TIPEC All Torque 75

L AL E U Q R TO PRIL 20 ISSUE 75 A

NSIDE! I S L I A T E ’ F U LL D W O AYDON H G S , E E R H T C N S E R OTOR C ‘THE PO M 9 0 E ’ G C A E T I P I R T Y AT HE A M t s 1 3 Y SUNDA LIVE AND BREATHE THE MARQUE CLUB WEBSITE & ONLINE RENEWALS AT WWW.TIPEC.NET

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ALWAYS ORIGINAL

The last of the great 911s?

November 2006

May 2007

Special Collectors’ Edition

Special Collectors’ Edition January 2007

911 & PORSCHE WORLD SUBSCRIBERS RECEIVE SPECIAL COLLECTORS’ EDITION FRONT COVERS www.chpltd.com

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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: TIPEC members on the Gaydon Heritage Motor Centre test track at TIPEC ’08. Photo by 4x4 Navigation (01283 585 444 www.4x4navigation.com).

Chairman’s Chat

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 76 (June) must be in before Friday 8th May 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 Brian Rowledge mymerak@aol.com 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@btconnect.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.

With several car manufacturers having to go cap in hand to governments for bail outs, Porsche appear to be well placed to deal with the current economic conditions. 2009 will be very busy for the boys from Zuffenhausen, with many new models hitting the streets.

The new Cayenne Diesel is already in the showrooms, with the Panamera and the GT3 to follow soon. I am not sure what Ferry would think to having an oil burner in the stable. It had to happen eventually and is one way of beating the tough new emissions rules, but where will it end?

Will there be a diesel version for every model in the range? Some are predicting there will be.

I am pleased to announce that the Club and Porscheshop have signed a two year sponsorship agreement. Porscheshop have sponsored the annual show for the last couple of years and have decided to extend their support to all that we do throughout the year. This is a first for TIPEC and I’m sure that both parties will benefit hugely from the partnership.

That leads me nicely onto this year’s national event. Please read the show special in this issue and familiarize your self with all the attractions that will be available on the day. A lot of people last year said that they had not realized what there was to do at the site, despite all the advertisements in All Torque and the show programme that was given out on the day.

This is the time of year when the covers come off the cars and they see daylight after the winter hibernation. I moved my cabby for the first time in three months last weekend. The engine reached 4,000 revs before the brakes became un-seized. The resulting judder under braking was terrible.

An hour spent on the local back roads with the hood down soon had the discs cleaned up and the old girl back to normal. For me this is the best time of year, preparing the cars for the new show season. Plotting the dates on the three calendars I use both in the office and at home, hoping that there are not too many clashes. The garage has the smell of freshly applied cleaning products when you open the door. Spring has finally arrived, lovely.

Have a Happy Easter and don’t eat too much chocolate.

All Torque 75 page 3

TIPEC ’09

‘The Porsche Show’ Sunday May 31st, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon This year’s event has the best of last year with several new attractions to keep us all entertained. There will be the Good Time New Orleans Brass Band playing in the background to give us that garden party atmosphere that was lost in 2008.

Not only is there more to do we have also reduced the advanced ticket price to £6 for members.

We have booked the test track and there will be coach trips to Stratford Upon Avon for those who would prefer a little retail therapy.

We are hoping to attract in excess of 1,000 Porsches which should make for a stunning display in the show area. To achieve this we need you and your Porsche!

Bring along the family, a picnic and join us for a great day out.

Attractions Museum of classic British Cars (free) Test track laps £10 in advance, £15 on the day 4x4 rides on the wet course (free) Brass Band Inflatable Assault Course suitable for adults (free) Bouncy Castle (free) Trade Stands Model Displays Concours Cars for sale area Childrens drawing and treasure hunt competitions HollyWood Heroes- Stars of stage and screen Gamezone truck, large screen multi player computer gaming (free) Go Karts (£4.50) Coach trips to Stratford (£1) leaving at 10:30, 11:40 Cinema (free)

4x4 Navigation Ltd. is a family business run by David and Karen Griffiths. Just like last year, they will be present at TIPEC ’09 with their on-site photograph viewing and printing unit. David and Karen aim to photograph every Porsche arriving at TIPEC ’09 and also every Porsche which takes part in the test track runs (where these pictures were taken in 2008).

All photos will be downloaded to the computers in 4x4 Navigation’s event unit and will be available for viewing throughout the show. Photographic prints can

be purchased to take away. Other items such as mousemats, mugs, key-rings etc. can also be ordered and will be posted within the following seven days.

After the show all images may be viewed for a few months online at www.4x4navigation.com 4x4 Navigation are giving away three framed prints of one lucky TIPEC member’s car, to be taken at TIPEC ’09.

To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, email cluboffice@tipec.net with your membership number and tell us how many Porsches are in the main photo above.

Catering

Concours

Outside: BBQ, drinks van, bar and ice cream Inside: Restaurant serving breakfasts, roast lunch, salads, sandwiches, cakes etc.

The same tried and tested format of previous years. This is a relaxed competition and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. You don’t have to show us your engine and there are no marking sheets or white glove inspections. There will be three competitions: Visitor’s Choice, Competitor’s Choice and Best in Show.

Tickets Available from The Heritage Motor Centre in advance for £6, saving £5 off the adult price on the day.

Online click the adult ticket then put in the code 09TIPEC09, the discount will be applied at checkout.

Alternatively by telephone (Tuesdays only). Please note that there is a £1.50 booking fee per order. If one person buys all the Regions tickets you will save all those £1.50s. Don’t forget to book the track at the same time. http://events.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk Telephone 01926 645 031.

The concours is free to enter but you will need show tickets to get into the event. If your car is clean and looks good after a polish then it is definitely worth entering. To register please email cluboffice@tipec.net or call 0845 602 0052 (leave a message).

Please note that the closing date for concours entries is Friday 15th May.

Sponsors and supporters Thanks to Porscheshop, Promax, Paintshield, Raceglaze & Heritage Insurance.

All Torque 75 page 5

Meguiar’s Ultimate range At a recent detailing presentation by Meguiar’s at their HQ in Daventry, Sean Smallman and the Central Region were introduced to a couple of new products: Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Quik Wax. I am sure most of you reading this have shiny bright paintwork and your Porsche looks stunning. That is until the sun comes out and you see all those fine scratches and swirl marks that make your heart sink and you want to look away fast. The unfortunate truth is no matter how careful you are, it’s cleaning that causes the damage. Using the two bucket method with grit guards and a sea sponge from the Mexican Gulf will help but those fine lines will start to appear eventually.

This is where Ultimate Compound comes to the rescue. With micro abrasive technology it cuts at the defects without scratching like other abrasives. Apply with a foam or terry pad and use circular motions with a moderate amount of pressure. Use a microfiber and buff for a bright finish. Then seal in this new paint look with your favorite wax.

I don’t know about you but I’ve often turned up at shows or wanted to top up the Porsches wax but can’t because the sun is out and the surfaces are hot.

I know my normal wax is going to be hard work in those conditions. Ultimate Quik Wax is designed for these scenarios, a product that is easy to apply and buffs to a brilliant wet look shine.

Our friends at Meguiar’s have given us a few bottles to give away in a competition. For a chance to win, email cluboffice@tipec.net with your membership number and tell us when Meguiar’s was founded.

We’ll put your name in the hat for a prize draw and maybe you’ll get lucky!

The Porsche Enthusiast Legal Assistance Scheme Everyone is getting caught for more and more motor offences lately. Not because we are worse drivers or less law abiding but because there is more camera surveillance on our roads. Good drivers get points on their license leading to a hefty rise in insurance premiums.

And if you get to 12 points on your licence (or 6 points and a new driver)

without legal help the chances are you will be off the road. Roadside Lawyer’s legal team specialises in defending motor offences and our top motor defence solicitor Emma Patterson has an incredible record of success winning 95.44% of cases where we have advised a not guilty plea. Furthermore if we win we usually recover your costs so the

defence is undertaken at no net cost to you. To get Emma Patterson’s Roadside Lawyer team working on your behalf ask a legal question via the Roadside Lawyer website: www.roadsidelawyer. co.uk We always give good free advice in response to your question and if we can help you out in court we will advise you of that too.

TIPEC Annual General Meeting 2009 The club’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday 19th April at The Heritage Motor Museum, Gaydon. Refreshments will be available from 10:00am with the meeting starting at 10.30am. A buffet lunch will be served after the meeting closes. Please confirm your attendance by the 7th April.

Any nominations for Committee Roles must be received two weeks prior to the meeting. If you have a question you wish to raise but will not be there on the day please forward it to club office and we will add it to the agenda.

Porsche Racing Cars 1976–2005 Brian Long, Veloce Publishing, £45.00, ISBN 978-1-904788-45-4.

