And This Is Only A Sample Of What’s To Come…

Hurley Haywood, five-time winner of the 24-Hours of Daytona sitting on the Brumos Porsche Copenhagen sponsored 962 at Rennsport I

ATLANTA – For the Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV taking place at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway in October, it’s both the men and machines that are expected to draw one of the largest crowds in track history. And, if early sign-ups are any indication, both elements will not disappoint.

Just a glance at the guest list reveals names that are well entrenched in Porsche Motorsport history.  How about (in no particular order) Vic Elford, who won the Monte Carlo Rally and scored Porsche first overall win at the 24 Hours of Daytona – on back-to-back weekends; James Weaver, Porsche 962 driver for Dyson Racing – Daytona and Sebring winner; Gijs van Lennep, Dutch Porsche 917 and 911 driver – won Le Mans with Helmut Marko and the last Targa Florio with Herbert Mueller; Chip Robinson – IMSA champion with Al Holbert in a Porsche 962; George Follmer – took Penske Porsche 917 to Can-Am championship; Dan Gurney – scored Porsche’s first successes in Formula 1; and Hurley Haywood, most successful Porsche endurance driver with wins at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans; and that’s just a sample.  More than 50 drivers of similar stature have already said “yes” to Porsche’s invitation for the October 14 – 16, 2011 Rennsport event, and the rest of the names will be announced as the event gets closer.

And it’s not just drivers that made their Porsche race cars famous.  Attendees will include Norbert Singer, recently-retired Porsche Motorsport engineer, known as the father of the Porsche 962; Hans Mezger, who headed up the Porsche Motorsport racing engine function from his Dan Gurney F1 motors through the 917, 935, 962 and McLaren F1 engine; and Alwin Springer, former Vasek Polak 917 crew member who later built engines at his company Andial and served as president of Porsche Motorsports North America.

Norbert Singer, Porsche Factory Engineer involved with all 16 Porsche Le Mans victories (left) talking to Derek Bell, five-time winner of Le Mans at Rennsport I

And then there are the race cars.  How about Carlos de Quesada – a Rolex 24 winner himself in 2004 in a Porsche – bringing his 1980 Porsche 935 K3 – the 1980 Sebring overall winner driven by Dick Barbour and John Fitzpatrick (and, by the way, both drivers will be at Rennsport as well); early Porsche 911 race cars like the 1967 2.0-liter 911T entered by David Alvarado – both a Daytona and Sebring class winner; a rare Porsche 906 driven by such Porsche luminaries as Monterey’s own Don Wester, Milt Minter, and Bob Kirby (entered by Dann Boeschen; 1989 Porsche 962C driven at Le Mans by the father and son team of Derek Bell/Justin Bell (entered by Jimmy Castle, Jr. – Derek also plans to attend); or the one of the more recent Porsche championship winners – the Petersen/White Lightning Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (996) which took Joerg Bergmeister to the ALMS title with Patrick Long.  Joerg, Patrick, and the rest of the current Porsche factory drivers, will all attend Rennsport.

More cars?  The 1961 Porsche RS61 driven by Herbert Mueller to the 1963 European Hillclimb Championship (entered by Stanley Gold); 1979 Porsche 935 of John Paul, Sr./John Paul, Jr. (entered by Steve Goldin); 1968 Porsche 908K works car driven by Vic Elford and Jochen Neerpasche (entered by Cameron Healy); 1967 Porsche 910 driven to second in class finish at Sebring by Hans Herrmann and Jo Sieffert (entered by Thors Johnson); and even a 1958 Porsche Speedster/1600 cc – went to the SCCA National championships 33 years in a row – has 55,000 race miles on it (entered by Ernest Nagamatsu).

And, with over 200 cars already entered – and the list above only scratches the surface – Porsche is waiting for some of the large collectors – the Collier Collection, Brumos Racing, Gunnar Racing and even the Porsche factory museum – to announce which cars they are bringing to the event.

