001POR213.qxd:1
21/10/11
13:58
Page 1
December 2011 www.911porscheworld.com
EAST MEETS WEST EXCLUSIVE: JAPANESE TUNING ICON RAUH-WELT GOES WIDE WITH FIRST EURO BUILT CAR
£4.50 US$9.99 CANADA $12.95 No.213 www.911porscheworld.com
TWO-DOOR CAYENNE COUPE CUT AND SHUT CAYENNE CUSTOM
964 TIPTRONIC CARRERA CUP FACTORY BUILT AND RACED BY RÖHRL
CARRERA 3.2 BACK TO THE ’80S CARRERA 3.2 MEETS ITS ’80S RIVALS
HOW TO: BRAKE CALIPER REFURB FIXING 924, 944 AND 928 BRAKE CALIPERS
NEW 911 UNCOVERED Full technical briefing reveals the secrets of the new 911. It’s the best yet
076POR213.qxp:PW Template
20/10/11
15:43
Page 76
THENEW911 UNCOVERED
It’s all part of the Porsche launch process and so here we are at the 911 Technical Workshop at Weissach for the full lowdown on the new 911. Porsche are rightly proud of what they’ve created, so pay attention now Words: Adam Towler Photography: Porsche AG
76
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
076POR213.qxp:PW Template
20/10/11
15:44
Page 77
NEW 911 TECH SEMINAR Welcome to Weissach. Actually, there isn’t such a sign (or at least I didn’t see one) and as a journalist, the welcome is courteous but all mobile phones and cameras are swiftly removed, the prototypes seen on the way to the track something to be turned a blind eye to. But we’re not here to scoop out future product: we’ve come to what Porsche calls a technical workshop to learn an awful lot more about the new 991 than what’s been put so far in a press release. And in addition to a series of mini-conferences with engineers, we’ll be stuffed into the passenger seat of a 991 for a flat out lap or two of the famous Weissach test track. Wolfgang Hätz, Head of R&D, calls the new car a ‘goose pimple generator of the first degree’, and while we won’t be able to put such a theory to the test just yet, we will hopefully understand a little bit more why such a claim might be the case.
Wolfgang Hätz, Head of R&D says new 911 is: ‘Goose pimple generator of the first degree.’ We can’t wait to find out
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
77
066POR213.qxp:PW Template
66
20/10/11
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
16:55
Page 66
066POR213.qxp:PW Template
20/10/11
16:56
Page 67
RAUH-WELT PORSCHE UK BUILD
WIDE THING Words: John Glynn Photography: Andy ‘Fly’ Tipping
RAUH-Welt Porsches have taken the tuning scene by storm. The first car to be built outside Japan recently emerged from a workshop in rural England. 911& Porsche World was there to watch
I
t’s not easy to pinpoint the origins of the Japanese tuner movement, but the All Japan Touring Car Championship donated the strongest aesthetic. Japanese cars of the 1970s and early 1980s, given the touring car treatment of lowered coilover suspension, wide track wheels and tyres stretched over the rims, to allow maximum rubber under standard bodywork, was a look soon replicated by wannabe street racers. As the race car street style grew in popularity, an industry exploded around providing the custom parts required. Clubs popped up across Japan and drivers arranged illicit street racing and drifting competitions. The youthful renegade spirit echoed the birth of hot rodding in the USA. Nick Moutrie grew up in a house buzzing with US hot rod and muscle car culture. Dad was into American machinery, which gave Nick the impetus to try life in the States for himself. “Dad drove Trans-Ams and the rest when I was growing up, so I was surrounded by modified cars. My best mate and I borrowed a Trans-Am one day when we were still underage, and drove it around the block. We put it back just where we found it, but with a tiny dent in the door from opening it into a fence post. Dad must have known but he never said anything. “After I finished school, I moved across to family in the US and worked in the building trade. It was right up my street: the work was physical and creative, there were cool cars everywhere and I was earning good money but, on a trip home for Christmas, I met my future wife at a party and never went back. “We’d been playing with cars for a while before I left for America, but it was very much a part-time enterprise. I decided to invest the money I’d made in the US into starting up a small tuning business: put a bit more commitment into it. We opened the doors doing ECU
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
67
056POR213.qxp:PW Template
10/20/11
3:50 PM
Page 56
BACKTOTHE’80S Words: David Sutherland Photography: Antony Fraser
The 911 has always trodden its own path and had one rival in the shape of the prancing horse. The same was true in the ’80s when the 3.2 Carrera was launched. But then along came a rear-engined and left-field Alpine from Renault. David Sutherland was there the first time and brings them together today
N
ineteen eighty three was shaping up as an underwhelming year for news headlines. Perhaps we were all too obsessed that the totalitarian nightmare as forewarned in George Orwell’s powerful “Nineteen Eighty-Four” would descend the following year, something libertarian doom watchers had feared for
But in September something really worthwhile happened: Porsche launched the 911 Carrera 3.2. It looked barely different from the preceding 911SC, while under the skin changes were little more than updates, including a 200cc capacity increase for the air-cooled flat-six, more advanced engine management, improved timing chain tensioning and better brakes. But its
In September something worthwhile happened: Porsche launched the 911 Carrera 3.2
“
the 34 years since the novel’s publication. The ground failed to shake under unfolding events. Breakfast TV arrived, Hitler’s diaries were “discovered” and soon shown to be fakes but not before eminent historians had declared them genuine. The Austin Maestro pioneered the talking dashboard and a US car magazine voted the AMC Pacer the ugliest car of all time.
