L AL E U Q R TO ECEMB ISSUE 73 D
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ER 2008
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TIPEC (0845 602 0052) www.tipec.net All Torque is published bi-monthly by The Independent Porsche Enthusiasts Club (TIPEC). All text & images are © their authors & photographers. Front cover image: Matt Friend’s modified black and pink 993 on a recent autocross event. Photo by Simon Wood. All Torque is based entirely on submissions from TIPEC members. This is your magazine and we need your involvement! Send in running reports, Porsche-related stories, how-to articles … anything you think might interest other TIPEC members. Please send text and images via email, or on CD/DVD (or paper!) to the address below. Submissions for issue 74 (February) must be in before 5th January 2009. All Torque editor & designer Tony Blow tony@typescape.com Flat 1/1, 47 Greendyke Street, Glasgow G1 5PX Printed by The Lavenham Press Ltd, Suffolk (01787 247 436) Advertising in All Torque is managed by TIPEC club office 10 Whitecroft Gdns, Woodford Halse NN11 3PY (0845 602 0052) TIPEC Chairman Sean Smallman (07500 332 790) sean.smallman@tipec.net Vice Chairman Jim Hearnden (07930 353 232) tr7v8@phaetonconsulting.co.uk Treasurer (temporarily) Sean Smallman (07500 332 790) sean.smallman@tipec.net Advertising & Club Liason Clive Gosling (07791 480 999) clive.gosling@tipec.net Membership Secretary Dave Doherty (01423 501 988) membership@tipec.net TIPEC Membership, Alexa House 26 Ripon Road, Harrogate HG1 2JJ Gruppe North Director John Oakes (01132 827 512) john.oakes3@btinternet.com Gruppe Central Director Eric Finley (07971 594 211) eric.finley@tipec.net Gruppe South Director Derek Flanagan (07767 254 820) derek.flanagan@varian.com All Torque & TIPEC are entirely independent of Dr. Ing. H.c.F. Porsche AG, Porsche Cars GB Ltd and its dealers. All registered Trade Marks owned by Dr. Ing. H.c.F. Porsche AG, including the word ‘Porsche’, the Porsche Crest and Porsche Script are acknowledged as such and are their property. Whilst all due care is taken in the production of All Torque; neither TIPEC, its officers or the editor can accept responsibility for the advice, information or opinions expressed herein. Opinions contained in any article published herein are of the author or editor and do not reflect the official position of TIPEC, its management or membership, unless clearly stated by a club official.
Chairman’s Chat What a year this has been for testing the resolve of the Sports Car enthusiast. Yet another miserable wet summer, extortionate fuel pricing and the global economy in meltdown. I really feel for those that have fallen foul of the current climate and have been forced to sell their pride and joy for something more practical. The classifieds are currently littered with Porsches across the entire model range with early 996 models fetching just £15k. The second hand car market is in free fall and the luxury new car market has pretty much dried up. Who knows where it will all end? There probably hasn’t been a better time in the last 10 years to go and find a genuine bargain. As you are no doubt aware the club is managed by a Committee of elected officers, our details are printed on the adjacent shaded section. Please feel free to contact us to ask a question or share an idea. The Committee takes a steer from the AGM on what the members would like us to focus on in the upcoming year. Just like any organization we are bound by our finances and one of the many challenges is achieving the best return for your subs. 2008 has been a good year financially and we have decided to give each region £3 per member to spend. Our aim is to be able to do this at the end of every year, subject to the finances being available. The total will be about £3000 and your RO will no doubt be in touch about how best to spend your region’s cheque. Whilst I am discussing finances we have also increased the reserve fund to £5,000, this gives us a healthy buffer should the unexpected ever happen. At our last meeting one of the topics we wanted to address was communication. The Achilles heel of many organizations, this we will improve going forward. We have some great tools at our disposal and we will make the most of All Torque, the website and forum. The three Gruppe Directors will also be communicating to the ROs on a monthly basis and they in turn will cascade the information to their members. Please make sure we have your correct email address so that we can keep you in the loop. Lastly I would like to thank Richard Simpson who resigned as Treasurer last month. His support over the last couple of years has been invaluable and he leaves the club in a much healthier position than it was when he picked up the role in 2005. Sadly Richard is receiving treatment in France for an illness that the UK system will not fund and has had to become a French resident. He will be making regular visits back so I’m sure he won’t be a stranger. Have a great Christmas and all the very best wishes from Haley and I for 2008.
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TIPEC ’09 Porsche show Sunday May 31st After canvassing the RO’s about returning to The Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon for 2009 the majority wanted to return. Our sponsors and traders also prefer the new venue and are not interested about supporting a field based event. We have to remember that 2008 was the first time at a new venue and there were elements that could have been better and that feedback has been taken on board by the organizing team. We have agreed a members only advanced ticket price of £6 with the HMC. We will also be booking the track and 4x4 course again for 2009. Put the date in your new diaries, more on the show in February’s issue of All Torque.
TIPEC ’08 logo quiz answers Last issue we published Clive Gosling’s logotype quiz from the TIPEC ’08 back to school party and promised to follow up with the answers … 35 car manufacturer’s logotypes and badges with details obscured. 1 Alfa Romeo 2 Peugeot 3 Ascari 4 Tata 5 Opel 6 Alvis 7 Armstrong Siddley 8 Aston Martin 9 Audi 10 Bentley 11 BMW 12 Dodge 13 Daewoo 14 Chrysler 15 Deusenberg 16 Ferrari 17 Gumpert 18 Holden
19 Koeningsegg 20 Lamborghini 21 Lada 22 Lancia 23 Lexus 24 Ariel 25 Isuzu 26 Mini 27 Mercedes-Benz 28 Toyota 29 Maserati 30 Mitsubishi 31 Marcos 32 Porsche 33 Pagani 34 Pontiac 35 Renault
How did you do? Simon Poole, Northeast Region RO, scored highest on the night, with some help from his wife, Alison, on the tie-breaker.
Credit Crunch busting TIPEC discounts Sean Smallman shares a round up of savings he has made on the back of his TIPEC membership so far this year German Swedish French: Pads, disks, filter for Bug and 944S2 £27.50 OPC: Battery for the Speedster £11.75 Entry to Silverstone £15.00 Magazine Subscriptions £27.00 Legal protection: Haley’s bug £22.00 Legal protection: Alfa Romeo £25.00 Halfords Trade Card: (no longer available but a few of us have them and share) Battery, bulbs, wipers and oil £68.00 Polish and cleaning accessories £17.00 All in all a whopping
£213.25
If you receive a discount from a local/national supplier who is willing to open the deal up to the club then please tell us about it and we will add them to the list. The more discounts we negotiate, the better for every club member.
Insurance quotes A lot of us use online search engines when looking for the best insurance prices, to compare lots of competitive quotations at the same time. We have set one up on our own website at www.tipec.net Every time someone requests a quote the club receives a small commission.
Porsche Performance Driving (2nd Edition) Vic Elford, Motorbooks, £18.99, ISBN 978-0-7603-2754-8 ‘You need to control the car, it shouldn’t control you.’ I heard these words from a very experienced driver many years ago, and they came to mind when I read this inspiring 175page book. It’s for anyone who’s a Porsche lover, whether a road, track, or racing driver.
Just click on the QuoteZone advertisment at the bottom of the TIPEC homepage. You might find a great price and you will be helping out the club just by giving it a try.
Membership cards We had an issue where a batch posted out by Dave had been lost by Royal Mail. If you are missing a card from a September/October renewal please contact him and he will order you a new one. Please remember that cards do take a few weeks to arrive because they are made for us. From the feedback we have received we think they are worth the wait.
Where do your subs go? Cost per member for 2008: All Torque (per issue Administration Advertising Regional equipment Shows/AGM (not the National event) Expenses Other
£23.00 £3.88) £4.00 £2.00 £3.00 £3.00
Total
£37.00
£1.00 £1.00
The balance is made up from other revenues we receive and from the National event.
National events calendar for 2009 8–9 January 19 April 10 May 31 May 13–14 June 21 June 3–5 July 24–26 July 18–20 September
Pistonheads NEC TIPEC AGM Prescott Hill Climb TIPEC ’09, Gaydon, Heritage Motor Centre Le Mans British Grand Prix Goodwood Festival of Speed Silverstone Classic Goodwood Revival
Written by the famous Vic Elford, winner of countless road, rally and track races, the advice in these pages is clearly written and well-illustrated, with plenty of photographs and line drawings to reinforce his points. Before moving off, so to speak, he goes at length into how to set up a proper driving position, and his photographs make it very clear why he sets the car up that way. He emphasises balance, smoothness and anticipation, saying that the car should always be driven as if it were on rails; ‘It may look and feel spectacular when the car is sliding sideways, but modern chassis, suspension and tyres give the best results when the car stays glued to the road.’ No job at Top Gear for Vic, then. When changing gear, the advice is not to thrust and grab the gear lever as fast and hard as possible. Give the synchromesh cones time to work. He teaches us about racing cars, that they don’t have synchromesh, because due to the light flywheel a skilled driver can match input and output shaft speeds more quickly, and the car is lighter without the synchro mechanisms—however, not so Porsche, because the road cars were intended to use race-proven synchros. He advocates progressive smoothness in braking, giving advice on how to avoid skids, and how to regain control. He goes on to deal with driving in unusual conditions—for example, don’t engage cruise control in heavy rain or slippery conditions—and there’s also advice about black ice, fog and night driving. Heel-and-toe technique is discussed, and left-foot braking, which he suggests should be practised when there is no other vehicle near you, because your left foot has only been trained to give the clutch a hard shove, whereas the right foot has learned the refined control of throttle and brakes. The book is filled with anecdotes, such as sliding down Daytona’s banking in a 220mph spin and winning the Stuttgart-LyonsCharbonnières rally in a 911 just as its clutch expired. For the technically minded, there’s plenty: a detailed discussion of anti-roll bars, limited-slip differentials, the new Porsche technology such as Porsche Stability Management (PSM) … and did you know that the 917’s aerodynamic aids can generate a ton of downforce at 180mph? A fascinating book by a master—the ideal Christmas present at £18.99. Review by Eric Kwiatowski
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Sent to
Coventry Who said it’s better to travel than to arrive? Adrian Langford reports on Central Region’s September visit to the Coventry Transport Museum Nine cars, including John Anderson’s stunning 1958 356A Super Cabriolet making its TIPEC Central debut, assembled at independent specialist Shirley’s of Meriden for Central Region’s visit to the Coventry Transport Museum. After admiring their showroom display of pre-owned cars, we set off in convoy. It was ironic that we were heading for an indoor attraction on one of the few warm and dry weekends we’ve had this ‘summer’, but hey the cars looked and sounded great, the sun was out, and we were rolling. The museum stands in the heart of Coventry, practically in the shadow of the famous cathedrals. Traffic lights and Saturday shopping traffic combined to dismember our neat convoy as crudely as a butcher divides a carcass. Despite this all the cars eventually pulled up on the road alongside the museum where things were about to become even more frustrating. The authorities had kindly offered us the privilege of parking right in front of the museum on Millennium Place. This is a vast and dramatic open space normally closed to any traffic except the two-footed variety, on which our cars would have pride of place and form a mini-motor show of Porsches. Except that we couldn’t actually get onto Millennium Place. It was literally a stone’s throw away, but tantalisingly vehicle access was blocked by a formidable combination of bollards, pedestrian areas, concrete steps and avant-garde sculpture! ARO Brian Rowledge had done a fine job of leading us this far, but I had the benefit of inside knowledge. A year ago I’d joined an East Midlands Region visit to the same museum, and remembered that access to the plaza was only possible via a steep and narrow road at the edge of the site. Coventry locals will confirm that navigating anywhere in the city is never straightforward, surrounded as it is by a high-speed elevated ring road and in the grip of a fiendish one-way system. Reaching
the access road, a stone’s throw from where we had pulled up, meant plunging back into the same one-way system through a bewildering series of giant roundabouts and slip roads. Somehow we made it onto Millennium Place and parked up, though not without having to squeeze past a scaffolding lorry parked up in the narrow access road. In my and Central Region’s defence it’s not that we’re hopeless at finding our way. Coincidentally I’ve just read a review in another Porsche Club’s magazine of the same museum, which referred to it as “sat-nav hell” and recommended that future visitors use the park-and-ride to get there! In case anyone is put off, as a regular visitor I can reassure you that there’s a very convenient public car park at the rear of the museum, which is prominently signed from the ring road and literally a minute’s walk from the museum entrance. Britain’s major car companies had their roots in the engineering shops and bicycle makers of 19th Century Coventry. The roll call of such companies is too long to list in full, but includes such illustrious names as Rover, Wolseley, Singer, Triumph and Humber. This historical connection between the museum and the cars it celebrates gives the exhibits a special resonance and poignancy. The museum succeeds in illuminating how the rise and fall of the British car industry was reflected in the fortunes of the city itself. The visitor is taken on a journey from the emergence of the industry, through the dark days of the war and the Coventry blitz, and into the shining modernity of the new Coventry which arose from the rubble in parallel with a golden age of post-war motoring. There’s a brutal honesty to the museum’s displays, particularly the economic decline of Coventry into the ‘ghost town’ evoked by The Specials’ haunting song of the early 1980s. This economic gloom is frankly portrayed as the sad consequence of the decline and ultimate collapse of the British car industry in a welter of industrial strife and poorly conceived and marketed products.
