This weekend we enjoyed another event with our Porsche. The South Down Stages Rally at Goodwood, the last of a busy year. For this one we had three PORSCHE 911 – all air cooled and each one about 45 years old.  

Richard Williams /Steve Mc Nulty took their lovely white and red Eminence liveried Group 4 911, Adrian and Glyn Thomas, their blue 911SC and Rob/Ryan Champion, their grey 911 SC.  

What is particularly impressive is that these older 911 take such a major hammering, driving them to their maximum and yet they come back for more and more. We don’t think it’s pure luck, the basic ‘material ‘of a 911 is strong and we have good skills for motorsport preparation. Our team here know how to best keep these machines reliable under the most demanding conditions.

For service support on the day, Josh Tennent led the support, with assistance from Lewis Penaluna and frankly… they had a dull day – exactly what we look to achieve.  

So what happened? It poured with rain. Adrian was caught out with the wrong choice of tyre, he could not get any temperature into the Toyo R888 and was skating around everywhere looking unhappy, Richard and Steve (a new partnership for this event) got a great start and immediately started a gap to Adrian/Glynn and Rob/Ryan combinations.  

Although a small misjudgment took its revenge on Richards front bumper, it did nothing to slow him down. At lunchtime Josh fitted wets to Adrian’s car and made some crafty suspension changes which allowed the blue SC to start setting a better pace… and it showed on the crews face, no more frowns. Rob/Ryan, kept going like clockwork, minimal mistakes made their progress consistent.  

Bearing in mind that there were modern R2 and R5 rally cars at the front, then lots of turbo 4 wheel drive machinery such as Subaru, loads of super quick escorts and the like… we were not unhappy with our result in 45 year old 911’s. 

RESULTS 

Richard/Steve 15th overall and 3rd in class with a total time of 40.39. 

Adrian/Glyn 17th overall and 5th in class with a total of 41.11  

Rob/Ryan a time of 41.23 brought them to 19th overall and 6th in class.  

These Porsche performed superbly in the conditions, we did not need to lay a spanner on them and Adrian drove his back to Cornwall afterwards.  

Our view is that competition certainly DOES improve the breed, it encourages intelligent preparation, it encourages attention to detail, prioritisation and prevention. In fact motorsport is intrinsic in Porsche development, it is in the DNA of every PORSCHE on the road, each one enjoys the engineering that’s been developed through competition. And competition is a core feature of our business too. 

What can we do for you?  

We can help you find ways of enjoying your Porsche, from track day driving through Sprints, Hillclimb, rally, race or long-distance adventures.  

We can help you improve your Porsche performance or adjust things to suit your purpose and taste. Advice and recommendations are FREE, as is our ENTHUSIASM.