In addition to the already full Rennsport Reunion IV weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Porsche Race Car Classic, an exclusive display of more than 180 of Porsche’s silver race cars from the 1950’s and early 60’s will be held on the lawns of the nearby Quail Lodge in Carmel on Sunday, October 16.

The Race Car Classic will provide a unique experience for the true connoisseur. Set in the serene Quail Lodge in the lovely part of the Monterey Peninsula, each extraordinary car will tell its own fascinating story of how it all began. Explains Steve Heinrichs, producer of the Porsche Race Car Classic, “this once-in-a-lifetime gathering of vintage Porsche race cars solely from Porsche’s break-out era of 1950-1965 will raise critical funding to directly support lung cancer research. We’ll have Gmünds, Glöcklers, 550s, 718s, 804s, 904s, 356s, Abarths and more – in numbers and provenance never before seen.”

While the cars are by invitation, the event itself is open to the general public. Special guests, celebrities, and era pilots will be on hand, and fine wines and gourmet specialties will be on the menu. Importantly, all net proceeds from the event will directly support lung cancer research.

For more information on the Porsche Race Car Classic or to purchase tickets visit www.porscheracecarclassic.com or contact Mr. Heinrichs at 775-691-2217.

The Porsche Race Car Classic will focus on the beginnings of Porsche’s motorsports history while Rennsport Reunion IV will offer plenty of excitement, noise and on-track racing action by Porsche’s ever more powerful race cars from the late Sixties up to today.

Text/Photos courtesy Porsche Cars North America, Porsche Race Car Classic Poster courtesy of PRCC

The Targa Tasmania is a tarmac-based rally event held on the island state of Tasmania, Australia, annually since 1992. The event takes its name from the world-famous Targa Florio, the stellar event held on the island of Sicily. The competition concept is drawn directly from the best features of the Mille Miglia, the Coupe des Alpes and the Tour de Corse. We think it’s a very cool event. In 2011, Porsche Sent Walter Rohrl and (original from 30 years ago) co-driver Christian Geistdoerfer “down under” in their ‘81 911SC Rally Car. These videos are divided into legs 1-5.

Get some popcorn and enjoy!

LeMans, France, 1977

Some vintage footage – during a qualifying session – of the Porsche 936 Spyder driven that year by Jurgen Barth, Hurley Haywood, and Jacky Ickx to overall victory. Their AVERAGE speed is claimed to be 194.65mph! While we certainly can’t vouch for the accuracy of that speed – they were very fast nonetheless. Watch how they turn all those Porsche 911 RSRs into “speed bumps”.

Enjoy.

Porsche Factory Rennsport Poster From 1976 Showing The 936 Spyder

Jeff Zwart – 2010 Pike’s Peak Class Champ, and Friend Of PML – hit the Porsche Museum during a recent trip to Germany.
For those unfamiliar with Jeff, he is a world-class visual artist. His speciality is both Photography and Cinematography. He has done many top notch commercials for Porsche and other clients. Jeff has also authored several fine books on Porsche. Amazon and David Bull Publishing both carry Zwart Titles.  Whatever the task at hand, Jeff does it all very well.  He is a legend at Pikes Peak (see this earlier PML post)

Below are some museum exhibit shots Jeff graciously shared with PML. Enjoy! (captions by the PML Staff)

Thank You, Jeff!

A "Zwart's Eye View" Of An Exhibit Area

917s...Titans At Rest - These Cars All Run And They Come Out On Occasion

Moby Dick Contemplates Taking The Stairs

The #21 917LH - As Raced By Elford And Larousse At LeMans In '71

"Bee Hives" On An Early 356

You Just Never Know What You'll find In A Parking Garage...

Stairs? No Problem - We'll Just Use This Porsche Diesel Tractor...