The museum does a terrific job of bringing to life the fascinating history of the industry with imaginative and evocative displays. You can pick your way in darkness through a bombed-out street in the Coventry blitz as air-raid sirens wail (during the war many car factories were converted to aircraft and military vehicle production), walk along a production line of Hillman Avengers, and clock on for your shift at Standard. The museum is richly endowed with star exhibits. These included that red Metro of Lady Di’s, the ill-fated DeLorean, and an entire gallery devoted to Richard Noble’s attempts on the world land speed record. Again the museum’s gift for theatre was evident as this gallery was a particular favourite of our group. After watching a film of Thrust II’s successful attempt on the record, the screen rises to reveal the dramatically lit jet-powered machine itself emerging from a cloud of dry ice. Noble’s team now set their sights on breaking the sound barrier on land with Thrust SSC. An aircraft-style simulator lets you experience this in alarming detail. Watching actual footage we felt the explosive acceleration to over 700mph over the Black Rock Desert, hung on grimly as pilot/driver Andy Green fought desperately to keep the vehicle on track, and were thrown bodily forwards as the braking parachutes opened. Stepping rather shakily out of the ‘cockpit’, we were thrilled to come face to face with the actual Thrust SSC which had hitherto been concealed in its own hanger. And what’s the Mini doing driving out of a sewer pipe? It turns out that the famous underground chase scenes in the seminal Italian Job were all filmed in 1968 in the city’s newly constructed sewer system. Not a lot of people know that. It’s not all four wheels. There are excellent galleries devoted to bicycles and motorcycles. Don’t forget that Rover began as a
cycle manufacturer. Given their eventual fate, it’s tempting to say they would have been better off had they stuck to that! But what about Porsche interest? Well it should be clear that the museum is primarily devoted to the British mtotor industry, and local manufacturers at that, so they can be forgiven for not including our favourite marque. The exclusion zone isn’t total though. A The motorsport display boasts a rare 911 ST that competed in the 1971 Le Mans 24 Hours, and returned for this year’s Le Mans Classic with Manuel Ferrao at the wheel. There’s genuinely far too much in the museum to relate here, so I can only urge you to see for yourself. Oh and did I mention that the whole thing is free? The kids who came on the trip had a ball with various hands-on exhibits and an entire gallery intended for them. Their enjoyment was a ringing endorsement for the policy of RO Paul Bird and ARO Brian Rowledge to create plenty of events for the benefit of the whole family. The museum staff had issued us with sheets of cardboard to slide under our cars. I’m not sure whether this was to protect Millennium Place from oily drips, or if the rising price of the black stuff makes collecting it a useful revenue generator. Either way I’m proud to report that our cars behaved themselves and were completely continent. Our departure was a much smoother affair than our arrival, apart from having to bump start Phil Mercer’s 911 SC! Quite amusing to watch pedestrians scatter in terror as a 911 bore down on them in a dead straight line, accompanied by the terrifying wail of a flat-six bursting into life. Thanks to Paul Bird and Brian Rowledge for organising the event, to the staff of the museum who treated us with cheerful enthusiasm throughout the visit, and last but not least to the museum’s security guys who kept a permanently watchful eye on the cars. Writing & photography by Adrian Longford
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2008 Norwich Union/ MSA Classic
At the end of the 2007 Norwich Union Classic, Carolyn and I made the immediate commitment to take part in the 2008 event, so when details arrived in the post, the cheque was sent. But at that time we had no car; readers may remember that the Porsche had stopped on our way to Plymouth to take part in the 2008 Cape to Cape Tour with fuel feed problems—and it was still in the garage. With the Classic looming, it was obvious that the engine would still not start and emails flew between Andy Prill and I until the former eventually diagnosed a problem with the fuel feed … and sent me a new petrol pump. That was fitted on the Wednesday night, the car was MOT’d on Thursday and we drove down to Gloucestershire on Friday. All was going well. Sunday dawned beautifully over the Cotswolds, although there was a slight mist over the Slimbridge Wildfowl Trust. Nothing to worry about on our drive to Cheltenham, but that all changed when we arrived within the environs of Cheltenham and attempted to find the North Place car park … even with the aid of my brother-in-law’s map of Cheltenham. Just how many one-way streets does Cheltenham have? We did manage to find the car park and after a U-turn entered and joined the signing on queue. Documentation over, we parked as directed and waited for the signal to drive into Cheltenham where the mayor, resplendent with Chain of Office, waited to flag us all away.
The first section was fairly familiar, but soon headed for unfamiliar territory on the way to our first venue, the Prescott Hillclimb. We were starting off where we had finished in 2007 with superb, quiet roads through some extremely picturesque Cotswolds villages with unfamiliar names: Temple Guiting; Giuting Power, Naunton; Greeton and then Prescott Hill where we directed up the hill climb course … which seemed shorter than when I first visited in 1975! Carolyn drove steadily and afterwards parked in the car park for a short ‘comfort break’ and to allow me to take some photographs for the Norwich Union Classic website’s gallery. Then it was off to Coughton Court just south of Redditch. We drove at a very pleasant and comfortable speed taking in the wonderful scenery and enjoying the superb weather along the route, through Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Some gorgeous villages where some residents came out and waved … some who would remember our cars in period with grandchildren who were just as enthusiastic. Across the River Avon near Pershore then a change of direction through Pinvin and Inkberrow, B road followed unclassified and crossed A roads and Motorways. Some were supposedly narrow but there was plenty of room if careful. Then the wonderful Croughton Court where we parked in a grassy field specially designated for us whilst the public used their own car park. We managed a short break for coffee and a chat (and more photographs) and took the opportunity to discard pullovers and fleeces for the rest of the journey. From Croughton Court, the route headed North-east before the final direction change to South-east and towards the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon. The route meandered along great B roads to cross the Stratford-Upon-Avon Canal and the M40 twice, past Wellesbourne airfield, where one of the few remaining Vulcan bombers is still stored,
and on to Gaydon for lunch and a short browse through the museum. We’ve been here so many times since a TR Register event in 1999 that we feel the museum is no longer as visit-worthy now as it was then. So after a lunch of sandwiches made from home-baked bread and followed by homegrown apples, we headed for Silverstone. Having planned to get back to our temporary home for dinner, I discovered that the Gaydon to Silverstone leg was the longest of the four … so Carolyn took the hint and pushed the 912, without ever exceeding the speed limit. Once over the M40 we accessed the B roads, crossed the Grand Union Canal twice and followed the route through Priors Marston, Madford, Blakeney, Greene Norton and Towcester, where we had an interminable wait to join the dual carriageway before peeling off for Whittlewood Forest and round Stowe School grounds before heading up towards Silverstone. Here we started to come across other routes joining us and followed a green MGTF on the Nottingham route the driver of which had, not three days earlier, carried out the MOT on my 912. We drove through the pneumatic arches, collected our medallions and ‘goody bag’ to the dulcet tones of Graham Robson describing the car as a Porsche 911 … it is a 912, Mr Robson! As I had driven the circuit in 2007, this time it was Carolyn’s turn. Whilst I do not believe Carolyn would cause the professionals in the Porsche Cup any sleepless nights, for a novice on a circuit, I thought she did remarkably well. And then it was all over … until next year when we’ll do it all over again. The oldest Porsche was a 1955 356 that started from Nottingham; the youngest, a 1987 911 Carrera that started from Silverstone. Total number of Porsches taking part? Six from Bath, five from Cardiff, six from Cheltenham, twelve from Chester, two from Dorking, six from Norwich, ten from Nottingham and eight from Silverstone. That made 55 out of a total of 904 starters. The start venue was terrific … and many thanks must go to the Mayor of Cheltenham who flagged off nearly 100 cars from outside his Municipal Buildings and seemed to find an encouraging ‘bon mot’ for all entrants. And finally, because everyone always remembers the last piece they read, a very loud thank you to all the organizers, route finders, road book compilers and marshals along the way. We could not have done it without you and we definitely hope to see you all again next year … when we’ll know how to get to North Place Car Park in Cheltenham! Writing & photography by Brod Purdy
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Project 924S
The concept for Project 924S came when I attended a track day, saw a couple of cars damaged, and wondered whether it really made sense to track my immaculate ten year old 993 Carrera 4. With years of motor sport experience racing MGs, Minis, a Classic Lotus Elite and a Shelby Mustang, I believe even for track days it’s important to consider the risk factor and make sure the car is suitably equipped with the right suspension, tyres, brakes etc. It’s a simple decision—if you want to have a blast but keep your licence, track days should be on the agenda. Why not choose a car that can be set up correctly without incurring vast amounts of money? Okay, it depends on the car’s value, and the cost of track day insurance. I chose the route of investing £4–5,000 on a ‘fun’ car, sharing the costs with my Godson. It makes sense. I researched the market, eliminated Caterhams etc and singled out either a BMW 2.5 coupe, with close ratio gearbox and limited slip diff, or a Porsche 924S with disc brakes all round and a two and a half litre engine giving 150bhp. I reckoned Porsche paid more attention to handling and weight distribution than BMW … and the BMWs I saw were too rusty for my liking.
Judgement time, late spring of 2008; with my Godson Ian, who runs a car preparation company called IG Racing in Finedon, Northamptonshire. We followed up numerous leads from eBay, Pistonheads and other websites, in fact we toured the country looking at cars. Some were no hopers, others did not reflect the description. A frustrating episode, especially when our budget was £1,500, stretching to £1,750 at a pinch. Eventually we saw a Porsche 924S in Nuneaton, Guards Red, black interior, no ripped seats, no rust, just a minor mark on the passenger door. Mileage was suspect, as the last three MOTs showed identical readings. Not unusual, mileometers can develop faults, but a good reason to knock the price down. We negotiated £1,550 and trailered the car home. Our plan was to agree a list of things to do, starting with the front suspension, which was jelly-like and useless. That people drive cars like this amazes me. Luckily suspension is one of Ian’s specialities. Having worked for Jordan’s F1 team he knew exactly what to do, converting the front struts to fully adjustable ride height with Koni inserts, fitting an uprated anti roll bar and lowering by 30mm.
Ken Coad’s 924S was restored for trackday fun on a modest budget The brakes were adequate and recently replaced discs were good news. Up front under the bonnet the engine had good oil pressure, although a couple of leaks were visible. First, to concentrate on replacing all the belts, getting the tensions right, new plugs, leads, distributor cap, change oils to the famous Millers brand, and check out the electrics and alternator. Where do you stop? We decided if it ain’t broke don’t mend it. The real test will be when we drive the car. Next, rear suspension, with the help of Ollie Preston (who we thoroughly recommend) from RPM Techniks, an independent Porsche specialist based in Cheddington, near Tring. We adjusted and altered the rear suspension, lowering it, fitting Koni shockers and a heavier anti-roll bar. The use of their two-post lift was essential, we would have struggled otherwise. Ian has plans to purchase one. At this point let’s introduce Porsch-Apart from Bury in Lancs, our single-source parts supplier. They give excellent service, advice and value, and offer good used parts as an alternative to new. Simon Butterworth and his team have been a great help to us and we look forward to a continuing partnership. Tyres were sourced from Toyo and are triple eights, ideal for dry weather, recommended and used by 924 racers in their championship. We then chose Dutch Vredestrian tyres (Sportrac 3V) for road use—we are told they are fantastic in wet weather conditions and replace the standard road tyres the car came with. A set of 7J Teledials were purchased for the Toyo’s.
So much detail is involved in collating information, measuring and identifying items such as a race seat, a roll cage and even the choice of disc brake pads. A few people in the trade who really know about these cars have been fantastic help. More information was gained from visiting the race paddock to meet a few 924 racers who let me crawl all over their cars, particularly helping with details of torsion bars, suspension geometry etc., which Ian has taken on board in setting up the car. I have driven Project 924S for a few road test miles. It’s such a transformation, with superb handling. It is comfortable, feels good, the 80,000-mile engine is not mind blowing, but that’s for another day. The 924S is, I believe, under rated—and great value for around £2,000. With some attention to detail it can be as enjoyable to drive as any 911. Our first event with the car will be The Norwich Union Classic, followed by a track day at Castle Coombe. Proof of the pudding, etc, etc. In these serious financial times it makes sense to have some fun without breaking the bank, and that’s what our Project 924S is all about. I’ll try and get it on TIPEC’s club stand at the next available exhibition. Finally, without IG Racing this Project would not have been realised. Anyone looking for improvements, Ian’s your man. Contact Ian Gardiner on 07967 300 537.