This is the companion book to Porsche Racing Cars 1953–1975, which we covered in All Torque 72. As such, this picks up right where that first volume left off, with the new racing regulations introduced in 1976 and the cars Porsche produced in answer to them. There’s a wealth of fabulous photography culled from through the years and a fantastic array of vintage posters from the bigger race events and car launches. The book covers everything year by year from details and specifications for Porsche’s cars each season to specific race reports and even the politics behind the scenes at Porsche. Some of the greatest icons of Porsche’s race history are included here, including the Martini 935s of the late seventies, the 959’s introduction to the Paris-Dakar Rally and the Rothmans-Porsches that dominated Le Mans in the eighties. Whilst this book does not quite bring us right up to the present day, it gets as far as the bright yellow RS Spyders developed for the American Le Mans series.

Porsche 928 Brian Long, Veloce Publishing, £34.99, ISBN 978-1-903706-30-5.

Another of Brian Long’s painstakingly researched, yet accessible, books on a sepcific Porsche model, this coffee-table tome takes you through the development and life cycle of Porsche’s V8 bruiser.

Starting off with design sketches and the original clay development models, this is a very thorough piece of work leaving no stone unturned.

The rapturous press reception (including winning Car of the Year 1978) is covered, as is the biref racing history of the 928. It’s fascinating to see the different advertising approches taken across the world, and the range of aftermarket modifications that Brian Long has uncovered on his trawl through the archives. If you own a 928, this is a lovely record of your car’s history and its place in the wider world of Porsche.

Porsche Excellence Was Expected Karl Ludvigsen, Bentley Publishers, $299.95, ISBN 978-0-8376-0235-6. www.bentleypublishers.com/porsche/excellence-was-expected

Porsche: Excellence Was Expected was first published in 1977 and is one of the most thorough and authoritative overviews of the Porsche marque. Last revised in 2003, it ended with the introduction of the first Cayennes. Now the new 2008 edition is here and the complete work spans three enormous volumes, held together in a massive slipcase.

This is a substantial revision, updating the coverage to include the Cayman, Panamera, 997 and on the racing side the RS Spyder and 997 GT series. This is not a book about just the cars though, it covers the politics and background of Porsche as well—so this update includes in-depth coverage of Porsche’s staggering financial acheivements under Wendelin Wiedeking.

Whilst there are hundreds and hundreds of beautiful photographs and illustrations throughout the books, this is no coffee-table display piece. It’s a careful and accurate histrical record, a solid attempt at creating the definitive document of Porsche. A reference book, not a bit of fun. Having said that, I had a blast flicking through and checking out all the prototypes and plans for cars that never made it into production. There are some astoundingly prescient concepts shown here, from Ferdinand Porsche’s electric car, built in 1900, to what looks remarkably like a Smart Car in amongst proposals Porsche prepared for Volkswagen’s assault on the urban American market in the 1980s.

If you’re looking for information on a specific Porsche model, you would be better served with a slimmer, dedicated volume (like the Porsche 928 book featured left). Porsche: Excellence Was Expected fills a different need, acting as a guidebook to the company as a whole. Whilst it will not list the race finishing positions of every entrant in every championship through the years, it will give you a deep understanding of what motorsport meant to P{orsche, how developments in that arena fed into production models, and what financial benefits were eventually earned from the racing success.

It’s a book about the bigger picture and as such it succeeds.

The only problem with this three-book set is its sheer size. Even split into three, each volume is unwieldy—so large and so heavy that it demands to be read at a table, never on your knee.

All Torque 75 page 7

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Race Retro 2009

I had only been to Race Retro held at Stoneleigh near Leamington Spa once before and was so engrossed with watching the rally cars that I never made it into the exhibition halls. This year I opted to go on the Friday, when there would be no distractions because the live action events take place over the weekend.

This year the show was celebrating 50 years of the Mini and focusing on Aston Martins from the last half-decade as well.

I had a very nice pint from a bar that had been converted from an American fire engine, whilst watching Steve Parish (Moto GP) host the Demon Tweeks wheel changing competition.

You are met at the main entrance to the four exhibition halls by the stunning Aston Martin DRB1 which won the 1959 Le Mans in the hands of Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori. In the same year Shelby, Moss and Fairman won the World Sportscar Championship in the last round at Goodwood after a tense battle with Ferrari.

Porsches were few and far between and I was a little disappointed given the success the Marque has had over the years in all manner of motorsports. I did manage to take a few photos of a 924S and a 928 racing car, the pick of the bunch for me being an orange 1970 911S which was being used for historic rallies.

I enjoyed Race Retro, but as a casual visitor I sorely missed the live action events which make for a more interesting day out.

Race Retro is very focused on being just that, an event for historic racing cars, and is probably more trade fair than car show. It will be interesting to see what Live Promotion Events, the new organisers, have planned for the event in future years. They put on the Classic Car Show at the NEC and Bromley Pageant of Motoring. If historic racing is going to survive it needs to appeal to a younger audience, the average age of the attendees made me feel quite young for a change.

The show was a mix of restorers, tuners, event organisers and historic racing clubs. One hall was dedicated to autojumble which had some interesting bits and pieces. I spotted a pair of beige leather sports seats in need of a clean but in good condition for ÂŁ100. There were quite a few interesting cars and bikes to look at, but more would have been nice. The car transporters were interesting and a stark contrast to modern standards with the race cars left uncovered to face the elements.

Writing & photography by Sean Smallman

All Torque 75 page 9

Poster boy for the DVLA An email arrived in my inbox with an unusual request: Would I be interested in taking my Porsche to some studio near Birmingham, where it would be photographed and used to star in the latest DVLA advertising campaign for personalised registrations?

Well, why not? It couldn’t be more than an hour away for Daventry and it is a fine opportunity to make the general public appreciate what a fantastic vehicle my 1987 Carrera Targa Sport actually is. A welcome break from the usual daily routine, and as my expenses would be paid a cost-effective excuse to take Ferdy (yes, that is the cars name) on a blast with someone else picking up the tab. And obviously the glory of witnessing Ferdy staring out from every motoring magazine, billboard and back-of-bus poster in the UK. That should certainly boost the resale value. I emailed my agreement immediately.

Armed with some directions printed off the internet and a small cigar, I took off with Ferdy, punching North in pursuit of fame, fortune and a free lunch. M6, M5, then somewhere else ‌ Navigation was never my strong point but having been informed that the location could be found by a blind sheep on an acid trip, I was quietly confident I would be ok.

I pulled onto the motorway and eased through the rush-hour traffic, waiting for the opportunity to drop the hammer and give the 3.2 engine a workout. After some weaving and waiting for the commuters to vacate the tarmac, it came.

Pedal to the floor, Ferdy took of like a raped ape, the fierce, guttural growl resonating off the Armco as legal speed limits were reached, breached and then pretty much ignored. In these situations, a classic car can operate with a degree of impunity; the John Q Laws either cannot believe a vehicle of that age is travelling at that speed, or it brings a wry smile to their face and they look the other way. In any case, the German style number plates my car was carrying are illegible to speed cameras.

My junction ahead, I was thwarted by the longest column of lorries I had ever had the misfortune to witness; perhaps an Eddie Stobart staff day out? No matter, I shall take the next junction instead, turn round and return. Except the next junction did not offer the U-turn facilities one would have expected, but vast swathes of concrete cutting through the countryside, all signposted for places I had never heard of. No sat-nav in Ferdy and no atlas either. Panic rose up my spine as I began to realise I was hopelessly and incurably lost. Could this get worse?

Oh, yes. My right foot, an intrinsic part of the operation of a motor vehicle, was heating up. Not just getting slightly warm, but feeling as if it had been used to stir molten lava. Hot air, seemingly straight from the engine bay, was being blasted onto the accelerator pedal. The discomfort was immense, but in the true spirit of British stiff-upper-lipness, I persevered.

Disorientated and possibly burning, I continued looking for a vaguely familiar road. After many more miles of careering around, I pulled into a lay-by and rang for help. The gentleman organising the photo shoot did a splendid job of disguising his contempt for the poor fool who managed to get extremely lost on a very uncomplicated journey, and dictated directions to get me back on track.

Another 45 minutes of driving, with a right foot now resembling a well-done fillet steak, through an industrial estate, through an unsigned gate and half-way up a hill. There I was.

The people at the studio very sportingly failed to mention that I was an hour late and asked me to back Ferdy onto the set, where they proceeded to make fiendish demands. Could I remove the rear wiper? (No.) The tax disc? Perhaps it could do with a clean after the journey? Spying what looked like a yard broom, sandpaper and Fairy Liquid, I hastened to respond in the negative. Clearly, their idea of cleaning a car differed slightly from mine. After relentlessly shuffling Ferdy backwards and forwards, they bribed me to leave them alone with ‘lunch’.

‘Lunch’ was an egg and cress sandwich and a sausage roll.

Those of us who had been becoming acquainted with every yard of every motorway surrounding Birmingham since dawn were in no mood for egg and cress. What we wanted was coffee and nicotine. However, catering facilities in a small shed, halfway up a hill on an industrial estate, were somewhat limited, so I skulked out of the way, listening to the muffled ‘pop’ of camera flashes as Ferdy pouted, posed and tarted around for the camera.

