil by the pump.” The turbochargers were also specified by Ruf and made by the same world-famous firm which also supplied the turbocharger for the factory 930 Turbo. “There was pretty much only one supplier at the time,” he recalls, “and that was Triple K – Kühnle, Kopp & Kausch – which today is BorgWarner.”
The Motronic injection and ignition system had to be re-mapped in conjunction with Bosch but, although achieving the power was straightforward enough, Ruf said it took a year of tuning work to make the car driveable. The oil tank, which sits in the rear wheel arch area in a normal 911, was moved forward to free up space and rebalance the weight as well. The front brakes were given 330mm rotors, while the four-pot calipers were designed by Ruf to resemble those of the 962 and commissioned from Brembo.
Despite appearances, the body shell is not based on the 930 Turbo. “It wasn’t really a wide body in the sense of the Turbo,” Ruf says. “We widened the Carrera fender flares
by one inch on each side because we needed to have larger wheels at the rear – we used a 10-inch wheel – and we had also removed the rain gutters. If we had used the wide body, it would have made too much air resistance.” The arches were crafted in-house, then welded and blended into the body using traditional lead-loading rather than filler. The 10-inch wheels were also designed in-house and complemented by eight-inch rims at the front.
Make no mistake, the CTR was designed specifically to win Road & Track’s World’s Fastest Car competition. That would be held at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track in northern Germany. Ruf had won it previously
in 1984 at a top speed of 186mph with its 930 ‘narrow body’ Turbo BTR (Group B Turbo Ruf) and was invited back in 1987.
“We knew after the first event what Road & Track was looking for,” Ruf explains.
“At the first event, most participants didn’t know what to expect, thinking it might perhaps just be a nice photoshoot. But, in fact, it was a very serious high-speed run, performed by two very famous racing drivers: Phil Hill and Paul Frère. Having been part of that in 1984, we were well-prepared. We had driven the car on the autobahn, we established what the engine cut-out speed was and we knew we could achieve somewhere over 330kmh [205mph]. With that information,
we went to the high-speed event and, sure enough, won it overall.”
ONE STEP FURTHER
One of the most intriguing aspects of the Yellowbird is the transmission.
The four-speed 915 gearbox of the Carrera 3.2 didn’t have the capacity to handle the Yellowbird’s substantially increased torque. The 930 gearbox was the strongest available, but it only had four gears. Neither gearbox had the ratio spread to achieve the desired top speed, so the team was stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
To overcome the problem, Ruf’s chief engineer Joseph Huber designed a modified
version of the four-speed gearbox, tucking a fifth gear into the casing. Although closely resembling the original, all the casings were re-manufactured. For all intents and purposes, it was a new gearbox.
“It was the Ruf five-speed gearbox that we used on all the Porsche 930s,” recalls Ruf. “A new nosecone had space for the extra gear, which was first gear. Even the bell-housing was shorter to make room for the extra gear and the driving gear ratios were all changed so everything would be in harmony and fit well. It made a big impact and produced a much better car overall. It was also a very successful gearbox in its own right and made us quite famous –people don’t usually design gearboxes!”
There was an unexpected bonus during my visit (as if driving the Yellowbird wasn’t enough) and that was being invited to try a prototype of Ruf’s latest creation: a six-speed gearbox which would shortly go into production. In 1987, Porsche introduced a new five-speed gearbox for the 3.2 Carrera which is known today as the G50. Following the success of the modified four-speed, Ruf and his team had an idea: why not take the same approach with the new five-speed and add an extra gear?
That’s exactly what happened. By adding a new ‘nose piece’ (or end casing) to the existing transaxle gearbox, it was possible to accommodate the extra ratio. Compared to the Yellowbird transmission (and all
“The engine in the Yellowbird still felt gutsy at 2,500rpm, would get going at 3,500rpm, and really started to sing at 4,000rpm”
pre-1987 3.2s), the shift was smooth and easy to handle. Ruf explained the difference was because although it was a Getrag gearbox, the G50 syncromesh was a BorgWarner design rather than Porsche, as was also the case for the 915. Today, the standard G50 is flaunted in sales literature as being the most desirable, but some drivers who have spent enough time with the curmudgeonly earlier ones might miss the involvement they give.
Since the Yellowbird, Ruf Automobile has grown from employing just 47 people to 100. Its current models include the Ruf SCR and the Ruf Rodeo, which are both based on Ruf’s own carbon fibre monocoque, and ‘restomodifications’ like the RCT Conversion based on a 964 and the TurboR based on the 993. The Yellowbird’s successor, the Ruf CTR Anniversary, was launched at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the record-breaking car. It was bang up to date, with a Ruf-designed all-carbon fibre body shell and a 3.6-litre, 700bhp engine that gave it a top speed of more than 223mph. Accelerating to 125mph in nine seconds, it truly pays homage to the original prototype and all 50 of the limited-edition run were sold by 2021.
RING THE CHANGES
The story wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the video ‘Faszination on the Nürburgring’. If you haven’t had the pleasure, the film features extended clips of Stefan Roser driving the Yellowbird flat out and sideways in a way that could earn the caption ‘don’t try this at home’.
It started out as a promotional video for the company recorded on VHS tape that was made when the Nürburgring hadn’t gained the cult status it has today, but ended up almost defining the concept of a car video ‘going viral.’
Ruf explained the background and the reason for making it. “The video happened in 1989, the year you came to visit. It was the spectacular run on the Nürburgring Nordschleife and was just supposed to capture a couple of exciting shots because we wanted to create an image that would not be boring, as so many promotional videos were at the time. From that, we made a full movie of the Nordschleife for hardcore enthusiasts who really wanted to learn more about the famous race circuit.”
“While you’re being slammed into the driving seat, there’s a strong sense of having a tiger by the tail”
After returning to base that day in 1989, there was time for some more conversation with the amicable Ruf before we left Pfaffenhausen, still hardly believing any high-performance car could be so perfectly executed and by such a small company. It’s a memory that has endured to this day and, after 36 years and many tests of performance cars later, it still stands out as something special. An already enduring love of that particular era of 911 had been reinforced and I was left with an incurable case of the ‘I wants’ but, needless to say, their value has soared since then. A new CTR cost DM380,000 in 1989, around £321,500 in today’s money, and one made headlines recently by selling for $6,055,000 (£4,522,116) at Gooding & Company’s Amelia Island Auctions. Out of reach for most, perhaps, but not bad for a truly breathtaking experience. PP
The narrower rear arches, deep front air dam and removal of rain gutters give the CTR its own unique style
Alois Ruf examines a turbocharger, 36 years ago
PORSCHE GOES
No, really. The latest Heritage Design edition is a ’70s disco ball with hybrid power
Words: Stephen Dobie photos: porsche ag
PSYCHEDELIC
Porsche’s newest Heritage Design special edition was developed under the working title ‘Psychedelic’. Fitting, given the decade the 911 Spirit 70 celebrates, but perhaps a surprise given that the car debuts in Olive Neo, a new shade of green that amalgamates several Porsche tones from the era.
The Spirit 70 represents the third of a four-chapter series of 992s and it follows the ’50s Targa 4S Heritage Design Edition and ’60s Sport Classic. Just 1,500 will be made, with UK prices starting at £187,700 −a £40,000 hike on the Carrera GTS Cabriolet which forms its core and within touching distance of the latest GT3 RS. That said, Porsche has a knack for knowing what customers want and many collectors will be quick to add this to a garage already filled to the brim with Heritage specials.
“Its main theme for me is contrast, with its colours, graphics and patterns,” says Porsche Design’s Thorsten Klein, whose experience includes racing cars and their liveries. “We’ve created a package that appears complete but, the more you look at it, the more Easter eggs you find. The ’70s are maybe the easiest decade to put a package together with. In the ’50s, the cars were less decorative, so we didn’t want to overload the Targa. With the ’70s, there was no risk of overloading –that’s exactly what you expect from it.”
SAFETY FIRST
The Spirit 70 has essentially allowed the design team off the leash, with one of its most striking elements being the comeback of safety stripes on the front bonnet. They replicate a feature available on ’70s Porsches to help them loom larger in the rear-view mirror of drivers ahead, whether on the circuit or the autobahn. Here, they come in black or a more vibrant amber, orange and red setup. Either way, the stripes continue over the fabric hood of this soft-top-only special, which required painstaking work to line everything up during this car’s development programme.
“We know that our customers can do anything with it and sometimes it will be, let’s say, a bit funky”
“Every generation has so many lovingly designed or engineered details that you can do something with”
Then there’s the Pascha trim inside, marking the return of a fabric made famous across a host of Porsche sports cars in the late ’70s and early ’80s. It covers almost every interior surface, is available in olive or silver hues, and called for yet more laser-focused R&D.
“You cannot simply put the old fabrics in a modern car,” Boris Apenbrink, Head of Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, tells Porsche Post. “You have completely different requirements on durability, fireproofing, et cetera. In China, you must even approve what kind of smell a material makes, so every technical development of a pattern results in a new fabric.”
He’s so proud of what was achieved that new-age Pascha adorns the seat backs, boot floor and inside the glovebox, running with an idea that cropped up with the Spirit 70’s predecessor.
“With our 911 Sport Classic edition, we had Pepita as our patterned trim to honour the ’60s. One customer asked via our Sonderwunsch bespoke programme if they could trim the glovebox in Pepita too. We hadn’t done it before, but thought we’d try. If you peek into a car manufacturer’s brain, everything is very complicated. With the glovebox, you have to measure the weight and the closing mechanism. If the new trim is heavier, it could open up in a crash and hurt somebody, so we must perform new crash tests.”
More safety tests were a byproduct of heritage Porsche crests which adorn the bonnet, wheels, key and – crucially – the airbag hub, while Boris’ team spent a surprisingly large sum of money morphing the typically red Sport Response button to black, thus avoiding a clash within its already bold interior. Porsche may be letting its hair down with these specials, but engineering nous remains engrained in even the chintziest of changes.
THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE
That also explains its powertrain. GTS spec means the latest 541hp T-Hybrid setup,
exclusively linked to an eight-speed PDK transmission. “Today, you can only have a manual transmission on the Carrera T,” Boris says, “and, because of the cost of what we’re doing, it makes sense to go with the upper engine derivatives. While a lot of our customers like a manual from time to time, if you ask them honestly, they want PDK in their car.”
Perhaps more of a surprise is the Olive Neo signature tone rather than acid orange, green or purple. Both designers admit to enjoying the surprise factor it offers and, while 70 per cent of buyers are likely to stick with the default (ensuring their car matches all the collectable promo material), Thorsten sees Porsche’s launch specification
as a mere jumping-off point. Personalisation remains the name of the game and dozens of Paint to Sample colours are already in the Spirit 70 configurator.
“We defined ‘our’ package for the Spirit 70, but we know that our customers can do anything with it and sometimes it will be, let’s say, a bit funky,” he says. “I can imagine one customer ordering this car with Paint to Sample lilac and a green interior, because that’s the hippie thing [of the iconic 917 racer]. And why not make the customer happy?”
“We’ve had continuous demand, especially in the GT models,” Boris adds. “Over the past three years, we’ve tried to increase the number we can produce
“The more you look at it, the more Easter eggs you find”
massively. We came from a 1,000 orders a year to 5,400 Paint to Sample cars in 2024, but demand is more like 15,000. We have approval from the board to scale the business up. This means big investment in infrastructure. We have two paint shops in Zuffenhausen, one for the 911 and one for the Taycan, the latter being more modern and capable of a higher output. We will now connect the two so that we can steer 911s into the Taycan paint shop to increase the number of Paint to Sample cars we can produce.
“We have around 190 Paint to Sample colours at the moment. A colour can start here and go down the chain to become an
Ignore the genuine Berlin nightclub surroundings and feast your eyes on those design details. Every one required a surprising amount of engineering input.
Exclusive Manufaktur option, or even beyond to regular series production if it has a continuously high take rate. Oak Green Metallic is a very good example of that happening.”
SPECIAL CASES
Enthusiasts still not sold on the Spirit 70 might be a lot keener on what comes next. Expect Porsche’s ’80s special, due in around two years, to represent a more mechanical upgrade – perhaps with that hallowed manual gearbox. It feels safe to assume the culture of the 911 Turbo will feed into its swagger as it concludes this particular set of Heritage Design cars, but what follows that?
“I think a lot about the Cayenne at the moment,” Boris admits. “This could be the next entry gate for being a Heritage model. I really like the E1s now, especially when they look off-road-ready with a roof tent and all the stickers. I’ve even seen the first Cayenne groups at top-level car events like Amelia Island, all set up with their barbecue grills. It’s fun to see it develop its own community.”
“It never ends,” Thorsten adds. “The 996 has special design cues that you could reinterpret in the future. Every generation has so many lovingly designed or engineered details that you can do something with. Especially for customers who might see them only on a second glance.” PP
THE INSIDE TRACK
Even a GT car can’t just turn up at a trackday on the spur of the moment, so proper preparation is key
Words: Adam Towler Photos: Sam Carmody
Porsche’s GT Department specials have come to dominate the trackday scene, both in the UK and around the world. There can be no greater confirmation of Porsche’s excellence in this arena than to walk down a pit lane at any given circuit past rows of GT3s, GT3 RSs, GT4s and the like. They have become the de facto choice and with good reason. Not only do they clearly offer the expected levels of performance, driver interaction and reward, but they’re also famously hardy, able to soak up punishment on the day and don’t require lengthy and expensive maintenance after every outing.
Then again, every working machine needs to be taken care of and circuit driving places an incredible strain on a car. Every mile you drive on a circuit equates to many multiples of road miles for wear and tear on components. Even something as fit-forpurpose as a GT3 needs an understanding approach. Consider too that if you were to move up to a purpose-built track car such as the Cayman GT4 Sprint or a 911 Carrera Cup, you’d automatically be into maintenance by hours, which can get very expensive when it comes to an engine strip-down and rebuild. Having a manufacturer’s fixed servicing schedule doesn’t miraculously exonerate you from good practice.
To find out more, we went along to RPM Technik in Hertfordshire. As specialists in this area – and technical advisors to the Club on GT cars – they’re well placed to know all the ins and outs of maintenance, trackday prep and appropriate modifications. With a rather menacing-looking black 992 GT3 RS in the workshop as our guinea pig, we decided to go through each area of the car in turn to find out what needs checking or replacement.
GET PLUGGED IN
The first thing to know is that Porsche recommends a different service schedule if you intend to use your GT car heavily
on track. RPM’s Technical Director Ollie Preston grabs the PIWIS tablet, the official Porsche diagnostic tool, and explains: “We start by plugging in and taking a VAL [Vehicle Analysis Log]. It’s hooked up to Porsche, so they can see what we’re doing, and it also shows any warranty or recall info and gives us full details on the car.
“There’s actually a separate track servicing schedule that Porsche publishes, with an engine oil change at every 3,000 miles and an oil and filter change every 6,000 miles, but there’s also attention to things like the centre lock wheel nuts, hubs and replacing wheel bearings on the rear axle. Every 12,000 miles, it’s the turn of the drive shafts and front wheel bearing housing. As you can see, there’s more maintenance required than people think.”
It’s important to remember that this is 12,000 track miles in the case of components such as the driveshafts, not road miles. That’s why Ollie recommends keeping a detailed log of all the trackdays you do and the corresponding mileages. Such bookkeeping isn’t vanity; it’s a crucial aspect of maximising the performance of your car and ensuring your own safety.
“The basic stuff you do when a car comes in, particularly after a trackday, is to check bearings and suspension components for play and look for any debris in the vents – you don’t want to restrict those, particularly on these later cars. Check the splitter at the front, making sure nothing is hanging off. Tyre wear is important, so we look for even wear – you don’t want to be scrubbing tyres either.”
As we speak, senior technician Ricky Nash has the car up in the air and is checking the surprisingly complex underside, which is dominated by an almost completely flat floor but also features various plastic ducts, slats and fins, directing air for cooling and aerodynamic purposes. Run the car too low in its setup and you risk damaging important parts.
“every working machine needs to be taken care of and circuit driving places an incredible strain on a car”
Specific things to look out for vary from model to model. One such example is the air intakes on 991 RS models, which can easily fill up with pieces of gravel and especially if the car has had an ‘off’. This becomes readily apparent if the car is having an air filter change.
Another obvious check is brake pads, but Ollie cautions about just giving them a casual glance. “Because the pads are so big, quite a lot of people look at the top and think there’s loads left on them. But, in reality, because you’re pressing so hard on the pedal on trackdays, you tend to wear them at the bottom of the pad like a wedge. There can be excessive wear at the bottom of the pad on the leading edge and that can go through to the back and damage the disc.
“Having a manufacturer’s fixed servicing schedule doesn’t miraculously exonerate you from good practice”
As the brake pad wears down, the heat transfer to the caliper becomes quicker and then you cook the fluid a lot quicker. The first half of the pad wears a lot slower than the second half.”
As many readers will be aware, damaging one of Porsche’s giant carbon ceramic discs is a painful prospect. Expect to pay nearly £40,000 for a complete set. Gulp
Ollie says the jury is still out on whether to actually use the factory carbon discs if you’re a dedicated trackday goer. When the carbon ceramic discs first started appearing on Porsche GT cars, taking them off and replacing them with conventional iron discs was a popular modification. Today, with the progression of technology, such an approach isn’t automatically necessary.
Precise laser measurement of suspension alignment is crucial to achieving the appropriate geometry setup
“Some people put them in a box, others see how they get on with them on the car,” he says. “If you regularly keep an eye on them, they don’t just suddenly fail overnight. You can see when they’re starting to wear and that’s sometimes the point people look for an alternative so they can put the originals away and maintain the value of the car.”
The RPM Technik workshop has a special digital tool for checking their integrity. Once, it was necessary to weigh them, but now a reading that confirms their density can be taken in an instant.
And therein lies one of the strange conundrums of buying a GT car:
“Everybody always wants one of these original when they buy one [second-hand] and not one that’s been tracked,” Ollie notes. “Usually, that’s before tracking the car themselves…”
STRAIGHT TO THE POINT
One of the absolutely crucial aspects to get right with any Porsche, and particularly a GT car where you’re going to be driving it close to the limit, is the geometry settings of the suspension. GT cars are designed to be completely adjustable, unlike more regular Porsche models, and by this we mean that the precise angle and position of the wheels relative to the body can be set. As anyone with even a smattering of car knowledge will know, the values of such things as toe
in or out, camber and so on all have a huge effect how a car can drive. They can mean the difference between a car that’s verging on being downright dangerous to one that feels perfectly in tune with the driver.
Of course, Porsche sets all its cars up at the factory before delivery, but this doesn’t automatically mean you can simply forget about such matters – even on a brand-new car. For starters, the values that Porsche dial in will inevitably be a compromise between road driving and circuit work and will also be set to keep most drivers happy most of the time. Personal usage, driver ability and preference profiles will mean a setup can be dialled in to an individual’s taste.
Notwithstanding this, a new car also takes time to settle onto its suspension and, as
Ricky shows once he’s hooked this barely run-in 992 GT3 RS to his flat floor base and lasers, it has moved – it’s not perfect. “We tend to suggest alignment is done once a year,” Ricky says, “but, if you’re a heavy track user and running over the kerbs a lot, maybe try twice a year. If you’ve had a spin, we’ll check afterwards anyway.”
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?