Writing by David White. Photography by Phillip Jones
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Celtic crossover
TIPEC Scotland Region took a trip to Ireland in mid-September We handed a suggestions form round at our regional meetings early in 2008 and a drive to Ireland was one of the many ideas put forward. “To be sure to be sure,” James McLauchlan (red 964 Cabbie) and Spud Mitchell (red 944 Turbo) stepped forward and volunteered to organize the trip. Spud and James took a flying visit in April to scout hotels, things to do, costs, and interesting places to stop. We had a total of nine cars of club members and partners on the trip, 19 people in total. Day one: Friday We all met up at Downhill Farm restaurant on the A77 Ayr to Cairnryan road for a light lunch prior to boarding the fast ferry from Cairnryan to Larne, Northern Ireland. After lunch and introductions, we proceeded down to pick up our tickets and check in. You could see James’s frown getting ever deeper and his face getting redder as we approached the check in … going through his mind at that moment; Did I do all the bookings? Did I hit the right buttons? Hope this online booking system booked everybody that was here … we gave our reference numbers and yes, everything went smoothly. Phew! James returned to his usual self, we proceeded through security and customs, then stood about chatting for about 20 mins. Parked up in lane boarding order in lovely sunshine waiting to board. Boarding was a bit different and fun, negotiating nine Porsches down the ramp at various angles to save losing those precious lower splitters, then negotiating the cars up what could only be described as a floating multi storey helter-skelter. Some cars were having to do several cuts to get round the corners of
what seemed like the North Face of the Eiger and then parking in some very handbrake testing positions (1st gear as well just to be sure). As if we hadn’t climbed enough, we were onwards and upwards again to the passenger lounges. By this time we must have been about 100ft. up from the water line! Lovely ship all the same (or is it a boat?) This was our rest point for the next hour and a half before going through the whole bit all over again trying to disembark. Finally we were all safely on Irish soil and proceeded to find the A2 coastal route on our way up to Port Stewart and our hotel. We had a beautiful drive all the way in brilliant sunshine, arrived at McLaughlin’s Hotel in time to unpack and change for dinner. We decided to stay at the hotel to eat, it was excellent along with the service, and with the vino flowing we had a great night. Day two: Saturday The main group of Brian & Elsie Wood (Boxster), John Torrance (912), Wildie & Catherine Brown (944 Lux), Scott & Steph (944 Cabbie), Alan Neilson & Neil Fraser, (White 911) Dennis & Christine (Red 968), James & Theresa McLaughlan (Red 964 Cabbie) and Spud & Grace (Red 944 Turbo) headed off through Port Stewart in partial mist which looked as if it could clear and turn into a sunny day for our visit to the Giant’s Causeway. By the time we arrived the sky was really clearing up, some of us went on the Causeway bus which took you directly down into the valley to the Causeway, while the rest of us decided head up and take the scenic route along the top of the cliff, still partially in the mist. After a 30 minute walk, we were faced
with a dramatic 2–300ft descent down a very narrow path in the cliff face to the valley floor, which had been closed off to the public up until two days before we arrived due to landslips from the heavy rain they had been getting in the area. Once on the valley floor with sheer cliffs on one side and crashing waves on the other, we came across a massive boot on the shore line which had turned to stone over the years, this was left behind by the giant (so legend goes) when he landed in Ireland. Walking on a bit more we came to the Causeway, what a spectacular sight. It’s so very unusual and massive, every stone shaped like a fifty pence piece piled on top of each other, thousands of them. So glad we went to see it. By this time we were basking in sunshine. We headed back up the hill to the visitor centre for the compulsory coffee and goodies followed by ice cream (in September) and soft drinks. A few of us were starting go a shade of pink, while others basked under palm trees indulging in ice cream. We moved on down the coast a few miles to the Atlantic bridge, one of only two in the UK & Eire (the other is up around Ullapool). We negotiated our group discount as usual before proceeding down a narrow, quite steep, pathway to the bridge. Although not very long, it is around one hundred feet above the Atlantic and is made from rope with only a wooden base to walk on. It makes for a fairly hairy experience! In the late afternoon we decided to have a game of 18 hole mini golf. We split up into two teams and for an hour we battled with this round white thing, trying to get it into a
little dark hole in the ground. When the scores were counted up, it was incredible, a draw! There had to be a play-off. Each team appointed their best player: Neil Fraser ARO East and 911 owner (I think? Forgotten what it looks like …) up against Catherine Brown (nice red 944 Lux). The play-off got underway, (you could say air cooled versus water cooled) with a lot of loud encouragement from both teams of supporters. After a lot of distracting moves from my wife Lyn, Neil managed to blank out what she was doing to come up trumps with a par for the hole. Catherine only missed out by a whisker. Well done to all, shows we have other talents besides driving Porsches. In the meantime while we had been out on our travels. Martin & Elaine Whitelaw (993 C4 Cabbie Met. Red—the replacement for Martin’s yellow Cabbie which hardly resembled a 993 after an unsuccessful attempt at rallycross) had set off in the bright but misty morning for the 11am ferry to the small Northwest coast island of Tory. The attraction was the possibility of seeing the hotel’s labrador swimming with his pal Dougal. Arriving at the ferry, they were promised sightings of Dougal but not the dog (who was on his winter holidays). After a rough 50 minute ferry crossing, sure enough here was Dougal following the ferry into harbor and taking time to hang about posing for photos. That’s right, Dougal is a wild dolphin who has a doggie friend who he goes swimming with most days. The dog had not been able to translate to the dolphin that he was going on holiday, so Dougal was swimming around looking for the dog to come out to play. After his brief photoshoot Dougal disappeared only to return a short while later behind a speed boat. Elaine, not wanting to miss an opportunity, climbed down the harbor
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steps and started tapping the water surface with her hand. To Martin’s amazement and delight Dougal reappeared and slowly edged his way towards Elaine, eventually allowing her to slowly stroke his nose! Dougal came back for more and half an hour went by before he decided to leave. No doubt Dougal will keep calling back, waiting for his swimming pall to come home. Day three: Sunday
Day four, Monday Lyn & I drove down to Londonderry to visit the city, take a walk round along the top of the city walls and stand beside some of the cannons that defended the city many hundreds of years ago and are still well preserved today. From the top of the city walls we could view the murals on the buildings in the Bogside.
We headed in the rain for Mallin Head (the most Northerly point). First we had to take the Magilligan Ferry to land on the Inishowen Peninsular which is part of Southern Ireland, the Irish Republic. The first thing that struck us on landing was that all the road signs are in kilometres and the currency is in euro. We drove up towards Mallin head. The scenery was fabulous despite the weather. We stopped off at a couple of windswept view points before arriving at Mallin Head. It is a fantastic place, nothing in front of you except the Atlantic and America, the rollers crashing at the base of the cliffs, the noise from them … wild, beautiful, exhilarating; words really don’t do the area or the country justice.
Fascinating place to visit and great to be able to stand and walk around anywhere, safe in the knowledge that all the troubles are over. Not like when I used to visit Northern Ireland with my job, it is now a lovely place to visit and the people are brilliant.
After a mandatory food stop, we then headed down to the Famine Village. We took the very interesting tour, certainly worth a visit if anyone reading this is thinking of going to the area for a holiday.
Certainly a big difference to when I drove into the Bogside by mistake during the troubles one winter night about 15 years ago. Nearly all the streets we had walked down or drove through were barricaded with burned out cars piled on top of each other and obstacles piled in the middle of the roads. This was definitely a no-go area back then. I quickly turned about when I realized where I was, the hair on the back of my neck was bristling.
Then it was a drive back to the hotel, skirting the City of Londonderry, before finally arriving back just as it had turned dark, what a great day again.
We left Londonderry delighted that we had been, wouldn’t have missed it for the world. We drove down into the Bogside, parked the car and took a walk round all the murals. Reading a lot of the descriptive stories associated with them, there was a strange feeling that people were pleased that we had taken the time to come and see these works of art.
We finished off the day at a curry house in Port Stewart, which was amazing. Four floors of different cuisines. The tia curry arrived at our table in such a huge bowl, you could have dived in and swum in it. Finally we discovered, that one of the organizers of our trip was celebrating a wedding anniversary— not only that but a 25th anniversary! One bottle of champagne and a card from us all went to Grace & Spud Mitchell, we all wished them the very best. Day five, Tuesday All that was left to see was the Bushmills distillery. We drove to the distillery and had a look around … and of course a bit of shopping in the visitor centre. Instead of the usual ‘been there, bought the T-shirt’, it was a case of ‘buy the official Bushmills fleece-lined jacket’ as it was the same price as the T-shirt! Now we have a Bushmills jacket club, rather than a Porsche club. We then started to head back down the coastal route towards Larne for the ferry home, stopping off for coffees and photos en route, arriving at Larne with a good margin of time before boarding the ferry. We had a bite to eat and a walk about, thinking we still had plenty of time … until I noticed half a dozen missed calls to my mobile: “Ferry has been cancelled, we are on the earlier ferry, boarding now!” A few wheelspins later we were on the quayside and checked in, phew! Huge thanks James & Spud for organizing a fabulous trip.
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Running report: Brian Rowledge’s 993 It’s been a busy year for Central Region, Brian and especially his car
You may have already read about the Region’s exploits at Center Gravity, BMTR, Bruntingthorpe, Le Mans and Silverstone. In addition to this I did trips to Shelsley Walsh, Prescott, Trentham Transport Festival, Tour of the Cotswolds, Cars in the Park at Lichfield, Coventry Transport Museum and the annual WotY (a joint event with our friends from the East Midlands). The WotY was another fine event, except for the weather on the Saturday drive. This was through and over the Yorkshire Dales. I did about 150 miles. Between Settle and Hawes the road was subject to heavy flooding and driving rain. The wash from some of the flooding was over the top of the car. That was probably the hardest driving I have done for over a year. However, the car was well prepared, having undergone extensive maintenance this year. In May the car went to Center Gravity for a complete alignment set up and check over. Chris Franklin and I (yes, I did get my overalls on) spent over five hours tuning the car, based upon my driving style and the manner in which I wanted to drive.