"Duck Tail Ala Porsche"...Served Over Fresh Greens

"A Night At The Museum..." Only The Night Guards Know For Sure

The Martini 936 Prototype, As Seen Through The Penske RS Spyder

The Famous "Baby Turbo". Hard To Believe This Car Only Has A 1.4ltr Engine In It - It Still Flew

UPDATE: The Russo & Steele results have finally materialized… The Russo & Steele results have pushed the Monterey Auction Weekend well over the $9M mark for Porsche-only sales!

Monterey Peninsula — The auctions were busy this year. Total sales reached the $172M mark, easily surpassing the $120M – $140M pre-auction estimates. Some observers feel that “the money is back”. Here at PML we think it’s more of a situation where money is simply being shifted around in order to preserve it – and not so much a matter of; “well, I had a good year, let’s go buy a car…”. One function of Real Wealth is asset management – the capability of moving those assets from one investment class to another. All this lateral movement bodes very well for collector cars, as car enthusiast investors scramble to get out of more volatile, toxic investment sectors – such as commercial real estate.

This is not to imply the Monterey auctions were the exclusive domain of the “Big Players”. Yes, there was certainly lots of high end action, but there were also plenty of buys – and great deals – at just about every price point imaginable.  Something for every one. A quick look at the Porsche results below will show some “well sold” Porsches, along with some examples we would consider “well bought”.

Pictured below:  The weekend’s top selling Porsche - The Amalfitano Collection’s ‘70 917 #031 which sold for almost $4m

]]> http://www.pmletter.com/blog/2010/08/28/porsches-at-monterey-auction-results/feed/ 1 http://www.pmletter.com/blog/2010/07/24/porsche-908-up-goodwood-hill/ http://www.pmletter.com/blog/2010/07/24/porsche-908-up-goodwood-hill/#comments Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:00:37 +0000 Thom http://www.pmletter.com/blog/?p=4278

Andrew Frankel pilots the ‘70 Porsche 908/3 Spyder up “The Hill” At The Goodwood Festival Of Speed. Let’s hop on board, shall we?
Enjoy.

Porsche Celebrating 40 years since the first victory at Le Mans

Stuttgart. On 14 June 1970, Porsche claimed the first of what would become 16 overall victories in the world’s most prestigious endurance race, the Le Mans 24 Hours. After precisely 4,607.811 kilometres – or 343 laps – Hans Herrmann and Richard Atwood were first across the finishing line in the legendary Porsche 917 KH from Porsche Salzburg, which bore the starting number 23. Gerard Larrousse and Willy Kauhsen in the Martini Porsche 917 LH, followed by Rudi Lins and Helmut Marko in the Porsche 908/02 took second and third places respectively, making it a total triumph for Porsche.

However, the road to this victory was by no means an easy one for Porsche. The Zuffenhausen sports car manufacturer had been racing at the Sarthe circuit since 1951, achieving numerous class wins thanks to intrinsic Porsche qualities such as lightweight construction, aerodynamics and reliability. In 1969, Porsche was pipped to the post in the closest ever Le Mans race, with Herrmann and Larrousse in the Porsche 908 finishing just 75 metres – around one second – behind the Ford GT 40 of Jacky Ickx.

In the anniversary year of 1970, all the signs pointed towards an offensive that would finally see the much longed-for overall victory in Le Mans go to Stuttgart. The Porsche 917 was destined for victory, having made its debut just a year earlier. On 21 April 1969, the 25 Porsche 917s were approved by the homologation commission in Zuffenhausen. The cost of materials alone exceeded DM 5 million. The Porsche 917, developed by Ferdinand Piëch, was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. This new ‘ultimate’ Porsche quickly caused a stir among rival competitors. Weighing in at close to the minimum weight of 800 kilograms, it went on to become one of the fastest and most successful racing cars of all time. The lightweight 12-cylinder engine delivered up to 580 hp at 8,400 rpm with a displacement of 4.5 litres. This enabled the long-tail version to reach speeds approaching 400 km/h (248 mph) on the 5,823 metre-long Hunaudières straight at Le Mans.