Another area of adjustment is with the car’s ride height. “If you’re doing more circuit work, you may want to try and bring the centre of gravity a little further down,” Ricky notes. “But you don’t want to go too low, because you’ve got a lot of aero on these cars pushing them down and lots of underbody parts, and you don’t want to be having an impact under a serious compression. On the other hand, if it’s a road car, you want the ability to go over speed bumps and still be usable.”
There are subtleties between the different models too. For example, on this 992 RS, with its significant aerodynamic performance, Ricky is mindful of not introducing too much camber given that the tyres are already being pushed down hard into the road’s surface. He also says they’re actually softening off the front end’s response because many find the ‘double wishbone’ cars too sensitive to changes in direction, especially at high speed.
THE SAME OLD STORY
Of course, the GT car lineage stretches back over a quarter of a century now and what might have once been routine maintenance for a 996 GT3 or a 997 RS is now something entirely different.
Naturally, there are still owners of the older cars who want to track their cars and track them hard. Given their capabilities and the purer, more analogue experience they offer where the driver is arguably even more important, why wouldn’t you? However, the majority of trackday goers want the latest, fastest, most capable Porsche their budget allows, so the market for the older models is now dominated by collectors. That’s a very different set of priorities.
“We’ve got one coming in early next week,” Ollie notes, as we congregate around a 996.1 GT3 in his projects workshop. “That one’s a Club Sport and it’s got the Cup car low ratio crown and pinion, the brakes from the Mk2 with the six pots [brake calipers], various solid links – a lot of Cup car bits on it. But the owner has all the original parts and it’s coming in to have everything put back to original, because I think that’s the way they’re going now.”
As ever, the real value is in originality.
If you are preparing an early car for a trackday, the inspection starts with reassuring familiarity for anyone with a 996-generation 911: checking for debris in the radiators. As ever, this generation of 911s is prone to getting all manner of stuff collecting down in the corners of the openings which, if left, can trap moisture and then corrode the air conditioning and coolant radiators nestled deep in the nose.
From there, it’s a check of all those usual suspension arms, and specifically their bushes, for wear and play – like you would for any 996, really, although they are a bit tougher. As Ollie says, the cars tend to do less miles too. Nevertheless, if you’re in the
“bookkeeping isn’t vanity; it’s a crucial aspect of maximising the performance of your car and ensuring your own safety”
The 996.1 GT3 represents the other end of the GT car spectrum
market for an early car, it’s worth bearing in mind that a lack of underseal and the car’s age can mean corrosion is a very distinct possibility. Make sure you get a good look at the underside.
As for springs and dampers, Ollie keeps it simple. “There are lots of options, but the best two are to either take the dampers off and send them back to Bilstein for an overhaul, which is really sensibly priced and only has a short turnaround time, and then to re-fit with a new set of springs (either Porsche or Eibach) of the same rate, just keeping it all the same. But, of course, there’s a lot of good suspension companies out there that do parts for these and we’ve always gone back to the KW setup on them. They just work really well for track use and for road use. They’re stainless steel, so they last well, can be rebuilt for not-crazy money and last a long time.”
BRAKE WITH THE PAST
One known weak spot of the early cars was the brakes and these were upgraded to six-pot calipers on the second-generation cars.
“We’ve done a lot of those upgrades over the years,” Ollie says. “They do need them if they’re going to be driven hard on a track. We’ve seen corroded brake lines,
particularly where the lines push into the plastic clips. You get dirt in there and then it will hold the moisture in that against the brake pipe and rot it while it’s in the clip. The flexi lines can be 25-year-old rubber now, so they can collapse in on themselves – it’s sensible to put a set of braided lines on. The plates in the differential on these were always known for wearing out, especially the standard road ones. We used to put the motorsport diff packs in them,
“Every mile you drive on a circuit equates to many multiples of road miles for wear and tear on components”
It’s good to obsess over your tyres, particularly as a trackday goer. Their condition will inform you of how your car is behaving and anything that’s not right about them will affect how your car drives, and potentially your safety
because otherwise [when worn] they act like an open diff.”
Of course, the good old Mezger engine needs the correct maintenance but, as anyone who knows these cars will attest, an appropriately hard-worked Mezger flat six is a happy flat six and big mileages are entirely possible.
Whether young or old, the GT3’s reputation is built on its ability to soak up punishment on a track and, if nothing else, this article proves that there is no glaring weakness that owners need to be concerned about. Instead, it’s all entirely sensible stuff: take the prep of the car and running it seriously; don’t equate track miles to going on a Sunday morning coffee run; and give the car what it needs when it needs it. In return, it should provide many happy seasons of blissful track action. PP
[ S-PR988]
Although it was initiallycontroversial,the 986 Boxster is the unsungherothat savedPorsche WORDS:DRAYBARGHASSANPHOTOSANDARTWORK:PORSCHE AG
As well as keeping bailiffs busy, a global recession in the early 1990s hit Porsche's bottom line. People weren't buying 91 ls and the company had to think of ways to stay afloat. After seeking advice on cost-effective product development from Toyota, Porsche embarked on building two models that could share a host of panels: the next 911, the 996, and a new, cheaper and less powerful roadster, the 986.
In an attempt to prevent the stablemates from looking too similar, Porsche tailored the dimensions, proportions and engine position of each. The roadster was slightly shorter, underscoring its status as the junior partner, but it had a longer wheelbase and a more compact rear overhang, resulting in a more sprightly profile. While the 996 retained the rearengined set up of its predecessors, the roadster's lump was mounted amidships, leaving room for a long and roomy boot.
Porsche launched the smaller car in 1996, naming it 'Boxster' in a portmanteau of 'Boxer' for its flat 2.5-litre six-cylinder engine and 'Speedster'. Although not all fans of the marque were convinced, it soon started flying out of showrooms.
THEBOXSTERCONCEPT
The 986 had been in development for a couple of years before the world was given a taste of what the production car would look like. Penned by Grant Larson under the supervision of Porsche's then-Design Chief Harm Lagaay, the Boxster concept was influenced by the fabled 1955 550 Spyder. Debuting at the 1993 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, its sleek, low-slung body was greeted with widespread acclaim.
Cloaked in ethereal silver, the showstopper fulfilled its brief perfectly, effortlessly channelling the mystique of the car that inspired it while appearing unquestionably modern. Whereas the Spyder's front fenders and rear haunch were dramatic statements, those of the concept were more delicately handled. At the same time, the prototype had an athletic forward-leaning stance, giving it greater urgency than the Spyder. The overall feel of the exterior chimed brilliantly with the cultural milieu of
Early full-size clay models of the concept car, clearly showing the familar Boxster proportions
Early sketches show more radical proposals. Opposite: the finished production car lacked the concept's short overhangs
DESIGNERTALK
Rearhaunch
A pronounced area of the shoulder that sits above the rear wheel, accentuating the feeling of traction.
Shutline
Gaps between body panels. Designers take great care to make them look appealing.
Sill
The area underneath the door[ s ).
Lightcatcher
An upwards-facing surface positioned to reflect the sky. These commonly feature on vertical surfaces, making the car body seem less weighty.
Facelift
In the 1990s, this meant a minor redesign of areas like exterior lighting and perhaps the bumpers too, some time through the car's production run. Nowadays, facelifts often involve more comprehensive design alterations.
the early 1990s, a period which was recoiling from the shoulder-padded excesses of the previous decade.
Up until the show car's appearance, the headlights of every road-going Porsche had been either round or ovoid. The lighting units had also always been separated from the indicators, with the former taking centre stage on the front fender or bonnet while the latter minded their own business on the bumper. The Boxster concept did away with convention, combining beams and indicators in a new shape which came to be christened 'the fried egg headlight'.
It's difficult to overstate how controversial this feature was for aficionados. They reluctantly accepted it because the car was only a concept and concepts are supposed to be a bit wacky. And, even if Porsche did go ahead and install these lights on a production car, they would feature solely on a roadster. Surely the beloved 911 would never be blighted with them as well... right?
The combined lighting units presented issues at Porsche HQ. Evicting the indicators could have resulted in a rather blank-looking bumper, so Larson emboldened the grille with chunky inserts. The rear lights took on an even more radical shape. They were so much more playful than anything we'd seen from Porsche, rounding off a wonderfully daring and optimistic-feeling exterior.
The design of the interior picked up on the exterior's friskiness and went doolally with it, contrasting salmony, fleshy-feeling leather upholstery with bubbly silver plastic panelling. Somehow, the space was both stripped back -referencing the spartan interior of the 550 Spyder -and totally overwhelmed the senses. A giant piece of leather lay across the top of the dashboard like a diplodocus' tongue and all the obligatory buttons were haphazardly arranged beside a monitor in a zone that looked very much like the back of an early digital camera. It's incredible to think that designers were predicting that infotainment screens would take centre stage in car interiors all those years ago and, although the slightly mystical '90s vibe hasn't aged all that well, the focus on screen-based interaction is very much with us.
THEPRODUCTION986BOXSTER
As well as needing the photogenic charm of the show car, the production Boxster had to make economic sense. To lower the development budget, the 986 shares its doors, bonnet and front wings with the 996. Co-use of the latter in particular contributed to the road-going Boxster having a noticeably different character to the prototype. While the show car's front fenders are a little pinched at their crowns, those of the 986 are softer.
"THEDESIGNOFTHEINTERIORPICKED UP ONTHEEXTERIOR'SFRISKINESS
To ensure a coherent aesthetic, Porsche also smudged the rear haunch. The rear overhang grew too, leaving the roadster with a bulky back end. The combination of softness and hindquarters-spread resulted in a somewhat slouchy demeanour, which enthusiasts didn't go in for. I've always liked its laid-back feel, though.
Famously, the Boxster also lent its front lighting units to the entry-level 996, creating a furore in the media and plenty of disquiet among devotees when the latter landed in 1997. The hoo-hah only subsided when the Carrera received a facelift five years later, adopting the Turbo's headlamps. In the same year, the 986's front lights were tweaked. The offending cover was replaced and the units became far less yolky. This, for me at least, took away some of the charm of the first-generation Boxster.
A close look at the bumper shutlines of both the prototype and the 986 gives away some subtle design modifications that took place in the production process.
"THECURRENTROADSTERHASMUSCLES ON TOPOFITSMUSCLES.SURELY,THERE'SNOWAY THATTHEFORTHCOMINGFIFTH-GENERATION CAR CANGETANYMOREHENCH?"
The concept's front bumper shutline is quite wavy, but the 986's is more regimented. This alteration reflects the change in styling of all the panels and elements that meet to form the shutline. Also, the 986's grille has been stretched sideways and takes up more surface area, making the roadster's front end seem wider and more sure-footed. The shape of the rear lights evolved too, becoming more horizontal and making the back end appear more planted. You'll no doubt also notice that the rear bumper's shutline has been straightened out as well.
Other production revisions included giving the windscreen a body-coloured surround, shrinking the wheels a little and (thankfully) removing the rivets from the rims. They detracted from the purity of the prototype and the production alloys are far more refined. Wisely, Porsche stuck with the centrally mounted exhaust -a satisfying defining feature.
The requirement to use the same doors as the 996 gave the designers a chance to
iron out one particularly awkward-looking patch: the sill. On the concept, a scoop behind and beneath the door houses the air intake. This feature breaks the continuity of the light catcher that would otherwise flow above the door shutline and onwards towards the rear wheel arch. As a result, the whole area looks quite busy. Relocating the air intake to a higher position erased this issue and also reduced the prospect of road detritus going anywhere near it. Stick-on sill butchery was left to aftermarket suppliers.
The 986's interior also shared components with the fifth-generation 911, though the common parts aren't easy to spot. In-cabin materials and finishes are very much spec-specific and can differ a lot between models, which can make it difficult to compare panels effectively. Shared parts including door panelling and the centre console did mean that the design of shared elements had to suit both models, so the curves and swirls which so characterised the Boxster concept's interior are more
retrained in the 986. This is probably a good thing. Incredibly, though, the meaty piece of leather that sat atop the driver’s instrument panel in the prototype’s cabin makes an appearance in the production roadster, albeit in a more integrated and well-behaved manner. The 986’s interior also acquired a roll bar behind each seat; a necessary feature in a time before reinforced windscreen surrounds and active rollover protection became commonplace.
THE 986’S LEGACY
Close to 16,000 986s found homes in the first year of production and, by the time the first-generation car was put out to pasture in 2004, more than 164,000 units had been built. Given the criticism from enthusiasts, that’s an incredible achievement.
Having become more solvent, Porsche accomplished with the second-generation Boxster what it couldn’t quite realise with its predecessor. The 2005 model had a far breezier demeanour, in no small part thanks to more defined front fenders and rear haunches. It was also joined by the hard-topped Cayman, which has since evolved alongside its sibling.
The following Boxster, the 981, moved the brief on a little and came across as weightier and more serious. The current roadster has muscles on top of its muscles. Surely, there’s no way that the forthcoming fifth-generation car can get any more hench? My feeling is that the next Boxster, which is set to be an EV, will revisit and reinterpret the spryness of the concept that kicked off this amazing journey. I hope that fried egg headlights are on the menu too.
Dr Aysar Ghassan began his career as an automotive designer at Alfa Romeo and Mitsubishi. Today, he leads the MA in Automotive and Transport Design course at Coventry University. PP
The production 986 (above) lost some of the sporty energy of the concept (bottom left), which inevitably created a sense of disappointment in some quarters. When the 996 was facelifted in 2001, it finally gained a unique set of headlights over the Boxster (below)
“The
combination of softness and hindquarters-spread resulted in a somewhat slouchy demeanour”
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THEPERFECTLAP
What you needto know about putting together the lap of your dreams
WORDS:STEVESUTCLIFFE
Despite the title of this piece, I'm not sure the 'perfect' lap actually exists. Even Max Verstappen will probably admit that no lap is ever 100 per cent perfect. There's always somewhere you can brake a touch later, get on the power a fraction earlier, rotate the car more accurately into the apex and so on. Perfection is something that's much talked about but rarely attained, even by the best of best.
So, for us mere mortals to work out how to put a tidy lap together, you first need to get comfortable with your own abilities and limitations. You need to realise that however hard you think you can go, you can always push harder. The skill lies in working out where and when to push harder safely and when not to. You also need to have a pretty good knowledge of whatever track you're trying to put a perfect lap together on and know the idiosyncrasies of whatever car you're driving inside out.
I'm taking both these things for granted here, so what you're about to read will be based on the assumption that you already know your own Porsche backwards and you know the track you're on intimately. Even so, once you're confident you've reached a decent level of speed to the point where you begin to think you can't really go any quicker, what next? How do you
go faster without pushing things too far and having an almighty accident?
PRACTICEMAKESPERFECT
The easiest place to start is with the car itself. I guarantee you'll make your Porsche quicker round a track by playing with its tyre pressures and, 99 times out of 100, letting air out of them is the best way to buy some cheap lap time. It might be as much as a second if they were a touch too high in the first place.
The next bit is more difficult because it needs to come from within, but it's also the most satisfying to crack. When you do -because you will -the rewards can be thoroughly intoxicating. To drive a car on the edge everywhere but without overcooking it anywhere, you need a clear, calm mind. It also helps if you've already worked out exactly which gear to be in for each corner and where the turn-in, apex and exit points are. I'm talking about being down to the nearest inch here, and you need to be able to process all this information almost subconsciously.
Try this for a technique. Close your eyes and try to drive the lap in your head, in real time and with a stopwatch running. If you finish the lap too soon relative to an actual lap time, you still haven't taken in enough detail -of the track surface, the precise
turn-in points, exactly where to brake for each corners and so on. This means you aren't quite ready to let rip yet because something, somewhere will catch you out. You simply need to do more laps to work out what's what. If you finish several seconds behind a genuine lap time, however, then you know for sure you can push harder -simple as that. If you finish to within a second, then you know you're primed for a qualifier.
HASTEMAKESWASTE
Out on the circuit proper, it will feel like you can make up the most time by braking later everywhere and by committing harder to the faster corners. But even if you succeed in taking the fastest corners faster and it feels like you're shaving seconds off your lap time, in reality you'll make up much more time by being neat and tidy through the slower corners rather than heroic through the fast ones. Get your apexes and exit points absolutely nailed in the slower corners and you will, I guarantee, find huge chunks of time. By getting the hero corners right, you'll only save hundredths or maybe a tenth of a second at best but risk way, way more if you get them wrong.
Conclusion? Concentrate on the slowest sections of the lap and you will see much bigger gains against the stopwatch. Only once you've nailed these is it worth going after the half-tenths through the faster corners.
On the perfect lap (not that it exists ... ), you'll string the whole enchilada together and leave not so much as a single 100th on the table (maybe). It will feel magnificent and, if you really do string it all together for one near-perfect lap, you won't come down from it for hours -sometimes days.
Most of the time, putting the almost-perfect lap together is about getting the boring stuff right, like eradicating mistakes, being clinical with your inputs and not overworking the tyres. Calm is fast, remember. Frantic is the opposite and rarely works for anything in life, but especially on a track.
Oh yes, and the more you enjoy it, the faster you will probably go, so long as you don't get completely carried away and then ... well, you have been warned. PP
FROMTORSIONBARSand coil English, PDCC is a fancy
Too much roll is undesirable ahead of or behind an axle springs to air springs and electro-mechanical anti-roll because it shifts weight to the with the tails of the 'U' attached complex computer-controlled bar which elevates one of the outside, affecting stability, and to the suspension just inboard systems, Porsche's suspension simplest passive and analogue it interferes with the suspension of the wheels. As the body tries design has come a long way chassis components to quite a geometry, affecting how well to roll when cornering, the since the 356. Today, its complicated active and digitally a tyre's contact patch can do outside suspension compresses. cars have some of the most controlled one. But, before its job. Stiffer spring rates will The bar is forced to twist and sophisticated chassis control digging into how it works, also control roll, but that makes resists the tilting of the body, systems in the business. it's probably worth looking at the ride less comfortable. That's helping to keep wheels upright, Purists may miss the days what an anti-roll bar does. fine in a racing car, but not so plant the contact patches and of simplicity but, as weight desirable in a road car. increase comfort. and power output have
THEBALANCEOFPOWER
The idea behind the anti-roll In suspension tuning, the increased substantially, making Not to be confused with a bar is that it inhibits body roll stiffness of an anti-roll bar also sure the chassis, brakes and roll-over bar or roll-cage, a on the chassis but without affects the balance of a car by tyres are in step is only what traditional anti-roll bar is not resorting to stiffer suspension shifting grip levels from one
engineers have always done. just simple but brilliant with it. springs, and it's this aspect end of the car to another. For
In 2015, Porsche introduced Its job is to do what the name which is so clever. With its kind instance, stiffening the anti-roll :::r:: Porsche Dynamic Chassis suggests: restrict body-roll of square 'U' shape, the anti-roll bar on the rear of a car but not
Control (PDCC). In plain when the car corners. bar is mounted across the body the front will increase oversteer
and softening it will do the It's more complex than a simple same for understeer. Anti-roll continuous length of spring steel bars on competition cars are bar and requires a separate mounted in such a way that 48-volt supply and battery to they can be quickly adjusted power the motors, but it gives to influence the handling ride and handling engineers balance for this reason. much greater scope for tuning
ONTHEFLY
the stability and handling of the car. PDCC Sport is what the PDCC enables the force applied name suggests: a more trackto each side to be controlled focused version of the original. while the car is in motion by The most recent and arguably splitting the bar in two and the most sophisticated part of adding a motor, gearbox and Porsche's advanced suspension sensor board to the 'cut' ends suite is Porsche Active Ride. of the anti-roll bar so the Introduced in 2024, the Porsche amount of force each side Active Ride system combines is able to exert can be what could be the best of both controlled by software. worlds for enthusiasts -a track
setup and a comfortable ridealthough not at the same time. Porsche already uses air springs, adaptive dampers (which vary damping force) and PDCC, but Porsche Active Ride is a combination of air springs and a particularly special kind of active damping system which does away with both conventional passive and active anti-roll bars altogether.
