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March 2012 www.911porscheworld.com
BUDGETRETRO HOT ROD 911S FOR LESS TURN AN SC OR 3.2 CARRERA INTO AN R, ST OR RS LOOKALIKE WITH AN RS TEKNIK KIT
£4.50 US$9.99 CANADA $12.95 No.216 www.911porscheworld.com
THE BLACK ECONOMY MAXIMISING THE PANAMERA DIESEL
997 TURBO ON THE RAC RALLY MUD AND GUTS IN PURSUIT OF RALLY 911S
9FF GO ECO WITH BIOFUEL GTTURBO MAD CONCEPT HITS 250MPH ON ECO FUEL
928BUYERS’GUIDE Last of the 928s, the GTS is on the classic cusp so get in quick
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Words: Johnny Tipler Photography: Antony Fraser
BACKDATING
AGENCY
Retro 911 specialist Paul Stephens’ PS AutoArt cars have grown increasingly sophisticated, so as a counterpoint he’s introduced the no-frills – and more affordable – RS Teknik series. With a bit of imagination and DIY, you could put one of these on the road for as little as £15,000
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RS TEKNIK TWIN TEST
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t’s 1973 and I’m Herbie Muller at the Nordschleife, Gijs van Lennep on the Targa Florio. That’s what it feels like, handling Paul Stephens’ latest creation, a red RS Teknik 2.8 RSR pastiche. A frisky, perky 911 with attitude, bags of power, acute steering and nifty to boot. Even on these Essex B roads there’s scope to give those ultra-fatty wheels and tyres a work-out, and it looks absolutely the part for our flat-six flashback. Our second car in the new range, the black one, is a finer drive, thanks to its narrow body and thinner tyres. Referencing the 911 R of 1967, its appearance is akin to the ’64-’73 classic 911s beloved of R Gruppe aficionados and drift kings, but that’s where the boundaries blur. Both our retro rockets are based on 3.2 Carreras, so running gear is newer, mellower. The black car – let’s call it the R – has a G50 gearbox,
RACE RETRO
Between 1967 and 1969 Porsche built 22 racing 911 Rs, and in 1969 Gérard Larrousse won the Tour de France Auto in a works 911 R. Four years later Gijs van Lennep and Herbert Muller won the ’73 Nürburgring 1,000kms and the Targa Florio in a 3.0 Carrera RSR. Sixty units were built between 1973 and 1977.
the red one, the RSR, a 915 ’box, and both have had top-end rebuilds. Paul Stephens launched his PS AutoArt 3.2 Carrera and 964-based cars in 2005, but prices crept up as customers specified ever higher levels of detailing, to the point where an AutoArt car costs upwards of £90,000. A perfectionist, Paul was happy to indulge them. But there were plenty of potential customers who’d be content with less fine art so long as the look was right, so Paul created a more affordable range: welcome to RS Teknik.
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VERY GREEN
In the world of tuned to the max Porsches, 9ff sits at the top of the pile. Now they’ve gone green with a 900bhp, 244mph Bioethanol version of its GT9 Words: Nick Hall Photography: Lyndon McNeill
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he term environmentally-friendly sportscar used to be a total oxymoron, but the times they are a changing. Porsche itself has unveiled the 918 Spyder hybrid and sent a flywheel system into war at the Nürburgring and it feels like the lid is flipping open on Pandora’s Box. Electric sportscars are on the way, hydrogen power is round the corner and I keep getting those adverts for e-books explaining how to run a car on pure water… Then there’s the Betamax of the alternative fuel world, Bioethanol, biofuel, E85, call it what you will. Once hailed as the salvation, Bioethanol has virtually dropped off the radar when it comes to powering a car on its own. This one, though, is either a step back in time or a stark reminder of what biofuel is capable of. It’s the fastest Bioethanol-powered car in the world, officially, and perhaps unsurprisingly it emerged from the slightly twisted mind of German Porsche tuner Jan Fatthauer, who heads up 9ff. It’s the 9ff GTurbo Bioethanol: 900bhp of Porsche 911-based madness designed to
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show that green cars can be fast. At Nardo, the high speed bowl in Italy, Fatthauer drove his own car to a recorded VMax of 244mph. “I would like to use a test driver,” he laughs. “But nobody is crazy enough to do it.” As it explodes into life at his workshop in Dortmund, I understand why. This is a seriously intimidating car with almost no concession to comfort, or even aesthetics. 9ff will sell you all the appendages. But this is a record car where form religiously follows function. And it sure isn’t pretty. There’s a huge handbeaten diffuser that channels air under the car and sucks it to the ground, a high rear wing and then there are those interesting wheel covers and seemingly wraparound rear end, that help to stop the back picking up off the deck as the car homes in on its top speed. That would be the start of a plane crash. The cutest touch, though, is the wing mirror, just one, which looks like it came off a bike, because it did. It’s there for effect and to keep the car road legal to the letter of the law, but the glass shook out on the oval.