Then, without warning, a voice said “Thank you, we’re finished.” That was it? Park on a sheet, underneath an anglepoise, devour a sandwich, and then it’s all over? Indeed it was.

Nothing more to it. I fired up Ferdy and rolled out of the shed, down the hill and back to the road. I pointed him in the rough direction of the motorway and, ignoring the furnace in the footwell, I pushed down on the accelerator and thoroughly enjoyed the rumble of his engine startling unsuspecting lunchtime shoppers as I headed home.

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All Torque 75 page 11

Ginetta Cars

On 13th January the SYNN region visited Ginetta’s factory in Leeds for a guided tour Around a dozen of us managed to skive away from work early on a cold dark evening for a worthwhile trip to Ginetta Cars of Leeds. Ginetta Cars was founded in Suffolk in 1958. They moved to Scunthorpe in the eighties and eventually Leeds.

The business was an extension of a passion for motor racing and as a result, cars produced by the company were predominantly race or road/race cars.

The size of the company after being purchased in 2005 by Lawrence Tomlinson is colossal, talking us all by surprise. Lawrence is an experienced racing driver and successful businessman and is Chairman of the LNT/Zytek Group.

Ginetta won the GT2 Class first place trophies from Le Mans 2006. Very impressive for a small firm in Leeds that most people haven’t heard of.

They even beat Porsche that year.

On arrival at the company we all signed in and were met by a very friendly and informative Charlie Kemp.

Charlie took us through to what has to be one of the most impressive boardrooms that any of us had seen.

The huge boardroom table seats around 20 people and converts to a full size snooker table (after hours of course!)

The oak clad room and bar showed the GT2 Class first place trophies from Le Mans 2006. Very impressive for a small firm in Leeds that most people haven’t heard of. They even beat Porsche that year but since then Porsche seem to upped the pace. We’ll have to see how Lawrence fares this year.

After a brief rundown of the history of the company Charlie took us out onto the upper landing to see the Factory floor from above, showing cars in different stages of manufacture—all the way through to full finished race cars under cover for the up and coming racing season.

Hidden away in the corner of the factory was Lawrence Tomlinson’s private Aston Martin, safely indoors for the winter.

Below the boardroom and upper landing was a fully kitted out gym to keep the workforce fit and healthy. Mr Tomlinson knows how to look after his staff.

We then proceeded downstairs to see where it’s all designed before manufacture. The amount of technology and experience astounded our entire group. Two of the design guys had stayed on to show us some of the design work of the new G50 and a new lightweight design they are working on along the similar lines as a Lotus Seven or Ariel Atom.

From the design office Charlie walked us out onto the shop floor showing jigged chassis being welded. The quality and smoothness of the welding was impressive throughout the fabrication. All the parts to be welded were uniquely set out on a trolley ready to be assembled. The the parts used were all big names well recognised throughout motorsport. They even had separate workshops for building and refurbishing gearboxes and diffs, at the moment being used after hours by two of their employees to rebuild a trials bike.

Ginetta are in the final stages of testing a road going G50 and even a electric version which they have had Government grants for. The G50 (named after the 50th Anniversary of the company in 2008) track demo model had just returned from the Autosport show so we got to hear it running and a few of us managed to squeeze into the driver’s seat.

These G50s actually run bog standard 3.5l V6 Ford engines from the Ford Edge (a USA Model) which kick out 300bhp. The stock of Ginetta was also very impressive with them keeping around 60 engines in stock most of the time. They can even offer factory racing support, as evidenced by the large factory trailer seen in the background.

Across from the G50’s were a number of G20 Juniors made for the 14–17 year olds’ racing championship.

Not sure if any of us could have squeezed into the drivers seat but these are still impressive little cars running 1.4l Ford Zetec motors and rear wheel drive which the youngsters move on to from a karting background (and of course a large bank book). The full size G20 houses a 1.8l Zetec motor powering the rear wheels and was produced for the single make Ginetta G20 Racing Championship (commonly known in the UK as the Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship).

If anyone wants to see Ginnetas in action the big G50 race series will be touring around the country on the back of The British Touring Car Championship with live coverage on ITV4. Also keep an eye out for Team LNT in this years Le Mans. Thanks go to Charlie Kemp for taking the time to give us all an informative and interesting a tour round a new and exciting motorsport company.

After the visit we retired to Squires Motor Café Bar at Sherburn in Elmet for a pint and a pastie and to chat about our visit.

Writing by Dean Lancashire. Photography by Dean Lancashire & Jatt

All Torque 75 page 13

Driver Awareness Training What actually happens at the driver training sessions you can choose to attend (avoiding points on your license) if you have the misfortune to be caught speeding? Jim Hearnden found out.

Around last October I was driving into Bracknell on my way to the office. There is a short stretch of 40mph limit dual carriageway with a roundabout at each end. I normally go into the office for a seven o’clock start, but this day I’d had a meeting in the morning and had to be in the office for around lunchtime. I came off the roundabout doing, I think, around the 50mph mark and spotted the mobile speed camera van on the opposite side straight away. I lifted off immediately, assuming that I’d shed enough speed. I also thought that given his location he was probably aiming at the opposite side of the road. Unfortunately around ten days later as we returned from a lovely long weekend in Germany for Becky’s 50th Birthday I was greeted by a billet-doux in the mail from Thames Valley Constabulary. I took it on the chin and filled out the S172 declaring myself as the driver.

Around a fortnight later I got a letter and a form from a company called Drive Tech. The offer is that instead of getting three points a £60 fine I can pay £79.50, do a four hour driver training course and not get the three points. This course is only available to those who have not had or been offered a course in the previous three years. As I already had three points from the previous year I decided the training was a no brainer. I returned the form and paid the £79.50. The receipt and booking details took around a week to come back. You can book online or by phone, but from a much reduced list of dates if you book by phone. The earliest date I could make and was available was the 10th December. There were only three locations offered, all in the Thames Valley area and all a fair way from Kent. I chose the least bad option which was Crowthorne, near Bracknell.

The documents all arrived within two or three days and were fairly clear. The most important thing which was mentioned

more than once was the comment that; “Lateness is not tolerated and if you miss the appointment then rebooking the course is not guaranteed” … also it would cost you the £79.50 again! If you failed to get on the course a second time then it was ‘please present your license for three points and a 60 quid donation thanks!’

It was an early start from Chatham to guarantee being at Crowthorne for 08:00, although pretty much the same time I’d leave for the office which isn’t that far away. Finding the location was not easy and when I arrived others made the same comment.

On arrival we were shown to a kitchen area with a coffee machine and told that the classroom was across the way. The class had seating for twenty people and as we trailed in we all related our stories. A lady came in, announced herself as our tutor for the morning and said that she’d like us to think of words describing our feelings about being there. $%*^&! didn’t seem to be acceptable so I said “resigned!” which was greeted by nods from the rest. Others added their own words, philosophical and curious being some that stuck.

The mix of people was strangely scary in that I expected (very judgmentally) to be amongst a room full of baseball capped Saxo drivers in their late teens. Instead I was faced with a mix from two guys of about 22–23 and then going up through the range to a bloke in his early sixties and another well over 70!

The mix of sexes was also interesting with a roughly 50/50 mix male to female. I’m 51 and suspect the median age was just slightly younger.

Another scary fact was what people had been done for; two in particular stood out as they had been fixed-camera’d at 33mph!

So much for speed limit plus 10% plus 2mph then, beware when in Thames Valley.

At around 08:00 a nice lady in her mid 50s comes in. introducing herself as Michelle and explaining some of her background: she is ex-ADI (driving instructor) and also has worked for a major chain of supermarkets as a trainer. She had us go around the room; introduce ourselves and explain what we got done for and where.

She then explains the rules for the day. No pictures, no surnames, as some may wish to remain anonymous, especially from employers. There is no pass or fail but you MUST complete the four hours, no checking in and sliding off—that will get you three points and a £60 fine. As a follow on, she asks some general questions as regards driver training and who has had additional training since passing their test. Three of us put our hands up.

At this point she kicks off a slideshow on Powerpoint, covering speed limits and ways of recognizing them. Most of them were obvious, although one I didn’t know was that if a 30 limit has no lamp posts then it WILL have repeater signs at frequent intervals.

At one point she uses KSI (Killed & Seriously Injured) figures from, of all sources, BRAKE, which is hardly a good source. I was surprised that they weren’t from a Government department.

Each desk has a leaflet with various sections; one of these sections was talking about speed limits on various roads.

Urban, Single Carriageway (SC), Dual Carriageway (DC) and Motorway. She said that she would give £50 to a charity of our choice if the whole class got this right. All of us were car

drivers but one who was a lorry driver, so we were told to use the car limits and fill the form in. Out of the 19 people everybody got the Urban limit (30) and the Motorway limit (70) right but only three got the SC (60) and DC (70) ones right! This accounts for the numpties who meander along with poor lane skills at 50mph!