A control system monitors the vertical movement of the wheels and body movements and calculates how much damping force to apply. It does that separately for both bump and rebound damping
by pumping hydraulic fluid around inside the dampers. Changes need to happen at lightning speed for the concept to work at all and, at 13Hz (13 times a second), they do.
LETTHEGOODTIMESROLL
Though it's complex, the system is simpler in some ways than some of Porsche's other technologies. A single chamber has replaced the twin chambers of the usual air spring design, saving weight. It's multidimensional too, and keeps the body level under acceleration and braking (pitch) as well as laterally during cornering (roll).
In fact, it can make the car pitch forward when accelerating and adopts an anti-dive attitude, pitching the car backwards slightly when braking. Exactly how it behaves depends on the settings the driver has selected in the PCM (Normal, Sport or Sport Plus). Perhaps the most surprising feature is that it can be configured to lean into a corner like a motorcycle.
A motor control unit fitted to each damper unit pressurises the hydraulics and generates the pressure needed to control each wheel on an individual basis, adapting the load on each wheel according to available grip. Needless to say, sensors watch everything, including the driving conditions, longitudinal and lateral acceleration and the influence of the road surface on the wheels and body. On =i that score, Active Ride is not a camera-based system and 6 so isn't affected by visibility or road conditions.
"ITGIVESRIDEANDHANDLING
Porsche's EVs deserve a special mention. On the Taycan, the motor pump unit draws power directly from the 800-volt battery without the need to go via a voltage converter. The technology is also offered in the Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid and powered from the 400-volt battery. For that reason, Active Ride isn't compatible with pure combustion engine cars. Not surprisingly, it's an extremely powerful system and, although springs are still suspending the car above the ground (their primary job), Porsche says the hydraulic damping system is mighty enough to do that job alone in theory, although doing so would consume excessive amounts of energy in practice. Then again, given how much Porsche has achieved since the 356, that particular problem might not go unsolved forever PP
Join ~s for an unforgettable Summer Solstice celebration -an evening of great company and cars!
• Family & dog friendly
• Gourmet street food
• Live DJ
BOOKYOUR TICKETSTODAY
EVERYDOGHASITSDAV
DanBathieand his 986 Boxsterhaveturned an old adageinsideout
THISISACLASSICstory of a man afraid of turning 30.
I bought my 1998 2.5-litre 986 Boxster in March 2021 on that very highly rated Porsche specialist site, Facebook Marketplace, for £3,600. Why a 986? First of all, the price. It was cheap and I love a bargain; I find a strangely big thrill in it! When I bought the car, we were looking at buying our first house. Most people sell their weekend car at that moment, but I
Turning 30 never sounded so good PAGE81
TYRONETHOMAS
Back on the track and there's not a moment to lose!
PAGE84
ANDREWCROSS
It all started with a strange noise in the engine bay PAGE86
decided it would be a good time to buy one. My now-mother-in-law was apparently not too impressed at first but, upon seeing the car and then telling her the price, she came round to the idea.
Secondly, the design. Fried egg headlights - yuk. That seemed to be the general consensus of the 996/986 era up until fairly recently, but now baggy jeans are back in fashion, Sophie Ellis-Bexter is back on the TV and fried egg headlights (especially if
they are slightly yellowed and faded) are cool! I wanted my Boxster to be launch spec: Silver with the Terracotta interior. For me, the concept car is one of the best-looking cars of all time and the launch spec gets close.
Thirdly, the drive. In 2017, I started working with Porsche GB as their photographer for the Porsche Carrera Cup GB championship and I also do jobs with road cars alongside this. One of the perks of the job is I get to drive some stuff I’d never otherwise dream of getting behind the wheel of. One of the downsides of this is that you start to crave cars you’ve driven and especially when they’re Porsches. The need for my own started.
So that’s how I ended up with my 986, which I’ve now owned for four years. That’s the longest I’ve ever owned the same car. It’s no garage queen – quite
“For me, the concept car is one of the best-looking cars of all time and the launch spec gets close”
the opposite, in fact. It’s my go-to car for running errands and my Labrador is often in the front seat next to me, whatever the weather. It’s picked up building supplies, carried photo equipment and does the weekly food shop. It is a car and I use it as one, but it just so happens to have a Porsche badge on the steering wheel and be utterly brilliant to drive. There definitely are things that need doing to it. The classic water ingress into the footwell (that doesn’t seem to be drain holes) needs seeing to, a suspension refresh is probably well overdue and I’m still debating if I should put some split rims on it like the concept car or keep it as standard. Hopefully, that’s all I need to be thinking of. There’s a saying that ‘there’s no such thing as a cheap Porsche’ but, four years in, mine has been the complete opposite to that statement.
And so it begins…
Tyrone Thomas is happy to be back on track with his GT4 RS
This year kicked off with my traditional season-opening event at the MSV Porsche RS trackday at Oulton Park.
The chassis set-up had been revised over the winter and so, while it might have looked busier from the outside versus my 718 MR (as was mentioned to me, but I didn’t have any issues in the car), it was tons of fun. If I could nit-pick, maybe a touch more front spring rate or touch less at the rear would be good. This would help balance forces on braking and maybe settle the car a bit more overall. It’s just something to note.
With the engine now fully run-in and with the freedom to use all the drivetrain performance, I did find that I was now ‘favouring’ the brakes a little. They’re standard steel rotors with OEM brakes pads, lines and fluid. They are fine, they ultimately work and they do stop the car, but I’ve been so used to Surface Transforms over the previous two years. The steels have a load of feel, but I think the trade of a little bit of this for completely unburstable consistency of the upgraded ST-based setup on braking lap after lap might be worth it. It was always part of the plan for the car, so that’s an area to address.
Cheap foam ear plugs in, just to take the edge off at max revs – great. Top tip:
running with PSE off means no droning or booming and the valves open automatically when they need to anyway. The 718 RS PDK is aggressive and immediate – I love it. ESC was off later in the day and the car just thrives when driven hard.
Next up was a rare (for me) Cars and Coffee-type meet at Cotswold Barn. The weather held up just well enough to allow a spirited drive to and from the location, where some fantastic cars were presented, and it was lovely to meet up with familiar faces so early in the year.
In a return to regularly scheduled programming a week or so later, it was back on track for a glorious day at Goodwood with the Club. Once again, the 4RS was brilliant. The car can build immense speed, but then the task is to properly harness it. The main takeaway from this day, reinforcing the experience from Oulton Park, is that right now I’d like better and more consistent braking. That said, I’m really enjoying learning a lot of technique in how to handle the car overall as a standard car. When those few performance tweaks arrive, the benefits will truly be realised.
Speaking of which, we have also been to Manthey Performance evenings at
“I’m really enjoying learning a lot of technique in how to handle the car”
RPM Technik and JZM Porsche, where members of the Manthey team from Meuspath travelled over and gave presentations on the history of Manthey Racing and a showcase of their latest performance kits and components.
It was interesting to get a further insight into what the team must go through to develop parts, deliver performance, be road-legal and pass Porsche’s own quality and conformity processes. Quite a feat.
From here on, the trackday season starts to ramp up in earnest. There will be more Castle Combe, Goodwood, Silverstone, Donington Park and Oulton Park to come, plus Spa and the Nürburgring Nordschleife. There will also be some maintenance and tweaking along the way.
I hope you can continue to follow here or online on Instagram at @p1_tdt or YouTube at youtube.com/@p1_tdt running reports
OUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
AndrewCrosssolvesa mystery with his G-Model 911SC,only to be facedwith another...
SOMETHINGWASN'TRIGHT. My engine bay had developed a very strange noise over a few weeks. Initially, I couldn't place it. It definitely wasn't inside the engine, but the fact that I could hear it over the excessively loud Dansk exhaust while driving meant it wasn't a good noise.
My thoughts turned to the fan. Maybe it was fouling on the housing? It seemed like that sort of noise, but there was no sign of polishing or wear on either. Was it the pointless air pump? I must remove it at some point. I know it's original, but it just clutters the engine bay and sucks a few horsepower. No, it wasn't coming from there either.
Giving the fan belt a poke revealed a lot of slack and it was starting to crack with age, so stage one was to swap this out for a new one. A quick check in with the SC WhatsApp group to find out the right size of belt meant I soon realised that I didn't have a pulley wrench either, so that and
some replacement shims were added to the shopping list.
A few days later, with new parts and tools in hand, it was time to tackle the belt. Judging by the age of the belt, it hadn't been changed in a while and the nut to remove the pulley half told the same story. Some skinned knuckles and some serious leverage were required to remove it.
Once the pulley half was removed, I quickly discovered the source of the noise. I have no idea how, but the cutout in the pulley half where it slides onto the generator shaft had worn out of shape, meaning the pulley half could run out of true and make the belt run from taut to slack within a revolution. Maybe it was a machining error on the part which had worn more and more over years of use or possibly there have been shims missing, allowing the pulley half to move slightly on the shaft and wearing it down. I still have no idea, but a new pulley half was ordered and fitted and the noise is gone. With rain being a bit less frequent, it has been a great time to get out and drive. My targa roof has been in pieces for a while (a saga for another time), so driving has involved thermals and a woolly hat. A few hundred miles have been covered, although no one in the family seems to want to join me for the drive. I can't think why.
I have been putting off taking the car for a service, but the lumpiness from my first outing has returned. It is intermittent, but is definitely getting more frequent. I think I have either a fuelling issue or a vacuum leak somewhere. Either way, it's anyone's guess whether it will run like a dream or run like a bag of spanners every I start it. And there is a bigger issue. What started as a little drip of oil on the driveway which I could pass off to my better half as her perspiring like all old cars do has turned into a serious puddle. So that's it; I've booked her in for a major service and an investigation into the source of the leak. As it's the time of year when everyone starts to bring their cars out of winter hibernation, I've got to wait four weeks before I can get her in anywhere. In the meantime, I'm checking the dipstick every time I drive and making lots of promises about cleaning the drive while she is off being serviced. This will also be a lesson in budgeting. I wasn't planning on any major works until later in the year, but I should have known better - old cars will always throw something up when you least expect it. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I have a slush fund for a motorbike upgrade, so I guess this will probably get turned into a 911 fixing fund for now. Oh well. Maybe a new bike will have to wait until next year.
Visit the Regions homepage where you can click directly to your Region or use our digital map to find other Regions near you, discover their events and sign up for their newsletters. Please visit porscheclubgb.com/regions or scan this QR code.
R1 enjoying the sunshine and chips at Biggar
RI• SCOTLANDSOUTH
RegionalOrganiser
Allison Lawrance r1@porscheclubgb.com
AssistantRegionalOrganisers
Scott Laurie
s.j.laurie@btinternet.com
Barry Milligan
30MARCHSUMMERTIMEBEGINSRUN
The clocks going forward meant only one thing: driving season had finally begun. The sun was shining, giving us a taste of what was to come, as a great turnout of 38 keen members who were glad to be back behind the wheel met at the Dakota Eurocentral. Our drive took us over to Forth, down onto Carnwath and then towards Peebles, ending at the glorious Barony Castle Hotel for a two-or threecourse carvery Sunday lunch which went down a treat. After lunch, members took
the opportunity to chat and stroll around the iconic Great Polish Map of Scotland.
5APRILPORSCHECENTREPERTHVEHICLE HEALTHCHECK
In conjunction with R2, Porsche Centre Perth generously offered members a free vehicle health check and put on a buffet breakfast. Eight R1 and seven R2 members took up a place to have their much-loved Porsches put up on the ramps and checked over by an experienced Porsche technician. Owners got a chance to inspect under their vehicles while discussing any questions they had with their appointed technician. It was a nice opportunity to meet with our fellow R2 Regional Organisers and members too.
6APRILPARKBISTROMONTHLYBREAKFASTMEET
Our monthly breakfast was extremely well attended again, with a variety of Porsches meeting in Linlithgow. The sun was shining, as it always seems to be when we're there,
allowing members the time to look at the Porsches present and to have a great catch-up after an enjoyable breakfast served by the fantastic staff. This venue keeps gaining in popularity and it's always great to see so many of our usual members and newer members coming along too.
17
APRILCHIPPYRUNTDBIGGAR
Our first fish and chip run of the year was a great success, as always, with many members attending. Leaving the Dakota Eurocentral, we were blessed with a beautiful sunny evening despite the horrible wet weather leading up to and after our run. At Biggar, it was still pleasant enough to sit outside to enjoy our fish and chips, mingle and chat at the Townhead Cafe. It was wonderful to see more new members join us for their first Regional run out. A big thank you to Scott Laurie (who, unfortunately, could not attend due to an operation) for organising.
R1 's monthly breakfast meet at The Park Bistro was extremely well attended again
R1 's Summertime Begins Run at the glorious Barony Castle Hotel
R2•SCOTLANDNORTH
JointRegionalOrganisers
Paul Fowler (07803 170352)
Martin Thomas (07836 361937) r2@porscheclubgb.com
AssistantRegionalOrganisers
The Pit Crew
Region 2 is big - very big! It stretches from Perth to John o' Groats in the north and from Fraserburgh to Portree in the west. That's the north-to-south equivalent of Manchester to Southampton and the east-to-west equivalent of London to Tenby.That's not counting our islands where, for instance, Shetland is another 172 miles north of John o' Groats!
With established Club meetings in Aberdeen and Dundee, our Joint ROs investigated the possibility of forming another outpost in Inverness, where we have more than 40 members in the vicinity. Paul and Martin held the first meeting in the Snow Goose restaurant in Inverness and were delighted that 1 9 members came along or expressed an interest. The 'Highland Porsche' group was formed, joining the 'lnbetweeners' group in Dundee and the Aberdeen group. With two willing volunteers in Andrew Blake and Alan Cameron, we look forward to joining in some of their planned events.
R2 is also growing in membership, with 24 new members in the first three months of the year taking us comfortably over 400.
Events which have taken place in March and the beginning of April included our last winter breakfast meet at Kintore Golf Club (31 attendees], a Porsche clinic at Porsche Centre Perth [the first for some time), a Porsche clinic at Porsche Centre Aberdeen (20 cars in each clinic] and a new approach to our monthly meeting in Aberdeen where we had a guest speaker after dinner which boosted attendance to more than 30. The guest, former police traffic inspector Ian Reid, regaled us with tales from his time as a close protection officer for royalty and his time catching villains in automobiles! Please remember to read our fortnightly email to keep you up to date with all that is happening in the Region.
R3•NORTHEAST
RegionalOrganiser
Dave Carnaffin
r3@porscheclubgb.com
First and foremost, the hugest of huge thank you goes out to Greg and Deb Harm for their organisation and execution of the awesome season opening event. The Clear Away the Cobwebs event has become an R3 tradition and it's all thanks to this fantastic duo for all the planning they put in to create new and exciting events every year. Without you guys, R3 would be a shadow of what it is. To all the new members for whom this was their first event, thank you for the brilliant feedback and we're all glad you enjoyed it.
Belated thanks to Albert Walsh, who joined us at the March Club night to give one of his famous talks on 50 years of life, love and cars (sometimes all three combined!). Again, great feedback was received for this event and it was great to see so many faces at the chilly spring Club night.
For those of you still struggling to join the R3 Facebook group, can you please read the terms when requesting to join and make sure you include your current valid Club membership number? We do check!
A reminder that Club night is the second Wednesday of every month, held at the Stables Restaurant, Beamish Hall Hotel, Beamish, DH9 We usually gather around 7 .30pm with a view to starting the meeting at 8pm. Feel free to come along earlier and enjoy the Club discount on food and drinks. Hope to see you all there very soon.
Dave
R4•LINCOLNSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE
RegionalOrganiser
John Lacey - 07850 870993
r4@porscheclubgb.com
AssistantRegionalOrganiser
Position vacant
Steve Newton's story of involvement in Porsches really shows his passion.
Every great passion starts with a moment of inspiration. Mine happened aged 13, walking the streets of my small northern industrial hometown when I first laid eyes on a 911 2.7 RS. Its beautifully sculpted lines captivated me instantly, though I had little understanding of the engineering marvel lurking beneath its cheeky ducktail spoiler. Even now, I can't claim to fully comprehend every detail, but I'm in awe of those who do. Legends like Josh Sadler and countless other Porsche specialists dedicate their lives to keeping these iconic machines alive and, for that, I'll always be grateful.
A passion (some might call it an obsession] that I would share with my father for decades to come was ignited. Together, we explored all things mechanical - mopeds, motorbikes, cars and even small aircraft - but Porsche was always special. My father had his automotive loves too, including a concours-condition Mercedes 280 SL that he proudly drove for pleasure until the age of 93.
Over the years, I've been fortunate to own several fantastic modern Porsches. Yet, despite my enthusiasm, an air-cooled 911 of my own always eluded me -until April 2021, when I finally took the plunge and acquired a partly completed project: the backdating of an 'BOs 911 SC into a 1973 911 RSA.
The inspiration behind this build stems from one of the all-time most significant 911 s: the ex-Peter Gregg [Brumos Florida],
Hurley Haywood and Dr David Helmick 1973 12 Hours of Sebring-winning 911 2.8 RSA, chassis no. 911.360.0705.
Dr Helmick took delivery of the car just before the race and what followed became part of Porsche racing history. My late father, who fully endorsed the project, would have loved to see it come to life.
The transformation has been extensive: a full nut-and-bolt, bare-metal strip-down, followed by months of painstaking metalwork restoration and periodcorrect modifications. The result is a stunning rolling shell, resplendent in Porsche Light Yellow [Hellgelb) in a nod to the car's racing pedigree.
Affectionately known as 'Big Bird' (a tribute to my daughter's childhood nickname], this passion project is now entering its next phase. A handpicked Porsche specialist, chosen for their deep knowledge and dedication to aircooled 911 s, will soon begin the full mechanical and electrical rebuild. Before long, Big Bird will take flight, gracing PCGB trackdays and events where I'll be thrilled to introduce her to fellow enthusiasts.
This journey is just beginning, so watch this space. Big Bird is about to spread her wings.
R5•NORTHWEST
RegionalOrganiser Matt Staines 07798 662199 r5@porscheclubgb.com
Thanks to all who attended the new members' evening in early April. The night was a huge success, with 55 members attending and many of them for the first time. It was great to see lots of new faces and some stunning Porsches.
Followingthe evening at The Old Doghouse Barn at the rear of the Three Greyhounds, I've agreed to continue using it until September, which will give us our own private space each month except August when we are over at the Cholmondeley Arms for a new show and shine evening. Pop-up Club nights continue this summer across the Region.
Thanks to Simon for the recent Saturday morning drive over to The Carding Shed in Holmfirth and to Matt B for the first pop-up of the year at the White Hart at Lydgate which, despite unfortunately being on a rather damp cold evening, was still an enjoyable time.