In the run-up to the 1970 race, it was clear that the lessons learned from previous years had been worthwhile. Realising that rash manoeuvres in the first few hours of this classic endurance race would ultimately end in failure, Porsche made the experienced Hans Herrmann its first choice as driver. The Sindelfingen veteran combined speed and good sense. Together with Englishman Richard Attwood, he started in the 4.5-litre short-tail version bearing the number 23, which was painted in the red and white colours of Porsche Salzburg. The team’s second car, featuring a 4.9-litre engine and long-tail body, was driven by Vic Elford and Kurt Ahrens. A further three Porsche 917s were entered by John Wyer along with the psychedelic-coloured 4.5-litre long-tail version of the Martini team. There was also an entire armada of 907, 908, 910, 911 S and 914/6 models. At precisely 4 p.m. on 13 June, 24 Porsche cars stood at the starting line in Le Mans. By the next day there were still 12 remaining, five of which were classified. The only other cars to be classified were two Ferrari 512 S – this was out of a total field of 51 starters.

This race went down in history – and not just from the perspective of Porsche – because of the disastrous weather. Vic Elford recalled how it was sometimes impossible to overtake, even on the long straights. Kurt Ahrens described it as being like sitting in a boat. And just a few weeks after his victory, Hans Herrmann admitted that driving in the rain had prompted him to make the decision to finally hang up his helmet no matter what the outcome. When leaving his house in Sindelfingen-Maichingen, his wife had asked him when he was going to give up driving, to which he responded: “When I win.”
A promise is a promise. An hour after the start, which saw the drivers begin the race sitting in their cars instead of performing the world-famous “Le Mans start”, Herrmann was only in ninth place. The race leader was Jo Siffert, also in a Porsche 917, followed by Jacky Ickx in a Ferrari 512 S. Siffert later missed a shift and blew his engine, while Ickx crashed his red racer at the chicane. At around 6:15 p.m. came the almost unbelievable news that four Ferrari 512 S had crashed into one another in the driving rain and were out of the race. The race also took its toll on the Porsche armada, with all three 917s of the Gulf team gradually dropping out.

Now was the moment for the experienced veteran Herrmann, who had the perfect partner in Richard Attwood, to show what he could do. Under the most difficult weather conditions, he gradually moved his way up the field, guiding the Porsche Salzburg 917 confidently to the first ever overall victory for Porsche at Le Mans. He realised the significance of this moment as the race came to an end on 14 June 1970: “Wow! That may have been your last lap ever as a racing driver.” Back home in Stuttgart, his victory was celebrated with a parade, in which he drove his winning car through the city to the market square. Thousands of people turned out to congratulate Hans Herrmann, ex-racing driver.

Porsche followed up this success with a further 15 overall victories at Le Mans, the second coming just a year later in 1971. In a unique Porsche 917 with a lightweight magnesium chassis, Gijs van Lennep and Dr. Helmut Marko drove to victory on a still largely chicane-free circuit. In doing so, they set an incredible record, which has never been broken. The Porsche 917 completed precisely 5,335.313 kilometres and 397 laps in 24 hours, clocking up an average speed of 222.304 km/h (138.140 mph) despite all of the pit stops and the long night. The fastest lap in the race was achieved by Jackie Oliver’s Gulf 917, with an unbelievable 244 km/h (151.6 mph) average speed, while the 917 long-tail Coupé of Elford/Larrousse was clocked at a maximum speed of 386 km/h (239.8 mph) on Hunaudières in 1971.

In 1976 and 1977 the Porsche 936 was victorious, while in 1981 it won again under Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell with a new turbo engine. Belgian driver Ickx won at Le Mans six times, four of them in a Porsche. In 1982 he was yet again part of the winning team in a triple victory that represented the first milestone for the most successful racing car of all time, the Porsche 956. Up to 1994, different variants of the 956/962 won at Le Mans seven times. 148 of these were produced in Weissach.