It would have taken less time had I not been trying to help! The test drive went very well. The car was outstanding on the infamous roundabout test and a few other tests that I won’t mention here. Needless to say they were quite hairy moments. In July the car went for a 48,000 mile service with Martin Brown at Porsche Tech in Meriden. You may recall from an earlier report that Martin did the pre-purchase inspection on my car. The car has yet to reach 48,000 miles, but we considered it best to have a major service given the car’s age; also it has done a relatively small mileage. Few people outside of the Midlands seem to know Martin. He doesn’t advertise except through Shirleys of Meriden who are one of the oldest Independent Porsche dealers in the U.K. Martin spent the first eight years of his working life as an OPC mechanic. He then went racing, not racing Porsche but as a racing mechanic for approximately 12 years. Martin worked for Richard Lloyd Racing, working on a large variety of Porsches for a wide range of ‘privateer’ teams. His specialist areas were
956s and 962s. If that wasn’t enough he was also involved as a mechanic for teams participating in the U.K. who competed in the original Porsche Challenge and Porsche Supercup series. He also worked on Lister Jaguars and helped prepare Frank Sytner’s championship winning BMW M3. Well, down to servicing the car. Lots to change on a 993 for the 48k service. Martin changed the oil, the large and small oil filters, air filter, 12 spark plugs, which is a devil of a job on number three cylinder on a 993, the two pollen filters, fuel filter, the three belts (two fan belts and an a/c belt) and brake fluid. As part of the service he also Waxoiled the car, painted the wheel carriers in grey and also painted the wheel nuts. The discs were cleaned out due to the build up of brake dust in the cross drillings. Finally, a complete computerised diagnostic check followed by a test drive. This was quite amusing and also slightly alarming for me and other drivers nearby, when we did the emergency stop. I was given fair warning but didn’t expect (as with other road users) great plumes of blue smoke from the front and rear wheel arches. “No need to get worried” I hear, “just burning excess paint off the discs”. The car always looks good, when clean, but now it is in extremely good mechanical condition too. However, following on from the advice of Martin and Chris, I started having problems. Both had strongly advised me to use the car as intended and also use the brakes hard, on a monthly basis, to counter the effect of rusting on the discs, especially the inside surfaces. I then experienced the back end of the car stepping out on me on three separate occasions. Back to Chris I went at Center Gravity. The car was given a slightly more aggressive approach to camber and test driven again. Chris thought I was trying to over drive the car and this was borne out by his wife who subsequently commented to another club member that she had never seen him so pale after a drive with a client. Well, I did manage to get the rear arches of the car so hot that the rear offside lens cluster dropped and the tyres, normal road tyres, went soft and sticky with rubbing on the rears down to the side walls due to very hard cornering. This caused me great concern. It is clear that age has crept up on me, together with my inability to feel and understand the point at which the limits of adhesion are slipping away; no pun intended. It now looks as though I am going to have to surrender my ‘hard on’ driving style just as I have had to surrender my passions for climbing and cycle racing. That’s life. Writing & photography by Brian Rowledge
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Restoration report: Graham Hart’s 930 Turbo Graham Hart’s 930 Turbo needed more TLC than first expected … The saga with my 930 Turbo started back in May 2007. After a lengthy search for the right car I came across this one advertised in Manchester. I met the guy in Stafford which was deemed to be half way. That was my first mistake. It was raining when I got there and that was my second mistake. At a quick glance it looked in great shape, the guy had explained about some rust and he duly pointed that out. Not too bad, I figured. I had expected to do a little paintwork as these things aren’t getting any younger, you know! This was followed up by a quick test drive. Wow, it blew my socks off. Really solid and very quick. I did the deal and started my long journey home. This nearly ended as quickly as it started when I put my foot down hard, coming onto the M6 in the rain, and the engine nearly pushed me into the central reservation! ‘Whoa there’ I said, and proceeded with a bit more caution. Re-fuelling somewhere like Watford gap, I couldn’t stop smiling to myself. I’d done it, I’d actually done it … but what had I done? The journey home after that was uneventful and I put it to bed awaiting the morning eagerly. When I checked the car in the morning I found out to my surprise that it leaked like a sieve and that most of the carpet was wet and musty. Two weeks of rain ensued Writing & photography by Graham Hart
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and the amount of water it let in when driving made it very depressing indeed. The rain lifted, the sun came out and so did the car. A quick trip to Dave Broughton’s specialist Porsche garage, 911 Classic, put my mind at rest. He could repair everything fairly easily, so I booked it in for a full body respray with some additional niggly bits and bobs that needed fixing. The glass and engine came out for the respray and then the panel replacements started. I visited most days and got very involved in the interior trim revamp. I fitted a carpet set from Southbound, stripped every piece of trim and thoroughly cleaned it all. Once Dave had finished the paint, I refitted it all. The dash top was tatty, but I managed to source an immaculate one from a top end breakers yard. Every switch that was not working properly was replaced with spares that Dave had lying around. We also replaced the headlining with an original material supplied once again by Southbound. Panel wise, the car had two new front wings, a passenger door and new top tint front windscreen. Most of the rubbers on the car were replaced including bumper bellows. While it was in for all this we stripped all evidence of air conditioning off the car as it didn’t work, looked tatty and weighed a ton. I also backdated the wheels to a pre-’74 look and had Nick Moss of Early 911 re-anodize them. I think that the car is now one of the nicest 930 Turbos around, inside and out. It’s been restored in it’s original colour, Baltic Blue, with linen leather and was first registered in Oct ’88, but is an ‘89 model, starting life as a press release vehicle. On my second trip to a TIPEC club night, the car won a concours from a field of 15–20 cars which was the icing on the cake!
Tom Ferguson Motor Engineers TIPEC North East paid the Gateshead garage a visit on 19th October For those who do not know who he is, Tom Ferguson provides one of the technical helplines to TIPEC and has been working on Porsches since Gordon Ramsay (no, not the chef!) got the dealership in 1973. It is a true family business as Tom’s son Steven is a partner and his brother David is a Porsche technician. As they have recently moved to new premises on Saltmeadows Road in Gateshead we thought it would be a good time to pay a visit for a look around. A group of PCGB members joined us on the day. On arrival we were given free reign to wander around the large workshop and showroom. Tom was on hand to answer any questions as well as feed us cakes and biscuits and even made the tea! Thank you Tom, for your hospitality and warm welcome. We had timed the visit just right as there were some rare Porsches on display including a 924 Carrera GT, which was for sale, and a genuine 1973 911 2.7 RSL belonging to a customer. There were a few interesting non-Porsches in the showroom too, including a Bentley Continental Convertible and an Audi RS4. Steven’s 500 BHP Nissan Pulsar race car was also in the workshop undergoing a rebuild into a new shell in preparation for next years race season. After spending a couple of hours with Tom and listening to some of his tales of collecting Porsches from the Reading HQ and driving them North, in the days before speed cameras and unmarked Police cars, it was time to tear ourselves away and go for lunch. Following a recommendation from the man himself we trooped around to a pub called the Schooner, located behind the garage, for a delicious three course Sunday dinner (well worth a visit). Suitably refreshed, a few of us headed up into Northumberland to Beale—which is just across from Lindisfarne. One of the club members, Rod Smith, owns a place called the Barn at Beale so we headed there for our afternoon tea. I had intended to follow the coast road, but a conflict between road signs and satnav meant that we followed the A1 most of the way there. It turned out to be a pleasant drive and next year I plan on arranging a visit to the Barn again as well as crossing over to Holy Island. Anyone interested please send me an email. Writing & photography by Simon Poole
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Helmet? Check. Gloves? Check. Harnesses? Check. My session was about to begin … This was my first ever trackday and I was strangely nervous looking the other machinery around. Sure, I’ve had a few fast cars, but this was my first ever time on a track. Returning to the paddock twenty minutes later, I was hooked. That’s where all of this begins.
Old dog, new tricks
Matt Friend reports on his homage to the RS ‌ and the colour pink Main photograph by Ian Watts (www.wattsphotography.co.uk)
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I had a stunning 1986 3.2 Carrera, mildly tuned and a fantastically capable track car. Having heard the horror stories of the ‘hedge seeking missile’ that is the Porsche 911, I was worried to say the least, so track insurance and a novice sticker were the order of the day. The day passed without a hitch, but I couldn’t help thinking “what if?” all the way home. I decided that if I was going to keep up my track efforts, I had to do it with something more track focused, something I wouldn’t cry (too much) about if I were to make friends with a tyre wall. More importantly, something that would withstand some abuse. I decided to put the 3.2 up for sale, and scour the trade posts and Internet auction sites for something suitable. I saw a few decent cars; a nice 968CS, a Clio V6, a cheap 964 and a nicely prepped 944. The 968 was a nice car, I’d have bought it were it not for the immense insurance premium (twice that of the 911). The Clio was very skittish but looked fantastic. The 964 was on £8k Buy it Now, so I avoided it thinking that if it hasn’t gone after nine days, it must be a dog … and the 944 was a good car, but just didn’t feel right. Time went on, the commitments of a new business took over and it all fell by the wayside for a month or so. When I resumed the search, I clicked onto my browser and came across the link for that cheap 964. It hadn’t sold, so I emailed him and arranged to view the car. One rainy day in Sheffield we made the journey to have a look. Anthony let us into the garage to check the car over. First job was to go through the paperwork. All seemed okay; German import, left hooker, everything checked out fine. I checked over the bodywork and found a few minor scuffs and the odd bit of rust. Nothing serious, but remember, that didn’t really bother me. I’ve had garage queens before, but this time I wanted a car I wouldn’t be scared of driving, so the minor dings added to the car’s character. Anthony pulled the car out of the garage and let us have a look over the car outside. The interior was shabby, but was full grey leather with electric seats. All the electrics worked, which was important. The carpets and door cards were not really that much of an issue as I knew I’d be junking them all. Half an hours worth of test-drive and I fell in love with the 3.6. The deal was done. I’d just bought a Porsche 964 on a K Plate for £8k. What the hell was I thinking?
I managed to convince my Uncle, whom I can thank for getting me into cars and the Porsche marque, to buy my 3.2 to sit next to his owned from new, 50k mile, immaculate 924S. To be fair, it wasn’t that hard to convince him! Incidentally, Paul is actually responsible for my first ever track outing— it was at Donington Park, in a brand new 964 Turbo in Rubystone (pink … maybe that’s where it comes from?). I would have been only 13 years old … hmm, so its HIS fault I’m spending all this money I don’t have! So this was it, I planned twelve or so months of graft getting the car sorted by using the money, from the sale of the 3.2 and from selling the 964 stuff I didn’t need, to upgrade and prepare the car for trackdays. I had already made the decision to stay off track for 2008 due to the new business venture taking up a lot of time and money. Let the countdown begin. With the 3.6 and 3.2 now sat next to each other in the garage, I faced a tough decision. I was two weeks away from my pilgrimage to the Nurburgring. Do I use the tried and tested 3.2, which technically isn’t mine and is about to change hands, or do I use the unknown quantity that is the new 964? I switched the insurance and took the 964, having only driven it back from Sheffield on a day’s insurance policy. This could be an interesting journey. After finishing work at 11pm, facing a four-hour drive and a 6am ferry, I got home, loaded the car and headed for Dover. Several hours and many chocolate bars later, there we were, at Eddy’s wonderful Hotel an der Nordschleife. This was my second time out at the ’Ring, but my first driving. I was nervous to say the least, technically my second time on track, and this was the scariest track to be found. I’ll cut to the chase here. The car was abysmal. Oh my god, I’ve bought a lemon. Plenty of grunt, but no sense of direction.
I was expecting better, considering the car was lowered on Gemballa springs with Bilstein HD dampers, but no, understeer city and whopping brake judder. I did three or four laps over the weekend, that was it. Gutted. It looks like all that spare money I had from the sale of the 3.2 needed to be put to use sooner rather than later. Upon returning to Blighty, I immediately started trawling the Internet for the best upgrade route. Everyone was recommending driver training, but I knew that it couldn’t all be my fault. I know how my old 3.2 handled, and this being a superior chassis was nowhere near as good. Something must be fundamentally wrong. So what do you do when you are down? Well, what better way to start spending some of that money than on useless cosmetics? I decided to pamper the car with a good wash, clay bar treatment and a decent wax. Something still wasn’t right. It looked a stunning car, but not a ‘track’ car. I wanted something to set it apart from the rest, to do something different. I just didn’t know what. I stuck the car up on axle stands to inspect the brakes and suspension, while I had the track Toyo R888’s fitted. The insides of the Cup 1 alloys had seen better days but being 270 thousand kilometres old, that was expected. I went to my local powder coaters, at £80 for all four wheels stripped and coated what could go wrong? It was at this point that my car acquired its ‘unique’ look. “What colour?” I was asked. I use them regularly for wheels, having had black, white, silver and gold, yes, gold, wheels done in the past. “Satin Black” I said. “No problem” came the reply. I turned around to walk out, and saw some fresh boxes of powder being unloaded. One of them said “MAGENTA”. Hmm … purple, I thought, that might be nice. We opened the box to have a look … and found pink. Bright, in your face, Princess Barbie, girly, pink. In a moment of madness; “I’ll have this please!” “But … these are Porsche wheels …” And that is how it happened. It certainly was different. Upon refitting, I wasn’t convinced, but once the matching ‘Carrera’ decals were on the side, I thought it insane, yet fantastic. Now for the real work.