June looks like a busy month leading to our biggest event of the year, the Supercar Pageant at Oulton Park with space for 200 Porsches. Please book via the R5 events page on the website. I look forward to seeing you there!
COMMITTEETEAM
We are now looking for a couple of new team members. If you would like to join the R5 Committee Team in 2025, please drop me an email with a few basic details about yourself and your contact details.
DIARYDATE8'
4JUNEClubnight-ThreeGreyhounds
6JUNETheonDesignWorkshopTour
8JUNEAnalogueAlchemyBowcliffeHall Pre-'97 and transaxles. 11JUNEAldridgeTrimming WorkshopTour
18JUNEPop-upClubnightAdamSykes&Co 28JUNESupercarPageantCultonPark 2JULYClubnight-ThreeGreyhounds 16JULYPop-upClubnight 25-27JULYGoldCup-CultonPark 6AUGUSTClubnightCholmondeleyArms Show and shine. 20AUGUSTPop-upClubnight
RB•NORTHWALES
RegionalOrganiser
Sue Taylor - 07784 491473 r6@porscheclubgb.com
BREAKFASTRUNTOCRICCIETH
Ruthin Craft Centre was the starting point for an early Barn departure as 36 people and 21 cars joined our Sunday breakfast run. The route was scenic and the roads quiet - perfect. The bendy roads through Cerrigydrudion Forest are always a delight. The convoy popped out on the A5 and headed towards Betws-y-Coed, where a couple of cars that were lurking joined the group. Then we went to Capel Curig, where the final car nipped into the convoy.
Steve Newton's 'Big Bird' begins to take shape
RS heading through Llanberis Pass on their breakfast run
Turning in towards Snowdon, the views of the Snowdon Horseshoe would have been amazing if the mist had lifted. The route dropped down the Llanberis Pass, through Llanberis and onto a small B road that joined the road into Rhyd-dhu.Then, we went on through Beddgelert, then Porthmadog, and to our destination of Caffi Siabod just outside Criccieth. The cafe has relocated to Criccieth after many years on the A5 in Capel Curig. Although Paul and Dorine knew we were coming, the kitchen is only small so it took a while for everyone to have their breakfasts served. It was worth the wait.
As we still had most of the day left, it was nice to spend time chatting with old and new friends before heading off home to do some jobs.
R7•YORKSHIRE
RegionalOrganiser
The Yorkshire CoG r7@porscheclubgb.com
April saw the start of our group events. We ran two trips to Whitby on Sunday 6 and Thursday 10 April. Starting at the Maltings Cafe, we had 16 cars on the Sunday. Heading out from The Motorist, with a group also starting from Sledmere House, we had 30 on the Thursday. Once again, the Co-op in Whitby let us use their car park. The weather gods smiled on us on both days. The drive over the Yorkshire Moors in brilliant sunshine is spectacular
and, on both days, Whitby was blessed with bright sunshine too. We raised £655 for charity, split between Bernardo's [the Co-op charity) and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The fish and chips were excellent and most dined at The Magpie, whose staff were outstanding. Many thanks to Graham Lavis for his work on sorting out Google Maps.
Malton Porsche independent specialist and all-round nice guy Sam Lander welcomed Porsche drivers to a breakfast meeting at his workshop on 1 3 April. A huge attendance enjoyed complimentary drinks with breakfast in pleasant sunshine. Sam raised £1,250 for charity through visitor donations.
A more comprehensive write-up of events will be on the Yorkshire Region webpage.
MONTHLYMEETINGS
First Wednesday (East): The Ferguson Fawsitt, Walkington, HU17 BAX.
Second Tuesday [Central/South): The Old Post Office, Huddersfield Road, Haigh (Junction 38 M1 ), S75 4DE.
Third Wednesday [North): The Blue Bell, Arkendale, Knaresborough, HG5 OQT.
Chris and Delia Smith
Sam Lander welcomed Porsche owners to his workshop in Malton
were blessed with spectacular weather on their two fish and chip runs to Whitby
Fabulous weather brought out some fantastic machinery for our Club night in a wonderful display! Welcome to new members Jim and Cheryl and Kosmi and Steve Butler who joined us.
Axel updated us on the breakfast run schedule as well as some evening events, which will be advertised soon. Nigel Town's Chartwell visit was fully booked and everyone had a really interesting and informative visit. It was nice to go as visitors and not as customers! Thanks Nigel.
We had a presentation from Jim Hancock of Macclesfield Ukrainian Aid about the tremendous work they do supporting the people of Ukraine during this bleak time. Truly thought-provoking stuff. RB member Mike Plackett will be joining one of their aid convoys shortly and will update us on his experience when he returns.
MOTORSPORT
Although he's in Ireland, Graham Rose still found time to send an update about the start of the season -Steven Jory won his class and Graham came second. Quite a few RB members turned up to cheer them on!
UTUREEVENTS
19JULYCARSANOCOFFEEATPORSCHECENTRE NOTTINGHAM
A special fundraiser event from 9-11 am for the air ambulance with some fabulous prizes in a prize draw. Plenty of parking and great coffee.
7SEPTEMBERPORSCHEPAGEANT
We are grateful to Dave and the Porsche Centre Leicester team for sponsoring this year's Porsche Pageant at Elvaston
Castle in Derbyshire. There will be trade stands, a era~ fair, concours and 200-300 cars on the day. Tickets are £10 cash on the day per car and proceeds go to the air ambulance. Contact rB@porscheclubgb.com
14SEPTEMBERKARTINGDAV
Lucy Owens is organising a karting day at Whilton Mill. Deposits of £20 need to be forwarded to Lucy or us and Lucy has had 20 or so people contact with interest. There are several competition schedules to be tried and we're in discussion regarding involving R10, so it could be an inter-region event too. Please email Lucy at lucyowens21 @protonmail.com for more information.
CLUBNIGHTS
First Monday of the month at The Coopers Arms, Weston-on-Trent, Derby, DE72 2BJ.
BREAKFASTRUNS
21 June, 26 July. Contact Axel at aak200B@hotmail.co.uk
Uam and Sarah
DAIRYDATEB
2JUNESimplyPorscheBeaulieu Book through Beaulieu. 8JUNEEastwoodandDistrict ScenicTour
Contact Ade at adrian.pawprint@gmail.com 18JUNEClassicPorscheatthe NationalMotorcycleMuseum Updates to follow.
19JULYCarsandCoffeeatPorsche CentreNottingham In aid of the air ambulance.
10AUGUSTTOTEM
Contact Ade at adrian.pawprint@gmail.com
7SEPTEMBERPorschePageantElvastonCastle
Contact rB@porscheclubgb.com
14SEPTEMBERKartingatWhilton
See above.
RB breakfast runready for the off
Ade and Tom at Elvaston Castle, the venue of this year's Porsche Pageant
R9• WESTMIDLANDS
RegionalOrganisers
Tom and Carol Downes
07972 303286
r9@porscheclubgb.com
The sun is starting to shine! Oops, that'll jinx it. RS members have been getting out and about and the 2025 season has well and truly started.
In March, some West Midlands members very kindly gave their time and/ or their cars to the PCGB stand at The Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show at the NEC. PCGB hadn't had a stand at this show for several years, but our display of various models, including the two nude cars, proved very popular. Perhaps we will return in 2026? A big thank you to all those who helped make the stand a success.
Our drive-outs led by Chaz are proving to be very popular. The most recent saw approximately 1 5 Porsches of various flavours take their owners and passengers from our start point at a local Starbucks on a scenic drive through the Cotswolds, stopping at The Feathered Nest for breakfast and then on towards The Cotswolds Distillery for a coffee break. Those who were interested managed to get home for the start of the Grand Prix.
Our RS Charity Evening in support of Macclesfield Ukrainian Aid at The Mill in
members very kindly gave their time and/ or their cars
Worston was hosted by John and Anee Hancock. Thanks to the generosity of RS members, we raised £295 for the charity.
WHAT'SCOMINGUPFORR9?
There's the RS Show and Shine on 8 June. There's a [not so) Classic Car Evening at the National Motorcycle Museum on the evening of 18 June. A rather special drive-out dubbed RS Longest Day on 21 June starts with a dawn raid to the Peak District, followed by a visit to the Summer Solstice at Boxengasse. Finally, we have a visit to Porsche Centre Newport on 19 July. Full details can be found on our section of the PCGB website.
RIO • MILTONKEYNES & NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
RegionalOrganiser
Sue Rollings -07 495 296650 r1 O@porscheclubgb.com
A few R10 members attended Porsche in the Bowl at Caffeine&Machine on 11 April. The weather was perfect for an early evening drive into Bedfordshire and the venue provided the opportunity for members to catch up.
It's beginning to get busy within the Region and our April meet at Sywell was hugely popular. The Aviator was bursting at the seams with all sorts of Porsches.
I genuinely couldn't do it justice with photos, so I took a short video and shared it on our social channels.
Thank you to everyone who chose to attend the gathering and there were more new faces who were made to feel welcome. There was also a spot of fun with our Easter Egg Raffle.
Mike very kindly planned a drive to Barrowden following the meeting, which a few members decided to take part in. Sincere apologies for the issues experienced with Google Maps. Thankfully, everyone made it to the destination and enjoyed their booked lunch at the Exeter Arms, a typically English pub set in a quaint village close to the Harringworth Viaduct.
By the time you read this, the Club's AGM, our visit to Auto 2000, our Isle of Man Weekend of the Year and our monthly meeting at The Aviator Hotel will have taken place, setting the scene for a rather busy few months for our valued members.
I recently emailed members providing details of upcoming events. Please let me know if you have not received this information and I will forward it to you. Finally,I have received a request from the management at The Aviator Hotel that all members ensure they park their cars in allocated spaces only. Please do not double park or block access for vehicles. If the car park is full, there is overflow parking on the other side of the museum car park [beside the Cirrus Suite]. Thank you for your support.
Best wishes,
Sue
RII• ESSEX
TeamCoordinator
Ray Chapman r11@porscheclubgb.com
MYSTERYDRIVE
Saturday 22 March dawned damp with occasional fine driule. That morning, 23 cars gathered in the Dunmow Tesco car park for a drive through scenic Essex countryside to a mystery destination and
The Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show held at the NEC -RS
o::: R10 members attended Porsche in the Bowl at Caffeine&Machine
R1 O's April meet at Sywell was hugely popular
a big breakfast. The drive was 35 miles, taking in Thaxted, the Bardfields, Finchingfield, Wethersfield, Sible Hedingham, Halsted and the Caines and finishing up in Aldham at the Shoulder of Mutton. The route was timed at about 55 minutes, but clearly there was some spirited driving or a lack of traffic because the first cars arrived after only about 45 minutes. The weather had cleared up to become a bright sunny morning, which no doubt helped the driving. All subsequently enjoyed breakfast and the 'craic'.
HILTONANDMOSSCARSANDCOFFEE
Around 60 members enjoyed the hospitality and facilities at classic car restorers Hilton and Moss in Bishops Stortford on 29 March. Once everyone had been supplied with bacon rolls and a hot drink, we were split into three groups to be shown around the various workshop and storage areas. Seeing classic E-TypeJaguars and Mercedes-Benz SL 'Pagodas' going through their restoration programme was very interesting and the staff certainly know their stuff. A great morning enjoyed by all.
DIARYDATE
11JUNEClubnight
22JUNESummerBreakoutCustomandClassicShow
Enjoy a day out at Gunpowder Mills. 29JUNECarsandCoffeeatSummerhill
2JULYP&AWood
Rl2• NORFOLK &SUFFOLK
RegionalOrganisers
Glenn and Emma Jackson
Mob: 07702 591602
Mob: 07715 417527
r1 2@porscheclubgb.com
RABBITRUN
We recently held our third annual Rabbit Run. With 35 cars in convoy, we drove more than 200 miles around our Region, with breakfast, a buffet lunch and a three-course evening meal included. The weather held out and we had some new members joining us for the first time on the 'run', along with the veterans who have supported us from the start.
DAWNRAID
In June this year, we will put on our first Dawn Raid. As Region hosts of the UK's most easterly point at Lowestoft Ness, we had the crazy idea of putting on a sunrise drive on the longest day of the year. With 'civil morning twilight' (also known as 'dawn'] happening at 3.56am, it was too good an opportunity to turn down. Would anyone be crazy enough to join us at 3.56am in the morning for a dawn drive? Well, at the time of going to print, we have 29 cars booked in for this rather special event!
FUTUREEVENTS
As always, keep an eye on the R12 page of the PCGB website for the latest information on all of our events
All good contenders for an R12 'Rear of the Year' competition?
A future classic outside classic car restorers Hilton and Moss
Porsche Boxster S
Porsche 911 GTS Cabriolet
Lovely impact bumper Targa seen on R11 's mystery drive
and make sure you are signed up to receive our regular members' emails.
DIARYDATEB
12JUNEPizzasandPorschesNorth
21JUNEDawnRaid
5JULYReasonPorscheOpenMorning
13JULY911CoffeeRun - Harveyand CoArtisanBakery
Rl3• HEREFORD, WORCESTERSHIRE &SHROPSHIRE
JointRegionalOrganisers
Steve Cutler - 01384 370038 r1 3@porscheclubgb.com
Simon Hopcroft - 07739 8171 59 simonhopcroft@aol.com
Our monthly meeting for April saw us back at Cleobury Mortimer Golf Club where our speaker for the evening was our own Club chairman, Nick Taylor. Nick began by giving us a brief overview of where the Club was, where it hoped to be going and the problems it has on the way.
This was followed by the main reason for the evening, which was a Q&A session, and Nick stated from the start that there were no off-limits questions. Many questions followed, including why are the new Club windscreen stickers with the new strapline 'United by the drive' so expensive and if the original ones were being dropped? When will we be able to purchase sensibly priced merchandise from the Club Shop? Why does it look to us that the Club struggles to keep managers, trackdays, insurance, independent groups (embraced or not], driving standards on Club drives and a few more.
Following the evening, we sent an email to Nick: "Last night was absolutely brilliant. It was so helpful in promoting the Club and how some of it works with the problems it brings [they never see this side). You gave the Club a massive injection of goodwill from our members. The response after you left was, well, just a buzz of admiration for both you and the Club. Well done and thank you - sorry we ran over a little."
(L-RJPhil, Julie and Helen with their cakes
We also raised £172 on our charity raffle for Prostate Cancer UK on the night. Finally,we had two members, Phil and Helen, with birthdays nearby so Julie decided to buy them a small gluten-free cake each to celebrate.
Rl4• SOUTHWALES
RegionalOrganiser
Peter Thomas (07979 884494) r14@porscheclubgb.com
HELLO
It is a privilege to be afforded the opportunity of being the RD again for R14, having previously held the post in 201 2-201 5. I'm sure you will all join me in thanking Huw for his tremendous
On display at the Pendine Museum of Speed, the famous 'BABS' that became the world's fastest car at 171.02mph in 1926
contribution and hard work over the past 1 D years and hope he will now be able enjoy our Region's activities in a more relaxed manner!
PENDiNEMUSEUMOFSPEED
A sunny morning greeted an excellent turnout for the visit to the Museum of Speed, where we had the fortune of seeing the famous 'BABS'. This very informative and well-curated museum is worth the visit. Thanks go to Peter Winstone for organising the event.
If you are interested in attending any of the events below, please let me know via r14@porscheclubgb.com
DIARYDATEB
13JUNEPorschesintheBay
The annual evening of your Porsches in Cardiff Bay.
6JULYBreakfastmeetatBaffleHaus Old Post, Bonvilston, CF5 6TQ. Arrive from 9am. Breakfast is available from 9.30am. Reservations are not taken by the venue.
Tickets to be purchased directly via the event website or on the day. Meet at Magar Services, M4 Junction 23A, from where we will depart at 8.1 5am.
3AUGUSTClassicCarsatHollyHouse
Herefordshire's premier classic car, super car and bike event. Details and entries available via classiccarsathollyhouse.co.uk
R15 members visiting the SCS Porsche workshop
17AUGUSTDrive
Further details to be posted soon.
25AUGUSTHanleyFarmCarShow
Located at Hanley Farm Shop, NP16 7NA. A very well-attended car show organised by the South West Classic Car Club. Admission is £3, payable at the gate.
21SEPTEMBERPorscheatPrescott
Further details to be posted soon.
Rl5·SOUTHWEST
RegionalOrganiser
Mike Williams
r1 5@porscheclubgb.com
The season for driving has started, so our cars have been released from their winter homes and prepared for some fantastic events throughout the summer. The calendar is now in full flow with events for all to get involved in, including convoy drives, car show visits, hillclimbs and even an adventure to the other side of the road in France.
SCSPORSCHEANOHERONFARMVINEYARD
What a great start to 2025! On 22 March, 42 guests in 23 cars enjoyed coffee and cakes along with extremely informative presentations from Andy Moss, director and founder of SCS Porsche. He covered the scope of works they offer and their expertise in old and new Porsches. Fellow SCS director Stuart Manvell expanded on the newer models while looking at the diagnostics of a Boxster. There then followed a visit to the Grand Designs property, vineyard and cafe at Heron Farm Vineyard, where we enjoyed wine tasting followed by a lovely lunch.
SUNDAYLUNCH
We had another capacity crowd on 1 3 April to see an amazing presentation from our chosen charity, The Little Bridge House. It gave us all a much better understanding of the excellent work they do and encouraged us to continue our support. This was followed by a fabulous Sunday roast with lots of discussion about the upcoming events. To join any of our events, drop us an
email to r1 5@porscheclubgb.com to register your interest.
I look forward to meeting all our members at our events throughout 2025.
Mike Williams, Nigel Davies and Geoff Lane IARYDATES
31MAYOurvisittoWilliamsCrawford Postponed. We will advise you of the new date.
Last year, we were lucky enough to be invited to both Porsche Centre Swindon and the Dick Lovett body repair shop. This year was no different.
More than 40 cars and 50 guests rolled into the Centre's car park to be met by Principal Simon Lisemore and his hospitable team, giving a hearty welcome and serving all manner of breakfast fare.
The cats were soon off the leash and wandering around the Porsche, Ferrari and classic showrooms, rubbing shoulders with Tribal Gruppe members who were there in numbers to attend the Ferrari experience.
Soon it was time to herd the cats and get them over to Paul Blewitt and
A 1965 911 with a special Tuthill engine (R) and a rare competition 911 (L)
One of the unique spray-painted bonnet designs
his team at the bodyshop and see the promised 'very special car', as well as some one-off designs spray-painted onto car bonnets by one of their up-andcoming technicians.
The promise was delivered as we entered the building to be greeted by two of Peter Lovett's personal collection. SW4BC, a Slate Grey 911 Coupe built in 1 965, was taken in by the bodyshop and Porsche Centre, completing a full nut-and-bolt restoration in 2015. It also has a special engine built by Tuthill Porsche -a 12-spark engine that has two distributors. PCL555 is a very rare car, one of only 55 made, which was also fully restored by the bodyshop and Porsche Centre 18 years ago. The car completed the New York to Alaska rally and is the car that Peter Lovett drove when he became a professional racing driver.
Once past the two show cars, members were off around the workshop asking questions and looking at the cars booked in for repair. Some were simple, some were waiting for the insurance company to agree to repair or write off and some were simply collecting dust as parts are sourced but not yet available.
