by John Glynn | Jun 29, 2018 | Porsche People, Race and Rally
Timo Bernhard has claimed an all-time Nürburgring lap record in the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo, with a staggering lap time of 5:19.55 outpacing the great Stefan Bellof’s Nürburgring lap record of 6:11.13, set in qualifying for the 1983 Nürburgring 1000kms.
Bellof’s lap record had been regarded as almost unbreakable, as it was set on a shorter circuit: a section having been bypassed to avoid construction of the new grand prix circuit. While today’s Nürburgring Nordschleife is 14.2 miles (20.8 kilometres) long, the ’83 circuit was a smidge under 13 miles in total. Adding almost 1500 metres to the distance had made the record almost unassailable.
Race car engineering has enjoyed substantial advancements in the intervening years, with hybrid power, four-wheel traction and modern tyre technology bringing incredible mid-corner speed and acceleration into play. That said, you still need a nut behind the wheel and Porsche chose 37 year-old works driver, Timo Bernhard for the job. It was a solid decision.
“This is a great moment for me and for the entire team,” said Bernhard. “It is the icing on the cake for the 919 programme. I’m pretty familiar with the Nordschleife, but today I got to learn it in a new way. Thanks to the downforce, you can stay on full throttle in places I never imagined. For me, Stefan Bellof is and remains a giant; today, my respect for his achievement with the technology available back then increased even more.”
Dickie Meaden was at the circuit to see the lap record, with access to the speed data from the record-breaking run. “So, approach to Schwedenkreuz was 344 km/h, took crest at 322. VMAX on Dottinger was 369 km/h, lap average 233.9 km/h” tweeted Meaden, who last year made his own attempt on Bellof’s record in the Toyota LMP1 simulator.
The 919 continues to demonstrate just how much excitement electric power can bring to road cars. The other side of this is that it’s hard to imagine manufacturers and lawmakers allowing tomorrow’s hybrid performance cars to run completely unrestricted on public roads, given their seemingly unlimited performance potential.
by John Glynn | Jun 26, 2018 | Classic Porsche Blog, Art and Books
EB Motorsport supplies its lightweight EB Porsche body panels (hashtag #madeinyorkshire) to customers all over the world, but not all customers put these panels on classic 911s. Belgium’s Jean Denis Claessens and his partner, Edmond Thonnard, create interesting artworks using the composite bonnets as emotive canvasses.
One of the pioneers of Belgian street art, Edmond Thonnard has been a video decorator, an exhibition scenographer, a designer and a rock singer. His work has been seen in the biggest global WWI exhibition and in the Liege House of Science and the European Space Centre. Jean-Denis began his career as a graphic designer and moved into advertising in the early 1990s, later developing into film and documentary making.
The duo now work together, creating race-inspired artworks on composite and metal Porsche panels. Each work is an individually hand-made piece created without vinyl. Every bonnet, every door is unique, freely inspired from the decorations of legendary race cars and signed by the artist. The painting is made using the techniques of graffiti art, with the patina added using slag from the race, including oil, tyre rubber and other secret ingredients.
Two art-on-bonnet products are available. Composite bonnets weigh 5 kilograms and are a reproduction to honour the lightness of the great cult race car: the Porsche 935.
Steel bonnets weigh 15 kilograms and are real bonnet from a used and iconic Porsche 911. Each work features a riveted panel on the back to prove the authenticity and signed by the artist.
“We import EB panels from England to Belgium as they are the best quality and my clients want a real 911 bonnet; not an ersatz for decoration,” says Jean-Denis. Seems like a cool way to use a lightweight part. I would love to hang something like this: having it painted and then sticking it on a car for a real 6-Hour race – maybe Spa – would be cool. Learn more about these artworks at aftertherace.be.
by John Glynn | Jun 18, 2018 | Race and Rally, Porsche News
The Pink Pig Porsche 911 RSR race car has won the 2018 Le Mans 24-Hour. The winning driver line up of Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Michael Christensen delivered a commanding performance, holding the lead in the 92 car for most of the race and finishing on the top step of the podium after 344 laps of flat out racing.
The sister car of Richard Lietz, Frédéric Makowiecki and Gianmaria Bruni completed a one-two victory for Porsche in GTE-Pro. The result has helped Porsche to extend its lead in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings of the World Endurance Championship (WEC).
“It was an incredible race,” said Christensen. “The car was fast right from the start. We had a little luck during a safety car phase and we managed to pull clear of the field a little. From that point on, we focussed on extending our lead. In the final third of the race, we simply tried to avoid taking any risks to bring the car home in one piece. This worked perfectly.”
“This double victory is fantastic for Porsche and our team,” said Bruni, who claimed pole for the Rothmans-tribute RSR 91 with a terrific qualifying lap of a 3:47.504. “We had a great race and a great fight with the 92 car. We tried everything but our colleagues made no mistakes. They deserve the win.”
With two rounds of the 2018 WEC now complete, Porsche leads Ford in the manufacturers’ championship by 96 points to 50, with Ferrari, Aston Martin and BMW not too far behind. Estre and Christensen top the drivers’ table with 56 points ahead of Billy Johnson, Olivier Pla and Stefan Mücke in second with 48 points. Lietz and Bruni lie third on 40 points each.