My Internet research had pointed me in the right direction for my modifications. I had ordered a full weld-in roll cage to my specification from Custom Cages in Daventry, which I began to fit once I had stripped out the entire interior and sold what I didn’t need for much-needed funds. After lots of measuring and welding in the freezing cold over winter, it was in. I decided on only fitting the rear, as it is a road car as well and I didn’t fancy my head making friends with the roll bar in an impact without a helmet. The rear section was double diagonal with harness mounts, so was plenty strong enough. The plan was to run with minimal interior, but after spending hours trying to remove the most stubborn glue in the world, I decided to go with an RS Lightweight carpet set instead. I had already repainted the inside of the car white, but with a black interior, the white cage looked odd … only one thing for it really. Yes, you guessed it, pink. Once it was painted I fitted the new carpet set and the new Recaro Profi SPG seats that I had bought, bolted in the Schroth six-point harnesses and swapped out the ghastly grey standard airbag wheel for a suede OMP dished wheel that feels fantastic. Now the brakes need attention, the suspension needs attention, and she needs a thorough service. I attended a rolling road day just to watch, but someone dropped out so I pinched his place on the dyno. I hate dynos having had a bad experience in the past, but I thought what the hell, it’s bound to blow up sometime. I was convinced that time was now. Five minutes and a stonking 278 raging ponies later, I was impressed! Readings were good throughout the range, looks like a good strong engine! Writing & photography by Matt Friend
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I was then thrown a bone in the shape of a guy called Chris Franklin. I was invited to a ‘Tech Talk’ at a local geometry specialist, Center Gravity. As I was first in the queue I offered to have my car used as the test mule for demonstration purposes, knowing that I would get a baseline report on the car’s suspension geometry. It was a very enjoyable evening and I learnt a lot from Chris. I didn’t leave until 12:45am as we were chatting about the dodgy geometry I was running. It looks like whoever owned the car prior to me had dropped it on its arse and didn’t readjust the geometry. Consequently the back end was coming through like a train and the front didn’t stand a chance. Now I knew what I needed to address. Having debated my upgrade choices, I opted to follow the standard path: the 993TT Big Red conversion, along with an RS set-up for the back end. I ordered the parts and a week later and I had some huge brakes sitting on my desk. I booked in with Center Gravity to have the geo work done, and decided while I was working on the suspension I would replace what components I could. I ordered Powerflex RS bushes for the front arms, new ball joints, track rod ends and steering gaiters. I was looking at my tired old springs wondering if it was worth spending a chunk of cash having a geo done when I am unsure of the age of the suspension. As if by luck, Gert of Carnewal fame was selling an incorrectly ordered set of brand new Bilstein PSS10s at a price I couldn’t resist. Fantastic bit of kit, and having read rave reviews of the PSS9s it seemed a good choice, as they are much improved over the old Billy 9s. My geo day was getting closer, so I booked the day prior to my geo off, and arranged with Chris to work in his workshop and fit the bushes using his press. The weekend before, I undertook the job of fitting the new suspension and components. Realising that I had to crack the brake lines to fit the new suspension, I thought now would be a good time to fit the brakes. By the time the day had ended I had all new suspension up front, with the Big Red brakes and braided hose lines all ready to go. The following day I fitted the new rear suspension, but not the brakes as these could wait until later on in the project. I got as many miles on the car as I could to get the suspension to settle. I could already feel the car was becoming more nimble.
Then came Geo Day. Possibly the turning point in the whole project. The car was sat on the ramps with new suspension, brakes, interior, roll cage and everything ready to go. Chris did a baseline test as it had changed due to the new components. He spanner checked all my work to make sure everything was as it should be then went about setting the ride height. The car isn’t an RS, but I want it as close to that Holy Grail of handling as possible. He sat me down and we had a chat about my driving style and what I wanted to achieve with the car … and that I was a novice, which is a very important fact. We opted for RS geometry, but with a 15mm higher ride height to combat the bump steer that you get on too low non-RS suspension. Chris dialled in a touch more camber than a standard RS as the car has sticky R888’s and a stiff chassis. On his advice I went for neutral handling, with a tendency to understeer rather than oversteer if I was to run out of talent. By 6pm that evening the car was ready, and Chris took me out for a test drive. By this point it was raining quite hard. The car seemed well planted but I didn’t read too much into it as this is Chris’ life; he can drive, he knows the roads. I’d wait until I was driving to pass verdict. We switched over, and I had a drive. Now, I don’t know the roads in that area well enough to push hard, but I could instantly feel an improvement—a tighter turn in, better balanced and more progressive through the bends. I was impressed, but I knew I could really push it on the twenty-minute journey home and on my own turf. Amazing! What a difference! I have a set ‘test’ route that I do, and this car was insane. I was pushing it harder and it was faster in the rain than it ever had been in the dry. It was loving every mile. It was like I’d driven home in someone else’s car.
The brakes were now nicely bedded in and feeling strong. I was a bit concerned about brake balance, as I was still running the pressure restrictor on the rears. With much bigger brakes up front now, it’s an issue that needs addressing. Time to move on with the car, now the major mechanicals were sorted. Service time: oil, filter, drilled airbox, K&N panel filter, plugs, gear oil, gear slave cylinder and hose, distributor caps and rotor arms … everything you can think of, it got changed. Summer was here, the car was mechanically perfect, the outside was looking good and the interior was almost complete. I decided to promise myself a trackday if I could get the interior complete in time for a day at Donington some friends were attending. I retrimmed the door cards in black alcantara following the RS style, fitted a new black headlining, and flocked the dashboard panels. I booked up at Donington. Prior to the track day, I did a few jobs that I knew needed doing. I wanted to reinforce the engine support cradle, a known weak spot on the 964, wrap the exhaust where it passes the shock absorber and tyre to minimise heat damage, fit the rose jointed rear drop links and generally give the car a good check-up. I also wanted to make sure the brake and suspension components hadn’t moved or become loose. For only my second official trackday, I was impressed. The car sat beautifully, and when I did get it wrong, occasionally entering a corner a bit to ambitiously, it was easy to put right. The car was so intuitive to balance on throttle it made it a joy to drive, and not at all ‘hedge seeking’ as I was expecting. Obviously its no rocket ship, but I was only around 12 seconds off the pace of the GT3 boys in their far superior machines. I’m all about having a good time and not too worried about lap times. For me it’s more about improving my driving and getting a good base to start with … and this car now feels worthy. The next step is to get some tuition in next year, and see how quick I can become without any further modifications to the car.
Rain came and people stopped going out, but a few of us ventured onto the circuit. In my mind, it was a safe, low speed way to find the limits of the car. As the afternoon wore on, the track got drier and the lap times came tumbling down. Some were there for fun, but I really had a feel for the car now, and a number of us were really pushing for those times. For my last four or five sessions, I was within half a second of myself every time, so was pleased I was quite consistent.
My last event for 2008 was to be a club run sprint day at Curborough. I was apprehensive about sprinting. Small, tight circuits aren’t the 911’s favourite playground, but it was cheap enough to give it a go. The first few laps were getting a feel for the circuit, working out the lines and so on. I was putting in comparable times to everyone else, considering the line up, which consisted of two Manthey GT3s, a few 996s, 993s and some 964s. By the time I had a few laps in, it was all coming together.
I had it sussed. I knew exactly how the car was handling, how much I could push the understeer, how I could balance the oversteer through the hairpin and on a small, handling circuit such as this, power is not really a key factor. Whilst it was no race, I put in the second fastest time of the day, only a mere two seconds behind the quickest driver over three laps. This car is truly transformed. No longer does it drive me in the direction that it wants to go, it goes where I put it. It is a total joy to drive, and gives immense satisfaction when driven hard, with only a small slap on the wrist when you start to get it wrong. I have tried to recreate the legendary RS on a tiny budget, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. It isn’t a fake, a bad copy or a clone; it’s my tribute, my interpretation. I have a car I can take on track, learn in and drive hard without worrying about writing off something rare and very expensive. It just goes to show, cheap can be extremely cheerful, and you certainly can teach an old dog new tricks. Thanks to Uncle Paul Freer for making it all possible, Chris and Jayne at Center Gravity for support and biscuits, TIPEC for accepting my pinkness, Openpitlane.co.uk for looking after me on track, 911uk for being a fantastic 911 resource and Ian Watts for the fantastic black & white photo! Writing by Matt Friend & photography by Simon Wood
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Gruppe North North East RO Simon Poole 07759 694 059 audisi@btinternet.com ARO Andy Blythe 01642 809 031 ac.blythe@mbro.ac.uk Meetings are held first Sunday of every month 7:30pm at The Sporting Lodge, Low Lane, Stainton Village, Cleveland, TS17 9LW, just off the A19. We’ve had another busy couple of months and it seems like no time since the last issue. We have added a few more names to our number, so welcome to Mike & Helen Fenwick, Paul Richards and Philip Blackburn who have all joined recently. In September we attended the PCGB NE Region for their Show at Raby Castle and were given our own area to display our cars. Seven of us travelled up in convoy and met up with some of the others at Raby. In the end we had ten cars in our area with Gary’s 911 SC in the model’s birthday display and Mike’s 928 on his alloy wheel refurbishing company stand. Mike actually joined our club at the show. We had planned to visit the Great North Air Ambulance Show at the Croft Circuit as a club, but unfortunately the organisers had to cancel this at the last minute. However, there was still a race meeting on and a few of us still went along to support our very own
Cheshire & Staffs
Mike Williams’ ‘red car’ at Tees Cottage Ferrari owning regular, Mike Williams, who was campaigning his BMW 3 Series in the Northern Saloon Car Championship. There was some good racing over the weekend, not only the final round of the Northern Saloons, but GT races with Porsches, Ferraris and a Lambo competing and also Lotus and MG races, to name just a few. One event which almost passed us by was the Tees Cottage Pumping Station Gala Weekend. The pumping station houses a large, restored steam powered beam engine which is a fine example of Victorian engineering and drives the water pump which used to supply water to Darlington. This was restored some years ago and it is put back into steam a few times a year to help raise funds for it’s upkeep. We had three cars on display, plus Mike’s Ferrari, which wasn’t too bad considering it was very short notice. I would like to thank all of those members of the North East Region who have supported the meetings and events this year and hope that we can make the region even bigger and better next year.
RO Steve Taylor 07774 912 069 (mobile) stephen_taylor@datascope.com ARO Dave Watson 07901 928 356 (mobile) watson_david@btinternet.com Meetings are held third Tuesday of every month 8pm at The Whipping Stocks, Stocks Lane, Over Peover, Knutsford, WA16 9EX. Christmas is rapidly approaching, though it hardly seems five minutes since we where attending our first show of the season at Gawsworth Hall. For many that was the first time out with their cars and now most are putting them away again for the winter. Our region has had a steady year, club nights have been well attended and the regular shows very well supported. We have also had several other events during the year which many have joined in with. I would like to thank every member for their support this last year. We have had many new faces join us who are now regular attendees, and it’s good to see you all joining in. September’s meeting was a get together for a natter. I try not to make every meeting this way, although it is good to chat and catch up every now and again and it also helps people get to know each other better. October’s club night we had Marcus Carniel ‘The Goose’, a seasoned 911 racer, come along and talk to us all about track driving skills. Marcus helped out at the last minute. Another member, Martin Ruddick, should have given a similar talk but unfortunately was taken ill with the flu, so Marcus stood in.
TIPEC members’ cars on display at the PCGB Raby Castle event
On behalf of all the members I would like to say thankyou again for giving up your evening and sharing your expertise and experiences with us all, and for a very informative evening.
Scotland RO Stewart Gordon 01698 841 692 (evenings) 07974 808 342 (mobile) flashgordon944@blueyonder.co.uk ARO Alan Neilson 01324 871 543 07793 234 096 (mobile) alz1933@alanneilson.fsnet.co.uk ARO Neil Fraser 0131 660 0143 07946 616 782 (mobile) neil@fraser72.freeserve.co.uk
The Wheel Specialist, Manchester, demonstrating their refurbishment process On Saturday 8th November a small group of members met up at The Wheel Specialist in Manchester, who specialise in refurbishing alloy wheels. After a welcome drink we set about a tour of the workshops followed by various demonstrations on alloy wheel refurbishment, this was very impressive and the finishes are superb. Unlike most refurbishers they use a mixture of powder coat and paint to achieve a hard wearing and durable finish. It really was worth a visit and as a result the club has been offered a discount on all wheels we have refurbished by them. Thanks to all the members who came along. Seeing as this will be the last issue for the year 2008 I would like to wish all the Cheshire & Staffs members a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. December 5th Bentley Motors factory tour (10am) 16th Club night and Christmas meal February 2009 Open day at Unit 11 Porsche Specialists, Warrington
Lincolnshire ARO Mike Daniels 07770 968 159 (mobile) mike@jwhartonagriculture.co.uk Meetings are held second Wednesday of every month 7:30–8pm at The King’s Head Inn, Kingsway, Tealby, LN8 3YA. RO required, to host monthly meetings at a local pub/hotel with support from the members and attend/organise local events with the assistance of the ARO.
North West RO John Pye 01706 712 491 07957 818 636 (mobile) tipecnw@sky.com ARO Brenda Marginson 0125 483 1766 brenda.marginson944@virgin.net Meetings are held first Monday of every month 8pm at The Thatch & Thistle, Chorley Road, Blackrod BL6 5LA. When this falls on a Bank Holiday, we meet on the second Monday instead. It’s hard to believe it but another show year has drawn to a close and unfortunately due to late ticket applications and an unhelpful hand from the weather, the show season has been a bit of a washout. Next year’s show calendar will start to fill up pretty quickly after Christmas so if anyone has any suggestions for any new shows please let us know. Since the last roundup we have held our annual quiz at the November meeting and Dave Berry and his wife with the team name MUFC OK won this, second place went to a team named ‘Missing Rod’ and third place went to ‘Can’t Google’. At the December meeting on the 1st of the month The Thatch and Thistle offered a Christmas menu for a very reasonable £15 per head. Our Christmas do this year will see us return to the Viking Hotel at Blackpool for good food, excellent entertainment and the company of good friends old and new. The first meeting of the New Year will be on January 5th 2009 so please feel free to join us. The only thing that remains is for Brenda and myself to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year.