The ‘training’ went on covering why speed limits are there, pictures of a scene of a fatal accident site and detailing what happened. The initial picture was in the leaflet. It depicted the entry to a rural village type area and the instructor asked what speed we would be doing. My response was the lowest at sub 30 with most saying 35–40mph.

The final part was the showing of a Thames Valley film, shot on a runway, showing the breaking distances from 30, 32, 35 and 40mph and revealing that at 32mph the braking distance is 15 feet further than at 30. This is with a very well maintained police Vauxhall Omega, obviously it’ll be much worse with a badly maintained heap running on Ying Yang tyres. Very sobering.

So was it worthwhile? Yes to avoid three points and the correspondingly increased insurance penalty as well as being 25% closer to the dreaded 12 point ‘totting up’ limit. Did I learn anything? Yes I did and even my wife has noticed that in 30mph limits I now stick more rigidly to 30.

Drive Tech have just appeared in the papers with the news that apparently the person who started it, as a retired police officer, has just earned their first million pounds. Most of the employees, especially those who give driver training, as distinct from being classroom based, are also ex-police. You can check out Drive Tech online at www.drivetech.co.uk

964 Respray Well, it has finally happened. After much procrastination, cogitation and deliberation Rob Pettifer’s car has had a full respray.

It all started a couple of months after I bought the car.

The front near side wing was showing signs of corrosion, despite having had both wings resprayed in the past under Porsches 10 year anti-corrosion guarantee. As the months went by a few more little bits started to appear, first on the corner of the rear window, then on the rear near side wing, then under the seal of the windscreen and so on. Don’t misunderstand, the car wasn’t falling apart around me but it was something that I needed to look at and rectify.

I had many people give me advice and recommendations of places that would do a good job and I followed up on some of these leads. A certain member of our esteemed club being one of them (and I did get a good quote) but I could hardly expect Dave at Daytona Coachworks to keep to that quote after 18 months. I finally chose a company that was close to home, so I could witness the transformation for myself.

Neil Johnston of Washington Coachworks greeted me upon dropping my car off and we ran over the points that I was concerned about and what they would do to correct them.

The worst bits would be cut out, they would give me these bits to prove it and weld in new. I informed Neil that there was a good chance that silicone based products had been used in the past and that it would probably need a deep cleanse.

It is essential that you mention this to your resprayer because the silicone in various products can seep into the paint work, making it much harder for the new paint to adhere to the car.

At this point a delivery van arrived and Neil asked if I would mind waiting for a moment and left me to wander around the workshop. Inside I found some wondrous vehicles in various states of undress. A Maserati Quattroporte in blue, two Lamborghinis, a Diablo and a Murcielago both in black,

two Porsches, an M reg. (1973) 2.7 in orange and a 996 in blue, a VW camper, a classic Jaguar and a six month old BMW M3 to name a few. This all looked very promising.

On Neil’s return, he told that me that the delivery man had asked ‘what was the 964 in for’, he replied ‘a total respray’ whereby the delivery guy nearly fell over his bonnet as he asked ‘what the hell for, there’s nothing wrong with it’. Some of you may know my car and the time that I lavish upon her, but like anyone that has a passion for their car, only you will know what’s wrong with her and that you will only truly be happy when those niggly little things have been sorted out.

After talking over a few last details I left the car and the keys with Neil and went home.

Five days had passed when I dropped in for the first time to see how things had progressed. Oh my god, in that time the car had been dismantled and all the parts bagged and tagged.

All the windows were taken out, bumpers off, lights out, doors off, bonnet off, wipers off, sun roof out, engine lid off and the spoiler was off. I had a small split in the spoiler so had purchased a second hand one for them to re-spray and refit.

They also dismantled the rear bumper as this is in three parts.

There is always a certain amount of trepidation about stripping a car. You never really know what will be uncovered. Peter, the guy actually doing all the work on my car, introduced himself and was keen to point out what he had found (nothing too serious, to my joy). The number plate lights were corroded and one of the lenses had burnt (both would be replaced) and the bumper heat shields were all useless (these would also be replaced). Peter also pointed out that the corrosion on the rear wing was due to mud compacted in the corner, about a cup full. Not surprising the paint had started to bubble up then.

So now the shopping list starts. Having decided to have all the glass out, I chose to have all new seals as well. With the seals ordered from Type911, I went to Porsche for the rear bumper heat shields, license plate lights, new Carrera badge and all the screws that would be needed to put the parts back together. I didn’t want to re-use the ones taken off as most of them were rusty and corroded. Having said that, I did have some parts chemically cleaned and re-plated so they were as good as new; the ‘C’ clamps that hold the rear bumper together for example.

With the windscreen out I thought it a good idea to replace that as well as it had millions of little chips all over it. Driving into sunlight had become a hazard as I couldn’t see through the screen clearly due to all these chips. I called the insurance company and they agreed and said that they would need two days notice to fit it, with the excess to be paid on the day.

Well, the days turned into weeks and Rob had now re-sprayed the car to an amazing finish and that was before it had even been polished. Those of you that have a 964 will know that they aren’t the quickest of cars to rebuild but Peter was doing a fine job of slowly piecing it all back together. The door window frames had been sent away for sandblasting and powder coating but when they came back the finish wasn’t good enough so they rubbed them down again and re-sprayed them themselves. They called in professional window fitters to

fit all the glass back in apart from the windscreen which, as I mentioned earlier, I would arrange. All the seals fitted except the 965 turbo front ‘smile’ (Type911 shipped a new one out the same day) and the bonnet badge seal, which was too small.

I bought a new one from Porsche which was the correct size.

On reconnection of all the washer pipe lines for the screen and headlights, Peter had discovered an interesting fault. The intensive headlight screen washer bottle seemed to be getting pressurised and blowing through the valve in the cap, spraying the underside of the bonnet. This answered the long standing question of ‘why was my carpet getting wet’, but what was causing it? I asked one of the Techs at Porsche and he said that there are four valves in the washer pipeline and if one of those doesn’t function it allows back pressure into the headlight washer bottle. Now this wasn’t part of the re-spray but Peter wanted my car to work properly so he replaced all four of those valves for me and my bonnet light switch, which I didn’t even know needed changing.

The final day! I received a phone call asking me whether I would like to pick my car up? Stupid question. What a sight.

It was great to see her all back together and looking like a new car. What a GREAT job. Thanks to Neil, Peter, Rob, Matt and all at Washington Coachworks for their always friendly faces and for putting up with me popping in almost every other day.

The cost

Contact

Respray £4,500.00 seals £563.50 parts £528.83 Total £5,592.33

Washington Coachworks Ltd 01903 892 700 www.washingtoncoachworks.co.uk neil@washingtoncoachworks.co.uk

Writing & photography by Robin Pettifer

All Torque 75 page 17

TIPEC member discounts Sorry for the empty pages, but we can’t share our member discounts online. Join the club at www.tipec.net and get your own printed copy of All Torque every two months!

THE INDEPENDENT CLUB FOR ALL PORSCHE OWNERS WWW.TIPEC.NET 0845 602 0052

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ORIGINAL DRIVERS HANDBOOKS These handbooks are what would have been supplied with every new car that left the dealership. They contain lots of very useful information - almost every model is still available with prices starting from £25.00

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TIPEC regalia We have a new regalia supplier, who are able to produce individual items to order. This is going to make ordering much easier for individual club members.

T-shirt (£13) Available in black or white Sizes (inches): 36, 38, 40, 42/44, 46, 48, 50/52 Gents polo shirt (£16) Available in black or white Sizes (inches): 36, 38, 40, 42/44, 46, 48, 50/52, 54 Ladies polo shirt (£16) Available in black, pink or blue Sizes (inches): 36, 38, 40, 42/44, 46, 48, 50/52, 54

To order any TIPEC branded regalia from the list, please contact Dave Doherty, TIPEC Membership Secretary, either by phone with your credit card details or by post with a cheque made payable to TIPEC.

Sweatshirt (£20) Black only Sizes (inches): 36, 38, 40, 42/44, 46, 48, 50/52, 54

Dave Doherty (01423 501 988) TIPEC Regalia, Alexa House, 26 Ripon Road, Harrogate HG1 2JJ

Fleece (£25) Black only Sizes (inches): 36, 38, 40, 42/44, 46, 48, 50/52, 54

Prices includes delivery to your home address.

Gruppe North North East

Scotland

RO Simon Poole 07759 694 059 audisi@btinternet.com ARO Andy Blythe 01642 809 031 ac.blythe@mbro.ac.uk

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

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.

These reports seem to come around quicker each time, it doesn’t seem like two months since I was typing the last monthly report.

The February Bowling and Pizza morning was supported by the Poole and Head families which meant that we had seven bowlers and decided to split into boys vs. girls. Needless to say the boys won, helped to our victory by my rather flukey three strikes in a row (twice!) A good time was had by all, but hopefully the upcoming events will be better supported by more of the members.