This season has another year left to run, however, as it continues until after the 2019 Le Mans. Many more miles lie ahead before anyone can claim ultimate victory in the longest-ever endurance racing championship.
The AF Corse Ferraris and BMWs worked their hardest, but were let down by penalties and technical issues that cost them time in the pits. Aston Martin Racing debuted two new cars at Le Mans and both made it to the finish, which will give the team every confidence for the rest of the season.
by John Glynn | Jun 15, 2018 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Coldplay bassist, Guy Berryman is about to start the 2018 Coupe des Alpes in his 1967 Porsche 911S, which was recently restored at Tuthill Porsche. The star is a confirmed classic car obsessive, with a serious collection of notable classics, mostly European sports cars from the 1960s. After several months on the hunt for the right car, Guy found his S in the USA a few years back and shipped the car to Tuthills for a closer look.
No one knows precisely how many S models were built for the 1967 model year but, according to Paternie and the Early S Registry, it is circa 1800 examples. “The 911S models were included in the same range of serial numbers as those listed for Coupes and Targas,” says The Little Red Book. “The ‘S’ designation will be stamped after the serial number on an S model. Early 911 records contain a number of inconsistencies, so it is difficult to present an exact production count.”
What we do know is that 911S models are rare and finding the detailed trim parts for these cars is a job in itself. Guy’s S was almost complete, but much of the metal was missing due to rust. Tuthills carried out a thorough restoration, keeping what they could and buying genuine parts to fill in the blanks. The finished car is a period Porsche tour de force and it’s great to see Guy enjoying a Porsche: we’re more used to seeing his Ferrari collection.
1967 Porsche 911S insurance values
Hagerty’s online valuation tool suggests that a 1967 Porsche 911S in concours condition is currently worth $138,000 (£103,000), while a running and driving project base is just under $50,000 (£34,000). These values are clearly too low. If you have a 1967 911S and your car is valued at market or agreed value in this sort of ballpark, then you need to fix that problem.
I value several early pre-1973 911S models at porschevaluations.com. My own feeling is that UK prices for running and driving left hand-drive SWB S models in need of attention should start north of £60k. Insurance values for concours low-mileage examples should exceed £200k for a car in the right condition matching the Porsche CoA (Certificate of Authenticity). RHD cars with known provenance carry a premium.
@RoadRatMagazine
Guy’s affinity with classic cars and the stories they tell began in adolescence, when his Channel Tunnel engineer father would work on classic sports cars at weekends and invite Guy to assist. Their shared interest encouraged a vast archive of motoring books and magazines, and that passion for period motoring reportage has now led to the creation of a brand new magazine and online media stream: Road Rat Magazine.
by John Glynn | May 30, 2018 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
The latest EB Motorsport Porsche race car build – a reproduction of the 1974 911 RSR – enjoyed a successful debut at the recent Brands Hatch Masters Historic Festival. Racing in FIA Masters Historic Sports Cars, Mark and James Bates took the newly-built RSR to a qualifying time some two seconds quicker than their previous fastest RSR qualifying lap.
“We’re still waiting for the FIA Historic Technical Passport to arrive for this new RSR, so we raced in the invitational class,” said James. “Ours was the only 911 on track, so there was no one to beat. We approached the weekend as more of a test session and experimented with setup changes on every session. The fastest time in qualifying was just two-tenths outside the magic 1:40, so there’s a sub-1:40 lap time in this chassis for sure.
“With much wider track and lower weight thanks to our all-new 1974 RSR bodywork, many re-engineered and optimised parts and exceptional brake performance from our brand new RSR Endurance brake calipers, the new car is terrific to drive. We’re looking forward to trying it at more favourite circuits later this year.”
EB’s 2-litre 911 was also in action at Brands Hatch, racing in Stena Line Gentlemen Drivers. Mark and set the fastest SWB 911 times of the weekend, qualifying on a 1:52.946 and setting a fastest race lap within four one-hundredths of a second of that benchmark, but the car was forced to retire when the splines were stripped from one of the rear hubs.
“The 2-litre is being raced hard again this year,” said Mark. “It’s already been out at Goodwood in MM76, where it came home as first 911. It took another podium at Spa in the first-ever 2.0L Cup race and now we’ve pushed it to the max at Brands. It is probably the most raced 2-litre FIA car in Europe and we learn more about it every time we race it.”
EB Motorsport’s 1965 911 and the 1974 RSR have plenty more racing ahead this year. The 2-litre is back out in June for the 2.0L Cup race at Dijon Grand Prix de l’Age d’Or, followed by July’s Silverstone Classic and the Nürburgring Oldtimer GP and Zandvoort Masters weekends in August. September has the Spa 6 Hours and accompanying Masters Historic rounds, before the season ends with Dijon FIA Masters from October 12-14.
I went to Zandvoort last year and wrote a feature about the weekend for GT Porsche magazine. Not sure which ones I will get to this year but any of these weekends are great fun to attend. Silverstone is next door to me, so I should make that one at least.
Learn more about EB Motorsport Porsche racing and the firm’s vintage Porsche parts and projects at eb-motorsport.co.uk.