Meetings are held first Wednesday of every month 8pm at Bo’Ness Motor Museum, Bridgeness Road, Bo’Ness EH51 9JR. www.motor-museum.bo-ness.org.uk We have now been at the new venue, the Bo’Ness Motor Museum, for four meetings. After the initial surge of 28 members on the first night, attendance has now dropped back to around 14 to 18 members. The November meeting fell on the 5th, Guy Fawkes night, and a very damp miserable one it was too. The kind of night that’s only good for putting your feet up in front of the telly, which would account for the fact that only 14 members turned out including Neil & Alan the AROs and yours truly. We did however cover a number of points to include the Christmas Party night (there are still spaces available) although we do have 26 people coming along to this. We also covered having a Sunday Meeting along with a run and bar meal at the lovely location of the Castle Venlaw in Peebles. This came about as one of the many suggestions that were made back in January/February which would give some members who couldn’t manage to come along to the Wednesday night meetings due work rotas/shifts, as well as distance for others. We also advised members of suggestion forms going to their inboxes for voting for ARO & RO positions for 2009. Also we thanked Spud Mitchell & James McLaughlan for their great effort and success in organizing the Ireland trip in September. Well done to you both.
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Brian Wood took on the task of organizing a curry & bowling night for PCGB at the Pro Bowl in East Kilbride. Brian kindly invited TIPEC members to come along too and we managed to have 6½ TIPEC members on the night (Brian gets a half, for being in both clubs!) James & Theresa MacLauchlan, Martin & Elaine Whitelaw, Alan Neilson & myself turned up, despite it being about minus three degrees outside. PCGB turned out 18 members, and there was some serious bowling being done. Things got
really competitive during the course of the two games that were played, the combined scores for the two games to the winner was (I think) 126. After the games we then continued over to an Indian restaurant close by for a curry, where Brian stood up and announced the winners of the tournament:
What I’ll politely call the Numptie Trophy for last place went to Ferrari owner, Sean Grant. Well done Brian; great night out, and a great crowd of people.
Martin Whitelaw (TIPEC) Boydie (PCGB) Colin Campbell (PCGB) Stewart Gordon (TIPEC)
RO John Oakes 01132 827 512 john.oakes3@btinternet.com ARO Dave Doherty TIPEC Membership office 01423 501 988 (12noon–9pm) enquires@alexa-house.co.uk
1st Place. 2nd Place 3rd Place 4th Place
Yorkshire
Meetings are held first Tuesday of every month 7:00–7:30pm at The Windmill, Hull Road, Dunnington, York, YO19 5LP.
Central Scotland members from PCGB and TIPEC at the Pro Bowl in East Kilbride
Winter is now with us and the cold, damp days are not the best time to go out in the car. Next year will soon be with us though, hopefully with some sunny days! It’s been a quiet year for us, so many thanks to you all that turned up to meetings and events over the year. Hope you have a nice Christmas and New Year and that we see you in 2009. We are cancelling our Leeds meetings due to lack of interest, but please come join us at The Windmill, first Tuesday of every month!
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Gruppe Central East Midlands RO Graham Waller graham.waller@polypipe.com ARO Alan Fuller susancarolfuller@googlemail.com Meetings are held third Tuesday of every month 7pm for food (meeting proper begins 7:30pm) at The Field Head Hotel, Markfield Lane, Markfield, Leicestershire LE67 9PS. Well, well well. After recent months, to only have a ‘couple’ of events is a bit of a come-down. Nevertheless, there were still gatherings. The following were attended: WotY the combined Central/East Mids WOTY at Weetwood Hall, Leeds was a wonderful affair. We were let down a little by the weather as it rained for the main on Saturday—hell, we even had to negotiate a ford on the way back (small ‘f’!) Nevertheless the hotel was first class, with two drive-rounds to choose from and a visit to the gorgeous Pork that is Specialist Cars of Malton on the Sunday. Definitely not to be missed next year. Foxton Locks drive Thanks must go to Alan and Susan for putting up the breakfast baps and feeding 16 at the morning BBQ. Chris, who designed the course, offered up a prize to whoever got the nearest mileage to his original run. Well he couldn’t win it, obviously, because he got lost—yes you heard it here. The wine and toiletries went to John and Jan Murray. Well done. The memorial plaque for the National Arboretum is well under way. Chris and Kathy gave us an update. The plaque can have up to 30 words and make reference to TIPEC. It will take six weeks from submission to the Arboretum for it to be ready, and as such we decided to not worry about trying to get it done before Christmas. It may well be around the anniversary date. If anyone has any further thoughts or donations, then please contact Chris/Kathy directly who are co-ordinating all efforts.
South Yorkshire & North Notts. ARO Dean Lancashire 07860 198 627 (mobile) dean@tachart.com Meetings are held first Sunday of every month 5–5:30pm (meeting proper begins 7pm) at Ye Olde Bell Hotel, Barnby Moor, Retford, Notts, DN22 8QS. Since the last issue of All Torque we have had a busy few months with events most weekends. The 18th to 25th of September was our yearly visit to the Nurburgring for myself, Joanne, Dave Warren and Anita. Paul & Judy were sadly missed as they had planned to join us. The day we sailed from Hull was, like last year, a scorcher. When on board a good few pints of Murphys were sampled before dinner as we set sail to Zeebrugge. Me and Dave both had a bit of luck on the roulette table with me doubling my money for Joanne to spend in the Duty free! The next morning after breakfast we disembarked the boat and headed for a day in Bruges. What a lovely city, with trips down the canals and walks around the beautiful architecture. Shortly after lunch me and Dave we itching to get to the Ring, so we set off on the four hour drive to the Eifel Mountains. After checking in we couldn’t resist a lap round the ring just to refresh our memory of the circuit. The hotel hadn’t changed at all with Gunter always making us welcome with a good hearty meal of pumpkin soup and homeraised venison goulash, washed down with a few beers and wine. The hotel had been taken over by 20 Japanese engineers from
Battle-damaged GT3 at the Nordschleife
Nissan who were putting the new Porschebashing Nissan GTR through its paces racking up a 7.29 min lap. (Pretty good, at least it gave us something to aim for.) The next morning we decided to visit the the Motor Museum (www.classic-race.de) in the village were the guy that owned it kept his private collection of over 50 motorcyles and cars that he had raced over the years, with one car that he had made himself after World War Two. We managed a total of 10 laps between us on the Nordschleife over the three days we stayed at The Wald Hotel. Sunday was the highlight of the Holiday as we had booked on the BMW ring taxi. We were booked on at 10.30am and couldn’t believe our luck when we checked in to have Sabine Schmitz (Top Gear Transit driver) as pilot of the BMW V10 M5, and boy did she show us how to drive, drifting the big saloon round corners at 70mph. This did get our butt cheeks nipping at times! While on the lap with Sabine we come across a guy that had rolled his Porsche GT3—I don’t think he could polish the damage out, or get the car to even drive again, but at least he was out of the car picking up the pieces. We then moved on to stay a night at the medieval town of Cochem on the Mosel River and then onto Koblenz where the Rhine and Mosel meet, also along the way were the small towns of Bad Munstereifel and Monschau which were quaint little places with interesting shops for the ladies. The last day was the drive back to Bruges for the ferry home to Hull, putting an end to another superb trip to the Mecca of road racing and excellent driving roads. 21St September The Last Blast A change of venue this year for this small show organised by the South Yorkshire Capri Club. The Stockyard Truck Stop off the M18 is just that, so plenty of hard standing even in wet weather—which it wasn’t, so even better. Lots of classics to look at and the Stockyard pub/cafe/restaurant supplied the best full English we have had in a long time. There was also great praise for the lunch menu also but we couldn’t manage that as well.
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Central RO Paul Bird 01922 428 409 07831 877 983 (mobile) paulpsb928@yahoo.co.uk ARO Brian Rowledge MyMerak@aol.com Meetings are held second Monday of every month 7:30pm onwards at The Red Lion, Lady Lane, Earlswood, B94 6AQ.
Bright blue skies (eventually) for Cars in the Park at Harewood House 28th September Foxton Locks tour Several of us SYNNers met up with a few EastMids at Alan’s very early in the morning (it was almost dark) and tucked into a splendid breakfast provided by Alan and Susan (Alan did eventually get the BBQ going. I thought gas was supposed to be easier?)
19th October Yorkshire Big Breafast A good turnout of cars for this first event to be held here, lots of different marques gave everyone a chance to look around some of the best sports cars on the road, whatever your allegiance you couldn’t help but admire the display and the fact that some had driven great distances to attend.
We left Alan’s at five minute intervals to follow Alan’s Tulip style rally instructions, lots of fun and easy to follow.
Anybody interested will be pleased to know that the Germoline pink Boxster is still available and probably will be for some time.
Through some lovely countryside and rather too many farm gates we arrived at Foxton Locks for refreshments, after exploring the numerous locks and the compulsory ice cream and a pint (not in the same glass) we set off again and after a short drive arrived at Rutland Water.
Thanks to John and the guys at Specialist Cars for putting this on and feeding everyone as well. We then convoyed to Scarborough for a stroll around the shops and the seafront before the rather filling fish & chips meal.
Another short walk along the water’s edge and we set off again for the pub with a thatched roof (I have forgotten the name) for a very nice meal. Many thanks to Alan and his brother-in-law for a very well organised event. 2nd October Curry Night We investigated a new venue for our ever-popular curry night, the Indian Chef on the A1 at Elkersley, suggested by Andy. A very nice meal in a friendly atmosphere and lots of opportunities for bad jokes about the venue’s previous incarnations. 5th October Cars in the Park (Harewood) 11 Porsches turned out for a gloomy wet morning at Harewood house to what turned out to be a superb sunny day with a good selection of supercars and a fabulous venue which included free entrance to the house.
A visit to the seaside is not complete for Katharine without a visit to the RNLI station to try and catch a glimpse of a lifeboatman (out of luck this time but a very worthy cause to support). 8th November Bowling & curry at Akbars A good turn out of 10 people for the Bowling which was won by Jat and Kash on each lane (think they’d been practising all week) followed by the usual cracking meal at Akbars in Sheffield.
As we have almost reached the end of another year I thought it would be appropriate to include a brief review of 2008 and say a thank you or two to recognise the efforts of key people in the region. By the end of 2008 Central Region will have held or joined in 34 listed calendar events (including our regular monthly meet at the Red Lion). Included in the schedule were track events, meals out, race attendances, hill climbs, go-karting, classic car shows, technical visits and of course our trips to the Le Mans Classic and the WotY in October. Happily this year has seen more members attend an event or two and I hope that continues to increase in 2009. If you don’t attend club nights or any of our events please take a moment to get in touch and let me know how we can tempt you to join in with us next year. If you have joined us at any point in 2008, thanks for supporting the region. Brian and I hope you have had as much fun in 2008 as we have! The busy schedule of events during the year has only been possible with the help of a great ARO. Brian Rowledge has put enormous amounts of time in 2008 to make a lot of these things come together. Many including the WotY would simply not have taken place without his hard work so please take a moment to say thanks next time you see him.
Thanks to Ray Waite for helping out with the writeups and keeping the website up to date. 20th December SYNN Christmas Meal & Disco at Ye old Bell 11th January Pistonheads show at NEC 13th January Evening Visit to Ginetta Cars Leeds
Central region cars parked up in front of the hotel on our WotY
Another thank you goes to Paul Keeling who helped me kick off planning for Le Mans and has helped in the background with various advice and help during the year, including for the NEC. By the time you read this the NEC Classic will be over so many thanks to the team that helped organise and run the display all weekend. In no particular order: Paul Keeling, Brian Rowledge, Paul Chare, Chris & Carole Hood, Lindsay Brown, Barry White, Graham Waller, John Brookes & Club Autosport. Turning to a review of recent events, the long anticipated WotY in the Yorkshire Dales at the beginning of October was a total pleasure. In brief, the hotel was well chosen and the food and drink were top notch throughout. The company was better still and we left for home on the Sunday wishing we had another couple of days to enjoy. Great to catch up and spend time with old friends, friends from the WotY in 2007, and make new friends this time around. For me, and I suspect all that attended, this was one of the highlights of the club calendar and a treat not to be missed. A chance to spend a little quality time with the ‘other half’ and while away the evenings in the company of a great bunch of folk rounded off with stunning scenery and a visit to Specialist Cars of Malton. Perfect. We’re now looking ahead to 2009 and Brian and I will get together over Christmas to start serious plans for next year. If you have any ideas for events or club nights please drop one of us a line and have a chat. We would love to hear from you. Whilst Brian and I try to keep you updated in All Torque with events etc, you can only be truly up to date with everything if you use the club forum. It’s very simple to use and anyone having any trouble should get in touch for help. I also send out a circular via email as a reminder for up and coming events. If you don’t get this it’s because I don’t have your email address. Drop me a line and I will gladly add you to the list. If you don’t do IT please feel free to give me a ring any evening to ask questions or find out what’s going on in the region—I will always make time to talk TIPEC and Porsche! Look forward to seeing you all ‘out and about’ in 2009.