Here are a few dates for your diary to be going on with. More will be added throughout the year, including the smaller local events which Andy and I had a look at last summer in the evenings and at weekends.

12th April Sunday Specialist Cars of Malton’s ‘Big Breakfast’ 19th April Sunday TIPEC AGM 19th April Sunday Skid awareness training organised

by PCGB North East Region 10th May Sunday Cars in the Park, Newby Hall 23–24th May Saturday–Sunday North East American Car Club, Fins and Chrome Show, Preston Park

Meetings are held first Wednesday of every month 8pm for an 8:30pm start in the 007 bar at Bo’Ness Motor Museum, Bridgeness Road, Bo’Ness EH51 9JR. www.motor-museum.bo-ness.org.uk A big thank you to all who went to the February run/meet in Perth and the surrounding area. A turn out of 20 for this last of the winter run/meets for the year.

They have proved very popular and a worthwhile exercise—this was the first winter to host such meetings and days out and the idea came from you, the local region members.

The main topic of conversation at our last monthly meeting to discuss the diary of events for the forthcoming season and with only a few minor details to follow up on we have a basic calendar written up to go by.

12th April Sunday Banchory/Braemar to Perth Run 3rd April Sunday National Museum of Rural Life, East Kilbride 29th–31st Friday–Sunday Gaydon TIPEC National Event.

31st May Sunday TIPEC ’09 at Gaydon, Heritage Motor Centre

7th June Sunday Thirlestane Castle (big show approx 1,300–1,600 cars)

24–26th July Friday–Sunday Silverstone Classic

14th June Sunday Tayside Classic Motor Show at Errol

28th June Sunday Moffat Classic Car and Autojumble (Approx 900 cars) 5th July Sunday Bridge of Allan (Scottish Ford and Classic Car Day) 19th July Sunday Knockhill Scottish Speedfair & Classic Car Show 2nd August Sunday Club Suggestion: Beach BBQ, venue TBC 16th August Sunday Chatelherault Classic Car Show 29–30th August Sunday Culzean looks to be a non-starter, possibly cancelled. Details to follow!

September Autumn run Dates etc TBC 20th September Sunday Selkirk Classic Car Show 3rd October Saturday Club suggestion: Curry & bowling night joining in with our local PCGB region 18th October Sunday Club suggestion: East Lothian Car Museum Visit & lunch run 15th November Sunday Club suggestion: Karting (day/evening) with PCGB TBC 12th December Saturday Christmas party night TBC

Lincolnshire Joint meetings with the local PCGB are held second Sunday of every month 11:30am at The Dovecote, Newark Road, Swinderby LN6 9HN. RO and ARO required, to host monthly meetings at a local pub/hotel with support from the members and attend/organise local events.

Cheshire & Staffs 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. Hi everyone, it’s that time of year again; many members preparing their cars for the year ahead, servicing, MOTs and repairs.

With luck my own car will be back on the road after almost two years on axle stands in the garage.

The first couple of months this year I have been busy organising club stands for our shows, more on them later.

On 6th March a group of 14 attended the Oulton Park Circuit where Easy Track had booked a Porsche only day, it was a busy day with around 60 Porsches racing and the same again turning up to spectate, most of the cars racing where RS Lightweights or GT3 RS’s, with the odd mix of 944’s and 968’s, we are fortunate in the Cheshire & Staffs region having two members who turned up to race: James Eaton in a 944 S2 and John Biddulph in his 964 RS. John is a regular in racing circles, entering into various sprints and races organised by PCGB. His experience and knowledge helps our members get the best from their cars.

Pete Parkey and myself where fortunate enough to go out on circuit both with

James in the 944 S2 and John in his RS. Both cars are completely different but they both had the ability to put big smiles on your faces! It also proved that the 944 is a very understated car when it comes to racing one on a circuit, its 50/50 weight distribution really balances the car and in the dry makes it near impossible to lose the rear end as you push it hard through the corners. Thanks to both of them for taking us out onto the circuit.

In the next few weeks we have several events already organised, Big Baz (as he likes to be known) has planned a Spring Drive for us on Sunday 19th April around the Peak District with a lunch stop and also a stop at Flash, the highest village in Staffordshire, for photos. Please come along and join us. On the 21st April will be our club night. Although it is now to late to book, a group of us are heading over to Stuttgart on the 29th April for a tour of the Porsche Factory and to visit the new Porsche Museum. More on our visit in the next edition of All Torque.

4th May Bank Holiday Monday Gawsworth Hall Classic Car Show 17th May Sunday Bodelwyddan All Type VW Show 23rd May Saturday Weaver Wander Classic & Sports Car Run 30–31st May Saturday–Sunday Tatton Park Classic Car Show 31st May Sunday TIPEC National Day at Gaydon Please contact me for details regarding the above events should you wish to come along.

North West RO John Pye 01706 712 491 07957 818 636 (mobile) tipecnw@sky.com ARO Brenda Marginson 0125 483 1766 brenda.marginson@sky.com 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.

The weather has played a large part in club members’ unwillingness to brave the snow and ice to attend meetings. February was affected, but thanks to those who did attend.

Bob & Marie taking things seriously It was decided that we would have a Scalextric night at the March meeting, running a knockout tournament, a speed track and a drifting track. ‘Boys and their toys’ comes to mind as the child in all of us took over. It was a fiercely fought competition with the tournament won by Peter Anderson, taking a bottle of Champagne kindly donated by the Landlord and a book on Porsche.

Second was Steve Draper winning a F1 cap and third was Barry Weights who won a F1 T-shirt. The speed competition was a tie with Marie Pye & Andy Brough both doing the exact same time and both winning F1 caps.

What a cracking, well attended night, thanks to all who came and fought the good fight.

I hope you are all looking forward to the shows this year. Gawsworth and Tatton are booked. We have also challenged the TVR club to a Scalextric competition at Tatton.

We told them to bring their own cars— knowing how TVRs break down, we can win!

John Biddulph’s 964 RS at Oulton Park

It is with great delight that we announce that Barry Weights & Linda Lockwood of our club are getting married on the 14th April. Barry is a long-time member and his girlfriend Linda is ‘fit to be in our team’, as we say in the north. We wish them the very best for the forthcoming marriage and life together.

All Torque 75 page 21

After the good comes the bad, it is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of one of our members. George Coates died of leukaemia. It was a great shock for us all and for those who knew him he was a gentle giant of the car club, always smiling and would do anything for anybody. He loved his red 944 with a passion. The smile on his face when he drove it is what this car club is all about. We send our condolences to his family, especially his wife Diane.

We look forward to seeing you at the meetings and the shows. If you need any more information, please contact John or Brenda anytime.

4th May Bank Holiday Monday Gawsworth Date TBC May Show at Thatch and Thistle 30–31st May Saturday–Sunday Tatton Show 31st May Sunday TIPEC National Day at Gaydon Heritage Motor Centre

Yorkshire 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 Meetings are held first Tuesday of every month 7:00–7:30pm at The Windmill, Hull Road, Dunnington, York, YO19 5LP. The club has now given each region money to help run/pay for events or items. Not sure what we will do with the money but we will sort something out soon. Any ideas what we could do, please let me know. For members who have haven’t made it along to a meeting, please come along and join us at any meeting or event. We will be having club nights in the Leeds area soon, will keep you posted on this with the dates, any suggestions as to a good meeting place?

Club night 3rd March Bit of a small turn out, but it was a miserable night. Good to meet a new member, Ben, and an old member, Ray, who was last a member of the club around 12 years ago.

Fingers crossed that he will dig his 924 Turbo out of the garage and start driving it again. We all left a bit early as the Windmill and surrounding area suffered a power cut.

Congratulations to Jonathan Arnett (JJ) and his partner on the birth of Baby Nina who arrived on 15th Feb 2009 and welcome to new member Nic Powley and his 944 from Wakefield.

Please find below our list of events for the coming months. We hope to add more at a later date. If anyone wants to organise an event please ring John or Dave.

The 10th May sees ‘Cars In The Park’ at Newby Hall. Yorkshire Region member Ben (ben944 on the forum) asks if anyone would like to join him?

“I went to the last show at Harewood House in October. Although not a member of TIPEC at the time, the South Yorkshire and North Nottinghamshire club were there and managed to persuade me to join TIPEC. Perhaps we could get a few regions involved?

“Anyway, if anyone is interested, visit www.carsinthepark.org.uk to register your car and details. Cheers, Ben” You can contact Ben by going to the Gruppe North on the TIPEC forum.

Newby Hall Classic Car Show July 19th This is one of, if not the, best Classic Car Show in the North with 1,000 cars and motorbikes on show. There was only one Porsche there last year, so this year let’s have a TIPEC stand and show our cars.

The North East Club for Pre-war Austin’s assembles over 1,000 vintage cars and auto jumble. Gates open 10.30am– 5.00pm. Admission prices include admission into the gardens.