In some years, Porsche conceded the most important race of the year to customer teams, who emerged as frequent winners. Klaus Ludwig and the Whittington brothers thus achieved victory in Le Mans in 1979 with a Porsche 935 for the Cologne-based Kremer team, while Reinhold Joest guided the Porsche brand to well-deserved overall victories in 1984, 1985 and 1997.

Faced with the strongest ever field to line up at Le Mans in June 1998, Porsche racing director Herbert Ampferer spoke at the time of the “race of the century”. Porsche was represented with two new 911 GT1s and achieved a stunning double victory for the factory in the world’s most important endurance race, in front of a crowd of 250,000 thrilled spectators. This was the 16th and most recent overall victory for Porsche at the Sarthe circuit.

From 10 to 11 July 2010, Porsche will be celebrating this special motor sports anniversary in suitable style by taking part in the “Le Mans Classic”, an event which is only held every two years. In six classes covering model years 1923 to 1979, around 400 historic racing cars will gather to relive their old racing triumphs once more. Among them will be some of the overall winners from the Porsche Museum, which will lead an anniversary parade on the race track. Many famous drivers including Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood will also be taking part and will be available for autograph sessions.

Porsche overall victories in Le Mans

1970
Hans Herrmann/Richard Attwood
Porsche 917 KH

1971
Helmut Marko/Gijs van Lennep
Porsche 917 KH

1976
Jacky Ickx/Gijs van Lennep
Porsche 936

1977
Jacky Ickx/Jürgen Barth/Hurley Haywood
Porsche 936

1979
Klaus Ludwig/Bill Whittington/Don Whittington
Porsche 935 K3 Kremer

1981
Jacky Ickx/Derek Bell
Porsche 936 81

1982
Jacky Ickx/Derek Bell
Porsche 956

1983
Al Holbert/Hurley Haywood/Vern Schuppan
Porsche 956

1984
Klaus Ludwig/Henri Pescarolo
Porsche 956 Joest

1985
Klaus Ludwig/Paolo Barilla/John Winter
Porsche 956 B Joest

1986
Derek Bell/Al Holbert/Hans-Joachim Stuck
Porsche 962 C

1987
Derek Bell/Al Holbert/Hans-Joachim Stuck
Porsche 962 C

1994
Yannick Dalmas/Mauro Baldi/Hurley Haywood
Dauer-Porsche 962 LM

1996
Manuel Reuter/Davy Jones/Alexander Wurz
TWR Joest-Porsche WSC95

1997
Michele Alboretto/Stefan Johannson/Tom Kristensen
TWR Joest-Porsche WSC95

1998
Allan McNish/Laurent Aiello/Stéphane Ortelli
Porsche 911 GT1 98

Last week we posted a ‘74 911 with a 2.7 RS style engine and setup nicely in a street/track configuration. That car sold pretty quickly afterwards…

So, here we are again with another street/track setup. An ‘81 911 SC Coupe. This one is from Mohr Imports of Monterey, California. They have an asking price of $14,900. That’s chump change when it comes to getting into a street/track-prepped Porsche 911. Since we haven’t seen this car in the metal, we’re guessing it’ll require additional attention before being considered truly track ready…One can easily spend again the asking price getting this car properly setup and still be light years ahead of the game. There is absolutely no way one can build a street/track 911 from scratch for this small amount of money. That said, this car looks like a great starting point for some serious fun on the track.

Guards Red over Black.Stock mechanicals. No accident history. Chain tensioner update. No oil leaks. Paint is excellent. No rust on the car. Gaps are correct. Interior is very clean. A/C works -blows cool but not cold. Compressor is good. All guages work. Defroster, Power windows and Sunroof are in good order.

Racing equipment:

• I/O Port Roll bar
• Shoulder Harness bar
• Kirkey Race seats, race seat brackets and Pyrotect 5pt Cam-Lock Harness.
• Stainless steel muffler dual out.