Bristol
South Central
RO Paul Harrison 07884 116 971 (mobile) paul@harrison167.freeserve.co.uk
RO Geoff Cox 01235 815 880 07740 452 586 (mobile) geoff.b.cox@btinternet.com ARO Mark Saving 07976 749 344 (mobile) mark@msaving.freeserve.co.uk
Meetings are held first Tuesday of every month 8pm at The Fox, Easter Compton, B35 5RA, one mile West of M5 J17 (Cribbs Causeway). There’s been a fair amount going on since the last report, with much to come. Monthly meetings are picking up well, with the first Tuesday of the month seeing between a third and a half of the region’s membership turning up. I’m really encouraged by it—after all, it’s so much nicer than having just three or four of us. If you haven’t come along to a meeting recently, give it a try; we do our best to be welcoming and it’s not all about the cars, so partners are more than welcome. We held a Dyno Day at Triton Motorsports, near Bournemouth at the end of October. This was a joint event, with TIPEC, 944 Titanic and PCGB members coming together on the ‘rollers of truth’, and the Southern Region, led by Gordon, organised a BBQ which was sponsored by Jon Mitchell’s Garage. The dyno runs were great fun, although there was some debate about the figures, but that’s what the day is all about, isn’t it? The BBQ was chilly—after all, it was October—but with lots of tasty food. All in all, the day was a great success. Thanks to Gordon, Jon, and Triton; the dyno day’s certainly a fixture for next year’s calendar. On the 13th of December, we’re going to visit the OPC at Cribbs Causeway for their Open Day. More details will follow, however we shall meet up for a late breakfast and then trundle on down to see a heap of new Porsches together. We’re planning a Christmas lunch for the 21st of December in a pub near Almondsbury. We used it last year and the food was excellent so, if you’re interested, let me know. Further afield, I am planning a track day at a localish airfield (nothing to hit!), more details to follow; Prescott Classic Hillclimb is already on the calendar for the 10th of May; and Gareth and Mervyn Dawe are going to organise a trip to the Nurburgring over the Easter weekend. Let me know if any of these take your fancy or just come along to the monthly meet and discuss it in person. In the meantime, I wish you all a good Christmas and a happy New Year.
Meetings are held fourth Monday of every month at The Chequers Inn at Weston on The Green, which is just off the A34, south of Junction 9 of the M40. On the 12th October we went to Dove House Motor Company in Rushden (www.dovehousecars.com), where Harvey Beaumont made us all very welcome, as we looked around their large selection of supercars. They have a good cross section of Porsches for sale, all of which seemed very reasonably priced. From here we had a drive out across the Northants countryside, finishing up for a pub lunch in the autumn sunshine at Stoke Bruerne. Friday 19th December Christmas meal at The Chequers Inn. Please note that this is a different date to that published earlier this year. Club nights: Monday 26th January, Monday 23rd February and Monday 23rd March.
Viewings at Dove House Motor Company
North London & Herts RO Gary Adams 07849 222 511 (mobile) garyadams_1980@hotmail.com ARO Neil Pargiter 01920 872 365 07515 337 073 (mobile) ncp.944@hotmail.co.uk Meetings are held third Thursday of every month 7:30pm at The Three Horseshoes, Hooks Cross, Watton-at-Stone (near Stevenage), Hertfordshire SG14 3RY.
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Gruppe South Wessex RO Pete Blackler 07779 203 278 (mobile) peter@blackler7827.fsnet.co.uk Meetings are held fourth Tuesday of every month 8pm at The Wheatsheaf Inn, Braishfield Road, Braishfield, Romsey, Hampshire, SO51 0QE. Club nights continue to be well attended, with a few new members coming along. A big welcome to them, I hope they will enjoy the activities the club can provide. A few of us attended the Porsche & VW Picnic organised, I use that term very loosely, by 911 & Porsche World. We all met up at Winchester services on the M3 and had a leisurely drive to the venue. It was a bright, sunny and warm day (unusual for this summer). On arrival we came to a halt and queued for 30 minutes to get in, were charged £5 each and the cars got covered in dust from the dirt track. The organisation, or lack of, made parking a hit and miss affair, with most of the Porsches parked on a spoiler smashing bumpy field which was compounded by the sheep c**p that was everywhere—not the best place for a picnic with a rug. As for the toilet facilities, I won’t even go there. On the positive side there was a lot to look at and plenty of like minded people to talk to. I will have to seriously think about whether we attend next year, I think this
was compounded by the speed trap van placed just around a fast bend as you left the site at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon! Luckily I was taking it easy, I suspect others were not so lucky. By the time you read this our Christmas meal will be over and 40 people will hopefully have had a good time, photos and a report will be in the next mag, so if you misbehaved and I have it on camera, be warned it will be published as a rougues gallery (just for fun of course). Best wishes, happy Christmas and New Year to you all.
Anglia RO Mark Flintham 01473 735 497 mark.flintham@tecnisis.co.uk ARO Keith Strudwick 07803 462 522 keith@hitcham.info Meetings for January, February and March will be held fourth Sunday of each month 1pm at The Flying Fortress, Rougham, Bury St Edmunds, IP31 2QU. www.theflyingfortress.co.uk Our meeting on 28th of October was well attended considering it was very dark and cold outside and the Met Office had promised us SNOW! Final orders for TIPEC clothing were taken during the evening,
and sent the following day to our Head Office (or in other words, to Sean). Much to everyone’s amazement (including Sean’s) our suppliers fulfilled the order, delivered the goods to Suffolk, and the clothing was distributed to members, all within 10 days! How’s that for service? The freezing conditions on our Club night may or may not have helped us to decide that we should adopt an earlier suggestion to alter our meetings for the first three months of next year. As you can see from the heading above, we shall be meeting at The Fortress for LUNCH on the FOURTH SUNDAYS of January, February and March. We plan to arrive at about 1pm and have our usual chit-chat followed by a meal from the pub’s excellent menu. We will revert to our usual fourth Tuesday evenings from next April! Hopefully, a few members who have found it difficult to make our evening meetings will be able to join us on Sunday lunchtime. We’re a family club and really look forward to meeting members who so far have not made it to The Fortress. Quite a large part of our chat on the 28th was an attempt to plan our activities for next year. Mark has posted a Calendar for 2009 on our region’s webpage (on our club site). This is a ‘work in progress’, and should be a big help once we have all got used to referring to it. Please keep us informed of any events you feel would be of interest to members in the area, and Mark will make the necessary additions. A ‘Show and Shine’ (early spring), karting (soon afterwards) TIPEC ’09 (late May) and our ‘BIG ONE’ The Helmingham Show (first Sunday in August), are the bare bones of our future plans. Further details of all these later. Meanwhile, as I’ve said before, we should like to hear from our neighbouring regions about any activities they are planning and in which we could take part.
Wessex region cars at 911 & Porsche World’s VW & Porsche Picnic
If you’re not coming to our Christmas lunch on the 7th December, this is our last opportunity to wish everyone sincere Christmas greetings and hope that next year will be a safe and happy driving year for you all.
South East RO Derek Flanagan 01342 717 754 07767 254 820 (mobile) derek.flanagan@varian.com Meetings are held second Wednesday of every month 8pm at The Shipley Bridge Inn, Antlands Lane, Burstow, RH6 9TE, on the B2037, off the A23, one mile North of Crawley M23 J10. For those of you who haven’t made it along to a monthly meet yet, we always welcome new prospective members. Come and see if you like us, we’re a friendly bunch no matter what model of Porker you own or desire and you will be guaranteed to receive a hearty welcome. You also have the opportunity of winning our own regional lotto with all SE Region members going into the hat each month, but you have to be at the meeting to win if your name is drawn out. Our events calendar continues to expand and our Regional monthly meetings are becoming a real buzz of activity with details of our numerous regional and national events, general Porsche news and members stories as well as holding the monthly lotto. The end of summer hasn’t seen a slow down in TIPEC or motorsport activities with the following opportunities since my last report. Brighton Speed Trials on 13 September Glorious sunshine brought out the crowds in their thousands to watch a huge variety of cars and bikes speeding along the bumpy Madeira Drive promenade at this years Brighton Speed Trials. The slowest car in the event received the most applause Henry Brooks’ 615cc Humberette took 50.39 seconds to cover the quarter mile course crossing the line at 21mph. In contrast the overall winner was Mike Endean, powered by his highly modified Ford Puma to a 9.95 second pass at 135mph and pipping the Nissan Skyline GTR into 2nd place. The bikes obviously go slightly quicker with Roger Simmons Suzuki Hayabusa blasting along in 8.89 seconds at 157mph. Sadly there were no Porsches in the top five placings. Goodwood Revival 19–21 September This years Goodwood was as glorious as ever. A magical step back in time with pre 1966 cars and motorbikes and Goodwood celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. Some SE Region members such as Rob and Rachel really got into the spirit and dressed
up in outfits of a bygone era wearing tweeds, ties, trilbies and extravagant dresses, wobbling high heels and no doubt blistered feet by the end of the day. Goodwood is very unique as we not only see these gleaming classic cars and motorbikes as static museum pieces but also racing around the track in their glory and even the occasional spectacular crash. In addition to the cars there is a very special atmosphere where people are polite and have time for you with a sensation of calm gentility and a celebration of a bygone Englishness— plus of course fantastic photo opportunities. The Revival’s main event was the hour long, two-driver re-creation of the great RAC Tourist Trophy race that used to be an annual Goodwood fixture which had £85 million of machines racing and not holding back. The Barry Sheene memorial trophy has the riders sprinting to their bikes for the start with Vincents, AJS’s, Triumphs and yowling MV Agustas having their engines running. The amazing cars racing included the Aston Martin DBR1’s and priceless DB4 Zagato, Unlimited varieties of Jags, little Austin A50’s, Ford Zodiacs, powerful AC Cobras, American Chevy’s, Lola T70’s and exotic Frazer Nash’s to name a few. Scalextric Challenge A group of seven SE Region members attended the SEL&NK region October club meeting to challenge our neighbours on the Scalextric track and surprisingly walked away with 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings. This became quite a competitive inter-regional event but didn’t retract from the fun and friendship between these two regions. Rob Pettifer got into some serious practice by getting his Scalextric out of the loft and converting his living room into a Scalextric circuit for the week only to be beaten into 2nd place by Keith Funnell, with Dan a credible 3rd. Goodwood Breakfast Club Meeting The last breakfast meeting of the year took place on Sunday 2nd November, where the theme was Sushi Sunday with the iconic Nissan Skyline GTR on display. Classic Car Show & MPH2 at NEC & London Motorsport Show By the time you have received this issue of AT a group of SE Region members will have attended the Classic Car show on 14–16th November, where TIPEC have a club stand, and the London Motorsport Show at Brands Hatch on 22–23 November where members have an opportunity to get into these race cars and enjoy a blast around the track.
Karting at Bayford Meadows The Impact Bumper boys have invited TIPEC to an endurance race at this North Kent Circuit on 6th December where they have an 1,100 metre outdoor circuit with twin engine karts. Full report in the next issue. Christmas Dinner Party We are holding a Christmas party at our Club Night on Wed 10th December for the subsidized cost of only £16.25 per person. I also hope to publish a provisional 2009 calendar of events at our December meeting.
Thames Valley RO Nick Ramsay 07973 183 220 (mobile) tipec@witzendcs.co.uk ARO Jason Gibson 07958 459 725 (mobile) jasongibson@blueyonder.co.uk Meetings are held first Tuesday of every month 7:00pm at The Novello, Bath Rd, Littlewick Green, Maidenhead, SL6 3RX. Our monthly meetings continue to be well-attended and lively affairs. Although the new venue has seen a recent change in management, the atmosphere and food remain excellent. The only event of note was the very warm and thus well-attended 911&PW picnic on September 28th at Wellington Country Park near Reading. There was a huge mix of both Porsche & VW’s of both the air-cooled and water-cooled variety. Trade stands were fairly low quality with mostly motley collections of VW stuff. One wag suggested it had probably been collected as it had fallen off from some of the rougher vehicles en-route to the venue! Still, an enjoyable and relaxed day with a few cases of mild sunburn—not bad for the end of September!