We are planning on arriving there on Friday and leaving Sunday afternoon. Alternatively you could come on Saturday morning, stop for the day and leave Sunday morning.

Anyone interested, please let me know.

Ginetta Factory Tours These are run on the second Tuesday of every month for groups of 25–30 people.

The tours take around one hour and are run from 18:00–18:30.

The tour takes in the Ginetta factory as a whole specifically the design side, assembly line and a number of special projects that they are undertaking.

The factory is near Leeds. If anyone is interested in a tour, please let us know.

A Day’s Drive around the Dales (date TBA) This is a gentle tour for all to enjoy. Leaving Skipton at 10.30am and ending up at the Black Sheep Brewery for lunch at 1:30pm.

The route is via Settle, Hawes, Leyburn and then on to Masham and will take approx two hours.

We will finish with a tour around the brewery for those who are interested or just a meal in the Bistro followed by a great pint of Black Sheep and a chance to chat. www.blacksheepbrewery.com Jetsprint boat www.jetsprintuk.com Faster than a Porsche (well, certainly faster than mine at least) and corners like a kart.

The Worlds Most Exciting Boat Ride.

450 Horsepower, V8 engines. 0–100 Kph in four seconds.

Curry night Proposed to be held at Maze ’n’ Jair in Coopers Bridge

Silverstone Classic 24-26th July The plan so far is to go on Friday afternoon and camp Friday & Saturday night at Litchlake Farm, which is situated opposite the main entrance to Silverstone.

19th April Sunday TIPEC AGM

They have toilets, hot showers & water and onsite caterers offering various types of hot food. Cost of camping is about £10.00 per night per person.

14th June Sunday Harewood House Show, PCGB

Tickets for the event are about £35.00 per day but there may be a special offer on later in the year.

31st Sunday TIPEC National Day at Gaydon

18–19th July Saturday–Sunday Bradford Classic 24th–26th July Friday–Sunday Silverstone Classic Event (overnight stay?)

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All Torque 75 page 23

Gruppe Central 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. The year started with a well-attended Club Night in January and a chance at a spot of rally driving on Playstation. Much complaining about the lack of ‘feel’ through the steering and pedals followed (bad workmen always blame their tools) but it was a fun night and a good chance to catch up following the Christmas break.

A few of us had attended the Autosport show the day before (Sunday 11th January) but there had not been too much interest shown in this event. I can only think this was down to post-Christmas blues and the fairly hefty admission prices rather than the content of the event itself: all forms of motor racing!

There was plenty of Porsche content as well as trade stands and the odd celebrity to keep you occupied and we walked our legs off around the halls trying to see as much as possible before the show ended. One of the highlights was listening to James Martin recount his version of the Mille Miglia attempt which screened over the Christmas holiday on BBC2 as The Real Italian Job. A very different tale to that portrayed on the programme and clearly not the last attempt he intends on the event.

February started poorly as a terrible weather forecast meant I cancelled club night, for the first time on my watch, rather than risk folk struggling to get home later in the evening. I think Brian and I called it right, as the snow started falling about 6pm and the pub car park was blanketed by 9pm. Unfortunately a couple of members did not get the email notifying of the cancellation in time and both Lindsay Brown and Ash made their way to the Red Lion on the night. Lindsay left about 9pm with Ash doing doughnuts on the snow-covered car

park in his 928! Hats off to both for making their way along despite the snow and apologies for the late cancellation.

Things improved on the 22nd with our first proper event of 2009: RAF Cosford.

We had decided to meet up at the Village hotel, junction 10, M6 and I turned up a little before 9.30am to see three 928s parked up in a line. It’s always good to see a bunch of Porsches together but 928s are becoming somewhat of a rarity so three together were a welcome sight indeed. As I pulled on to the car park I spotted another two and after shuffling around we ended up with a line of six! These were joined by Lindsay’s 944S and Jargle’s 911 and these were the eight cars that departed in convoy for Cosford. On arrival a few more friendly faces were in evidence as Chris & Carole Hood and Phil Mercer emerged from their non-Porsche drives in the car park.

After a cuppa in the restaurant we toured the Museum and spent a pleasant few hours pottering around the exhibits. The new Cold War section has added significantly to the collection and includes Lightning, Vulcan, Victor and Mig 15 aircraft along with an ICBM and a VW Beetle! Earlier aircraft from WWII etc are housed in other hangars along with various support vehicles, missiles and a ‘hands on’ area for the kids. Well worth a visit if you’re ever in the area and it’s free.

At the time of writing this the Race Retro show at Stoneleigh is looming and our visit to OPC Sutton at the end of March is

almost fully subscribed. A write up on both will follow in the next edition of All Torque.

I would just quickly extend an advanced thank you to Chris & Carole Hood for helping us to organise the OPC visit, it is very much appreciated.

By the time you are reading this Spring will be upon us and hopefully the lighter evenings and some sunshine will encourage more of you to come along to events/club nights over the next few months. The first Transtar show is Weston Park on 12th April and is followed by the Club’s AGM and our trip to MIRA on successive Sundays. Early May sees us off to Prescott and if you have never been I really do suggest you book up and join us on May 10th at the hill climb.

The event is an open hill climb and you can take runs up the hill in your own car or join our static display in the Orchard for a lazy day watching the runs.

Before the next edition of All Torque we shall join Yorkshire region at Harewood House on 14th June and then spend Father’s Day the following Sunday at Trentham Gardens. Both are great venues and offer something for the whole family. Watch out for emails and forum notices on both nearer time.

We shall be preparing another Central Region calendar for 2010 and need help to source pictures in readiness. The 2009 calendar has 12 TIPEC/Porsche related photos plus another on the cover so 13 are required for next year’s edition. If you have a really nice photo you think worthy of next year’s calendar please email it to me.

There were plenty of nice Porsches on display at the Autosport show in January

Finally, looking way ahead to next year, we are planning another club trip to the Le Mans Classic, which takes place from 9th to 11th July 2010. We shall again be using Travel Destinations to sort all the arrangements and I will send out details of likely costs etc as soon as they are available.

By sharing a car between two the overall costs of fuel, travel, camping etc become more reasonable so start to think about ‘buddying-up’ over the next few months.

To help with the financial side of the trip Brian and I will open up Central Region’s bank account as a savings bank for anyone that wants to save for the trip. We’ll have a simple deposit book to record any savings and you will be able to give us a cheque or cash at each club night to help save up for the trip over the next twelve months.

Sunday 12th April Midlands Festival of Transport at Weston Park, Weston under Lizard, Salop. If you have attended any Transtar event in the past you will receive an entry form in the post. Just fill in and return to Transtar with your payment. Make sure you tick the boxes for Trentham and Arbury Hall as well (see below). Mark your entry “TIPEC”.Just email Paul and confirm attendance to aid planning. If you need an entry form see Paul on a club night.

Sunday 19th April TIPEC AGM at Gaydon. See club website.

Sunday 26th April Trip to MIRA. Very limited numbers, first come first served. Email Brian on mymerak@aol.com to confirm your place.

Sunday 10th May Prescott Hill Climb. Details and booking form can be downloaded from www.cleevevale.org.uk/classiccar/index.htm Just download and complete the entry form for either the Orchard static display or Paddock entry and send off as instructed. Just post Paul an email to confirm your booking.

Friday 22nd May Poole Quay event including convoy drive down to the South coast. With Southern Region. To book your place please email the organiser Nick at nick@911uk.co.uk We will be staying at the Thistle Hotel Poole which is situated on Poole Quay. Ring 0871 376 9032 to make your room booking. It’s £140 per room per night including breakfast. This event and hotel will fill quickly so best to reserve early to avoid missing out.

Central meetup for the run to RAF Cosford Sunday 31st May National Event at Gaydon Sunday 14th June Harewood House (with Yorkshire region) Sunday 21st June Trentham Transport Festival. Classic show at Trentham Gardens, Stoke-on-Trent.

See instructions for Weston Park above.

Just email Paul and confirm attendance to aid planning. Joint event with East Midlands and Cheshire/Staffs Sat–Sun 4–5th July Cars in the Park, Lichfield. Great Classic show with Paul Keeling playing host to a club stand for 20 cars on both days.

Contact Paul Keeling for details on 01543 271 116 Sunday 26th July Silverstone Classic August TBC Yeatsall Farm Charity Fun Day Sunday 23rd August Arbury Hall Classic car show. See instructions for Weston Park above.

Sunday 6th September Tour of the Peak District September TBC Sprint day at Curborough Sunday 20th September Atherstone Car Show Fri–Sun 2nd–4th October Weekend of the Year (WotY) Details TBC. Fri–Sun 13–15th November Classic Show at the NEC Saturday 28th November Curry Night Monday 14th December Christmas dinner at the Red Lion

SYNNers warming up at Hodsock Priory

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. 11th January A few of us turned up for another cracking show down at the NEC for the PistonHeads and Autosport Show 2009.