Price: €300,000 Engine: 4-litre Flat Six Biturbo, Bioethanol Power: 900bhp@6500rpm Torque: 950Nm 0-100kph: 2.8s Top speed: 244mph
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9FF GTURBO BIOETHANOL
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NORTHERN
EXPOSURE The Roger Albert Clark Rally is the classic rendition of the former RAC Rally, attracting diehard fans to the northern wastes to relive the epics of yesteryear. Would the Porsches trouble the multitudinous Escorts? Our intrepid reporters braved the blizzards to find out
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hose pigtails make you look a girl!’ I told him. Cameraboy’s beanie with its dangling plaits is not my style, WRC logo aside, but this sartorial lapse, acquired on impulse from a souvernir stall in the scrutineering tent, was forgotten when he generously lent it to me in the gloom of Dalby Forest Woodyard as my skull took on the hue of an Arctic icesheet. He saved me from a cryonic challenge. But to what end? Driving or navigating a rally is one thing; spectating is another. Because if the boredom of the wait doesn’t get you, exposure to the chill night air surely will. It’s early December, yet as I loiter by the impenetrable conifers, pining for a log fire, I don’t care if I never see another Christmas tree! To be fair, the camaraderie amongst marshals attending the corners is enervating, like being with your pals in the trenches: it’s muddy and cold and precarious. On several stages we while away interludes between cars with banter about competing
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crews, and when cars visit the scenery it’s all hands on deck as they push them back on track. All rally fans are petrolheads and well up with the latest as well as historical info. The Roger Albert, as they call this event, was founded in 2004 and, because of his conveniently coincidental initials, is named after Roger Clark, the first Brit to win the WRC event back in 1972. For two-wheel drive cars only, the R.A.C. is the spiritual successor to the national event dating from 1932, which, after several variations, including the Network Q and Lombard RAC Rally, became the Wales Rally GB in 2003. Gravel tracks through Forestry Commission plantations were introduced in 1961, stamping the character of the event ever since, with ‘stately home’ spectator stages from 1971. Antony (he of the plaited pigtail hat) and I have been let loose in a Porsche 997 Turbo by the Angels of Reading, AKA Porsche GB’s press office. First docking station for the red rocketship in our complex itinerary of
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911 TURBO ON THE RAC
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BUYERS’ GUIDE
LAST OF THE FIRST Pre-dating the Panamera by over 15 years, the mighty 928 GTS was Porsche’s original front-engined supercar. With 5.4 litres of V8 under the bonnet, the GTS was the ultimate autobahn eater Words: Keith Seume Photography: Michael Ward
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928 GTS BUYERS’ GUIDE STYLING AND BODYWORK Behind the 928 stood an impressive design team, overseen by Wolfgang Eyb, whose job it was to steer the 928 through the occasionally turbulent seas at Zuffenhausen. To his right sat Helmut Flegl, the man responsible for finalising the 917 race cars, to the left design director Wolfhelm Gorrissen. These three Porsche wünderkind turned to the talented Wolfgang Möbius, guided by Anatole ‘Tony’ Lapine, to style the new front-engined model, and the results were nothing short of dramatic. With its rounded lines (especially at the rear) and exposed pop-up headlamps, the 928 looked like no Porsche before (or since). Even today it it looks dramatic – especially in wider GTS spec – but back in the 1970s, it was a sensation: brutal rather than beautiful. The majority of the body panels were of galvanised steel, but the bonnet, doors and front wings were skinned in aluminium in an effort to reduce weight.
