In September, Jim took his 944 over to France for Le Touquet, a classic car event only 55 miles from Calais. This trip had been organized by Continental Car Tours. The run down was great, with our hotel at Montreuil, around 15km inland from Le Touquet. We met up with John Fagan, the newest TIPEC SELNK member who had come over later in the day in his 993. The show is held at the Hippodrome, or horse racecourse, and is a large grassed area with many mature trees. We met up with TIPEC members Paul & Judy Drury in their very nice 968 Cab Tip and later in the day a French registered 924S Porsche joined us.
The main French Porsche contingent arrived a little later and parked elsewhere. The French seem to prefer the rear engine Porsches and that was reflected in the turnout, being predominately 911s of varying ages. The Porsche turnout was much smaller this year, with a mix of 911s but no other Porsches. Last year we had several RS 911s & even a RUF Boxster. The overall format of the show is quite laid back, with ad-hoc parking and people just wandering around the cars, which come from France, Britain and Belgium with the odd one from the Netherlands or Germany. Le Touquet boasted a fantastic cross section of non-Porsche cars, ranging from big ’60s and ’70s Yanks to various obscure French sports cars such as
What I didn’t realise is that it would be two months before I saw the car again. Unfortunately due to holiday commitments as well as work I was unable to take interim pictures and the photos that the garage said they’d taken, I’ve never seen. The car was eventually MOT’d in early July & thankfully passed. It seems that their MOT tester didn’t like the white LEDs in the driving lights, so they were changed and the handbrake turned out to have been incorrectly assembled. Interesting as the handbrake cables had been fitted six months previously by a well known Berkshire Porsche independent. On collection the car was filthy and covered inside and out with white powder from being mopped over. Also on closer inspection it looks like the white the sills are now painted in is a totally different shade to the rest of the car. On the drive back from Chilham through the lanes I realised why I love the 944. Taut and responsive it definitely puts a smile on my face. The Dansk rear box has made the car feel more responsive and crisper, as well as sounding much better than the original. Not a bad tuning improvement for around £140. Next jobs on the list are the body which is a patchwork quilt; mine being a hybrid of 944 Lux with an S2 front PU and rear under spoiler.
a Matra Simca Bagheera and a Rene Bonnet. The Belgian section of the Jaguar Drivers Club had turned out in force with everything from an XK120 through to a new XKR and an S-Type. The other part of the show is a formal Concours with the selected cars being driven up one at a time, whereby someone interviews the driver and broadcasts the details of the car to the audience. The occupants are all dressed up in period (for the car) clothing. This is all taken quite seriously and some of the cars are very exotic indeed. The French are keen on their classics. Apparently Porsche in France is similar to the UK with a factory backed club and a smaller independent one.
A more major issue is that the belts are overdue for change and every seal is leaking on the front of the engine. These oil leaks are tied in to the fact the engine driven briskly can consume oil at the rate of a litre for every 175 miles! This is a two stroke level of use and is certainly down to the piston rings being worn-out and pressurising the crankcase. So a plan is being formulated based on acquiring another 944 engine and just to spice it up I’ve won a supercharger from eBay that was fitted to a Mercedes CLK 200 or 230. I’ve just won a three litre S2 lump on eBay which will be arriving in a few months. A standard 2.5 is 163BHP nd a three litre S2 is 210 so looking at the figures I reckon it’ll be a circa 40% increase without going mad, giving 290ish BHP which should be fun. My three litre will have to be a hybrid with an eight valve head as the 16 valve head is too wide (I think) to get the blower in. I’ll update this with a separate article later. My car had S2 suspension and brakes fitted all around soon after I bought it, so has better brakes. It also has for some mysterious reason larger anti roll bars than a Lux should have. The car has to sit out over the winter as it doesn’t fit into the garage. Someone was selling a Covercraft car cover on the Titanic 944 email list, so the 944 has got an early Christmas pressie which should keep some of the weather off!
Writing & photography by Jim Hearnden
All Torque 67 page 21