Thames Valley cars at 911 & Porsche World’s VW & Porsche Picnic
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Cornwall & Devon RO Steve Switzer 01208 816 397 07867 556 869 (mobile) steve_switzer@mac.com Meetings are held third Sunday of every month 12:00–2:30pm at The Winds of Change, South Petherwin, Near Launceston, Cornwall, PL15 7LP. Please contact Steve in advance so that he can advise the pub of probable attendee numbers. It was good October meet with a great welcome to those who came along for the first time, and it was nice also to see a variety of new cars as well. The number of folks meant that we were offered the exclusive use of the Green Room for the group which seemed like a good idea. The seating arrangements were not ideal though, so we might not use that again. We have made a provisional booking with Val at the Winds of Change for our meeting of the 21st December to be our Christmas get together. She has suggested, as most of those present last week indicated a wish for Christmas fare, that we should meet and eat in the dining room. I know that a number of folks have indicated that they would like to come, but please drop me an email to confirm that, if you haven’t already done so. Val has indicated that she will ask for a firm indication of numbers about ten days before the date. Expect Pauline to be contacting you by phone to make sure of the actual numbers much closer to the event. We have a firm date for Wheels 2009 at Wadebridge on Sunday 19th July. As in 2008 this is actually the third Sunday of the month so again we will suspend the monthly meeting and convene at Wheels instead. I don’t yet have a date for our other big local show, Mount Edgecumbe. Perhaps if anyone from the Plymouth area gets to hear of it before I do they can let me know and we can discuss things at a later meeting. Look forward to seeing you all at the next meeting—as always 3rd Sunday of the month at the Winds of Change, South Petherwin. Full details are on the club website.
Jim Hearnden presenting the SELNK Member of the Year award to Nigel & Pat Feddon
SE London & North Kent RO Jim Hearnden 01634 308 062 07930 353 232 (mobile) tr7v8@phaetonconsulting.co.uk ARO Paul Greer 07799 412 870 (mobile) prgreer@blueyonder.co.uk From November, meetings are held first Friday of every month 8:00pm at The Crown Point Inn, Sevenoaks Road, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 0HB. Well, we tried the new venue at the Crownpoint Inn at Seal. Fantastic turnout of 13 people, best ever SELNK meet. If we can get this turn out at future meetings then Paul & I will be very happy. We’re now up to 30+ members, now all we have to do is get more of them along to meetings! The latest calendar is out for all of those with a valid email address. It is in Excel format and I know some have a problem viewing it. You can download a viewer from the Microsoft site. Please advise if you’re interested in any events so Paul & I can advise the venues. I have two or three members that I don’t have email addresses for. If you have an email address and don’t regularly see mails from me, then please send me a mail to tr7v8@phaetonconsulting.co.uk and I’ll add you to the list. That applies to people in adjacent areas who would like a copy of our calendar. Please also ensure that you update details when you renew.
Locally Kent is quite a paper making area. In Sittingbourne there used to be a considerable paper making business and as part of this they installed an Industrial Narrow Gauge railway. This is the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway or SKLR. David Lawrence found that the whole railway is under threat as the line sits on land leased to them and the paper company is pulling out and selling off all the land. This railway has been running for over 102 years. So, on a fantastic September day, we rolled out for a visit. The place was a lot busier than expected and we all bought tickets for a ride there and back, which is a round trip of about 10km. The train out was a diesel but coming back was a proper little steam train. By now the numbers had built up to the point where the buffet car had been pressed into service, so we had a ride in that, although it was unfortunately sans alcohol & food. Despite having bought Rover tickets which allow all day travel, the place was so packed when we returned to Sittingbourne that we all decided against queuing again and made a move off. It looks like the last train to run will be Boxing Day which is a real shame as this is apparently one of the few Industrial Narrow Gauge railways left in the South of England. Certainly if you get an opportunity give it a try. Thanks to David Lawrence for organising our visit. For those with an interest the website is www.sklr.net Well we had a great turn out for October’s Scalextric evening. The South East guys (and gals) rolled out in force and unfortunately rolled away with the trophies! The racing was very close especially towards the end
of the evening. The poor Boxsters we were racing need a bit of care and attention though. The evening ended with Keith Funnell, Rob Pettifer & Dan Engledow being 1st, 2nd & 3rd respectively. Sounds like the SE Kart meeting all over again. We WILL have a return match in 2009 to try again! Unfortunately I had another commitment for the Ghost Run organized by Nige & Pat (a TIPEC Committee meet as it happened) so couldn’t make this, but feedback from the members seems to have been very good. Several of our members put forward the idea that we should have a Member of the Year trophy and present it annually to whoever we felt had put the most into the group. Paul & I bounced this idea around and for no particular reason it got pushed to the bottom of the pile. At the beginning of ’08 I had the idea of a trophy to commemorate the anniversary of my Father’s death in October 1997. This was an ideal way to take the MotY award forward. I then started a search on various websites for something suitable to use as the basis of a trophy. I was thinking a piston or similar. After several weeks of searching a genuine titanium Renault F1 con-rod appeared on eBay dated as 1991 but with no provenance as to car or driver. Expecting this item to fetch a large sum, I was astonished to find it had little interest and eventually made a very reasonable sum, sold to me! Paul, my ARO, is a jeweller and has contact with a silversmith who does a good job. The con-rod was given to the silversmith and all went quiet for a few months. In the mean time I thought about what the various plaques were to say.
To digress for a minute, my Father was probably an archetypal petrolhead of his generation. He’d always had an interest in things mechanical, actively scrambling (now called motocross) and trails riding a motorbike before he was married. This would have been late 1940s and early ’50s. Tracks in those days in Kent would have been Brands Hatch and various ad-hoc locations. The bikes were always self prepared, based on Ariels, typically an 350cc NH Red Hunter. These were built up from second-hand parts, in a small unheated garden shed. This was done on a minimal budget, competing with the big works teams of the time: AJS and Matchless as well as the up-and-coming Villiers based two-stroke bikes. Success came in the form of various trophies, although the limiting factor would be a big budget beating a little one even then. These bikes were ridden to and from meetings but due to meticulous presentation it was rare for a breakdown to occur. When my Father married the competition was stopped due to lack of funds and when I came on the scene a while later the Arial got an addition in the form of a Watsonian sidecar to drag me along in. When later we started to own cars, I had a head start into mechanics. Whilst my friends kicked a football, I was to be found getting greasy ‘helping’ Dad fix the car! My first memories are ‘assisting’ an engine rebuild on our Standard 8 aged around eight. This has stood me in good stead ever since with the result that when I started motoring I was able to do my own spannering, still with some assistance from my Father. He finally passed away on 11th October 1997 from a fourth heart attack. He left a mark on my life which cannot be erased.
After several months the completed trophy was returned to me. The silversmith had made a fantastic job and after a lot of debates the plaques read as follows; Renault F1 V10 Con-Rod 1991 Presented by Jim Hearnden In memory of the late Bob Hearnden 1922-1987 The Original Petrolhead The Independent Porsche Enthusiasts Club SELNK Member of the Year After a very short debate with a few people, the first recipients of the award were chosen. So at the October Club meet I presented this to Nigel & Pat Feddon. They have been stalwart members, attending and always supporting every event that we’ve done. They have also organised events themselves, including a fantastic BBQ at their home and a brilliant Halloween run in ’07 with a great road book, as well as a ghost run and brewery tour for this year. Well earned Nige & Pat. This will be an annual award retrieved for engraving each September and presented in October.
Southern RO Gordon Collins 07835 798 734 (mobile) gtsc.dkm@virgin.net ARO Jim Tarrant 01202 601 886 jim.tarrant@hotblack944.fsnet.co.uk Meetings are held first Tuesday of every month 7:30pm at The True Lovers Knot Pub, Tarrant Keyneston, Nr Blandford Forum, Dorset, DT11 9JG.
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TIPEC Classifieds 1989 Porsche 928 S4
1986 (D plate) 944 Lux
Silver bodywork with a dark blue leather interior. Very good original condition. Service History. Reluctant sale. £9,000 ono
Oval dash, white, fawn interior. MOT mileage 59190; expires 22 Feb 2009. Mileage; 59970 genuine old MOTs to prove etc. Tax expires 31 March 2009. Very large file of service history. Two previous owners. Body Condition; VERY clean. Engine; Slightly noisy tappet on no. 3 cylinder. Cam belts changed recently. Transmission; usual Pinion whine, gear change etc very smooth. Tyres; as new. Battery; replaced last year. Porsche Alarm & Cobra immobiliser. Car kept in Cornwall.
Contact Paul Spence 07892 448 005 or 01344 623 101
Any reasonable offer but I would value it at around £3,000. Agreed insurance valuation £6,000 Contact Trevor Davies on 01209 212 719 or mr.tbd@virgin.net
1989 Porsche 944 Lux 2.7 Baltic Blue, good example, 129,000 miles. Sound bodywork, very good full leather interior, retrimmed. Cat 1 Alarm with certificate, MOT April 2009. Serviced by local Porsche Specialist, Brian Miller, Edinburgh. Reason for sale 993 due to be delivered soon! £3,500 ono Contact George Lyall on 0131 449 7269 or 07712 893 791
17” wheels and 944 parts 17” Genuine Cup 3 wheels with good Conti tyres for sale stripped checked and powder coated like new, £400. 17” Genuine Cup 2 wheels stripped and powder coated like new, £475. Late Boxter wheels, like new no marks anywhere, excellent tyres, £475. Cheaper than new Conti tyres, like new! New 17” Replica wheels Cup 2 and Cup 3 Various offsets most 7.5” front and 9” rears all band new and boxed Migla Milia. Some 16” tyres and 17” tyres. 944 Parts for S2 and Turbo. Good clean condition, fair prices. Interior parts, Black. Power steering racks, Turbo crossmembers, suspension from Turbo/S2, S2 brake calipers front and rear, S2 cross drilled rear discs, as new. Relays, various electrical parts. S2 bonnet, red, vgc £30. Tailgate vgc £20. 968 tailgate with bridge spoiler, original but both side trims missing, £100. Early 944/924 rear bumper, prepped ready to spray, £15. 944 front lower panel with cutouts for foglights, black, £50. Replica bridge spoiler kit, brand new, never fitted, £90. Various other body parts, try me—I can send pics via email. Black carpets, beige full Leather six way front electric seats, like new, totally unmarked, £300. Porsche logo black front and rear seats, good clean condition no rips or tears, £225. Call Mick 07958 731 450 or email mdfloyd@tiscali.co.uk
www.TIPEC.net The TIPEC website is now one year old! You can use it to register or renew your club membership, advertise cars and parts for free, download old issues of All Torque, and keep up-to-date with events in your region. If you look to the bottom-left of the homepage, you will find a link to TIPEC’s online discussion forum. This is the place to trade banter with fellow club members on a day-to-day basis, ask questions and share knowledge, up and down the UK (and worldwide!) Here’s a recent example, discussing November’s NEC Classic Car Show. Forum: National events Topic: NEC Sean Smallman: What a fantastic 3 days, it was great to meet so many people who just wanted to talk Porsche. A huge thanks to Paul and Brian for pulling everything together, John for the use of the van. Also to Paul C, Paul K, Lindsay, Chris, Graham, Mark and Brian for putting their immaculate cars on display. Carol’s cakes went down a treat and well done with the raffle, the young lad who won the remote was really made up. It was also nice for the two clubs to be side by side with the members from both having a good natter and a wander around. 3601 - All Torque_Artwork:Layout 1 5/9/07 Patrick and the team from PCGB also did a great job, the 356 next to the GT2 must have made for some great photos.
mymerak: A big thankyou from Paul and myself to everyone who helped us in the planning, sourcing of cars, materials procurement and setting up the show stand. This year was a monster effort which began in February if memory serves me correct. Furthermore a big thankyou to everyone who helped us to manage such a fabulous stand during the show. I think we managed to sign up between 30 and 40 new members at the show. Many more took away membership forms and hopefully some of them will also take the plunge and join the club. jasongibson: Well done to all who helped out this year. The stand and cars looked 09:44 Page 1 great. Apparently there was another Porsche stand behind you but i didn’t notice it?
Graham Waller: Yes there was, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Over there there was half a Porsche, a race car, a 356 and a GT2. Over here you could see a 993, a race car, a 911 Turbo, a 911 Supersport, a 944, a Boxster and a 997. The two stands complemented one another and it looked fantastic! garyw: I must have missed the 997 on the TIPEC stand … Graham Waller: Mmmmm, 7’s next to 6 on my keyboard. Helen Goff: The stand looked fantastic, only sorry I couldn’t have stopped longer to admire it and the cars more.
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