Rl7 • SOUTHERN
JointRegionalOrganisers
Jon Fisher 02380 766808/07918 686116
Mark Rye-Weller
07880 695747
r1 7@porscheclubgb.com
We began a busy April with more than 80 members visiting the Map Room at Southwick House near Portsmouth, where the Allied supreme commanders planned and executed Operation Overlord to liberate Europe in June 1944.
On 5 April, 1 5 Porsches met up near Southampton on a beautiful Saturday morning for a scenic drive through the New Forest to the excellent Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, where we were joined by more members from R17 and R26.
We're most grateful as always to Martin Braybrook and the team at Brookspeed for their usual splendid job of hosting our April Club night, which was attended by more than 80 members.
On 9 April, around 50 members visited BBC Coffee in Southampton, who specialise in processing premium coffee. We saw the entire fascinating operation before being presented with special R17-branded samples. Thanks to Mike Branagan-Harris for organising.
April's highlight was our four-day 'Bulb Fields' WOTY to Holland. Sixty-three members in 32 Porsches headed to our splendid hotel in Leiden on 12 April. Monday dawned bright as we drove to the famous Keukenhof Gardens, where an astonishing display of tulips was spread across 32 hectaresa truly memorable experience.
Our tour continued to the worldrenowned Louwman Museum, where
Charlie McLaughlin had organised exclusive parking for everyone in front of the main building. It's the oldest private car collection in the world, consisting of more than 275 cars along with a vast array of automotive art and memorabilia -petrolhead heaven! Massive thanks to Mark and Emma for all their hard work organising the hotel and restaurants for everyone, and to Ruby Radley for her invaluable assistance. Look out for our regular email newsletters on events, booking links are also on the PCGB website, email us to join our WhatsApp group and we're on Facebook and lnstagram too.
Jon Fisher and Mark Rye-Weller
DIARYDATE8'
1JUNESimplyPorsche,Beaulieu
10JUNEClubnight
'My other car night' -Seven Stars, Petersfield.
14JUNEBrownseaIslandPicnic
21JUNEPCGBBoxengasseevent
29JUNEPCGBatBrooklands
RIB·LANCASHIRE
RegionalOrganiser
David Baker -01772 451970
AssistantRegionalOrganisers
Judy Baker and Geoffrey Stewart r1 8@porscheclubgb.com
The monthly cars and coffee events at Charity Farm and The Mill at St Catherine's Hospice have both been very busy as people take their cars off SORN. The event at The Mill was very busy again even at 8.30am and, like Charity Farm, all car parks were full to capacity. As always, there were great selections of Porsches present at both venues.
Thirty-two R17 Porsches at the Louwman Museum
o::: R17 at the Louwman Museum
Emma Ryan's tulip-matching 997 GTS
Our March monthly meeting was a 'noggin and natter' night where we discussed future events we will be attending or organising. It was good to see around 1 0 new members attending for the first time. We hope you enjoyed yourselves and you all seemed to be integrating well with existing R18 members. We look forward to seeing you at future events.
The first cars and coffee event of the year at Bridge House Farm Tea Rooms was packed to capacity by 4.30pm. I arrived at 4pm and was asked to park in one of the two overflow car parks, but I managed to blag my way onto the main car park. The high numbers attending may have been due to it being the night before Good Friday and many people may have been able to leave work early.
There was the annual sports and classic car meeting at Shackleton's Garden Centre at Chatburn near Clitheroe on Easter Sunday.This had to be pre-booked weeks prior to the event. As usual, Porsche had
the largest single marque display of about 35 cars, ranging from a 356 to a 918 and even a Carrera GT.
WELCOMETONEWMEMBERS
Lorraine Parkinson, Paul and Jennifer Hodginson, Joe and Elizabeth Flanagan. We look forward to meeting you at some of our future events.
DIARYDATEB
We have a number of events coming up in the near future and these will be publicised in the regular email newsletters. Please let the organisers know in good time if you will be attending, particularly if they are booking breakfast or lunches.
Wow, a bumper-to-bumper month with two busy monthly meets and two drives, yet we somehow still managed to get a weekend off and have energy for more. It's a theme that runs throughout the summer months. If you are wondering where we have been or how to take part, head over to the London Region website and you will find everything you need right there. For those that love social media, you will find us on lnstagram and Facebook too.
RECENTEVENTS
For full write-ups of all our events and galleries, see our regional website page at porscheclubgb.com/london/ news
From left: the Carrera GT seen at the Shackleton's event; R18 at Charity Farm cars and coffee
Windy wastelands
Boys and old toys
FUTUREEVENTS
Details of all our events, including drives and European tours, can be found at porscheclubgb.com/london/ events. Our regular monthly meets are listed below.
See you out on the road,
Nick and Ed
DIARYDATEB
15JUNESunday'inn'thecity
Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3TN from 8.30am. Plenty of free parking.
30JUNEAceCafeMeet
Ace Cafe on the North Circular Road, Stonebridge, London, NW1O 7UD, from 6pm.
R21 • CHILTERN
JointRegionalOrganisers
Bill and Donah Dewar
AssistantRegionalOrganisers
Ashley Miller, Terry Perry, Phil Jones r21@porscheclubgb.com
Spring has arrived, ushering in the opportunity for automotive enthusiasts to bring their vehicles out of winter storage and onto the open road once more.
R21 had the pleasure of attending several exceptional events in recent weeks. One notable visit, expertly organised by Ashley Miller, was to Prodrive in Banbury. The event generated significant interest and was fully subscribed, making an exclusive and highly enjoyable experience for those fortunate enough to attend.
Following our time at Prodrive, we arranged a visit to the de Havilland Aircraft Museum and this was another outstanding event. We extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to Terry Perry for stepping in to facilitate this visit in our absence.
We are now settled into our new monthly meeting venue, the King Charles at Ashley Green, where we convene on the first Tuesday of each month. We extend a warm welcome to existing members as well as guests from other clubs who may wish to join us.
We have several upcoming events planned and we encourage members to refer to our website for further details and updates.
Donah and Bill Dewar
Le~: R21 at the de Havilland Aircra~ Museum
Above: Classic Prodrive Porsche
R22 • CUMBRIA &SWSCOTLAND
RegionalOrganiser
Michael Trotter -07841 21 5962
AssistantRegionalOrganiser
Ian Graham r22@porscheclubgb.com
April's meeting at Sally's had a very large, unexpected turnout with no more room in the car park. We've had lots of new members join the Region recently and we met many of them for the first time along with their cars. Sally's also has new ice cream - the renowned Lakes Ice Cream - to offer the members and it will be available at the next monthly meeting.
Chris and Martin Woolger 07720 849982 07802 409272 r23@porscheclubgb.com
I know lots of our members were out over the Easter weekend enjoying their cars, even if it was just visiting friends and family, but I have also seen photos of one member enjoying the scenery and roads of the NC500 in Scotland. By the time you read this report, we will have returned to The Piltdown Man,
which is under new ownership. We have a lovely drive planned afterwards. Once again, we are fully booked for both breakfast and the drive.
For the information of our new members, our events book up quickly because the venues we use for breakfast usually limit our numbers to around 50 people and we must limit the number of cars on drives for safety reasons.
Our first event this year will be at Porsche Centre Mid-Sussex for coffee and cars, and all ticket monies from this event will be sent to the Sussex Air Ambulance. We are very grateful to the Centre for their support in hosting events and all the support they give R23 members with their cars.
Those of you who regularly come out on our drives are really looking for more volunteers to lead groups so we can keep the groups small - there must be two of you in the car. When booking, please offer to help if you can; it will make our lives a bit easier.
Congratulations to David Green for his racing performance at the Goodwood Members Meeting. We have a visit to his garage planned in August.
We are very much looking forward to our annual R23 driving tour in Europe, which is coming up at the end of May.
The 2025 calendar is now pretty full and is available on the Club website, the Forum and the R23 Facebook page. All events need to be pre-booked and details are emailed out around three weeks before an event. No booking is required for our monthly meetings at The Bainey Stage on the first Tuesday of the month from 7pm [please note the date change for September's meeting).
DIARYDATES
3JUNEMonthlymeetingat TheBolneyStage From 7pm.
11JUNEMid-weekbreakfastanddrive Venue TBC.
16JULYMid-summerBBQ
Porsche Centre Mid-Sussex.
20JULYBreakfastanddrive Venue TBC.
23AUGUSTVisittoValarossaRacing
31AUGUSTPorscheontheLawnsBordeHillGardens
16 SEPTEMBER Monthly meeting at TheBolneyStage From 7pm. Note date change.
21SEPTEMBERBreakfastanddrive Venue TBC.
R24 • CAMBRIDGESHIRE & BEDFORDSHIRE
RegionalOrganiser
Chris Kingshott
AssistantRegionalOrganiser Wayne Helme r24@porscheclubgb.com
By the time this issue of PP drops through your mailbox, we will have seen the huge turnout at Shuttleworth on 11 May [great coordination between ROs and Regional members - thanks to all] and the presentation from the A428 projects team on 21 May.
We have been fortunate to have had speakers and new events suggested by you and, in some cases, conducted by you, our R24 colleagues. This is really welcomed and appreciated, so please keep the suggestions and contacts coming!
June is looking to be a busy month, as you would expect with our first [and, hopefully, annual) display at the Newmarket Horse Racing Museum on 14 June, our monthly meeting on 18 June, Bedford Kite
R23 member David Green in his racing car at the GoodwoodMembers meeting
Le~: R22 at Sally's Cafe. Above: Just one of the great cars that attended April's busy monthly meet
and Motoring Festival on 21 June and annual crazy golf evening on 25 June.
Please don't forget Kimbolton Fair on 13 July [tickets are available on their website], where we typically get up to 70 cars attending, and we are currently arranging a visit to Dove House, followed by a drive to Sywell Aerodrome for lunch on 16 August.
A number of other opportunities are being worked on with Porsche Centre Cambridge and other independents, while Wayne is poring over his maps for a 'drive-n-dine' in the near future.
Finally,it's been great to see a number of new members over the last few months. We hope to keep the attendances growing along with all of the 'regular' attendees.
Chris and Wayne
R25 • KENT
JointRegionalOrganisers
Sue Dennis -07515 378066
Chris Torre -07887 246835
AssistantRegionalOrganiser
Sue Torre r25@porscheclubgb.com
@@porscheclubgbkent 11pcgb.r25
Welcome to our round-up of events across the Kent Region since last month's PP.
WHAT'SBEENHAPPENING
On 29 March, 18 members' Porsches participated in the spring health check at Porsche Centre Tonbridge.
Once again, it was great to see new members take up the offer. Thanks to Service Manager Stewart Davis and Centre Principal Chris Parlett for hosting this event.
On 5 April, we were invited to Enhance Car Audio and Security in Sittingbourne for a cars and coffee event where founder and Managing Director Simon Lywood gave a talk on the work that Enhance undertake, including security systems, cameras, 'ghost alarms', trackers and sound system upgrades. Central to the talk was a recently upgraded 911 (992) GTS Cabriolet with a Burmeister sound system that had been significantly upgraded while still maintaining the original factory look.
Our Club night at Brands Hatch on 9 April saw our highest attendance to date, with 83 members joining us. Many thanks to R25's John Broad for giving a talk on the importance of maintaining a healthy heart. This was combined with a practical demonstration of CPR and the use of a defibrillator.
E-NEWSANDUPCOMINGEVENTS
The monthly e-news will keep you informed of the latest news and events which are too extensive to list here. For actual event information and booking details, please see the R25 events page which is updated frequently on the Club website. Once you have booked an event, please check your spam/junk folders for confirmation emails.
We look forward to seeing you soon,
Sue and Chris
R26 • DORSET
RegionalOrganiser
Position vacant r26@porscheclubgb.com
JEANNIEDURHAM
It is with sadness we report the passing of Jean 'Jeannie' Durham, wife of long-term member Alastair. Jeannie was an everpresent, friendly face at meetings, WOTYs and road trips to places like the Isle of Man, despite suffering from longstanding health problems. Always with a welcoming smile in the PCGB tent at events, Jeannie will be sorely missed by all her friends in R26 and beyond. Rest in peace, Jeannie.
RIVD'SHUBSANDFORD
April saw the first of our new 'social' evening events at the Riva's Hub Sandford, just outside of Poole. This event proved extremely popular with a great selection of Porsches on display along with some very nice classic cars in another area of the grounds.
Excellent beef burgers, hot dogs, curried chicken, chips and pizzas were devoured in beautiful spring sunshine. This event was so successful, we will be holding this on the first Wednesday of each month going forward and will have the whole car park to ourselves.
AIRAMBULANCE
What a fabulous turnout for our monthly meeting at the George Albert Hotel. Members were treated to a talk from our designated charity, the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Speaker John Preston went into great
Combining main dealer-level Porsche servicing with independent pricing using latest PIWIS diagnostics and factory back up. Used Porsche sales prepared to the highest standards. All with a friendly family-run feel. YOURONE-STOPSHOPFORYOURPORSCHE.
Club night at Brands Hatch, with the 'Red Display' taking centre stage
Members' cars at Porsche Centre Tonbridge's spring health check
detail about the history of the how they operate and the huge costs involved. Each helicopter costs around £1 Om per annum and the have just reached an agreement to run a second helicopter. We all know the critical benefits of the air ambulance; some members unfortunately having required the service in the past. Our Region was thrilled to be able to present a donation of £588 to this worthy charity and thanks to all Regional members who have given generously.
R27 • IRELAND
RegionalOrganiser
R27 Team
r27@porscheclubgb.com
@ porscheclubgb_northernireland
11pcgb.r27
We promised that April would be busy and it was just that!
Once again, we are indebted to our friends [and, incidentally, fellow Club members) at Porsche Centre Belfast for extending a kind invitation to R27 to join their first cars and coffee event of the year. As always, these events are marked by a fantastic array of cars, generous hospitality and are simply great fun!
Flying the R27 flag, we had around 30 members enjoying the glorious unseasonal sunshine. We were delighted to be invited to feature three Club cars and pleased that a few other R27 early arrivals also made it to the main exhibition area.
On behalf of the Region, we presented Porsche Centre Belfast with a £1 DO donation for their designated charity Mindwise which they matched pound for pound, resulting in a £200 benefit for the local mental health charity.
Just a few days later, with the sun still shining, we welcomed members from RB on day two of their visit to Northern Ireland. Paula and Graham Fearn headed up a posse of 17 cars from the East Midlands Region and they were joined by 1 0 R27 cars to meet at Giant's Causeway. Tea and scones were consumed at the Causeway Hotel and then we were off to see the World Heritage Site.
Later, after a short drive, we visited Gortmore Viewpoint en route to Limavady. With views of Donegal and Scotland, it's a 'must see' when visiting the north coast. Bidding farewell to our visitors, they headed over to Roe Park for an overnight stay and took in a visit to Bushmills Distillery the following day. Thank you to local members Ron Hogg, Ken Green and Ken Mack for helping with the drive.
Just the AGM to host now to end our busy April events!
TeamR27
Please let us know if you would like to have your Porsche displayed on the stand; we would love to see many different Porsche models represented.
PORSCHEDETAILING
On 27 July at 9.30am, we will meet up at Re-Detail HQ [Unit 9a, Barras Commercial Centre, Barras Lane, Vale, Guernsey, GY6 BEJ), where Ryan will provide us with an interactive demonstration of all things related to detailing, from basic paint care to ceramic coating and PPF treatments. For those interested, there will be an optional drive-out afterward.
GUERNSEYMOTDRHEAOSMEET
On 1 0 August, we will meet up with the Guernsey Motorheads group at Salerie Corner at 9.30am. This is a well-attended monthly meet, with a variety of modern and classic vehicles in attendance. We will then head out for a drive and breakfast or coffee for those interested.
We will be adding further events later in the year, including an evening at Guernsey Karting and a brewery tour (clearly not at the same time!], so keep an eye out for the Regional newsletter.
A la Porschaine, Paul, Steve and Brad
R28J • CHANNELISLANDS,JERSEY
RegionalOrganiser
R2BG·CHANNELISLANDS,GUERNSEY
RegionalOrganisingTeam
Steve Manklow, Paul Sheward and Brad Faye r2BG@porscheclubgb.com
¼ @PCGB_Guernsey
By the time you read this, our May meet, drive and coffee, will have been and gone, so thank you to all who attended our first proper event of the year. After a slow start, we have lined up a number of events for the summer which are listed below, so get in touch if you'd like to join in the fun.
CLASSICCARSHOW
On 1 5 June, we will put on our usual display at the GCVC show at Saumarez Park.
With what felt like a long winter behind us, R28 Jersey kicked back into gear with a wonderful lunch held at the Greenhills Country House Hotel in April. It is gratifying to note the steady increase in the number of Club members attending our quarterly lunches. This not only reflects a steady rise in the number of members within R28J but, encouragingly, the fact that the quarterly lunches are becoming a firm fixture in the diaries of many of our members.
While it is fair to say that it is not difficult to find a good meal in Jersey, the lunch at Greenhills and the level of service they provided were outstanding. We are also very grateful indeed to Steve Mccann of Oakhurst Garage for the unwavering
John Preston from Dorset Air Ambulance receives a cheque from R26's Jae Gillingham
Riva's Hub Sandford
Ken Mack (L) welcomes Region 8 members Paula and Graham Fearn to Northern Ireland
sponsorship that he provides for these lunches. We would also like to thank Van Mossel Jacksons for bringing a couple of the newest Porsche models along to the lunch for our members to view.
The next event in our calendar will be the Jersey International Motoring Festival (5-8 June) which will again be supported by the Club this year. Please keep an eye out for more information about our plans for the cavalcade, the static display and, possibly, a meal over that weekend.
One of the many great delights of living in Jersey is that you never know who you may bump into. When longstanding Club members and a regular attendees of Club events Sandra and Cyril Genee dropped into the Longueville Hotel for tea one afternoon, they did not expect to meet a Porsche racing legend there. It turned out that Axel Plankenhorn and his wife Marlies were briefly visiting our island for a short break.
In 1979, Axel was a member of the Kremer Racing team, driving a 935/77 A in the first division of the German Racing Championship (ORM) and in the World Sportscar Championship. He also competed several times in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing fifth in the 1979 race. Axel and Marlies Plankenhorn are hoping to make it back to Jersey for the motoring festival in June, so we look forward to welcoming them.
R29 • SURREY
RegionalCommittee
Dorian Logan, Michael Turton and Somesh Mitra r29@porscheclubgb.com
Thank you to various R31 members for submitting this month's images
It's midsummer and we're in full swing. It's a hell of a busy month with lots of options for getting out on the road. I've included a couple of national events above [bracketed) because a good few of us are going and, if there's interest, we can drive together. One major event this month is our Summer Solstice party at Boxengasse. For those who haven't been, Boxengasse is a bucolic Porsche-focused farm near Bicester. We've got lots of food, drink, music and merriment and are hoping for 2,000 Porsche enthusiasts to come and celebrate the longest day and latest light of the year. We'll be having a series of convoys from different parts of the country. Let's make the Cotswolds convoy the biggest and, of course, the best. See our WhatsApp groups and online for details.
(L-R) Marlies Plankenhorn, Steve Mccann, Axel Plankenhorn, Cyril Genee
NEWSFROMYOUR
Visit our Registers homepage where you can click directly to all modelspecific news, galleries and content.
Please visit porscheclubgb.com/ registers or scan this QR code.