Judging from most people who attend this and the Classic Motor show this seems to be the better show.

The Live action arena was mesmerising, performing stunts and racing galore which blinded the previous Top Gear Live Show. There also is a better class of ladies on the stands too, well recommended for 2010.

13th January Around thirteen of us (including John Oakes from the Yorkshire Region) managed to skive away from work early on a cold dark evening for a well worth it trip to Ginneta Cars of Leeds. See the full report elsewhere in this magazine.

1st February A dozen of braved the weather for this visit to Hodsock Priory to see the snowdrops and walk round the gardens. Unfortunately due to the forecast of snow not even the snowdrops turned out.

It was good of someone to get a bonfire going for us half way round the walk. We all enjoyed a good meal and pint at the Black Lion, Firbeck afterwards though.

Good to see GB make a visit in his 993 (Thought you’d sold it mate, we haven’t seen it for that long!)

All Torque 75 page 25

22nd February Our second visit to Porsche and Eurocar specialists at Barnsley was well attended, ten SYNNers meeting up for a look round the ex-Porsche Centre Leeds mechanics.

Detailing demonstrations where run through the day with chances to buy various waxes and potions for your pride and joy.

Ray and John had their dents removed by Dent Direct for £20 a dent (bargain).

There was also free bacon butties and drinks being served all day. All in all a good day with a real mix of cars visiting: plenty of Lotus Elises, a Ferrari 355, 911s, 944s, Boxsters, Dave’s Cougar and my Caterham.

Since the visit I have had my Boxster serviced there and they saved me a fortune compared with OPC or Specialist Cars who I have used in the past. They even fitted my own brake pads and changed my brake fluid FoC. All parts used are genuine Porsche and they use Mobil One oil. If you mention you are a member of TIPEC John will give you a good discount. Well worth a visit if you require any service work or repairs.

Thanks go to Ray and Dave for the help in putting the 2009 calendar together and keeping the SYNN website up to date.

29th March Drive to The National Forest Arboretum, Alrewas for the dedication of the tree and plaque to our friends Paul & Judy (2008 RO and Treasurer).

Meet at the Arboretum 10:30am sharp with East Midlands region.

5th April Drive out with a meal at Ye Olde Punch Bowl (Neil Morrisey’s pub) and a chance to sample their own brewed beer with visit to York or Ripon with Regional get together at Ye Old Bell.

12th April Yorkshire Big Breakfast. All day event at Specialist Cars of Malton, plenty of exotic motors on display and bacon butties with a run to the coast afterwards.

19th April St Georges Day Run. Meet at St George’s Minster, Doncaster, for the short drive to Elsecar Heritage Centre with Traditional Car Club.

24–28th April Trip to Nurburgring via Channel Tunnel (eight cars booked so far), staying at the Wilhelmshöehe Hotel for approx £36 per person, per night. More info can be found online at www.hotel-wilhelmshoehe.de If anyone’s interested contact Dean for more details.

26th April Foxton Lock & drive. Once again organised

by Alan F. with East Midlands Region.

4th May Notts Classic Car & Bike Show at Thoresby Hall, meet at the Clumber Park Hotel on the A614 at 10am.

9–10th May Prescott Hill Climb and Tour of the Cotswolds, your chance for a run up the hill. Staying in Cirencester for two or three nights, anybody interested contact Ray or Dean.

30–31st May Wonderland 2009. Classic & Sports car show, SYNN regional show with concours event on the Sunday. Joint SYNN show with the Mansfield & Notts Capri Club at the Southwell Racecourse.

6th June The Rally Show Chatsworth House.

7th June Car & Bike Show at Cusworth Hall, Doncaster with the Traditional Car Club of Doncaster. Meet at Ray’s for the short drive to Cusworth. BBQ afterwards at Ray and Kaths.

10th June Classic Car & Bike show at Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire. Between 3pm and 9pm.

13th June York Auto Jumble 14th June Sunday 14th June Visit to Kexby Hall, again organised by Edith. This is a special opening just for TIPEC with the art exibition, followed by a trip to Hemswell Antiques or Steels chippy at Cleethorpes, tbc on the day.

South Central 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 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.

We are currently reviewing our venue for club nights, I will email all the region’s members soon but please call me if in doubt.

We have put together most of the events for 2009, which has been posted out to all our members. We have lots of events booked but we do have a number of last minute opportunities, which promote them via email. If you are not receiving these emails from me, please forward me your address and I will add you to the circulation list.

In early January we had a superb turnout of 25 Porsches for the open morning at Fearnsport in Silverstone. We all met at Jack’s Cafe for the usual cholesterol fuelled breakfast followed by a quick blast in the rain to Silverstone. Andy and the guys at Fearnsport made us all very welcome.

We were amazed at the ‘uber’ Porsches they work on: GT3, GT2, RS, RSR and even a 959. Mark scared us all with the prices for 959 spares, including £40k for a boot lid and £50k for a bumper … ouch.

One of our members was so impressed by Mark’s talk on GT3s that he went out and bought one later that day! For more details on Fearnsport see www.fearnsport.co.uk 4th April Saturday 9.30am for a 10.00am start Trip to BS Motorsport, who race prepare some of the most exotic Porsches on the planet such as Kremer Porsches, RSRs etc.

21st June Harewood Classic at Harewood House.

Tickets include entrance to house & gardens

We visited them a couple of years ago and this proved to be an extremely enjoyable trip. Their address is 421 Gasoline Alley, Westcott Venture Park, Westcott, Buckinghamshire, HP18 0XB.

Other events can be found on our regional website.

Once we have finished at BS Motorsport we will head off for a pub lunch.

Since the previous meeting we enjoyed a fantastic slot car event, with 12 people competing for a trophy and wine.

Eric Finlay won four races out of six and came second in the other two to run off with the spoils. John Osbourne was second, with David coming in third.

29th March Sunday Dedication to Paul and Judy. This date was set and will remain in the calendar unless otherwise informed.

Porsches lined up at Fearnsport when the South Central Region visited 18th April Saturday 9.00am Trip to Autofarm, the well established Porsche specialists north of Oxford.

There will be free diagnostics on a first come first served basis.

A visit is particularly of use to Boxster and 996 owners, as they will arrange for their engine rebuild guru to show what it is that goes wrong with them, and they will also explain the solution that they have engineered to get rid of the two main causes of engine failure.

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.

The idea is to meet at the National Arboretum at 10:30. We will be allowed to take our cars in for the duration. A service will take place at 11:00, followed by a walk to the tree to be dedicated and a carvery lunch.

12th April Sunday This is the first of the Transtar shows that we are hoping to attend this year.

This one is at Weston Park, Shropshire, and is a huge event with many cars.

An entry form can be downloaded from www.transtarpromotions.co.uk or I have some already printed.

They will also arrange for some interesting 911s to be available as talking points.

First and foremost, may I extend a hearty welcome to the first time attendees. I do hope we made you feel welcome in what I thoroughly enjoy as a relaxed, informal environment.

10th May Sunday Trip to Prescott Hill Climb

Then unfortunately, I stood up … and it must have gone downhill from there.

Central will have a stand ready for us to park up on.

17th May Sunday Golf Day at Silverstone Golf Course

19th April Sunday TIPEC AGM

28th June Sunday Supercar Sunday at Gaydon

Our new members introduced themselves and their cars: Andrew having cars in bits and maintaining them, whereas Paul is like me in believing that road-ready motoring rules.

North London & Herts

Our guests from ‘down South’ (Central region) were in attendance having had to cancel their own meet due to inclement weather (snow, I think).

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.

Paul and Brian also mentioned that this year’s WOTY will take place on the first weekend of October (2–4th), and is most likely to be in Wales.

I know it’s early, but would anyone wishing to go please let me know as soon as possible, as once we know approximate numbers we will have a feel for cost—the more, the merrier and it brings costs down too. Last year we had a wonderful time, even though it rained.

We will meet up at for a convoy in, and for £2.50 per vehicle it is an excellent day out for the family.

9–10th May Saturday–Sunday Prescott Hill Climb. Another excellent couple of days, which has had good reviews.

Again, entry forms can be downloaded and submitted individually, but please let me know when you have sent yours: www.cleevevale.org.uk/classiccar/index.htm Further information on the TIPEC forum.

Bristol RO Paul Harrison 07884 116 971 (mobile) paul@harrison167.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).

All Torque 75 page 27

Gruppe South South East RO Derek Flanagan 01342 717 754 07767 254 820 (mobile) derek.flanagan@btconnect.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 members and 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 (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.

We were blessed with another great attendance (30+) at the February Club Night and have to thank Mid Sussex Porsche for bringing along the newly released Cayenne Diesel and the latest facelift Boxster for our delight.

Members and their cars Phil Shotton’s 928 was recently written off! Driving through flood water at end of January when he was swamped by the bow-wave of a 4x4 coming the other way.