Same owner from the early 90’s to 2005. The car then changed hands from ‘05 to present. Excellent running and driving car. Engine is strong. No smoke. Great gearbox (good syncros in all gears) and clutch. The car has a very solid and tight feel. Runs great at freeway speeds or in town driving.

For further information, please call  Al or Adam Mohr at 831.373.3131.

They would be delighted to hear from you and answer any questions you have.

The weekend of April 9 – 11 saw this year’s running of the PCA Zone 8 “California Festival of Speed”. Now in it’s ninth year, this has become the largest Porsche-only event on the west coast, and it continues to grow. The 3-day (Friday–Sunday) event featured a Zone 8 Time Trial event along with PCA Club Race warm up and practice laps Friday and Saturday. In addition, the 1-hour PCA Enduro was on Saturday as well as the first PCA Club Race. Sunday featured the morning warm ups, qualifying PCA Club Race sessions, and the Sprint Races. There were Time Trial sessions and timing on Sunday as well.

A PCA Run Group Prepares To "Roll out"

PCA Zone 8 used the 21-turn, 2.88 mile Competition Road Course. The challenging infield course enters the D-shaped oval near the beginning of the front straight, utilizing most of its 3,100 feet of 11 degree banking before you enter turns 1 and 2, which are banked 14 degrees. We use about 1,000 feet of the back straight (banked 3 degrees) before re-entering the infield section. From the point where you come off the infield onto the main straight to where you re-enter the infield on the back straight is approximately 1.3 miles. The course is both challenging and fast.

The California Speedway Infield Road Course

Vendors, Beautiful Cars, and Porsche Enthusiasts of all types were out in force over the three days of the event.  Vendor Row featured a Concours exhibit – featuring 25 pristine Porsches –  on Saturday. Vendors included L.A. Porsche Dismantlers, GMG, PCNA, Southern California Porsche Dealers, Porsche Design, Porsche Motorsport, TC’s Garage, Hoosier Tires, Pirelli Tires, Better Bodies, WaveTrac Differentials, Borla Exhaust, Truspeed, PML,  Velvet Touch,  Symbolic Motors, and many more.

Stuttgart. A successful start to the American Le Mans Series season for Porsche: At the Sebring 12 hour race, Porsche clinched two victories with the Porsche RS Spyder in the sports prototype LMP2 class and the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in the environmental classification, the Michelin Green X Challenge. The sports car from Weissach proved to be the vehicle that demonstrated the best overall efficiency and fuel consumption at the long distance classic in Florida.

The Porsche RS Spyder out on course

The jubilation in the pits of the Cytosport team knew no bounds. Class victory with pilots Klaus Graf (Germany), Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Greg Pickett (USA) at the wheel of the RS Spyder at the most prestigious race of the year was the first for a customer team with the Weissach sports prototype in the American Le Mans Series. “What a fantastic achievement. We didn’t have any problems in the race. The car ran like clockwork over the twelve hours,” said Sascha Maassen. With this, the RS Spyder continues on from its greatest success of 2008 when it claimed overall victory in Sebring and won all LMP2 championship titles between 2006 and 2008 in the American Le Mans Series. Sascha Maassen: “I can’t wait for the next race with this fantastic car.”

Prior to the start of the race Porsche aroused memories of old times in fans at the Sebring International Raceway. Fifty years after the first of 18 overall victories for Porsche at the long distance classic, Hans Herrmann turned several demonstration laps on the airfield circuit of Florida with the then winning Porsche RS 60 Spyder. The German, now 82-years-old, had won the race on 26th March 1960 with his Belgian teammate Olivier Gendebien.

Sebring 1960: Hans Hermann at the wheel of the RS 60

The Porsche RS 60 today

The Flying Lizards #45 car out on course

Round 2 of the American Le Mans Series takes place on 17 April on the street circuit of Long Beach in California.