356
RegisterSecretary
Fred Hampton 01992 554935 356@porscheclubgb.com
EARLY911(2.0,2.2&2A)
RegisterSecretary
Julian Hobbins 911@porscheclubgb.com
AssistantRegisterSecretary
Robin Walker TechnicalAssistant
Mike Champion - 07796 372239 mceporsche@gmail.com
I enjoyed a trip to see the tulips in Holland with Region 17. A big thank you goes to the organisers who also arranged a trip to the excellent Louwman Museum, which is highly recommended if you ever get the chance to have a look around.
I'm looking forward to seeing many of you in your Early 911 s at as many of the Club events as you can manage to attend while the sun is shining. Please see the events section on the Early 911 WhatsApp group and the PCGB website. There's also plenty of help available on the technical pages of the WhatsApp group from fellow owners and experts who give their time.
We also have a blue 911 S Targa (pictured) that's looking for a new home, so contact me if it might be of interest and I can link you to the seller.
Julian Hobbins
912
RegisterSecretary
Sam Mubarak 07973 383836 912@porscheclubgb.com
AdminAssistant Zara
InternationalEventsCoordinator
Zainab
MediaEventsCoordinator Alisha
911SPDRTDMATIC
RegisterSecretary
Peter Cook 01789 400832
sporto@porscheclubgb.com
After many months, the windscreen washer non-return valves and pipework have all been replaced on my Sparta. It was quite a saga. The work was finally carried out by Zuffenhaus. at Wythall near Birmingham. who completed what is an awkward job in a day for a very reasonable price.
I drove to Cornbury House the day after collection and, at time of writing, I intend to drive there again for the Club's AGM. The car is running well after quite a long layoff. The Sparta system is as smooth as always, as it has been for my 38 years of ownership - I've been lucky, I guess. Now I need to run the car regularly; the more it is used, the better it gets as everything beds down. Sportos are getting rare, so look after yours but use it regularly if possible.
914
RegisterSecretary
Kevin Clarke 07946 080454
914@porscheclubgb.com
Assistant
Kate Maynard 07812 974613
KMaynard@hickmanandrose.co.uk
InternationalEventsCo-ordinator
Tom Loder 077 48 635406 thomas.loder@btinternet.com
Back in March, the VolksWorld Show at the South of England Showground saw a good turnout of 914s for the start of season event. It was good to meet up with new and old Register members. A warm welcome goes to Karl Reilly from Essex, who was attending his first 914 Register event in his Metallic Blue 73 2.0. Ten 914s from the UK will be leaving for the 914 International Meeting in Austria at the end of May or the beginning of June. They will join 1 DO or so 914s from around Europe at the main meeting in Krems and the pre-meeting in Plankenstein. I'm very much looking forward to the 914 International and wishing everyone safe
Blue 911 S Targa that's looking for a new home
travels with your tours there and back.
Until next time, happy Fourteening, Kevin
DIARYDATE8'
27JULYBromleyPageantofMotoring
914 Register display booked for the show at the new venue of the South of England Showground, Ardingly, West Sussex. To book, contact Bruce Manning: mail@brucemanning.co.uk
3AUGUSTTattonParkVWShow
914 Register display pitch. To book, contact Kevin Clarke. 10AUGUSTMotorsbytheMoat
Leeds Castle Classic Car Show. 17AUGUSTClassicsatPenshurst 3-5OCTOBERWales914Weekender inLlandrindodWells
Contact Tom Loder for more information.
911CARRERA RS
RegisterSecretary
Fred Hampton 01992 554935
carrerars@porscheclubgb.com
Assistant Mike Chadwick 01454 232232 mvc@fly7.co.uk
9112.7CARRERA &3.0
RegisterSecretary
Guy White 01493 750278
91127carrera3@porscheclubgb.com
TechnicalAssistant Tony Ruggles 01992 892333
STEPHENLONG'SCARRERATARGA
I received an email from Stephen Long, who sold his Carrera 3.0 Targa more than 30 years ago and wondered if the Club had any information about where it is now.
Remy's 924 looks like a concours contender, but is rallied
Stephen writes: "Bit of a long shot, but I owned a Carrera 3.0 Sportomatic from 1987 to 1992. I had it bare-metal-painted from silver to black and entered it in the Porsche National Concours competition in the novice class, as it was in excellent condition. I had lots of great times and memories in the car, including taking it around Goodwood several times. It looked much better in black and was extremely well maintained during my ownership. Just before I owned it, the car had an engine rebuild too."
Looking at the Register records for the car. I found that we had information for two other owners after Stephen. The first was in London, which we believe is who Stephen sold the car to, and another subsequent owner was in Essex. The records note that, like most Sportomatics, the car was converted to a manual gearbox at some point [Stephen noted that the Sportomatic did sometimes get stuck in gear even though he had a new clutch fitted) and had also had a registration change to UGW 1 05R. The owner in Essex left the Club or Register in 2008 and it has not been registered with the Club since. However, an internet search of the chassis number
did reveal that it had been sold in an auction in 2012 with 104k miles recorded at the time. The trail then goes cold, although looking the car up on the DVLA website reveals that the last MOT expired in April 2013 and it is currently listed as SORN. So, if anyone knows of the current whereabouts and status of UGW 1 05R [perhaps it is being restored?], please get in touch with me. Stephen would love to hear what happened to his Carrera.
Guy White
924/TURBO/S
RegisterSecretary
Trefor Willingham 01747 838158
924@porscheclubgb.com
AssistantSecretary
Paul Hedges 07940 441452 (6-1
I'm sure you'll agree that the photo of Remy's 924 (above) is fantastic. It certainly looks more like a concours contender than a rally car, but rallied it is. So, if you want some different kind of dates for your diary, please go and make yourself known to Remy at the following organised by 'Hero ERA':
This isn't the first time Remy's car has graced these pages, primarily because he does take a rather good photo. If you'd like to see your car in this slot, send me a photo and a few words about it. While I can't promise [there are rather a lot of you, you know!), I'll see what I can do.
BROKENBOOTLOCK
I managed to break one of the 924 upgrades on my daily 944 the other day: the lever on the back of the boot lock. With the battery in the boot and a motorised catch, I consider the mechanical 924 lock an upgrade - it is if you ever have a flat battery! The little lever
o::: Stephen driving his Carrera around Goodwood
isn't available separately, but is as part of the lock. There are two options for purchase: with or without the reference for your particular key. Being familiar with both the process of ordering a key from Porsche [reassuringly onerous] and the process of swapping the tumbles to match a lock to an existing key, I opted for the latter, intrigued to see what would be delivered but expecting it to be bereft of a lock barrel. It duly arrived, complete with a lock barrel, two new keys and a little tag for future replacement identification, all for little over £50 [with Club discount]. Nevertheless, it will teach me to keep my hatch pins greased and adjusted!
Franck Marie -07850 479979 911 sc@porscheclubgb.com
AssistantRegisterSecretaryNorth
Roy Saberton
AssistantRegisterSecretarySouth
Simon Barnes
TechnicalAdvisors
Barry Gale and Richard Stephens
TRACKDAYS
Have you ever fancied taking your SC on a trackday, but haven't taken the plunge because you have unanswered questions or need advice? Long-term 911 SC owner and regular helper of the SC Register Stuart Jefferies has kindly agreed to write some informative articles for us, with useful advice on preparing and attending rewarding trackdays with your SC.
Stuart has more than 35 years' experience attending trackdays in G-Model 911 sat circuits including Snetterton, Cadwell, Donington, Castle Combe and Bedford Autodrome. His articles will cover such topics as choosing your first trackday, preparing your car, what to check before the event (i.e.tyres, brakes, suspension, engine etc.] and potential upgrades to improve your car and overall experience.
He also has some good advice on potential weight reduction ideas for your 911 SC to improve your track times and enjoyment.
We will be publishing these articles in the Resources section of the 911 SC Register page, on our Forum, in PP and, of course, on our Facebook and WhatsApp private groups, which will also provide you with opportunities to ask more questions. Hopefully, some other members of the Register can also share their trackday experiences.
Please look out for his very interesting articles and opportunities to contact us if you have any questions on related subjects that you would like covered in future articles.
Franck
930(911TURBO)
RegisterSecretary
Position vacant
911 turbo@porscheclubgb.com
928
RegisterSecretary
Brian Smith -07798 868926 928@porscheclubgb.com
TechnicalAdvisor
Adrian Clark -adrian.clark928@gmail.com 928Archive
David Hemmings
VDUCANLOVETHE911AND928ATTHESAMETIME
Simon Taylor,a 928 convert, proves it: "My trusted independent Porsche specialist and friend, Ben at Rennspeed in Retford, had been encouraging me to think about getting a 928 since we finished a 911 G-body backdate restoration six months before.
"We were having an ongoing discussion about what our next project could be given how much we had enjoyed the last one. I'd recently driven a 928 GT,but it hadn't grabbed me at all. Admittedly, it had only been a 20-minute drive, but it felt lumbering compared to a 911 and was a tatty blue over blue example. But things changed one evening after Ben sent me a link to a 1980 Tobacco Brown manual 928S for sale on eBay -a South African import with a cream and brown Pasha interior. I'm a sucker for a retro colour combination, particularly because I learned to drive in my dad's 2.0-litre Ford Consul [the poor man's Granada) with a brown vinyl interior in 1980.
"So, a couple of days later, we both headed to Surrey with a toolbox, some optimism and a fair dollop of scepticism. We met a nice guy, Tom, who'd imported it after a holiday in 2016 but hadn't got round to doing anything with it. Some final bits of paperwork were still required for the DVLA, so it was still on Pretoria licence plates. After a good poke around the car, a read through the paperwork, a very short drive and a spirited haggle, a deal was done. Returning home, I fell in love with it. What balance! What torque! And no rattles or squeaks.
"The 928 was rust-free, as we'd hoped. However, the electrics were more lashed up than you'd think possible, every crevice was
Two 911 SCs waiting to take to the track
Stuart Jefferies pushing his SC to the limit
The 928's electrics were more lashed up than you would think is possible and every crevice was packed full of red South African dust. Chasing that dust out led to stripping the interior down to the metal
packed full of red dust and the oil was a little sludge-like. Ben gave it a very comprehensive service. Chasing the dust out of the car led us to strip the interior down to the metal. We put in new Dynamat and Dynaliner, sent the seats away for restoration and the interior trim for new brown leather. Most impressively, Ben also made the retractable aerial mechanism work again.
"Seven months later, in April 2025, the restoration's complete. We took the car on a successful maiden voyage to the Goodwood Members' Meeting. The final eight miles down the twisty 82141 was one of the drives of my life. The car feels amazing in 2025, so what it felt like 45 years ago is hard to comprehend -the engineering is night-and-day different from that Ford Consul. And the brown is still just as cool!"
944
RegisterSecretary
Mike Pollock-07811 944953 944@porscheclubgb.com
AssistantRegisterSecretary
David Chapman
TechnicalAdvisor
Jon Mitchell
01202 488800 [normal working hours] technical@jmgporsche.co.uk
In every 944's life, there comes a time for some lifesaving, yes, corrosion repairs
There are a few extremely well cared for examples that have not required any such intervention but, in the UK, they are a very small minority. These cars were built to be used and make extremely good daily drivers, particularly so when they were younger. Therefore, the combined ravages of salt, the frequency of use and the relatively warm and wet climate we endure all conspire to eat the lower sections of those of our cars that have been used on a regular basis. My Cabriolet has seen many miles [ 145k or so] and is used all year round, at least for the past five years of my ownership, so I knew this day would arrive.
The issue has been where to take it. I wanted it to be fairly local and have been talking to many people at shows and meets of all sorts, with one recommendation leading to another. A couple of visits to places where I didn't feel 'comfortable' last year didn't help my insecurities around leaving the car I most like driving anywhere.
A couple of days of driving around Leicester and going from one 'too busy'
1980 Tobacco Brown manual 928S looking magnificent after the restoration or 'not our sort of thing' to another was frustrating. However, work took me down a road I would not have thought about, a unit with sets of proper tools and an air of experience was spotted and a good conversation was had. It's booked in for next week at the time of writing and I'll see how it turns out!
I hope to see you out and about, and let us know where you've been and what you've done.
Mike and David
RegisterSecretaries
Steve and Sue Edwards 01285 719561
911 carrera32@porscheclubgb.com
TechnicalAdvisor
Charles Marsland 07787 902403 [9am-9pm]
Email to join the Register WhatsApp
Let's open with a photogenic example of a 3.2 in the striking 1980s poster colour. The photo looks like the car's just willing owner Tony to get back in and drive it some
to Above: Some work is required as a result of the ffi ravages of the UK
Right: Mike's944 Cabriolet in its former glory
How the cream and brown Pasha interior looks now
The
As Europe's leading garage interior company, Dura offers an unrivalled range of quality storage products, flooring, ceilings and lighting to create stunning rooms. Our award-winning cabinets are designed and manufactured in the UK and used by leading professional workshops worldwide so you can be assured that you will be getting exceptional quality and style for your home.
more exhilarating miles. We received too few accompanying words to add here -he must be out enjoying the car -but I'm sure a short ownership story will follow. If you have a good photo of your 3.2 and some words about it, perhaps from an event this year, please send them in.
SOCIALMEDIA
It's time to join platforms outside of the Club's remit. Many Regions and Registers have taken this step, so let's see how it goes for us. The benefit is that they're easily accessible and immediate -historic offerings of the Club Forum and email haven't kept pace and are a somewhat dated technology now. If you are on our Register, you should have received a WhatsApp invitation email and we hope you join us to make it a success. Forgive me, though, if I still recommend posting or searching on the Forum, because it is a valuable mine of information. There are years of answers and helpful users beyond PCGB and there are even international contributors. Plus, anyone can post and answer on the Forum so, sometimes, it could be a better option than WhatsApp. If you have a technical question answered via WhatsApp and want a second opinion, phone Charles Marsland [details above]. A slight disadvantage I have seen in Region and Register WhatsApp groups has been occasional car-related questions that would have benefited from a search on the Forum. The initial WhatsApp answer had either not been specific enough or had it taken days for the right answer to materialise, while it was going begging on the Forum all the time.
With the Schwartz Black 968 Sport back on the road, things were looking good for a few days until the car refused to start. Work and family projects then took over for a few weeks before I got the car to John at Unit 11, who quickly diagnosed fuel pump failure on a brand-new fuel pump that had done less than 1 DD miles! With a new fuel pump fitted and a quick clean, I was off to my local forest photo spot to take some 'for sale' pictures. It's a great car, but I always intended to sell it. Please contact me if you know anyone looking for a freshly recommissioned 968 Sport.
As mentioned, I recently had the full underside of my Grand Prix White Club
Sport dry ice cleaned by Ian at Ice Gleam in north Wales. The car was filthy with potential areas for concern, so it seemed right to get the full underside and arches done. Ian also did the engine bay and, while it wasn't a cheap process, it took the car back to a fresh clean underside to see what we were dealing with. The results are incredible and, although the car looks amazing underneath now, it's clearly not brand new, with some corrosion on fixings and paint loss -like any car that's 30 years old. The good news was there were no real horror stories or serious rust; I'd already had the two front jacking points replaced and this seems to have been the worst area. However, one surprise was a hole in the upper gearbox aluminium casing that I am guessing resulted from a previous 'explosive' issue. The gear change is currently great, so a repair will be made soon. Huge thanks to Ian for all his hard work; he's meticulous in his process and is highly recommended. If you're interested in dry ice cleaning your Porsche with a PCGB discount, please contact me and I'll put you in touch.
GETINVOLVED!
If you have a 968 with an interesting story, please email me the details. It would be great to get you featured in the magazine, on the Club website and in 968 Register social media.
Matt's Schwartz Black 968 Sport is a great car and is for sale
By the time you are reading this, we will have just completed our 993 WOTY based up in North Yorkshire. For those interested, check out all the photos of the weekend on the 993 Register section of the Club website.
993CARSOFTHEMONTH
Many thanks to Peter and Roy for sending me the lovely photos of their 993s which are featured this month. These pictures have already been added to the definitive 993 Register gallery.
If you would like your car featured in a future PP,just email me and I will do my best to have you featured at some point. We now have well over 1 00 cars in our gallery on the Club website in the 993 Register section. Take a look and see all the magnificent 993s that we have in our Club. If you would like your 993 to be included, please email me a photo.
993ATTHEPEC
On Wednesday 18 June, the 993 Register will be taking over the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone for the whole day. With 30 993s expected, this will be a great day for all attending. If you're local and available around lunchtime, then please head on over in your 993 and I would be delighted to include you and your car in the group photoshoot. Just email me to say you will be coming!
Until next time, enjoy your 993,
Mark
993CARRERA RS
RegisterSecretary
Paul Howells
07809 880937
993rs@porscheclubgb.com
TechnicalAdvisor
= = Paul McLean
BOXSTER
RegisterSecretary
Tracy Wilkins 07986 943307
boxster@porscheclubgb.com
AssistantSecretary
Cliff Wilkins
TechnicalAdvisors
Steve Winter steve@jazweb.co.uk
Nick Pike 02089 607111 (evenings and weekends]
This month is a short column for the Register because, due to bank holidays and publication dates, there has been less than a month since I last wrote. I have been out and about meeting members over the last month and it's been great to meet so many new people. Our next event is on 1 June at Just Car Care (details on the Boxster
Register webpage ). If you receive this edition before then, please check to see if we still have availability.
I will be attending the Club's Summer Solstice event on 21 June and am awaiting confirmation for designated Boxster parking. I will also be attending the Supercar Pageant at Oulton Park on 28 June and look forward to meeting some of you there.
We have had a large increase in members joining our Facebook page. Please be sure to agree to the two requirements and give your membership number. Without this, I won't be able to add you to the group.
RECENTVISITTOPORSCHECENTRETEESSIOE
In March, I attended the R3 open morning at Porsche Centre Teesside. It was my first visit and I was very impressed with the set-up. Members were invited to have their cars up on the ramps and the mechanics gave each car a once-over. Quite a few Boxsters were in attendance, including Colin and Pam Ellis' beautiful 986 in Speed Yellow.Thanks to
Two more members' cars added to the 993 Register gallery - thanks Peter and Roy
Open morning at Porsche Centre Teesside
996
Porsche Centre Teesside for an enjoyable morning and to R3 for arranging it.
DELAYONLAUNCHOFTHEEVBOXSTER
With spy shots of the new EV Boxster being seen back in 2023, it's rumoured that the new model codenamed 983 will not be launched until October 2025 at the earliest. There have been supply problems with the company providing the batteries. Aside from this, the 718 will be discontinued in Europe this year. However, production for the UK will continue for now. Interesting times ahead.
Happy Boxstering,
Tracy
996
RegisterSecretary
Tony Murphy
996@porscheclubgb.com
AssistantSecretary
Tom Horner
SAMLANDERCARSANOCOFFEE
I attended the Cars and Coffee event at Sam Lander in Malton, where there was a great turnout of around 1 50 Porsches and a few other marques in attendance. A lovely sunny Sunday morning, it was great to see numerous 996 models and to meet some 996 Register members who had come along with their families to enjoy the wide selection of cars and breakfast sandwiches and to chat to fellow enthusiasts.
It was my first chance and a pleasure to meet up face-to-face with Tom Horner, who has agreed to help me with the Register. Tom is based in the North East so, hopefully, this may allow some 996 get-togethers that are based further north in the future.