Water sucked up through the intakes and hydro-locked the engine. Estimated cost of the engine rebuild exceeded total value of the car (parts quote was £15k+ without labour!) so the insurance company have settled in full for the agreed value. The good news is that the car and driver was otherwise undamaged. Phil bought the salvage off the insurance company, and the 928 wizard Paul Anderson has now rebuilt the engine and it’s back on the road in time for the trackday at Goodwood on 13th March.

Robin Pettifer has had his beautiful Guards Red 964 off the road for the past two months for a full body respray with all windows taken out and new seals fitted throughout. Robin will be bringing the car to the March Club Night and is now ready and looking forward to the 2009 show season and concours events.

22nd May Friday Porsche at Pool Quay.

31st May Sunday TIPEC National day at Gaydon.

14th June Sunday Swanage Railway trip with TR Drivers Club.

13th July Sunday BBQ at Pete & Carol’s.

30th August Sunday Broadlands Show, Romsey.

Dent Magician hard at work Body Surgery – Saturday 21 February We had our annual pilgrimage to Dent Magician on 21 February when a small group had their minor dents removed at the special price of £45 per panel (irrespective of the number of dents in each panel). Special thanks to Terry Rockall who organized the visit again this year.

Sunday 5th April Gruppe South Inter-Regional Go Karting challenge at Filching Manor. Two hour endurance race for teams of four. £160 per team (£40pp). Contact Derek Flanagan.

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, despite the cold winter, although very few Porsches venture out.

Please have a look at our events list and let me know if you wish to go to anything.

Let’s hope we have a good summer so that we can enjoy our cars.

19th April Sunday Chinese lunch, Pilgrim House, 1pm.

27th September Sunday Haynes Museum trip.

23rd October Friday 10 pin bowling.

11th December Friday Wessex Region Christmas meal at The Hunters Inn, Swanmore, with TR Drivers Club. 7:30pm.

Anglia RO Mark Flintham 01473 735 497 mark.flintham@tecnisis.co.uk ARO Keith Strudwick 01449 744 060 tipec@angliaregion.info Meetings are held fourth Tuesday of each month 7pm at The Bunbury Arms, Ixworth Road, Great Barton, Suffolk IP31 2NX. www.nextnorth.com/bunbury/findus.htm Maybe it’s just me, but this last winter seems to have gone on forever! But writing this piece and looking out on the garden with the daffodils flowering really makes me feel that changes are afoot. Well, they are! You will see from our heading that a new venue has been found for our monthly meetings. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we’re no longer in a position to meet at The Fortress. Fortunately one of our members suggested a pub very near our old haunt called The Bunbury Arms in Great Barton. We’ve had a chat to the manager and he’s looking forward to seeing us on 28th of this month and regularly thereafter.

January and February saw a good number of us meeting for our experimental lunchtime get-togethers. Something we may well return to next winter. However, we were unable to find any eatery that would accept an open-ended booking for the 22nd of last month, it being Mothering Sunday.

So, on that evening, a few of us met at our new venue for a drink and a chat, and it seems as if it received a resounding ‘thumbs-up’.

in Excel format; if have a problem viewing that, you can download a free viewer from the Microsoft site. Please advise if you are interested in any events so Paul and I can advise the venues. If you have an e-mail address & 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.

Apart from our National show at Gaydon on 31st May, we are planning to make the Helmingham Show on 2nd August our BIG one for this year (www.helmingham.com).

It will be great to hear from any regions that would like to come along and join us in what we know will be a superb day. One of our members, Colin Clarke has kindly agreed to oversee and co-ordinate our efforts. As the weather this year is going to be wonderful, it’s an event not to be missed.

February Oh dear, I thought that only the Northern guys would suffer from the weather but on the Friday Becky was in Orpington, in other words not far from our venue at Sevenoaks.

She had to have the car dug out of the snow to get out of the hospital! I phoned Michael and asked if he had snow at the Crownpoint, which he had. So I then made the decision to cancel the regional meeting.

I spent around 30 minutes on the phone

One other general thought; why not attend our club’s AGM at Gaydon on 19th of this month? It’s a chance to meet the people who take the responsibility, and do a tremendous amount of work, for your club.

Plus it’s a great opportunity to put across your own point of view. See you there?

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 Meetings are held first Friday of every month 8:00pm at The Crown Point Inn, Sevenoaks Rd, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 0HB. We are now seeing great turnouts which would have swamped the old venue. In addition as an area we are now up to around 30+ members, now all we have to do is get more of them along to meetings!

If you have not been along to a meeting please come along. Wives are more than welcome and it is not all car chat. The venue does good, reasonably priced food so if you do not want to cook, you can have a meal before the meeting starts. The latest calendar will be out shortly for all of those with a valid email address. It is

and just hope no one made the journey then found nobody there.

March Well after the white out for February our March meeting more than made up for it.

We ended up with a turnout of 17 people and the best meeting we’ve ever had. Lucky we weren’t at the Bull, otherwise we would have been hanging out of the windows in the small room let alone struggling to park.

We had five new people join us so hello Jenny, Carl, John, James & Glenn. Carl & Jenny are already members but I believe we convinced the others that they should join TIPEC. A very lively meeting ensued and we discussed the calendar in quite some detail. Unfortunately a future bride & groom have decided to hire Leeds Castle for their wedding (at probably astronomic cost) and Paul has finally found out that this has meant the cancellation of the Leeds Castle Classic Car Show. So we are now looking for a show to do and by a majority decision we have decided to make this the Bromley Pageant which is Sun June 14th. The majority of people were keen on some style of fish & chip run, so we’ll work on this in the next few weeks.

We also seem to have great interest in the trip to Germany and I’ll be discussing adding in a tour of the factory.

18th April Saturday, 10:30am Open Day at OPC Tonbridge. Bring your driving licence if you want a test drive!

19th April Sunday TIPEC AGM

31st May Sunday TIPEC ’09 national event at Gaydon.

For any one who wants to stay the night before, I have booked dinner for 25 of us at the Tarsus (Greek restaurant) for the 30th www.tarsusrestaurant.co.uk where they also have rooms for the night. Alternatively, you could stay in Southam, eight miles from Gaydon: www.thestoneythorpehotel.co.uk Please advise if you want dinner and/or are staying overnight.

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.

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. Friday 22nd May Poole Quay 2009, 6–9:00pm.

Help us top the 98 cars there in 2008!

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.

All Torque 75 page 29

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 some recent examples.

Forum: 911 water cooled Topic: Keeping battery healthy Pepi1677: I am sure this is probably a silly question but I will ask it anyway.

I may be able to get a garage but it will not have power. I was wondering if anyone has come up with a system to keep the battery charged using a battery charger/conditioner and mobile power/ batteries? Thanks in advance.

Sean Smallman: You can buy solar power trickle chargers, does the garage have a window?

Pepi1677: I’ve just been reading a thread about that, the garage has no window so it may have to be mounted on the roof?

Thanks for the info though.

Sean Smallman: This might work: Disconnect the terminals from the battery and couple up to a battery booster pack. Keeps the alarm systems going but the battery stays fresh and doesn’t have to be moved. Takes two minutes to disconnect the clamps, tighten up and away you go.

Siggy: If I was going down that route I would buy/obtain a spare battery and get one of the plugs that fit into the cigar lighter socket. Then you plug it in and

disconnect the battery. (Assuming that the cigar lighter works with the key out of the ignition.) tr7v8: Maplin do a range of solar chargers which could be put on the roof and connected up to charge the battery.

PLEASE make sure the lead has a fuse in, as if any shorts occur it could set light to the car!

Forum: 911 water cooled Topic: My Porsche just tried to kill me!

Pepi1677: My car is an ’87 Carrera Targa.

I put my foot down last night and … nothing. Coughed, spluttered, almost stalled, wouldn’t go over 5mph and was almost rear-ended by an artic. Managed to get the beast onto some hard standing by the side of the road and panicked for a while. Engine revved ok when not in gear but then wouldn’t pull properly when engaged. I let it sit there for 20 mins, then with a leap of faith pulled back onto the road. It stuttered and wouldn’t

rev briefly (as if the accelerator wasn’t working) and then took off.

Once up to speed, it seemed ok but was quite hesitant with gear changes. Got it home in one piece but a little nervous afterwards—never done this before and hopefully never will again. Any ideas as to the problem?

Sean Smallman: Do 911s suffer with the DME like the front engined models of that vintage?

Sam: If it was a 964 or a 993 I would say DME is a good start point. tr7v8: If it was a 944 my guess would be Air Flow Meter, pretty sure these run one as well. The other option is throttle position switch but that’d give a screwed up idle. Remove the air intake and see if the AFM moves cleanly with the engine running and being blipped, you can clean the throat with carb cleaner but be gentle!

Wanted: 928 owner’s manual Original owner’s manual for Porsche 928, model ’81, in English (either UK or USA version, but must be the right year). Contact Tim Barker on 01624 620 362 or timbarker@manx.net

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