56
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
”
arrival to coincide with the 1984 model year would rest as a launch of unparalleled importance for Porsche, some even argue it saved the company – it told the world the 911 with its seemingly old fashioned rearengined layout was not after all going to be killed off, as had been the previous plan. The actual moment the 911 was saved is said to have been during the lifetime of the 911SC, when
056POR213.qxp:PW Template
10/20/11
3:50 PM
Page 57
CARRERA 3.2 V FERRARI 328 V RENAULT ALPINE
HOW THEY COMPARE Engine Capacity (cc) Power (bhp/rpm) Torque (lb ft/rpm) 0-62mph (sec) Max speed (mph) Weight (kg) Wheels (front, rear) Tyres (front, rear) Final new price Current value**
Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 Flat-six, air-cooled 3164 228/5900 210/4800 6.1 152 1210 6Jx16in, 7Jx16in* 205/55, 225/50* £37,973 £20,000
Ferrari 328 GTS V8, four valves per cylinder 3185 270/7000 224/5500 6.4 164mph 1275 7Jx16in, 8Jx16in 205/55, 225/50 £46,500 £35,000
Renault GTA Turbo V6 turbocharged 2458 197/5750 214/2500 7.0 155 1210 6Jx15in, 8.5Jx15in 195/50, 225/45 £29,995 £10,000
*Sport model **values for clean, rust-free condition
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
57
046POR213.qxp:PW Template
46
10/20/11
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
4:25 PM
Page 46
046POR213.qxp:PW Template
10/20/11
4:25 PM
Page 47
TIPTRONIC 964 CARRERA CUP
AUTOPILOT The Carrera Cup is an unlikely arena to promote the virtues of automatic transmission, yet in 1990 Porsche built a 964 Tiptronic Carrera Cup car - and got star wheelman Walter Röhrl to race it at the Nordschleife Words: Johnny Tipler Photography: Antony Fraser
H
artwig gives me a nudge and indicates the speedo: it reads 260kph. I’ve been too busy gawping at the scenery flashing towards me to pay attention to our actual velocity, but here we were, on the backroads of northern Germany, hitting 150mph. Mollified by his circuit training, plus the full cage surrounding me, I’ve been relaxed enough to appreciate the 964’s pin-sharp handling, its auto shift and racecar rawness. But our pace has inexorably quickened, and this is something else. My eyes widen and my jaw drops. If ever a demonstration of a car’s prowess grabs the attention, this is it: powering down short, two-lane straights, revs soaring to 7,000rpm as the screaming flat-six seamlessly traverses the top three gears, barely lifting for the turns as we catapult from one tree-lined corner to another. Phaw! It started innocuously enough. A week before, autocrossing our steeds at the PCGB anniversary fest, Cameraboy Fraser and I were hailed by 964 RS stalwart Des Sturdee, who introduced us to Hartwig Rietz. ‘Did you know Porsche made a Tiptronic racer for the Carrera Cup?’ asked Des. Er, no. ‘Well, they did, and Hartwig owns it!’ I felt a feature coming on. Weissach built 50 cars for the inaugural series in 1990, and fitted one with the brand new Tiptronic semi-auto transmission – chassis 50, the very last. It did just a single race, round 7 of the opening championship, 16th June 1990 on the combined Nürburgring F1 and Nordschleife circuits, piloted by none other than Walter Röhrl. Wearing race number 45, Walter started from 6th on the grid. In spite of the obvious differences in drivability of the four-speed semi-auto over a manual car, he still finished 21st out of 30 starters. ‘Walter just brought it home in the middle of the pack, with the disadvantage of the 4-speed box and its widespread gear ratios,’ commented Hartwig. Walter was diplomacy personified. His official verdict: ‘it is good, it is easy, I cannot over-rev the engine; this is the future of road cars, given the intensification of traffic; it’s the future of gearbox technology.’ Off the record he revealed its shortcomings. ‘It is very hard for me, because I have only four gears, actually just three useable as the first
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
47
036POR213.qxp:PW Template
21/10/11
10:04
Page 36
Words: David Sutherland Photography: John Colley
CAYENNE Coming to a Premier League football club car park near you soon, or at least that’s what Merdad Collection wishes for its so far unique two door Cayenne Coupe conversion
36
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
036POR213.qxp:PW Template
21/10/11
10:07
Page 37
PREMIER LEAGUE CAYENNE
COUPE
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION MERDAD 902 COUPE 700-SS BODYWORK: WHEELS: SUSPENSION: ENGINE: INTERIOR: PRICE: CONTACT:
Two-door conversion, carbon fibre bonnet, full body kit 22-inch diameter, 295/30 front, 315/30 rear tyres Lowered 40mm ECU rechip and sports exhaust, approx 570bhp Ferrari seats front and rear £441,000 Merdad Collection, 0161 928 5555, www.merdadcollection.com
911 & PORSCHE WORLD
37