996REGISTER
The 996 Register continues to grow, with new members joining each month, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has sent photos in for the gallery on the Club website. Please do get in touch if you have any suggestions for 996 events, meet-ups, drive-outs or anything that brings fellow 996 owners together. For any 996 owners attending the PCGB event at the British Motor Museum at
Gaydon on 21 June, we have parking space for 200 cars so I'm looking forward to seeing a great selection of 996 and 997 models. Details of the event and ticket arrangements are on the Club website.
Tony
GT3
RegisterSecretary
Alex Drobik 01628 620702 - gt3@porscheclubgb.com
Well, we are having good weather as I write this and, clearly, many of you have taken your cars out to events or just out. 'Blowing away the cobwebs' is the operative phrase of many.
TRAVELS
I had a couple of weeks in Italy and, for once, flew and used public transport. It takes too long to drive just for a short holiday and I am trying to avoid rental cars because the cost just keeps getting silly. The rental is fine, but the insurance for partial cover doubles it and then you must ensure that tyres, breakdowns and windscreens are also covered. Too much hassle!
We did have some Porsche interest, though. In our local square, a bunch of cars were allowed to park in a normally closed-off area. Porsche Club Brescia had arrived!
However, as it was lunchtime, I could not see a single owner to have a chat with. Well, we were in Italy
A few days later, the Coppa MilanoSanremo XVI Historic Revival 'race' came through town, stopping off at the Riva factory. They were supported by several Franciacorta Porsche Experience vehicles that came from the Centre about 16 miles away. So, while I was car-free, there were a few auto events to keep me interested!
EVENTS
If you subscribe to the GT3 Register newsletters, you'll have seen that we have a morning visit to RPM Technik on Sunday 1 June. At time of writing, we've had a very healthy response, so a big thank you for your support. RPM's continuing work on GT models, including Manthey builds, makes them an interesting specialist to visit. If you have specific questions/issues you want to discuss, please let me know in advance and I'll feed those into the visit. If you didn't get the email invite and want to attend, please email me.
To receive emails, visit the Club's website, select 'My Profile', 'Contact Preferences', 'Edit' and add a tick for 'GT3 Register' to ensure you're on the email distribution list. Conversely, if you no longer have your GT3, please untick the box.
Alexander Drobik
Register members' cars. The Silver 996 is from the Cars and Coffee meet at Sam Lander in Malton
Porsche Club Brescia
997s at Porsche Centre Tewkesbury
CAYENNE
RegisterSecretaries
Andy Simpson
cayenne@porscheclubgb.com
AssistantRegisterSecretary
Larry Lawrence
997
RegisterSecretary
Steve Johnson -07555 198866 997@porscheclubgb.com
RegisterAssistant Roger Aldridge
I am seeing more and more 997s out and about now, and getting more emails. It appears we're all enjoying the good weather!
During April. our Register Assistant Roger organised a fantastic trip to the Morgan Motors Company factory and 36 members in 26 cars attended. The participants had a breakfast stop at Porsche Centre Tewkesbury to start and were well lookedafter, with plenty to eat and a tour of the facilities followed by a talk about a couple of cars in the showroom. The first was a 50th anniversary 911 Turbo at £227k -nice interior, though! The second was a new 992.2 GTS. Their guide Blake explained all the new technology, which rather blew a few minds. Don't forget that the 997 was the first 911 to trial hybrid technology!
The convoy then drove to the factory for the tour and two hours of motoring bliss. They showed the latest Morgan, which has significant technology upgrades while keeping with the Morgan tradition of the ash frame and so on, then attendees were treated to a detailed tour of their manufacturing facility. This included chatting to someone hammering out a replacement panel for an older plus eight.
53 They really do make all the panels by hand!
o::: An excellent lunch rounded off a great
morning and, with the weather being so kind, this was taken outside. Thank you so much to Roger for organising.
Our next big 997 event will be the PCGB at the British Motor Museum event at Gaydon on 21 June. We had an amazing time last year, so we have more space this year. Look out for email details to join. We are also looking to arrange a scenic drive down to Boxengasse afterwards for the Club's Summer Solstice event we are holding there. Hopefully you can join us.
If you have a story about your 997, a question or just a great picture, please email me.
Introducing Andy, today's featured Panamera Register member with his stunning Panamera 971.2 GTS. Here's Andy to tell us more about this outstanding car:
"It's a 2019 971.2 GTS VB Twin Turbo in Carmine Red, my second 971. I took delivery in October 2023, trading up from
a 971 Panamera 4. It's a fabulous carquick, comfy, amazing handling. It puts a smile on my face every time I drive it, whether that's popping to the shops or cruising to Tuscany.
"The GTS features a lowered sports chassis, Sportier PASM calibration and 20-inch Panamera Design wheels, with the black exterior trim offsetting the Carmine Red.
"Inside, the vehicle has the usual array of kit, including satnav, Bose, head up display and night vision. The interior is finished in Grey Alcantra with contrasting red stitching.
"The Panamera has a natural ability to mix so many different attributes, whether that's the aforementioned cruising to Tuscany or popping to the shops, and is a very underrated car. I can't think of many other cars that are as quick, handle so well, can upset many true sporty cars and put a smile on your face every time you drive them."
INSTAGRAMACCOUNT
For more stories like this and much more, visit our lnstagram account by scanning the QR code.
NATIONALTHREEPEAKSCHALLENGECHARITYEVENT
On 25-26 June, a group of nine Register members and five drivers in their Panameras will be undertaking the National Three Peaks Challenge in aid of the Lullaby Trust, a charity dedicated to giving families a safer start to life. Look out for regular updates. The Three Peaks is tough, but so are we. Please consider supporting us by visiting our Panamera events page and donating via the linked JustGiving page.
So far this year, we have had our visit to Retropower in March and we supported a GRACE Charity event in early April. The latter was a visit to a private car collection in Surrey and there was a good turnout from the Register. Thanks to Nate Yaoz for the preparations and for being the Register host on the day. Looking forward to May, the two key events are the Donington Historic Festival [2-4 May) and Porsche Club at Harewood (18 May]. These will be done and dusted when you read this, but June is the busiest month and the Register will be represented at the big events. Details are on the Club website's events calendar. Please note that, other than for the small number of model-specific ones, you are welcome at any of those listed. For current 'who's going' type of information, the WhatsApp group is good for chat and updates. If you need a link, please email me.
We are marking the 25th anniversary of the Cayman and the 1 0th year of the GT4. If you are planning to go to one or more events this year and would like to display your car, please drop me a photo or two with your story. We all know what a Cayman looks like, but it is the ownership experience that makes them interesting. On the technical side, I have had contact with two members who have both suffered from dropping roof liners. This is a common problem as our cars get older and, as is often the case, there are cheaper ways of dealing with it compared to the Porsche Centre's solution. If your car is affected, have a look at the 'Cayman roof tent' thread
on the Forum and please contribute any knowledge you have.
991
RegisterSecretary
Neil Bravery - 07730 050354 991@porscheclubgb.com
It's the Tuesday after the Easter Bank Holiday as I write this column. The driving season is well underway, so I hope you are all getting a few miles on your 991 sand not keeping them tucked away!
That brings me to my recent MOT. You'll pleased to hear (as I was] that mine flew through with no advisories. It was then off to RPM in Knaresborough for its annual service; namely oil and filter, pollen filters [there are two of them] and a brake fluid change. There was only one advisory regarding weak bonnet struts which, apparently, do fail over time. I've been told my next service is the BIG one, so I'm mentally preparing for it.
It's always nice to hear from members via email, but I'll apologise in advance if I don't respond immediately because I have to juggle a day job and a young family.
A member recently contacted me regarding his extremely low-mileage 991.1 GTS. It's 10 years old with only 9,000 miles and that's got to be one of the lowest mileages I've heard about. I'd imagine it's in near-showroom condition. I'd be interested to hear from any members who have upgraded their entertainment system to Apple CarPlay. I know the 991.2
models have an upgraded unit, but the 991.1 system is quite dated and Porsche haven't got round to supplying a plug-andplay upgrade as they have done on the 997. I've seen some companies offering a module upgrade so you keep the original unit, but I'm not sure how good these are. There's certainly a market for the early 991 s, so please email me if you know of a reliable solution so I can share it with members.
MACAN
RegisterSecretary
Mike Allen - 07976 697070 macan@porscheclubgb.com
MACANWOTY
The last weekend in March saw members of the Macan Register drive to the South Coast for their WOTY. For the first time, three Macan EVs joined the trip, including one kindly loaned by Porsche Centre High Wycombe to Nick to seduce him from petrol to electric power. We were also joined by Derek and Anita's beautiful guide dogs Zelda and Moose who, like the EVs, appreciated the time to recharge their batteries between events. Centred on the amazing Montagu Arms Hotel in the Beaulieu Estate, this was the perfect base from which to explore the region.
Mike led an enjoyable drive to the hotel from Newbury on Friday before everyone met up that evening for introductions and a lovely meal. Saturday had the longest drive of the weekend, stopping at the famous Caffeine&Machine for a coffee before
Dawn at the London Eye
Caymansat Curborough
For the first time, three Macan EVs joined the Macan Register's WOTY
moving on to The Half Moon Pub for lunch. For those with room for more food, there was a further stop at the Kimbridge Barn for cream tea. The routes chosen for the day covered interesting and scenic backroads that showed England in all her glory. The highlight of Sunday was a visit to the Tank Museum at Bovingdon which was both engaging and poignant, especially the trench warfare element.
This was an incredible weekend with good food, great company and lovely weather. A big thank you to Mike Allen for his excellent organisation, Mandi and David for their detailed planning and Rob and Mary for their route leadership.
Nick Bradshaw
992
RegisterSecretary
David Wood 992@porscheclubgb.com
AssistantRegisterSecretaries
Tim Rice and Jonathan Brown
Welcome to all new members of the Register. You may have noticed that, from April, all new members to the Club, the 992 Register and anyone who may have upgraded their 992 will have received a welcome letter. We hope that you are always made to feel part of the Register and look forward to meeting new members
at events. Currently, there are more than 1 ,500 members in the 992 Register and this has significantly increased from the 500 members there were when the current team started in 2023.
Details of 992 Register events, a booking form and any costs can be accessed on the 992 Events page using the QR code and, as many have restricted numbers, we suggest that anyone interested should waste no time in booking to avoid any disappointment.
DIARYDATE8'
13JUNEPorscheCentreSolihull
Includes drive of 992.2/Macan EV. 9JULYMorganMotors
With a drive to the Malvern Hills/ Herefordshire.
18JULYPorscheCentreHighWycombe
Includes drive of 992.2/Macan EV. 3JULYVisittoProdrive,Banbury 2-3AUGUSTBeaulieuSupercar WeekendEvent 20SEPTEMBERThe'GreatNorthRun'
The main source of information for all things PCGB, including the 992 Register.
992FACEBOOKGROUP
The private Facebook group (facebook.com/ groups/992register) gives the latest details of events and activities in addition to the regular media of the PCGB.
992REGISTERPROFILES
Please ensure your PCGB profiles include '992' to receive regular emails and have access to the PCGB 992 news.
David, Tim and Jonathan
RegisterAssistant
Tom Sanders
RACECAR
RegisterSecretary
Paul Ward - 07894 877802 (before 9pm)
SPEEDSTER
RegisterSecretary
James Kirk 01252 710479/715185
speedster@porscheclubgb.com
TRADINGPOST
MEMBERLINEAGES
Personal number plates for sale.
A1 GOS - £4000
P1 GOS - £2000 Both on retention with certificates and fees paid.
email: patrickh2000@googlemail.com
911 (996) Carrera 4S £23,495
I'm selling this awesome 911/ 996 Carrera 4S as having just got married to my amazing wife, we now need to realise some funds for our new house! Offered with a strong Porsche main dealer and marque specialist maintenance history, [circa £17k spent on maintenance between 2013 & 2025 alone). All the right things have been done: incl' RMS/ new clutch by Addspeed at 66,837 miles in 2016. Recent maintenance expenditure between 2020 and 2025 alone comes to £8,400 including steering rack and brake discs etc. In essence, anything that's needed doing has always been done by myself and its previous owners, resulting in this 911 putting a big smile on my/ your face, EVERYtime I drive it!
With 14 service stamps, the latest at Strasse on 3/ 10/24 @79,500 miles (£1,313) where the water pump was also changed + big service by RPM on 7/7 /22@ 74,392 miles [£3,669) with no expense remedial work carried out, it's never let me down. New rear Pirellis under 1,000 miles ago too. I'd love to keep hold of the 911 as it's only going to increase
in value and has been meticulously maintained, both by myself and previous owners but needs must! I searched relentlessly for months to find the right 911 : asides from its detailed history, highlights for me include the rorty sports exhaust, colourway and its sunroof (all fully working). My cherished private plate will be retained by myself, with the car reverting back to its original registration post sale. Vehicle registered: 28/06/2003. 79,699 milesManual3.6I315 bhp. Contact: 07860 906032
Porsche 996 hardtop
Year 2000, always dry stored, basalt black, black & grey interior
A 1 condition £450 J 911 GTN reg for sale On retention, ready to transfer Offers over £900 Rugby,Warwickshire Alan 07870 543809
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 suit 997 etc. 2x235/35/19 and 2x295/30/ 19. On car for 5 months, <500 miles. 2023/24 dated. Cost £1200, best offer. Tel Richard 07815 787325 (Berkshire)
Genuine Porsche Turbo' style alloys. Refurbished and painted matt black. 2 front 7.5J x 18 ET50 and 2 rear 9J x 18 ET52. Factory stamping. £800 Collection Yorkshire. Call 07967677515
Chipex
10% Porsche discount using code: POR10%
have been around Porsches since
and have a large amount of
Not sure what part or can't find the part you want, just speak to one of our helpful advisors
ALL CALIPERSWE RECONDITIONARE SUPERBLYFINISHEDIN A BRIGHT ZINC/PASSIVATEPLATING(EXCEPTALLOYTYPES),ONLYNEWPISTONSAND SEALSARE USEDTHROUGHOUTALL UNITSARE FULLYFLUIDPRESSURE TESTEDTO 2001 PSI ENSURINGSAFEAND CORRECTFUNCTIONING.YOUR OWN UNITSEXCLUSIVELYRECONDITIONEDFORYOU.
ALL UNITSARE FULLYGUARANTEEDFOR 12 MONTHS.
EXAMPLE PRICES (PRICED EACH) ALL
INDEPENDENTPORSCHESPECIALISTS
AVN
AdvancedCarCara
Unit 3, Fairways Ind. Est. Filton, Bristol, BS34 7QS 0870 765 5911 / 0117 944 1944
sales@advancedcarcare.co.uk
www.advancedcarcare.co.uk
A progressively high tech, fully equipped Porsche servicing facility based in Bristol. The professional personalised care for you and your car is what makes us so unique. We pride ourselves on our integrity, flexibility and understanding of each client's specific needs. Our friendly and professional staff believe that our best customer is an educated customer. We will take as much time as is necessary to explain what needs to be done to your 'pride and joy' and how we will go about doing this. No matter what your needs or desires, if it's quality main dealer standards you need, we do it here. We don't cut corners and we don't rush jobs. At Advanced Car Care we take the time to do it right, first time! Call us for a free estimate, or pop into our Bristol-based premises. Which trusted trader.
BEDFORDSHIRE
Auto2D0D • PorscheSpecialist
24 College Street, Kempston, Bedford, MK42 BLU 01234 210012
Our expertise is deeply rooted in Porsche, a brand we have dedicated ourselves to understanding inside and out. With over 20 years of experience in the motor trade, including 15 years focused specifically on Porsche, we are uniquely equipped to offer Porsche owners a seamless and convenient customer experience, providing main dealer-level servicing at a fraction of the cost. My extensive experience includes building some of the world's rarest and most iconic Porsche engines, giving me the knowledge and skills to handle any Porsche w~h confidence and precision, we also cover Herfordshire and Cambridgeshire
RSJ have been esteblished since 1998 as a Porsche dealer and we are focused on the sales of used Porsche cars and the servicing and repair of used Porsche cars. As a Porsche dealer RSJ aims to be the next best alternative to a main dealer. We prepare our cars for sale to a main Porsche dealer standard. Our used Porsche cars have all cosmetic and mechanical refurbishment carried out to the same level as our staff did when they worked at a main Porsche dealer. Our aim is to make your life-long dream come true to buy that used Porsche 911 and have a good experience while owning it. Please call to come and view more than 25 used Porsches in our indoor 6,000 sq foot showroom.
RPMTachnik
Units 6 & 7, Old Airfield Industrial Estate, Cheddington Lane, Long Marston, Hertfordshire, HP234QR 01296 663824
info@rpmtechnik.co.uk www.rpmtechnik.co.uk
Located on the border of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire RPM has been maintaining both modern and classic Porsches since 2001. In addition to our specialist Porsche servicing, RPM also undertakes warranted car sales, project builds and restorations, engine and transmission rebuilds and track day/ race support.
BartlettAutomotive[Huntingdon)
5-6 Falcon Court, Falcon Road
Huntingdon PE29 BAH
01480459771
huntingdon@bartlett-auto.com
We are one of Cambridgeshire's largest specialist independents.We offer you the Porsche dealer level experience and brand knowledge for a fraction of the price from our Huntingdon facility. Our Silver level tech 'Ady' offers you 25 years of experience across all the models, from classic styles to modern day performance. We offer all servicing and diagnostics, as well as all peripheral options for tyres; air conditioning; geometry etc. We are a friendly family run business, with a strong local reputation for trust and quality as our many 5star reviews will confirm.
At Ninemeister we take a considered & conscientious approach to servicing and maintaining your Porsche to the highest standard. Our depth of expertise covers all Porsche models and we enjoy looking after them all. Whether an older Boxster or Cayman, or your everyday Cayenne or Mecan, or perhaps a cherished classic 911 that you have owned for decades, they all really matter to us and we believe that you can rely on Ninemeister to care for your car as if it were one of our own.
Tech9MotorsportLtd
Hale Garage, Hale Road, Liverpool, L24 5RB. 0151 4255 911 sales@tech9.ms www.tech-9.co.uk
Proud Members of PPN, the Porsche Partner Approved Network. We can access the latest technical information and diagnostics. Our Service/Repair work can be logged on the Porsche Portal if required to enhance the service history of your vehicle. One of the largest and longest serving Porsche specialists in the North West. Our highly skilled, enthusiastic team would love to welcome new and existing clients to our facility close to Liverpool Airport. Engine and Gearbox rebuilding from 356, through all of the 911 variants air-cooled and water cooled including GT3. Motorsport experienced, multiple Championship and Series Outright Winners -complete vehicle builds and race/trackday preparation. Highly experienced w~h R/RS/RSR and GT models GT2, GT3 etc. UK distributor for German tuning brand TECHARTCar Sales, Service and Restoration to Concours standards. Discount available to Porsche Club members on request. Location close to Liverpool Airport.
We're Porsche owners first, business people second and focus on delighting our customers. We are members of the Porsche Partner Network and the Retail Motor Industry Federation as well as being a Mobil Service Centre. Kettle's on, come and talk to us about your needs, as we are Serious About Porsche.