PRODUCTION AND MODELS
FROM SHIRE HORSE TO THOROUGHBRED Porsche’s 928 has always been surrounded by controversy. Debate began when Porsche hinted that the front-engined, V8-powered grand tourer (well, you could hardly call it a sportscar, could you?) was to oust the 911 from its position at the top of the Porsche line-up. That never happened, of course, but the fact that the 928 simply looked so, well, ‘different’ meant that it divided opinions like no other Porsche before. It’s true, the
early cars – the original 928 was launched way back in 1978 – were disappointing. Lacking power and agility (barely 240bhp in a car that weighed almost 1500kg), and usually equipped with the soporific Mercedes-built threespeed auto, it was no match for the contemporary 911. But as the 928 morphed into the 300bhp 928 S in 1980, people began to sit up and take notice. With progressive increases in power, and improvements in
specification, the 928 continued to mature and by 1990 the S4 and GT models had carved their own place in Porsche lore as wonderfully competent grand tourers, equal to anything from Maranello, Munich or, dare we say it, Newport Pagnell. The 928 GTS, launched in 1992, was the jewel in the crown – with 5.4 litres, 345bhp, 369lb/ft of torque and a top speed of just under 170mph, it was a true thoroughbred in every way…
Although the 928 lineage as a whole can be traced back to the mid-1970s, the 928 GTS’s spiritual roots are to be found in the 928 S4 of 1987. The S4 may have been the fourth generation 928, but the new moniker primarily referred to the number of valves per cylinder. Offering 320bhp at 6000rpm, and 317lb/ft of torque, the new engine transformed the 928 in every way. The 928 S4 was progressively refined over the next five years, giving rise to the SE (Special/Sport Equipment), otherwise known as the CS (Club Sport), and the 928 GT, which was offered solely with a five-speed manual transmission. By the end of production in 1991, over 17,000 variations on the S4 theme had been sold. The GTS was, however, in another league again. Launched in 1992, the new model was a real tour de force, with its 5.4-litre 32-valve engine, and yet more power and torque. In its relatively short four-year production life (1992–95), some 2904 928 GTSs were sold, of which 406 were for the North American market. The GTS, therefore, accounted for just 4.75 per cent of total 928 sales.
The 928 GTS has a distinctive, slightly brutish, profile that still looks fresh. Front and rear spoilers are nicely understated. We love the colour of our studio subject…
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BLACKeconomy
In satisfying market demand for a diesel powered Panamera, Porsche has created a surprisingly satisfying, rapid and above all economic supersaloon. We push the boundaries Words: Steve Bennett of range to see just what the ‘Panaderv’ will do Photography: Antony Fraser
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t’s a sign of the times. Back in the good old days of waste and profligacy the question directed at the owner of anything rakish looking was usually “how fast will she go, mister?” Now in these austere times it’s more likely to be “How far will she go?” or “what will she do?” Add that to the default setting of anyone not interested in cars, which usually manifests itself with the dreary and droning “Ah, yes but I bet that doesn’t do much to the gallon,” and you’ve got a snapshot of the motoring world post 2008, one ravaged by escalating fuel prices, draconian emissions legislation and a general social fear of the fast and the furious. See all those gaudy supercars? They’re not for us anymore. Lambos and Fezzas exist only to be smoked around the Top Gear test track and for the Middle Eastern and emerging Asian markets. No, in the European heartland of car culture and design, we are now forced to fill our cars with the crude stuff. It is our punishment for not only did we apparently drink too much champagne, but we put too much of it in our
cars too. We have only ourselves to blame. Grim huh? Well no, perhaps not. Actually I don’t mind a drop of the black stuff. Petrol is a more flexible combustible liquid, but DERV suits everyday motoring well, as do torquey diesel engines, which have the shove just where you need it. Never thought I’d say that and of course we never thought that Porsche would build a diesel car, but then along came the Cayenne Diesel. But actually that was OK. Big 4x4s suit grunty diesel engines. It made sense, whereas the V8 and mad as a box of frogs Cayenne Turbo only made sense if you owned your own petro chemical refinery, or you were really, really keen on paying fuel duty. Porsche, we reasoned, was listening to the customer, which
Left: London Eye starting point. Below: Set the controls to zero and fill her up. Next stop Isle of Skye
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