CORNWALL
TheColourworxLtd[Nawquay)
No 6 Quintrell Road, Newquay, TR7 302 01637 873218
Club members and owner/ drivers with over 40 years combined experience in car repairs. Accident repair centre - all aspects of body repair undertaken irrespective of vehicle and guaranteed fair pricing We can offer vehicle inspections and free estimates. Modern, fully equipped and insured premises.
PPN Porsche Partner Network allows us direct tee link to Stuttgart and ability to service the very latest Porsche along with the oldest classics and everything in between. We sell, buy, consign, service, restore, bespoke, modify, comp prep and accident repair all Porsche with care and flexibility. 911-356-Cayenne. Welcome to Williams Crawford Passion for Porsche.
South West specialist dedicated to Porsche owners. MOT testing station. All Porsches welcome. Diagnostics, service/ repair, AC, geometry, restoration, bodywork.
RogerBrayRestoration
Milestone Business Park, London Road, Whimple, Exeter. Devon EX5 2 QB 01404 822005 parts@rogerbrayrestoration.com www.rogerbrayrestoration.com
Esteblished in 1986 Roger Bray Restorations is a small business with a big reputation. Specialising in supplying parts and the restoration of classic Porsche's 356,911,912, & 914. We are dedicated to keeping these unique cars on the road and our customers as our friends.
Independent purely Porsche specialists, factorytrained technicians from 1987 to present. Porsche diagnostic equipment for all your Porsche needs, from fixed-price servicing to full rebuilds, with free loan cars. Collection and delivery service available.
PPN Porsche Partner Network allows us direct tee link to Stuttgart and ability to service the very latest Porsche along with the oldest classics and everything in between. We sell, buy, consign, service, restore, bespoke, modify, comp prep and accident repair all Porsche with care and flexibility. 911-356-Cayenne. Welcome to Williams Crawford Passion for Porsche.
A professional team of enthusiasts to help look after your Porsche, 26 years Main dealer experience, Porsche Open Championship Winner, all aspects of Porsche road and race cars catered for, excellent facilities, used Porsche sales, a real personal service.
At JMG we are dedicated to helping you get the best experience from your Porsche. We service, diagnose, repair and improve Porsche vehicles in our south of England workshops.
We are an experienced, enthusiastic team offering servicing, repairs, restoration, engine rebuilds, Porsche diagnostics and computerised full wheel alignment for all Porsche models from 1950 to 2010.
ADH Porsche has a highly trained and skilled team with many years working experience with Porsche. Our services include general inspections, fixed price services, full engine and gearbox rebuilds, brake and clutch replacements, detailing/ ceramic coatings and any general maintenance required. We also offer the added bonus of detailing services which will ensure your vehicle leaves our workshop showroom ready. Our highly skilled team are passionate about all things Porsche and our friendly, approachable team are ready to help answer your every need.
With over 40 years combined experience of working on the Porsche brand we offer all aspect of servicing and repairs to all Porsche models. Our list of services include: Fixed price servicing, engine rebuilds (water and air cooled), IMS upgrades, restoration work, wheel alignment and track day set up, diagnostic work along with clutch, brake and suspension work.
Brookspeed is an independent Porsche specialist based near the M3 between Southampton and Winchester. With 20 years' experience of racing and servicing Porsche models, Brookspeed are able to offer a 'one stop shop' for Maintenance, Servicing, Tyres, MOT, Diagnostics and Coach Trimming. Whatever your Porsche problem contact our friendly team at Brookspeed and we will do everything we can to help.
With excellent transport links from London and the M25, JZM is well positioned to service customers throughout London and the Home Counties. We boost over 40 years' experience in Porsche servicing and house a state of the art 80 car showroom and 100 car storage facility. Our factory trained technicians, coupled with the latest Porsche technologies and diagnostic equipment can meet all your Porsche needs in servicing, tuning on or off the track.
RPMTachnik
Units 6 & 7, Did Airfield Industrial Estete, Cheddington Lane, Long Marston, Hertfordshire, HP234QR 01296 663824 info@rpmtechnik.co.uk www.rpmtechnik.co.uk
Located on the border of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire RPM has been maintaining both modem and classic Porsches
since 2001. In addition to our specialist Porsche servicing, RPM also undertakes warranted car sales, project builds and restorations, engine and transmission rebuilds and track day/ race support.
LANCASHIRE
CavendishPorsche
Units 6 & 7, Gainsborough Close Long Eaton, Nottingham, NG10 1 PX 0115 972 2001 enquires@cavendishporsche.co.uk
Founded in 1991 by Chris Sanderson. One of the North West's leading independent Porsche Specialists. With over 35 years experience we specialise in repairs, servicing and parts for all models of Porsche.
Established in January 2018. Former Porsche technicians Nathan & Carl have a wealth of experience and an eye for detail. Offering affordable maintenance and repairs combined with real world honest advice.
London's premier Porsche specialist since 1970. Charles Ivey [Specialist Cars) Limited has been selling and servicing Porsches in London since 1970 and we have been at our present site for the past 35 years. We have a team of dedicated people who are committed to maintaining the very high standards that have, over the years, made us London's leading Porsche specialist.
Xavier Auto Clinic is an independent Porsche specialist based in West London that can offer a full range of service on all Porsche models.
Established in 2002, 5-star Good Garage Scheme member. Air-conditioning service and repair. Manufacturer-scheduled service keeping manufacturer warranty intact under block exemption. Customised servicing for three-plus years. Vehicle diagnostics and engine rebuilds.
986/996/997 and Cayman engine repair/ rebuild specialist addressing failed IMS bearings, scored bores, uD" chunk failures, etc. We carry out engine work for many of the UK's leading specialists and worldwide. Porsche servicing,
repairs and maintenance, sales, re-manufactured spares, monthly paid "Lifetime Maintenance Plan" (free labour and services).
MERSEYSIDE
Tech9MotorsportLtd
Hale Garage, Hale Road, Liverpool, L24 5RB. 0151 4255 911 sales@tech9.ms www.tech-9.co.uk
CavendishPorsche
Units 6 & 7, Gainsborough Close, Long Eaton, Nottingham, NG10 1 PX 0115 972 2001 enquires@cavendishporsche.co.uk
We are a Porsche Specialist based in Long Eaton, Nottingham. Our Technicians have over 21 years of Porsche main dealer experience and 7 years independent experience, so we are more than confident that our standard of work is of the highest standard. From servicing to full engine rebuilds, your beloved Porsche is in very safe hands. We use the very latest PIWIS official Porsche diagnostic systems and can offer you the same workshop facilities that you would find at any official Porsche Centre, but at independent prices. We hope to see you in the near future.
Establish in 1973, Autofarm is one of the longest standing independent Porsche specialists in the UK. Globally known for our meticulous project build and preservation processes, our Oxfordshirebased workshop, also provides a full range of other services to maintain and enhance your air and water-cooled Porsches. The passion for quality runs throughout the business, so whether you're looking for general servicing, engine and gearbox maintenance, bodyvvork and paint repairs, storage solutions or a bespoke build, Autofarm have the expertise. Come visit, chat to our team and be part of the Autofarm family.
Hillcrest Specialist Cars is a leading independent Porsche specialist based in Henley-on-Thames.We offer a highly professional service at competitive prices. We pride ourselves on our high quality and standard of service.
WrightuneLtd
The Cron, Whitely Road, Hithercrolt Ind. Estate, Wallingford, Oxon, OX10 SAG 01491 B26911 info@wrightune.co.uk www.wrightune.co.uk
Wrightune was founded by Tony Wright, well known and respected in the Porsche world. 35+ years of continuous experience with Porsche cars results in a wealth of knowledge and expertise.
cmsporscha.co.uk
Telford, Shropshire 01952 608 911 / 07831 711609
Est. 1997 Independent Porsche specialists for repairs, service, spares, salvage projects and sales.
Established more than a decade ago, PIE Performance is a family owned and run independent Porsche specialist based in the heart of Suffolk. We have the latest Porsche Diagnostic System and cater for all models from Air Cooled to modern front engine Cayenne. We have a separate Engine Division and Restoration Team on hand to undertake all manor of tasks.
ReasonPorsche
Unit 16-17, Stone Street, Crowfield, Ipswich IP6 982 01473 845007 service@reasonporsche.com www.reasonporsche.com
All servicing carried out by Porsche factory trained technicians using the latest PWIS factory diagnostic equipment, using recommended Porsche parts & Mobil1 Oil. Collection & delivery available. Loan car facility when available on booking.
SURREY
CridfordsPorsche
The Street, Ewhurst, Surrey, GU67QY 01483 273302 porsche@cridfords.co.uk www.cridfords.co.uk
Established for over 30 years, we are one of the country's longest established Porsche specialists. Our service department are equipped with the very latest official Porsche PIWIS Ill diagnostics and Porsche spec Hunter 4 wheel alignment system. We offer a full engine repair and rebuild service, classic restoration, as well as all service work for current through to classics models. Collection and loan cars available.
Five Ashes, East Sussex, TN20 SHY 01825 830424 [open 7 days) info@paragon.gb.com www.paragongb.com
Located in the heart of East Sussex, we offer an outstanding selection of high-quality and expertly prepared used Porsches for sale. Our in-house workshops and parts department are fully equipped and offer a vast depth of knowledge and enthusiasm that enables us to provide complete long-term care for your modern or classic Porsche.
We specialise in Porsche maintenance and bodyvvork repairs -from regular care through to full restorations. We have new dedicated workshops all on one site including the latest Porsche diagnostic equipment and body shop services. Our premises are light, spacious and customer friendly located in Mid Sussex.
Contact Mike or Paul Chare 01564 823144 / 07872 041911 info@zhporsche.co.uk www.zhporsche.co.uk
Located just off the M42/M40 our centrally based Porsche Specialists can take care of all Porsche models. We have a fully equipped workshop with trained staff ready to meet your needs offering a complete service and maintenance program.
WESTSUSSEX
GCSEngineeringLtd
Unit A, Monks Gate Garage, Brighton Road, Monks Gate, Horsham, West Sussex, RH13 6JO. 01403891911
We offer a complete range of services or all Porsches including engine and gearbox rebuilds and upgrades. Servicing, race and rally prep including four-wheel alignment and corner weighting, suspension upgrades, rolling road service. We also have an in-house machine shop to make those hard-to-get parts.
With over 40 years experience Parr is the leading Porsche specialist in the UK, covering all areas of Porsche maintenance, preparation, tuning [Cargraphic & Techart UK Importer), motorsport and sales. Whether it is a routine service or part through to a full restoration or engine build, Parr has the skills, experience and facilities to deliver the highest levels of customer care and service. To find out the full range of services, and to explore what Parr can offer you, please visit our website.
PhilipRabyPorecha Porschesalesandservice
Clovelly Road, Southbourne, West Sussex PO10 SPF.
Contact Philip Raby, Andrew Windsor 01243 780389 mail@philipraby.co.uk www.philipraby.co.uk
Friendly and affordable help on buying, selling and running Porsches. We sell top-quality Porsches at sensible prices with great a~ersales service. We also offer full service, repair and restoration services for all Porsches, classic and modern. Visit our website for more details or please ring for an appointment. We'll be happy to chat with you.
HeritagePartsCentre
Discount: 1 00/oon Porsche/ VW / Land Rover Parts Claim: Log in and use code PCGB10 at checkout to receive discount at HeritagePartsCentre.com
We are a Porsche Specialist in Wiltshire, right on the border of the Cotswold's with easy access off the M4 and A419. With 13 years experience in the trade and the majority within the Porsche Network at senior level. We are delighted to put our passion knowledge and experience for Porsche into your pride and joy. We have the latest Porsche main dealer diagnostic systems and carry out all servicing, repair and diagnostics.
WORCESTERSHIRE
PeterChambersAutomotiveLtd
Unit 5, 4,200 Oakfield Close, Tewkesbury Business Park, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 SPF 01684 274168 peter@pca~d.co.uk www.pcaltd.co.uk
Publicationsteam George Woodward, Paul Grainger and Richard Rees
Archives Peter Cook Letters letters@porscheclubgb.com
Disclaimer
Directors of the board of Porsche Club Great Britain, Club staff, Register Secretaries and Regional Organisers are often requested by Club members to provide information on matters connected with their cars. Such information, advice and assistance provided by such persons is given in good faith, and is based upon the personal experience and knowledge of the individual concerned.
Neither Porsche Club Great Britain nor any of the aforementioned shall be under any liability in respect of such information, advice and assistance given to members. Members are advised to consult qualified specialists for information, advice and assistance on matters connected with their cars at all times.
Importedvehicles
Porsche cars imported outside the official Porsche Centre network, with a non-C16 specification, may have a lower resale value in the United Kingdom, and may also exhibit performance issues.
Performancemodifications
Members are advised that any modification or the fitting of any non-Porsche accessory may invalidate their warranty.
Editorialcontributions
Contributions to Porsche Post are always welcomed but, to avoid possible duplication, it is essential that subject matter is discussed with the editor (editor@porsche clubgb.com) beforehand.
Please send a brief outline of your idea to the above email address first. It is also essential that all images are copyright-cleared. Although every care will be taken with members' documents and pictures, we cannot be held responsible for damage to, or loss of, any material. While every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of any information within Porsche Post, neither Porsche Club Great Britain nor Think Publishing Ltd can assume any responsibility for errors or omissions. Published articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, other contributors or the publishers, or Porsche Club Great Britain policy.
Advertisers are reminded that the Porsche script and crest are protected trademarks. Their use in editorial and advertising requires permission from Porsche Cars GB Ltd. If the Club has reason to believe that any items for publication contravene these guidelines, copy will be returned. The advertiser remains liable for space booked.
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Drive Espana
HistoricSpain-Theplacesthatforgedacountry
5-16October2025
Our 2024 Trip to Spain was a great success so we're going back with a different route for 2025. Themed around the history of Spain, we're going to places important to history. Leon, on the Camino de Santiago and an important centre for centuries; Ciudad Rodrigo where the French, Portuguese and British fought hard in the Peninsular War; they built gates to keep the pilgrims out at Guadalupe so venerated is it. If you had a Toledo steel sword you would win a sword fight, at Siguenza we stay in a proper castle and Napoleon spent his last night in Spain at Argomaniz before losing the battle of Vitoria and going home. There will be great driving on quiet smooth roads, wonderful hotels and a great experience "Thoroughly enjoyed your Spain Trip" " A great trip" " It was a fun trip"
Sun 5 Oct Mid afternoon departure from Plymouth for Santander on Brittany Ferries' flagship Pont Aven
Mon 6 Oct Arrive in Santander then drive to Leon for two nights at the Parador (163 miles)
Wed 8 Oct Drive to Ciudad Rodrigo for two nights in this lovely medieval town, staying at the Parador (180 miles)
Fri 10 Oct Drive to Guadalupe for a night in the peace and tranquilty of Extramadura. Lengthen the trip by dropping into Caceres, home of some of the conquistadors (150 miles without Caceres)
Sat 11 Oct Drive to Toledo for two nights at the Parador. It's a great spot and the Cathedral, Santa Tome, the old town, the Alcazar, the El Grejo Museum, Zocodova Plaza etc will eat up your day (130 miles)
Mon 13 Oct Drive to Siguenza for a night, travelling via Aranjuez (home of the Summer Palace) and skirting Madrid (167 miles)
Tues 14 Oct Drive to Argomaniz for a night where Napoleon prepared for a battle in which he was beaten by Wellington in a precursor to Waterloo (183 miles)
Wed 15 Oct Drive 110 miles through the Basque Country to Santander ferry port for afternoon embarkation on Brittany Ferries Salamanca
Thur 16 Oct Mid evening arrival at Portsmouth
What is included
Ferry crossings with standard outside cabin (upgrades available at extra cost),. Dinner bed and breakfast at all hotels-all are Paradors
Services of Jasper Gilder as tour leader -Map and Road book.
Price £3900.00 per car with driver and one passenger For more info or to book contact Jasper Gilder on 01442 842542 / 07831 327727or email info@driveespana.com
IrTHEMOMENTS THATSHAPED PORSCHE HISTORY
LITTLECAR,BIGRACE
Thetime the 924 CarreraGTPstole the show at Le Mans
WOROS:ADAMTOWLER
It seemed unthinkable at the time but, in 1980, the Porsche factory team were heading to the 24 Hours of Le Mans without a car that stood any chance of winning. Given that Porsche had won five of the previous 10 races held at the Circuit de la Sarthe, many wondered if the marque had lost the plot. It hadn't, but it's fair to say its motivations were somewhat different that summer.
The 924 was now established in the market after a somewhat controversial start in life. Sales had picked up nicely, although there was still a stigma in some quarters that it wasn't a 'proper Porsche', principally around its Audi-sourced engine. But there was to be no going back; the transaxle cars - spearheaded by the new 928 - were the future, the 911 was in the final months of its lifespan and there were developments planned for the 924 that would see it expand into new markets, filling the gaps. That was what CEO Ernst Fuhrmann had decreed, regardless of what fans of a certain rear-engined sports car bemoaned.
Porsche already had a 924 Turbo redefining what the little transaxle car was capable of but, at the 1979 Frankfurt Motor Show, it showed a
concept for an even more exciting 924: a Carrera that would become the 924 Carrera GT. It needed to build 400 of these to qualify for GT racing and, as it had proved many times previously, motor racing helped sell road cars. Here, then, was an opportunity. Its 935 and 936 racing models were reaching the end of their lives and new rules governing sports car racing were due in 1982 anyway. The Carrera GT wouldn't be homologated in time for the 1980 race, but what if Porsche prepared a racing version and ran it in the prototype class, positioning it as a development exercise?
Norbert Singer was put in charge of the project and the maestro didn't have long - just seven months. The result was the 924 Carrera GTP Le Mans and a three-car team based around Porsche's key markets with corresponding liveries: a 'German car' crewed by Jurgen Barth, Gunther Steckkonig and Manfred Shurti; a 'UK car' crewed by Derek Bell, Tony Dron and Andy Rouse; and a 'USA car' crewed by Peter Gregg and Al Holbert.
The 924 was stripped down to just 920kg and featured a full racing version of the little 2-litre, eight-valve engine producing 320bhp. While a top speed of 174mph was unlikely to trouble the front-running prototypes and near-700bhp 935s, it soon became readily apparent that the little Porsches were quick in the corners, with their famed transaxle 'balance' also making them great to drive.
The event wouldn't run smoothly. Even before the start, Steckkonig fell ill and had to withdraw. Then Gregg was involved in a road accident on the way to the circuit and, suffering from concussion, also played no further part. Tragically, it's believed this injury contributed to the American star taking his own life at the end of the year. The driver squads were reorganised and Bell, returning to Porsche with his career in the doldrums, joined Holbert's car.
The Porsches all qualified well down the order, but very wet conditions at the start soon saw them climb the field. In the night, they ran as high as fifth, seventh and eighth before an engine problem on Sunday morning affected the American and British entries. The problem had arisen in testing, but was supposedly cured. However, both cars burned the number four piston and valves and would finish the race on just three cylinders - the little Audi engine had cried 'enough!'. Yet the 'German' entry still ran perfectly and sixth overall (and third in class) was the miraculous end result, with the ailing UK car in 12th and the American car in 13th. Nobody could say the 924 wasn't a 'proper Porsche' now. The Carrera GT road car sold out, the 1980 Le Mans car was massaged into the Carrera GTR customer racer and a certain English driver once again had a relationship with Porsche that would bear spectacular fruit in time. A true landmark moment. PP
